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Analysis Quote by Charles Fort

“A procession of the damned: By the damned I mean the excluded. We shall have a procession of data that science has excluded. Battalions of the accursed, captained by pallid data that I have exhumed will march. You'll read them, or they'll march. Some of them livid and some of them fiery and some…” quote by Charles Fort
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““A procession of the damned: By the damned I mean the excluded. We shall have a procession of data that science has excluded. Battalions of the accursed, captained by pallid data that I have exhumed will march. You'll read them, or they'll march. Some of them livid and some of them fiery and some of them rotten. Some of them are corpses, skeletons, mummies, twitching, tottering, animated by companions that have been damned alive. There are giants that will walk by, though sound asleep. There are things that are theorems and things that are rags. They'll go by, like you could, arm-in-arm with the spirit of anarchy. Here and there will foot little harlots. Many are clowns, but many are of the highest respectability. Some are assassins. There are pale stenches and gaunt superstitions and mere shadows and lively malices, whims and amiabilities, the naive and the pedantic and the bizarre and the grotesque and the sincere and the insincere, the profound, and the puerile. A stab and a laugh and the patiently folded hands of hopeless propriety. The ultra-respectable! But the condemned, anyway.””

Charles Fort

About This Quote

Source Essay: “The Procession of the Damned,” 1930s

A chaotic parade of data and ideas that mainstream science rejects, ranging from the absurd to the profound.

In simple terms: Rejected data forms a wild, mixed procession.

Key Takeaway

Explore and question marginalized information.

Themes

science data marginalization creativity chaos

Mood

skeptical playful

Type

philosophical critical

When to use this quote

  • research labs
  • alternative media
  • academic debate
  • creative brainstorming
  • data mining

Key Concepts

Epistemology anarchic thought boundary‑pushing

Questions to Reflect On

  • What criteria should decide what data is excluded?
  • Can “damned” ideas spark innovation?
A Different Perspective

Not all excluded data is valuable; some may be noise.

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