18.12.2009 ~ The Exercise of Vital Powers
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Some backplot: I'm writing the manual and API documentation for the latest version of the Backpage CMS at the moment and had chosen to take the semi stylistic approach of hanging reasonably related quotes off the introductory headings of the major sections.
"Adds character" I thought! Might even be interesting! So mind digging I went! As one of the ideas of the new BackPage is to make life a little freer for the web publisher, one of the first things to spring to mind was a JFK quote stating the ancient Greeks defined happiness as ...
"the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope"
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Fantastic! If you've used many (any?) CMS you may have found you've quickly become suffocated by any number of artificial constrictions that slow or stop what you're trying to achieve, despite having the design or tech prowess to pull it off. That pattern had bothered me in several products I've used (including my own) so I fixed it, kinda. And wanted to share that, in documentation, in a manner that quoted the 35th president of the United States.
Looking closelier ...
The exact quote eluded me, and I wanted to be precise (quoting the late, great JFK deserves as much) so I googled it. Quickly picking thought the results I came across the following page http://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2007/07/happiness-is-exercise-of-vital-powers.html. Great read... but it turns out the quote originated from a 1930s book and not from the likes of Agathias, Aristotle or even good old Zosimas!! Uh-oh!
While I'd never considered the accuracy of the quote (you can beat me for that later, I just really liked the image) I was pretty surprised at its youth. Then came a massive surprise ...
"May you live in interesting times"
Is not an old Chinese saying! It's not even that old!! I may be painting myself in an ignorant light here, but I really did think this was an old Chinese saying, not some fecking line from some 1950s sci-fi novel that was popularised by ANOTHER of the Kennedys speeches (go ROBBIE!). Which has left me wondering what else was just pulled out of the hat, draped in an artificial history and passed off as proverb.
I guess the truth will set you free ...