Winning Words 1/7/11
“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving words of evidence to the fact.” (Mary A. Evans) Mary the poet is better known as, George Eliot. She chose a male pen name, because she wanted her works to be taken more seriously. In the Victorian era, Mary was ahead of her time. I remember reading Silas Marner in the 9th grade and being influenced by the story. ;-) Jack

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Mary A. Evans was an inspiration to many. She's to be respected. I especially love these Winning Words from a brilliant writer. FROM JACK: George Eliot sounds more refined as a pen name than Outhouse Judy.

FROM JO IN MICHIGAN: That's a good WW...words to live by for sure. FROM JACK: Words are only words. It's action that counts.

FROM AM IN MICHIGAN: Love it. I read Middlemarch last summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. FROM JACK: I'll look into possibly reading it in March.

FROM MOLINER CF: Does this mean that Honest Abe plagiarized? FROM JACK: We all do. Even the Gospel writers took from sources, not named.

FROM CJL IN OHIO: I already have one. It's with Ilene and simply has the dates of birth & death. The question is how I live my "dash".... FROM JACK: The "dash" is important to each of us.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: HA! Like "Better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Interesting that this quote came from the renowned George Eliot! She was QUITE a gal! Flew in the face on convention, that's for sure, and made a name for herself in the process. I'm sure a 'shocking name" to some!! This quote, with its wry humor makes me think she would have been entertaining company! ,A quote I'll always remember from SILAS MARNER (thanks to little old Fanny Entriken, our Lit teacher a Moline H.S., remember her?) is: "The contempt bred by miopic familiarity". She asked the class what that might mean, and by some stroke of luck, I blurted out, "Not seeing what is around us, because we're so used to seeing it?" And that was pretty accurate, according to her. I never forgot that phrase!! :-) FROM JACK: Yes, I remember Fanny as one of the "old" teachers. She knew her stuff, and, evidently, so did one of her students.