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Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22observer.html?em
NYTimes
By BRENT STAPLES
Published: September 21, 2008
It was not that long ago that black people in the Deep South could be beaten or killed for seeking the right to vote, talking back to the wrong white man or failing to give way on the sidewalk. People of color who violated these and other proscriptions could be designated “uppity niggers” and subjected to acts of violence and intimidation that were meant to dissuade others from following their examples.
The term “uppity” was applied to affluent black people, who sometimes paid a horrific price for owning nicer homes, cars or more successful businesses than whites. Race-based wealth envy was a common trigger for burnings, lynchings and cataclysmic episodes of violence like the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which a white mob nearly eradicated the prosperous black community of Greenwood.
Forms of eloquence and assertiveness that were viewed as laudable among whites were seen as positively mutinous when practiced by people of color. As such, black men and women who looked white people squarely in the eye — and argued with them about things that mattered — were declared a threat to the racial order and persecuted whenever possible.
This obsession with black subservience was based in nostalgia for slavery. No sane person would openly express such a sentiment today. But the discomfort with certain forms of black assertiveness is too deeply rooted in the national psyche — and the national language — to just disappear. It has been a persistent theme in the public discourse since Barack Obama became a plausible candidate for the presidency.
A blatant example surfaced earlier this month, when a Georgia Republican, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, described the Obamas as “uppity” in response to a reporter’s question. Mr. Westmoreland, who actually stood by the term when given a chance to retreat, later tried to excuse himself by saying that the dictionary definition carried no racial meaning. That seems implausible. Mr. Westmoreland is from the South, where the vernacular meaning of the word has always been clear.
The Jim Crow South institutionalized racial paternalism in its newspapers, which typically denied black adults the courtesy titles of Mr. and Mrs. — and reduced them to children by calling them by first names only. Representative Geoff Davis, Republican of Kentucky, succumbed to the old language earlier this year when describing what he viewed as Mr. Obama’s lack of preparedness to handle nuclear policy. “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” he said.
In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident speakers on matters of importance were termed “disrespectful,” the implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and deferred to their white betters.
In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation, accusing Mr. Obama of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin. The argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.
The throwback references that have surfaced in the campaign suggest that Republicans are fighting on racial grounds, even when express references to race are not evident. In a replay of elections past, the G.O.P. will try to leverage racial ghosts and fears without getting its hands visibly dirty. The Democrats try to parry in customary ways.
Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from a statement — or a phrase — that could transform him in a campaign ad from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.
These maneuvers are often painful to watch. The troubling part is that they are necessary.
NYTimes
By BRENT STAPLES
Published: September 21, 2008
It was not that long ago that black people in the Deep South could be beaten or killed for seeking the right to vote, talking back to the wrong white man or failing to give way on the sidewalk. People of color who violated these and other proscriptions could be designated “uppity niggers” and subjected to acts of violence and intimidation that were meant to dissuade others from following their examples.
The term “uppity” was applied to affluent black people, who sometimes paid a horrific price for owning nicer homes, cars or more successful businesses than whites. Race-based wealth envy was a common trigger for burnings, lynchings and cataclysmic episodes of violence like the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which a white mob nearly eradicated the prosperous black community of Greenwood.
Forms of eloquence and assertiveness that were viewed as laudable among whites were seen as positively mutinous when practiced by people of color. As such, black men and women who looked white people squarely in the eye — and argued with them about things that mattered — were declared a threat to the racial order and persecuted whenever possible.
This obsession with black subservience was based in nostalgia for slavery. No sane person would openly express such a sentiment today. But the discomfort with certain forms of black assertiveness is too deeply rooted in the national psyche — and the national language — to just disappear. It has been a persistent theme in the public discourse since Barack Obama became a plausible candidate for the presidency.
A blatant example surfaced earlier this month, when a Georgia Republican, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, described the Obamas as “uppity” in response to a reporter’s question. Mr. Westmoreland, who actually stood by the term when given a chance to retreat, later tried to excuse himself by saying that the dictionary definition carried no racial meaning. That seems implausible. Mr. Westmoreland is from the South, where the vernacular meaning of the word has always been clear.
The Jim Crow South institutionalized racial paternalism in its newspapers, which typically denied black adults the courtesy titles of Mr. and Mrs. — and reduced them to children by calling them by first names only. Representative Geoff Davis, Republican of Kentucky, succumbed to the old language earlier this year when describing what he viewed as Mr. Obama’s lack of preparedness to handle nuclear policy. “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” he said.
In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident speakers on matters of importance were termed “disrespectful,” the implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and deferred to their white betters.
In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation, accusing Mr. Obama of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin. The argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.
The throwback references that have surfaced in the campaign suggest that Republicans are fighting on racial grounds, even when express references to race are not evident. In a replay of elections past, the G.O.P. will try to leverage racial ghosts and fears without getting its hands visibly dirty. The Democrats try to parry in customary ways.
Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from a statement — or a phrase — that could transform him in a campaign ad from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.
These maneuvers are often painful to watch. The troubling part is that they are necessary.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Moo
NYTimes
September 17, 2008, 9:06 pm
Moo
People should stop picking on vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin because she hired a high school classmate to oversee the state agriculture division, a woman who said she was qualified for the job because she liked cows when she was a kid. And they should lay off the governor for choosing another childhood friend to oversee a failing state-run dairy, allowing the Soviet-style business to ding taxpayers for $800,000 in additional losses.
What these critics don’t understand is that crony capitalism is how things are done in Alaska. They reward failure in the Last Frontier state. In that sense, it’s not unlike like Wall Street’s treatment of C.E.O.’s who run companies into the ground.
Look at Carly Fiorina, John McCain’s top economic surrogate — if you can find her this week, after the news and her narrative fused in a negative way. Dismissed as head of Hewlett-Packard after the company’s stock plunged and nearly 20,000 workers were let go, she was rewarded with $44 million in compensation. Sweet!
Thank God McCain wants to appoint a commission to study the practice that enriched his chief economic adviser. On the campaign trail this week, McCain and Palin pledged to “stop multimillion dollar payouts to C.E.O.’s” of failed companies. Good. Go talk to Fiorina at your next strategy session.
Palin’s Alaska is a cultural cousin to this kind of capitalism. The state may seem like a rugged arena for risky free-marketers. In truth, it’s a strange mix of socialized projects and who-you-know hiring practices.
Let’s start with those cows. A few years ago, I met Harvey Baskin, one of the last of Alaska’s taxpayer-subsidized dairy farmers, at his farm outside Anchorage. The state had spent more than $120 million to create farms where none existed before. The epic project was a miserable failure.
“You want to know how to lose money in a hurry?” Harvey told me, while kicking rock-hard clumps of frozen manure. “Become a farmer with the state of Alaska as your partner. This is what you call negative farming.”
That lesson was lost on Palin. As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, Governor Palin overturned a decision to shutter a money-losing, state-run creamery — Matanuska Maid — when her friends in Wasilla complained about losing their subsidies. She fired the board that recommended closure, and replaced it with one run by a childhood friend. After six months, and nearly $1 million in fresh losses, the board came to the same conclusion as the earlier one: Matanuska Maid could not operate without being a perpetual burden on the taxpayers.
This is Heckuva-Job-Brownie government, Far North version.
On a larger scale, consider the proposal to build a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline, which Palin touts as one of her most significant achievements. Private companies complained they couldn’t build it without government help. That’s where Palin came to the rescue, ensuring that the state would back the project to the tune of $500 million.
And let’s not talk about voodoo infrastructure without one more mention of the bridge that Palin has yet to tell the truth about. The plan was to get American taxpayers to pay for a span that would be 80 feet higher than the Brooklyn Bridge, and about 20 feet short of the Golden Gate — all to serve a tiny airport with a half-dozen or so flights a day and a perfectly good five-minute ferry. Until it was laughed out of Congress, Palin backed it — big time, as the current vice president would say.
Why build it? Because it’s Alaska, where people are used to paying no state taxes and getting the rest of us to buck up for things they can’t afford. Alaska, where the first thing a visitor sees upon landing in Anchorage is the sign welcoming you to Ted Stevens International Airport. Stevens, of course, is the 84-year-old Republican senator indicted on multiple felony charges. He may still win re-election thanks to Palin’s popularity at the top of the ballot.
Alaskans will get $231 per person in federal earmarks — 10 times more than people in Barack Obama’s home state. That’s this year, with Palin as governor.
If Palin were a true reformer, she would tell Congress thanks, but no thanks to that other bridge to nowhere.
Yes, there is another one — a proposal to connect Anchorage to an empty peninsula, speeding the commute to Palin’s hometown by a few minutes. It could cost up to $2 billion. The official name is Don Young’s Way, after the congressman who got the federal bridge earmarks. Of late, he’s spent more $1 million in legal fees fending off corruption investigations. Oh, and Young’s son-in-law has a stake in the property at one end of the bridge.
Some of these projects might be fully explained should Palin ever open herself up to questions. This week she sat down for her second interview — with Sean Hannity of Fox, who has shown sufficient “deference” to Palin, as the campaign requested.
One question: When Palin says “government has got to get out of the way” of the private sector, as she proclaimed this week, does that apply to dairy farms, bridges and gas pipelines in her state? I didn’t think so.
September 17, 2008, 9:06 pm
Moo
People should stop picking on vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin because she hired a high school classmate to oversee the state agriculture division, a woman who said she was qualified for the job because she liked cows when she was a kid. And they should lay off the governor for choosing another childhood friend to oversee a failing state-run dairy, allowing the Soviet-style business to ding taxpayers for $800,000 in additional losses.
What these critics don’t understand is that crony capitalism is how things are done in Alaska. They reward failure in the Last Frontier state. In that sense, it’s not unlike like Wall Street’s treatment of C.E.O.’s who run companies into the ground.
Look at Carly Fiorina, John McCain’s top economic surrogate — if you can find her this week, after the news and her narrative fused in a negative way. Dismissed as head of Hewlett-Packard after the company’s stock plunged and nearly 20,000 workers were let go, she was rewarded with $44 million in compensation. Sweet!
Thank God McCain wants to appoint a commission to study the practice that enriched his chief economic adviser. On the campaign trail this week, McCain and Palin pledged to “stop multimillion dollar payouts to C.E.O.’s” of failed companies. Good. Go talk to Fiorina at your next strategy session.
Palin’s Alaska is a cultural cousin to this kind of capitalism. The state may seem like a rugged arena for risky free-marketers. In truth, it’s a strange mix of socialized projects and who-you-know hiring practices.
Let’s start with those cows. A few years ago, I met Harvey Baskin, one of the last of Alaska’s taxpayer-subsidized dairy farmers, at his farm outside Anchorage. The state had spent more than $120 million to create farms where none existed before. The epic project was a miserable failure.
“You want to know how to lose money in a hurry?” Harvey told me, while kicking rock-hard clumps of frozen manure. “Become a farmer with the state of Alaska as your partner. This is what you call negative farming.”
That lesson was lost on Palin. As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, Governor Palin overturned a decision to shutter a money-losing, state-run creamery — Matanuska Maid — when her friends in Wasilla complained about losing their subsidies. She fired the board that recommended closure, and replaced it with one run by a childhood friend. After six months, and nearly $1 million in fresh losses, the board came to the same conclusion as the earlier one: Matanuska Maid could not operate without being a perpetual burden on the taxpayers.
This is Heckuva-Job-Brownie government, Far North version.
On a larger scale, consider the proposal to build a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline, which Palin touts as one of her most significant achievements. Private companies complained they couldn’t build it without government help. That’s where Palin came to the rescue, ensuring that the state would back the project to the tune of $500 million.
And let’s not talk about voodoo infrastructure without one more mention of the bridge that Palin has yet to tell the truth about. The plan was to get American taxpayers to pay for a span that would be 80 feet higher than the Brooklyn Bridge, and about 20 feet short of the Golden Gate — all to serve a tiny airport with a half-dozen or so flights a day and a perfectly good five-minute ferry. Until it was laughed out of Congress, Palin backed it — big time, as the current vice president would say.
Why build it? Because it’s Alaska, where people are used to paying no state taxes and getting the rest of us to buck up for things they can’t afford. Alaska, where the first thing a visitor sees upon landing in Anchorage is the sign welcoming you to Ted Stevens International Airport. Stevens, of course, is the 84-year-old Republican senator indicted on multiple felony charges. He may still win re-election thanks to Palin’s popularity at the top of the ballot.
Alaskans will get $231 per person in federal earmarks — 10 times more than people in Barack Obama’s home state. That’s this year, with Palin as governor.
If Palin were a true reformer, she would tell Congress thanks, but no thanks to that other bridge to nowhere.
Yes, there is another one — a proposal to connect Anchorage to an empty peninsula, speeding the commute to Palin’s hometown by a few minutes. It could cost up to $2 billion. The official name is Don Young’s Way, after the congressman who got the federal bridge earmarks. Of late, he’s spent more $1 million in legal fees fending off corruption investigations. Oh, and Young’s son-in-law has a stake in the property at one end of the bridge.
Some of these projects might be fully explained should Palin ever open herself up to questions. This week she sat down for her second interview — with Sean Hannity of Fox, who has shown sufficient “deference” to Palin, as the campaign requested.
One question: When Palin says “government has got to get out of the way” of the private sector, as she proclaimed this week, does that apply to dairy farms, bridges and gas pipelines in her state? I didn’t think so.
Sarah Palin's wasteful ways....MUST READ!
Sarah Palin's wasteful ways
She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey "bordello" makeover.
By David Talbot
Sep. 17, 2008 | Sarah Palin has been touting herself as fiscal watchdog throughout her political career. But Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, was characterized by waste, cronyism and incompetence, according to government officials in the Matanuska Valley, where she began her fairy-tale political rise.
"Executive abilities? She doesn't have any," said former Wasilla City Council member Nick Carney, who selected and groomed Palin for her first political race in 1992 and served with her after her election to the City Council.
Four years later, the ambitious Palin won the Wasilla mayor's office -- after scorching the "tax and spend mentality" of her incumbent opponent. But Carney, Palin's estranged former mentor, and others in city hall were astounded when they found out about a lavish expenditure of Palin's own after her 1996 election. According to Carney, the newly elected mayor spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council's authorization.
"I thought it was an outrageous expense, especially for someone who had run as a budget cutter," said Carney. "It was also illegal, because Sarah had not received the council's approval."
According to Carney, Palin's office makeover included flocked, red wallpaper. "It looked like a bordello."
Although Carney says he no longer has documentation of the expenditures, in his recollection Palin paid for the office face-lift with money from a city highway fund that was used to plow snow, grade roads and fill potholes -- essential municipal services, particularly in weather-battered Alaska.
Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.
"I braced her about it," he said. "I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, 'I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'"
"I'll never forget it -- it's one of the few times in my life I've been speechless," Carney added. "It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That's Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations."
Carney, who comes from a long-established homesteading family in the area and once ran the city's garbage collection business, has decided to speak out for the first time since Palin's vice-presidential nomination. He is viewed as a longtime Palin gadfly, ever since he sided with her opponent in the 1996 mayor's race. After Palin won, she froze out Carney, refusing to call on him at City Council meetings and deep-sixing his proposals. "That's the way Sarah is," Carney said. "She rewards friends and cuts everyone else off at the knees."
Other local officials -- who lack Carney's acrimonious history with Palin -- share his dim view of her mayoral reign. When Palin ran for mayor, she dismissed concerns about her lack of managerial expertise by saying the job was "not rocket science." But after a tumultuous start, marked by controversial firings and lawsuits against the city, Palin felt compelled to hire a city manager named John Cramer to steady the ship.
"Sarah was unprepared to be mayor -- it was John Cramer who actually ran the city," said Michelle Church, a member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, who knows Palin socially. "As vice-president she'll certainly have to rely on faceless advisors with no public accountability. Haven't we had enough of that in the past eight years?"
Other officials in the borough government -- the equivalent of county government in other states -- point out that Palin actually had very little executive responsibility, since the borough oversees many of Wasilla's vital functions.
"After all her boasting about her executive experience, what did she do?" asks a longtime borough official, who, like many in local circles, requested anonymity because of Palin's reputation for vengeance. "The borough takes care of most of the planning, the fire, the ambulance, collecting the property taxes. And on top of that she brought in a city manager to actually run the city day to day. So what executive experience did she have as mayor?"
Palin does have two major accomplishments to her name as mayor: the by now highly publicized sports complex on the outskirts of Wasilla, which she pushed through city government, and the less well-known emergency dispatch center, which she also brought to her hometown.
The sports complex, however, is seen by many local officials as a budget-busting white elephant.
"I feel sorry for our current mayor, because of the mess that Sarah left behind," said Anne Kilkenny, a respected government watchdog in Wasilla. "And the sports arena is still a money loser for the city."
"Sarah was very focused on the sports complex," said Wasilla council member Dianne Woodruff, who began serving after Palin's tenure. "But somebody forgot to buy the land before they started building on it. Somebody dropped the ball. It was the fault of the people running the city at the time. As a result, we've spent well over a million dollars more than we should have. And we're still paying for it."
Today, the sports complex sits like a huge airplane hangar outside the Wasilla city limits, in a clearing in the woods. Since Palin's administration decided to build the complex far from Wasilla's population center, kids can't walk there or ride their bicycles. On a recent, drizzly afternoon, the cavernous building sat nearly empty. Inside, two girls glided aimlessly around on the ice rink.
But the quiet arena still held Palin's charged presence. A wall plaque commemorated Mayor Sarah Palin and her City Council for constructing the edifice. And on the walls, big, bold quotations urged young athletes to attempt impossible, Sarah Barracuda-like feats: "'You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.' -- Wayne Gretzky."
Local officials are also highly critical of Palin's decision to build an emergency dispatch center -- even though Wasilla and nearby Palmer already shared the costs of an emergency operation for the Mat-Su Valley. As a result of the duplication, there are now two expensive operations for an area with 85,000 people, while the city of Anchorage, with a population of over 300,000, makes do with one emergency station.
"Don't tell me about earmarks," snorts a borough official. "Because of Palin's ego, she couldn't stand the idea of sharing an emergency dispatch operation with Palmer, which has been Wasilla's town rival ever since her high school basketball days. So she ran to [Senator] Ted Stevens to get an earmark for her own system. Now we have two expensive emergency systems and both are losing money. She's no budget cutter -- give me a break. She's just the opposite."
Nick Carney, who is now retired in Utah, has a lot of time to ponder Sarah Palin's rise these days. When he and his wife picked Palin to run for City Council in 1992, because they felt the council needed an average-mom type like her, Carney had no idea how far their protégé would soar. "It was a very casual process, she wasn't even our first choice. We had known her since she was a girl, she went to school with our daughter. It wasn't that she was the brightest thing on the horizon, a rising star or anything like that."
But, in hindsight, Carney can see the qualities that have rocket-propelled Palin to where she is today.
"'Sarah Barracuda' -- she's proud of that name now, she uses it in her campaigns," said her former mentor. "But she got that name from the way she conducted herself with her own teammates. She was vicious to the other girls, always playing up to the coach and pointing out when the other girls made mistakes. She was the coach's favorite and he gave her more playing time than her skills warranted. My niece was on her team; she was a very good player. I used to sit there in the stands, and I would wonder, Why on earth is Sarah getting so much playing time?"
-- By David Talbot
She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey "bordello" makeover.
By David Talbot
Sep. 17, 2008 | Sarah Palin has been touting herself as fiscal watchdog throughout her political career. But Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, was characterized by waste, cronyism and incompetence, according to government officials in the Matanuska Valley, where she began her fairy-tale political rise.
"Executive abilities? She doesn't have any," said former Wasilla City Council member Nick Carney, who selected and groomed Palin for her first political race in 1992 and served with her after her election to the City Council.
Four years later, the ambitious Palin won the Wasilla mayor's office -- after scorching the "tax and spend mentality" of her incumbent opponent. But Carney, Palin's estranged former mentor, and others in city hall were astounded when they found out about a lavish expenditure of Palin's own after her 1996 election. According to Carney, the newly elected mayor spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council's authorization.
"I thought it was an outrageous expense, especially for someone who had run as a budget cutter," said Carney. "It was also illegal, because Sarah had not received the council's approval."
According to Carney, Palin's office makeover included flocked, red wallpaper. "It looked like a bordello."
Although Carney says he no longer has documentation of the expenditures, in his recollection Palin paid for the office face-lift with money from a city highway fund that was used to plow snow, grade roads and fill potholes -- essential municipal services, particularly in weather-battered Alaska.
Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.
"I braced her about it," he said. "I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, 'I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'"
"I'll never forget it -- it's one of the few times in my life I've been speechless," Carney added. "It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That's Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations."
Carney, who comes from a long-established homesteading family in the area and once ran the city's garbage collection business, has decided to speak out for the first time since Palin's vice-presidential nomination. He is viewed as a longtime Palin gadfly, ever since he sided with her opponent in the 1996 mayor's race. After Palin won, she froze out Carney, refusing to call on him at City Council meetings and deep-sixing his proposals. "That's the way Sarah is," Carney said. "She rewards friends and cuts everyone else off at the knees."
Other local officials -- who lack Carney's acrimonious history with Palin -- share his dim view of her mayoral reign. When Palin ran for mayor, she dismissed concerns about her lack of managerial expertise by saying the job was "not rocket science." But after a tumultuous start, marked by controversial firings and lawsuits against the city, Palin felt compelled to hire a city manager named John Cramer to steady the ship.
"Sarah was unprepared to be mayor -- it was John Cramer who actually ran the city," said Michelle Church, a member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, who knows Palin socially. "As vice-president she'll certainly have to rely on faceless advisors with no public accountability. Haven't we had enough of that in the past eight years?"
Other officials in the borough government -- the equivalent of county government in other states -- point out that Palin actually had very little executive responsibility, since the borough oversees many of Wasilla's vital functions.
"After all her boasting about her executive experience, what did she do?" asks a longtime borough official, who, like many in local circles, requested anonymity because of Palin's reputation for vengeance. "The borough takes care of most of the planning, the fire, the ambulance, collecting the property taxes. And on top of that she brought in a city manager to actually run the city day to day. So what executive experience did she have as mayor?"
Palin does have two major accomplishments to her name as mayor: the by now highly publicized sports complex on the outskirts of Wasilla, which she pushed through city government, and the less well-known emergency dispatch center, which she also brought to her hometown.
The sports complex, however, is seen by many local officials as a budget-busting white elephant.
"I feel sorry for our current mayor, because of the mess that Sarah left behind," said Anne Kilkenny, a respected government watchdog in Wasilla. "And the sports arena is still a money loser for the city."
"Sarah was very focused on the sports complex," said Wasilla council member Dianne Woodruff, who began serving after Palin's tenure. "But somebody forgot to buy the land before they started building on it. Somebody dropped the ball. It was the fault of the people running the city at the time. As a result, we've spent well over a million dollars more than we should have. And we're still paying for it."
Today, the sports complex sits like a huge airplane hangar outside the Wasilla city limits, in a clearing in the woods. Since Palin's administration decided to build the complex far from Wasilla's population center, kids can't walk there or ride their bicycles. On a recent, drizzly afternoon, the cavernous building sat nearly empty. Inside, two girls glided aimlessly around on the ice rink.
But the quiet arena still held Palin's charged presence. A wall plaque commemorated Mayor Sarah Palin and her City Council for constructing the edifice. And on the walls, big, bold quotations urged young athletes to attempt impossible, Sarah Barracuda-like feats: "'You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.' -- Wayne Gretzky."
Local officials are also highly critical of Palin's decision to build an emergency dispatch center -- even though Wasilla and nearby Palmer already shared the costs of an emergency operation for the Mat-Su Valley. As a result of the duplication, there are now two expensive operations for an area with 85,000 people, while the city of Anchorage, with a population of over 300,000, makes do with one emergency station.
"Don't tell me about earmarks," snorts a borough official. "Because of Palin's ego, she couldn't stand the idea of sharing an emergency dispatch operation with Palmer, which has been Wasilla's town rival ever since her high school basketball days. So she ran to [Senator] Ted Stevens to get an earmark for her own system. Now we have two expensive emergency systems and both are losing money. She's no budget cutter -- give me a break. She's just the opposite."
Nick Carney, who is now retired in Utah, has a lot of time to ponder Sarah Palin's rise these days. When he and his wife picked Palin to run for City Council in 1992, because they felt the council needed an average-mom type like her, Carney had no idea how far their protégé would soar. "It was a very casual process, she wasn't even our first choice. We had known her since she was a girl, she went to school with our daughter. It wasn't that she was the brightest thing on the horizon, a rising star or anything like that."
But, in hindsight, Carney can see the qualities that have rocket-propelled Palin to where she is today.
"'Sarah Barracuda' -- she's proud of that name now, she uses it in her campaigns," said her former mentor. "But she got that name from the way she conducted herself with her own teammates. She was vicious to the other girls, always playing up to the coach and pointing out when the other girls made mistakes. She was the coach's favorite and he gave her more playing time than her skills warranted. My niece was on her team; she was a very good player. I used to sit there in the stands, and I would wonder, Why on earth is Sarah getting so much playing time?"
-- By David Talbot
Salon.com "Quote of the Day"....AWESOMEY!
Obama uses McCain's base against him Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 16:23 EDT
I don't normally like to give the candidates the quote of the day distinction, but Barack Obama got in a pretty good line at John McCain's expense today, so I'll make an exception:
Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president, he'll take on, and I quote -- 'the old boys network in Washington.' I'm not making this up. This is somebody who's been in Congress for twenty-six years -- who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign -- and now he tells us that he's the one who's gonna take on the old boys network. The old boys network? In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.
I don't normally like to give the candidates the quote of the day distinction, but Barack Obama got in a pretty good line at John McCain's expense today, so I'll make an exception:
Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president, he'll take on, and I quote -- 'the old boys network in Washington.' I'm not making this up. This is somebody who's been in Congress for twenty-six years -- who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign -- and now he tells us that he's the one who's gonna take on the old boys network. The old boys network? In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.
Making America Stupid
NYTimes
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 13, 2008
Imagine for a minute that attending the Republican convention in St. Paul, sitting in a skybox overlooking the convention floor, were observers from Russia, Iran and Venezuela. And imagine for a minute what these observers would have been doing when Rudy Giuliani led the delegates in a chant of “drill, baby, drill!”
I’ll tell you what they would have been doing: the Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan observers would have been up out of their seats, exchanging high-fives and joining in the chant louder than anyone in the hall — “Yes! Yes! Drill, America, drill!” — because an America that is focused first and foremost on drilling for oil is an America more focused on feeding its oil habit than kicking it.
Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewrite! rs, baby, typewriters.”
Of course, we’re going to need oil for many years, but instead of exalting that — with “drill, baby, drill” — why not throw all our energy into innovating a whole new industry of clean power with the mantra “invent, baby, invent?” That is what a party committed to “change” would really be doing. As they say in Texas: “If al! l you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”
I dwell on this issue because it is symbolic of the campaign that John McCain has decided to run. It’s a campaign now built on turning everything possible into a cultural wedge issue — including even energy policy, no matter how stupid it makes the voters and no matter how much it might weaken America.
I respected McCain’s willingness to support the troop surge in Iraq, even if it was going to cost him the Republican nomination. Now the same guy, who would not sell his soul to win his party’s nomination, is ready to sell every piece of his soul to win the presidency.
