Sunday, December 31, 2006
Quotations
Herewith a selection of inspirational quotes, some of which can be ascribed to an individual...
The end ALWAYS justifies the means.
- Saul Alinsky
- Saul Alinsky
Those who constantly worry about the ethics of ends and means wind up sitting on their ends without any means.
- S Alinsky
- S Alinsky
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
- Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Trotsky)
The philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point, however, is to change it.
- Karl Marx
The core resentment that energizes the swing toward right-wing “Christian” totalitarianism is the confusing, painful panic at seeing The Way and The Truth become one of many ways and many truths.
- Donna Gleeman
Bin Laden & Co. hate us for what we DO in the Middle East, not for who we are or what we believe
- Neal Wilkinson
There are two levers for moving men - self-interest and fear.
-Napoleon Bonaparte
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
- Carl Sagan
If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.
- Emile Zola
There is only one good - knowledge; and only one evil - ignorance.
There is only one good - knowledge; and only one evil - ignorance.
- Socrates
In politics stupididty is not a handicap.
- Napoleon
- Napoleon
The moral paradigm of Austrlian society in 2005 dictates that the rich are, in fact, more deserving than the rest of us. This worldview, of US origin like much in our society, is based on the attempts of the Franco-Swiss theologian John Calvin to provide a respectably Christian justification for aggressive capitalism. Dismissing the “Camel and the Eye of the Needle,” Calvin asserted that being wealthy is not merely NOT a barrier to salvation, but a sign of Divine Favour, an indication that the well-heeled have evinced great virtue by being energetic in accumulating the necessities of life and restrained in defraying the resources thus gathered. Moreover, since virtue is its own reward, affluence derived from the virtues of industry and thrift attracts more affluence, and so the wealthier people are, the “better” they are in moral terms. Of course the converse is also true - the poor "deserve" to be poor because they have not worked hard enough or saved enough. So, don't blame "the system," girls and boys - it's YOUR fault if you can't find a job, or afford adequate health-care.
- N Wilkinson
[In this plutocracy that we know as the "Free World," it has become de rigeur to pamper the wealthy with tax-cuts while punishing the poor by withdrawing welfare support] The way to get the rich to work harder is to give them more money; the way to get the poor to work is to give them less.
- Ross Gittins
[T]here remains a core of bottom-line voters to whom the promise of tax cuts is as seductive as gin to a toper.
- David Nyhan
- David Nyhan
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it ... unless it agrees with your own reason and your own sensibility.
- Buddha
There is no "I" in "team," but there's one in "arselicker."
- N Wilkinson
Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.
- Edgard Varese
In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
- Bertrand Russell
When we are about to hang the last capitalist, another will appear offering to sell us a rope.
- Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin)
The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
- Stanley Kubrick
For those that believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice.
For those that believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice.
- Joseph Dunninger
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses … There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism … I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism … Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
- Major General Smedley Butler
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
- Henry James
Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.
Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.
- Susan B. Anthony
The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.
The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.
- John Stuart Mill
The beauty of war is that each leader of a band of assassins has his flag blessed and invokes God before setting off to exterminate his neighbours.
The beauty of war is that each leader of a band of assassins has his flag blessed and invokes God before setting off to exterminate his neighbours.
- François-Marie Arouet Voltaire
There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings.
- Dorothy Thompson
I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different.
I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different.
- John-Jacques Rousseau
There are men - now in power in this country - who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.
There are men - now in power in this country - who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.
- John Lindsay
The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
- Archibald MacLeish
In general, men believe easily in that which they desire.
In general, men believe easily in that which they desire.
- Caius Julius Caesar
To have doubts about oneself is the first sign of intelligence.
To have doubts about oneself is the first sign of intelligence.
- Ugo Ojetti
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious.
