Daily Dose

From The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

FEAR

"Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their invisible enemies."

From Book One, Chapter XI

The Evening Primrose

Daily Dose

From The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

FOOTNOTE

"See the triumph of Aurelian, described by Vopiscus. He relates the particulars with his usual minuteness; and on this occasion they happen to be interesting. Hist. August. 220 [xxvi. 33]."

From Volume One, Chapter XI

Pansies

Daily Dose

From Room Temperature, by Nicholson Baker

PROPER

"To force myself into the proper mental state, I tried to draw my mouth from my tongue's point of view, hoping to convey my tongue's persistently mistaken notion that the teeth formed two complete circles."

From Chapter Seven

On Cutting the Hair

Daily Dose

From How to Keep Your Cool: Am Ancient Guide to Anger Management, by Seneca, translated by James Romm

IT'S CLEAR

"It's clear in the case of the rich, the nobility, and office holders that whenever something light and empty arises in the mind, it gathers momentum like a ship in a favorable breeze."

From page 41