Etymology:  < post-classical Latin analecta literary gleanings, collections of fragments or extracts (1593 in a work title, or earlier) < ancient Greek ἀνάλεκτα , neuter plural of ἀνάλεκτος select, choice < ἀνά- ana- prefix + λεκτός chosen (see lectotype n.), after ἀναλέγειν to pick up, gather up. With sense 1 compare classical Latin analecta slave who collected the crumbs after a meal.

The form analecta is particularly frequent when referring to extracts from classical Greek and Latin writers.

With use with spec. reference to the Analects of Confucius (e.g. quot. 1861 at sense 2b) compare Chinese Lún Yǔ , the title of the book in Chinese < lún , apparently a variant of lùn discourses + yǔ saying, dialogue. The use of the word Analects to render the Chinese title apparently originated in the translation by James Legge in his The Chinese Classics (1861    ) I. 137, where he discusses the various possible translations of the title.

†1. In pl. Discarded fragments of food, esp. those gathered after a meal; morsels, scraps, crumbs. Obs.

1623    H. Cockeram Eng. Dict.,   Analects, crums which fall from the table.
a1643    W. Cartwright Ordinary iii. v. 49 in Comedies, Tragi-comedies & Poems (1651) ,   No gleanings James? no Trencher Analects?
1721    N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict.,   Analects, Analecta, fragments gathered from Tables.
1816    Scott Antiquary I. xiv. 312,   I love the reversion of a feast better than the feast itself. I delight in the analecta, the collectanea, as I may call them, of the preceding day’s dinner.

 2. In pl. a. Literary or philosophical fragments or extracts; (a name for) a collection of such extracts, an anthology. Also occas. in sing.: an extract, or a compilation of these. Now rare.

1641    (title)    A manuall or analecta being a compendious collection out of such as have treated of the office of Justices of the Peace.
1651    N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs 213   The errors and ignorances‥have not bin sucked and elaborated (like the Bee) so much out of, either the poison of somes [sic] dotages and uncertain principles, or others Florilege and Analect.
1652    in J. Mede Diatribæ Pars IV To Rdr. sig. A3v,   Those Analecta or learned notes found in scattered Papers under the Authours own hand.
1770    G. Carey (title)    Analects in verse and prose.
1779    H. Thrale Thraliana 1 Sept. (1942) i. 403,   I have forgotten whether I ever mentioned in this Analect Book that, [etc.].
1843    H. G. Liddell & R. Scott Greek Lex. Pref. xi,   Antipater Sidonius: in Brunck’s Analecta.
1904    Washington Post 11 Dec. 2/1 (heading)   The stage from various aspects, with analects from greater minds.
1982    Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Nov. 1253/1   For readers such as these even the slightest analect must be a thing of the very highest value.
1986    T. Mo Insular Possession xv. 149   Couched‥in a hortatory tone not dissimilar to the precepts and analects of the sages.

Eternity, and so
I will not destroy the Sea 

It would be fun to replace the use of “see,” “hear,” and “feel” as words for comprehension, and use “smell” and “taste” instead.

While “young adult” fiction seems best targeted to an audience of generic 16-year olds, it sounds oddly like it was written by a committee of 12-year olds. Not that I mean that it’s “bad” or “bad for” anyone, just that it’s badly written, with inane conceits and botched composition.

And they began to sin against the birds and the beasts, and against the creeping things, and the fish, and devoured their flesh among themselves, and drank the blood thereof. Then the earth complained of the unjust ones.

Enoch 7:5-6

El Jefe de los sacerdotes de la Serpiente. Tiene en 63 la mano izquierda un látigo para encantar culebras, y un saquito de harina sagrada para untar la cabeza de dichos animales que pretenden son los antecesores de la hermandad que celebra el mencionado baile.

  Ich bin nur durch die Welt gerannt;
  Ein jed’ Gelüst ergriff ich bei den Haaren,
  Was nicht genügte, ließ ich fahren,
  Was mir entwischte, ließ ich ziehn.
  Ich habe nur begehrt und nur vollbracht
  Und abermals gewünscht und so mit Macht
  Mein Leben durchgestürmt; erst groß und mächtig,
  Nun aber geht es weise, geht bedächtig.
  Der Erdenkreis ist mir genug bekannt,
  Nach drüben ist die Aussicht uns verrannt;
  Tor, wer dorthin die Augen blinzelnd richtet,
  Sich über Wolken seinesgleichen dichtet!
  Er stehe fest und sehe hier sich um;
  Dem Tüchtigen ist diese Welt nicht stumm.
  Was braucht er in die Ewigkeit zu schweifen!
  Was er erkennt, läßt sich ergreifen.
  Er wandle so den Erdentag entlang;
  Wenn Geister spuken, geh’ er seinen Gang,
  Im Weiterschreiten find’ er Qual und Glück,
  Er, unbefriedigt jeden Augenblick!

I want to escape from the sphere of “experience,” its crass appropriationism. I want to live instead in overlaps, to approach the worlds around me with ceremony and consideration rather than with eyes and probes.

Democracy was the optimal form of government when voters were capable of making rational choices through an understanding of what was at stake, when they were ready to bear the responsibility for the consequences of their choices, and when the right to vote was understood to be a privilege, or the result of a struggle still remembered. Nowadays it is difficult to shake the impression that democratic societies are rapidly turning into ochlocracies, where the vast majority of citizens, seeing their rights as given and their responsibilities not at all, are easily addled by propaganda, distracted by spectacle and either unable or unwilling to invest the time and energy required to be a responsible democratic actor.

The Cultural Contradictions of Democracy – Vladislav Inozemtsev – The American Interest Magazine

Bemusement at the rancorous divisions of American politics and schadenfreude at the humbling of America’s much-touted model of capitalism are the most common reactions to the US today. Among increasing numbers of people the main response seems to be a lack of interest. The world has moved on from the time when the US could be described as the “last remaining hyper-power”. Though it still has an awesome military capability, America’s capacity to impose its will in any enduring fashion has been diminished irreversibly. A condition of perpetual warfare has left the US more or less bankrupt, a state of affairs that can be sustained only as long as China chooses to fund the federal debt. Stagnant for a generation, the standard of living of the majority is falling and the country’s infrastructure rotting away. Increasingly the US resembles Latin America some decades ago. The predominant response has been denial, with the Republican party degenerating into a squabbling apocalyptic cult and Obama’s principal weakness seeming to be his palpable sanity. The best that can be hoped for is that voters do not opt for a kind of elective psychosis.

Making the Future by Noam Chomsky – review | Books | The Guardian