More Miscellaneous

THE ACT OF CREATION . . .Arthur Koestler . . . MacMillan

The mind likes a strange idea as little as the body lies a strange protein, and resists it with similar energy. If we watch ourselves honestly, we shall often find that we have begun to argue against a new idea even before it has been completely state.

ON WRITING WELL . . . William Zinsser . . . P. 175

This criticism at its best: stylish, illusive, disturbing. It disturbs us--as criticism often should--because it jogs a firmly held et of beliefs and forces us to re-examine them.

DAUGHTER OF TIME . . . Josephine Tey

Its an odd thing but when you tell someone the true facts of a mythical tale they are indignant not with the teller but with you. They don't want to have their idea upset. It rouses some vague uneasiness in them, I think, and they resent it. So they reject it and refuse to think about it. If they were merely indifferent it would be natural and understandable. Bt it is much stronger than that, much more positive. They are annoyed. Very odd, isn't it?