- Aristotle
Traditionally, Australians were not anti-religious — they simply regarded religion as a private affair, and anyone who had to mention god fifty times in a sentence of sixty words as a "god-botherer," a sanctimonious milksop or a fanatical bully, and, if one were to dig deeply enough, probably a hypocrite as well. Sadly the Christian Right is changing our society — this is the really frightening challenge to Australian civilization.
- N Wilkinson
George W Bush would have us believe that we've suffered so much from terrorism the world owes us undying compassion.
- Bernard Chazelle
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
- John Adams
The reason the world today is becoming increasingly besmirched is that the evil that resides in all of us is winning. Our inherent goodness is losing the race. Wickedness has tied its shoelaces together. Let us vow today, right now, to scrape off these hateful scales and try to be as good as we can be. Let's not harbor any ill will for anyone. Let us be the first of a new order to be charitable and caring. Let's break away from the flock of black sheep and graze the clean grass, show them how good it tastes. Not the bitter thistle that most are content to chew through.
The reason the world today is becoming increasingly besmirched is that the evil that resides in all of us is winning. Our inherent goodness is losing the race. Wickedness has tied its shoelaces together. Let us vow today, right now, to scrape off these hateful scales and try to be as good as we can be. Let's not harbor any ill will for anyone. Let us be the first of a new order to be charitable and caring. Let's break away from the flock of black sheep and graze the clean grass, show them how good it tastes. Not the bitter thistle that most are content to chew through.
- Andrew Holt
[The 2004] presidential race [was] so devoid of joy that the high point was when the president claimed God speaks through him — leaving us to contemplate the news that God doesn't know how to pronounce nuclear and has yet to master subject-verb agreement.
- Molly Ivins
I think that one of the most frightening sights I’ll ever see is Condoleezza Rice smiling. Talk about Dracula at the Blood Bank!
- N Wilkinson
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.'
- Abraham Lincoln
Doubt is one of the names of intelligence
- Jose Luis Borges
The only index by which to judge a government or a way of life is by the quality of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion - it is an evil government.
The only index by which to judge a government or a way of life is by the quality of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion - it is an evil government.
- Eric Hoffer
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
- Seneca
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
- John Fitzgeral Kennedy
It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
- Robert Edward Lee
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
- Oscar Wilde
The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service.
- Albert Einstein
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
- Isaac Newton
A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredible unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.
A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredible unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.
- Leo Buscaglia
Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder... And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
- Eugene Debs
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot
Without seeking, truth cannot be known at all. It can neither be declared from pulpits, nor set down in articles, nor in any wise prepared and sold in packages ready for use. Truth must be ground for every man by itself out of it such, with such help as he can get, indeed, but not without stern labor of his own.
- John Ruskin
Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
- Laozi
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
- Edwin Way Teale
Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will intercept it before it reaches you.
- Calvin Coolidge
The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated.
- William Ellery Channing
Murder is a crime. Describing murder is not. Sex is not a crime. Describing sex is.
- Gershon Legman
[There is in this country] a powerful religious constituency that claims the right to tell us what's on God's mind and to decide the laws of the land according to their interpretation of biblical revelation and to enforce those laws on the nation as a whole. For the Bible is not just the foundational text of their faith; it has become the foundational text for a political movement.
- Bill Moyers
- Bill Moyers
Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. If those who live a life beyond comfort must lose a little more money to make sure somebody else's child can read and write when they grow up, so be it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen. They are utter fools who accept a thing as convincing proof simply because it is in writing.
Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen. They are utter fools who accept a thing as convincing proof simply because it is in writing.
- Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides)
If you can't have faith in what is held up to you for faith, you must find things to believe in yourself, for a life without faith in something is too narrow a space to live.
-George Woodberry
The law, in its majestic equality, prohibits the rich as well as the poor from sleeping under bridges.
