Some pessimistic words about politicians from Taylor Caldwell

Taylor Caldwell's wise words on political matters appear in several articles, most recently in one that quotes what she said in Captains and the Kings: The Story of an American Dynasty about the sinister forces that operate behind the scenes.

There may not be much that is particularly original in what she has to say - it may often seem that she is just stating the obvious - but the way she expresses her ideas really brings the depressing messages home.

This proposition comes from the same book:

“A politician, as we know, who serves the people, really serves them out of conviction and idealism, is eventually despised by them as a naïve imbecile. But a scoundrel of color, who can invent a few deadly aphorisms of his own, and can laugh and twinkle and joke, gets their adoration, and even if he is later exposed for what he is—a thief, a time-server, a liar—the public becomes hysterical at the 'attacks' on him. In fact, the public will attack the outraged attackers of their darling.”

This makes me think of a few scoundrelly but colourful politicians, past and present, in the UK! Such people do indeed get away with a lot because of their charming and amusing personas.

Another edition of Taylor Caldwell's best-selling historical novel, which was first published in 1972:

Abraham Lincoln and the books in the barrel of rubbish

The article about Robert A. Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy  tells of how a seed was sown in my mind by a story I read 'by chance'. This story eventually influenced my choice of profession – and thus the entire course of my life.

With hindsight, I wonder if it really was just chance that someone came to stay for a short time with his box of books and science fiction magazines, one of which contained the influential story.

I recently learned that something similar happened to Abraham Lincoln.

In his case it was a barrel not a box, he (unwittingly) bought rather than borrowed the reading material, it was a set of books not a magazine, it was a treatise on English common law rather than a science fiction story, and he was the junior partner in a store at the time rather than a child. 

Just as what I read sparked my interest in computers and inspired me to become a computer programmer, Abraham Lincoln became fascinated by what he read of the law and went on to become a lawyer.

These are Lincoln's own words:

"One day a man who was migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon which contained his family and household plunder. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no room in his wagon, and which contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. Without further examination I put it away in the store and forgot all about it.

"Some time after, in overhauling things, I came upon the barrel, and emptying it on the floor to see what it contained, I found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete set of 'Blackstone's Commentaries.' I began to read those famous works. I had plenty of time; for during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more I read the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I devoured them."

Although this anecdote was new to me, it is very well known and has been quoted in many places. The reason for repeating it here is that it provides a very good example of the unseen influences that appear to be at work in some people's lives.

The books that started it all were first published in 1765:

Two quotations about self-belief

This blog contains many posts in which two writers are featured; sometimes this because of what they had to say about topics of interest.

It is fascinating to see that very different people from different generations and even from different continents sometimes sing from the same song sheet!

The great writer Isaac Asimov, who has been featured in several articles, has also been paired with Noel Streatfeild and quoted in a post about Frances Hodgson Burnett.

May Sinclair has also appeared in many articles, Both she and Isaac Asimov had something to say about the importance of self-belief. Their wise words speak for themselves.

Isaac Asimov said this:

“And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” 

May Sinclair's words on the subject:

"If you don't believe in yourself, you'll have some difficulty in making other people believe in you." 

These propositions are worth thinking about. 

Inner promptings, sudden impulses, and Dion Fortune

This blog contains examples of inner promptings and impulses that had very good results; it also contains details of inner promptings and impulses that led to what I think of as nightmare scenarios – or at least to some very unpleasant experiences.

One article for example describes how I felt a strong inclination to visit a small town in Kent and 'by chance' found a book there that I had been looking for everywhere; another tells the story of how my sudden impulse to take a long scenic bus ride into Kent resulted in an exhausting ordeal. 

Then there was the time when I felt an inner prompting to join a second public library, one that I used to go past on the way to and from school; it had all of the Rider Haggard books that I had been desperate to read!

I think of such impulses as good ideas and 'good ideas', depending on their positive or negative outcomes. 

I have been wondering where these ideas, promptings and urges of both kinds come from. Do they originate in my or someone else's subconscious mind? Are benevolent or malevolent entities on another dimension responsible? The article about inner demons sabotaging our lives is of interest here, as is the poet Kathleen Raine's mention of daimons and dark angels.

