Things that Bansai left for us

[Toeprint]

""Carpe Diem" does not mean "fish of the day.""
— Unattributed

bansaisequoia
February 23, 2012, 9:13 pm
Carpathians are not fish who don't believe in God.
badbob
June 6, 2018, 9:12 pm
if our favorite whipping boy Jack Handey said this the comments would have been much different.BTW bansai has earned the right to speak any way he wants he is the king of cryptos

[Toeprint]

"He who doesn't risk never gets to drink champagne."
— Assyrian Proverb

maradnu
February 21, 2009, 1:12 am
How can that be an Assyrian proverb? Champagne was not even developed until the late 1600s, and the Assyrian empire had been gone for 2500 years, by then.
bansaisequoia
June 13, 2009, 3:43 pm
Possibly it's a matter of translation. For example, "corn" is mentioned in certain versions of the Bible, but other versions use the word "grain." Obviously, there was no maize in the Old World until after Columbus opened the can of worms. Perhaps the Assyrians had some sort of similar sparkling white beverage.
maradnu
July 9, 2009, 12:34 am
Bansai, if you do the etymology, corn was used as a term for grain in English prior to that word being applied to maize.

[Toeprint]

"Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet. "
— Proverb

bansaisequoia
July 18, 2013, 1:03 pm
I tested it by drinking it unboiled.
Quizzical
April 9, 2014, 2:42 pm
How did that come out in the end?
chopstix
September 12, 2014, 5:47 am
It probably came out in the end :P
318WOZ
August 7, 2020, 9:57 pm
Perhaps it came out both ends!

[Toeprint]

"Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness. "
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

rosalita
March 17, 2009, 1:27 pm
I find cryptograms that are so long they can't be seen without paging down... tedious
bansaisequoia
August 18, 2009, 9:57 pm
If you find that to be a problem, press F11. Your taskbars and toolbars will disappear and more of the quote will be seen on the screen. If you want your taskbars and toolbars to reappear, simply press F11 again.
universalmom
May 25, 2012, 12:21 am
Whoa bansai...I know you wrote this almost 3 years ago, but it was really helpful
abra
August 31, 2013, 10:05 am
I never knew that. Thanks bansai! I always do control minus to make it smaller. This is better.
Lurker
June 11, 2014, 12:43 pm
The equal sign will also center the quote and put the cursor at the first letter. Not sure if that's enough to keep this one in full view, though. It's really long.
marnita
August 4, 2014, 4:27 pm
We can all learn a lot from bansai!
wordfairy
May 19, 2015, 10:10 pm
Bansai, you're a blessing! Ste.-Exupery's comment is certainly thought-provoking, and seems to have spiritual significance.

[Toeprint]

"A small town is a place where there is no place to go where you shouldn't."
— Burt Bacharach

opallady
August 25, 2009, 2:49 pm
Or if there is, everyone will know about it.
bonsaisequoia
February 9, 2010, 4:01 am
And if you go to the cathouse, all the yokels will talk about it on their CBs after they pick it up on their police scanners. (You might be a redneck if...)
bansaisequoia
May 22, 2011, 4:35 am
Burt Bacharach is probably so rich, he lives in a quiet little exurb of well-to-do persons. The zoning laws probably prohibit any places to go "where you shouldn't."

[Toeprint]

"Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train. Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you're just sitting still?"
— J. Paul Getty

bansaisequoia
October 10, 2012, 9:48 pm
I'm going sixty light-years per hour, the company is standing still, and they're putting cows on my train tracks, trying to warp everything back to the Stone Age. Funny you should ask, J. Paul. (and you're no Sartre!)

[Toeprint]

"Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead."
— Charles Bukowski

bansaisequoia
June 22, 2010, 5:14 pm
I didn't GO crazy--I was born this way.

[Toeprint]

"A period is just the beginning of a lifelong sentence."
— Cathy Crimmins

kb83
June 13, 2014, 3:39 am
And then you may have trouble with your colon also.
JD_1947
November 16, 2014, 2:47 pm
I had an operation and only have a semi-colon . . .
bansaisequoia
January 27, 2017, 11:43 am
You could have a spell of irritable vowel syndrome.

[Toeprint]

"It's like being a Knight of the Garter. It's an honor, but it doesn't hold up anything."
— Fulton John Sheen

pootie49
July 30, 2009, 11:33 pm
on y soit qui mal y pense
LiveLoveLaugh
November 8, 2009, 3:54 pm
Honi soit qui mal y pense evil to him who thinks evil
pootie49
January 10, 2010, 4:29 pm
its inscribed in the garter itself.
bansaisequoia
January 5, 2011, 7:17 pm
I always thought garters held up stockings.

[Toeprint]

"History is a kind of introduction to more interesting people than we can possibly meet in our restricted lives; let us not neglect the opportunity."
— Dexter Perkins

fredsevent
September 19, 2011, 6:08 am
Interacting with live people should be more interesting (and stimulating) than history. Come down from your tower and live!
bansaisequoia
May 22, 2012, 7:23 pm
10-star comment, Fred.

[Toeprint]

"Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot."
— Clarence Thomas

bansaisequoia
January 1, 2011, 4:44 pm
Nepotism, cronyism and favoritism will open doors that the best education cannot.

--- --- --- --- ---

"The "haves" and "have nots" can be traced back to the "dids" and "did nots.""
— Anthony Kulco

bansaisequoia
May 7, 2012, 3:01 pm
That is, did not have the unearned advantage of cronyism, favoritism or nepotism.

[Toeprint]

"Nothing begins, and nothing ends, that is not paid with moan; For we are born in others' pain, and perish in our own. "
— Francis Thompson

bansaisequoia
October 11, 2009, 2:10 am
"Paid with moan?" What a freakin' sweet world that would be. I can see myself at Best Buy now. " But I don't have enough money to pay for this 50-inch plasma HDTV. I was just laid off from my job. I worked so hard so I could get a TV. Can't I just take it home? " Cashier:"Thanks for making your purchase at Best Buy today, sir. Have a nice day!"

[Toeprint]

"It has been our policy not to use obscenities in the paper. It's a harmless little eccentricity of ours."
— A. M. Rosenthal

maradnu
June 28, 2009, 1:13 am
Who the **** thought that up?
bansaisequoia
December 24, 2009, 6:37 am
The editor of the New York Times. "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."--Ann Coulter

[Toeprint]

"We are the people our parents warned us about. "
— Unattributed

maradnu
March 28, 2009, 1:29 am
I always liked Walt Kelly's "We have met the enemy and he is us."
bansaisequoia
July 15, 2009, 10:18 pm
Walt Kelly allegedly wrote that to satirize a guy who came from my hometown in Wisconsin, Senator Tailgunner Joe McCarthy. (link)
bansaisequoia
September 15, 2010, 6:54 pm
Good thing Walt wasn't blacklisted.

[Toeprint]

"The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble. "
— Blaise Pascal

bansaisequoia
December 3, 2009, 5:36 am
"American public opinion is like an ocean, it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon."--Hubert H Humphrey