I have reacquainted myself with Charles Fort - a seriously fun guy.
And wise in many ways.
Some quotes -
“[Wise men] have tried to understand our state of being, by grasping at its stars, or its arts, or its economics. But,
if there is an underlying oneness of all things, it does not matter where we begin, whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte.
One measures a circle, beginning anywhere.” - Charles Fort,
Lo!
“I sent letters of enquiry to all persons whose names were given, and received not one reply. There are several ways of explaining. One is that it is probable that persons who have experiences such as those told of in this book, receive so many "crank letters" that they answer none. Dear me — once upon a time, I enjoyed a sense of amusement and superiority toward "cranks". And now here am I, a "crank", myself. Like most writers, I have the moralist somewhere in my composition, and here I warn —
take care, oh, reader, with whom you are amused, unless you enjoy laughing at yourself.” ―
Charles Fort,
Wild Talents
“
But some of us have been educated by surprises out of much that we were 'absolutely sure' of...”
―
Charles Fort,
Lo!
"
We cannot define. Nothing has ever been finally figured out, because there is nothing final to figure out”
―
Charles Fort
“Is life worth living? Like everybody else, I have many times asked that question, usually deciding negatively, because I am most likely to ask myself whether life is worth living, at times when I am convinced it isn't. One day, in one of my frequent, and probably incurable, scientific moments, it occurred to me to find out. For a month, at the end of each day, I set down a plus sign, or a minus sign, indicating that, in my opinion, life had, or had not, been worth living, that day. At the end of the month, I totted up, and I can't say that I was altogether pleased to learn that the pluses had won the game.
It is not dignified to be optimistic.” ―
Charles Fort,
Wild Talents
“I had used all except peach labels. I pasted the peach labels on peach cans, and then came to apricots. Well, aren't apricots peaches? And there are plums that are virtually apricots.
I went on, either mischievously, or scientifically, pasting the peach labels on cans of plums, cherries, string beans, and succotash. I can't quite define my motive, because to this day it has not been decided whether I am a humourist or a scientist. I think that it was mischief, but, as we go along, there will come a more respectful recognition that also it was scientific procedure.”
―
Charles Fort,
Wild Talents
