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Oh, if only my daughters’ school could be selected as a testing ground for these very cool sounding toys, er, learning devices! Everyone will want to read the iLiad now! Almost wish I was back in school . . . It’s classical literature like we’ve never seen it before. Even university kids are benefiting, as Sony donates ereaders to study ebook usage by graduates and undergraduates. My prediction is that ebook usage will increase. Heck, I’d love to help them discover why readers “have been resistant to reading full-length books in electronic form” – any guesses?

Ah, to be in school now. To have such technology at my fingertips. Instead I was forced to hold my Lous L’Amour paperbacks tucked into my textbooks held atop my desk, held aslant between my teachers and my eye so to appear as if I followed them in rapt attention.  Though I’d lose my textbook disguises, I’d gain 50 pre-installed classics (I wonder who chose them, who defined ‘classics’?), and countless opportunities to read far more than a single book at any given moment.

True, I’d miss the colorful covers, the easy slide and fit in a rear pocket, and the naturalness of taking a paperback anywhere (doctor’s office or tree branch). But to be able to carry 100+ books in my hand at the same time, all ready to be searched, notes able to be written and erased at will . . . . perhaps it is time for this old dog to return to school and learn a new trick or two.

I love quotes. I have a large collection that I started in high school, handwriting each quote into an over-sized ledger that I’ve kept in my desk all these years. I’ve protected pages with contact paper, written my favorites on the front and end pages, cited those who are famous and those who are but family . . . overall, striving to carefully maintain a string of consecutively striking statements that moved me in some way. There is no rhyme or reason to the collection, no easily search-able format; just a numerical listing entered as I discovered the quote. I’ve fallen behind in entering them, merely sticking scraps of paper, rumpled napkins, torn sections of grocery bags, whatever I may have scratched the words on, into the ledger until now it bulges with words of wit and wisdom. I’ve a fairly decent memory (at least for now), so I often can quickly find any particular thought I’m seeking. Anyway, I love quotes, and find it interesting to follow their lives, as many are often repeated by each generation or each new ‘rising leader’ in whatever public arena one may be currently embroiled. The travels of some quotes are as interesting to follow as the trail of an American dollar bill that some people find so fascinating. But sometimes quotes – like people’s words at any time – get distorted, or misapplied, or mistaken. If there is ever a doubt or any sense that things may not be as they are depicted, finding the root is usually in one’s best interest. So I’m rather curious as to how this

It is not, perhaps, unreasonable to conclude, that a pure and perfect democracy is a thing not attainable by man, constituted as he is of contending elements of vice and virtue, and ever mainly influenced by the predominant principle of self-interest. It may, indeed, be confidently asserted, that there never was that government called a republic, which was not ultimately ruled by a single will, and, therefore, (however bold may seem the paradox,) virtually and substantially a monarchy. ~ Alexander Fraser Tytler, as listed by Bartleby.com

has become this

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• From spiritual faith to great courage;
• From courage to liberty;
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy;
• From apathy to dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage.
  ~ allegedly quoted from Alexander Tyler’s book The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic (both apparently nonexistent)

While both quotes are most certainly startling and serious statements, a study of the second’s lineage reveals that all is not as it may seem. I’ve no need to pursue a vast quantity of research of my own, as Loren Collins (who must enjoy chasing and unraveling balls of string to their aggravating ends) has done an admirable job of it in his own thorough search for the truth. It’s a fascinating read, I recommend it, though it is long.

As Collins concludes, “Perhaps the words speak the truth of democratic governments; or perhaps they do not.” It is up to each of us individually to make our own determinations, for, while it is disheartening to be unable to confirm the veracity of these quotes, there is truth to their analysis. How we choose to interpret and ultimately react to it is upon us.

For those with any interest in or requirement for the perfect quote(s) for any occasion or topic, I personally recommend both Bartleby and The Quotations Page. With that, I’ll leave you with a properly verified and cited quote that does offer some perspective:

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. ~ Sir Winston Churchill, Hansard, November 11, 1947, as listed by The Quotations Page