Passage from the Diary of the Mad Philosopher
“Received in audience by the Most Illustrious, Most Powerful, Most Gracious, Most Reverend, her Grandeur, the Acting Head of the Human Race, whom I addressed by these her official titles, and humbly thanked her, kneeling; then by permission indicated by a gesture, rose and stood before the Throne. . . .
Her Grandeur was clothed as the Arctic skies are clothed when the northern lights flood them with their trembling waves of purple and crimson and golden flame, and through this shifting and changing dream of rich colors the flash of innumerable jewels went chasing and turning, gleaming and expiring like trains of sparks through burnt paper.”
—Mark Twain (1835–1910), as titled, from Papers from the Adam Family, published posthumously in Letters from the Earth, 1962.
evening dress
“In the case of a ship on fire, evening dress must be omitted. The true gentleman never wears evening dress at sea, even in case of a fire.”
—Mark Twain (1835–1910), From an Unfinished Burlesque of Books on Ettiquette, published posthumously in Letters from the Earth, 1962.
Ultra fashion
“Signification, etc., of the Cards
Diamonds—Independent means, and no occupation.
Hearts—Love.
Clubs—Ultra fashion.
Spades—Neutral.”
—Mark Twain (1835–1910), From an Unfinished Burlesque of Books on Ettiquette, published posthumously in Letters from the Earth, 1962.
the beautiful French custom of fetching a bouquet every day
“If proposer is defeated, he may throw up his hand or call a new deal, just as he shall prefer, or as circumstances may dictate.
But if he is elected, he must now drop into the beautiful French custom of fetching a bouquet every day. His first bouquet must be entirely white; after that, a faint shade of color (red) must be added daily. Let the tint deepen gradually day by day, and with such careful precision that there shall still remain a perceptible trace of white down to the very day before the wedding. On that day the last bouquet is delivered—and it must be absolutely red—no suggestion of other color in it anywhere.”
—Mark Twain (1835–1910), From an Unfinished Burlesque of Books on Ettiquette, published posthumously as Letters from the Earth, 1962.
the Animal that Blushes
“Man is the Animal that Blushes. He is the only one that does it, or has occasion to.”
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) from The Damned Human Race, one of the many essays published quite posthumously as Letters from the Earth, 1962.
waving a red flag
“The discussion of color has always brought some considerable risk, a fact that inspired a predecessor to say that waving a red flag before a bull will rouse him to anger, but any mention of color at all will send the philosopher into a rage.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from his Farbenlehre, or Theory of Color, 1808. Translated from the German by Douglas Miller, 1988.
a flower redder than any other
“It is said that on summer evenings certain flowers appear to sparkle, phosphoresce, or radiate a momentary light. Some observers describe these occurences in more exact detail.
I had often sought to experience this for myself, even contriving several experimens in an attempt to produce it.
On the evening of June 19, 1799, I was strolling through the garden with a friend just as twilight was passing into cloudless night. We distinctly saw something flamelike appear close to some oriental poppies, a flower redder than any other. We stood in front of the plants and observed them closely but were unable to see anything more; at last we succeeded in repeating the effect at will by walking to and fro while looking at them sideways. It became evident that this was a phenomenon of physiological color and that the apparent flashing was really the afterimage of the flower in the required blue-green color.
Looking directly at a flower will not cause this phenomenon, although it will apear when the gaze wanders. Viewed obliquely, however, the flower produces a momentary double image in which the afterimage is seen just next to and touching the actual form.
In the dim light of dusk the eye is completely rested and receptive, while the color of the poppy is strong enough to maintain its full effect in the twilight of midsummer. Thus it can call forth a complementary image.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from his Farbenlehre, or Theory of Color, 1808. Translated from the German by Douglas Miller, 1988.
the younger researcher
“Once, toward evening, I found myself in a smithy just as the glowing metal was laid on the anvil. After gazing intently at this activity for a time, I turned and happened to look into the open doorway of a coal bin. At that moment an enormous purple form floated before my eyes; when I glanced over at a light-colored wooden wall the phoenomenon appeared half in green, half in purple depending one whether the background was light or dark. At the time I made no note of how this phenomenon faded.
The phenomena associated with the fading of an extremely bright bounded form also occur when the entire retina has been blinded by light. The purple color seen by those who have been blinded by snow belongs in this category, as does the uncommonly beautiful green color seen in dark objects after we gaze at a sheet of white paper lying in the sun. A more exact investigation of these phenomena will await the younger researcher whose eyes can still bear some hard use for the sake of science.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from his Farbenlehre, or Theory of Color, 1808. Translated from the German by Douglas Miller, 1988.
“When you are in a room it should be even more empty.”
“The German designer Dieter Rams used the metaphor of a good English butler: products should provide quiet, efficient service and otherwise fade unobtrusively into the background. (A former butler from Buckingham Palace advising the actor Anthony Hopkins on his role in the film Remains of the Day commented: ‘When you are in a room it should be even more empty.’) Rams’s designs for Braun over a forty-year period through to the mid-1990s used simple, geometric forms and basic non-colours, predominantly white, with black and grey used for details, and primary colours applied only for small and highly specific purposes, such as on/off switches. The consistent aesthtic cumulatively established by Braun was one of the most formative influences on houseware design in the late twentieth century and established instant recognition for the company that many have sought to copy but few have equalled.”
—John Heskett, from Toothpicks & Logos: Design in Everyday Life., 2002.
he beholds the light
“Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy.”
—Wordsworth. This opens Conrad Richter’s The Light in the Forest, 1953. Ironically, this is the only quote I culled from the book.