In order to disguise the fact that the core of his campaign is to continue the same Bush policies that have led 80 percent of the country to conclude we’re on the wrong track, McCain has decided to play the culture-war card. Obama may be a bit professorial, but at least he is trying to unite the country to face the real issues rather than divide us over cultural differences.
A Washington Post editorial on Thursday put it well: “On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Senator John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Senator Barack Obama for using the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners a! bout sex before they learn to read.”
Some McCain supporters criticize Obama for not having the steel in his belly to use force in the dangerous world we live in today. Well I know this: In order to use force, you have to have force. In order to exercise leverage, you have to have leverage.
I don’t know how much steel is in Obama’s belly, but I do know that the issues he is focusing on in this campaign — improving education and health care, dealing with the deficit and forging a real energy policy based on building a whole new energy infrastructure — are the only way we can put steel back into America’s spine. McCain, alas, has abandoned those issues for the culture-war strategy.
Who cares how much steel John McCain has in his gut when the steel that today holds up our bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure is rusting? McCain talks about how he would build dozens of nuclear power plants. Oh, really? They go for $10 billion a pop. Where is the money going to come from? From lowering taxes? From banning abortions? From borrowing more from China? From having Sarah Palin “reform” Washington — as if she has any more clue how to do that than the first 100 names in the D.C. phonebook?
Sorry, but there is no sustainable political/military power without economic power, and talking about one without the other is nonsense. Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode. Those are the issues this election needs to be about, because that is what the next four years need to be about.
There is no strong leader without a strong country. And posing as one, to use the current vernacular, is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 13, 2008
Imagine for a minute that attending the Republican convention in St. Paul, sitting in a skybox overlooking the convention floor, were observers from Russia, Iran and Venezuela. And imagine for a minute what these observers would have been doing when Rudy Giuliani led the delegates in a chant of “drill, baby, drill!”
I’ll tell you what they would have been doing: the Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan observers would have been up out of their seats, exchanging high-fives and joining in the chant louder than anyone in the hall — “Yes! Yes! Drill, America, drill!” — because an America that is focused first and foremost on drilling for oil is an America more focused on feeding its oil habit than kicking it.
Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewrite! rs, baby, typewriters.”
Of course, we’re going to need oil for many years, but instead of exalting that — with “drill, baby, drill” — why not throw all our energy into innovating a whole new industry of clean power with the mantra “invent, baby, invent?” That is what a party committed to “change” would really be doing. As they say in Texas: “If al! l you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”
I dwell on this issue because it is symbolic of the campaign that John McCain has decided to run. It’s a campaign now built on turning everything possible into a cultural wedge issue — including even energy policy, no matter how stupid it makes the voters and no matter how much it might weaken America.
I respected McCain’s willingness to support the troop surge in Iraq, even if it was going to cost him the Republican nomination. Now the same guy, who would not sell his soul to win his party’s nomination, is ready to sell every piece of his soul to win the presidency.
In order to disguise the fact that the core of his campaign is to continue the same Bush policies that have led 80 percent of the country to conclude we’re on the wrong track, McCain has decided to play the culture-war card. Obama may be a bit professorial, but at least he is trying to unite the country to face the real issues rather than divide us over cultural differences.
A Washington Post editorial on Thursday put it well: “On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Senator John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Senator Barack Obama for using the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners a! bout sex before they learn to read.”
Some McCain supporters criticize Obama for not having the steel in his belly to use force in the dangerous world we live in today. Well I know this: In order to use force, you have to have force. In order to exercise leverage, you have to have leverage.
I don’t know how much steel is in Obama’s belly, but I do know that the issues he is focusing on in this campaign — improving education and health care, dealing with the deficit and forging a real energy policy based on building a whole new energy infrastructure — are the only way we can put steel back into America’s spine. McCain, alas, has abandoned those issues for the culture-war strategy.
Who cares how much steel John McCain has in his gut when the steel that today holds up our bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure is rusting? McCain talks about how he would build dozens of nuclear power plants. Oh, really? They go for $10 billion a pop. Where is the money going to come from? From lowering taxes? From banning abortions? From borrowing more from China? From having Sarah Palin “reform” Washington — as if she has any more clue how to do that than the first 100 names in the D.C. phonebook?
Sorry, but there is no sustainable political/military power without economic power, and talking about one without the other is nonsense. Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode. Those are the issues this election needs to be about, because that is what the next four years need to be about.
There is no strong leader without a strong country. And posing as one, to use the current vernacular, is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Why Experience Matters
By DAVID BROOKS
NYTimes
Published: September 15, 2008
Philosophical debates arise at the oddest times, and in the heat of this election season, one is now rising in Republican ranks. The narrow question is this: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be vice president? Most conservatives say yes, on the grounds that something that feels so good could not possibly be wrong. But a few commentators, like George Will, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum and Ross Douthat demur, suggesting in different ways that she is unready.
The issue starts with an evaluation of Palin, but does not end there. This argument also is over what qualities the country needs in a leader and what are the ultimate sources of wisdom.
There was a time when conservatives did not argue about this. Conservatism was once a frankly elitist movement. Conservatives stood against radical egalitarianism and the destruction of rigorous standards. They stood up for classical education, hard-earned knowledge, experience and prudence. Wisdom was acquired through immersion in the best that has been thought and said.
But, especially in America, there has always been a separate, populist, strain. For those in this school, book knowledge is suspect but practical knowledge is respected. The city is corrupting and the universities are kindergartens for overeducated fools.
The elitists favor sophistication, but the common-sense folk favor simplicity. The elitists favor deliberation, but the populists favor instinct.
This populist tendency produced the term-limits movement based on the belief that time in government destroys character but contact with grass-roots America gives one grounding in real life. And now it has produced Sarah Palin.
Palin is the ultimate small-town renegade rising from the frontier to do battle with the corrupt establishment. Her followers take pride in the way she has aroused fear, hatred and panic in the minds of the liberal elite. The feminists declare that she’s not a real woman because she doesn’t hew to their rigid categories. People who’ve never been in a Wal-Mart think she is parochial because she has never summered in Tuscany.
Look at the condescension and snobbery oozing from elite quarters, her backers say. Look at the endless string of vicious, one-sided attacks in the news media. This is what elites produce. This is why regular people need to take control.
And there’s a serious argument here. In the current Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward argues that the nation’s founders wanted uncertified citizens to hold the highest offices in the land. They did not believe in a separate class of professional executives. They wanted rough and rooted people like Palin.
I would have more sympathy for this view if I hadn’t just lived through the last eight years. For if the Bush administration was anything, it was the anti-establishment attitude put into executive practice.
And the problem with this attitude is that, especially in his first term, it made Bush inept at governance. It turns out that governance, the creation and execution of policy, is hard. It requires acquired skills. Most of all, it requires prudence.
What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events — the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.
How is prudence acquired? Through experience. The prudent leader possesses a repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can’t, what has worked and what hasn’t.
Experienced leaders can certainly blunder if their minds have rigidified (see: Rumsfeld, Donald), but the records of leaders without long experience and prudence is not good. As George Will pointed out, the founders used the word “experience” 91 times in the Federalist Papers. Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared.
Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.
The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.
NYTimes
Published: September 15, 2008
Philosophical debates arise at the oddest times, and in the heat of this election season, one is now rising in Republican ranks. The narrow question is this: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be vice president? Most conservatives say yes, on the grounds that something that feels so good could not possibly be wrong. But a few commentators, like George Will, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum and Ross Douthat demur, suggesting in different ways that she is unready.
The issue starts with an evaluation of Palin, but does not end there. This argument also is over what qualities the country needs in a leader and what are the ultimate sources of wisdom.
There was a time when conservatives did not argue about this. Conservatism was once a frankly elitist movement. Conservatives stood against radical egalitarianism and the destruction of rigorous standards. They stood up for classical education, hard-earned knowledge, experience and prudence. Wisdom was acquired through immersion in the best that has been thought and said.
But, especially in America, there has always been a separate, populist, strain. For those in this school, book knowledge is suspect but practical knowledge is respected. The city is corrupting and the universities are kindergartens for overeducated fools.
The elitists favor sophistication, but the common-sense folk favor simplicity. The elitists favor deliberation, but the populists favor instinct.
This populist tendency produced the term-limits movement based on the belief that time in government destroys character but contact with grass-roots America gives one grounding in real life. And now it has produced Sarah Palin.
Palin is the ultimate small-town renegade rising from the frontier to do battle with the corrupt establishment. Her followers take pride in the way she has aroused fear, hatred and panic in the minds of the liberal elite. The feminists declare that she’s not a real woman because she doesn’t hew to their rigid categories. People who’ve never been in a Wal-Mart think she is parochial because she has never summered in Tuscany.
Look at the condescension and snobbery oozing from elite quarters, her backers say. Look at the endless string of vicious, one-sided attacks in the news media. This is what elites produce. This is why regular people need to take control.
And there’s a serious argument here. In the current Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward argues that the nation’s founders wanted uncertified citizens to hold the highest offices in the land. They did not believe in a separate class of professional executives. They wanted rough and rooted people like Palin.
I would have more sympathy for this view if I hadn’t just lived through the last eight years. For if the Bush administration was anything, it was the anti-establishment attitude put into executive practice.
And the problem with this attitude is that, especially in his first term, it made Bush inept at governance. It turns out that governance, the creation and execution of policy, is hard. It requires acquired skills. Most of all, it requires prudence.
What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events — the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.
How is prudence acquired? Through experience. The prudent leader possesses a repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can’t, what has worked and what hasn’t.
Experienced leaders can certainly blunder if their minds have rigidified (see: Rumsfeld, Donald), but the records of leaders without long experience and prudence is not good. As George Will pointed out, the founders used the word “experience” 91 times in the Federalist Papers. Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared.
Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.
The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.
The culture war: It's back!
The culture war: It's back!
Democrats may have thought that the disastrous Bush years killed the GOP's favorite tactic. The Palin effect shows they were wrong.
Salon.com By Gary Kamiya
Sep. 15, 2008 | Observing the Sarah Palin phenomenon, does anyone feel like they're trapped in a singularly creepy remake of "Night of the Living Dead"? George W. Bush has been a political corpse for years. But Palin resembles a female version of Bush, brought back from the grave to win the election.
You wouldn't think that the Republicans would want to exhume Bush. After all, his presidency has been a historic disaster, and the American people know it. But Bush was successful at one thing: winning elections. With its policies and ideology in ruins, Bush's political game plan is all that the GOP has left. And so McCain, who sold his soul to win, is following Bush's script -- with Sarah Palin playing the leading role once played by Bush.
Palin represents the reappearance of the one part of Bush that never died -- the culture warrior. Democrats may have forgotten about the notorious red state-blue state divide, or hoped that the failures of the last eight years had made it go away. But it hasn't. It's been there all along. If Palin catapults McCain to victory, it will be revealed to be the most powerful and enduring force in American politics. And that fact will raise serious questions about the viability of American democracy itself.
The culture war is driven by resentment, on the one hand, and crude identification, on the other. Resentment of "elites," "Washington insiders" and overeducated coastal snobs goes hand in hand with an unreflective, emotional identification with candidates who "are just like me." Large numbers of Americans voted for Bush because he seemed like a regular guy, someone you'd want to have a beer with. As Thomas Frank argued in "What's the Matter With Kansas," ideology also played a role. As hard-line "moral values" exponent and former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer told the New York Times, "Joe Six-Pack doesn't understand why the world and his culture are changing and why he doesn't have a say in it." The GOP appealed to Joe Six-Pack by harping on cultural issues like the "three Gs," gods, guns and gays.
Bush played on culture war themes like a virtuoso. His folksy, macho persona connected with the GOP base and independent voters, his bland pre-election talk of reform and inclusion was reassuring, and his post-election Karl Rove-engineered strategy of nonstop flag-waving, demonizing opponents as traitors, and talking populism while handing the country over to deregulated predators, worked brilliantly. Bush was the great divider, masterfully playing on Americans' fear, resentment and patriotism. First Al Gore, then John Kerry were painted as out-of-touch elitists, mandarins and eggheads. It worked: Bush rode the red-state side of the culture wars to victory twice (with a little help from the Supreme Court the first time around).
It's terrifying that so many Americans are so driven by resentment that they will vote against more qualified candidates simply because they seem "different" from them. For what this means is that anyone with expertise, unusual intelligence, mastery, special knowledge, is likely to be rejected by voters who are resentful of "elites." This constitutes a rejection of the very idea that it matters if someone is better at something than someone else.
The peculiar thing is that this only applies to politics: Voters who would not dream of taking their car to an incompetent mechanic or their body to an unlicensed physician have no problem electing totally unqualified candidates to perform the most difficult and important job in the world, simply because they identify with them.
Resentment explains some of this. So does a widespread lack of respect for government itself, and ignorance about what it is and what it requires. Most insidious, perhaps, is the fact that more and more Americans seem to see politics as just another reality TV show. You vote for Palin the same way you vote for a designer on "Project Runway." As Katharine Mieszkowski reported for Salon, Palin's rapturous supporters embrace her because "she represents me." It's the politics of sheer narcissism.
This crudely personalized and debased approach to civic life has always been present, but it's getting stronger, and the Republicans are recklessly exacerbating it. Never mind that if they succeed in dumbing down the electorate and turning politics into the most superficial popularity contest, the country will suffer irreparable harm. Hey, we gotta win this election!
From the GOP's perspective, Palin has all of the virtues of Bush, and none of the drawbacks. She's a red state culture warrior. And in the new GOP gender con game, the fact that she's a woman automatically makes her a "maverick" and an "outsider."
Palin and her handlers have clearly decided that she must constantly invoke these magic words, despite the absence of any evidence that they actually apply to her. In her second interview with Charles Gibson, which was broadcast Friday night on ABC's "20/20," Palin responded to Gibson's skeptical comment that Bush also came to Washington talking about reform by saying, "We are mavericks" and "I am a Washington outsider."
How soon we forget that Bush, like Palin, like all Republican candidates, also avidly claimed to be "an outsider." As Jake Tapper reported for Salon in 2000, Bush put on his Outsider costume after McCain defeated him in the New Hampshire primary. "I was defined as the insider [in New Hampshire], and those days are over," Bush said. "I'm going to make it very clear to the voters of this state who Mr. Outsider is and who Mr. Insider is." In keeping with his new maverick image, Bush adopted the slogan "A Reformer With Results."
Not only is Palin a Bush rerun, she's a really bad one. Palin's performance in her interviews with Gibson, particularly the first foreign-policy-focused one, was shockingly awful. It's astonishing that McCain was cynical, reckless and contemptuous enough to actually put this grossly unprepared individual in a position to become president. But McCain has become a Rove-style Republican, so maybe it isn't astonishing after all.
Palin didn't know what the Bush doctrine was. She robotically mouthed ancient Bush propaganda lines about the "war on terror." She casually said that we might go to war with Russia. She blandly handed over control of Iran policy to Israel, ignoring the fact that if Tel Aviv attacked Iran, U.S. troops located next door would almost certainly die as a result. She clumsily avoided answering any question for which she had not hastily memorized a stock answer. You could practically see her riffling through her mental cheat sheets.
Palin apparently still believes the ur-lie of the Bush administration, that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. On Sept. 11, she told troops shipping out to Iraq, including her eldest son Track, that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."
It isn't surprising, therefore, that Palin appears to have no idea who America is actually fighting in Iraq. "The terrorists" attacked us because "they do not believe in American ideals," as she robotically told Gibson, channeling Bush's notorious "they hate our freedoms" line. It may be comforting for Palin and Bush to envision Osama bin Laden sitting in a cave cursing as he reads Thomas Jefferson, but it provides scant guidance for formulating effective Mideast policies.
But where Palin most closely, and disturbingly, resembles Bush is in her dogmatism, her mental rigidity. Like Bush and the GOP in general, she is determined to appear tough above all else. She follows Rove Rule No. 1: She stays on message, even if what she's saying is an obvious lie. The GOP programmers know that toughness sells. But Palin's supposed toughness reveals an utter lack of introspection, intellectual nuance or ability to depart from programmed ideas. Asked if she had worried she wasn't prepared to be president, Palin replied, "I — I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink."
If what America wants is a more uninformed, more right-wing, equally macho version of Bush, Palin's the perfect choice.
Palin's second Gibson interview, focused on domestic issues, wasn't as revealing as the first. Unfortunately, Gibson failed to follow up on most of his questions, allowing Palin to get away with superficial accounts of her inquiries about banning books and other subjects. Palin mostly mouthed safe conservative bromides, and didn't make any errors as egregious as she did in the first interview. However, the interview did reveal another trait she shares with Bush: an inability to tell the truth. Her tortured attempt to claim that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, when in fact she supported it until it became a national embarrassment, was reminiscent of Bush's claims that he had never linked Saddam and 9/11.
Still more egregious was her bald-faced lie about her position on human responsibility for climate change. When Gibson said she seemed to be adopting a new position on the issue, she said, "I think you are a cynic, because show me where I have ever said that there's absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect, or no effect, on climate change."
In fact, Palin has repeatedly and explicitly denied that man is responsible for global warming. "I'm not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity," she told an Alaska newspaper in 2007.
Tilt! What played well with her green-hating, oil-worshipping, man-was-given-dominion-over-nature-by-God Alaska constituency contradicts McCain's position and doesn't work on the national stage, so she never said it. But if she lied, so what? Bush said "We do not torture" and "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." As that famous unnamed Bush official told Ron Suskind, the GOP isn't interested in the reality-based community: "That's not the way the world works now."
Palin's talk of being "on the side of the people" would be more convincing if she didn't go around making inflammatory culture-war speeches in which she derides "community organizers" and Democrats. She and McCain are trying to come off like the populist hero George Bailey in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," fighting fat cats and standing up for the little guy. But their actual beliefs and policies resemble not Bailey's but Mr. Potter's, the ultimate Republican fat cat, stern enemy of "do-gooders," champion of individual initiative and defender of the moral virtues of unfettered greed.
Will anyone notice that Palin is simply a debased female version of Bush? Will the fact that she is obviously unqualified to be president mean anything? Will voters be enraged that by picking Palin, McCain has turned American politics into a sitcom, a cheap farce? Or will the culture war still be a winner for the GOP?
It depends on whether eight disastrous years have revived the reality-based community -- or whether the same time-tested right-wing culture-war tactics will work even when the ideas and policies behind them have abjectly failed.
There are some hopeful signs to go along with the torrent of bad news for Democrats. A Newsweek poll that came out late Friday found that 22 percent of people say she makes them less likely to vote for McCain -- the highest percentage of a V.P. pick in recent history. Palin's dreadful performance in her Gibson interviews could be responsible for this. But it's too early to say.
So far, McCain has benefited from the fight that has erupted over Palin, because it is part of the culture war that is insidiously connected to a politics of emotional identification, narcissism and resentment. The Democrats always lose when the battle is fought on this terrain, the terrain of impulse and the id. If they can change the battleground to issues and reality, they can win.
-- By Gary Kamiya
Democrats may have thought that the disastrous Bush years killed the GOP's favorite tactic. The Palin effect shows they were wrong.
Salon.com By Gary Kamiya
Sep. 15, 2008 | Observing the Sarah Palin phenomenon, does anyone feel like they're trapped in a singularly creepy remake of "Night of the Living Dead"? George W. Bush has been a political corpse for years. But Palin resembles a female version of Bush, brought back from the grave to win the election.
You wouldn't think that the Republicans would want to exhume Bush. After all, his presidency has been a historic disaster, and the American people know it. But Bush was successful at one thing: winning elections. With its policies and ideology in ruins, Bush's political game plan is all that the GOP has left. And so McCain, who sold his soul to win, is following Bush's script -- with Sarah Palin playing the leading role once played by Bush.
Palin represents the reappearance of the one part of Bush that never died -- the culture warrior. Democrats may have forgotten about the notorious red state-blue state divide, or hoped that the failures of the last eight years had made it go away. But it hasn't. It's been there all along. If Palin catapults McCain to victory, it will be revealed to be the most powerful and enduring force in American politics. And that fact will raise serious questions about the viability of American democracy itself.
The culture war is driven by resentment, on the one hand, and crude identification, on the other. Resentment of "elites," "Washington insiders" and overeducated coastal snobs goes hand in hand with an unreflective, emotional identification with candidates who "are just like me." Large numbers of Americans voted for Bush because he seemed like a regular guy, someone you'd want to have a beer with. As Thomas Frank argued in "What's the Matter With Kansas," ideology also played a role. As hard-line "moral values" exponent and former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer told the New York Times, "Joe Six-Pack doesn't understand why the world and his culture are changing and why he doesn't have a say in it." The GOP appealed to Joe Six-Pack by harping on cultural issues like the "three Gs," gods, guns and gays.
Bush played on culture war themes like a virtuoso. His folksy, macho persona connected with the GOP base and independent voters, his bland pre-election talk of reform and inclusion was reassuring, and his post-election Karl Rove-engineered strategy of nonstop flag-waving, demonizing opponents as traitors, and talking populism while handing the country over to deregulated predators, worked brilliantly. Bush was the great divider, masterfully playing on Americans' fear, resentment and patriotism. First Al Gore, then John Kerry were painted as out-of-touch elitists, mandarins and eggheads. It worked: Bush rode the red-state side of the culture wars to victory twice (with a little help from the Supreme Court the first time around).
It's terrifying that so many Americans are so driven by resentment that they will vote against more qualified candidates simply because they seem "different" from them. For what this means is that anyone with expertise, unusual intelligence, mastery, special knowledge, is likely to be rejected by voters who are resentful of "elites." This constitutes a rejection of the very idea that it matters if someone is better at something than someone else.
The peculiar thing is that this only applies to politics: Voters who would not dream of taking their car to an incompetent mechanic or their body to an unlicensed physician have no problem electing totally unqualified candidates to perform the most difficult and important job in the world, simply because they identify with them.
Resentment explains some of this. So does a widespread lack of respect for government itself, and ignorance about what it is and what it requires. Most insidious, perhaps, is the fact that more and more Americans seem to see politics as just another reality TV show. You vote for Palin the same way you vote for a designer on "Project Runway." As Katharine Mieszkowski reported for Salon, Palin's rapturous supporters embrace her because "she represents me." It's the politics of sheer narcissism.
This crudely personalized and debased approach to civic life has always been present, but it's getting stronger, and the Republicans are recklessly exacerbating it. Never mind that if they succeed in dumbing down the electorate and turning politics into the most superficial popularity contest, the country will suffer irreparable harm. Hey, we gotta win this election!
From the GOP's perspective, Palin has all of the virtues of Bush, and none of the drawbacks. She's a red state culture warrior. And in the new GOP gender con game, the fact that she's a woman automatically makes her a "maverick" and an "outsider."
Palin and her handlers have clearly decided that she must constantly invoke these magic words, despite the absence of any evidence that they actually apply to her. In her second interview with Charles Gibson, which was broadcast Friday night on ABC's "20/20," Palin responded to Gibson's skeptical comment that Bush also came to Washington talking about reform by saying, "We are mavericks" and "I am a Washington outsider."
How soon we forget that Bush, like Palin, like all Republican candidates, also avidly claimed to be "an outsider." As Jake Tapper reported for Salon in 2000, Bush put on his Outsider costume after McCain defeated him in the New Hampshire primary. "I was defined as the insider [in New Hampshire], and those days are over," Bush said. "I'm going to make it very clear to the voters of this state who Mr. Outsider is and who Mr. Insider is." In keeping with his new maverick image, Bush adopted the slogan "A Reformer With Results."
Not only is Palin a Bush rerun, she's a really bad one. Palin's performance in her interviews with Gibson, particularly the first foreign-policy-focused one, was shockingly awful. It's astonishing that McCain was cynical, reckless and contemptuous enough to actually put this grossly unprepared individual in a position to become president. But McCain has become a Rove-style Republican, so maybe it isn't astonishing after all.
Palin didn't know what the Bush doctrine was. She robotically mouthed ancient Bush propaganda lines about the "war on terror." She casually said that we might go to war with Russia. She blandly handed over control of Iran policy to Israel, ignoring the fact that if Tel Aviv attacked Iran, U.S. troops located next door would almost certainly die as a result. She clumsily avoided answering any question for which she had not hastily memorized a stock answer. You could practically see her riffling through her mental cheat sheets.
Palin apparently still believes the ur-lie of the Bush administration, that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. On Sept. 11, she told troops shipping out to Iraq, including her eldest son Track, that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."
It isn't surprising, therefore, that Palin appears to have no idea who America is actually fighting in Iraq. "The terrorists" attacked us because "they do not believe in American ideals," as she robotically told Gibson, channeling Bush's notorious "they hate our freedoms" line. It may be comforting for Palin and Bush to envision Osama bin Laden sitting in a cave cursing as he reads Thomas Jefferson, but it provides scant guidance for formulating effective Mideast policies.
But where Palin most closely, and disturbingly, resembles Bush is in her dogmatism, her mental rigidity. Like Bush and the GOP in general, she is determined to appear tough above all else. She follows Rove Rule No. 1: She stays on message, even if what she's saying is an obvious lie. The GOP programmers know that toughness sells. But Palin's supposed toughness reveals an utter lack of introspection, intellectual nuance or ability to depart from programmed ideas. Asked if she had worried she wasn't prepared to be president, Palin replied, "I — I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink."
If what America wants is a more uninformed, more right-wing, equally macho version of Bush, Palin's the perfect choice.
Palin's second Gibson interview, focused on domestic issues, wasn't as revealing as the first. Unfortunately, Gibson failed to follow up on most of his questions, allowing Palin to get away with superficial accounts of her inquiries about banning books and other subjects. Palin mostly mouthed safe conservative bromides, and didn't make any errors as egregious as she did in the first interview. However, the interview did reveal another trait she shares with Bush: an inability to tell the truth. Her tortured attempt to claim that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, when in fact she supported it until it became a national embarrassment, was reminiscent of Bush's claims that he had never linked Saddam and 9/11.
Still more egregious was her bald-faced lie about her position on human responsibility for climate change. When Gibson said she seemed to be adopting a new position on the issue, she said, "I think you are a cynic, because show me where I have ever said that there's absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect, or no effect, on climate change."
In fact, Palin has repeatedly and explicitly denied that man is responsible for global warming. "I'm not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity," she told an Alaska newspaper in 2007.
Tilt! What played well with her green-hating, oil-worshipping, man-was-given-dominion-over-nature-by-God Alaska constituency contradicts McCain's position and doesn't work on the national stage, so she never said it. But if she lied, so what? Bush said "We do not torture" and "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." As that famous unnamed Bush official told Ron Suskind, the GOP isn't interested in the reality-based community: "That's not the way the world works now."
Palin's talk of being "on the side of the people" would be more convincing if she didn't go around making inflammatory culture-war speeches in which she derides "community organizers" and Democrats. She and McCain are trying to come off like the populist hero George Bailey in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," fighting fat cats and standing up for the little guy. But their actual beliefs and policies resemble not Bailey's but Mr. Potter's, the ultimate Republican fat cat, stern enemy of "do-gooders," champion of individual initiative and defender of the moral virtues of unfettered greed.
Will anyone notice that Palin is simply a debased female version of Bush? Will the fact that she is obviously unqualified to be president mean anything? Will voters be enraged that by picking Palin, McCain has turned American politics into a sitcom, a cheap farce? Or will the culture war still be a winner for the GOP?
