Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V8 #119

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

> From: "Alden Brosseau" <aldenb@vom.com>

> >Consistency is the hobgoblin of little >minds, remember. 
>  
> Actually, what Emerson said was, "A 
> foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."  Not quite the same thing.

You're right, but I wasn't quoting Emerson, but rather alluding to him.  That's why there are no actual quotes around the line.

Sort of like when people "quote" Shakespeare when they say "Niether a borrower nor a lender be" as if it's good advice.  The line is spoken by Polonius in _Hamlet_ and the character is a fool, but full of stupid advice that people now quote because it's "from Shakespeare".

The fool (and all of us are occasionally foolish) often seeks to arrange a consistency in his/her life (and others) that just does not exist, nor need to exist.  An argument based on "You have patience for one thing but the other" is an example of wanting that kind of consistency that has an illusionary benefit.  My point, then, is that one doesn't need to _be_ consistent.  We are inconsistent machines, we humans.

Regards,

Bill

(The Celtic "Tird",
Celticus "tirdius")
mailto:celtictird@yahoo.com