- Anatole France
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
- Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi
[R]emember: whether you know it yet or not, you have doomed yourselves by learning how to read, learning how to question, learning how to doubt. And this is a most difficult time - the most difficult I remember - to have those skills. Once you have them, however, they are not easy to discard. Finding yourself forced to see the gulf between what you are told about the world, whether it's your government doing the telling, or your boss, or even your family or friends, and what you yourself can't help but understand about that world - this is not always a welcome kind of vision to have. It can be burdensome and awkward and it won't always make you happy.
[R]emember: whether you know it yet or not, you have doomed yourselves by learning how to read, learning how to question, learning how to doubt. And this is a most difficult time - the most difficult I remember - to have those skills. Once you have them, however, they are not easy to discard. Finding yourself forced to see the gulf between what you are told about the world, whether it's your government doing the telling, or your boss, or even your family or friends, and what you yourself can't help but understand about that world - this is not always a welcome kind of vision to have. It can be burdensome and awkward and it won't always make you happy.
- Mark Danner
We are divided between those of us willing to listen, and believe, and those of us determined to read, and think, and find out.
- N Wilkinson
We are divided between those of us willing to listen, and believe, and those of us determined to read, and think, and find out.
- N Wilkinson
Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
- Harold Whitman
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Almost everything in our debauched culture invites us to simplify reality, to despise wisdom.
- Susan Sontag
Let's face it - Bush is a reformed alcoholic, a failed and discredited businessman, a Bible-thumping god-botherer and a moron ... Howard is a failed lawyer, failed Treasurer and failed human being, who sidles up to the power brokers for the appearance of "success" which he is prepared to achieve "at any cost."
- N Wilkinson
- N Wilkinson
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
- Samuel Johnson
There is no road to peace, Peace IS the road.
- MK Gandhi
- Samuel Johnson
There is no road to peace, Peace IS the road.
- MK Gandhi
It is dangerous to be right when the established authorities are wrong.
- Voltaire
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
- MK Gandhi
Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
- Gary Wills
Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.
- Aaron Burr
The country will swarm with informers, spies, delators and all the odious reptile tribe that breed in the sunshine of despotic power ... The hours of the most unsuspected confidence, the intimacies of friendship, or the recesses of domestic retirement, afford no security. The companion whom you must trust, the friend in whom you must confide, the domestic who waits in your chamber, are all tempted to betray your imprudent or unguarded follies, to misrepresent your words; to convey them, distorted by calumny, to the secret tribunal where jealously presides, where fear officiates as accuser, and suspicion is the only evidence heard.
- Edward Livingston
The country will swarm with informers, spies, delators and all the odious reptile tribe that breed in the sunshine of despotic power ... The hours of the most unsuspected confidence, the intimacies of friendship, or the recesses of domestic retirement, afford no security. The companion whom you must trust, the friend in whom you must confide, the domestic who waits in your chamber, are all tempted to betray your imprudent or unguarded follies, to misrepresent your words; to convey them, distorted by calumny, to the secret tribunal where jealously presides, where fear officiates as accuser, and suspicion is the only evidence heard.
- Edward Livingston
Be not intimidated ... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretence of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.
- John Adams
- John Adams
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
- George Orwell
The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Orwell
The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
- George Bernard Shaw
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable.
- Howard Zinn
- Howard Zinn
One of the world's greatest problems is the impossibility of any person searching for the truth on any subject when they believe they already have it.
- Dave Wilbur
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.
- Akhenaten
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.
- EH Chapin
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- Sir John Lubbock
There are no facts, but only interpretations.
- F Nietzsche
Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.
- George Kennan
Simplicity is the form of real greatness.
- Francesco de Sanctis
Mental toughness is many things. It is humility because it behooves all of us to remember that simplicity is the sign of greatness and meekness is the sign of true strength. Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love.
- Vince Lombardi
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
- Martin Luther King, Jr
Humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so,
a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.
Humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so,
a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.
- Marie Curie
We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder "censorship," we call it concern for commercial viability.
We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder "censorship," we call it concern for commercial viability.
