ON: IMAGINATION

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

Imagination allows us to foresee categories of truth that otherwise, when we first encounter them, may well confuse or bewitch us. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I imagine that that may well be true, but I am confused by it.  

You may find the following blog to be of interest.  http://vinlewis.typepad.com/

ON: ANIMALS VERSUS HUMANS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

There is no logic in why humans keep certain animals as pets, kill some on sight, and eat others.  However, these same reactions do explain attitudes of the common man regarding the talented and the wealthy. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

If the Creator had stopped creation with animals there would be fewer acts of cruelty and happier marriages, and no bad books---the absence of the last being the cause for the first two.    

You are invited to visit the blog listed below.  The current installment deals with the "Suicide of the West."  http://vinlewis.typepad.com/

ON: OPTIMIST VS PESSIMIST

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

An optimist is a man who believes that a pessimist can change. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

A pessimist is a man who would rather be right than happy.  

You may be interested in visiting this blog site.  http://vinlewis.typepad.com/

ON: POLITICAL DIFFERENCES

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
The Conservative sees only the discouraging defects in any proposed policy, while the Liberal sees in the same only a fantasy of pleasant progress that will cost twice as much as predicted while never becoming real.    

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
The main difference is this.  The Conservative is often ashamed of his vices, while the Liberal refuses to admit that he has any. 


Books by Vincent Lewis are obtainable on line via Amazon and Lulu.com. 

ON: HEROES

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
A dead hero is always to be desired as he can not have a disappointing second act. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
Too often a dead hero is simply a man who was not properly observant of danger.

ON: GOOD MANNERS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

Good manners means treating superiors as if they were truly better than you and treating inferiors better than they deserve. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

Good manners mean that people will be more inclined to invite you back, even when they do not have to. 

Original works by Vincent Lewis can be obtained online at Amazon and Lulu.com.  

ON: EXPERIENCE

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
The difference between an experience and a memory is that an experience changes one's life, while a memory can be changed to match the circumstances.    

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
I keep learning from experience, but hope keeps making me forget the lessons.  

Books by Vincent P Lewis are available on line at Amazon and Lulu.com.  

ON: THE ARTIST

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

If an artist seeks only to satisfy an audience, and not himself, then he is only a craftsman, concerned with function and profit, and not with eternity.   

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

An artist who seeks only to satisfy himself needs only one thing… a day job that pays well. 

Works by Vincent Lewis are available on line at Lulu.com and Amazon.  

ON: TRUE WORTH

OSCAR

It is the direction in which we face, and not how far we are from the goal in which we are interested, that determines our true worth.

MARK

Our true worth, often, is determined by the interest we earn.  

Works by the author of the blog are available via Amazon.com and Lulu.com 

ON: CIVIL SERVANTS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

Regardless of what laws are passed or regulations decreed, it is only the dedicated civil servant who actually causes all the mischief.

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

We can only be grateful that providence has produced so few of them.   

Works by Vincent Lewis are available on line at Amazon and Lulu.com

ON: CRIMINAL JUSTICE

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
It has been said that justice is better served by having nine guilty men go free than by having one innocent man suffer.  This must have been said by one of those guilty. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
A nine to one ratio of guilty to innocent...?  We are talking about Congress, are we not?


Additional wonderful works by Vincent Lewis are available online at Lulu.com and Amazon.

ON: THE USE OF HISTORY

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
Cicero wrote that history may be used to learn from the lives and mistakes of others.  I would do this... if anyone had ever lived a life as unique as I.

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
The primary purpose of history is to provide a relatively harmless function for history teachers, lest they all be forced to become insurance agents.  

Other works by Vincent Lewis are available via Amazon and Lulu.com

ON: THE SERIOUSLY RELIGIOUS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

In the openly religious hypocrisy may irritate us, but sincerity torments our souls.    

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

The seriously religious person is seriously annoying only when he is not seriously amusing.  Fortunately, this is not often. 

Works by Vincent Lewis are available online at Amazon and Lulu.com.

ON: THE YOUNGER GENERATION

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

This current younger generation is no more troubled than any other.  It is simply that they employ an advanced technology in making their whining heard. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

So the medium is the message after all. 

Works by Vincent Lewis are available online via Lulu.com and Amazon.  

ON: STEALING FROM OTHER WRITERS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

I see nothing wrong with stealing from other writers.  It does require an exceptional talent to select what to choose, and an even higher talent to conceal the theft from readers. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I wonder if he would mind if I repeated this without attribution.

