Monday, January 31, 2011

The weekly bon mot

"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation."


John Cage (1912-1992)
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4 comments:

JES said...

This really belongs on Cage's tombstone, eh?

February 01, 2011 4:47 PM
Froog said...

I'm not sure what his epitaph is. Is there a convenient website that catalogues the tombstone inscriptions of the famous?

I rather suspect that, like me (and you?), he built up quite a stock of aphorisms for potential use in this way.

February 02, 2011 12:50 AM
JES said...

I think the standard (?) site for that is the Find-a-Grave site. They don't always list epitaphs as well as gravesites, but they often do. In Cage's case, apparently he wasn't buried but cremated, with his ashes strewn about a memorial park.

(No reason why cremations should go without epitaphs, except that there's no standard and convenient place to record them. If you were looking for a way to make a bit of money, you might set up a Web site whose customers could record *virtual* epitaphs, in perpetuity (or at least as long as the Internet exists).)

February 02, 2011 9:06 PM
Froog said...

Hmm, I may have to look into that.

I imagine most crematoria already do something like that, though. They always used to have 'walls of remembrance' where you could put up a plaque to commemorate your deceased loved one; having a webpage as well or instead is an obvious next step.

February 03, 2011 4:05 AM

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