two more gems from Aristotle, Physics VII

Disturbance and movement:

“This also explains why children are not as good as older people at learning or at forming judgments on the basis of their sensory experience; it is because their minds are filled with disturbance and movement.”

Plenty of everything:

“For instance, ‘plenty’ has the same meaning when it refers to water and air, but plenty of water and plenty of air are not comparable.”

I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard the phrase “plenty of air,” but it’s one I hope to use someday.

Incidentally, one of my more memorable dreams of the decade was one in which I was listening to a Paul McCartney song on the radio called “Plenty of Evils, Plenty of Possibilities.” (My most musically knowledgeable friends assure me that no such song exists.)

And it’s true… ‘plenty’ has the same meaning when it refers to evils and possibilities, but plenty of evils and plenty of possibilities are not comparable.

I still remember exactly how that song goes, even though it only played once in the world– in my own mind, while I slept. And the brain really is amazing, isn’t it? “Plenty of Evils, Plenty of Possibilities” sounded, I can assure you, like a genuine McCartney tune.