- David Mamet
Only a fool would choose war over peace - for in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers their sons.
Only a fool would choose war over peace - for in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers their sons.
- Herodotos
As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
- O Wilde
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always.
- MK Gandhi
The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions which time and mediocrity can resolve.
- Hugh Trevor-Roper
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.
- GB Shaw
Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience... Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty ... Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem.
Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience... Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty ... Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem.
- H Zinn
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
- Francis Bacon
The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.
- Mark Twain
Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.
Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.
- Sallust
The denial of cultural rights to minorities is as disruptive of the moral fabric of mainstream society as is the denial of civil rights.
The denial of cultural rights to minorities is as disruptive of the moral fabric of mainstream society as is the denial of civil rights.
- JA Fishman
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
- MK Gandhi
No one has ever succeeded in keeping nations at war except by lies.
No one has ever succeeded in keeping nations at war except by lies.
- Salvador de Madariaga
The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth which it prevents you from achieving.
- Russell Green
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yudang
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
- Kongfuzi (Confucius)
Trying to create democracy at the point of a foreign bayonet was a fool's errand from the beginning. It can't be done.
- Charley Reese
Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
- Charles De Gaulle
I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!
- Henry Drummond
Little things affect little minds.
Little things affect little minds.
- Benjamin d'Israeli
The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause. A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.
- E Hoffer
Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.
Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.
- Aesop
The cult of perfection always leads to preferring myth to authenticity.
- Paul Aries
In seeking wisdom, the first step is silence; the second, listening; the third, remembering; the fourth, practicing; the fifth, teaching others
In seeking wisdom, the first step is silence; the second, listening; the third, remembering; the fourth, practicing; the fifth, teaching others
- Solomon Ibn Gabirol
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
- A Lincoln
The press does not want to inform the reader but to persuade him he's being informed.
- Nicolas Davila
The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
- Milan Kundera
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.
- Henry David Thoreau
The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself.
The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself.
- Winston Churchill
The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.
- King Edward VIII
Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.
- Bill Cosby
People are divided into two groups - the righteous and the unrighteous - and the righteous do the dividing.
- O Wilde
Long ago, there was a noble word, LIBERAL, which derived from the word FREE [liber]. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were against him, and liberals had no use for Hitler. And then another man named McCarthy cast the same opprobrium on the word. Indeed, there was a time - a short but dismaying time - when many Americans began to distrust the word which derived from FREE. One thing we must all do. We must cherish and honor the word FREE or it will cease to apply to us.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Eleanor Roosevelt
The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Governments exist for only one purpose: to make life better for all people. But you can never depend on politicians to do anything about that.
- E Roosevelt
- E Roosevelt
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again ... There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are HL Hunt ... a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
- Dwight David Eisenhower
- Dwight David Eisenhower
I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
- Adlai Stevenson
- Adlai Stevenson
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
- O Wilde
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
- Oscar Levant
Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.
Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.
- Persian Proverb
He who slings mud generally loses ground.
- A Stevenson
If you can't convince them, confuse them.
If you can't convince them, confuse them.
- Harry Truman
Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburgers
- Abbie Hoffman
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
- FD Roosevelt
- FD Roosevelt
Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.
- Bruce Springsteen
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
- E Hoffer
When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it
- Jack Kevorkian
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fibre of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.
- FD Roosevelt
Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.
- Shakti Gawain
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
- Napoleon
From smokers we can learn tolerance. I've never met anybody who protested against non-smokers.
- Sandro Pertini
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
- Isaac Asimov
The hope of becoming rich is one of the most widespread causes of poverty.
- Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Capitalism is a nineteenth-century Economic System operating under a seventeenth-century Political System and propped up by fifteenth-century Rhetoric.
Capitalism is a nineteenth-century Economic System operating under a seventeenth-century Political System and propped up by fifteenth-century Rhetoric.
- N Wilkinson
Words make men free. Whoever cannot express himself is a slave.
