Mary Ellen
http://www.maryellenbarrett.substack.com
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“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Steal a fish from one guy and give it to another--and keep doing that on a daily basis--and you'll make the first guy pissed off, but you'll make the second guy lazy and dependent on you. Then you can tell the second guy that the first guy is greedy for wanting to keep the fish he caught. Then the second guy will cheer for you to steal more fish. Then you can prohibit anyone from fishing without getting permission from you. Then you can expand the racket, stealing fish from more people and buying the loyalty of others. Then you can get the recipients of the stolen fish to act as your hired thugs. Then you can ... well, you know the rest.”
―
Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Steal a fish from one guy and give it to another--and keep doing that on a daily basis--and you'll make the first guy pissed off, but you'll make the second guy lazy and dependent on you. Then you can tell the second guy that the first guy is greedy for wanting to keep the fish he caught. Then the second guy will cheer for you to steal more fish. Then you can prohibit anyone from fishing without getting permission from you. Then you can expand the racket, stealing fish from more people and buying the loyalty of others. Then you can get the recipients of the stolen fish to act as your hired thugs. Then you can ... well, you know the rest.”
―
“The lie rushes in to fill up the void left by the truth in retreat. When people lose their faith in God, for example, they do not believe in nothing. It is as Chesterton said, they will believe in anything, usually the nearest and biggest thing, the gross power of the state to solve their problems.”
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“Part of our problem is that those twelve years of schooling are in large part an enormous waste of time, because very little of the true, the good, and the beautiful is learned there. School is the asylum where we send children whom we do not know what to do with otherwise. They learn no grammar there, very little history, no geography, very little of their language’s literary heritage. They get some math, but in a protracted and mind-dulling way, and some science, but very little of the world that is near their hands and eyes.”
― Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture
― Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture
“If assumptions weren't challenged, innovation would cease.”
― The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice
― The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice
Reading the Detectives
— 2332 members
— last activity 4 hours, 19 min ago
Our group reads vintage British mysteries from the Golden Age and beyond. In 2025 and 2026 our challenge is Christie's Detectives: Poirot vs Marple. W ...more
English Mysteries Club
— 2908 members
— last activity 2 hours, 6 min ago
Do you love mysteries written in the "English" style? Why not come and join us? We are an established group of mystery readers, which re-launched in 2 ...more
Catholic Fiction
— 772 members
— last activity Feb 22, 2025 08:50AM
A community that loves stories which are animated by God, our faith and the Catholic imagination.
Tudor History Lovers
— 3133 members
— last activity May 17, 2026 08:41PM
Anyone who enjoys historical fiction or history books about Tudor England will like this group. Whether you have been all the way to England just to t ...more
Agatha Christie Lovers
— 4048 members
— last activity 9 hours, 38 min ago
We are reading her books from the first one published to the last one published each month. However, do not let that stop you from reading them out of ...more
Mary Ellen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mary Ellen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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