5 ms·

Do you have an attribution for the quote?

by marmaduke 9y ago

neolefty 9y ago
Olaf Stapleton, "Last and First Men, & Star Maker: Two Science-fiction Novels" (from Google book search)
- stevekemp 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men is a good read, and very memorable if you've read it. Not sure, off-hand, which of the two books the quote comes from which I guess is my cue to re-read them both!
  - justin66 9y ago
    It's last and first men: https://books.google.com/books?id=ubHmCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT351&ots=rw9kw36b9j&dq=%22Great%20are%20the%20stars%2C%20and%20man%20is%20of%20no%20account%20to%20them.%22&pg=PT351#v=onepage&q=%22Great%20are%20the%20stars,%20and%20man%20is%20of%20no%20account%20to%20them.%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=ubHmCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT351&ots...
- hypertexthero 9y ago
  Star Maker is a beautiful book, warmly recommended, available here: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stapledon/olaf/star/ https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stapledon/olaf/star/
justin66 9y ago
Seriously, this takes 3 seconds to google.
- pc86 9y ago
  And even less time not to type this meaningless and unnecessarily rude comment. My meaningless and unnecessarily rude comment, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer.
  - zamber 9y ago
    That's why I too often have that xkcd strip about people being wrong on the internet in mind _before_ writing a comment on HN. StackOverflow is for "well, actually...".
    - justin66 9y ago
      If we're being technical about it, Reddit is for comments like yours. (and this one)
    - dang 9y ago
      That's a brilliant use of that xkcd classic because it also dampens the chance of posting it yet again here.
- always_good 9y ago
  Welcome to the new era, where people have smartphones in their pocket yet are less resourceful than ever.
  - dopamean 9y ago
    Sometimes when you ask someone a question like "where did that quote come from" you get more than just the title of the book. Maybe they have an interesting story to retell about where they first heard it. Maybe they can give you a more personal perspective that resonates a bit more than whatever you'd find from a cursory glance at some Google search results.
    - justin66 9y ago
      The beauty of Google for quotes - in addition to the obvious one, that you're saving someone else the effort of doing the work for you and getting your answer in seconds - is that you've got search access to primary sources like books and many periodicals. That is important, since the more popular a given quote, the more likely it is that it will be misattributed. We puny humans absolutely cannot be trusted to attribute quotes correctly. I suppose it's a matter of personal politics whether that all matters more to you than getting an anecdote back like, "I was listening to an old radio show when I heard Winston Churchill intone Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them," or something.

Do you have an attribution for the quote?

neolefty 9y ago

Olaf Stapleton, "Last and First Men, & Star Maker: Two Science-fiction Novels" (from Google book search)

stevekemp 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men is a good read, and very memorable if you've read it. Not sure, off-hand, which of the two books the quote comes from which I guess is my cue to re-read them both!
- justin66 9y ago
  It's last and first men: https://books.google.com/books?id=ubHmCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT351&ots=rw9kw36b9j&dq=%22Great%20are%20the%20stars%2C%20and%20man%20is%20of%20no%20account%20to%20them.%22&pg=PT351#v=onepage&q=%22Great%20are%20the%20stars,%20and%20man%20is%20of%20no%20account%20to%20them.%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=ubHmCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT351&ots...
hypertexthero 9y ago
Star Maker is a beautiful book, warmly recommended, available here: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stapledon/olaf/star/ https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stapledon/olaf/star/

justin66 9y ago

Seriously, this takes 3 seconds to google.

pc86 9y ago
And even less time not to type this meaningless and unnecessarily rude comment. My meaningless and unnecessarily rude comment, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer.
- zamber 9y ago
  That's why I too often have that xkcd strip about people being wrong on the internet in mind _before_ writing a comment on HN. StackOverflow is for "well, actually...".
  - justin66 9y ago
    If we're being technical about it, Reddit is for comments like yours. (and this one)
  - dang 9y ago
    That's a brilliant use of that xkcd classic because it also dampens the chance of posting it yet again here.
always_good 9y ago
Welcome to the new era, where people have smartphones in their pocket yet are less resourceful than ever.
- dopamean 9y ago
  Sometimes when you ask someone a question like "where did that quote come from" you get more than just the title of the book. Maybe they have an interesting story to retell about where they first heard it. Maybe they can give you a more personal perspective that resonates a bit more than whatever you'd find from a cursory glance at some Google search results.
  - justin66 9y ago
    The beauty of Google for quotes - in addition to the obvious one, that you're saving someone else the effort of doing the work for you and getting your answer in seconds - is that you've got search access to primary sources like books and many periodicals. That is important, since the more popular a given quote, the more likely it is that it will be misattributed. We puny humans absolutely cannot be trusted to attribute quotes correctly. I suppose it's a matter of personal politics whether that all matters more to you than getting an anecdote back like, "I was listening to an old radio show when I heard Winston Churchill intone Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them," or something.