ON: FEMINISM

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

The basic problem with feminists is that they MS-identify the remedies to their discontent as the causes. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

By rejecting femininity, and seeking a higher equality with males, the feminists, by necessity, assert their own inferiority.  

Works by Vincent Lewis are available on line at Amazon and Lulu.com

ON: "HISTORY WILL JUDGE"

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

“History will judge” does not mean history---which is inanimate----could judge anything.  History almost always becomes nothing more than what the publishers of history books judge will sell. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I shall be interested in how history will judge that judgment. 

Works by Vincent Lewis are available online via Lulu.com and Amazon.  

ON: PERFECTION AND SIN

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

No man is perfect.  Thank God.  How else could our gossip aobut others be so interesting?

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I had thought that my sins were only my own pleasing faults.  Now I find that I am serving others with my vices.   

Other works by Vincent Lewis are available on Lulu.com and Amazon... and sometimes ebay.    

ON: MODERN TIMES

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
A major error of modern times is that because so much more is now known we therefore believe that we make fewer errors.  


MARK TWAIN REMARKS
I could be in error, but I believe that he is.  


Books by Vin Lewis are available via Amazon and Lulu.com

ON: THEOLOGY

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

We do not want a just God, regardless of what we say in our prayers.  We want a harsh God to judge our enemies, and a merciful God to forgive our sins.  Reconciling this, without becoming polytheists, is the perpetual theological problem. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I shall not dare to comment on the nature of the Deity.  I shall simply hope that the angel bookkeeper in charge of my accounts is rather careless, or can be bribed with a cigar.  

Other works from Vincent Lewis are available on Lulu.com and Amazon.  

ON: COMPARISONS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

I never sought to be superior to others.  I sought only to satisfy my own standards.  Surpassing others was simply an unavoidable coincidence. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

I don’t compare myself to others.  My wife does woman’s work better than I.

Books by Vincent P Lewis are available on Lulu.com and Amazon.com.  

ON: CHILD VERSUS ADULT

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

With regard to the future, the child hopes, which is a natural impulse of the heart.  In contrast, the adult believes, which is an act of will, employed of necessity when facts are undeniable. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

If children were naturally wise they would hope never to grow up. 

Books by Vincent P Lewis are available on Lulu.com and Amazon.com.  

ON: SUFFERING AND HAPPINESS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

The more one has suffered in the past the more one can deal with sorrows,  and appreciate happiness, now.

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

According to Mr. Wilde, those most able to enjoy happiness are those who have had it the least. 

Books by Vincent P Lewis are available on Lulu.com and Amazon.com.  

ON: SIMPLIFICATION

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

Any attempt to simplify the nature of good poetry is as coarse and foolish as attempting to simplify the actions of the heart of a woman. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

It may not be impossible to simplify a woman… no, it is impossible!

Books by the author are available at Amazon and Lulu.com.

ON: FAVORS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
I am always grateful for small favors done for me by others.  When one is as near perfection as I, these are all anyone can do for me. 


MARK TWAIN REMARKS
When a person is able to do me a large favor, he is not willing.  And when he is willing... come to think about it, people just are not willing to do large favors.

ON: SINNERS

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES
The lesser sinner seeks repentance, because the world disapproves of his sins.  The greater sinner seeks to change the world, so that his sins will be approved.

MARK TWAIN REMARKS
I disagree.  Our world already is clearly the creation of great sinners.

ON: INSPIRATION

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

An unrestricted impulse becomes an inspiration.  An indulged inspiration then becomes creativity.  Analyzed creativity then becomes art.   

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

An unrestricted impulse becomes incarceration.

Books by the author of this blog are available at Amazon and Lulu.com.

ON: ART

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

The most difficult part of artistic creation is to imitate without slavish duplication. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

The most difficult part of artistic creation is to imitate without slavish duplication. 

Oscar’s new play, The Importance of Being the Bride of the Son of Frank-enstein, is available on Amazon and Lulu.com.  

ON: THE INTELLECTUAL

OSCAR WILDE OBSERVES

An intellectual is a man who devises new ways to misidentify old vices as revised virtues. 

MARK TWAIN REMARKS

And vice versa… or is it virtue versa? 

Oscar Wilde’s new play, Who’s Afraid of the Long Day’s Journey into the Drawing Room, is available on Amazon and Lulu.com.