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ILLNESS --- ILLUSIONS
IMAGINATION --- IMITATION --- IMMATURITY

ILLNESS

.
.
.

see: "HEALTH" for related links


All the crimes on earth do not destroy
so many of the human race, nor alienate
so much property, as drunkenness.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
Attributed in _The European Magazine and London
Review_, vol. 72 [July-December 1817].

I've just learned about his illness.
Let's hope it's nothing trivial.
--attributed to Irvin S. Cobb (1876—1944)
American author and journalist.

My illness is due to my doctor's insistence that
I drink milk, a whitish fluid they force down
helpless babies.
--attributed to W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield] (1880—1946)
American vaudeville star and film actor.

Illness can be cured by shining different coloured
lights on the afflicted parts of the body.
--attributed to Colonel Dinshah Ghadiali (1873—1966)
Indian-born American medical quack.

-

Of all workers, the intellectual worker has least
need of health or rest or favorable working conditions.
It is hard to imagine what Rembrandt would have
achieved had he been deprived of canvas, or a
Beethoven without musical instruments.

But for a long time Descartes was shut up in a smoky
room without books; Pascal did his best work when
he was an invalid and had to scribble on any paper
he had at hand.

And think of Marcel Proust, asthmatic and dying,
who could write well only when, bedridden, he lay
half-suffocating in a room hazy with inhalations, his
bedclothes serving as his desk.

You may well wonder about Proust and Pascal: Would
health have helped them as much as illness did? The
need to make every moment count, the anguish of being
perhaps unable to finish, the having to break off, the
forgetting, suffering, sudden flashes of insight — all
these accompaniments to a physical ailment stimulated
their minds.

Epicurus was an invalid, too, and sat in a rose-laurel
garden, only rising now and then to note down some
thought. Lucretius was undoubtedly even more seriously
ill. St. Paul wrote, ". . . we are being hampered
everywhere, yet still have room to breathe, are hard
put to it, but never at a loss. . . ." (2 Corinthians 4:8).
Nietzsche, reflecting on the root of life, wondered about
the nature of illness, and came to see in it a means to
self-realization.

Must a person give up working when he is tired or in
pain — for example, in the lapses caused by a minor
illness? Obviously, severe illness or total destitution
makes it impossible to concentrate. But the trials of
life have their rhythms and moments of surcease
when you can find place for nonphysical work,
although it may not be termed intellectual effort.

--Jean Guitton (1901—1999)
French Catholic philosopher and theologian.
_A Student's Guide to Intellectual Work_ [1951], "Working While Tired Or Sick"

-


[Cows, on Mad Cow Disease:]
You eat us. You wear us. You sneak into the
fields and tip us over. Of course we're mad!
--Jerry Seinfeld (b. 1954)
American actor, writer, and comedian.

Even if the doctor does not give you a year, even if
he hesitates about a month, make one brave push
and see what can be accomplished in a week.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist.
_Aes Triplex_ (essay), published in _The Cornhill Magazine_ [April 1878].

Breast cancer and AIDS aren't among the leading killers. Among
diseases, breast cancer is ninth, AIDS 18th. Yet in 2001, AIDS
research got $4,439 per patient from NIH, breast cancer $290,
Parkinson's $175. Diabetes, which killed more people than AIDS
and breast cancer combined, got $41. Heart disease, the number
one killer, got just $58 per patient.
--John Stossel (b. 1947)
American television journalist and author.
_Give Me A Break_ [2005]

We achieve "active" mastery over illness and death
by delegating all responsibility for their management
to physicians, and by exiling the sick and the dying
to hospitals. But hospitals serve the convenience of
staff not patients: we cannot be properly ill in a
hospital, nor die in one decently; we can do so only
among those who love and value us. The result is
the institutionalized dehumanization of the ill,
characteristic of our age.
--Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
American psychiatrist.
_The Second Sin_ [1973], "Personal Conduct"




ILLUSIONS

.
.

see: "ERROR"
see: "REALITY"
see: "DECEPTION" for other related links


A great deal of intelligence can be invested in
ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
--Saul Bellow (1915—2005)
Canadian-born American novelist.
_To Jerusalem and Back_ [1976]

A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.
_Intuitions and Summaries of Thought_ [1862]

As long as the heart preserves desire,
the mind preserves illusion.
--Franηois-Renι de Chateaubriand (1768—1848)
French writer and diplomat.
In J. De Finod (comp.)
_A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness_, p. 153 [1880].