Dion Fortune's occult novels have inspired a string of articles; her book of short stories The Secrets of Dr. Taverner contains some material that is very relevant to this topic. A few extracts from this book speak for themselves.

Dr. Taverner says this in the story The Return of the Ritual:

“Supposing I told you that the impulse which made you break that window was not a blind instinct, but an attempt to carry out an order from your Fraternity, would you believe me?”

The following extracts come from The Death Hound story:

“All thoughts are not generated within the mind that thinks them,” said Taverner. “We are constantly giving each other unconscious suggestions,  and influencing minds without knowing it, and if a man who understands the power of thought deliberately trains his mind in its use, there are few things he cannot do.”

A few words about information overload

I have been wondering recently if books mean as much to the children of today as they did to me in my schooldays. There are many more options now when it comes to entertainment and education and many of these resources are conveniently available in the home, so perhaps the competition has devalued books and reading. 

This extract from the novelist Storm Jameson's collection of literary essays Parthian Words supports the proposition that you can sometimes have too much of a good thing and suggests that there is still a place for traditional-style reading:

“We need the slower and more lasting stimulus of solitary reading as a relief from the pressure on eye, ear and nerves of the torrent of information and entertainment pouring from ever-open electronic jaws. It could end by stupefying us.”

This was written in 1970; it is even more relevant in the days of modern media, the Internet and AI.

Too much choice, too much information, can be as bad as too little. In addition to overwhelming and stupefying people, it can destroy their ability to concentrate on one thing for more than a few minutes at a time. 

This book contains Storm Jameson's thoughts about novels and the future of novel reading:

Arthur Conan Doyle and the big brass bombardon

While the material in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's autobiographical work Memories and Adventures is not inspiring the extensive commentary that his essays in Through the Magic Door did, I have found a few interesting and/or amusing anecdotes that speak for themselves to highlight. This article contains the latest discovery.

As an older schoolboy, Conan Doyle was sent to a Jesuit school in Austria so that he could learn German. 

This extract from his Memories shows that he also mastered a very different skill during the year that he spent at the school:

“One unlooked for accomplishment I acquired, for the boy who played the big brass bass instrument in the fine school band had not returned, and, as a well-grown lad was needed, I was at once enlisted in the service. I played in public — good music, too, “ Lohengrin,” and “ Tannhauser,”— within a week or two of my first lesson, but they pressed me on for the occasion and the Bombardon, as it was called, only comes in on a measured rhythm with an occasional run, which sounds like a hippopotamus doing a step-dance. So big was the instrument that I remember the other bandsmen putting my sheets and blankets inside it and my surprise when I could not get out a note.”

When I first saw this, I was immediately reminded of the giant musical instruments in J. B. Priestley's Low Notes on a High Level, including “the Great-German-Double-Bombardon - six feet of shining brass with a horn a yard in diameter -”

This is what a bombardon looks like:

This picture of the boys in the band at the Stella Matutina Jesuit School at Feldkirch, Austria in 1876 - Conan Doyle is at the back with his bombardon - came from The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia site:

A few more words about books versus real life

Several reasons for extensive reading have been given on here. For example, what some people get from books seems much better to them than what they can get in real life!

I quoted some wise words on the subject from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in an article about books versus real life: 

“The dead are such good company that one may come to think too little of the living. It is a real and a pressing danger with many of us, that we should never find our own thoughts and our own souls, but be ever obsessed by the dead. Yet second-hand romance and second-hand emotion are surely better than the dull, soul-killing monotony which life brings to most of the human race.”

I recently came across something that reminded me of these words, but in connection with writing rather than reading. This is an extract from Susan Cheever's biography of Louisa May Alcott:

“For a novelist, the real world falls away and the world of the novel takes on a vividness and fascination that can’t be matched by people or happenings in the pale, ordinary, slow-moving actual world. The characters of the imagination seem to have a mysterious claim on the writer’s time and attention.”