It depends on whether eight disastrous years have revived the reality-based community -- or whether the same time-tested right-wing culture-war tactics will work even when the ideas and policies behind them have abjectly failed.
There are some hopeful signs to go along with the torrent of bad news for Democrats. A Newsweek poll that came out late Friday found that 22 percent of people say she makes them less likely to vote for McCain -- the highest percentage of a V.P. pick in recent history. Palin's dreadful performance in her Gibson interviews could be responsible for this. But it's too early to say.
So far, McCain has benefited from the fight that has erupted over Palin, because it is part of the culture war that is insidiously connected to a politics of emotional identification, narcissism and resentment. The Democrats always lose when the battle is fought on this terrain, the terrain of impulse and the id. If they can change the battleground to issues and reality, they can win.
-- By Gary Kamiya
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Stephen Colbert, June 3, 2006 Commencement Address
2006 Commencement Address
Stephen Colbert, June 3, 2006
[Pours water into a glass at the podium, splashes face and back of neck]
Thank you. Thank you very much. First of all, I’m facing a little bit of a conundrum here. My name is Stephen Colbert, but I actually play someone on television named Stephen Colbert, who looks like me, and who talks like me, but who says things with a straight face he doesn’t mean. And I’m not sure which one of us you invited to speak here today. So, with your indulgence, I’m just going to talk and I’m going to let you figure it out.
I wanted to say something about the Umberto Eco quote that was used earlier from The Name of the Rose. That book fascinated me because in it these people are killed for trying to get out of this library a book about comedy, Aristotle’s Commentary on Comedy. And what’s interesting to me is one of the arguments they have in the book is that comedy is bad because nowhere in the New Testament does it say that Jesus laughed. It says Jesus wept, but never did he laugh.
But, I don’t think you actually have to say it for us to imagine Jesus laughing. In the famous episode where there’s a storm on the lake, and the fishermen are out there. And they see Jesus on the shore, and Jesus walks across the stormy waters to the boat. And St. Peter thinks, “I can do this. I can do this. He keeps telling us to have faith and we can do anything. I can do this.” So he steps out of the boat and he walks for—I don’t know, it doesn’t say—a few feet, without sinking into the waves. But then he looks down, and he sees how stormy the seas are. He loses his faith and he begins to sink. And Jesus hot-foots it over and pulls him from the waves and says, “Oh you of little faith.” I can’t imagine Jesus wasn’t suppressing a laugh. How hilarious must it have been to watch Peter—like Wile E. Coyote—take three steps on the water and then sink into the waves. Well it’s an honor to be giving your Commencement address here today at Knox College. I want to thank Mr. Podesta for asking me two, two and a half years ago, was it? Something like that? We were in Aspen. You know—being people who go to Aspen. He asked me if I would give a speech at Knox College, and I think it was the altitude, but I said yes. I’m very glad that I did.
On a beautiful day like this I’m reminded of my own graduation 20 years ago, at Northwestern University. I didn’t start there, I finished there. On the graduation day, a beautiful day like this. We’re all in our gowns. I go up on the podium to get my leather folder with my diploma in it. And as I get it from the Dean, she leans in close to me and she smiles, and she says—[train whistle] that’s my ride, actually. I have got to get on that train, I’m sorry. [Heads off stage.] Evidently that happens a lot here.—So, I’m getting my folder, and the Dean leans into me, shakes my hand and says, “I’m sorry.” I have no idea what she means. So I go back to my seat and I open it up. And, instead of having a diploma inside, there’s a scrap—a torn scrap of paper—that has scrawled on it, “See me.” I kid you not.
Evidently I had an incomplete in an independent study that I had failed to complete. And I did not have enough credits. And, let me tell you, when your whole family shows up and you get to have your picture taken with them—and instead of holding up your diploma, you hold the torn corner of a yellow legal pad—that is a humbling experience. But eventually, I finished. I got my credits and next year at Christmas time, they have mid-year graduation. And I went there to get my diploma then. They said that I had an overdue library fine and they wouldn’t give it to me again. And they eventually mailed it to me...I think. I’m pretty sure I graduated from college.
But I guess the question is, why have a two-time commencement loser like me speak to you today? Well, one of the reasons they already mentioned—I recovered from that slow start. And I was recently named by Time magazine one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World! Yeah! Give it up for me! Basic cable—THE WORLD! I guess I have more fans in Sub-Saharan Africa than I thought. I’m right here on the cover between Katie Couric and Bono. That’s my little picture—a sexy little sandwich between those two.
But if you do the math, there are 100 Most Influential People in the World. There are 6.5 billion people in the world. That means that today I am here representing 65 million people. That’s as big as some countries. What country has about 65 million people? Iran? Iran has 65 million people. So, for all intents and purposes, I’m here representing Iran today. Don’t shoot.
But the best reason for me to come to speak at Knox College is that I attended Knox College. This is part of my personal history that you will rarely see reported. Partly because the press doesn’t do the proper research. But mostly because—it is not true! I just made it up, so this moment would be more poignant for all of us. How great would it be if I could actually come back here—if I was coming back to my alma mater to be honored like this. I could share with you all my happy memories that I spent here in...Galesburg, Illinois. Hanging out at the Seymour Hall, right? Seymour Hall? You know, all of us alumni, we remember being at Seymour Hall, playing those drinking games. We played a drinking game called Lincoln-Douglas. Great game. What you do is, you act out the Lincoln-Douglas debate and any time one of the guys mentions the Dred Scott decision you have to chug a beer. Well, technically 3/5 of a beer. [groans from audience]
You DO have a good education! I wasn’t sure if anybody was going to get that joke.
I soon learned that a frat house—oops—divided against itself cannot stand.
How can I forget cheering on the team—the Knox College Knockers? The Prairie Fire. Seriously, the Prairie Fire. Your team is named after something that can get you federal disaster relief. I assume the “Flash Floods” was taken.
Oh, yes, the memories are so fresh. It was as if it was just yesterday I made them up. And the history, you don’t have to tell me the history of Knox College. No, your Web site is very thorough. The college itself has long been known for its diversity. I am myself a supporter of diversity. I myself have an interracial marriage. I am Irish and my wife is Scottish. But we work it out. And it is fitting, most fitting, that I should speak at Knox College today because it was founded by abolitionists. And I gotta say—I’m going to go out on the limb here—I believe slavery was wrong. No, I don’t care who that upsets. I just hope the mainstream media give me the credit for the courage it took to say that today. I know the blogosphere is just going to explode tomorrow. But enough about me—if there can be enough about me.
Today is about you—you who have worked so hard to pack your heads with learning until your skulls are all plump like—sausage of knowledge. It’s an apt metaphor, don’t question it. But now your time at college is at an end. Now you are leaving here. And this leads me to a question that just isn’t asked enough at commencements. Why are you leaving here?
This seems like a very nice place. They have a lovely Web site. Besides, have you seen the world outside lately? They are playing for KEEPS out there, folks. My God, I couldn’t wait to get here today just so I could take a breather from the real world. I don’t know if they told you what’s happened while you’ve matriculated here for the past four years. The world is waiting for you people with a club. Unprecedented changes happening in the last four years. Like globalization. We now live in a hyperconnected, global economic, outsourced society. Now there are positives and minuses here. And a positive is that globalization helps us understand and learn from otherwise foreign cultures. For example, I now know how to ask for a Happy Meal in five different languages. In Paris, I’d like a “Repas Heureux” In Madrid a “Comida Feliz” In Calcutta, a “Kushkana, hold the beef.” In Tokyo, a “Happi- Shokuji ” And in Berlin, I can order what is perhaps the least happy-sounding Happy Meal, a “Glückselig Mahlzeit.”
Also globalization, e-mail, cell phones interconnect our nations like never before. It is possible for even the most insulated American to have friends from all over the world. For instance, I recently received an e-mail asking me to help a deposed Nigerian prince who is looking for a business partner to recuperate his fortune. Thanks to the flexibility of global banking, a Swiss bank account is ready and waiting for my share of his money. I know, because I just e-mailed him my Social Security number.
Unfortunately for you job seekers, corporations searching for a better bottom line have moved many of their operations overseas, whether it’s a customer service operator, a power factory foreman, or an American flag manufacturer. They’re just as likely to be found in Shanghai as Omaha. In fact, outsourcing is so easy that I had this speech today written by a young man named Panjeeb from Bangalore.
If you don’t like the jokes, I assure you they were much funnier in Urdu...
And when you enter the workforce, you will find competition from those crossing our all-too-porous borders. Now I know you’re all going to say, “Stephen, Stephen, immigrants built America.” Yes, but here’s the thing—it’s built now. I think it was finished in the mid-70s sometime. At this point it’s a touch-up and repair job. But thankfully Congress is acting and soon English will be the official language of America. Because if we surrender the national anthem to Spanish, the next thing you know, they’ll be translating the Bible. God wrote it in English for a reason! So it could be taught in our public schools.
So we must build walls. A wall obviously across the entire southern border. That’s the answer. That may not be enough—maybe a moat in front of it, or a fire-pit. Maybe a flaming moat, filled with fire-proof crocodiles. And we should probably wall off the northern border as well. Keep those Canadians with their socialized medicine and their skunky beer out. And because immigrants can swim, we’ll probably want to wall off the coasts as well. And while we’re at it, we need to put up a dome, in case they have catapults. And we’ll punch some holes in it so we can breathe. Breathe free. It’s time for illegal immigrants to go—right after they finish building those walls. Yes, yes, I agree with me.
There are so many challenges facing this next generation, and as they said earlier, you are up for these challenges. And I agree, except that I don’t think you are. I don’t know if you’re tough enough to handle this. You are the most cuddled generation in history. I belong to the last generation that did not have to be in a car seat. You had to be in car seats. I did not have to wear a helmet when I rode my bike. You do. You have to wear helmets when you go swimming, right? In case you bump your head against the side of the pool. Oh, by the way, I should have said, my speech today may contain some peanut products.
My mother had 11 children: Jimmy, Eddie, Mary, Billy, Morgan, Tommy, Jay, Lou, Paul, Peter, Stephen. You may applaud my mother’s womb. Thank you, I’ll let her know. She could never protect us the way you all have been protected. She couldn’t fit 11 car seats. She would just open the back of her Town & Country—stack us like cord wood: four this way, four that way. And she put crushed glass in the empty spaces to keep it steady. Then she would roll up all the windows in the winter time and light up a cigarette. When I die I will not need to be embalmed, because as a child my mother hickory-smoked me.
I mean even these ceremonies are too safe. I mean this mortarboard...look, it’s padded. It’s padded everywhere. When I graduated from college, we had the edges sharpened. When we threw ours up in the air, we knew some of us weren’t coming home.
But you have one thing that may save you, and that is your youth. This is your great strength. It is also why I hate and fear you. Hear me out. It has been said that children are our future. But does that not also mean that we are their past? You are here to replace us. I don’t understand why we’re here helping and honoring them. You do not see union workers holding benefits for robots.
But you seem nice enough, so I’ll try to give you some advice. First of all, when you go to apply for your first job, don’t wear these robes. Medieval garb does not instill confidence in future employers—unless you’re applying to be a scrivener. And if someone does offer you a job, say yes. You can always quit later. Then at least you’ll be one of the unemployed as opposed to one of the never-employed. Nothing looks worse on a resume than nothing.
So, say “yes.” In fact, say “yes” as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv. That was, “yes-and.” In this case, “yes-and” is a verb. To “yes-and.” I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone you’ve never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you’re doctors—you’re doctors. And then, you add to that: We’re doctors and we’re trapped in an ice cave. That’s the “-and.” And then hopefully they “yes-and” you back. You have to keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it. And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play. And because, by following each other’s lead, neither of you are really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.
Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what’s going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say “yes.” And if you’re lucky, you’ll find people who will say “yes” back.
Now will saying “yes” get you in trouble at times? Will saying “yes” lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes.”
And that’s The Word.
I have two last pieces of advice. First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.
Congratulations to the class of 2006. Thank you for the honor of addressing you.
Stephen Colbert, June 3, 2006
[Pours water into a glass at the podium, splashes face and back of neck]
Thank you. Thank you very much. First of all, I’m facing a little bit of a conundrum here. My name is Stephen Colbert, but I actually play someone on television named Stephen Colbert, who looks like me, and who talks like me, but who says things with a straight face he doesn’t mean. And I’m not sure which one of us you invited to speak here today. So, with your indulgence, I’m just going to talk and I’m going to let you figure it out.
I wanted to say something about the Umberto Eco quote that was used earlier from The Name of the Rose. That book fascinated me because in it these people are killed for trying to get out of this library a book about comedy, Aristotle’s Commentary on Comedy. And what’s interesting to me is one of the arguments they have in the book is that comedy is bad because nowhere in the New Testament does it say that Jesus laughed. It says Jesus wept, but never did he laugh.
But, I don’t think you actually have to say it for us to imagine Jesus laughing. In the famous episode where there’s a storm on the lake, and the fishermen are out there. And they see Jesus on the shore, and Jesus walks across the stormy waters to the boat. And St. Peter thinks, “I can do this. I can do this. He keeps telling us to have faith and we can do anything. I can do this.” So he steps out of the boat and he walks for—I don’t know, it doesn’t say—a few feet, without sinking into the waves. But then he looks down, and he sees how stormy the seas are. He loses his faith and he begins to sink. And Jesus hot-foots it over and pulls him from the waves and says, “Oh you of little faith.” I can’t imagine Jesus wasn’t suppressing a laugh. How hilarious must it have been to watch Peter—like Wile E. Coyote—take three steps on the water and then sink into the waves. Well it’s an honor to be giving your Commencement address here today at Knox College. I want to thank Mr. Podesta for asking me two, two and a half years ago, was it? Something like that? We were in Aspen. You know—being people who go to Aspen. He asked me if I would give a speech at Knox College, and I think it was the altitude, but I said yes. I’m very glad that I did.
On a beautiful day like this I’m reminded of my own graduation 20 years ago, at Northwestern University. I didn’t start there, I finished there. On the graduation day, a beautiful day like this. We’re all in our gowns. I go up on the podium to get my leather folder with my diploma in it. And as I get it from the Dean, she leans in close to me and she smiles, and she says—[train whistle] that’s my ride, actually. I have got to get on that train, I’m sorry. [Heads off stage.] Evidently that happens a lot here.—So, I’m getting my folder, and the Dean leans into me, shakes my hand and says, “I’m sorry.” I have no idea what she means. So I go back to my seat and I open it up. And, instead of having a diploma inside, there’s a scrap—a torn scrap of paper—that has scrawled on it, “See me.” I kid you not.
Evidently I had an incomplete in an independent study that I had failed to complete. And I did not have enough credits. And, let me tell you, when your whole family shows up and you get to have your picture taken with them—and instead of holding up your diploma, you hold the torn corner of a yellow legal pad—that is a humbling experience. But eventually, I finished. I got my credits and next year at Christmas time, they have mid-year graduation. And I went there to get my diploma then. They said that I had an overdue library fine and they wouldn’t give it to me again. And they eventually mailed it to me...I think. I’m pretty sure I graduated from college.
But I guess the question is, why have a two-time commencement loser like me speak to you today? Well, one of the reasons they already mentioned—I recovered from that slow start. And I was recently named by Time magazine one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World! Yeah! Give it up for me! Basic cable—THE WORLD! I guess I have more fans in Sub-Saharan Africa than I thought. I’m right here on the cover between Katie Couric and Bono. That’s my little picture—a sexy little sandwich between those two.
But if you do the math, there are 100 Most Influential People in the World. There are 6.5 billion people in the world. That means that today I am here representing 65 million people. That’s as big as some countries. What country has about 65 million people? Iran? Iran has 65 million people. So, for all intents and purposes, I’m here representing Iran today. Don’t shoot.
But the best reason for me to come to speak at Knox College is that I attended Knox College. This is part of my personal history that you will rarely see reported. Partly because the press doesn’t do the proper research. But mostly because—it is not true! I just made it up, so this moment would be more poignant for all of us. How great would it be if I could actually come back here—if I was coming back to my alma mater to be honored like this. I could share with you all my happy memories that I spent here in...Galesburg, Illinois. Hanging out at the Seymour Hall, right? Seymour Hall? You know, all of us alumni, we remember being at Seymour Hall, playing those drinking games. We played a drinking game called Lincoln-Douglas. Great game. What you do is, you act out the Lincoln-Douglas debate and any time one of the guys mentions the Dred Scott decision you have to chug a beer. Well, technically 3/5 of a beer. [groans from audience]
You DO have a good education! I wasn’t sure if anybody was going to get that joke.
I soon learned that a frat house—oops—divided against itself cannot stand.
How can I forget cheering on the team—the Knox College Knockers? The Prairie Fire. Seriously, the Prairie Fire. Your team is named after something that can get you federal disaster relief. I assume the “Flash Floods” was taken.
Oh, yes, the memories are so fresh. It was as if it was just yesterday I made them up. And the history, you don’t have to tell me the history of Knox College. No, your Web site is very thorough. The college itself has long been known for its diversity. I am myself a supporter of diversity. I myself have an interracial marriage. I am Irish and my wife is Scottish. But we work it out. And it is fitting, most fitting, that I should speak at Knox College today because it was founded by abolitionists. And I gotta say—I’m going to go out on the limb here—I believe slavery was wrong. No, I don’t care who that upsets. I just hope the mainstream media give me the credit for the courage it took to say that today. I know the blogosphere is just going to explode tomorrow. But enough about me—if there can be enough about me.
Today is about you—you who have worked so hard to pack your heads with learning until your skulls are all plump like—sausage of knowledge. It’s an apt metaphor, don’t question it. But now your time at college is at an end. Now you are leaving here. And this leads me to a question that just isn’t asked enough at commencements. Why are you leaving here?
This seems like a very nice place. They have a lovely Web site. Besides, have you seen the world outside lately? They are playing for KEEPS out there, folks. My God, I couldn’t wait to get here today just so I could take a breather from the real world. I don’t know if they told you what’s happened while you’ve matriculated here for the past four years. The world is waiting for you people with a club. Unprecedented changes happening in the last four years. Like globalization. We now live in a hyperconnected, global economic, outsourced society. Now there are positives and minuses here. And a positive is that globalization helps us understand and learn from otherwise foreign cultures. For example, I now know how to ask for a Happy Meal in five different languages. In Paris, I’d like a “Repas Heureux” In Madrid a “Comida Feliz” In Calcutta, a “Kushkana, hold the beef.” In Tokyo, a “Happi- Shokuji ” And in Berlin, I can order what is perhaps the least happy-sounding Happy Meal, a “Glückselig Mahlzeit.”
Also globalization, e-mail, cell phones interconnect our nations like never before. It is possible for even the most insulated American to have friends from all over the world. For instance, I recently received an e-mail asking me to help a deposed Nigerian prince who is looking for a business partner to recuperate his fortune. Thanks to the flexibility of global banking, a Swiss bank account is ready and waiting for my share of his money. I know, because I just e-mailed him my Social Security number.
Unfortunately for you job seekers, corporations searching for a better bottom line have moved many of their operations overseas, whether it’s a customer service operator, a power factory foreman, or an American flag manufacturer. They’re just as likely to be found in Shanghai as Omaha. In fact, outsourcing is so easy that I had this speech today written by a young man named Panjeeb from Bangalore.
If you don’t like the jokes, I assure you they were much funnier in Urdu...
And when you enter the workforce, you will find competition from those crossing our all-too-porous borders. Now I know you’re all going to say, “Stephen, Stephen, immigrants built America.” Yes, but here’s the thing—it’s built now. I think it was finished in the mid-70s sometime. At this point it’s a touch-up and repair job. But thankfully Congress is acting and soon English will be the official language of America. Because if we surrender the national anthem to Spanish, the next thing you know, they’ll be translating the Bible. God wrote it in English for a reason! So it could be taught in our public schools.
So we must build walls. A wall obviously across the entire southern border. That’s the answer. That may not be enough—maybe a moat in front of it, or a fire-pit. Maybe a flaming moat, filled with fire-proof crocodiles. And we should probably wall off the northern border as well. Keep those Canadians with their socialized medicine and their skunky beer out. And because immigrants can swim, we’ll probably want to wall off the coasts as well. And while we’re at it, we need to put up a dome, in case they have catapults. And we’ll punch some holes in it so we can breathe. Breathe free. It’s time for illegal immigrants to go—right after they finish building those walls. Yes, yes, I agree with me.
There are so many challenges facing this next generation, and as they said earlier, you are up for these challenges. And I agree, except that I don’t think you are. I don’t know if you’re tough enough to handle this. You are the most cuddled generation in history. I belong to the last generation that did not have to be in a car seat. You had to be in car seats. I did not have to wear a helmet when I rode my bike. You do. You have to wear helmets when you go swimming, right? In case you bump your head against the side of the pool. Oh, by the way, I should have said, my speech today may contain some peanut products.
My mother had 11 children: Jimmy, Eddie, Mary, Billy, Morgan, Tommy, Jay, Lou, Paul, Peter, Stephen. You may applaud my mother’s womb. Thank you, I’ll let her know. She could never protect us the way you all have been protected. She couldn’t fit 11 car seats. She would just open the back of her Town & Country—stack us like cord wood: four this way, four that way. And she put crushed glass in the empty spaces to keep it steady. Then she would roll up all the windows in the winter time and light up a cigarette. When I die I will not need to be embalmed, because as a child my mother hickory-smoked me.
I mean even these ceremonies are too safe. I mean this mortarboard...look, it’s padded. It’s padded everywhere. When I graduated from college, we had the edges sharpened. When we threw ours up in the air, we knew some of us weren’t coming home.
But you have one thing that may save you, and that is your youth. This is your great strength. It is also why I hate and fear you. Hear me out. It has been said that children are our future. But does that not also mean that we are their past? You are here to replace us. I don’t understand why we’re here helping and honoring them. You do not see union workers holding benefits for robots.
But you seem nice enough, so I’ll try to give you some advice. First of all, when you go to apply for your first job, don’t wear these robes. Medieval garb does not instill confidence in future employers—unless you’re applying to be a scrivener. And if someone does offer you a job, say yes. You can always quit later. Then at least you’ll be one of the unemployed as opposed to one of the never-employed. Nothing looks worse on a resume than nothing.
So, say “yes.” In fact, say “yes” as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv. That was, “yes-and.” In this case, “yes-and” is a verb. To “yes-and.” I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone you’ve never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you’re doctors—you’re doctors. And then, you add to that: We’re doctors and we’re trapped in an ice cave. That’s the “-and.” And then hopefully they “yes-and” you back. You have to keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it. And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play. And because, by following each other’s lead, neither of you are really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.
Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what’s going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say “yes.” And if you’re lucky, you’ll find people who will say “yes” back.
Now will saying “yes” get you in trouble at times? Will saying “yes” lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes.”
And that’s The Word.
I have two last pieces of advice. First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.
Congratulations to the class of 2006. Thank you for the honor of addressing you.
Jon Stewart's ('84) Commencement Address
Jon Stewart's ('84) Commencement Address
· Jon Stewart Address
Author: tpjone
Date: May 20, 2004
Thank you Mr. President, I had forgotten how crushingly dull these ceremonies are. Thank you.
My best to the choir. I have to say, that song never grows old for me. Whenever I hear that song, it reminds me of nothing.
I am honored to be here, I do have a confession to make before we get going that I should explain very quickly. When I am not on television, this is actually how I dress. I apologize, but there’s something very freeing about it. I congratulate the students for being able to walk even a half a mile in this non-breathable fabric in the Williamsburg heat. I am sure the environment that now exists under your robes, are the same conditions that primordial life began on this earth.
I know there were some parents that were concerned about my speech here tonight, and I want to assure you that you will not hear any language that is not common at, say, a dock workers union meeting, or Tourrett’s convention, or profanity seminar. Rest assured.
I am honored to be here and to receive this honorary doctorate. When I think back to the people that have been in this position before me from Benjamin Franklin to Queen Noor of Jordan, I can’t help but wonder what has happened to this place. Seriously, it saddens me. As a person, I am honored to get it; as an alumnus, I have to say I believe we can do better. And I believe we should. But it has always been a dream of mine to receive a doctorate and to know that today, without putting in any effort, I will. It’s incredibly gratifying. Thank you. That’s very nice of you, I appreciate it.
I’m sure my fellow doctoral graduates—who have spent so long toiling in academia, sinking into debt, sacrificing God knows how many years of what, in truth, is a piece of parchment that in truth has been so devalued by our instant gratification culture as to have been rendered meaningless—will join in congratulating me. Thank you.
But today isn’t about how my presence here devalues this fine institution. It is about you, the graduates. I’m honored to be here to congratulate you today. Today is the day you enter into the real world, and I should give you a few pointers on what it is. It’s actually not that different from the environment here. The biggest difference is you will now be paying for things, and the real world is not surrounded by three-foot brick wall. And the real world is not a restoration. If you see people in the real world making bricks out of straw and water, those people are not colonial re-enactors—they are poor. Help them. And in the real world, there is not as much candle lighting. I don’t really know what it is about this campus and candle lighting, but I wish it would stop. We only have so much wax, people.
Lets talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I…I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it.
Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry.
I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize.
But here’s the good news. You fix this thing, you’re the next greatest generation, people. You do this—and I believe you can—you win this war on terror, and Tom Brokaw’s kissing your ass from here to Tikrit, let me tell ya. And even if you don’t, you’re not gonna have much trouble surpassing my generation. If you end up getting your picture taken next to a naked guy pile of enemy prisoners and don’t give the thumbs up you’ve outdid us.
We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror—it’s not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I’m sure we’ll take on that bastard ennui.
But obviously that’s the world. What about your lives? What piece of wisdom can I impart to you about my journey that will somehow ease your transition from college back to your parents' basement?
I know some of you are nostalgic today and filled with excitement and perhaps uncertainty at what the future holds. I know six of you are trying to figure out how to make a bong out of your caps. I believe you are members of Psi U. Hey that did work, thank you for the reference.
So I thought I’d talk a little bit about my experience here at William and Mary. It was very long ago, and if you had been to William and Mary while I was here and found out that I would be the commencement speaker 20 years later, you would be somewhat surprised, and probably somewhat angry. I came to William and Mary because as a Jewish person I wanted to explore the rich tapestry of Judaica that is Southern Virginia. Imagine my surprise when I realized “The Tribe” was not what I thought it meant.
In 1980 I was 17 years old. When I moved to Williamsburg, my hall was in the basement of Yates, which combined the cheerfulness of a bomb shelter with the prison-like comfort of the group shower. As a freshman I was quite a catch. Less than five feet tall, yet my head is the same size it is now. Didn’t even really look like a head, it looked more like a container for a head. I looked like a Peanuts character. Peanuts characters had terrible acne. But what I lacked in looks I made up for with a repugnant personality.
In 1981 I lost my virginity, only to gain it back again on appeal in 1983. You could say that my one saving grace was academics where I excelled, but I did not.
And yet now I live in the rarified air of celebrity, of mega stardom. My life a series of Hollywood orgies and Kabala center brunches with the cast of Friends. At least that’s what my handlers tell me. I’m actually too valuable to live my own life and spend most of my days in a vegetable crisper to remain fake news anchor fresh.
So I know that the decisions that I made after college worked out. But at the time I didn’t know that they would. See college is not necessarily predictive of your future success. And it’s the kind of thing where the path that I chose obviously wouldn’t work for you. For one, you’re not very funny.
