'And as an ev'ning dragon came,
Assailant on the perched roosts
And nests in order rang'd
Of tame villatic fowl.'

Ib.1.1692


'Like that self - begotten bird
In the Arabian woods embost,
That no second knows nor third,
And lay erewhile a holocaust.'

Ib.1.1699

John Milton [1608 - 1674]

further improvement for ifx's the 'fledgling'

'for certain is death for the born
and certain is death for the dead;
therefore over the inevitable
thou shouldst not grieve.

Bhagavad Gita [250BC - 250AD], chapter 2

rough sketch 1

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the faithful prince appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest of princely princes, beloved of Nabu, of prudent counsel, who has learned to embrace wisdom, who fathomed their divine being and reveres their majesty, the untiring governor, who always takes to heart the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well-being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the firstborn son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon.

Both gate entrances of Imgur-Ellil and Nemetti-Ellil —following the filling of the street from Babylon—had become increasingly lower. Therefore, I pulled down these gates and laid their foundations at the water-table with asphalt and bricks and had them made of bricks with blue stone on which wonderful bulls and dragons were depicted. I covered their roofs by laying majestic cedars length-wise over them. I hung doors of cedar adorned with bronze at all the gate openings. I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder

I let the temple of Esiskursiskur (the highest festival house of Markduk, the Lord of the Gods—a place of joy and celebration for the major and minor gods) be built firm like a mountain in the precinct of Babylon of asphalt and fired bricks.

[DEDICATORY INSCRIPTION ON THE ISHTAR GATE, BABYLON
[by Nebuchadnezzar - King of Babylonia]
Marzahn, Joachim. The Ishtar Gate, The Processional Way,
The New Year Festival of Babylon.
Mainz am Rhein, Germany: Philipp von Zaubern, 1995]

'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.'

Albert Einstein

US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

'fledgling' concept 2

'photoshop'

more recent works

'fledgling' concept 1

part 1: pencils and inks

'Me Tarzan, you Jane.'
Tarzan, the Ape Man [1932 film]

'War its thousands slays,
Peace its ten thousands.'

Death [1759]1.179;cf.Bible35:23
Beilby Porteus [1731-1808]

Zoroastrian Scriptures

'I am Zarathustra, Were I able, I should be a true foe to the Deceiver,

but a strong support to the Just One.'

The Gathas yasna 43, v. 8
[translated by M. Boyce, 1984]

'Liberavi animam meam'
I have freed my soul

St. Bernard [1091 - 1153]
Epistle 371

untitles 2

before and after

inks

pencils

'37. To see the things in the present moment is to see all that is now, all that has been since time began, and all that shall be unto the world's end; for all things are of one kind and one form.'

Marcus Aurelius [121 - 180 AD];
Roman emperor and philosophers'
recorded principles of Stoic philosophy
in his work; Meditations.

'your blood shall redden the earth'

'... this means is worthy of the august mission that you fill, of the generous people whom you represent; it might even gain some celebrity for the name of that people and make you worthy to live in the memory of men: it will be to imitate the brave Spartans who sacrificed themselves at Thermopylae; those venerable men who, leaving the Roman Senate, went to await, at the thresholds of their homes, the death that marched in the van of the savage conqueror. No, you will not need to offer up prayers that avengers may spring from your ashes. Ah! The day your blood shall redden the earth, tyranny, its pride, its protectors, its palaces, its satellites will vanish forever before the national omnipotence. And if the sorrow of not having made your country happy embitters your last moments you will at least take with you the consolation that your death will hasten the ruin of the people's oppressors and that your devotion will have saved liberty .......'

An excerpt from Pierre Vergniaud's speech before the Legislative Assembly in France on July 3rd, 1792 suggesting that King Louis XVI be dethroned. The king was overthrown the following month and executed on January 21st, 1793.

[Penguin book of Historic Speeches.
MacArthur, Brian, ed. Penguin Books, 1996]

'A dead enemy always smells good.'
- Alus Vitellus

'He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare.

'And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere'

A Hundred Sayings
Ali ibn Abi-Talib c.602-661

vegetius - 4th century a.d.

'Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.'
Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.
De Re Mil.3,prol.

leo tolstoy [1828-1910]

'Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.'
What is art? Chapter 19

untitled 1

critique of practical reason

'Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.'

Taken from the conclusion of his Critique of Practical Reason [1788] by Immanuel Kant as well as the inscription on his tomb.

friedrich nietzsche

'god is dead.'

the gay science, section 108

principia by the poet alexander pope [1686]

'Nature and nature's law lay hid in the night;
God said, let Newton be: and all was light.'

introductions....

my name is sani.
i'm into history and philosophy.
i also draw.
this is my blog.