The real world does indeed disappear when we are immersed in a book, whether as reader or writer, and the novelist Elizabeth Goudge said something to the effect that she much preferred her own characters to people in real life. 

For some people, creations of the imagination are more real than the real world.

The mystery of Conan Doyle and the penny difference

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's little book of essays about books and reading Through the Magic Door (1907) is a treasure trove of material that has inspired a whole string of articles. 

After taking a last look at these essays, I started working my way through Conan Doyle's autobiographical work Memories and Adventures (1924) in the hope of finding similar material.

I soon found something interesting from the days when he was a third-year student; it reminded me of an amusing, article-inspiring anecdote in the earlier work. 

From Memories and Adventures:

“I used to be allowed twopence for my lunch, that being the price of a mutton pie, but near the pie shop was a second-hand book shop with a barrel full of old books and the legend “Your choice for 2d.” stuck above it. Often the price of my luncheon used to be spent on some sample out of this barrel, and I have within reach of my arm as I write these lines, copies of Gordon’s Tacitus, Temple’s works, Pope’s Homer, Addison’s Spectator and Swift’s works, which all came out of the twopenny box.”

In this previously-quoted extract from Through the Magic Door, Conan Doyle describes how he had to chose between spending his modest daily allowance on his lunch or on a book:

“...my student days, when times were not too affluent. Threepence was my modest allowance for my midday sandwich and glass of beer; but, as luck would have it, my way to the classes led past the most fascinating bookshop in the world. Outside the door of it stood a large tub filled with an ever-changing litter of tattered books, with a card above which announced that any volume therein could be purchased for the identical sum which I carried in my pocket.”

So what happened here?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed that it was possible to communicate with the dead. If I could do that, I would ask him for an explanation!

As I have no way of contacting the great man, I will just have to guess why these two accounts differ in the detail.

Could Conan Doyle have misremembered details of his student days when creating the later work? Perhaps over the years threepence had changed in his mind to tuppence and the sandwich to a pie!

Perhaps he was remembering two different years and two different bookshops, with the threepenny version coming from his earlier years as a student. In connection with the later years, he mentioned that every shilling of his money was needed at home; perhaps he cut down and stopped buying beer.

Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him!

A very relevant quotation from The Cult of Trump

The final article inspired by Steve Hassan's Freedom of Mind  contains an image of his most recent publication The Cult of Trump (2019).

I had a quick look at this book, but it seems to be more about American politics than it is about cults. At first sight, unlike Steve Hassan's other books it doesn't have much new relevant and quotable material. 

However, I did find something that reminded me some points I made in the article about obedience and the truth, which was written in 2013.

Steve Hassan says this (my bolding):

“...if a belief cannot withstand criticism or research, then it may not be worth holding.

Beliefs should never be held as if they are the truth. The more strongly someone claims to have the truth, the more evidence we need to accept it. Certitude is not evidence of truth. Nor does repetition make it true. If anything, repetition should make you suspicious. Truth always stands up to scrutiny on its merits.”

From my post:

“Believing something to be true does not make it true.”

“Loudly and/or repeatedly insisting that something is true does not make it true.”

Let the listener beware!

The back cover of the book:

A very clever way to build a personal library

After producing the string of articles inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's little book of essays Through The Magic Door, I started reading his autobiographical work Memories and Adventures in the hope of finding more material suitable for highlighting on here. 

I found an amusing little anecdote about someone who devised a clever way to build a book collection:

“...young lady...had a large amount of guile underlying her simplicity. Writing from Warsaw, she stated that she had been bedridden for two years, and that my novels had been her only, etc., etc. So touched was I by this flattering statement that I at once prepared an autographed parcel of them to complete the fair invalid’s collection. By good luck, however, I met a brother author on the same day to whom I recounted the touching incident. With a cynical smile, he drew an identical letter from his pocket. His novels had also been for two years her only, etc., etc. I do not know how many more the lady had written to; but if, as I imagine, her correspondence had extended to several countries, she must have amassed a rather interesting library.“

Although I can't help admiring her ingenuity, I also feel disgusted with the effrontery of this brazen scrounger when I remember that as a student Conan Doyle had often gone without food to buy books for his collection. 