We do not like those who unmask our illusions.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"Character" in _Lectures and Biographical Sketches_ [1883].

Illusions commend themselves to us because they
save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead.
We must therefore accept it without complaint when
they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against
which they are dashed to pieces.
--Sigmund Freud (1856—1939)
Austrian psychiatrist.
_Reflections on War and Death_ [1918]

The illusion that times that were are better than
those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.
--Horace Greeley (1811—1872)
American newspaper editor.
_The American Conflict_, ch. I [1864—1866]

Of all the illusions that beset mankind, none is quite so
curious as that tendency to suppose that we are mentally
and morally superior to those who differ from us in opinion.
--Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915)
American editor, publisher, and author who
died in the sinking of the "Lusitania."
"The Philistine" (mag.) [March 1903]

If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves,
it is because self-knowledge is painful and
we prefer the pleasures of illusion.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist (grandson of T.H. Huxley.)
_The Perennial Philosophy_, ch. 9 [1946]

Rob the average man of his life-illusion, and you
rob him of his happiness at the same stroke.
--Henrik Ibsen (1828—1906)
Norwegian playwright.
_The Wild Duck_, act V [1884]

An illusion of depth often occurs if a blockhead
is a muddlehead at the same time.
--Karl Kraus (1874—1936)
Austrian satirist.
_Aphorisms_

The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside
from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify
error, if error seduce[s] them. Whoever can supply them
with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to
destroy their illusions is always their victim.
--Gustave Le Bon (1841—1931)
French social psychologist best known for his study
of the psychological characteristics of crowds.
_The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind_ [1895]

An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.
--Arthur Miller (1915—2005)
American dramatist.
"The Year It Came Apart" in _New York_ (mag.) [30 Dec. 1974 - 6 Jan. 1975].

This world is all a fleeting show,
For man's illusion given;
The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,
There's nothing true but Heaven.
--Thomas Moore (1779—1852)
Irish poet, satirist, composer, and musician.
"This World Is All a Fleeting Show" in _Sacred Songs_ [1816].

We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the
image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality,
against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment,
because it does not fit them.
--Anaοs Nin (1903—1977)
French-born American writer.
_The Diary of Anaοs Nin: 1955-1966_ [1966]

Let her be robbed of everything rather than of her
illusions. This is the only loss from which we never
recover.
--Ouida [Maria Louise de la Ramιe] (1839—1908)
English novelist.
_Princess Napraxine_, ch. 36 [1884]

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone
you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Following the Equator_ [1897], ch. 59 "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar"




IMAGINATION

.
.

see: "DISCOVERY"
see: "DREAMS"
see: "FANTASY"
see: "THE MIND"
see: "SUCCESS"
see: "SUPERNATURAL"
see: "WONDER"


A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from
admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a
moment.
--Jane Austen (1775—1817)
English writer.
_Pride and Prejudice_, ch. 6 [1813]

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what
he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
--Variously attributed to Francis Bacon, Robert Walpole, and anon.

Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present
state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America.
Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given
us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the
automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they
became realities. So I believe that dreams — day dreams, you know,
with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing — are
likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child
will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to
invent, and therefore to foster civilization.
--L. [Lyman] Frank Baum (1856—1919)
American writer.
_The Lost Princess of Oz_ [1917]

The soul without imagination is what an
observatory would be without a telescope.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister;
[brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.]
_Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit_ [1887]

What never has been cannot be imagined.
--Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875—1950)
American novelist.
_Thuvia, Maid Of Mars_ [1920]

To treat your facts with imagination is one
thing, to imagine your facts is another.
--John Burroughs (1837—1921)
American naturalist and writer.
"24 October 1907" entry in _The Heart of Burroughs's Journals_ [1928], ed. Clara Barrus.

-

Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad,
and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom.

I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that
this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.

--G.K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton (1874—1936)
English essayist, novelist, and poet.
_Orthodoxy_, ch. 2 [1908]

-

-

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge
is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
--Albert Einstein (1879—1955)
German-American physicist who developed the
special and general theories of relativity.
"What Life Means to Einstein", an interview published
in _The Saturday Evening Post_ [29 October 1929].


Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination
will take you everywhere.
--attributed to Albert Einstein (1879—1955)
German-American physicist who developed the
special and general theories of relativity.

-

Demons do not exist any more than gods
do, being only the products of the psychic
activity of man.
--Sigmund Freud (1856—1939)
Austrian psychiatrist.
In _New York Times Magazine_ [6 May 1956].

