Tony's Garden

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism–and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.” — Stephen Jay Gould BIRTHDAYS: 1660 Daniel Defoe, English writer, merchant and spy. 1673 Hercule Brehy, Flemish composer and organist, born in Brussels, Spanish Netherlands. Usqueque Domine 1819 Clara Schumann,…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” — H. L. Mencken BIRTHDAYS: 1559 Lodovico Cardi da Cigoli, Italian painter and architect. 1655 Sebastien de Brossard,…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “When men abandon reason, physical force becomes their only means of dealing with one another and of settling disagreements.” — Ayn Rand BIRTHDAYS: 1653 Johann Pachelbel, German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. Ciacona in f-moll 1711 William Boyce, English organist/composer. Symphony no.…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.” — Horace BIRTHDAYS: 1659 Henry Purcell, English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy BIRTHDAYS: 1583 Girolamo Frescobaldi, Italian keyboard virtuoso (organist at St. Peter’s Basilica, 1608-28 and 1634-43), and late Renaissance/early Baroque composer, born in Ferrara, Duchy of Ferrara. Non vi partite. 1618 Joan Cererols, Catalan musician, composer…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” — Arnold Toynbee BIRTHDAYS: 1672 Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer. Cromorne en taille à 2 parties, and Ave Maris Stella (11:04), and Tierce en Taille 1841 Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer. Slavonic Dance No. 10, and Slavonic dances…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Be as decent as you can. Don’t believe without evidence. Treat things divine with marked respect — don’t have anything to do with them. Do not trust humanity without collateral security; it will play you some scurvy trick. Remember that it hurts no one to be treated as an enemy entitled…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.” — Thomas Sowell BIRTHDAYS: 1620 Isabella Leonarda, Italian religious composer, born in Novara, Duchy of Milan. Sonata Duodecima 1627 Pierre Verdier, French composer working…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “That without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, moribund.” — Anthony Bourdain BIRTHDAYS: 1600 Loreto Vittori, Italian composer and mezzo-soprano singer, baptized in Spoleto, Umbria, Papal States. Lungi dal mio bel Sole 1694 František Václav Míča, Moravian-Czech conductor and composer, born…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” — Elie Wiesel BIRTHDAYS: 1622 Jacob Hintze, German composer, born in Bernau, Electorate of…