I wonder if she ever got anything out of John Buchan and Rudyard Kipling!  

Conan Doyle with some of his legitimately-acquired books circa 1890:

Fear of the New Year!

Seasonal  sadness has been covered in a few articles; there is a post about depression at Christmas and one about depression at the Autumn Equinox for example.

Now it is time to say something about the malaise that comes upon some people at the time of the New Year. 

Ogden Nash's little poem about the New Year, Good Riddance, But Now What?, suggests that while it is good to see the back of the old year, what is coming may be even worse.

Another of his pessimistic New Year poems asserts that the night of December 31st is by far the worst night of the year.

Although Ogden Nash's poems make the impending New Year seem rather sinister, the humour takes the edge off his proposition that New Year's Eve is not a good time.

There is nothing remotely amusing about the following extract from Stella Gibbons's novel Starlight. It is Christmas Eve and someone isn't very happy:

“Peggy stood in silence, struggling with such a feeling of boredom and despair as seldom assailed even her. She could walk out of here to-morrow morning; nothing need stop her.

What was she doing in this hot room, with these fools, living their half-life?

Oh it was something to do – it passed the time – it made a break. The language of boredom and despair. “

Her employer's son notices her distress and asks her what's wrong:

“... just the feeling there’s another year nearly gone,’ she answered, paling.”

He replies:

“Here, here – you save that up for New Year’s Eve – that’s the time that really gets into its stride.”

People have such terrible feelings on New Year's Eve for many reasons. Some are afraid of what might happen; others are afraid that nothing will happen and the coming year will just be more of the – unsatisfactory – same. They may feel that time is running out.

I have learned recently that there is even a word for this fear of the New Year: neoannophobia! 

Starlight is not a good novel to read at this time of year:

Defence Against the Dark Arts XXXII: Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers at Christmas

A few books with a Christmas theme have inspired posts in the past. 

I wanted to produce something similar for this year; I remembered that the seventh book in Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers series is called The Greek Who Stole Christmas so I decided to renew my acquaintance with these very amusing little stories. 

I found enough suitable material for another seasonal article.

Christmas for the Diamond Brothers 
Christmas is not a good time of year for Nick the clever boy detective and his big – and dim - brother Herbert, who prefers to be known as Tim, as they are always very short of money and are often in danger from their enemies.

The action in The Falcon's Malteser, which is the first book in the series, takes place during the holiday season. These words from Nick Diamond set the tone:

“...the grey December sky. The Christmas decorations had gone up in Regent Street – it seemed that they’d been up since July – and the stores were wrapped in tinsel and holly. Somewhere, a Salvation Army band was playing “Away in a Manger.” I felt a funeral march would have been more appropriate.“

Things get worse: Tim and Nick are arrested by the police and held in a freezing cold interrogation room. They are released, only to be rearrested and held overnight in a cell in the police station. 

The police decide to let Nick go; he rises to the occasion with a typical witty remark:

“You can go, laddy,” Snape said. “It’s only big brother we want.”

“How long are you going to keep him for?” I asked. “It’s only five days to Christmas.”

“So?”

“He hasn’t had time to buy my present yet.” 

Two quotations about mediocrity

This post contains a small amount of commentary on two short quotations that highlight a very big topic. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said something in The Valley of Fear that has been very widely quoted:

“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius...”

This seems at first sight to be spot on, but it needs to be qualified and expanded.

It is very true that many people can't evaluate or even see people who are far above or ahead of them; it does indeed often take one to know one!

What Conan Doyle doesn't mention however is that some people who are nothing special do know - or sense - talent - or even genius - when they see it, and they may try to discourage, sabotage or even destroy it!

Someone who is only a below-average performer at something or who knows only a little about a subject can often see very clearly that other people are much better at it than they are or know much more about it than they do. They may acknowledge and show respect for this, or they may feel envious, diminshed and resentful.

This is from Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel for younger readers Have Space Suit—Will Travel:

“Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.”

This too is very true: some people do indeed try to cut others down to size; I have seen and experienced this for myself. The tall poppy syndrome comes to mind here, as do the crabs in the bucket who try to drag down a fellow crab that wants to climb up and escape.

