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CALAMITIES
CALIFORNIA --- CALLOUSNESS -- CALM

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CALAMITIES

see: "UNHAPPINESS" for related links


Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to
ourselves, and good fortune to others.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive
of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest
furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest
storm.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, XXVIII [1821 ed.]

[When asked to distinguish between misfortune and calamity:]
If Gladstone fell into the Thames, that
would be a misfortune; and if anybody
pulled him out, that, I suppose, would
be a calamity.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].
Quoted in Wilfrid Meynell
_Benjamin Disraeli: An Unconventional Biography_ [1903].

There is no calamity that right words will not begin to redress.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_Representative Men_ [1850], Lecture III "Eloquence"

Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only
as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Letter to James Boswell [3 June 1782].

The willow which bends to the tempest often escapes better than
the oak, which resists it; and so, in great calamities, it sometimes
happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and
presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
--Sir Walter Scott (1771—1832)
Scottish novelist and poet.
_The Pirate_, ch. XVI [1821]



Click picture to ZOOM
CALIFORNIA

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see: "CALIFORNIA"
see: "PLACES" for other related links


California is a fine place to live — if
you happen to be an orange.
--Fred Allen (1894—1956)
American humorist.
"American Magazine" [December 1945]

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It's a scientific fact that for every year you live in California,
you lose two points off your I.Q. It's redundant to die in L.A.
--attributed to Truman Capote (1924—1984)
American writer and novelist.


In California, everyone goes to a therapist, is a
therapist, or is a therapist going to a therapist.
--attributed to Truman Capote (1924—1984)
American writer and novelist.

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California: bordering always on the Pacific
and sometimes on the ridiculous. So, why
do I live here?

Because the sun goes down a block from
my house.

--George Carlin (1937—2008)
American stand-up comedian and author.
_Brain Droppings_ [1997], "Well, Ya Gotta Live Someplace"

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Whatever starts in California unfortunately has
an inclination to spread.
--Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)
American Democratic statesman, President [1977—1981].
Remark at a Cabinet meeting [21 March 1977], quoted in
Robert Shogan _Promises to Keep: Carter's First 100 Days_ [1977].

California, here I come,
Right back where I started from.
Where bowers
Of flowers
Bloom in the sun;
Each mornin'
At dawnin'
Birdies sing and ev'rything.
A sun-kissed miss said, 'Don't be late.'
That's why I can hardly wait.
Open up that Golden Gate,
California, here I come.
--B.G. DeSylva (1895—1950) American songwriter, & Al Jolson
(1886—1950) American singer, songwriter, comedian, and actor.
"California, Here I Come", 1921 song written for the musical _Bombo_.

[On Los Angeles:]
Thought is barred in this City of Dreadful
Joy and conversation is unknown.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist (grandson of T.H. Huxley.)
_Jesting Pilate_ [1926]

Nothing is wrong with California that
a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure.
--attributed to Ross MacDonald [Kenneth Millar] (1915—1983)
American crime-fiction writer.

Big Sur is the California that men dreamed of years ago,
this is the Pacific that Balboa looked at from the Peak of
Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator
intended it to look.
--attributed to Henry Miller (1891—1980)
American novelist and essayist.

North American is tilted in such a way that
everything loose slides to Southern California.
--attributed to Donna Newton

It is hereby earnestly proposed that the U.S.A. would be much
better off if that big, sprawling, incoherent, shapeless, slobbering
civic idiot in the family of American communities, the City of
Los Angeles, could be declared incompetent and placed in
the charge of a guardian like any individual mental defective.
--Westbrook Pegler (1884—1969)
American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and war correspondent.
In the "New York World Telegram" [22 November 1938].

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If Carmel's founders should return, they could not
afford to live there, but it wouldn't go that far.
They would be instantly picked up as suspicious
characters and deported over the city line.
--John Ernst Steinbeck (1902—1968)
American novelist.
_Travels With Charley_ [1962]


The Mojave is a big desert and a frightening one. It's as
though nature tested a man for endurance and constancy
to prove whether he was good enough to get to California.
--John Ernst Steinbeck (1902—1968)
American novelist.
_Travels With Charley_ [1962]

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California is a place where they shoot too
many pictures and not enough actors.
--attributed to Walter Winchell (1897—1972)
American journalist.



CALLOUSNESS

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see: "HUBRIS"


The awakenings of remorse, virtuous shame and indignation,
the glow of moral approbation if they do not lead to action,
grow less and less vivid every time they occur, till at length
the mind grows absolutely callous.
--Mrs. Anna Letitia Barbauld [nιe Aikin] (1743—1825)
English poet.
"An Inquiry into those Kinds of Distress which Excite Agreeable Sensations"
in Lucy Aikin (ed.) _The Works of Anna Lζtitia Barbauld_ [2 vol., 1825].

'There's been an accident' they said,
'Your servant's cut in half; he's dead!'
'Indeed!' said Mr Jones, 'and please
Send me the half that's got my keys,
--Harry Graham (1874—1936)
British writer and journalist.
_Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes_ [1899] "Mr. Jones"

People like you are all scoundrels. I do not
mind if a hundred have hanged themselves.
--Henri IV [Henry of Naverre] (1553—1610)
King of France [1589—1610].
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_, p. 380 [2004]
Cohan & Major explain:
The king harshly rebuffs a petitioner, brother of a woman who had
hanged herself and six young children, after being made destitute
by the taille (land tax) and forced to sell her cow.