So how do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t. And accepting that greatly eases the anxiety of your life experience.
I was not exceptional here, and am not now. I was mediocre here. And I’m not saying aim low. Not everybody can wander around in an alcoholic haze and then at 40 just, you know, decide to be president. You’ve got to really work hard to try to…I was actually referring to my father.
When I left William and Mary I was shell-shocked. Because when you’re in college it’s very clear what you have to do to succeed. And I imagine here everybody knows exactly the number of credits they needed to graduate, where they had to buckle down, which introductory psychology class would pad out the schedule. You knew what you had to do to get to this college and to graduate from it. But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. And it can be maddening to those that go here, especially here, because your strength has always been achievement. So if there’s any real advice I can give you it’s this.
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong…although I’m sure downloading illegal files…but, nah, that’s a different story.
Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may.
And the last thing I want to address is the idea that somehow this new generation is not as prepared for the sacrifice and the tenacity that will be needed in the difficult times ahead. I have not found this generation to be cynical or apathetic or selfish. They are as strong and as decent as any people that I have met. And I will say this, on my way down here I stopped at Bethesda Naval, and when you talk to the young kids that are there that have just been back from Iraq and Afghanistan, you don’t have the worry about the future that you hear from so many that are not a part of this generation but judging it from above.
And the other thing….that I will say is, when I spoke earlier about the world being broke, I was somewhat being facetious, because every generation has their challenge. And things change rapidly, and life gets better in an instant.
I was in New York on 9-11 when the towers came down. I lived 14 blocks from the twin towers. And when they came down, I thought that the world had ended. And I remember walking around in a daze for weeks. And Mayor Giuliani had said to the city, “You’ve got to get back to normal. We’ve got to show that things can change and get back to what they were.”
And one day I was coming out of my building, and on my stoop, was a man who was crouched over, and he appeared to be in deep thought. And as I got closer to him I realized, he was playing with himself. And that’s when I thought, “You know what, we’re gonna be OK.”
Thank you. Congratulations. I honor you. Good Night.
· Jon Stewart Address
Author: tpjone
Date: May 20, 2004
Thank you Mr. President, I had forgotten how crushingly dull these ceremonies are. Thank you.
My best to the choir. I have to say, that song never grows old for me. Whenever I hear that song, it reminds me of nothing.
I am honored to be here, I do have a confession to make before we get going that I should explain very quickly. When I am not on television, this is actually how I dress. I apologize, but there’s something very freeing about it. I congratulate the students for being able to walk even a half a mile in this non-breathable fabric in the Williamsburg heat. I am sure the environment that now exists under your robes, are the same conditions that primordial life began on this earth.
I know there were some parents that were concerned about my speech here tonight, and I want to assure you that you will not hear any language that is not common at, say, a dock workers union meeting, or Tourrett’s convention, or profanity seminar. Rest assured.
I am honored to be here and to receive this honorary doctorate. When I think back to the people that have been in this position before me from Benjamin Franklin to Queen Noor of Jordan, I can’t help but wonder what has happened to this place. Seriously, it saddens me. As a person, I am honored to get it; as an alumnus, I have to say I believe we can do better. And I believe we should. But it has always been a dream of mine to receive a doctorate and to know that today, without putting in any effort, I will. It’s incredibly gratifying. Thank you. That’s very nice of you, I appreciate it.
I’m sure my fellow doctoral graduates—who have spent so long toiling in academia, sinking into debt, sacrificing God knows how many years of what, in truth, is a piece of parchment that in truth has been so devalued by our instant gratification culture as to have been rendered meaningless—will join in congratulating me. Thank you.
But today isn’t about how my presence here devalues this fine institution. It is about you, the graduates. I’m honored to be here to congratulate you today. Today is the day you enter into the real world, and I should give you a few pointers on what it is. It’s actually not that different from the environment here. The biggest difference is you will now be paying for things, and the real world is not surrounded by three-foot brick wall. And the real world is not a restoration. If you see people in the real world making bricks out of straw and water, those people are not colonial re-enactors—they are poor. Help them. And in the real world, there is not as much candle lighting. I don’t really know what it is about this campus and candle lighting, but I wish it would stop. We only have so much wax, people.
Lets talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I…I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it.
Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry.
I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize.
But here’s the good news. You fix this thing, you’re the next greatest generation, people. You do this—and I believe you can—you win this war on terror, and Tom Brokaw’s kissing your ass from here to Tikrit, let me tell ya. And even if you don’t, you’re not gonna have much trouble surpassing my generation. If you end up getting your picture taken next to a naked guy pile of enemy prisoners and don’t give the thumbs up you’ve outdid us.
We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror—it’s not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I’m sure we’ll take on that bastard ennui.
But obviously that’s the world. What about your lives? What piece of wisdom can I impart to you about my journey that will somehow ease your transition from college back to your parents' basement?
I know some of you are nostalgic today and filled with excitement and perhaps uncertainty at what the future holds. I know six of you are trying to figure out how to make a bong out of your caps. I believe you are members of Psi U. Hey that did work, thank you for the reference.
So I thought I’d talk a little bit about my experience here at William and Mary. It was very long ago, and if you had been to William and Mary while I was here and found out that I would be the commencement speaker 20 years later, you would be somewhat surprised, and probably somewhat angry. I came to William and Mary because as a Jewish person I wanted to explore the rich tapestry of Judaica that is Southern Virginia. Imagine my surprise when I realized “The Tribe” was not what I thought it meant.
In 1980 I was 17 years old. When I moved to Williamsburg, my hall was in the basement of Yates, which combined the cheerfulness of a bomb shelter with the prison-like comfort of the group shower. As a freshman I was quite a catch. Less than five feet tall, yet my head is the same size it is now. Didn’t even really look like a head, it looked more like a container for a head. I looked like a Peanuts character. Peanuts characters had terrible acne. But what I lacked in looks I made up for with a repugnant personality.
In 1981 I lost my virginity, only to gain it back again on appeal in 1983. You could say that my one saving grace was academics where I excelled, but I did not.
And yet now I live in the rarified air of celebrity, of mega stardom. My life a series of Hollywood orgies and Kabala center brunches with the cast of Friends. At least that’s what my handlers tell me. I’m actually too valuable to live my own life and spend most of my days in a vegetable crisper to remain fake news anchor fresh.
So I know that the decisions that I made after college worked out. But at the time I didn’t know that they would. See college is not necessarily predictive of your future success. And it’s the kind of thing where the path that I chose obviously wouldn’t work for you. For one, you’re not very funny.
So how do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t. And accepting that greatly eases the anxiety of your life experience.
I was not exceptional here, and am not now. I was mediocre here. And I’m not saying aim low. Not everybody can wander around in an alcoholic haze and then at 40 just, you know, decide to be president. You’ve got to really work hard to try to…I was actually referring to my father.
When I left William and Mary I was shell-shocked. Because when you’re in college it’s very clear what you have to do to succeed. And I imagine here everybody knows exactly the number of credits they needed to graduate, where they had to buckle down, which introductory psychology class would pad out the schedule. You knew what you had to do to get to this college and to graduate from it. But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. And it can be maddening to those that go here, especially here, because your strength has always been achievement. So if there’s any real advice I can give you it’s this.
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong…although I’m sure downloading illegal files…but, nah, that’s a different story.
Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may.
And the last thing I want to address is the idea that somehow this new generation is not as prepared for the sacrifice and the tenacity that will be needed in the difficult times ahead. I have not found this generation to be cynical or apathetic or selfish. They are as strong and as decent as any people that I have met. And I will say this, on my way down here I stopped at Bethesda Naval, and when you talk to the young kids that are there that have just been back from Iraq and Afghanistan, you don’t have the worry about the future that you hear from so many that are not a part of this generation but judging it from above.
And the other thing….that I will say is, when I spoke earlier about the world being broke, I was somewhat being facetious, because every generation has their challenge. And things change rapidly, and life gets better in an instant.
I was in New York on 9-11 when the towers came down. I lived 14 blocks from the twin towers. And when they came down, I thought that the world had ended. And I remember walking around in a daze for weeks. And Mayor Giuliani had said to the city, “You’ve got to get back to normal. We’ve got to show that things can change and get back to what they were.”
And one day I was coming out of my building, and on my stoop, was a man who was crouched over, and he appeared to be in deep thought. And as I got closer to him I realized, he was playing with himself. And that’s when I thought, “You know what, we’re gonna be OK.”
Thank you. Congratulations. I honor you. Good Night.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Lot's of Great Quotes UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDERCONSTRUCTION
Adversity & Change
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. ~Garrison Keillor
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey
I owe much to my friends; but, all things considered, it strikes me that I owe even more to my enemies. The real person springs life under a sting even better than under a caress. ~Andr・Gide
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. ~Horace
We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn. ~Unknown
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello
As long as you keep getting born, it's alright to die some times. ~Orson Scott Card
Bad is never good until worse happens. ~Danish proverb
If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. ~Unknown
Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness. ~Andr・Gide, L'immoraliste
The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ~Harry Golden
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson
You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far. ~Uncle Remus
Things are never so bad they can't be made worse. ~The African Queen
Living is like licking honey off a thorn. ~Louis Adamic
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. ~Theodore Rubin
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa
We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them. ~Charles C. West
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
Sometimes the littlest things in life are the hardest to take. You can sit on a mountain more comfortably than on a tack. ~Unknown
Enduring habits I hate.... Yes, at the very bottom of my soul I feel grateful to all my misery and bouts of sickness and everything about me that is imperfect, because this sort of thing leaves me with a hundred backdoors through which I can escape from enduring habits. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ~Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought
Every rose has its thorn. ~Unknown
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. ~Edmund Burke
Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell. ~Unknown
For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted. ~Jean Paul Richter
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it. ~George Bernard Shaw
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. ~Frank A. Clark
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Denning
There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out. ~Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss"
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki
Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. ~Bertrand Russell
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~African proverb
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. ~Charles A. Beard
May you get what you wish for. ~Old Chinese curse
It just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants. ~Unknown
Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting, it may not be logical but it is often true. ~Mr. Spock, Star Trek
If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change. ~John A. Simone, Sr.
You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. ~Walt Disney
Every path has its puddle. ~English proverb
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. ~Washington Irving
When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton
It's just life... wake up and smell the thorns. ~From the movie Meet Joe Black
Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. ~Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. ~Frank Clark
How can something bother you if you won't let it? ~Anonymous
There is no education like adversity. ~Disraeli
That was rough.... Thing to do now is try and forget it.... I guess I don't quite mean that. It's not a thing you can forget. Maybe not even a thing you want to forget.... Life's like that sometimes... Now and then for no good reason a man can figure out, life will just haul off and knock him flat, slam him agin' the ground so hard it seems like all his insides is busted. But it's not all like that. A lot of it's mighty fine, and you can't afford to waste the good part frettin' about the bad. That makes it all bad.... Sure, I know - sayin' it's one thing and feelin' it's another. But I'll tell you a trick that's sometimes a big help. When you start lookin' around for something good to take the place of the bad, as a general rule you can find it. ~Old Yeller, the movie
Life Is Short!
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. ~Chinese proverb
Live every day as if it were your last and then some day you'll be right. ~H.H. "Breaker" Morant
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. ~Braveheart
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive. ~Bugs Bunny
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott
Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. ~James Dean
As if you could kill time, without injuring eternity. ~Henry David Thoreau
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. ~Stephen Vincent Ben騁
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln
There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval. ~George Santayana
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~Fr. Alfred D'Souza
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead. ~Scottish proverb
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burrough
There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses? ~David Brin
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. ~Charles Buxton
Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live. ~Margaret Fuller
Death tugs at my ear and says: "Live, I am coming." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Fear not that your life shall come to an end but rather that it shall never have a beginning. ~Cardinal John Henry Newman
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl
You may delay, but time will not. ~Benjamin Franklin
We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves. ~George M. Adams
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ~Annie Dillard
I would I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours. ~Bernard Berenson
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. ~Tagore
I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity. ~Hazel Lee
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch. ~From a television commercial
The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me what it talked. ~Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice. ~Indian saying
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. ~Unknown
There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. ~Diane Ackerman
Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them. ~Dion Boucicault
Is there life before death? ~Belfast graffito
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. ~Mark Twain
What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
When it comes time to die, make sure all you got to do is die. ~Unknown
May you live all the days of your life. ~Jonathan Swift
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. ~John Lennon
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it. ~From the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The future has a way of arriving unannounced. ~George F. Will
Time goes, you say? Ah, no! Alas, Time stays, we go. ~Henry Austin Dobson
How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flown.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. ~Hector Berlioz
Waste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life. ~Michael Leboeuf
You only live once; but if you live it right, once is enough. ~Adam Marshall
Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough. ~Seneca
There are but three events in a man's life: birth, life, and death. He is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live. ~Jean de la Bruy
So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Family & Friendship
I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter
There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
People change and forget to tell each other. ~Lillian Hellman
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. ~Swedish proverb
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you." ~A.A. Milne
Friends are family you choose for yourself. ~Unknown
Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you. ~Elbert Hubbard
When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. ~E.W. Howe
The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. ~Henry David Thoreau
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. ~Arnold Glasow
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
A friend is the only person you will let into the house when you are Turning Out Drawers. ~Pam Brown
One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human. ~George Santayana
A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts
True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable. ~Dave Tyson Gentry
You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~Laurence J. Peter
Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer. ~Unknown
A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. ~Grace Pulpit
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis
Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~Unknown
There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Unknown
The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had. ~Unknown
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau
A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Unknown
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not. ~Mignon McLaughlin
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. ~Plutarch
Send a friend or relative a free virtual greeting from Blue Mountain Arts.
Love
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein
Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. ~Rabbi Julins Gordon
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd cupid painted blind.
~William Shakespeare
The art of love... is largely the art of persistence. ~Albert Ellis
Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig
Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde
Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely. ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye
The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough. ~George Moore
I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.
~Unknown
To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world. ~Unknown
I've fallen in love many times... always with you. ~Unknown
Sometimes it's a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence. ~David Byrne
Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without. ~Dr. James C. Dobson
Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~Robert Frost
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. ~Zora Neale Hurston
Without love, the rich and poor live in the same house. ~Unknown
It's so easy to fall in love but hard to find someone who will catch you. ~Unknown
You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. ~Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy. ~George Jean Nathan
We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love. ~Tom Robbins
Lust fades, so you'd better be with someone who can stand you. ~From the movie The Story of Us
I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all. ~Lord Byron
Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. ~Miguel de Unamuno
I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone. ~Javan
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. ~Victor Hugo
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~Mother Teresa
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein
You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"
I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. ~J.D. Salinger
A kiss is a rosy dot over the 'i' of loving. ~Cyrano de Bergerac
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham
We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Unknown
Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination. ~Voltaire
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~From the movie Annie
Part of the reason that men seem so much less loving than women is that men's behavior is measured with a feminine ruler. ~Francesca M. Cancian
Can miles truly separate you from friends.... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? ~Richard Bach
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. ~William Shakespeare
A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. ~Mistinguett
The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. ~Peter De Vries
Falling in love is so hard on the knees. ~Aerosmith
I am tired, Beloved,
of chafing my heart against
the want of you;
of squeezing it into little ink drops,
And posting it.
~Amy Lowell, "The Letter"
In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing. ~Antonio Porchia, Voices
Maybe part of loving is learning to let go. ~From the television show The Wonder Years
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. ~Charlie Brown
Let no one who loves be unhappy... even love unreturned has its rainbow. ~James Matthew Barrie
Sometimes I wish I were a little kid again, skinned knees are easier to fix than broken hearts. ~Unknown
Civilization & Culture
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. ~Sigmund FreudCulture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don't. ~Lord RaglanWe are born princes and the civilizing process makes us frogs. ~SyrusWe never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. ~Bryan WhiteProgress might have been all right once but it has gone on too long. ~Ogden NashWe should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. ~Henry David Thoreau, WaldenWe pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within. ~Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of ManWe shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. ~Albert EinsteinWhen you can't do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing. ~Lois McMaster BujoldK is for "Kenghis Khan." He was a very nice person. History has no record of him. There is a moral in that, somewhere. ~Harlan Ellison, From A to Z in the Chocolate AlphabetThe chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race. ~Don MarquisA man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. ~Theodore RooseveltWe are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. ~Richard P. FeynmanAnimals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills. ~Voltaire, letter to Count Schomberg, 31 August 1769Codi: Gives you the willies, doesn't it? The thought of raising kids in a place where the front yard ends in a two-hundred-foot drop? [referring to cliff dwellings]Lloyd: No worse than raising up kids where the front yard ends in a freeway.~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal DreamsOne...gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion. It is, of course, natural to assume that these difficulties are not inherent in the nature of civilization itself but are determined by the imperfections of the cultural forms which have so far been developed. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionBut how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. ~Frederic Bastian, The LawIf dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. ~Andrew MasonThere are many humorous things in the world: among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages. ~Mark TwainSociety is a made-up formula of what we are supposed to be, kept alive by those who believe in it.... I laugh in the ugly face of society, with all its fabricated dimensions. ~Christina GerogiannisA man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. ~Oscar WildeIf the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin. ~Charles DarwinThe gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual. ~John Muir, letter to J.B. McChesney, 19 September 1871Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless. ~B.F. SkinnerIt is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct. ~Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its DiscontentsCivilization is what makes you sick. ~Paul GauguinThe end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Conformity & Thinking
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was. ~Margaret Mitchell
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary. ~Albert Einstein
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. ~Bertrand Russell
Not all those who wander are lost. ~J.R.R. Tolkien
What makes you think that human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their "beliefs." The reason is that beliefs guide behavior, which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is a self-congratulatory delusion. ~Michael Crichton, The Lost World
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it. ~Albert Einstein
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. ~Winston Churchill
Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. ~Voltaire
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. ~J.K. Galbraith
The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. ~George Bernard Shaw
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. ~Mark Twain
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common. ~John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question. ~Orson Scott Card
Doubt is healthy. It tests one's convictions. ~From the movie Haunted
Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. ~John F. Kennedy
Before you can break out of prison, you must first realize you're locked up. ~Unknown
One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints. ~Proverb
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~Herman Melville
We need - and should encourage and honor - not only discoverers of facts hitherto unknown but explorers of ideas and freethinkers of values. ~Walter Moberly, The Crisis in the University
If you don't control your mind, someone else will. ~John Allston
Be neither a conformist or a rebel, for they are really the same thing. Find your own path, and stay on it. ~Paul Vixie
Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out. ~Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
The problem with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than their minds. ~Walter Duranty
I guess I've spent my life listening to what wasn't being said. ~Eli Khamarov, America Explained!
Human beings, for all their pretensions, have a remarkable propensity for lending themselves to classification somewhere within neatly labeled categories. Even the outrageous exceptions may be classified as outrageous exceptions! ~W.J. Reichmann
I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. ~Wilson Mizner
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. ~Eric Hoffer
If you keep doing things like you've always done them, what you'll get is what you've already got. ~Unknown
The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory. ~Paul Fix
When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders. ~Veterans Fast for Life
Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity; and fashion will drive them to acquire any custom. ~George Bernard Shaw
What we call human nature in actuality is human habit. ~Jewel Kilcher, Pieces of You
Never accept the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a problem, that it must be the only solution. ~Raymond E. Feist
It's a rash man who reaches a conclusion before he gets to it. ~Jacob Levin
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. ~Clarence Darrow
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature. ~George Bernard Shaw
Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us - and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along. ~Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
My theory is that the hardest work anyone does in life is to appear normal. ~From the movie Ed TV
I don't rent space to anyone in my head. ~Anonymous man on Candid Camera, answering Allen Funt's question about why he had not gotten upset
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Dawn, 1881
Only dead fish swim with the stream. ~Malcolm Muggeridge
Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking. ~Steve Allen
Just because something is tradition doesn't make it right. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps. ~H.L. Mencken
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. ~Alexander Hamilton
I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. ~Fritz Perls
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. ~Anatole France
Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are. ~Quentin Crisp
If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. ~Juan Ramon Jimenez
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. ~John Cage
No. ~President Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy, when asked if she had any message for the children of America
The most damaging phrase in the language is: "It's always been done that way." ~Grace Hopper
The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them. ~Albert Einstein, letter to Sigmund Freud, 30 July 1932
The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone. ~Henrik Ibsen
Conformity is that jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. ~John F. Kennedy
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. ~Niels Bohr
Mad, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence. ~Ambrose Bierce
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. ~Voltaire
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model. ~Vincent Van Gogh
If you believe everything you read, you better not read. ~Japanese proverb
You don't have to hold a position in order to be a leader. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side - I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts. ~Bethania McKenstry
What luck for rulers that men do not think. ~Adolph Hitler
If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. ~Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849
The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity. ~Thomas Szasz
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. ~Albert Einstein
Never assume the obvious is true. ~William Safire
We all live in the protection of certain cowardices which we call our principles. ~Mark Twain
I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. ~Marshall McLuhan
History is particularly important in throwing light on the source of our attitudes about sex because many of the assumptions we make are not necessarily scientific or rational but holdovers of past belief systems that are no longer held by modern society. ~Vern Bullough
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. ~William James
To be a genuine individualist requires a great deal of strength and courage. It is never easy to chart new territory, to cross new frontiers, or to introduce subtle shadings to an established color. ~Toller Cranston
My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others! My manner of thinking stems straight from my considered reflections; it holds with my existence, with the way I am made. It is not in my power to alter it; and were it, I'd not do so. ~Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade
Integrity has no need of rules. ~Albert Camus
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~George Bernard Shaw
Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to. ~Howard Mumford Jones
My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant's bill of fare.
And, when they were served,
he regarded them with a penetrating stare.
Then he spoke great words of wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
"To eat these things," said my uncle,
"You must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what's solid,
but you must spit out the air!"
And as you partake of the world's bill of fare,
that's darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow.
~Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), from a commencement address
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was. ~Margaret Mitchell
Modern Society & Times
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. ~Krishnamurti
The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. ~Paul Valery
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on? ~Henry David Thoreau
It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man. ~David Harris
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B. ~"Fats" Domino
Too many of today's children have straight teeth and crooked morals. ~Unknown high school principal
I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance. ~Reuben Blades
Most people are awaiting Virtual Reality; I'm awaiting virtuous reality. ~Eli Khamarov, "Lives of the Cognoscenti"
It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers. ~Unknown, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. ~Lily Tomlin
Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~G.M. Trevelyan
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. ~Will Rogers
Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams. ~Mary Ellen Kelly
I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't like it, they said, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out." Parents have to take better control. ~Charles Barkley
It's not the bullet with my name on it that worries me. It's the one that says "To whom it may concern." ~Anonymous Belfast resident, quoted in London Guardian, 1991
Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation. ~Margaret Mead
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. ~Thomas Szasz
Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? ~William Lloyd Garrison
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. ~Unknown
What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork. ~Pearl Bailey
Society is composed of two great classes - those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners. ~S饕astien-Roch Nicholas de Chamfort, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
Justice is open to everyone in the same way as the Ritz Hotel. ~Judge Sturgess
Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes! ~Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, first inaugural address, 20 January 1953
Society honors its living conformists and its dead troublemakers. ~Mignon McLaughlin
In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults. ~Thomas Szasz
Our government has become too responsive to trivial or ephemeral concerns, often at the expense of more important concerns or an erosion of our liberty, and it has made policy priorities more dependent on where TV journalists happen to point their cameras.... As a nation we have lost our sense of tragedy, a recognition that bad things happen to good people. A nation that expects the government to prevent churches from burning, to control the price of bread or gasoline, to secure every job, and to find some villain for every dramatic accident, risks an even larger loss of life and liberty. ~William A. Niskanen, "For a Less Responsive Government," Cato Policy Report, 1996
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim." ~Lyndon B. Johnson
Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers. ~Erik Pepke
It is the safest of times, it is the riskiest of times.... What the Dickens is going on here? ~Denton Morrison, on chemicals, technology, and risk, quoted in National Academy of Sciences, Improving Risk Communication, 1989
You're obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd. You live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation. It is that permanent contradiction between your ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and vain pretenses of your civilisation which makes you sad, troubled and unbalanced. In that intolerable conflict you lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality, because at every moment they suppress and restrain and check the free play of your powers. That's the poisoned and mortal wound of the civilised world. ~Octave Mirbeau, The Torture Garden
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic. ~Thomas Szasz
If the anti-abortion movement took a tenth of the energy they put into noisy theatrics and devoted it to improving the lives of children who have been born into lives of poverty, violence, and neglect, they could make a world shine. ~Michael Jay Tucker
Why do children want to grow up? Because they experience their lives as constrained by immaturity and perceive adulthood as a condition of greater freedom and opportunity. But what is there today, in America, that very poor and very rich adolescents want to do but cannot do? Not much: they can "do" drugs, "have" sex, "make" babies, and "get" money (from their parents, crime, or the State). For such adolescents, adulthood becomes synonymous with responsibility rather than liberty. Is it any surprise that they remain adolescents? ~Thomas Szasz
The trouble with the laws these days is that criminals know their rights better than their wrongs. ~Unknown
I love mankind; it's people I can't stand. ~Charles Schultz
We can't quite decide if the world is growing worse, or if the reporters are just working harder. ~The Houghton Line, November 1965
Somebody recently figured out that we have 35 million laws to enforce the ten commandments. ~Attributed to both Bert Masterson and Earl Wilson
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988
There is no hope for a civilization which starts each day to the sound of an alarm clock. ~Unknown
Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. ~Bill Vaughn, quoted in Jon Winokur, The Portable Curmudgeon, 1987
I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures. ~Chief Justice Earl Warren
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells
Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money. ~Unknown
Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in. ~Peter Medawar
A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. ~Robert W. Kent
A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. ~Milton Berle
Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones is dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. ~G.K. Chesterton
The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," 1841
Laws are only words written on paper, words that change on society's whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool. ~John J. Miller, And Hope to Die
For the first time in history, sex is more dangerous than the cigarette afterward. ~Jay Leno
It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance. ~Elizabeth Taylor
Choice has always been a privilege of those who could afford to pay for it. ~Ellen Frankfort
We create an environment where it is alright to hate, to steal, to cheat, and to lie if we dress it up with symbols of respectability, dignity and love. ~Whitney Moore, Jr.