Fear, negativity, envy and spite are often behind such mean-spirited behaviour. Rafael Sabatini's proposition that equality is a by-product of envy is relevant here, and so are these words from Kathleen Raine's autobiography Farewell Happy Fields:

“…winged souls are more often dragged down by the commonplace herd, who, ignorant of the use of wings, clip them and forbid their flight, than the wingless injured by the escape of the winged ones…Who, among the vulgar, heeds the misery of imagination hampered and thwarted?…”

There is more to come about all this.

Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week

Halloween is the time when many people's thoughts turn to witches.

I suddenly remembered reading Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week (1982) many years ago; I decided to take another look to see if it contains any article-inspiring content.

This little book for children combines magic-related fantasy with boarding-school life. While there is little to say about the main story and there isn't much material suitable for direct quotation, there are still a few elements that inspire commentary.

The Witch Week of the title, a time of many strange incidents, begins a few days before Halloween, which makes the book very suitable for the occasion. 

The cover on this edition is just right for Halloween:

Keeping the balance

A previous article mentions the importance of balancing depressing books with reading material that lifts the spirits.

Witch Week contains both cruelty and humour; scenes that are very painful to read because they involve humiliation and bullying are balanced by witty dialogue and descriptions of amusing incidents.

The power of hate again
Witch Week provides supporting evidence for the proposition that hatred can sometimes be helpful. 

Charles Morgan is a loner and odd one out among the pupils. He lists in his journal everything that he hates, which includes the school buildings and at one point all the people in the school!

This hatred helps to keep him going.

Leslie Charteris and his Saint books: some further thoughts

When the idea of featuring Leslie Charteris's Saint books first came to me, I expected the article to be a short one. I soon realised that there was far too much material of interest for even a long article, so I produced a second post about the Saint stories. That still wasn't enough to cover everything I wanted to say about the books and their author!

This article contains most of the remaining material.

A few green references
After finding many fascinating occurrences of the colour green in the lives and works of various writers including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I decided to see what I could dig up for Leslie Charteris and the Saint. While the results of the investigation are nowhere near what I found for other authors, some references seem worth a mention.

Leslie Charteris spent the last years of his life, from 1967 to 1993, in Englefield Green, a village in Surrey.

Leslie Charteris co-wrote scripts for Sherlock Holmes radio programmes with a Denis Green in the 1940s. 

Rather confusingly, some Saint stories are narrated by a Dennis Green, who appears to be a different person from the one above.

Simon Templar, aka The Saint, is known as the Robin Hood of modern crime; Robin Hood is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln Green.

The Saint lives for a while in an apartment that overlooks London's Green Park.

The short story The Export Trade features a gang of jewel thieves called the Green Cross Bunch. 

In the short story titled The Green Goods Man, the Saint puts a stop to the activities of a conman who produces counterfeit pound notes, the 'green goods' of the title.

A few early editions of the Saint books were published with green covers:

Upton Sinclair on the politician's paymasters

Several good, relevant and topical quotations from the American muckraking journalist and author Upton Sinclair have been featured on here, most recently in the article about honest politicians.

These wise words are from his 1940 novel World's End:

"If you wanted to understand a politician you mustn't pay too much attention to his speeches, but find out who were his paymasters. A politician couldn’t rise in public life, in France any more than in America, unless he had the backing of big money, and it was in times of crisis like this that he paid his debts.”

This applies to the present day and the UK too.

There is currently much speculation here about possible  funding sources for some politicians: for example, there are allegations that they are getting money from Russia, China, big business or billionaires. 

Maybe some politicians really are are just pawns and puppets.

We need to follow the money!

The day of reckoning probably will come for some of these politicians. They have laid themselves open to pressure and blackmail from their handlers, backers and paymasters. There is a price for everything, and debts must be paid.

Sixteen years of blogging and still not finished yet!

This is the third article to highlight an anniversary for this blog, which was launched on September 9th 2009.

The first one marks the major milestone of the tenth anniversary. 

The second milestone article was published on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary.

