The Thought Gang - Tibor Fischer
February 10 2008 William writes:
A witty, creative, and occasionally perverse story of a philosopher bank robber and his side kick. This book kept me laughing with its abstract metaphors and random stories that top even Family Guy.
Quotes from the book…
“My physical situation is probably about the same as those who started the biz. Sunshine, a glass of wine, a bit of time.” p12
“My needs have always been modest, but my desires, to make up for that, have become increasingly expensive.” p33
“Why do drink? I have been asked. Because (a) I like to and (b) its hard to stop. When you’ve got the hole, you cant go to the corner stop and ask for a couple pounds of meaning, a packet of panacea, a can of resolution. A solution for one’s plight is hard to find, but solutions are aren’t. You can’t go a hundred yards without a pick-up point for zymurgic solutions: off-licenses, pubs, supermarkets, restaurants. Civilization is a careful construction for the production and distribution of alcohol.” p73
“Lunch’s shortcoming is that one can only have so many in one day.” p84
“This is a brilliant philosophical work disguised as a sentence” p90
“One of the traits of advanced capitalism is that it’s generally staffed by people who aren’t very concerned about selling anything - one of the consequences of a society where, sadly, people don’t starve to death if they lose their job.” p92
“India’s a bit like New York, you’re going to find anything you look for.” p96
“I contemplate the possibility that I have an indestructible liver, one that will be a medical prodigy for centuries, and that long after the rest of me has melted away, my liver will be transplanted from patient to patient, like a family heirloom.” p100
“The United States of America, the only country in the world’s history to import the poor, to court the zany, the dissenting, the only country in world history that had the power to impose its will on the world by didn’t” p127
“One mistake I never made. Life is too short to make them all. Unless you stay up at night or get up very early.” p153
“You slide without difficulty from not having enough money to write a book, to having too much money to write a book.” p189
“You know, you remind me of someone I knew. I can’t remember his name, but I do recall he trained his dog to lick his balls.” p213
“What people think of as happy endings aren’t, of course, endings; endings are by their nature unhappy.” p225
“The impossible lives next to the possible; people ring its doorbell by accident all the time.” p226
Categories: Books