ADAMS, PHILLIP | Australian Inspiration

ADAMS, PHILLIP

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:52 +0000

Fame often comes to those who are thinking about something else, whereas celebrity comes to those who think about nothing else. Celebrity is, if you like, a forgery of fame: it has the form but lacks the content.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – Dog is love

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:43 +0000

It is greatly to Australia’s credit that we are a mongrel nation. None of that Aryan or ethnic purity for us. We benefit from hybrid vigour. Every race and religion – as mixed up as the flora in our multi-horticultural society.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – The Unspeakable Adams

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:42 +0000

This nation was built on a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie-down.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:39 +0000

The most intense hatreds are not between political parties but within them.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:36 +0000

While sticks and stones break bones, words can never hurt? Manifestly untrue. Politics everywhere are holistic, interconnected, and the rhetoric of right or left can produce toxic atmospheres in which lunacy thrives.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – Dog is love

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:35 +0000

I regard dogs and trees as superior beings to humans. Trees are reliable and beautiful. They give us shade, timber and oxygen – and the paper on which our books and this journal are published. And, unless set ablaze by terrorist arsonists with WMD’s that come in a matchbox, they also store carbon. Give trees citizenship, I say. Give ’em the vote. Governments of oaks, elms and eucalypts would be a huge improvement.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – Dog is love

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:31 +0000

It’s not for nothing that dog is god backwards. Perhaps He put them on Earth to keep an eye on us, to appeal to the better angels of our being. Perhaps they are angels, wingless and furry ones. With fleas.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:27 +0000

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are made, not found, and the activity of making of them changes with both the destination and the maker

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – Trees of life

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:27 +0000

Later, in a different home, I befriended a eucalypt, using a resilient bough as a trampoline. Learning nothing from having plummeted from the peppercorn, I’d bounce happily in my haven in the heavens. I loved that tree – and fully understand why Heysen, Roberts, McCubbin and the rest devoted so much time and effort to painting arboreal portraits.

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ADAMS, PHILLIP – Trees of life

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:54:25 +0000

Trees are very good friends. Firm friends. My five year old’s tree could be relied upon to be there next day, uncritical and protective. And think of trees’ contribution to our lives. They provide boats, buildings, paper, furniture and, for clog-wearers, footwear. As well as contributing toothpicks and chopsticks they give little birdies somewhere comfy to sit. Best of all, they help produce breathable air and lock up that naughty carbon. Why is why I am talking to the Greens about giving trees the vote.

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