Sunday, October 12, 2014

Random Sequence: quixotic

"She came to me to beg me to release her son. She told me that in his Quixotic generosity he would doubtless hasten to me, and make me his wife; but that by so doing he would utterly destroy his own prospects."
--Mary Forman, "Wanted: A Companion", in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, September 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

quixotic = idealistic, unrealistic, or impractical; loftily romantic or extravagantly chivalrous

One might say blogging is a quixotic pursuit.

The word is derived from the character Don Quixote, the knight who wanted to battle windmills.

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