A Tribute to abra a collection of her comments

[LLapp]

(I apologize to abra for including such a horrid quote in this collection, but her comments are delightful.)


"The idea of seeing another person experience the same pleasure reduces one to a kind of equality which spoils the unutterable charms that come from despotism." — Marquis de Sade

abra
August 8, 2014, 12:05 pm
shudder, barf, what a vile person.

LLapp
December 24, 2015, 8:15 pm
Sick, sick, sick.

maradnu
March 29, 2016, 7:51 am
I have a great deal of disdain for anyone who takes pleasure in the pain of another. Even more for someone who revels in that pleasure, as De Sade does.

nelnose
June 20, 2016, 1:42 pm
I bet if his victims enjoyed his "pleasures", he wouldn't have taken pleasure in them.

abra
July 6, 2016, 12:27 pm
It's a shame he didn't cross paths with some 18th century Lorena Bobbitt.

MissKitty
February 22, 2018, 5:45 am
what a nutterbutter kind of guy.

SippyGurl
April 16, 2018, 6:16 am
icky de sade

opallady
October 3, 2019, 7:42 pm
I love abra's comment. Go Lorena!

autumngirl
May 14, 2021, 7:30 pm

LLapp
June 10, 2021, 4:54 am
Autumngirl is silent in the spring.

abra
September 20, 2021, 2:39 am
But, I picture her being lovely in the fall.

universalmom
October 4, 2021, 1:51 pm
Somehow I didn't see "despotism" coming.

LLapp
June 30, 2022, 5:28 am
umom, isn't that always how it happens?

piefka
August 9, 2022, 3:32 pm
So close, I just want one quote where every letter is used.

abra
September 30, 2022, 8:31 pm
piefka, there is a crypto legend that there is one out there. They talk of it around campfires late at night. Children whisper about it on playrounds. I've never seen it, but I believe it's there.

Synonymous
October 28, 2022, 1:58 pm
There is one which uses all the letters and Stephen comments on it in the comments section, here it is: admin July 25, 2018, 1:39 pm I realized we didn't have any quotes in the system that used every letter in the alphabet, and figured we had to include at least one. Congrats to those who solved it! This pangram dates back at least to 1930s, and was featured in a number of typing manuals from that time as a means of testing each key stroke. "Six javelins thrown by the quick savages whizzed forty paces beyond the mark." — Rupert Pitt SoRelle

[LLapp]

August 14: Abra's Backspace Re-Comment Day

"A holiday is when you celebrate something that's all finished up, that happened a long time ago and now there's nothing left to celebrate but the dead." — Abraham Polonsky

abra
August 14, 2019, 1:54 am
Oh, I think a holiday is much nicer than that.

abra
August 14, 2019, 1:55 am
I think I've discovered something new and fun. I hope I'll get back to this quote again sometime soon.

LLapp
December 4, 2019, 2:51 am
Abra, what happened?

mistyswiss
August 18, 2020, 6:02 pm
Will you tell us in the twilight zone?

writeon
September 5, 2020, 8:24 am
For me, just solving a cryptogram is cause for celebration. It's like a holiday when I get above average!

writeon
September 6, 2020, 1:22 pm
For me, just solving a cryptogram is cause for a holiday celebration when I get above an average score.

abra
October 11, 2021, 3:06 am
Wow, the cat has been let out of the bag now. I'm just really surprised to look back now and see this was on my birthday.

LLapp
August 22, 2022, 1:13 am
Abra, this thread is historic! This is where you discovered how to time-travel back to the same thread and leave a second comment. I say we make August 14th a holiday.

abra
September 21, 2022, 2:43 am
LOL. Oh you're a holiday, such a holiday --Barry Gibb and Robin Hugh Gibb.

[Eureka]

(No wonder abra didn't like creepy crawlies.)

