Ben Connolly

“The Yirkalla aborigines of Arnhem Land in Australia hear sacred song words in the babbling of babies. To them, songs are never composed but only discovered: all songs exist already.”
― Philip Ball, The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

“In historical events (where the subject of observation is the actions of people), the most primordial approximation appears as the will of the gods, then as the will of those people who stand in the most conspicuous historical place—the historical heroes. But we need only enquire into the essence of any historical event, that is, into the activity of the entire mass of people who took part in the event, to become convinced that the will of the historical hero not only does not guide the actions of the masses, but is itself constantly guided.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“When an apple ripens and falls—what makes it fall? Is it that it is attracted to the ground, is it that the stem withers, is it that the sun has dried it up, that it has grown heavier, that the wind shakes it, that the boy standing underneath wants to eat it?”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Society--civilized society, at least--is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray