Word: hobgoblin
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What had motivated her unusual characterization of Puck as a leering hobgoblin, done up in dreadlocks and hallowed eye sockets like an undead Bob Marley? “I know when I see actors whether I want them or not,” she said. “I just saw [actor Jesse Perez] for an audition, and there was Puck...
...there a slight contradiction between West’s prophetic contempt for material gain and his exquisitely tailored suits, comfortably tenured lifestyle, lucrative speaking gigs and fancy cars? Perhaps. But as Ralph Waldo Emerson (another outspoken Harvard man) once said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Cornel West, great mind that he is, can contain a multitude of contradictions with ease...
This discrimination clause has long been the hobgoblin of Harvard’s final clubs, ever since the world changed and they did not. But discrimination per se is not an absolute evil, as even the College admits. The Hasty Pudding Theatricals excludes women from acting in its performances; separate-gender choral groups are widely accepted, and even racial discrimination might be countenanced for a drama group casting Othello. A support group for students recovering from testicular cancer would have good reason to seek the ability to poster—and equally good reason to exclude women, along with...
...weary of the Bush campaign's constant cry that Gore's lawyers changed the rules in the middle of the game. Fine, but if the rules are wrong or don't reflect the will of the voter, don't you want to change them? A foolish consistency remains the hobgoblin of little minds. Especially those on television...
...once wrote an essay for TIME in which, without attribution, I referred to "the hobgoblin of little minds." I had at least a dozen people write to me and say, "You plagiarist! Ralph Waldo Emerson said, 'consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.'" I wrote back and said, "Gee, I assumed the reader would know the Emerson line. Suppose I'd written 'To be or not to be.' Would I need the attribution to Shakespeare?" Jacoby's offense is a little like that...