"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees. " — Marcus Aurelius


montyb
March 13, 2020, 8:37 am
Last summer while mowing the lawn I literally walked into the midst of a swarm of migrating bees that wasn’t there five minutes before. It decided that our sweet gum tree would be a nice place to rest. The bee keeper who collected them estimated the swarm to be around 10,000. It’s a good thing that the bees were so engorged with honey that they couldn’t bend their abdomens enough to sting.


abra
October 3, 2020, 1:10 am
Monty that would have been terrifying to me. when I was a preschooler I walked into a bumble bee nest. I've been terrified of bees, and all stinging insects since then. I'm glad your bees were very full.

[Eureka]

(The comments abra left about WRQ9 always made me smile.)

"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. " — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

WRQ9
June 9, 2013, 5:21 pm
This is the sort of necessary ambiguity that returns the appearance of reason to the arsenal of abject cruelty.

abra
June 15, 2020, 10:58 pm
I do miss WRQ9. That was one of his most splendid examples. He gave that jar of words a really good shake. I really do miss him though. He was never snarky or mean.

[Synonymous]

"True love is quiescent, except in the nascent moments of true humility."
— Bryant H. McGill


Comments on this Puzzle:
abra
September 5, 2018, 2:19 pm
Born with a silver Thesaurus in his mouth.
jimbo42
November 1, 2018, 10:15 am
this quote should end up solved in very few seconds by a well known solver
CryptoB
February 1, 2019, 11:18 am
Love it, abra
LLapp
March 25, 2019, 12:08 am
Silver Thesaurus - hahaha, I want one!
skeeter
March 30, 2019, 8:29 pm
One of your best, abra.
puffybob
December 18, 2019, 4:39 am
I think McGill stole this from WRQ9
rasbury
July 15, 2020, 11:42 pm
I wonder if that works for him as a pick-up line.
kb83
February 4, 2021, 10:36 am
this quote makes me reminiscent about my luminescent and fluorescent years as an adolescent,
skeeter
April 28, 2022, 3:11 am
And still funny, abra.
hrossa
January 14, 2023, 11:59 am
Still funny, and she is sorely missed.

[LLapp]

"If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part." — Richard Feynman

LLapp
October 6, 2018, 9:16 pm
Science is a never-ending question. The mindset that believes uncertainty is proof of weakness completely misses the value and the role of science.

pickleball
May 11, 2019, 3:24 pm
who amongst us had to cut up a frog in science

Eureka
July 18, 2019, 8:26 pm
I did, pickleball. I still remember the smell of the formaldehyde.

abra
September 15, 2019, 2:37 am
I did. I also had the really good looking, Harvard grad teacher, grab my hand and Make me touch the worm. I took Natural Science and Biology one. I will never have a speck of the love for science so many of you have. If I had gone on I probably would have blown up the Chemistry Lab.

LLapp
February 3, 2020, 4:43 am
Abra, that was great.

[hrossa]

"Cheerfulness, sir, is the principal ingredient in the composition of health." — Arthur Murphy

abra
July 16, 2018, 12:25 pm
Brand new puzzle. My 25 seconds beats a 150 second guest record. Thanks for adding new quotes, Stephen.

Fudi
August 5, 2018, 2:50 pm
Abra - you've still got this one at 25 seconds. I'm 10 seconds behind you at 35.

nanrich
August 7, 2018, 6:32 am
Sorry Abra. But you can get it back.

abra
September 7, 2018, 6:48 pm
nanrich, if you have been here, I absolutely can not get it back. I bow to your greatness. And I am humbled that you spoke to me. o)

Eureka
August 8, 2019, 1:44 pm
Getting a comment from nanrich is quite an accomplishment, abra! I'd say it ranks right up there with seeing the Baron!

[Eureka]

"Men are irrelevant. Women are happy or unhappy, fulfilled or unfulfilled, and it has nothing to do with men." — Fay Weldon

abra
January 22, 2018, 3:35 pm
I disagree with the quote. It may be true for some women but not all. I can't imagine that I would be very happy without someone to share my life with. In my case that would be a man. My husband and son and his family are relevant to my happiness.