Academy: A modern school where football is taught. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence. ~Jacques Barzun, God's Country and Mine, 1954
When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. ~Betty Bender
If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all. ~Pearl S. Buck
Inflation hasn't ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Widespread caffeine use explains a lot about the twentieth century. ~Greg Egan, "Distress"
We think fast food is equivalent to pornography, nutritionally speaking. ~Steve Elbert, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
Chemicals, n: Noxious substances from which modern foods are made. ~Unknown
Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. ~Unknown
You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it. ~Art Buchwald
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. ~Robert Frost
Justice is incidental to law and order. ~John Edgar Hoover
The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution in spirit, the forces which had produced inequities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance, and fear. ~Aung San Suu Kyi
The most violent element in society is ignorance. ~Emma Goldman
If you suck on a tit the movie gets an R rating. If you hack the tit off with an axe it will be PG. ~Jack Nicholson
It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road. ~Bumper sticker
Finding Yourself
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates. ~Thomas Szasz, The Second SinYou have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. ~Alan AldaBe patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.... Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young PoetMan cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. ~Dr. Alexis CarrelIt is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. ~Agnes RepplierThe greatest explorers on earth never take voyages as long as those of the man who ascends to the depths of his heart. ~Julien GreenI took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am. ~Sylvia PlathThere came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anaïs NinThe value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose. ~Richard GrantSay not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. ~Kahlil Gibran, The ProphetI went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau, 1854A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it. ~George MooreIf in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead. ~Gelett BurgessThe man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. ~Muhammad AliPerhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. ~Wallace StevensThe words "I am" are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you. ~A.L. KitselmanIf you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions. ~UnknownIt is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts. ~K.T. JongIt takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummingsThere are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud. ~Carol ShieldsI can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want. ~Mark TwainYou cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. ~James A. FroudeThe greatest hazard of all, losing one's self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed. ~The Sickness Unto DeathI loathe the statement "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish statement. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm. ~James ThurberLife is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. ~Anaïs NinThere are...things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "Notes from the Underground," 1864It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy. ~Lucille BallOh! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves. ~William Shakespeare, "Coriolanus"When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before. ~Clifton FadimanThere is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. ~Nelson MandelaFor most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed. ~Clifton FadimanBypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be. ~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyConfusion now hath made his masterpiece. ~William ShakespeareI may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. ~Douglas AdamsIt is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling. ~Robert M. PirsigOne meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. ~French proverbThe indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. ~Ben SteinDriving down the wrong road and knowing it, the fork years behind, how many have thought to pull up on the shoulder and leave the car empty, strike out across the fields; and how many are still mazed among dock and thistle, seeking the road they should have taken? ~Damon Knight, The Man in the TreeYour work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. ~BuddhaUp to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, "This I am today; that I will be tomorrow." ~Louis L'AmourYou'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart. ~George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"Only you can set you free. ~Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"You're always in either first or fifth, but you know there's a lot of great gears in between. ~Tony to Angela on Who's The BossThey must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~ConfuciusThere's more than one answer to these questionsPointing me in a crooked line.And the less I seek my source for some definitiveThe closer I am to fine.~Indigo Girls, "Closer to Fine"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh, at yourself. ~Ethel BarrymoreNo question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious. ~George Bernard Shaw
Being Yourself
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, letter to a high school editor, 1955All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself. ~Ralph Ellison, "Battle Royal"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another. ~James Matthew BarrieAnd remember, no matter where you go, there you are. ~Confucius, commonly known due to Buckaroo BanzaiMost people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. ~Oscar WildeHe who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. ~Raymond HullAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy GarlandWe are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. ~François Duc de La RochefoucauldGod has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~William ShakespeareIf you cannot be a poet, be the poem. ~David CarradineA man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. ~Paul ValeryAlmost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess. ~Samuel JohnsonHateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another. ~HomerHow many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone. ~Gabrielle "Coco" ChanelI think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part. ~Shirley MacLaineNever be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. ~Harvey FiersteinNever apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. ~Benjamin DisraeliAll the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. ~Goethe
Believing in Yourself & Self-Worth
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor RooseveltIt took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes. ~Sally FieldDon't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. ~UnknownOur remedies oft in ourselves do lieWhich we ascribe to heaven.~William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends WellA successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. ~David BrinkleyIt's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. ~UnknownWe have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies. ~Roderick ThorpeIt ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. ~W.C. FieldsWhether you think you can or think you can't, you are right. ~Henry FordIf you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. ~Vincent Van GoghMake the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly. ~Buckminster FullerSuccess comes in cans, not cant's. ~UnknownPut your future in good hands - your own. ~UnknownI am not a has-been. I am a will be. ~Lauren BacallI'm not old enough to play baseball or football. I'm not eight yet. My mom told me when you start baseball, you aren't going to be able to run that fast because you had an operation. I told Mom I wouldn't need to run that fast. When I play baseball, I'll just hit them out of the park. Then I'll be able to walk. ~Edward J. McGrath, Jr.If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. ~UnknownConfidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. ~Peter T. McintyreLife shrinks and expands in proportion to one's courage. ~Anaïs NinArgue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours. ~Richard BachYou have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael JordanIt is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~Edmund HillaryThousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others. ~Mark TwainNothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance. ~Bruce BartonA great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. ~Sydney SmithIt is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. ~Sally KemptonWhen the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there. ~Cecil SeligOther people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. ~Les BrownYou have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes.You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.You're on your own.And you know what you know.You are the guy who'll decide where to go.~Dr. SeussTrust yourself. You know more than you think you do. ~Benjamin SpockConfidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control. ~Richard KlineWhat lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonIf we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. ~Thomas Alva EdisonIt's me who is my enemyMe who beats me upMe who makes the monstersMe who strips my confidence.~Paula Cole, "Me," This FireA gold medal is a nice thing - but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. ~From Cool RunningsIf I am not for myself, who will be? ~Pirke AvothPlant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. ~Veronica A. Shoffstall, "After a While," 1971It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself. ~EpicurusI am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May AlcottEvery day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there. ~Henry Miller, SexusWhen there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. ~African proverbBe humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you. ~Nicholai VelimirovicGod wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily. ~UnknownYou probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do. ~Olin MillerYou're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose. ~Lou HoltzThere is no need to reach high for the stars. They are already within you - just reach deep into yourself! ~T. SachsOliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. "Dr. Holmes," quipped a friend, "I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows." "I do," retorted Holmes, "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies." ~UnknownNever waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run. ~George Bernard ShawJealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (translated from French)Envy is a waste of time. ~UnknownJealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point - that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. There is only one alternative - self-value. If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think it's a mistake or luck. Take your eyes off others and turn the scanner within. Find the seeds of your jealousy, clear the old voices and experiences. Put all the energy into building your personal and emotional security. Then you will be the one others envy, and you can remember the pain and reach out to them. ~Jennifer James
Perfection, Risk, & Living Life
No one is perfect...that's why pencils have erasers. ~UnknownA man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault. ~John Henry NewmanRing the bells that still can ringForget your perfect offering.There is a crack in everything,That's how the light gets in.~Leonard CohenTo avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. ~Elbert HubbardIt was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something. ~Ornette ColemanSometimes...when you hold out for everything, you walk away with nothing. ~From the television show Ally McBealUse the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best. ~Henry Van DykeBetter a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. ~Confucius, AnalectsThe most difficult part of attaining perfection is finding something to do for an encore. ~UnknownWhen you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target. ~George FisherI never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones. ~John PeelWhile one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. ~Henry C. LinkAn expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. ~Niels BohrThat's not serious; it's just human. ~Jerry KopkeThe only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. ~John PowellThe man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. ~Edward PhelpsThe human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. ~Winston ChurchillUnbeing dead isn't being alive. ~e.e. cummingsI want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. ~Kurt VonnegutMaking mistakes simply means you are learning faster. ~Weston H. AgorIf you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded. ~Lloyd JonesThe only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. ~Ellen GlasgowAnything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile...initially scared me to death. ~Betty BenderA man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much. ~HomerIf you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. ~UnknownIt is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. ~SenecaOur doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. ~William ShakespeareWe're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. ~Japanese proverbThe man who doesn't relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on. ~Elbert HubbardThe best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do. ~UnknownThere's no such thing as too late. That's why they invented death. ~From the movie Out to SeaYou'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne GretzkyIt's all right letting yourself go as long as you can let yourself back. ~Mick JaggerDon't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase - that's what wild geese are for. ~UnknownI am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo PicassoWhen in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. ~Cynthia Heimel, "Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics"I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonOpportunity always involves some risk. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. ~Frederick JacksonWhy not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? ~Frank ScullyYes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking. ~Tim McMahonMany great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at. ~UnknownIf there were dreams to sell, what would you buy? ~Thomas Lovell BeddoesFor ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. ~Tom Kimmel and Michael LilleOnly those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert F. KennedyWhat would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail? ~Dr. Robert Schuller
Goals, Effort, & Persistence
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry Ford
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. Peter
It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done. ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life, 1770
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug Larson
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf Hunt
The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLint
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~T.S. Eliot
I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson
Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~Unknown
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison
The best helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm. ~Fred Dehner
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves. ~Garth Henrichs
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Attributed to both Vidal Sassoon and Donald Kendall
Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. ~Ann Landers
When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. ~George Bernard Shaw
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. ~Reggie Leach
Wise men make more opportunities than they find. ~Francis Bacon
A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~Rita Mae Brown
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Huxley
Now I know, a refuge never grows
from a chin in the hand and a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
~Indigo Girls
If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. ~J.M. Power
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all. ~Sam Ewing
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers
Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. ~Unknown
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Abraham Lincoln
Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings. ~C.D. Jackson
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~Unknown
God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them. ~Unknown
If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
People know you for what you've done, not for what you plan to do. ~Unknown
Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out. ~Italian proverb
After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. ~Unknown
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. ~Frank Tibolt
An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. ~Arnold Glasow
Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese proverb
Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph Monod
Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~Peter Marshall
If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward Beecher
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale Carnegie
Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Unknown
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh Billings
Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese proverb
The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~Unknown
If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker
Life is full of obstacle illusions. ~Grant Frazier
The race is not always to the swift... but to those who keep on running. ~Unknown
You can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ~From the television show Family Matters
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott
It is never too late to be who you might have been. ~George Eliot
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~George Bernard Shaw
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Unknown
Success is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~Advertisement on a billboard
Someday is not a day of the week. ~Unknown
Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. ~Woody Allen
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva Young
What may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~Scottish proverb
The best way to get something done is to begin. ~Unknown
Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. ~Unknown
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant
The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle. ~Unknown
The impossible is often the untried. ~Jim Goodwin
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done. ~Henry Ford
When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent Eckhart
Try not. Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back
Don't waste time learning the "tricks of the trade." Instead, learn the trade. ~Attributed to both James Charlton and H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly Sills
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. ~Thomas A. Edison
The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~James Bond, Tomorrow Never Dies
If you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over. ~Unknown
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. ~Henry David Thoreau
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. ~David Lloyd George
In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ~Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949
Know your limits... but never stop trying to exceed them. ~Unknown
Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~Unknown
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
None of our men are "experts." We have most unfortunately found it necessary to get rid of a man as soon as he thinks himself an expert because no one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job. A man who knows a job sees so much more to be done than he has done, that he is always pressing forward and never gives up an instant of thought to how good and how efficient he is. Thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible. The moment one gets into the "expert" state of mind a great number of things become impossible. ~Henry Ford, Sr.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ~Peter Drucker
We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. ~Unknown
When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation. ~Pearl S. Buck
Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese proverb
When the horse is dead, get off. ~Unknown
The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. ~Elaine Agather
To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. ~Confucius
Success & Failure
If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average. ~M.H. Alderson
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas Edison
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill Cosby
The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything - and it works. ~William Strong
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill
I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. ~Jonathan Winters
If you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert Hubbard
There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." ~Carrie Fisher
Failure is an event... not a person. ~Unknown
There is no failure. Only feedback. ~Robert Allen
Don't aim for success, if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David Frost
What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~Mary Pickford
It is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final. ~Unknown
Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Try again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett
Failure doesn't mean you are a failure... it just means you haven't succeeded yet. ~Robert Schuller
It is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. ~Unknown
In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. ~George Bernard Shaw
Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry King
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. ~Unknown
That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Worry
If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don Herold
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen. ~James Russel Lowell
If things go wrong, don't go with them. ~Roger Babson
Worry is interest paid in advance for a debt you may never owe. ~Unknown
Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. ~Mark Twain
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~Unknown
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia
If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale Carnegie
I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time. ~Charlie Brown
Troubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them. ~Unknown
If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today. ~E. Joseph Cossman
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. ~Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"
People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross. ~Unknown
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. ~Unknown
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety. ~Plato
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. ~David Sarnoff
If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn't going to be much fun. ~From the television show Roseanne
Some people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live. ~Henry Van Dyke
He who doesn't fear death dies only once. ~Giovanni Falcone
Living in the Now
One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. ~Michael Cibenko
There is no distance on this earth as far away as yesterday. ~Robert Nathan
You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present. ~Jan Glidewell
Would you keep a chive on your tooth just because you enjoyed last night's potato? ~From the television show Boston Common
I have memories - but only a fool stores his past in the future. ~David Gerrold
No man is rich enough to buy back his past. ~Oscar Wilde
We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. ~Art Buchwald
If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done much today. ~Unknown
Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. ~Cherokee Indian proverb
The past is never there when you try to go back. It exists, but only in memory. To pretend otherwise is to invite a mess. ~Chris Cobbs
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~Alexander Graham Bell
Chasing the past, I stumbled into the future. ~T. Sachs
Nothing is worth more than this day. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. ~Montaigne
Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. ~Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. ~Babatunde Olatunji
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is. ~Alan Watts
We are always getting ready to live but never living. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tomorrow is no place to place your better days. ~Dave Matthews
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness. ~James Thurber
The future is always beginning now. ~Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving
I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. ~Albert Einstein
Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized. ~Leo Buscaglia
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. ~Dale Carnegie
Pile up too many tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays. ~The Music Man
Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far. ~Euripides
Life's a journey, not a destination. ~Aerosmith
If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. ~Senegalese proverb
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. ~Abraham Lincoln
Goals, Effort, & Persistence
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry FordShoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. PeterIt is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done. ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life, 1770Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug LarsonIf opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton BerleGoals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf HuntThe road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLintOnly those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~T.S. EliotI'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~Thomas JeffersonMany an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~UnknownOpportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas EdisonThe best helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm. ~Fred DehnerThe person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves. ~Garth HenrichsThe only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Attributed to both Vidal Sassoon and Donald KendallNobody ever drowned in his own sweat. ~Ann LandersWhen I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. ~George Bernard ShawSuccess is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. ~Reggie LeachWise men make more opportunities than they find. ~Francis BaconA deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~Rita Mae BrownThe rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas HuxleyNow I know, a refuge never growsfrom a chin in the hand and a thoughtful poseGotta tend the earth if you want a rose.~Indigo GirlsIf you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. ~J.M. PowerHard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all. ~Sam EwingEven if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will RogersSome people dream of success...while others wake up and work hard at it. ~UnknownThings may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Abraham LincolnGreat ideas need landing gear as well as wings. ~C.D. JacksonThough no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~UnknownGod gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them. ~UnknownIf a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerPeople know you for what you've done, not for what you plan to do. ~UnknownBetween saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out. ~Italian proverbAfter all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. ~UnknownWe should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. ~Frank TiboltAn idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. ~Arnold GlasowThe man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark TwainBe not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese proverbBetween the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph MonodSmall deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~Peter MarshallIf you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward BeecherHe who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him. ~Dutch proverbDon't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale CarnegieNobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~UnknownWhen you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. RooseveltThe question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand, The FountainheadDon't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh BillingsFall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese proverbThe greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~UnknownIf one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream MakerLife is full of obstacle illusions. ~Grant FrazierThe race is not always to the swift...but to those who keep on running. ~UnknownYou can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ~From the television show Family MattersIt's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert EinsteinPerseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter ElliottIt is never too late to be who you might have been. ~George EliotThe people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~George Bernard ShawOur greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonProblems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. ~Robert SchullerVitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott FitzgeraldWhen your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~UnknownSuccess is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~Advertisement on a billboardSomeday is not a day of the week. ~UnknownSeventy percent of success in life is showing up. ~Woody AllenTo think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva YoungWhat may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~Scottish proverbThe best way to get something done is to begin. ~UnknownTomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. ~UnknownBehold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant
The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle. ~UnknownThe impossible is often the untried. ~Jim GoodwinI am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done. ~Henry FordWhen I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent EckhartTry not. Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda in The Empire Strikes BackDon't waste time learning the "tricks of the trade." Instead, learn the trade. ~Attributed to both James Charlton and H. Jackson Brown, Jr.There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly SillsHell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. ~Thomas A. EdisonThe distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~James Bond, Tomorrow Never DiesIf you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over. ~UnknownIf you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. ~Henry David ThoreauDon't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. ~David Lloyd GeorgeIn Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ~Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949Know your limits...but never stop trying to exceed them. ~UnknownOpportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~UnknownMost people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowNone of our men are "experts." We have most unfortunately found it necessary to get rid of a man as soon as he thinks himself an expert because no one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job. A man who knows a job sees so much more to be done than he has done, that he is always pressing forward and never gives up an instant of thought to how good and how efficient he is. Thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible. The moment one gets into the "expert" state of mind a great number of things become impossible. ~Henry Ford, Sr.There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ~Peter DruckerWe are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. ~UnknownWhen solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookThe young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation. ~Pearl S. BuckVision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese proverbWhen the horse is dead, get off. ~UnknownThis is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anyone could have. ~UnknownThe leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. ~Elaine AgatherTo go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. ~Confucius
Success & Failure
If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average. ~M.H. AldersonI have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas EdisonI don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill CosbyThe only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything - and it works. ~William StrongSuccess consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston ChurchillI couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. ~Jonathan WintersIf you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert HubbardThere is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." ~Carrie FisherFailure is an event...not a person. ~UnknownThere is no failure. Only feedback. ~Robert AllenDon't aim for success, if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David FrostWhat we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~Mary PickfordIt is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final. ~UnknownSuccess: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo EmersonOur business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. ~Robert Louis StevensonTry again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel BeckettFailure doesn't mean you are a failure...it just means you haven't succeeded yet. ~Robert SchullerIt is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. ~UnknownIn order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookI dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. ~George Bernard ShawThose who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry KingJudge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. ~UnknownThat man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Worry
If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don HeroldLet us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen. ~James Russel LowellIf things go wrong, don't go with them. ~Roger BabsonWorry is interest paid in advance for a debt you may never owe. ~UnknownRule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff.Rule #2: It's all small stuff.~Dr. Michael MantellDrag your thoughts away from your troubles...by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. ~Mark TwainToday is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~UnknownWorry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo BuscagliaIf you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale CarnegieI've developed a new philosophy...I only dread one day at a time. ~Charlie BrownTroubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them. ~UnknownIf you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today. ~E. Joseph CossmanI come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. ~Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross. ~UnknownThe greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. ~UnknownNothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety. ~PlatoWe cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. ~David SarnoffMen fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other. ~Francis Bacon, "Of Death"If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn't going to be much fun. ~From the television show RoseanneSome people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live. ~Henry Van DykeHe who doesn't fear death dies only once. ~Giovanni Falcone
Happiness & Attitude
I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. ~Denis WaitelyIf you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one. ~Cavett RobertHe who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. ~Samuel JohnsonHappiness is never stopping to think if you are. ~P. SondrealBlessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. ~Jonathan SwiftBefore you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available. ~Jim BeggsEven if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. ~Jacques Prévert
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. ~Vince LombardiIf you haven't all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you wouldn't want. ~UnknownOh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left. ~Hubert HumphreyMy riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants. ~J. BrothertonMost people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy. ~Robert AnthonySeven days without laughter makes one weak. ~Mort WalkerIf you want to be happy, be. ~Leo TolstoyThe Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. ~Benjamin FranklinThe best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark TwainIf only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time. ~Edith WhartonNobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. ~Cynthia NelmsAttitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ~Winston ChurchillSo often time it happens, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key. ~The Eagles, "Already Gone"Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. ~Robertson DaviesA smile confuses an approaching frown. ~UnknownHappiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca ReiglerHappiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination. ~Immanuel KantIf you don't have a smile, I'll give you one of mine. ~UnknownThose who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad. ~Norm PapernickThe foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James OpenheimIf you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy RooneyHappiness sneaks through a door you didn't know that you left open. ~John BarrymoreIn the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert CamusThe only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders. ~Foster's LawPeople seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile. ~Lee MildonThe greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. ~William JamesWe're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. ~Oscar WildeTo be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have. ~Ken S. Keyes, Jr.I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. ~Joe WalshPeople take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. ~H. Jackson BrowneIt's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardLaughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. ~Victor HugoOften people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. ~Margaret YoungIndeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. ~St. AugustineCan anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThere are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. ~Logan Pearsall SmithThis is my "depressed stance." When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this. ~Charlie BrownEvery day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~UnknownJust because you're miserable doesn't mean you can't enjoy your life. ~Annette GoodheartPleasure is spread through the earthIn stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.~William Wordsworth, 1806Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel HawthorneMost people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be. ~Abraham LincolnSome people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. ~UnknownTranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys. ~Christian Nestell BoveeTo be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. ~George SantayanaCould we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. ~Katherine MansfieldLet me enjoy the earth no lessBecause the all-enacting MightWhich fashioned forth its lovelinessHad other aims than my delight.~Thomas Hardy, Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, 1909The only disability in life is a bad attitude. ~Scott HamiltonWe cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails. ~UnknownI don't like that man. I must get to know him better. ~Abraham LincolnA person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone. ~Robert FrostA happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. ~Hugh DownsA smile is a curve that sets everything straight. ~Phyllis DillerVery often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene. ~A.C. BensonThe most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummingsLaughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton BerleThe supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. ~Arnold ToynbeeWe tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. ~Frederick KeonigSome people are grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. ~Alphonse KarrLet us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. ~BuddhaSince the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. ~Italian proverbMen who never get carried away should be. ~Malcolm ForbesWe feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire. ~Eric HofferThings turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. ~Art LinkletterThere are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. ~William BennettAll my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind. ~Abraham LincolnIt's never too late to have a happy childhood. ~UnknownHappiness is nothing more than health and a poor memory. ~Albert SchweitzerThe world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~UnknownMan, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. ~Ken KeseyHappiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. ~Eleanor RooseveltHappiness is a direction, not a place. ~Sydney J. HarrisAlways remember to be happy because you never know who's falling in love with your smile. ~UnknownI have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. ~Galileo GalileiThe man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings. ~Henri Frederic AmielOf all the things you wear, your statement is the most important. ~Janet LaneOne of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. ~Bertrand RussellSome days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway. ~Emory AustinPeople are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. ~EpictetusSwallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day. ~Nicholas ChamfortA truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. ~UnknownIf you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai LamaThere are two types of people - those who come into a room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who come in and say, "Ah, there you are." ~Frederick L. CollinsThere is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. ~Lady BlessingtonA smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles GordyConsider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved. ~Marcus AntoniusYou shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe. ~James WhistlerA pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~Harry Truman
Integrity & Self-Respect
I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am. ~Samuel JohnsonLove all, trust a few, do wrong to none. ~William ShakespeareTranscend political correctness and strive for human righteousness. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookDo not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ~BuddhaWisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it. ~David Star Jordan, The Philosophy of DespairIt's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. ~Roy DisneyCharacter is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. ~J.C. WattsCharacter is much easier kept than recovered. ~Thomas PaineSelfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. ~Oscar WildeI hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been. ~C. HoppeOne does evil enough when one does nothing good. ~German proverbI never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day. ~Abraham LincolnThere is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience. ~French proverbDo not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. ~Henry David ThoreauIt is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. ~Alfred AdlerDon't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough. ~Arthur FreedMy country is the world, and my religion is to do good. ~Thomas Paine
