Mystery Quote Item-- Fall Edition

Sep 23 21:32 UTC 1997

This is the Fall Mystery quote item...usually very popular though the
summer versio
n seems to have died backin August.

Here's a quote to start off with:

"Something, some spirit was pursuing all of us across the desert of life
and was bound to catch us before we reached heaven.  Naturally, now that I
look back on it, this was only death.  Death will overtake us before
heaven.  The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us
sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance
of some lost bliss, that was probably experienced in the womb, and can
only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death"

response 2 of 250:

Sep 24 04:30 UTC 1997

<agora18=books64>

response 4 of 250:

Sep 24 10:31 UTC 1997

(Thanks for linking, Jim.)

response 6 of 250:

Sep 24 18:38 UTC 1997

Its morst horrifying  to atlest look at a person who is booking
his choice of shares , watching the scripts and talking to the broker
while driving in left lane on a highway!  
Well there may be advantages of getting moving phones ...!!!

response 8 of 250:

Sep 25 20:29 UTC 1997

If I'm not mistaken, Richard, you entered a Kerouac quote at least twice
before.  You're becoming predictable.  <g>  I'll try to come up with a quote
before I log on next.

response 10 of 250:

Sep 26 10:13 UTC 1997

That *is* a bit striking, and thought-provoking. I like it.

Richard entered the first quote but neglected to mention the
rules of the game, so for the benefit of newcomers I'll do so.

The person who's "it" enters a quote from a published work; it
can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, anything. People
then try to guess the author of the quote (it is not necessary
to name the specific work). The first person to guess correctly
is "it" and gets to give the next quote.

When making a guess, it's nice to explain the reasons for your
guess. That way we all learn a little more about literature.

If people are having trouble guessing the correct author, it's
customary for the person who entered the quote to give a hint
or two, or to enter another quote by the same author.

response 12 of 250:

Sep 27 00:10 UTC 1997

Ok, here's my quote:

   'You have never done any Latin before, have you?' he said.
   'No, sir.'
   'This is a Latin grammar.'  He opened it at a well-thumbed page.  'You must
learn this,' he said, pointing to a number of words in a frame of lines.  'I
will come back in half an hour and see what you know.'
   Behold me then on a gloomy evening, with an aching heart, seated in front
of the First Declension.

/---------------------------------------\
|  Mensa   |  a table                   |
|  Mensa   |  O table                   |
|  Mensam  |  a table                   |
|  Mensae  |  of a table                |
|  Mensae  |  to or for a table         |
|  Mensa   |  by, with or from a table  |
\---------------------------------------/

   What on earth did it mean?  Where was the sense of it?  It seemed
absolute rigmarole to me.  However, there was one thing I could always
do:  I could learn by heart.  And I thereupon proceeded, as far as my
private sorrows would allow, to memorise the acrostic-looking task which
had been set me. 
   In due course the Master returned.
   'Have you learnt it?' he asked.
   'I think I can *say* it, sir,' I replied; and I gabbled it off.
   He seemed so satisfied with this that I was emboldened to ask a
question.
   'What does it mean, sir?'
   'It means what it says.  Mensa, a table.  Mensa is a noun of the First
Declension.  There are five declensions.  You have learnt the singular of
the First Declension.'
   'But,' I repeated, 'What does it mean?'
   'Mensa means a table,' he answered.
   'Then why does mensa also mean O table,' I enquired, 'and what does O
table mean?'
   'Mensa, O table, is the vocative case,' he replied.
   'But why O table?' I persisted in genuine curiosity.
   'O table, - you would use that in addressing a table, in invoking a
table.'  And then seeing that he was not carrying me with him, 'You would
use it in speaking to a table.'
   'But I never do,' I blurted out in honest amazement.

response 14 of 250:

Sep 27 12:59 UTC 1997

<remmers wonders who Margery Sharp is>

<remmers also has no clue on this one, but thinks it's a neat
 quote>

response 16 of 250:

Sep 27 20:23 UTC 1997

Not Margery Sharp, with whom I'm unfamiliar.

response 18 of 250:

Sep 29 16:29 UTC 1997

Not Lewis Carroll.

response 20 of 250:

Sep 30 23:44 UTC 1997

Not James Hilton.  Here's another quote:

Having bought the colours, an easel, and a canvas, the next step was
*to begin*.  But what a step to take!  The palette gleamed with beads of
colour; fair and white rose the canvas; the empty brush hung poised, heavy
with destiny, irresolute in the air.  My hand seemed arrested by a silent
veto.  But after all the sky on this occasion was unquestionably blue, and
a pale blue at that.  There could be no doubt that blue paint mixed with white
should be put on the top part of the canvas.  One really does not need to have
an artist's training to see that.  It is a starting-point open to all.  So
very gingerly I mixed a little blue paint on the palette with a very small
brush, and then with infinite precaution made a mark about as big as a bean
upon the affronted snow-white shield.  It was a challenge, a deliberate
challenge; but so subdued, so halting, indeed so cataleptic, that it deserved
no response.  At that moment the loud approaching sound of a motor-car was
heard in the drive.  From this chariot there stepped swiftly and lightly none
other than the gifted wife of Sir John Lavery.  'Painting!  But what are you
hesitating about?  Let me have a brush - the big one.'  Splash into the
turpentine, wallop into the blue and the white, frantic flourish on the
palette - clean no longer - and then several large, fierce strokes and slashes
of blue on the absolutely cowering canvas.  Anyone could see that it could
not hit back.  No evil fate avenged the jaunty violence.  The canvas grinned
in helplessness before me.  The spell was broken.  The sickly inhibitions
rolled away.  I seized the largest brush and fell upon my victim with Berzerk
fury.  I have never felt any awe of a canvas since.

response 22 of 250:

Oct 2 17:48 UTC 1997

Not Georgia O'Keefe.  A small hint: both quotes are autobiographical.

response 24 of 250:

Oct 6 12:42 UTC 1997

I've read or heard that qoute. I just can't remember where, or more
importantly, by whom. I think it was by a famous painter. Can we have a
different clue?