Dueling Quotes Monday

The last few weekends my husband and I watched the Colin Firth BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. I'm going to out my husband by saying that he liked it too. Yes, he did. It's a great story. I didn't get enough of it, so I'm now reading the book once again. I love Jane Austen's sense of humor. She really hates self important people and silly people and mean people. But, she portrays them all with shades of grey thrown in so you can see how some people may like these characters. They're not one dimensional by any means.

I also really like Mark Twain. Like Austen, he hated fools and hypocrites and also painted his characters in many shades of grey. No cardboard cutouts there in his stories. Just funny characters that show the extreme moral hypocrisy of his day.

I like Twain's pithy quotes. See the one below at the bottom of the page? It reads, I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. I think it particularly applies to homeschoolers. I also think that's true for lots of people whether you homeschool or not. Kids have always found ways to pursue what interests them. They've always found ways to find out more about what catches their curiosity, even if school seems to get in the way sometimes.

Here's a great quote from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from a silly character who actually doesn't feel strongly about books at all,

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1811
English novelist (1775 - 1817)

And here we see what Mark Twain felt about books making a great library,

Just the omission of Jane Austen's books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it.

Mark Twain
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)

OUCH!! That's harsh, Mark Twain. It's funny, but harsh.

Don't worry Elizabeth Bennet, I'm not going to give up reading about all of your exploits, regardless of what Mark Twain says on the subject.

Cad...