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... According to the New York Post’s Liz Smith, while accepting
an award from the National Board of Review, [George] Clooney
wisecracked, “Charlton Heston announced again today that he
is suffering from Alzheimer's.”

When asked about the statement, Clooney told Smith, “I don't care.
Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He
deserves whatever anyone says about him.”

--James Hirsen
_The Left Coast Report_
"A Political Look at Hollywood" [28 January 2003]

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The greatest humiliation in life, is to work hard on
something from which you expect great appreciation,
and then fail to get it.
--Edgar Watson Howe (1854—1937)
American journalist and author.
_Ventures in Common Sense_ [1919]

Fourteen heart attacks and he had
to die in my week. In MY week.
--Janis Joplin (1943—1970)
American singer.
_New Music Express_ [12 April 1969]
(Said when ex-President Eisenhower's
death prevented her photograph from
appearing on the cover of Newsweek.)




CALM

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see: "COOLNESS"
see: "MELLOW"
see: "PEACE"
see: "REST"
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links
see: "HAPPINESS" for other related links


We build our personal world calm or wild according
to what we want to live. We can weave utter peace
in the midst of chaos. We can destroy in the midst
of paradise. Depends on how we shape our spirit.
--Richard Bach (b. 1936)
American writer.
_Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit_ [1994]

Always behave as if nothing had happened
no matter what has happened.
--Arnold Bennett (1867—1931)
English novelist.
_Denry the Audacious_, ch. X "His Infamy" [1911]

Emotion, whether of ridicule, anger, or sorrow, —whether
raised at a puppet show, a funeral, or a battle,—is your
grandest of levellers. The man who would be always
superior should be always apathetic.
--Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803—1873)
British novelist and politician.
_Devereux_, bk. II, ch. I [1829]

Happiness means quiet nerves.
--W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield] (1880—1946)
American vaudeville star and film actor.
Quoted in Robert Lewis Taylor _W.C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes_ [1949].

Mrs. Hardcastle: See me, how calm I am.
Miss Neville: Ay, people are generally calm at the misfortunes of others.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist.
_She Stoops to Conquer_, III, i [1773 play]

Nothing gives one person so much advantage
over another as to remain always cool and
unruffled under all circumstances.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
Quoted in _Master Thoughts of Thomas Jefferson_
(Selected by Benjamin S. Catchings), p. 82 [1907].

Avoid all haste; calmness is an essential ingredient of politeness.
--Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808—1890)
French novelist and journalist.
Attributed in Horace S. Tarbell _Tarbell's Lessons in Language_, p. 61 [1894].

If you can keep your head about you when all about
you are losing theirs, its just possible you haven't
grasped the situation.
--attributed to Jean Kerr (1923—2003)
American writer, [wife of Walter Kerr].

Buddy's [Rich] mellowed now — most people get that
way if they live long enough. A couple of heart attacks
give you a little pause.
--Nelson Riddle (1921—1985)
American composer.
Interview with Les Tomkins [1967].

The English have an extraordinary ability
for flying into a great calm.
--Alexander Woollcott (1887—1943)
American dramatic and literary critic.
Quoted in "Reader's Digest", vol. 27 [1935].

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anodyne [AN-uh-dyn], adjective:
1. Serving to relieve pain; soothing.
2. Not likely to offend; bland; innocuous.
3. A medicine that relieves pain.
4. Anything that calms, comforts, or soothes disturbed feelings.

assuage (uh-SWAYJ), verb:
1. To make milder or less severe; to reduce
the intensity of; to ease; to relieve.
2. To appease; to satisfy.
3. To soothe or calm; to pacify.

emollient (adj.)
1. Soothing to skin: softening or soothing, especially to the skin
2. Calming: trying to avoid anger and argument by using a calming
manner.

equanimity (noun) [ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee],
Evenness of mind; calmness; composure; as,
"to bear misfortunes with equanimity."

halcyon [HAL-see-uhn], noun:
1. A kingfisher.
2. A mythical bird, identified with the kingfisher,
that was fabled to nest at sea about the time of
the winter solstice and to calm the waves during
incubation.

limpid [LIM-pid], adjective:
1. Characterized by clearness or transparency;
2. Calm; untroubled; serene.
3. Clear in style; easily understandable.
Synonyms: clear, crystalline, lucid, transparent.
Ex.: Lying on the sand one limpid afternoon, Margarita-drowsed,
gazing out at the turquoise water through half-closed eyes,
following the seaweed swaying back and forth just beneath
the surface, I fancied (as any self-respecting writer must do)
that it would be my turn to write a book about Mexico some
day.
--Neil Baldwln,
_Legends of the Plumed Serpent_

phlegmatic (adj.)
Unexcitable: characterized by a lack of emotion or
emotional display, and not easily worried, excited,
or annoyed

sang-froid, also sangfroid (n) [sang-FRWAH],
Freedom from agitation or excitement of mind;
coolness in trying circumstances; calmness.
Ex.: The Treasury Secretary's sang-froid in moments of crisis.
--"Keeping the Boom From Busting,"
_New York Times_, [19 July 1998]

stolid [STOL-id], adjective:
Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily excited.

unflappable (adj.) [κn-'flζp-κ-bl]
Impervious to anxiety, not subject to rash
or exaggerated reaction; imperturbable.


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