Words make men free. Whoever cannot express himself is a slave.
- Ludwig Feuerbach
The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centres has owned the government of the United States since the days of Andrew Jackson.
The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centres has owned the government of the United States since the days of Andrew Jackson.
- FD Roosevelt
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
- Elbert Hubbard
I live in my own little world, but it's ok, they know me here.
I live in my own little world, but it's ok, they know me here.
- N Wilkinson
Look and you will find it. What is unsought will go undetected.
- Socrates
It is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others' religions as we would have them respect our own, a friendly study of the world's religions is a sacred duty.
- MK Gandhi
What is tolerance? - it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.
What is tolerance? - it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.
- Voltaire
There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians. When bought they stay bought.
- Bill Moyers
A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
- Saki (HH Munro)
Have no fear of perfection ... you'll never reach it.
Have no fear of perfection ... you'll never reach it.
- Salvador Dali
Impropriety is the soul of wit.
Impropriety is the soul of wit.
- W Somerset Maugham
I always advise people never to give advice.
I always advise people never to give advice.
- PG Wodehouse
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
- GB Shaw
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
- GK Chesterton
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly ... very slowly.
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly ... very slowly.
- Gypsy Rose Lee
Everyone is still talking about Hurricane Katrina. Experts say it could take 80 days to drain all of the flood water out of New Orleans. When President Bush heard this he said, '80 days, that’s half a vacation.'
- Conan O'Brien
Bigamy is having one spouse too many. Monogamy is the same.
- O Wilde
There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Jerry Seinfeld
An investigation has been launched over pre-war Iraq ...we're going to find out why they had our oil under their sand.
- Craig Kilborn
In a speech today about Hurricane Rita, President Bush declared, quote, 'This is a big storm.' In related news, the White House announced earlier today that the president is writing his own speeches.
In a speech today about Hurricane Rita, President Bush declared, quote, 'This is a big storm.' In related news, the White House announced earlier today that the president is writing his own speeches.
- C O'Brien
President Bush is trying to put a positive spin on the latest bad economic numbers. Today he declared victory in the 'War on Jobs.'
- C Kilborn
Today is 'Take our Daughters to Work Day.' This is when girls ages nine to fifteen go to work. Or, as it's called at the Nike factory - Thursday.
Today is 'Take our Daughters to Work Day.' This is when girls ages nine to fifteen go to work. Or, as it's called at the Nike factory - Thursday.
- Bill Maher
If women dressed for men, the stores wouldn't sell much - just an occasional sun visor.
If women dressed for men, the stores wouldn't sell much - just an occasional sun visor.
- Julius ("Groucho") Marx
A good rule of thumb is if you've made it to thirty-five and your job still requires you to wear a name tag, you've made a serious vocational error.
- Dennis Miller
Have you noticed how the Republicans and Democrats try to copy each other at their conventions? Like at the Democratic Convention, Kerry's daughter told a story about how her dad once gave CPR to her hamster. At the Republican Convention, the Bush girls are going to tell the story of how, when their hamster was bad, their dad built them a little electric chair.
- C O'Brien
- C O'Brien
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
- Red Buttons
The trouble with children is that they are not returnable.
The trouble with children is that they are not returnable.
- Quentin Crisp
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.
- Woody Allen
- Woody Allen
President Bush was in Canada today. He went to work on relations with the United States and to pick up some discount Lipitor for Cheney.
-David Letterman
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
- Marty Feldman
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.
- WC Fields
Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day.
- Mickey Rooney
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
- Ernest Hemingway
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
- Paul Hornung
Globalization means brown kids working 23 hours per day making clothes for white kids who want to look like black kids
Globalization means brown kids working 23 hours per day making clothes for white kids who want to look like black kids
- Craig Kilgore
The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision.
-Lynn Lavner
In a speech this week, Hillary Clinton compared President Bush to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman ... After hearing this the president said, 'Finally a literary reference I can understand.