-

And castels buylt above in lofty skies,
Which never yet had good foundation.
--George Gascoigne (c. 1535—1577)
English poet.
"Steele Glass" [1576]

& see:

How many [...] castles in the air do they build?
--Robert Burton (1577—1640)
English scholar, cleric, and author.
_The Anatomy of Melancholy_ [1621]

& see:

If you have built castles in the air, your work
need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put foundations under them.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.
"Conclusion" in _Walden_ [1854].

-

Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always
simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the
imagination.
--Ernest Hemingway (1889—1961)
American novelist.
Introduction to _Men at War_ [1942].

Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.
--Immanuel Kant (1724—1804)
Prussian philosopher.
_Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics_ [1785]

His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich.
It enabled him to run, though not to soar.
--Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859)
English politician and historian.
T.F. Ellis (ed.) _Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macauley_ [1860] "John Dryden" [1828]

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
--attributed to H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.

Often it is just lack of imagination that
keeps a man from suffering very much.
--attributed to Marcel Proust (1871—1922)
French novelist.

Men speak from knowledge, women from imagination.
--Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778)
French philosopher and novelist.
Quoted in Maturin M. Ballou
_Notable Thoughts about Women_, p. 299 [1882].

The woman who appeals to a man's vanity may stimulate him;
the woman who appeals to his heart may attract him; but it's
the woman who appeals to his imagination who *gets* him.
--attributed to Helen Rowland (1875—1950)
American writer.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that
never were. But without it, we go nowhere.
--Carl Sagan (1934—1996)
American astronomer and author.
_Cosmos_ [1980]

There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than
there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination
than in reality.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC—65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
Epistle 13 "On Groundless Fears"

Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Macbeth_, I, iii [1606]

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many
useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination
without skill gives us modern art.
--Tom Stoppard [Tomas Straussler] (b. 1937)
Czech-born British playwright.
"Artist Descending a Staircase" [1972]

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.
If you can dream it, you can become it.
--William Arthur Ward (1921—1994)
American college administrator and author.
Quoted in Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg
_The Promise of a New Day_ [1983].

Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it.
--Terry Wogan (b. 1938)
Irish radio and television broadcaster.
In "Observer" (London) [December 1984].

-----

chimerical [ky-MER-ih-kuhl; -MIR-; kih-], adjective:
1. Merely imaginary; produced by or as if by a wildly fanciful
imagination; fantastic; improbable or unrealistic.
2. Given to or indulging in unrealistic fantasies or fantastic
schemes.
Chimerical is ultimately derived from Greek khimaira,
"she-goat" or "chimera," which in Greek mythology was
a monster having the head of a lion, the body of a goat,
and the tail of a dragon.

Cockaigne [kah-KAYN], noun:
An imaginary land of ease and luxury.
Ety.: References to Cockaigne are prominent in medieval European
lore. George Ellis, in his Specimens of Early English Poets (1790),
printed an old French poem called "The Land of Cockaign" (13th
century) where "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes,
the streets were paved with pastry, and the shops supplied goods
for nothing."

fecund (adjective)
Marked by intellectual productivity.
Synonyms: prolific, fertile

phantasmagoria [fan-taz-muh-GOR-ee-uh], noun:
1. A shifting series or succession of things seen
or imagined, as in a dream.
2. Any constantly changing scene.




IMITATION

.
.

see: "CONFORMITY"


The truth is that the propensity of man to imitate
what is before him is one of the strongest parts
of his nature.
--Walter Bagehot (1826—1877)
British economist and essayist.
_Physics and Politics_ [1872]

Children have never been very good at listening
to their elders, but they have never failed to
imitate them.
--James Baldwin (1924—1987)
American author and playwright.
_Nobody Knows My Name_, ch. 3 [1961]

A man after his own heart.
--Bible
"The First Book of Samuel" 13:14

-

My child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

(Refrain)

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

(Refrain)

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."

And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

(Refrain)

--Harry Chapin (1942—1981)
American singer and songwriter.
_Cat's in the Cradle_ [1974]
(Lyrics by Harry and Sandra Chapin.)

-

The original writer is not he who refrains from
imitating others, but he who can be imitated
by none.
--Franηois-Renι de Chateaubriand (1768—1848)
French writer and diplomat.
_Le Gιnie du Christianisme_, pt. 2, bk. I, ch. 3 [1802]

-

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CCXVII [1820]

& note:

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form
of flattery. ... If you want to influence someone,
listen to what he says.
--Dr. Joyce Brothers [Joyce Diane Bauer] (b. 1927)
American psychologist and advice columnist.
Attributed in William Safire, Leonard Safir (eds.)
_Words of Wisdom: More Good Advice_, p. 221 [1989].