Live truth instead of professing it. ~Elbert HubbardIn my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned. ~Jane Haddam
Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ~Cyril ConnollyNever let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right. ~Isaac AsimovI prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~Frederick DouglassIt is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. ~Andre GideThat you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. ~William J.H. BoetckerTo thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. ~Shakespeare, HamletMany a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street. ~Elbert HubbardA man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~J. Pierpoint MorganA man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company. ~Charles Evans HughesDignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. ~AristotleYou can out-distance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. ~Rwandan proverbFlattery is all right so long as you don't inhale. ~Adlai StevensonChop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. ~Henry FordA pure hand needs no glove to cover it. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterBetter keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~George Bernard ShawBe what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise. ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in WonderlandThe greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~SocratesLet us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only. ~Samuel Butler, ErewhonWe judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowYou don't carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation. ~Charles Dickens, Barnaby RudgeAs I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew CarnegiePeople may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. ~Lewis Cass
What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonNo man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterIf we cannot live so as to be happy, let us at least live so as to deserve it. ~Immanuel Hermass von FichteLive in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. ~Will RogersMy grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there. ~Indira GandhiThe right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesIt takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowI don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to. ~UnknownConscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking. ~H.L. MenckenMany of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves. ~UnknownFor the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse. ~Samuel RichardsonI am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. ~Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh MistressIf moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral. ~Samuel GinderIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. ~Bishop Desmond TutuDon't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~William FaulknerI am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. ~Mahatma GandhiYour religion is what you do when the sermon is over. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy statement of leaning into the light. ~Barry Lopez, Arctic DreamsMan is the only animal that blushes - or needs to. ~Mark TwainOur character is what we do when we think no one is looking. ~H. Jackson Browne, P.S. I Love YouThe best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others. ~UnknownThe only guy I have to get better than is who I am right now. ~Colonel Potter in M*A*S*HTake your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame. ~Erica JongIt is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it. ~A.A. HodgeHave no fear of robbers or murderers. They are external dangers, petty dangers. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murders. The great dangers are within us. Why worry about what threatens our heads or purses? Let us think instead of what threatens our souls. ~Victor HugoConscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good. ~UnknownThose who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. ~Lane OlinghouseNearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ~Abraham LincolnPrinciples have no real force except when one is well-fed. ~Mark TwainIf you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark TwainIt is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. ~H.L. MenckenNo man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. ~Abraham LincolnMake yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world. ~Thomas CarlyleA half truth is a whole lie. ~Jewish proverbA truth that's told with bad intentBeats all the lies you can invent.~William BlakeThe least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. ~AristotleThe most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph LichtenbergWith lies you may get ahead in the world - but you can never go back. ~Russian proverbHonesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain't lawful tender for a loaf of bread. ~Josh BillingsA lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. MohnHonesty is never seen sitting astride the fence. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911We tell lies when we are afraid...afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad WilliamsTruth fears no questions. ~UnknownPretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children. ~Oliver WendellMen occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~Winston ChurchillIt is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. ~Thomas Paine, The Age of ReasonHonesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
Laws of Life & Wisdom
Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern
Take care that no one hates you justly. ~Publilius Syrus
Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society
Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. ~Robert Brault
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. ~Arthur Miller
To the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution. ~Joe Cordare
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist. ~Indira Gandhi
Do not repeat anything you will not sign your name to. ~Unknown
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Unknown
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. ~Thomas a' Kempis
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. ~Dennis Wholey
Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else. ~Ivern Ball
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right. ~William Safire
Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Unknown
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. ~Steven D. Woodhull
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. ~Albert Einstein
Do not wait for the last judgement, it takes place every day. ~Albert Camus
During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use. ~Wendell Johnson
Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way. ~Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. ~Juvenal, Satires
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. ~Joseph Joubert
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. ~Phyllis Theroux
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. ~Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Whenever you fall, pick something up. ~Oswald Avery
To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell. ~Ancient proverb
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind. ~Mahatma Gandhi
A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward. ~George Jean Nathan
Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~W. Somerset Maugham
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped. ~African proverb
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it. ~Napoleon I
Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake. ~Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne
One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever come to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on the way. ~Vincent Van Gogh
Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or the last time. ~Betty Smith
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. ~Henry Miller, The Books in My Life
The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. ~Frank Hubbard
No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head. ~Terry Josephson
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow
Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face. ~Nelson DeMille
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. ~Mark Twain
If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut. ~Albert Einstein
Never Explain - your Friends do not need it and your Enemies will not believe you anyway. ~Elbert Hubbard
Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong. ~Dandemis
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~Albert Camus
It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. ~John Andrew Holmes
If you're headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns. ~Unknown
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. ~Rudyard Kipling
Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise. ~Unknown
The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep. ~Henry Maudsley
Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. ~Janis Joplin
While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. ~Doug Horton
A stumble may prevent a fall. ~English proverb
To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy. ~Hippocrates
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. ~Buddha
Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. ~Orson Rega Card
In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled. ~Paul Eldridge
Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. ~Malachy McCourt
If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you. ~Unknown
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis Roch
You can't hold a man down without staying down with him. ~Booker T. Washington
Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought. ~Dwight Morrow
Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Unknown
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~Albert Einstein
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. ~Abraham Lincoln
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. ~George Bernard Shaw
If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~Raymond Inmon
As you climb the ladder of success, be sure it's leaning against the right building. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. ~Victor Hugo
Well done is better than well said. ~Benjamin Franklin
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. ~Frank Herbert, Dune Chronicles
We seldom enjoy leisure we haven't earned. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole. ~Unknown
I... recommend to every one of my Readers, the keeping a Journal of their Lives for one Week, and setting down punctually their whole Series of Employments during that Space of Time. This kind of Self-Examination would give them a true State of themselves, and incline them to consider seriously what they are about. One Day would rectifie the Omissions of another, and make a Man weigh all those indifferent Actions, which, though they are easily forgotten, must certainly be accounted for. ~Joseph Addison, 1712
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. ~Don Wilder
Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. ~Marlene Dietrich
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. ~Plato
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. ~Woodrow Wilson
Preconcieved notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. ~Merry Browne
The best way to predict your future is to create it. ~Peter Drucker
Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman. ~Joseph Joubert
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was. ~Abraham Lincoln
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. ~Alice Walker
Almost everything in life is easier to get into than out of. ~Agnes' Law
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. ~Kahlil Gibran
Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey. ~Tad Williams
Anger is one letter short of danger. ~Unknown
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. ~Baltasar Gracian
The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it. ~Unknown
If you want to truly understand something, try to change it. ~Kurt Lewis
Never write a letter while you are angry. ~Chinese proverb
When you lose, don't lose the lesson. ~Unknown
There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire. ~John C. Collins
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough. ~William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. ~Jimmy Johnson
Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. ~H. Jackson Browne
Be nice to people on your way up because you'll need them on your way down. ~W. Migner
The easiest way to keep a secret is without help. ~Unknown
When you throw dirt, you lose ground. ~Texan proverb
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference. ~Unknown
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Unknown
You are never stronger than when you arm yourself with your weakness. ~Mme. DuDeffand
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. ~Garth Brooks
Sometimes the best way to hold onto something is to let it go. ~Unknown
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~Erica Jong
Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. ~Gordon R. Dickson
When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. ~Marquis de la Grange
Fortunately [psychoanalysis] is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist. ~Karen Horney
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Unknown
In trying to get our own way, we should remember that kisses are sweeter than whine. ~Unknown
There is only one thing about which I am certain, and that is that there is very little about which one can be certain. ~W. Somerset Maugham
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. ~Chinese proverb
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. ~Henri Louis Bergson
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. ~Harrison Ford
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. ~Malcolm S. Forbes
Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends. ~Shirley Maclaine
He who angers you conquers you. ~Elizabeth Kenny
Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make. ~Donald Trump
Making a Difference & Kindness
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Live simply that others might simply live. ~Elizabeth Seaton
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. ~Sydney Smith
What a person believes is not as important as how a person believes. ~Timothy Virkkala
If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
My life is my message. ~Mahatma Ghandi
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. ~Mahatma Ghandi
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. ~Edmund Burke
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. ~Lowell
You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself. ~Gene Mauch
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him. ~Albert Schweitzer
If everyone howled at every injustice, every act of barbarism, every act of unkindness, then we would be taking the first step towards a real humanity. ~Nelson DeMille
If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. ~Betty Reese
He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. ~Sunshine Magazine
A good example has twice the value of good advice. ~Unknown
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
Improvement begins with I. ~Arnold Glasow
This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. ~George Bernard Shaw
A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together! ~Unknown
Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. ~Unknown
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse Jackson
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah
A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon
A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them. ~Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein
Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. ~Attributed to both Zig Ziglar and Dr. Kenneth McFarland
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Unknown
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Unknown
While earning your daily bread, be sure you share a slice with those less fortunate. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden
The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth
A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. ~Knights of Pythagoras
Be kind, remember everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~T.H. Thompson
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. ~H.L. Mencken
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Matthew Barrie
Charity sees the need, not the cause. ~German proverb
By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill
The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Unknown
In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. ~Etienne de Grellet
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~Benjamin Disraeli
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan proverb
I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. ~Henry Ward Beecher
Sometimes someone says something really small, and it just fits right into this empty place in your heart. ~From the television show My So-Called Life
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. ~Arthur Ashe
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. ~Mohammed Ali
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked [on the Jericho Road] was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even. ~Daniel Berrigan
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. ~George Bernard Shaw
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~Albert Pine
Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf. ~Native American proverb
Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
~Walt Whitman
As the bus slowed down at the crowded bus stop, the Pakistani bus conductor leaned from the platform and called out, "Six only!" The bus stopped. He counted on six passengers, rang the bell, and then, as the bus moved off, called to those left behind: "So sorry, plenty of room in my heart - but the bus is full." He left behind a row of smiling faces. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. ~The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, 1977
The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor's shoulder is to pat him on the back. ~Unknown
Marriage & Love
A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he's finished. ~Zsa Zsa GaborBigamy is having one husband or wife too many. Monogamy is the same. ~Oscar WildeSpouse: someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single. ~UnknownMarriage means commitment. Of course, so does insanity. ~UnknownMarriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. ~Mae WestMy wife says I never listen to her. At least I think that's what she said. ~UnknownI never knew what real happiness was until I got married and by then it was too late. ~Max KauffmanMarriage, n: The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two. ~Ambrose BierceMistress: something between a mister and a mattress. ~UnknownMother-in-law: a woman who destroys her son-in-law's peace of mind by giving him a piece of hers. ~UnknownBachelor: the only man who has never told his wife a lie. ~UnknownWedding rings: the world's smallest handcuffs. ~UnknownDivorce: The past tense of marriage. ~UnknownThe most dangerous food is wedding cake. ~American proverbLove: a temporary insanity curable by marriage. ~UnknownMarriage is not a word - it is a sentence. ~UnknownThere is so little difference between husbands, you might as well keep the first. ~Adela Rogers St. JohnWhen a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. ~Sacha GuitryIf love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? ~UnkownInfatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway. ~Judith ViorstLove is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. ~W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook, 1949Love is the delusion that one [man or] woman differs from another. ~Henry Louis Mencken
Men & Women
Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography. ~Robert ByrneBoys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardSome men are so macho they'll get you pregnant just to kill a rabbit. ~Maureen MurphyIf the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. ~Rita Mae BrownGod gave us all a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to run one at a time. ~Robin WilliamsWhat's the matter with you guys? The sight of blonde hair knocks you three rungs down on the evolutionary ladder. ~From the television show Civil WarsThe only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys. ~UnknownMen are always whining about how we're suffocating them. Personally, I think if you can hear them whining, you're not pressing hard enough on the pillow. ~UnknownWomen like silent men. They think they're listening. ~Marcel ArchardThe average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think. ~UnknownSure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece. ~UnknownIf a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave BarryIt is silly for a woman to go to a male gynecologist. It is like going to an auto mechanic who has never even owned his own car. ~Carrie SnowThe two women exchanged the kind of glance women use when no knife is handy. ~Ellery Queen
Sex
Remember, if you smoke after sex your doing it too fast. ~Woody AllenSex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer. ~Swami XDon't knock masturbation - it's sex with someone I love. ~Woody AllenSex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off. ~UnknownFamiliarity breeds contempt - and children. ~Mark TwainFlies spread disease - keep yours zipped. ~UnknownThere is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats. ~Elton John
Age & Death
You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. ~UnknownAs a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you. ~Fran Lebowitz, Social StudiesLife is a moderately good play with a badly written third act. ~Truman CapoteMiddle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. ~Bob HopeMiddle age is when a narrow waist and a broad mind begin to change places. ~UnknownI finally got my head together, and my body fell apart. ~UnknownYou can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a hundred. ~AllenThe really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it. ~Doris DayDeath is a low chemical trick played on everybody except sequoia trees. ~J.J. FurnasDie, v.: To stop sinning suddenly. ~Elbert HubbardI intend to live forever. So far, so good. ~Stephen WrightI wouldn't mind dying - it's the business of having to stay dead that scares the shit out of me. ~R. GeisDeath is life's way of telling you you're fired. ~UnknownMost people think life sucks, and then you die. Not me. I beg to differ. I think life sucks, then you get cancer, then your dog dies, your wife leaves you, the cancer goes into remission, you get a new dog, you get remarried, you owe ten million dollars in medical bills but you work hard for thirty five years and you pay it back and then one day you have a massive stroke, your whole right side is paralyzed, you have to limp along the streets and speak out of the left side of your mouth and drool but you go into rehabilitation and regain the power to walk and the power to talk and then one day you step off a curb at Sixty-seventh Street, and BANG you get hit by a city bus and then you die. Maybe. ~Denis Leary
Health
Eat right, exercise regularly, die anyway. ~UnknownHealth nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. ~Redd FoxxIf I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. ~Mickey MantleRed meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you! ~Tommy SmothersI drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. ~UnknownHealth is merely the slowest way someone can die. ~Unknown
Not Your Average Definitions
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it. ~Bob HopeA celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. ~Fred AllenA classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read. ~Mark TwainA compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted. ~UnknownA conclusion is the place where you got tired thinking. ~Martin H. FischerA criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. ~Robert W. KentA diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. ~Caskie StinnettA Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother. ~UnknownA gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't. ~UnknownA pedestrian is someone who thought there were a couple of gallons left in the tank. ~UnknownA pun is a short quip followed by a long groan. ~UnknownA synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of. ~Burt BacharachActing is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing. ~Ralph RichardsonBoy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average DictionaryBusiness is the art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence. ~Max AmsterdamHappiness is the agreeable sensation of contemplating the misery of others. ~UnknownHeredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other. ~Laurence J. PeterHome cooking: where many a man thinks his wife is. ~UnknownPuritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. ~H.L. MenckenShin: a device for finding furniture in the dark. ~UnknownSweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. ~Ambrose Bierce
Weather
A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. ~Carl ReinerWinter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert ByrneWeather forecast for tonight: dark. ~George CarlinDon't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
Humorous Advice
Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back. ~UnknownDon't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. ~Howard AikenIf you want to recapture your youth, just cut off his allowance. ~Al BernsteinNever do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. ~UnknownIf all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. ~John Kenneth GalbraithStart every day with a smile and get it over with. ~W.C. FieldsTo get something done a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent. ~Robert CopelandIf at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. ~UnknownA positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm AlbrightIf two wrongs don't make a right, try three. ~UnknownDon't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~Charles SchultzYou have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax - tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough. ~Pearl Williams
Computers
Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer (not advised) are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software. ~UnknownHardware: the parts of a computer that can be kicked. ~Jeff PesisI haven't lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere. ~UnknownBack up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse? ~UnknownRAM disk is not an installation procedure. ~UnknownThe best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec/sec. ~Marcus DolengoTreat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months. ~Clifford StollDon't anthropomorphize computers - they hate it. ~Unknown
Miscellaneous Humor
The number one sign you have nothing to do at work: The 4th Division of Paperclips has overrun the Pushpin Infantry and General White-Out has called for a new skirmish. ~Fred Barling, "Humorscope"A pun is the lowest form of humor, unless you thought of it yourself. ~Doug Larson
Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. ~Doug LarsonAll generalizations are bad. ~R.H. GrenierAll my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. ~Jane Wagner, The Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe, performed by Lily TomlinAn intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger. ~Dan RatherAn unwatched pot boils immediately. ~H.F. EllisBisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night. ~Woody AllenBlack holes result from God dividing the universe by zero. ~UnknownCondoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus. ~Bob RubinConfucious say: "Baseball wrong - man with four balls cannot walk." ~UnknownEagles may soar in the clouds, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines. ~Attributed to both Jason Hutchison and John BenfieldEvery day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. ~Robert OrbenHow come there's only one Monopolies Commission? ~Nigel ReesHow long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on. ~Zall's Second LawI am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top. ~English Professor, Ohio UniversityI am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~Woody AllenI can't believe that out of 10,000 sperm, you were the quickest. ~Steven PearlI don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. ~UnknownI feel like a fugitive from the law of averages. ~William H. MauldinI have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three. ~Elayne BooslerI hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it. ~Jack HandyIf a train station is where the train stops, what's a workstation? ~UnknownIf at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style. ~Quentin CrispIf the human mind was simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it. ~Emerson PughIf The Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me. ~Song title by Jimmy BuffetIf you don't find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalogue. ~Sears, Roebuck, and Co., Consumer's Guide, 1897If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. ~Earl WilsonIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. ~Henry J. TillmanIn spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. ~Kathy NorrisIt is easier to get forgiveness than permission. ~Stewart's Law of RetroactionI've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. ~Groucho MarxMadness takes its toll. Please have exact change. ~UnknownMan was predestined to have free will. ~Hal Lee LuyahMaybe this world is another planet's hell. ~Aldous HuxleyMonday is a lame way to spend 1/7 of your life. ~UnknownMoney talks...but all mine ever says is good-bye. ~UnknownMurphy was an optimist. ~O'Toole's CommentaryMy life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot. ~Ashleigh Brilliant98% of all statistics are made up. ~UnknownOnly Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. ~UnknownPeople are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. ~UnknownPoliticians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason. ~UnknownPuns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. ~Dave Barry, Why Humor Is FunnySometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world. ~Lily TomlinThe only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. ~Nicholas ChamfortThe only problemwith Haiku is that you justget started and then~UnknownThe remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good. ~Robert GravesThe ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. ~Douglas AdamsThe sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up. ~UnknownThe statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you. ~Rita Mae BrownThe surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and HobbesThere are a billion people in China. It's not easy to be an individual in a crowd of more than a billion people. Think of it. More than a BILLION people. That means even if you're a one-in-a-million type of guy, there are still a thousand guys exactly like you. ~A. Whitney Brown, The Big PictureThere is no gravity. The earth sucks. ~GraffitoTime is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once. ~Woody AllenWe pretend to work because they pretend to pay us. ~UnknownYou can't have everything...where would you put it? ~Steven Wright
Meaning & Purpose of Life
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~Robert ByrneA life without cause is a life without effect. ~BarbarellaJack Palance: "Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean shit."Billy Crystal: "Yeah, but what's that one thing?"Jack Palance: "That's what you've got to figure out."~From the movie City SlickersHere is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. ~Richard BachThe miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. ~Chinese proverbWhen I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma BombeckJust living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian AndersonI arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~Elwyn Brooks WhiteHe who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for. ~Moroccan proverbBut now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. ~Umberto Eco, Foucault's PendulumIn three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. ~Robert FrostIn the book of life, the answers aren't in the back. ~Charlie BrownOnly a few things are really important. ~Marie DresslerSometimes questions are more important than answers. ~Nancy Willard, quoted in The Meaning of Life, compiled by Hugh S. MoorheadUsefulness is happiness. ~AnonymousI have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don't have to know an answer.... I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. ~Richard Phillips FeynmanPerhaps we are looking at this from a wrong perspective; this search for the truth, the meaning of life, the reason of God. We all have this mindset that the answers are so complex and so vast that it is almost impossible to comprehend. I think, on the contrary, that the answers are so simple; so simple that it is staring us straight in the face, screaming its lungs out, and yet we fail to notice it. We're looking through a telescope, searching the stars for the answer, when the answer is actually a speck of dirt on the telescope lens. ~Jason Q., from Generation TerroristsRest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~J. Lubbock
Beauty
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~UnknownHad the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked. ~Ralph Ellison, "Battle Royal"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. ~Ninon de L'EnclosTell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,Then beauty is its own excuse for being~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Rhodora"Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see. ~George W. RussellIn every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. ~Christopher MorleyWe ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonEverything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~ConfuciusOne summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be see many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will. ~Rachel CarsonFlowers...are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society, where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but Nature more.~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's PilgrimageA morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. ~Walt WhitmanI think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914
Material Objects & Money
I cannot afford to waste my time making money. ~Jean Louis AgassizFew rich men own their own property. The property owns them. ~Robert G. IngersollWhen I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart. ~John WesleyAfter a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world. ~Pam ShawThe real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money. ~UnknownOnly when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~Cree Indian proverbYou have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. ~Vernon HowardThe only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments. ~Mad MagazineNo matter how hard you hug your money, it never hugs back. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. ~Norman Vincent PealeWe have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. ~William JamesThe essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ~EpictetusWaste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life. ~Michael LeboeufThere are people who have money and people who are rich. ~Coco ChanelDo not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. ~Henry David ThoreauThe poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. ~John BergerPoverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit. ~Eli Khamarov, Lives of the CognoscentiThis planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. ~Douglas AdamsRacial injustice, war, urban blight, and environmental rape have a common denominator in our exploitative economic system. ~Channing E. Phillips, speech, Washington, D.C., 22 April 1970Seldom do people discernEloquence under a threadbare cloak.~JuvenalA rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. ~W.C. FieldsMammon, n.: The god of the world's leading religion. ~Ambrose BierceThe best things in life aren't things. ~Art BuchwaldWallets are the fabricated items into which we put our fabricated money, which most people believe to be their possession of the realest value. ~T. SachsAffluence creates poverty. ~Marshall McLuhan
Age & Youth at Heart
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. ~Doug LarsonA man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. ~John BarrymoreAge is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. ~Mark TwainNobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel UllmanHow old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? ~Satchel PaigeGrowing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili DavisOld age is fifteen years older than I am. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesAge does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim FiebigMen do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesThe years teach much which the days never knew. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonInflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. ~Sam EwingAge is opportunity no less,Than youth itself, though in another dress,And as the evening twilight fades away,The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri SalutamusWrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. ~Mark Twain, Following the EquatorTo be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesYouth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children. ~George Bernard ShawThe great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. ~Doris LessingDo not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~UnknownSome people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces to their hearts. ~Martin BuxhaumFather Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. ~Charles DickensThere's no pleasure on earth that's worth sacrificing for the sake of an extra five years in the geriatric ward of the Sunset Old People's Home. ~Horace RumpoleThe first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left. ~Jerry M. WrightI don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. ~T.S. EliotWhen childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell. That is why we dread children, even if we love them, they show us the state of our decay. ~Brian AldissWhen I can look Life in the eyes,Grown calm and very coldly wise,Life will have given me the Truth,And taken in exchange - my youth.~Sara TeasdaleWhen I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it. ~Mark TwainCourage, Fear, & Cowardice
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose RedmoonEvery man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. ~Winston ChurchillCourage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. ~Mark TwainCourage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher-HersheyCourage is being afraid but going on anyhow. ~Dan RatherCourage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared. ~Eddie RickenbackerA coward is a hero with a wife, kids, and a mortgage. ~Marvin KitmanCoward: A man in whom the instinct of self-preservation acts normally. ~Sultana ZorayaBravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid. ~Franklin P. JonesCourage can't see around corners but goes around them anyway. ~M. McLaughlinIf God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs? ~Marvin KitmanCoward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs. ~Ambrose BierceSometimes the biggest act of courage is a small one. ~Lauren RaffoCowardice...is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination. ~Ernest HemingwaySometimes even to live is an act of courage. ~Lucius Annaeus SenecaSome have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. ~English proverb
Reality, Imagination, & Creativity
Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible. I think it's in my basement...let me go upstairs and check. ~M.C. EscherImagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. ~Jules de GaultierEverything you can imagine is real. ~Pablo PicassoReality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. ~Philip K. DickReality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~Albert EinsteinA fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant. ~UnknownNever tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. ~George S. PattonAre you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling? ~M.C. EscherNo man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. ~Samuel JohnsonHow many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. ~Abraham LincolnA rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. ~Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThere is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes, and values. ~David G. Myers, Social PsychologyObjectivity has about as much substance as the emperor's new clothes. ~Connie MillerI like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. ~Dr. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. SeussNothing encourages creativity like the chance to fall flat on one's face. ~James D. FinleyIllusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces. ~Sigmund FreudSome stories are true that never happened. ~Elie WeiselIt's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in WonderlandMy alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around! ~Dr. SeussImagination is intelligence having fun. ~UnknownHow do we know that the sky is not green and we are all colour-blind? ~UnknownThe Possible's slow fuse is litBy the Imagination.~Emily DickinsonThere are no facts, only interpretations. ~Friedrich NietzscheIt's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. ~Henry David ThoreauThey are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. ~Francis BaconI saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. ~MichelangeloA mind all logic is like a knife all blade. ~Rabindranath TagoreThink left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. ~Maya AngelouReality is nothing but a collective hunch. ~Lily TomlinYou can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~Mark TwainBut my dear man, reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know. ~Alan WattsDon't expect anything original from an echo. ~UnknownI paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. ~Pablo PicassoReality leaves a lot to the imagination. ~John LennonWhen you are describing,A shape, or sound, or tint;Don't state the matter plainly,But put it in a hint;And learn to look at all things,With a sort of mental squint.~Lewis CarrollI believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see. ~Duane MichalsYou can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ~Jack LondonCreativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. ~Norman PodhoretzI have a very firm grasp on reality! I can reach out and strangle it any time! ~UnknownThey who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. ~Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. ~Ansel AdamsTo think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. ~George KnellerThings are only impossible until they're not. ~Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next GenerationWhen patterns are broken, new worlds can emerge. ~Tuli Kupferberg
Perspective