- C O'Brien
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
- "Groucho" Marx
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
- "Groucho" Marx
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss
I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
-W Allen
-W Allen
Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down.
-Wilson Mizner
Be nice to your children, for they will choose your rest home.
Be nice to your children, for they will choose your rest home.
- Phyllis Diller
There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men think, "I know what I'm doing. Just show me somebody naked.
- Jerry Seinfeld
Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.
Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.
-Will Rogers
President Bush, before he went on vacation, signed a bill that will extend daylight savings another month. He said it proves we're winning the war on darkness.
- D Letterman
By the time you're eighty years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it.
By the time you're eighty years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it.
- George Burns
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defence.
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defence.
- Steve Landesberg
Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?
Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?
- P Diller
Humility is no substitute for a good personality.
Humility is no substitute for a good personality.
- Jon Winokur
I think capital punishment works great. Every killer you kill never kills again.
I think capital punishment works great. Every killer you kill never kills again.
- B Maher
I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
- "Groucho" Marx
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
- "Groucho" Marx
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
- Dorothy Parker
If a pit bull humps your leg, fake an orgasm.
If a pit bull humps your leg, fake an orgasm.
- Hut Landon
If you can't be kind, at least be vague.
If you can't be kind, at least be vague.
- Judith Manners
If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
- George Carlin
If you can't laugh at yourself, make fun of other people.
If you can't laugh at yourself, make fun of other people.
- Bobby Slayton
No problem is so large it cannot be run away from.
No problem is so large it cannot be run away from.
- Charles Schultz (Peanuts)
Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.
Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.
- Coco Chanel
Success is a great deodorant.
- Elizabeth Taylor
The fastest way to a man's heart is through his chest.
The fastest way to a man's heart is through his chest.
- Roseanne Arnold
...Actually it's up through the stomach and under his sternum.
- N Wilkinson
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.
- Nick Diamos
Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
-WC Fields
Everything is funny as long as it’s happening to someone else.
- W Rogers
Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
-WC Fields
Everything is funny as long as it’s happening to someone else.
- W Rogers
Drug Addiction, n. A popular method of dealing with day-to-day living in the United States.
- Ambrose Bierce
Peace, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.
- A Bierce
If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
- M Twain
If you want a woman to give you the Cold Shoulder, try crying on it.
- Playboy
A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have enlightened him with ours.
- O Wilde
Europeans have such great commercials because they have absolutely no qualms about showing explicitly sexually suggestive material to general audiences. Most 12-year-old European girls know more about and are more comfortable with sex than many 30-year-old American women.
- Unknown
I would like to see priests getting married, hetero-and homo-sexuals alike.
- Unknown
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
- Unknown
Human rights are not respected in Cuba, except in Guantánamo.
- Unknown
Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.
-Unknown
If a man speaks in the forest, and there's no woman there to hear him - is he still wrong?
-Unknown
-Unknown
If a man speaks in the forest, and there's no woman there to hear him - is he still wrong?
-Unknown
We are born naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse.
- Unknown
Japan recently sent the American people 50,000,000 cases of Viagra ... They heard that an entire country can't get an election straight.
- Unknown
Of course a platonic relationship is possible ... but only between husband and wife.
Of course a platonic relationship is possible ... but only between husband and wife.
- Unknown
Stop giving me that pop-up ad for Classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years ... because you didn't particularly like them in the first place! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.
- Unknown
Don't try to tell me that teenage boys who have sex with their female teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.
- Unknown
Foreign aid: The transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
- Unknown
Life is spent between episodes of women being mad at you.
- Unknown
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.
- Unknown
Did you hear that doctors have now discovered a food that kills all sexual desire in women? Wedding cake!
- Unknown (and insisting on staying that way!)
Did you hear that doctors have now discovered a food that kills all sexual desire in women? Wedding cake!
- Unknown (and insisting on staying that way!)