I now think it best to mark the occasion with annual summaries.

I still monitor the Blogger Stats as, although I produce articles mainly for my own benefit, it is fascinating to see what people are reading - and from which countries. There have been some changes since my previous report.

Three articles about Benjamin Disraeli now appear in the top 20 All-Time statistics; one of them has even moved into the list of 10 most Popular Posts. This is unexpected, but it is good to see that Disraeli is still a person of interest.

I have no idea why the article about Diana Wynne Jones's witch Gwendolen Chant should have recently slipped into the top 20 posts!

I have managed to keep to my commitment to produce two posts per month. 

I still hope to find enough material for at least another year's worth of articles, even though my debts to certain authors and books in the form of tribute posts are well on the way to being paid off and I seem to have exhausted many relevant topics.

The cupboard is by no means bare: I have a list of leads and ideas for articles, and I plan to work through them for as long as the inclination to produce articles lasts and I still get some satisfaction from working on and publishing them. 

I will also need some more inspiration from Odin!

A few more words about John Buchan's Greenmantle

Several of John Buchan's books have been featured and/or referenced in a variety of articles on here. I didn't expect to have anything more to say about him and his works, but I recently came across something that has inspired yet another Buchan-themed post.

I found some merchandise in the form of commemorative mugs; some of them have a picture inspired by Greenmantle, my favourite John Buchan story. This reminded me of the book and prompted me to look for a few more things to say about Buchan's exciting adventure story, or 'shocker' as he called it. 

Mugs as Buchan memorabilia:

Greenmantle covers

The picture on the mug of the prophet Greenmantle in his turban reminded me that the cover art on some editions of the book is often of poor quality and doesn't do justice to the story. John Buchan deserves better!

Here are two examples of such covers:

This one is of slightly better quality:

Honest politicians really are doomed!

This is another post in the topical series that features alarming and pessimistic politics-related quotations.

These words from Taylor Caldwell appear in the article about the lack of honour in politics:

“An honest politician is either a hypocrite—or he is doomed.” 

Upton Sinclair wrote something that supports this proposition:

“Such was the new technique for the conquest of power. Fool those who were foolable, buy those who were buyable, and kill the rest.”

From Wide Is the Gate (1943)

The above extract reminds me of how potential troublemakers are dealt with in John Christopher's Guardians:

“We are constantly on the alert for trouble...Anyone showing creative intelligence and initiative stands out conspicuously from the mob and can be dealt with.”

“Dealt with” means eliminated! 

Upton Sinclair is yet another writer whose life and works I hope to investigate when I have more time.

More alarming words from Taylor Caldwell

Taylor Caldwell has been referenced in several articles, including a recent one that features some of her alarming words about wars.

Her works, not to mention her life, deserve a closer look, but the reader's dilemma of 'so many books, so little time' applies here. It is always possible to find some good extracts and produce a short article as a compromise however, and I have come across some more quotable material that is particularly relevant to what is happening in the US and the UK - and many other nations. 

This proposition is from The Story of Honoria, an article that was first published in a magazine in 1957:

“It is a stern fact of history that no nation that rushed to the abyss ever turned back. Not ever, in the long history of the world. We are now on the edge of the abyss. Can we, for the first time in history, turn back?”

I am not knowledgeable enough to be able to confirm that in the past no nation that rushed headlong towards disaster ever turned back, but it seems very likely. Perhaps the momentum just carried them along until it was too late to stop. 

I wonder what Taylor Caldwell would think of the current UK and US political situations. We could well be on the brink of an abyss right now.

This is an extract from Captains and the Kings, a historical novel that was first published in 1972:

“...who do you honestly believe rules any nation? The apparent rulers, or the real ones behind the scenes who manipulate a nation’s finances for their own benefit? Mr. Lincoln is as helpless as you and I. He can only, unfortunate man, give his people slogans, and slogans, it would appear, are what the people want. I have yet to hear of a nation that ever rejected a war.” 

Great  minds think alike. This is very similar to what Benjamin Disraeli said about the Hidden Hand. The big question here is, who are these secret rulers and puppet masters?