-

The young always have the same problem — how to
rebel and conform at the same time. They have now
solved this by defying their parents and copying one
another.
--Quentin Crisp [Denis Pratt] (1908—1999)
English writer.
_The Naked Civil Servant_, ch. 19 [1968]

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad
poets deface what they take, and good poets
make it into something better.
--T.S. Eliot (1888—1965)
Anglo-American poet, critic, and dramatist.
_The Sacred Wood_ [1920] "Philip Massinger"

Insist on yourself; never imitate.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_Essays: First Series_ [1841], "Self-Reliance"

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead
of a second-rate version of somebody else.
--attributed to Judy Garland [Frances Gumm] (1922—1969)
American motion-picture singer and actress.

When people are free to do as they
please, they usually imitate each other.
--Eric Hoffer (1902—1983)
American longshoreman, philosopher,
and author who received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1982.
_The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms_ [1955]

We are all easily taught to imitate what is base and depraved.
--Juvenal (c. 55—130)
Roman satirist.
_Satires_, XIV. 40

To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.
--Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742—1799)
German scientist and drama critic.
"Notebook E", Aphorism 11 _Aphorisms_, 1765—1799

Monkey see, monkey do.
--"Mansfield News" (Ohio) [4 January 1920]

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.
--Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121—180)
Roman emperor [161—180] and Stoic philosopher.
_Meditations_ Book VI, Number 6

If you live with a cripple, you will learn to limp.
--Plutarch (A.D. 46?—119?)
Greek philosopher and biographer.
_Moralia_ [c. 100], "The Education of Children"

Do as I say, not as I do.
--John Selden (1584—1654)
English historian.
_Table Talk_ [1689]

Anything Sam Cooke did I would do ... apart
from getting shot in a hotel room by a hooker.
--Rod Stewart (b. 1945)
English singer and songwriter.
Quoted in Raymond Obstfeld's
_Jabberrock_ [1997], "Friends and Enemies".

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
The most original writers borrowed from one
another. The instruction we find in books is
like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors,
kindle it at home, communicate it to others
and it becomes the property of all.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
Quoted in Hialmer D. Gould & Edward L. Hessenmueller
_Best Thoughts of Best Thinkers_, p. 576 [1904].

Paradox though it may seem — and paradoxes are always dangerous
things — it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art
imitates life.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
"The Decay of Lying: A Dialogue" in _Littell's Living Age_ [16 February 1889].

If I try to be like him, who will be like me?
--Yiddish Proverb

-----

emulate (verb) ['em-yuh-leyt]
To imitate, to try to equal or do better than someone or something.

epigone [EP-uh-gohn], noun:
An inferior imitator, especially of some distinguished
writer, artist, musician, or philosopher.

ersatz [AIR-sahts; UR-sats], adjective:
Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.

mimetic [mim-ET-ik], adjective:
1. Apt to imitate; given to mimicry; imitative.
2. Characterized by mimicry.



IMMATURITY

.
.

see: "IMPULSIVE"
see: "INEXPERIENCE"
see: "MATURITY"
see: "YOUTH"


Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home
in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935)
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
Quoted in Ashton Applewhite et al
_And I Quote: The Definitive Collection..._, p. 386 [1992].

It's not that age brings childhood back again,
Age merely shows what children we remain.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
_Faust_ [1808-1832], "Prelude in the Theater"

Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.
--Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard (1868—1930)
American humorist.
Attributed in Herbert V. Prochnow
_Speaker's Handbook of Epigrams and Witticisms_ [1955].

-----

callow (adj.) ['kζ-lo]
Immature, inexperienced, having not
reached adulthood, as a callow youth.

jejune [juh-JOON], adjective:
1. Lacking in nutritive value.
2. Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity; childish.
3. Lacking interest or significance; dull; meager; dry.

mardy (adj.) ['mahr-dee]
(Dialectal, slang) Spoilt, sulky, whinging (['win-jing]-that's "whining" to
North Americans). In the northern counties and Midlands of Great Britain,
and in Australia and New Zealand, it is also used to refer to someone
who's easily scared or upset.

unfledged [uhn-FLEJD], adjective:
1. Lacking the feathers necessary for flight.
2. Not fully developed; immature.

puerile (adj.) ['pwe-rκl or 'pwe-rIl]
Related to early childhood; juvenile, childish, immature.


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