A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to your eye. ~Samuel GraftonIs the glass half empty, half full, or twice as large as it needs to be? ~UnknownIf the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ~Abraham MaslowDon't think of organ donations as giving up part of yourself to keep a total stranger alive. It's really a total stranger giving up almost all of themselves to keep part of you alive. ~UnknownWe don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. ~Anaïs NinWhen you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity. ~Albert EinsteinThe whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. ChestertonEvery person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world. ~Arthur SchopenhauerEfficiency is intelligent laziness. ~David DunhamIf you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. ~Carl SaganWhen you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil GibranIf I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush. ~Dawn FrenchMy play was a complete success. The audience was a failure. ~Ashleigh BrilliantBut if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. ~George OrwellStolen kisses require an accomplice. ~Just One Fool Thing After Another: A Cowfolks' Guide to RomanceThe bluebird carries the sky on his back. ~Henry David ThoreauI am not an Athenian or a Greek, I am a citizen of the world. ~SocratesFor the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously. ~George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, 1903We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction. ~Douglas MacArthurThe devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. ~William ShakespeareA tree never hits an automobile except in self defense. ~American proverbPerfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-ExupéryIf you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. ~Ursula Le GuinThe real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel ProustWhat we see depends mainly on what we look for. ~John LubbockThere is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. ~William ShakespeareCredulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength. ~Charles LambThe reverse side also has a reverse side. ~Japanese proverbInnocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue. ~Anatole FranceThe knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ~Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the GalaxyWe have them just where they want us. ~James T. KirkSome men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not. ~George Bernard ShawChaperons don't enforce morality; they force immorality to be discreet. ~Judith MartinThere are always three sides to every story: your side, the other side, and the truth. ~UnknownIt isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the grain of sand in your shoe. ~UnknownEdible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ~Ambrose BierceIn the strict scientific sense we all feed on death - even vegetarians. ~Spock from Star Trek, "Wolf in the Fold"One man's frankness is another man's vulgarity. ~Kevin SmithI don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes. ~Robert A. HeinleinTravelers never think that they are the foreigners. ~Mason CooleyThe optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. ~James Branch Cabell, The Silver StallionA liberal is a conservative who's been arrested. A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged. ~Wendy KaminerWhere there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~Dorthea LangeA hen is only an egg's way of making another egg. ~Samuel ButlerThere's only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~J.C. BridgeWhen a guy goes to a hooker, he's not paying her for sex, he's paying her to leave. ~UnknownEvery exit is an entrance somewhere else. ~Tom StoppardA silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. ~C.S. Lewis
Education, Knowledge, & Curiosity
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~B.F. SkinnerEducation is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. ~Will DurantIt is important that students bring a certain rafamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it. ~Jacob ChanowskiThe object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~Robert Maynard HutchinsHe who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor HugoWhy should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age? ~Erich FrommA teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~Thomas CarruthersIf you think education is expensive, try ignorance! ~Andy McIntyreMan's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesEducation would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. ~Sir William HaleyIn your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookReal knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. ~ConfuciusThe most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. ~AntisthenesMillions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why. ~Bernard BaruchSome people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon. ~Alexander PopeI like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. ~Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. ~Malcolm S. ForbesIf you have a college degree you can be absolutely sure of one thing...you have a college degree. ~UnknownSit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing. ~Thomas HuxleyI have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark TwainIf you feel you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you. ~Robert F. GoheenPersonally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. ~Winston ChurchillThe larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder. ~Ralph W. SockmanAn educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong. ~R. BakerThe important thing is not to stop questioning. ~Albert EinsteinWhat does education often do? It makes a straight cut ditch of a free meandering brook. ~Henry David ThoreauEducation is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~Oscar WildeIt is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~AristotleI have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me. ~Dudley Field MaloneThere is nothing as stupid as an educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in. ~Will RogersTo teach is to learn twice. ~Joseph JoubertThe illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ~Alvin TofflerWe learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. ~Lloyd AlexanderThe purpose of a liberal education is to make you philosophical enough to accept the fact that you will never make much money. ~UnknownEducation, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ~Ambrose BierceThere is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. Anything that needs an adjective, be it civics education, or socialist education, or Christian education, or whatever-you-like education, is not education, and it has some different goal. The very existence of modified "educations" is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a mind that is free. An "education" that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must "teach" by homily and precept in the service of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is pure and unmistakable tyranny. ~Richard Mitchell, The Underground Grammarian, September 1982Education is the transmission of civilization. ~Ariel and Will DurantYou don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way. ~Marvin MinskyWisdom begins at the end. ~Daniel WebsterI keep six honest serving-men,They taught me all I knew;Their names are What and Why and WhenAnd How and Where and Who.~Rudyard KiplingThe one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions. ~Bishop Mandell CreightonIf you sincerely desire a truly well-rounded education, you must study the extremists, the obscure and "nutty." You need the balance! Your poor brain is already being impregnated with middle-of-the-road crap, twenty-four hours a day, no matter what. Network TV, newspapers, radio, magazines at the supermarket...even if you never watch, read, listen, or leave your house, even if you are deaf and blind, the telepathic pressure alone of the uncountable normals surrounding you will insure that you are automatically well-grounded in consensus reality. ~Rev. Ivan Stang, High Weirdness By MailThe cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. ~Ellen ParrI find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way. ~Franklin P. AdamsI think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Night, Sleep, & Dreams
Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep. ~Catherine O'HaraMost people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up. ~Ellen GoodmanIt's at night, when perhaps we should be dreaming, that the mind is most clear, that we are most able to hold all our life in the palm of our skull. I don't know if anyone has ever pointed out that great attraction of insomnia before, but it is so; the night seems to release a little more of our vast backward inheritance of instincts and feelings; as with the dawn, a little honey is allowed to ooze between the lips of the sandwich, a little of the stuff of dreams to drip into the waking mind. I wish I believed, as J. B. Priestley did, that consciousness continues after disembodiment or death, not forever, but for a long while. Three score years and ten is such a stingy ration of time, when there is so much time around. Perhaps that's why some of us are insomniacs; night is so precious that it would be pusillanimous to sleep all through it! A "bad night" is not always a bad thing. ~Brian W. AldissI often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~Vincent Van GoghThe night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand. ~Frederick L. KnowlesDawn: When men of reason go to bed. ~Ambrose BierceLife is something that happens when you can't get to sleep. ~Fran LebowitzSleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowAnd if tonight my soul may find her peacein sleep, and sink in good oblivion,and in the morning wake like a new-opened flowerthen I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.~D.H. LawrenceIt's a cruel season that makes you get ready for bed while it's light out. ~CalvinThere are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. ~George CarlinTwilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star. ~Lucy Maud MontgomeryDreams are answers to questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask. ~X-FilesDreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. ~H.F. HedgeAll the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams. ~Elias CanettiDreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day. ~UnknownA dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read. ~The TalmudDreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha NormanDreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. ~William DementI am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. ~Rene Descartes, "Meditations on First Philosophy"Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher's the poet's equal there. ~E.M. CioranDreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language. ~Gail Godwin, Dream ChildrenThat which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it.... We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself. ~Paracelsus, quoted in The Dream GameHuge and mighty forms that do not live like living men, moved slowly through the mind by day and were trouble to my dreams. ~Wordsworth, Resolution and IndependenceI have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams.... Man...is above all the plaything of his memory. ~Andre Breton, "Manifesto of Surrealism," 1924
Animals & Pets
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben WilliamsThe greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel ButlerHorse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. ~W.C. FieldsIf you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. ~Phil PastoretEver consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! ~Anne Tyler, The Accidental TouristIt is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons. ~Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the GalaxyDogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. ~Max EastmanA dog is not almost human, and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such. ~John HolmesI have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. ~Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1907To insult someone we call him "bestial." For deliberate cruelty and nature, "human" might be the greater insult. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth
Death
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in IrelandBecause I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me.The Carriage held but just ourselvesAnd Immortality~Emily DickinsonA man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man. ~Percival Arland UssherThe idea is to die young as late as possible. ~Ashley Montagu'Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it. ~Lord ByronBoy, when you are dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you are dead? Nobody. ~J.D. SalingerWhile I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. ~Leonardo da VinciLife is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it. ~Alice WalkerI shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived. ~Willa CatherA man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own. ~Thomas MannIf man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted should betray his trust, and, in short, of coming eventually to hopeless misery. He would break down, at last, as every good fortune, as every dynasty, as every civilization does. In place of this we have death. ~Charles Sanders PeirceThe day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. ~SenecaDeath is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time. ~Rush LimbaughMillions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. ~Susan ErtzWe say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance. ~Marcel ProustTime rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation. ~Tennessee Williams, "The Rose Tattoo"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity. ~Edvard MunchThey tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice...that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person. ~Arthur SchopenhauerTo die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses: so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Expeditions of an Untimely ManFor what is it to die,But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?~Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet"Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit." ~Bill Maher, on Politically Incorrect, 1995Embalm, v.: To cheat vegetation by locking up the gases upon which it feeds. By embalming their dead and thereby deranging the natural balance between animal and vegetable life, the Egyptians made their once fertile and populous country barren and incapable of supporting more than a meagre crew. The modern metallic burial casket is a step in the same direction, and many a dead man who ought now to be ornamenting his neighbor's lawn as a tree, or enriching his table as a bunch of radishes, is doomed to a long inutility. We shall get him after awhile if we are spared, but in the meantime the violet and the rose are languishing for a nibble at his glutaeus maximus. ~Ambrose BierceMemory
Every man's memory is his private literature. ~Aldous HuxleyA memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen. ~Edward de BonoMemory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder YearsGod gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. BarrieOne need not be a chamber to be haunted;One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place.~Emily Dickinson, "Time and Eternity"There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory. ~Josh BillingsThe leaves of memory seemed to makeA mournful rustling in the dark.~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowMemory...is the diary that we all carry about with us. ~Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Advice
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~Erica JongSome people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. ~Gordon R. DicksonThe best advice is this: Don't take advice and don't give advice. ~UnknownNo one wants advice - only corroboration. ~John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our DiscontentWhen we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. ~Marquis de la Grange
Prejudice & Hate
We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudices. It is noble to rise above them. ~UnknownWhat 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. ~VoltaireJudge me all you want, just keep the verdict to yourself. ~From a Winston advertisementRacism isn't born, folks, it's taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list. ~Dennis LearyMorality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. ~Oscar WildeJudgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances. ~Dr. Wayne W. DyerOur thoughts are unseen hands shaping the people we meet. Whatever we truly think them to be, that's what they'll become for us. ~Richard CowperOne day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings. ~Franklin ThomasPrejudice is all in your head. ~As seen on a buttonIf only closed minds came with closed mouths. ~As seen on a buttonSmall is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds. ~Albert EinsteinI got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger. ~Muhammad Ali, 1967, refusing to fight in VietnamI think you should defend to the death their right to march, and then go down and meet them with baseball bats. ~Woody Allen, on the Ku Klux KlanJim Bakker spells his name with 2 k's because 3 would be too obvious. ~Bill MaherI swear to the LordI still can't seeWhy Democracy meansEverybody but me.~Langston Hughes, The Black Man SpeaksHating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat. ~Henry Emerson FosdickI will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. ~Booker T. WashingtonA Rattlesnake, if Cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is - a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. ~E. Stanley JonesAll men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first. ~James ThurberHatred is one long wait. ~René MaranWe hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them. ~Charles Caleb ColtonThere is a story of an Oxford student who once remarked, "I despise all Americans, but have never met one I didn't like." ~Gordon AllportIt is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterWomen & Feminism
Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes." ~Clare Boothe LuceI myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. ~Rebecca West, 1913Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. ~Cheris Kramarae and Paula TreichlerWomen belong in the house...and the Senate. ~UnknownWomen who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. ~Timothy LearyThe foolish and cruel notion that a wife is to obey her husband has sent more women to the grave than to the courts for a divorce. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes. ~Bella AbzugThere are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone. ~Gloria SteinemWomen have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge. ~UnknownWomen are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors. ~Evelyn CunninghamI've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing. ~Gloria SteinemFeminism directly confronts the idea that one person or set of people [has] the right to impose definitions of reality on others. ~Liz Stanley and Sue WiseNo woman is required to build the world by destroying herself. ~Rabbi SoferThe emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl." ~Shirley ChisholmI became a feminist as an alternative to becoming a masochist. ~Sally KemptonSensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours. ~Grover Cleveland, 1905I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem. ~Reverend Jerry Falwell[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat RobertsonRemember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. ~Faith WhittlesyMost women are one man away from welfare. ~Gloria SteinemHistory is herstory too. ~UnknownNo one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry KissingerMan endures pain as an undeserved punishment; woman accepts it as a natural heritage. ~UnknownThe thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ~Roseanne BarrI see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament. ~Alanis Morissette, quoted in Reader's Digest, March 2000I'm tough, I'm ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. ~Madonna CicconeI was told that whistling wasn't ladylike, but I knew even then that women were simply not supposed to be that happy. ~Unknown, quoted in Kindling the Spirit by Lois P. FrankelBeing a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. ~Joseph ConradI think, therefore I'm single. ~Lizz WinsteadBecause women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and...for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement. ~"Women's Rights Manifesto," from a T-shirt sold by NOW (National Organization for Women)Homosexuality & Gay Rights
When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one. ~From the tombstone of a gay Vietnam veteranYou don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight. ~Barry GoldwaterThe Bible contains six 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 LavnerMy dear, I don't care what they do, so long as they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses. ~Mrs. Patrick CampbellHomosexuality is god's way of insuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children. ~Sam AustinIf gay and lesbian people are given civil rights, then everyone will want them! ~As seen on a buttonMy lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share. ~Rita Mae BrownThe only queer people are the ones who don't love anybody. ~Rita Mae BrownWhy is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest GainesIsn't it a violation of the Georgia sodomy law for the Supreme Court to have its head up its ass? ~Letter to Playboy magazine, February 1987You could move. ~Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the neighborhoodAs a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children. ~Anita Bryant, 1977I get sick of listening to straight people complain about, "Well, hey, we don't have a heterosexual-pride day, why do you need a gay-pride day?" I remember when I was a kid I'd always ask my mom: "Why don't we have a Kid's Day? We have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but why don't we have a Kid's Day?" My mom would always say, "Every day is Kid's Day." To all those heterosexuals that bitch about gay pride, I say the same thing: Every day is heterosexual-pride day! Can't you people enjoy your banquet and not piss on those of us enjoying our crumbs over here in the corner? ~Rob Nash, comedian An engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation. His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton/polyester-blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce decree was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp. Quiz: How many biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives are supposed to be 'submissive' to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that 'pertains to a man' (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7, 10) as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22). So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or - at best - unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple could easily be among the millions of Americans who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. ~Deb Price, And Say Hi To JoyceWar. Rape. Murder. Poverty. Equal rights for gays. Guess which one the Southern Baptist Convention is protesting? ~The Value of Families
Human Rights & Violations Thereof
The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting. ~Justice William J. Brennan, 1982Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political. ~Ignazio Silone, The God That FailedYou are a human being. You have rights inherent in that reality. You have dignity and worth that exists prior to law. ~Lyn Beth NeylonWhenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. ~Abraham LincolnI would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. ~Barry GoldwaterThe fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society, must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints. ~Samuel HendelHe that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas PaineHere is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered statement. ~Gerard K. O'Neill, 2081We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. ~Potter StewartWe have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. ~Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it. ~Mae WestThink for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~VoltaireThe peculiar evil of silencing the statement of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~Alfred Whitney GriswoldFreedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~A.J. Liebling, 1960To reject the word is to reject the human search. ~Max Lerner, 1953, on book purgingWhat progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. ~Sigmund Freud, 1933Every burned book enlightens the world. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThe paper burns, but the words fly away. ~Ben Joseph Akiba
Human Equality & Difference
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards. ~Bertrand RussellDon't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today. ~Malcolm XEveryone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven. ~Yiddish proverbAll the people like us are we,And everyone else is They.~Rudyard KiplingPeople are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities. ~Linda EllerbeeOnce the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~Italian proverbIn the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave. ~John James IngallsAs experience widens, one begins to see how much upon a level all human things are. ~Joseph FarrellThere is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future. ~Shri Haidakhan BabajiWho sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. ~Isa UpanishadThere is so much good in the worst of us,And so much bad in the best of us,That it hardly becomes any of usTo talk about the rest of us.~Edward Wallis Hoch
Abortion: Both Perspectives
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. ~Ronald ReaganIf the anti-abortion movement took a tenth of the energy they put into noisy theatrics and devoted it to improving the lives of children who have been born into lives of poverty, violence, and neglect, they could make a world shine. ~Michael Jay TuckerOnly half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive. ~UnknownSociety does not need more children; but it does need more loved children. Quite literally, we cannot afford unloved children - but we pay heavily for them every day. There should not be the slightest communal concern when a woman elects to destroy the life of her thousandth-of-an-ounce embryo. But all society should rise up in alarm when it hears that a baby that is not wanted is about to be born. ~Garrett HardinAgainst abortion? Don't have one. ~As seen on a button
History
History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there. ~George SantayanaThe past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down. ~A. Whitney Brown, The Big PictureUntil lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African proverbWhat is history but a fable agreed upon? ~Napolean BonaparteThe memories of men are too frail a thread to hang history from. ~John StillHistory is more or less bunk. ~Henry FordThe past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened. ~Peter BergerLegend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age. ~H.L. MenckenHistory is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions. ~Ted KoppelThe notion that any one person can describe 'what really happened' is an absurdity. If ten - or a hundred - people witness an event, there will be ten - or a hundred - different versions of what took place. What we see and how we interpret it depends entirely upon our individual past experience. ~David and Leigh Eddings
Profound & Philosophical
A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure. ~Segal's Law
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. ~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. ~Aesop
There's more to the truth than just the facts. ~Unknown
Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day. ~Polish proverb
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. ~Ludwig Bne
How can anyone be truly enlightened, when the truth is so poorly lit? ~Unknown
Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. ~Zen Buddist proverb
I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying. ~Charles C. Finn
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. ~Zen saying
You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. ~Navajo proverb
Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. ~Russian proverb
Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. ~James Thurber
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. ~Heraclitus
Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind. ~Leo Rosten
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. ~Santayana, Essays
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~Niels Bohr
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. ~Aristotle
The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different. ~Aldous Huxley
The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth - that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one. ~H.L. Mencken
The future influences the present just as much as the past. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. ~John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911
When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that in itself is a choice. ~William James
You can't fall off the floor. ~Unknown
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top. ~Unknown
In general people experience their present naively, as it were, without being able to form an estimate of its contents; they have first to put themselves at a distance from it - the present, that is to say, must have become the past - before it can yield points of vantage from which to judge the future. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
Miscellaneous
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. ~Bertrand Russell, Autobiography
Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.
~John Webster
I simply believe that some part of the human soul is not subject to the laws of space and time. ~Carl Jung
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. What is so difficult to achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness. ~Fred Hoyle, Of Man and Galaxies
Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign. ~Anatole France, Le jardin d'Epicure
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again? ~Winnie the Pooh
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~Robert Fulghum
The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations. ~Eli Khamarov, Surviving on Planet Reebok
Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~Mark Twain
The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! ~Unknown
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes
There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. ~Henry Ford
Never strike your wife - even with a flower. ~Hindu proverb
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, call it the target. ~Patrick Toche
As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. ~Buddy Hackett
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~J.R.R. Tolkien
My heart that was rapt away by the wild cherry blossoms - will it return to my body when they scatter? ~Kotomichi
With every civil right there has to be a corresponding civil obligation. ~Edison Haines
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have. ~Don Herold
A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not. ~Unknown
The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize until you have tried to make it precise. ~Bertrand Russell, The Philosophy of Logical Atomism
Who lies for you will lie against you. ~Bosnian proverb
The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. ~William J. Clinton, 1997
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. ~Albert Einstein
A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone. ~Jo Godwin
Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ~Christopher Morley
Humor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. ~Ron Dentinger
You couldn't get hold of the things you'd done and turn them right again. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to women and men, and that was probably a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens. ~Stephen King, The Stand
Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding. ~Ambrose Bierce
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ~Eden Phillips
You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave. ~Quentin Crisp
There are mystically in our faces certain characters which carry in them the motto of our souls, wherein he that cannot read A, B, C may read our natures. ~Sir Thomas Browne
What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. ~William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways
Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. ~Eric Hoffer
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine and your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own: if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself: if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children. It doesn't interest me who you are, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. ~Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation
I shall not let a sorrow die
Until I find the heart of it,
Nor let a wordless joy go by
Until it talks to me a bit.
~Sara Teasdale
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are still in the early morning of our April day. ~Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on. ~Joseph Heller, Catch-22
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest. ~J.G. Holland
If you just set people in motion they'll heal themselves. ~Gabrielle Roth
General Skepticism (cont'd)
I want it so that every minister will be not a parrot, not an owl sitting upon a dead limb of the tree of knowledge and hooting the hoots that have been hooted for eighteen hundred years. But I want it so that each one can be an investigator, a thinker; and I want to make his congregation grand enough so that they will not only allow him to think, but will demand that he shall think, and give to them the honest truth of his thought. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of MosesMystical explanations are considered deep. The truth is that they are not even superficial. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay ScienceGod created sex. Priests created marriage. ~VoltaireIf primitive religion could be explained away as an intellectual aberration, as a mirage induced by emotional stress, or by its social function, it was implied that the higher religions could be discredited and disposed of in the same way. ~E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories Of Primitive Religion, 1965All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. ~StendhalA sober, devout man will interpret 'God's will' soberly and devoutly. A fanatic, with bloodshot mind, will interpret 'God's will' fanatically. Men of extreme, illogical views will interpret 'God's will' in eccentric fashion. Kindly, charitable, generous men will interpret 'God's will' according to their character. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismAnything beyond the limits and grasp of the human mind is either illusion or futility; and because your god having to be one or the other of the two, in the first instance I should be mad to believe in him, and in the second a fool. ~Marquis de Sade, 1740-1814As set forth by theologians, the idea of "God" is an argument that assumes its own conclusions, and proves nothing. ~Johann Most, c. 1890'Believing' cannot tip the scales in making a historical judgment about whether something really happened. I can choose to believe that George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Rappahannock, but my believing that he did it has nothing to do with whether or not he really did it. So also with the story of Jesus walking on the water: believing that he did it has nothing to do with whether he really did do it. 'Belief' cannot be the basis for historical conclusion; it has no direct relevance. ~Marcus J. Borg, "Faith and Scholarship," Bible Review, August 1993Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. ~VoltaireGod is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. ~VoltaireHe who begins by loving Christianity better than truth will proceed by loving his own sect better than Christianity and end in loving himself better than all. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridgeheresyhe sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to seehe tries to tell me what i put inside of mehe's got the answers to ease my curiosityhe dreamed a god up and called it christianityyour god is dead and no one caresif there is a hell i will see you therehe flexed his muscles to keep his flock of sheep in linehe made a virus that would kill off the swinehis perfect kingdom of killing, suffering and paindemands devotion atrocities done in his nameyour god is dead and no one caresdrowning in his own hypocrisyand if there is a hell i will see you thereburning with your god in humilitywill you die for this?~Trent Reznor, "The Downward Spiral," performed by the Nine Inch NailsHistory has the relation to truth that theology has to religion - i.e. none to speak of. ~Lazarus LongIf devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking...the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. ~Ayn Rand, Atlas ShruggedNo man ever yet tore down his altar and found a God behind it. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysOne should not go into church if one wants to breathe pure air. ~Friedrich NietzscheOperationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat. ~Julian HuxleyPreachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in the book. No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books. ~Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), 1904-1991Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of. ~Mark TwainReligion has caused more harm than any other idea since the beginning of time. There's nothing good I can say about it. People use it as a crutch. ~Larry FlyntReligious Displays, as distinct from religious beliefs, are submissive acts performed towards dominant individuals called gods. The acts themselves include various forms of body-lowering, such as kneeling, bowing, kowtowing, salaaming and prostrating; also chanting and rituals of debasement and sacrifice; the offering of gifts to the gods and the making of symbolic gestures of allegiance. The function of these actions is to appease the super-dominant beings and thereby obtains favours or avoid punishments. There is nothing unusual about this behaviour in itself. Subordinates throughout the animal world subject themselves to their most powerful companions in a similar way. But the strange feature of these human submissive actions, as we encounter them today, is that they are performed towards a dominant figure, or figures, who are never present in person. Instead they are represented by images and artifacts and operate entirely through agents called holy-men or priests. These middle-men enjoy a position of social influence and respect because some of the power of the gods rubs off on them. It is therefore extremely important to the holy-men to keep the worshippers permanently obedient to the super-dominant figures, and they do this in several ways. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977Saints fly only in the eyes of their disciples. ~Hindu proverbSo behold here the triumph God's wisdom has won.Behold here the damage that can't be undone.Stagnation is good, and we're good to the core,while faith rots us like salt rots the landIf your god helps the helpless, may he help you all well.I'm bound for the outside to find my own hell.If defiance means death, I would die before standlike a sheep to be thrown to God's hand.~Julia Ecklar, "The Hand of God," Divine InterventionSuppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other God that they should kill him; and suppose that afterward this same God took upon himself flesh, and came to this very chosen people and taught a different religion, and that thereupon the Jews crucified him; I ask you, did he not reap exactly what he had sown? What right would this god have to complain of a crucifixion suffered in accordance with his own command? ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 2Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 1The advent of the Christian God, as the maximum god attained so far, was...accompanied by the maximum feeling of guilty indebtedness on Earth. Presuming we gradually enter upon the reverse course, there is no small probability that with the irresistible decline of faith in the Christian god, there is now a considerable decline in mankind's feeling of guilt; indeed, the prospect cannot be dismissed that the complete and definitive victory of Atheism might free mankind of this whole feeling of guilty indebtedness towards its origin.... Atheism and a kind of second innocence belong together. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of MoralsThe Cross is a gibbet - rather an odd thing to make use of as a talisman against bad luck, if that is how we regard it. Or is it, instead, a cynical reminder that Virtue usually gets pilloried whenever it makes one of its occasional appearances in this world? ~Denis Johnston, The Brazen HornThe good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive - a definition that invalidates man's consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence.... Man's mind, say the mystics of spirit, must be subordinated to the will of God.... Man's standard of value, say the mystics of spirit, is the pleasure of God, whose standards are beyond man's power of comprehension and must be accepted on faith.... The purpose of man's life...is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question. ~Ayn Rand, For the New IntellectualThe pursuit of happiness belongs to us, but we must climb around or over the church to get it. ~Heywood Broun, 1888-1939The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found, men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious. ~John Stuart MillThe true man walks the earth as the stars walk the heavens, grandly obedient to those laws which are implanted in his nature. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Theology: the study of elaborate verbal disguises for non-ideas. ~UnknownWe are told in the Pentateuch, that god, the father of us all, gave thousands of maidens, after having killed their fathers, their mothers, and their brothers, to satisfy the brutal lusts of savage men. If there be a god, I pray him to write in his book, opposite my name, that I denied this lie for him. ~Robert G. IngersollWhat I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. ~Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989Whatever sympathy I feel towards religions, whatever admiration for some of their adherents, whatever historical or biological necessity I see in them, whatever metaphorical truth, I cannot accept them as credible explanations of reality; and they are incredible to me in proportion to the degree that they require my belief in positive human attributes and intervenient powers in their divinities. ~John Fowles, The AristosWhen no one had answers they created God. Now we have most of them, and one day we will have all of them, rendering God useless. ~UnknownYou are digging for the answers,Until your fingers bleed,To satisfy the hunger,To satiate the need.They feed you on the guilt,To keep you humble and low,Some man and myth they made up,A thousand years ago.~Melissa Etheridge, "Silent Legacy,"A believer is a bird in a cage, a free-thinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wing. ~Robert G. IngersollA mystic is a person who is puzzled before the obvious but who understands the nonexistent. ~Elbert HubbardAmerica was founded by the refuse of the religious fanatics of England, these undesirable elements that came over on the Mayflower. Ignorant, religious fanatics who land here and abuse the Indians. ~Frank ZappaAs long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities. ~VoltaireAssuming that he believes at all, the everyday Christian is a pitiful figure, a man who really cannot count up to three, and who besides, precisely because of his mental incompetence, would not deserve such a punishment as Christianity promises him. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All too HumanBut I cannot give liberty of conscience to the pope and his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their councils, theologians, and canon laws that their conscience orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find their opportunity. ~Abraham LincolnBy the cold and religious we were taken in hand - shown how to feel good; and told to feel bad. ~Roger Waters, from The Final Cut (Pink Floyd)If you love God, burn the church. ~Jello BiafraJesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me. ~John Lennon, London Evening Standard, 4 March 1966Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a conqueror. Kill all and you are God. ~Jean Rostand, 1894-1977, French biologist and writerPower tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That unalterable rule applies both to God and man. ~John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 5 April 1887The truth cannot be asserted without denouncing the falsehood. ~Leslie StephenWhat the Gospels actually said was: don't kill anyone until you are absolutely sure they aren't well connected. ~Kurt Vonnegurt, Slaughterhouse 5You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;I will choose a path that's clear - I will choose Free Will.~Rush, "Free Will"
