My Commonplace Book

“An election’s nothing more than a popularity contest, and popularity’s hardly a measure of any kind of administrative ability.” – David and Leigh Eddings, Polgara the Sorceress

“It’s an article of the religion of every adolescent that he – or she knows far more than his elders; the half-formed mind suffers fools almost ecstatically.” – David and Leigh Eddings, Polgara the Sorceress

“Time, the slow, measured passage of years, is not exactly what we think it is. Humans tend to break time up into manageable pieces – night and day, the turning of the seasons, the passage of years, centuries, eons – but in actuality time is all one piece, a river flowing endlessly from the beginning toward some incomprehensible goal.” – David and Leigh Eddings, Polgara the Sorceress

“The notion that any one person can describe ‘what really happened’ is an absurdity. If ten – or a hundred – people witness an event, there will be ten – or a hundred – different versions of what took place. What we see and how we interpret it depends entirely upon our individual past experience.” – David and Leigh Eddings, Polgara the Sorceress

“A little word of caution here, if you don’t mind. When you know that something’s going to happen, you’ll start trying to see signs of its approach in just about everything. Always try to remember that most of the things that happen in this world aren’t signs. They happen because they happen, and their only real significance lies in normal cause and effect. You’ll drive yourself crazy if you start trying to pry the meaning out of every gust of wind or rain squall. I’m not denying that there might actually be a few signs that you won’t want to miss. Knowing the difference is the tricky part.” – David and Leigh Eddings, Belgarath the Sorcerer