[Eureka]

"You will find that if you really try to be a father, your child will meet you halfway." — Robert Brault

iltquilt
September 14, 2012, 12:21 am
I never had to "try" to be a mother; do men truly have to "try" to be fathers? Come on. This guy is so corny.

jnoodles
May 23, 2013, 10:16 am
Yes. Clearly they absolutely do. Quite apqrt from this man's alleged corniness. Fathers live with the sure knowledge that their children may become the stepchildren of another man any day and do not have the sort of bioslogic bond that women do. Conscious effort is required. My Dad didn't do it. Many don't. It is a simple truth. There are women out there like this as well. Just fewer.

abra
September 11, 2017, 2:42 pm
My husband is an excellent father now, and when our son was growing up. I'm sure the specter of a step-father never crossed his mind, nor did he have any doubt about paternity. I really hope that he is in the majority. It's so sad otherwise.

[LLapp]

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." — Marcel Proust

silveryaspen
June 30, 2009, 2:29 pm
lovely thought .... and such people are lovely to be around

montyb
September 17, 2013, 11:47 am
How fortunate to be married to one such person.

wvwoman
March 29, 2014, 8:58 pm
oh, monty, that's so sweet!

Quizzical
June 9, 2014, 1:36 pm
Happy for you, Monty. I am too.

abra
May 12, 2015, 9:56 am
Lovely quote.

abra
March 22, 2016, 7:38 am
We just had our St. Patrick's Day corned beef dinner, with our son's family. I truly am grateful to them for making me happy. My grandsons are wonderful kids.

[Eureka]

"A woman asks little of love: only that she be able to feel like a heroine." — Mignon McLaughlin

BrainCellKeeper
January 17, 2015, 3:34 pm
I don't need to feel like a heroine; this is a load of bull.

abra
May 21, 2015, 2:11 pm
Okay, we'll start a list. All women who don't need to feel like a heroine, feel free to sign :0) I've never given it any thought, but I don't mind it.

LLapp
January 4, 2018, 3:12 pm
I like feeling like a heroine, like I made all the difference for him -- and the truth is he and I both know I did. And he likes quietly feeling like a hero, like he changed my life forever for the good -- and the truth is he and I both know he did. And then we lived happily ever after, and the night and the morning were the next day, when came the coffee brewing and we began again.

montyb
January 10, 2020, 9:51 am
I tried to make my wife feel like a heroine, but she refused to wear the Wonder Woman costume.

abra
April 29, 2020, 1:59 am
I know that I'm my husband's hero. Because he's told me so many times. So BrainCellKeeper, do you want to reconsider. Being a heroine is fun, but there's no right answer.

[Eureka]

"More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you've been bad and good." — Linda Sunshine

abra
July 18, 2018, 6:42 pm
I guess I used to rat out my sisters to my mom, but I would never have ratted them out to Santa.

contessawin22
February 9, 2021, 7:06 am
Well, abra, you had your priorities right!!!

[Eureka]

"On the one hand, we'll never experience childbirth. On the other hand, we can open all our own jars." — Bruce Willis


abra
February 2, 2018, 6:16 pm
Looks like its a win-win for the guys team.

[LLapp]

"If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery from others would not harm us." — Proverb

marnita
July 1, 2017, 2:02 pm
If I did not flatter myself, no one would.

abra
December 8, 2018, 5:55 pm
Do you know, even though we disagree about so much, and my commas make you shiver, I think flattering things about you all the time?

[LLapp]

"To remind a man of the good turns you have done him is very much like a reproach." — Demosthenes

Eureka
December 17, 2020, 7:27 pm
Remember that time I drove you to the airport, Demosthenes, during rush hour In a blizzard?

Fudi
October 24, 2021, 12:13 pm
Demosthenes: I do, Eureka. There was that one hairpin turn that you took kind of fast. That was a good turn. Exciting. Made me feel alive. Thanks!

abra
November 18, 2021, 2:09 am
Oh, sure, Demo, you remember Eureka driving you to the airport, but who was it who loaded up the truck and helped you to move across Athens? You didn't even spring for McGyros.