Tony's Garden

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people.”…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which by far the greater part of the numbers are poor and miserable.” — Adam Smith BIRTHDAYS: 1692 Giuseppe Tartini, Venetian Baroque composer and violinist (Trillo del Diavolo), born in Piran, Republic of Venice. Sonata n. 5 op. 2 in La minore…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.” — Booker T. Washington BIRTHDAYS: 1613 Gerard Dou, Dutch painter. 1740 Haym Salomon, Polish-born American merchant best known for his actions during the American Revolution, where he was the prime…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.” — John Stuart Mill…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “Whoever is fortunate enough to be an American citizen came into the greatest inheritance man has ever enjoyed. He has had the benefit of every heroic and intellectual effort men have made for many thousands of years, realized at last. If Americans should now turn back, submit again to slavery, it…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” — Albert Schweitzer BIRTHDAYS: 1758 John Hoppner, English portrait painter. 1758 Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, French Romantic painter and draughtsman – allegorical paintings and portraits. 1821 Linus Yale Jr., American businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer,…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” — Émile Zola BIRTHDAYS: 1520 Vincenzo Galilei, Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist, born in Santa Maria a Monte, Republic of Florence. 500 anni dalla nascita 1895 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer. Étude No.5, and Guitar Concerto No.1…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “The longing for Paradise is man’s longing not to be man.” — Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being BIRTHDAYS: 1763 Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari, Italian composer, baptized in Rovereto, Prince-Bishopric of Trent. Trio concertante Op. 11 N. 2 1805 Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues,…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “Let people realize clearly that every time they threaten someone or humiliate or unnecessarily hurt or dominate or reject another human being, they become forces for the creation of psychopathology, even if these be small forces. Let them recognize that every person who is kind, helpful, decent, psychologically democratic, affectionate, and…

Johann Sebastian Bach THOUGHT OF THE DAY: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” — Friedrich Nietzsche BIRTHDAYS: 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. Brandenburg Concerto…