General Skepticism
A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. ~Albert EinsteinI didn't know I had a quarrel with him. ~Henry Thoreau in answer to the question, "Have you made your peace with God?""There are no atheists in foxholes" isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes. ~James MorrowThis is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. ~Dalai LamaI am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of. ~Clarence DarrowWithout cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance. ~John F. Schumaker, Corruption of Reality, Unified Theory of Religion, Hypnosis and PsychotherapyWe have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~Jonathan SwiftThe world is in need of less religion and more common sense. ~Llewelyn Powys, Celsus and OrigenHow can the Church be received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so many errors in the visible? ~John W. Draper, 1811-1882, U.S. chemistFaith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. ~Eric HofferGod is dead: but considering the state Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown. ~Friedrich NeitzscheIt is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui. ~Helen KellerWe are punished by our sins, not for them. ~Elbert HubbardI judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it. ~Joe MullallyWe must condemn Christianity, not Christians; strike the church, but spare the heart. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysPeople who rely most on God rely least on themselves. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysDevout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionYou never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough. ~Aldous HuxleyMarriage ceremony: an incredible metaphysical sham of watching God and the law being dragged into the affairs of your family. ~O.C. OgilvieThe Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon and I have more faith in the Shadow than in the Church. ~Ferdinand MagellanIt is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. ~Mark TwainPray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. ~Ambrose BierceThe churches must learn humility as well as teach it. ~George Bernard ShawI think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell's ass. ~Senator Barry GoldwaterReligion has not civilized man, man has civilized religion. ~Robert Green IngersollReligion is the fashionable substitute for belief. ~Oscar WildeAny organization could profit from a 10-year-old member with enough strength of character to refuse to swear falsely. ~New York Times editorial, 12 December 1993, on the Boy Scouts refusing membership to Mark Welsh, who would not sign a religious oathThere is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. ~George Bernard ShawCivilization has come about by going to school more than to church. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIf we must play the theological game, let us never forget that it is a game. Religion, it seems to me, can survive only as a consciously accepted system of make believe. ~Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have a StopMan is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion - several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. ~Mark Twain, The Lowest AnimalA man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle. ~ViqueThe world is not a prison house but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks. ~Edwin Arlington RobinsonIf there is a God, atheism must strike Him as less of an insult than religion. ~Edmond and Jules de GoncourtThe main doctrine of a fanatic's creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God. ~Andrew WhiteOrganized religion is like organized crime; it preys on people's weakness, generates huge profits for its operators, and is almost impossible to eradicate. ~Mike HermannThe question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles? ~John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1815A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live. ~VoltaireFor those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. ~Charles BukowskiFaith in God necessarily implies a lack of faith in humanity. ~Barbara G. Walker, Women Without SuperstitionFreethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. ~Leo Tolstoy, On Life and Essays on ReligionGod has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning. ~Imamu Amiri BarakaMen rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. ~Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus LongReligion supports nobody. It has to be supported. It produces no wheat, no corn; it ploughs no land; it fells no forests. It is a perpetual mendicant. It lives on the labors of others, and then has the arrogance to pretend that it supports the giver. ~Robert G. IngersollReligion often gets credit for curing rascals when old age is the real medicine. ~Austin O'MalleyIf anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm. ~Marcus AureliusTheology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. ~Robert A. Heinlein, "JOB: A Comedy of Justice"There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart. ~Blaise PascalThe man who gets on his knees has not learned the right use of his legs. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysAll religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry. ~Edgar Allen PoeSome things have to be believed to be seen. ~Ralph HodgsonBe not misled by reports or tradition or common opinion. Be not misled by proficiency in the scriptures, nor by speculation and conclusions, nor by attractive theories and favorite ideas, nor by impressions of personal merits (of the teacher) and not by the authority of some master. But rather, Kalamas, when you discern yourselves: these things are unprofitable, these things are blameworthy, these things are censured by the wise; these things, when performed and undertaken are conducive to misfortune and sorrow, indeed do you then reject them.... And when you discern yourselves: these things are profitable, these things are not blameworthy, these things are praised by the wise; these things, when performed and undertaken are conducive to good fortune and happiness, indeed do you then accept them. ~G. Buddha, Anguttara NikayaIt is an old habit with theologians to beat the living with the bones of the dead. ~Robert G. IngersollThe third major characteristic of God - "infinitude" - is the catchall, the universal modifier of Christian theology. God is not merely a being; he is infinite being. God is not merely good; he is infinite goodness. God is not merely wise; he is infinite wisdom. And so on down the list. God is exaggeration run amuck. ~George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against GodThe beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance...logic can be happily tossed out the window. ~Stephen KingWe may define 'faith' as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of 'faith.' We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions. ~Bertrand RussellWhen a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified and people who are damned. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Reasons WhyTo become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. ~Isaac AsimovBeware of the man whose God is in the skies. ~George Bernard ShawA Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter facts of life in bandages of self-illusion. ~H.L. MenckenAll great truths begin as blasphemies. ~George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska, 1919A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes. ~James Feibleman, Understanding Philosophy, 1973No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionAnd that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,Lift not thy hands to It for helpRolls impotently on as Thou or I.~"The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," translated by Edward FitzgeraldAny system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system. ~Thomas PaineGenerally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous. ~David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, 1739After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition: He posted no brief in defense or mitigation of his offenses, and when he was most solemnly advised by the Court President of the dire consequences he faced if found guilty, Juan Damasceno volunteered only one comment: "It will mean I do not go to the Christian heaven?" He was told that that would indeed be the worst of his punishments: that he would most assuredly not go to Heaven. At which, his smile sent a thrill of horror through every soul of the Court. ~Gary Jennings, AztecAs soon as you are willing to discard observational data because it conflicts with religion, you are giving up any hope of ever really understanding the universe. As soon as you pick religion as the touchstone of reality, then we have to start discussing how one can demonstrate the correctness of one religion over another when different religions disagree. ~Wilson HeydtBut I was not, to use the theological phrase, receptive. The great obstacle to the influx of grace was my own perfect happiness, and it is well known that God takes no thought for the happy, any more than He does for birds and puppies, perhaps realizing they have no need of Him and mercifully letting them alone. ~John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, 1970We are not accountable for the sins of Adam. ~Robert G. IngersollGod does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e., everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time. ~Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, 1991God is a concept by which we measure our pain. ~John Lennon, 1940-1980No creed can be stretched to the size of truth; no church can be made as large as man. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysBy the age of fifteen, I had convinced myself that nobody could give a reasonable explanation of what he meant by the word 'God' and that it was therefore as meaningless to assert a belief as to assert a disbelief in God. Though this, in a general way, has remained my position ever since, I have always avoided unnecessarily to offend other people holding religious belief by displaying my lack of such belief, or even stating my lack of belief, if I was not challenged. ~Hayek on Hayek: An Autobiographical Dialogue, edited by Stephen Kresge and Leif Wenar, 1994Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. ~Chapman CohenIf I were asked for a one-sentence soundbite on religion, I would say I was against it. ~Salman Rushdie, to Reuters News Service, 17 April 1996If there were no ministers and no priests, how long would there be any churches? ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysMan is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. ~Bertrand RussellCredulity is not a crime for the individual - but it is clearly a crime as regards the race. Just look at the actual consequences of credulity. For years men believed in the foul superstition of witchcraft and many poor people suffered for this foolish belief. There was a general belief in angels and demons, flying familiarly, yet skittishly through the air, and that belief caused untold distress and pain and tragedy. The most holy Catholic church (and, after it, the various Protestant sects) enforced the dogma that heresy was terribly sinful and punishable by death. Imagine - but all you need do is to recount - the suffering entailed by that belief. When one surveys the causes and consequences of credulity, it is apparent that this easy believer in the impossible, this readiness toward false and fanatical notions, has been indeed a most serious and major crime against humanity. The social life in any age, it may be said, is about what its extent of credulity guarantees. In an extremely credulous age, social life will be cruel and dark and treacherous. In a skeptical age, social life will be more humane. We assert that the philosophy of humanity - that the best interests of the human race - demand a strong statement and a repeated, enlightening statement of atheism. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismEach religion, so dear to those whose life it sanctifies, and fulfilling so necessary a function in the society that has adopted it, necessarily contradicts every other religion, and probably contradicts itself. ~George Santayana, Reason in ReligionOf all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ~C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and EthicsEverything is more or less organized matter. To think so is against religion, but I think so just the same. ~Napoleon BonaparteWhatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: "Great God, grant that twice two be not four." ~Ivan Turgenev, 1818-1883Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition. ~Paul Keller, American rationalistFaith is cold as ice -Why are little ones born only to sufferFor the want of immunityOr a bowl of rice?Well, who would hold a priceOn the heads of the innocent childrenIf there's some immortal powerTo control the dice?~Rush, "Roll The Bones"For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men and women of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other. This is the war between Science and Faith. The few have appealed to reason, to honor, to law, to freedom, to the known, and to happiness here in this world. The many have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to the unknown, and to misery hereafter. The few have said, "Think!" The many have said, "Believe!" ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872History shows that there is nothing so easy to enslave and nothing so hard to emancipate as ignorance, hence it becomes the double enemy of civilization. By its servility it is the prey of tyranny, and by its credulity it is the foe of enlightenment. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysI have repeatedly stressed that the selfish impulses of man constitute a much less historic danger than his integrative tendencies. To put it in the simplest way: the individual who indulges in an excess of aggressive self-assertiveness incurs the penalties of society - he outlaws himself, he contracts out of the hierarchy. The true believer, on the other hand, becomes more closely knit into it; he enters the womb of his church, or party, or whatever the social holon to which he surrenders his identity. ~Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the MachineI see these two legendary men [Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson] as symbolic of the American dream. Their position atop a vast religious/cable television/Bad Hair empire shows the entire world that America truly is the Land of Opportunity ®, where Narrow-Minded, Really Dumb Guys can, and regularly do, get to the top. ~Ron BarberMy reason taught me that I could not have made one of my own qualities - they were forced upon me by Nature; that my language, religion, and habits were forced upon me by Society; and that I was entirely the child of Nature and Society; that Nature gave the qualities and Society directed them. Thus was I forced, through seeing the error of their foundation, to abandon all belief in every religion which had been taught by man. ~Robert Owen, 1771-1858In an early class, one of the students asked me if I believed in God. I replied, 'I don't think so.' And then proceeded to wail on the theme, using material from this column of some weeks ago, in which I observed the perpetuation of insanity on this planet through the mediums of Arabs-vs-Jews, Catholics-vs-Protestants, Southern Baptists-vs-Everyone. I said I felt if 'God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them,' (Genesis 2:27, King James's italics, not mine) then we were God. And when Man (my capitalization, not King James's) in his most creative, his most loving, his most gentle and most human, then he is most God-like. The student said he would pray for my immortal soul. He also asked for my address, so he could send me some literature on the subject of God. I thanked him politely and told him I'd gotten all the literature I could handle on the subject from a certain Thomas Aquinas. ~Harlan EllisonSunday school: a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents. ~H.L. MenckenThe many instances of forged miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence, or which detect themselves by their absurdity, prove sufficiently the strong propensity of mankind to the extraordinary and marvellous, and ought reasonably to begat a suspicion against all relations of this kind. ~David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748The minister must take his pious grasp off of the throat of Sunday. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysThe observances of the church concerning feasts and fasts are tolerably well-kept, since the rich keep the feasts and the poor keep the fasts. ~Sydney SmithWhen we make mistakes they call it evil. When God makes mistakes they call it Nature! ~Jack Nicholson in The Witches of EastwickWould you sing 'Krishna bless America' or pledge allegiance to 'One nation under Allah'? If not, would that make you unpatriotic? ~Chris LeeIf all the evidence put forward for the authenticity of religious teachings originates in the past, it is natural to look round and see whether the present, about which it is easier to form judgements, may not also be able to furnish evidence of the sort. If by this means we could succeed in clearing even a single portion of the religious system from doubt, the whole of it would gain enormously in credibility. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionIf wisdom and diamonds grew on the same tree we could soon tell how much men loved wisdom. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911In the long run nothing can withstand reason and experience, and the contradiction which religion offers to both is all too palpable. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionThe world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue, are complete skeptics in religion. ~John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, British philosopherInvisible Pink Unicorns are beings of awesome mystical power. We know this because they manage to be invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. ~Steve EleyIt is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion. ~Bertrand RussellIt will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity. ~Abraham Lincoln, quoted in What Great Men Think Of Religion by Ira CardiffMan makes himself, and he only makes himself completely in proportion as he desacrilizes himself and the world. The sacred is the prime obstacle to his freedom. He will become himself only when he is totally demysticized. He will not be truly free until he has killed the last god. ~Mircea Eliade"Ours is a christian army;" so he saidA regiment of bangomen who led."And ours a christian navy," added heWho sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea.Better they know than men unwarlike doWhat is an army, and navy too.Pray God there may be sent them by-and-byThe knowledge what a christian is, and whyFor somewhat lamely the conception runsof a brass-buttoned Jesus firing guns.~Arma VirumquePhnom Penh. A Texas evangelist fled Cambodia on Saturday [26 November] after a mob, angry over his failure to perform faith-healing miracles, rioted outside his hotel.... Only the arrival of 20 armed police on Friday night kept the crowd from storming the luxury Hotel Cambodiana, where the Rev. Mike Evans and his entourage were staying after arriving for a scheduled five-day visit here Wednesday.... The preacher's appearance had been heralded on radio and television stations. "Blind eyes will open, the paralyzed will walk," promised the promotional announcements. Thousands of Cambodians, including sick, blind and paralyzed people from remote areas, came to the capital to attend his meetings. ~Associated Press, 27 November 1994 Playboy: "Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life?" Ayn Rand: "Qua religion, no - in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man's life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very - how should I say it - dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith." ~Playboy interview with Ayn RandReligion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice. ~Georges Bizet, letter to Edmond Galabert, 1866Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth. ~H.L. Mencken, Autobiographical Notes, 1925Religion is the highest vanity. ~Friedrich HebbelScience tells us what we can know but what we can know is little and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive of many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe. Uncertainty in the presence of vivid hopes and fears is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales. ~Bertrand RussellThere are two things in the world that can never get together - religion and common sense. ~George W. FooteTo put it as simply as possible: I am not a Muslim. I do not accept the charge of apostasy, because I have never in my adult life affirmed any belief, and what one has not affirmed one cannot be said to have apostatized from. The Islam I know states clearly that "there can be no coercion in matters of religion." The many Muslims I respect would be horrified by the idea that they belong to their faith purely by virtue of birth, and that a person who freely chose not to be a Muslim could therefore be put to death. ~Salman Rushdie, In Good Faith, 1990Chalma, Mexico. At least 41 Indian pilgrims, most of them elderly women and children, were trampled to death yesterday in a crush of worshipers heading through a narrow marketplace to church for this town's Ash Wednesday celebration. Chalma, about 35 miles southwest of Mexico City, is famous for its gold-trimmed church and the Father of Chalma image of Christ that is said to perform miracles. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 14 February 1991
Blind Faith, Authority & Renouncement of Reason
They were allowed to stay there on one condition, and that is that they didn't eat of the tree of knowledge. That has been the condition of the Christian church from then until now. They haven't eaten as yet, as a rule they do not. ~Clarence Darrow
Most reformers wore rubber boots and stood on glass when God sent a current of Commonsense through the Universe. ~Elbert Hubbard
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. ~Unknown
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
You have no right to erect your toll-gate upon the highways of thought. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ghosts
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. ~Carl Sagan, 1987
So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. ~Bertrand Russell
It is necessary to distinguish between the virtue and the vice of obedience. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911
Anything you don't understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it. ~Carl Sagan, Contact
What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command. ~Havelock Ellis
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. ~George Bernard Shaw
Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains? ~Francis Wright, 1828
They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." Let's pretend that we possess the objective truth of God in our inerrant Scriptures or in our infallible pronouncements or in our unbroken apostolic traditions. ~Bishop John Shelby Spong
Two attempts have been made...to evade the problem. The first is the Credo quia absurdum of the early Father of the Church. It maintains that religious doctrines are outside the jurisdiction of reason - are above reason. Their truth must be felt inwardly, and they need not be comprehended.... Am I to be obliged to believe every absurdity? And if not, why this one in particular? ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes. ~Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today. ~Isaac Asimov
What can we say to a man who tells you that he would rather obey God than men, and that therefore he is sure to go to heaven for butchering you? Even the law is impotent against these attacks of rage; it is like reading a court decree to a raving maniac. These fellows are certain that the holy spirit with which they are filled is above the law, that their enthusiasm is the only law that they must obey. ~Voltaire, 1764
Theology is not what we know about God, but what we do not know about Nature. In order to increase our respect for the Bible, it became necessary for the priests to exalt and extol that book, and at the same time to decry and belittle the reasoning powers of man. The whole power of the pulpit has been used for hundreds of years to destroy the confidence of man in himself - to induce him to distrust his own powers of thought, to believe that he was wholly unable to decide any question for himself, and that all human virtue consists in faith and obedience. The church has said 'Believe and obey!' If you reason you will become an unbeliever, and unbelievers will be lost. If you disobey, you will do so through vain pride and curiosity, and will, like Adam and Eve, be thrust from Paradise forever! For my part, I care nothing for what the church says, except in so far as it accords with my reason; and the Bible is nothing to me, only in so far as it agrees with what I think or know. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, "Some Mistakes of Moses," Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 2
God is a gross answer, an indelicacy against us thinkers - at bottom merely a gross prohibition for us: you shall not think! ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
I don't care if it rains or freezes,
long as I got my plastic Jesus,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car;
It makes no difference if we hit a bump,
he's held on by a suction cup,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car.
I can even go a hund'rd miles-an-hour,
as long as I've got that dee-vine power,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car.
~"Plastic Jesus," c. 1969, sign-on song of disc jockey Don Imis
If you think that your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument, rather then by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based on faith, you will realize that argument is useless and will therefore result to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting and distorting the minds of the young in what is called "education." ~Bertrand Russell
Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But it can put mountains where there are none. ~Friedrich Nietzche, Human, All Too Human, 1879
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile! ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers. ~Bruce Calvert
The faith that stands on authority is not faith. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The conclusion of belief is not so much a conclusion as a resolution, and it is for that reason that belief excludes doubt. ~Robert Adams
Religion seems to have a way of making people abandon logic. ~Amanda Baxter
Belief is when someone else does the thinking. ~Buckminster Fuller, 1972
A dogma will thrive in soil where the truth could not get root. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
In a sense, the religious person must have no real views of his own and it is presumptuous of him, in fact, to have any. In regard to sex-love affairs, to marriage and family relations, to business, to politics, and to virtually everything else that is important in his life, he must try to discover what his god and his clergy would like him to do; and he must primarily do their bidding. ~Albert Ellis
And who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the will of others? When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please? These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state. ~Galileo Galilei
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson
It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief. ~George Bernard Shaw
Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think. ~Arthur Shopenhauer
If the sole reason why you must not kill your neighbour is because God has forbidden it and will severely punish you for it in this or the next life - then, when you learn that there is no God and that you need not fear His punishment, you will certainly kill your neighbour without hesitation, and you can only be prevented from doing so by mundane force. Thus either these dangerous masses must be held down most severely and kept most carefully away from any chance of intellectual awakening, or else the relationship between civilization and religion must undergo a fundamental revision. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
Reasonable argument is impossible when authority becomes the arbiter. ~Orson Scott Card
Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature - is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak
A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A theologian is a person who uses the word 'God' to hide his ignorance. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Belief means not wanting to know what is true. ~Friedrich Nietzche, The Anti-Christ, 1889
To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
To command the professors of astronomy to confute their own observations is to enjoin an impossibility, for it is to command them not to see what they do see, and not to understand what they do understand, and to find what they do not discover. ~Galileo Galilei, "The Authority of Scripture in Philosophical Controversies"
An agreeable opinion is accepted as true: this is the proof by pleasure (or, as the church says, the proof by strength), that all religions are so proud of, whereas they ought to be ashamed. If the belief did not make us happy, it would not be believed: how little must it then be worth! ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
We must ask where the inner force of [religious] doctrines lies and to what it is that they owe their efficacy, independent as it is of recognition by reason. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
When we ask on what their claim to be believed is founded [religious teachings], we are met with three answers, which harmonize remarkably badly with one another. Firstly, these teachings deserve to be believed because they were already believed by our primal ancestors; secondly, we possess proofs which have been handed down to us from those same primaeval times; and thirdly, it is forbidden to raise the question of their authentication at all. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher - the clergyman. ~Victor Hugo
I cannot praise the Preacher's eyes,
I never saw his glance divine,
He always shuts them when he prays,
And when he preaches he shuts mine.
~Unknown
A doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. ~Albert Einstein, address at the Princeton Theological Seminary, 19 May 1939, published in Out of My Later Years, New York: Philosophical Library, 1950
Faith: an attitude fostered by individuals in high places in order to ensure the subservience of those in their charge. ~Unknown
Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. ~George Seaton
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would believe in anything. ~Unknown
Freethinkers reject faith as a valid tool of knowledge. Faith is the opposite of reason because reason imposes very strict limits on what can be true, and faith has no limits at all. A Great Escape into faith is no retreat to safety. It is nothing less than surrender. ~Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
It is all over with priests and gods when man becomes scientific. Moral: science is the forbidden as such - it alone is forbidden. Science is the first sin, seed of all sin, the original sin. This alone is morality. 'Thou shalt not know' - the rest follows. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Antichrist
Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches. ~Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274, Summa Theologica
Faith is an absolutely marvelous tool. With faith there is no question too big for even the smallest mind. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, Atheologian
He that cannot reason is a fool.
He that will not is a bigot.
He that dare not is a slave.
~Andrew Carnegie
If the lord had meant us to have faith, he'd have given us lobotomies. ~Zlatko
Freedom of Inquiry & Doubt
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat. ~John Morley
The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes. ~Salman Rushdie
The most fatal blow to progress is slavery of the intellect. The most sacred right of humanity is the right to think, and next to the right to think is the right to express that thought without fear. ~Helen H. Gardner, Men, Women and Gods
The feet of progress have always been shod by doubt. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
My mind is not for rent to any god or government. ~Rush, "Tom Sawyer"
An organization that requires the suppression of facts and the discouragement of knowledge in order to maintain its supremacy, is the relic of a tyranny which our free age and our free thought are in duty bound to remove from the earth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh? We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only by incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don't know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness. ~Leslie Stephen, "An Agnostic's Apology," Fortnightly Review, 1876
I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, and highest sense. ~Abraham Lincoln
The thoughts of man, in order to be of any real worth, must be free. Under the influence of fear the brain is paralyzed, and instead of bravely solving a problem for itself, tremblingly adopts the solution of another. As long as a majority of men will cringe to the very earth before some petty prince or king, what must be the infinite abjectness of their little souls in the presence of their supposed creator and God? Under such circumstances, what can their thoughts be worth? ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Nature tells man to consult reason, and to take it for his guide: religion teaches him that his reason is corrupted, that it is only a treacherous guide, given by a deceitful God to lead his creatures astray. Nature tells man to enlighten himself, to search after truth, to instruct himself in his duties: religion enjoins him to examine nothing, to remain in ignorance, to fear truth. ~Paul Henry Thiry d'Holbach, Systeme de la Nature, 1770
Having been admonished by this Holy Office [the Inquisition] entirely to abandon the false opinion that the Sun was the center of the universe and immovable, and that the Earth was not the center of the same and that it moved...I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I curse and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally all and every error and sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church. ~Galileo Galilei, Recantation, 22 June 1633
The account shows, however, that the gods dreaded education and knowledge then just as they do now. The church still faithfully guards the dangerous tree of knowledge, and has exerted in all ages her utmost power to keep mankind from eating the fruit thereof. The priests have never ceased repeating the old falsehood and the old threat: 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' From every pulpit comes the same cry, born of the same fear: 'Lest they eat and become as gods, knowing good and evil.' For this reason, religion hates science, faith detests reason, theology is the sworn enemy of philosophy, and the church with its flaming sword still guards the hated tree, and like its supposed founder, curses to the lowest depths the brave thinkers who eat and become as gods. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
The Church has through the centuries, understood that ideas are really more dangerous than other weapons. Their use should be restricted. ~Francis J. Lally, American Roman Catholic Monsignor, Mike Wallace interview, 1958
I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. ~Galileo
If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate a free inquiry? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes. ~John Adams, letter to John Taylor
Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. ~Thomas Jefferson
Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. ~Thomas Huxley
The doubter is the safe man; the man who can be depended upon. He does not build upon a foundation of guesswork, and the structure he erects will stand. Let us not fear doubt, but rather fear to have falsehood passed for truth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. ~Clarence Darrow
The believer is happy; the doubter is wise. ~Hungarian proverb
Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought. ~Graham Greene, 1981
To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true. ~Bertrand Russell, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization
We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don't stand up to experimentation, Buddha's own words must be rejected. ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, Time, 11 April 1988
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. ~Bertrand Russell
It is well said that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and I am confirmed every day in my intense conviction that the church as the church is the enemy of freedom. While protesting loudly its faith in the Truth with a capital T, "the truth shall make us free," it fights at every step every effort to learn the truth and publish it and be guided by it. ~Rupert Hughes, Why I Quit Going to Church, 1924
My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence is provided by such a God. We would be unappreciative of that gift...if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves. ~Carl Sagan
Christianity
No man treats a motor car as foolishly as he treats another human being. When the car will not go, he does not attribute its annoying behavior to sin, he does not say, "You are a wicked motorcar, and I shall not give you any more petrol until you go." He attempts to find out what is wrong and set it right. ~Bertrand Russell, Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?
Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness. ~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The whole point of Christianity is that everyone in the world, from Charles Manson to Mother Teresa, deserves to go to hell. ~Sean P. Ningen
Christian soldiers armed with virtue -
hearts afire with blind obsession,
cannot see the difference 'twixt
compassion and oppression.
~Sabbat, "The Clerical Conspiracy"
Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure. ~Harvard Lamphoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)
A certain sense of cruelty towards oneself and others is Christian; hatred of those who think differently; the will to persecute. Hatred of mind, of pride, courage, freedom, libertinage of mind, is Christian; hatred of the sense, of the joy of the senses, of joy in general is Christian. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. ~H.L. Mencken
Life can be beautiful, profound, and awe-inspiring, even without an irate god threatening us with eternal torment. ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?
Obedience. A religion of slaves. A religion of intellectual death. I like it. Don't ask questions, don't think, obey the Word of the Lord - as it has been conveniently brought to you by a man in a Rolls with a heavy Rolex on his wrist. I like that job! Where can I sign up? ~Oleg Kiselev
The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called 'faith.' What man, who ever thinks, can believe that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Strange...a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied seventy times seven and invented Hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him! ~Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger
The best defense against Christianity is a good Christian Education. ~Psycho Dave
The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by H. sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history. ~Lazarus Long, quoted in Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain - then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system? ~Robert A. Heinlein
It is possible to pay another man's debts on his behalf, but it is not possible to make a guilty man innocent by suffering in his place. ~Carl Lofmark, What is the Bible?
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
I want the man bearing the cross to be its only victim. ~Eugene Vintras, 1807-1875
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. ~Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov: A Memoir
Satan hasn't a single salaried helper; the Opposition employ a million. ~Mark Twain
But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes. ~Jean Jacques Rousseau, Contrat Social
If I were to construct a God I would furnish Him with some way and qualities and characteristics which the Present lacks. He would not stoop to ask for any man's compliments, praises, flatteries; and He would be far above exacting them. I would have Him as self-respecting as the better sort of man in these regards. He would not be a merchant, a trader. He would not buy these things. He would not sell, or offer to sell, temporary benefits of the joys of eternity for the product called worship. I would have Him as dignified as the better sort of man in this regard. He would value no love but the love born of kindnesses conferred; not that born of benevolences contracted for. Repentance in a man's heart for a wrong done would cancel and annul that sin; and no verbal prayers for forgiveness be required or desired or expected of that man. In His Bible there would be no Unforgivable Sin. He would recognize in Himself the Author and Inventor of Sin and Author and Inventor of the Vehicle and Appliances for its commission; and would place the whole responsibility where it would of right belong: upon Himself, the only Sinner. He would not be a jealous God - a trait so small that even men despise it in each other. He would not boast. He would keep private His admirations of Himself; He would regard self-praise as unbecoming the dignity of his position. He would not have the spirit of vengeance in His heart. Then it would not issue from His lips. There would not be any hell - except the one we live in from the cradle to the grave. There would not be any heaven - the kind described in the world's Bibles. He would spend some of His eternities in trying to forgive Himself for making man unhappy when he could have made him happy with the same effort and he would spend the rest of them in studying astronomy. ~Mark Twain
So, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, if you go for all these fairy tales, that 'evil' woman convinced the man to eat the apple, but the apple came from the Tree of Knowledge. And the punishment that was then handed down, the woman gets to bleed and the guy's got to go to work, is the result of a man desiring, because his woman suggested that it would be a good idea, that he get all the knowledge that was supposedly the property and domain of God. So, that right away sets up Christianity as an anti-intellectual religion. You never want to be that smart. If you're a woman, it's going to be running down your leg, and if you're a guy, you're going to be in the salt mines for the rest of your life. So, just be a dumb fuck and you'll all go to heaven. That's the subtext of Christianity. ~Frank Zappa
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Christianity came into existence in order to lighten the heart; but now it has to burden the heart first, in order to lighten it afterward. Consequently it will perish. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
Christianity inculcates the necessity of supplicating the Deity. Prayer may be considered under two points of view: as an endeavor to change the intentions of God, or as a formal testimony of our obedience. But the former case supposes that the caprices of a limited intelligence can occasionally instruct the Creator of the world how to regulate the universe; and the latter, a certain degree of servility analogous to the loyalty demanded by earthly tyrants. Obedience indeed is only the pitiful and cowardly egotism of him who thinks that he can do something better than reason. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristocracy. ~R.J. Rushdoony, The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism In America
The Christian faith from the beginning, is sacrifice: the sacrifice of all freedom, all price, all self-confidence of spirit. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
For Shakespeare, in the matter of religion, the choice lay between Christianity and nothing. He chose nothing. ~George Santayana, The Absence of Religion in Shakespeare
Creationism & Creation Science
Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof. ~Ashley MontagueGeology shows that fossils are of different ages. Paleontology shows a fossil sequence, the list of species represented changes through time. Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of squeezing one's eyes shut and wailing "Does not!" ~Dr.Pepper@f241.n103.z1.fidonet.org[Creation science is] an attempt to give credibility to Hebrew mythology by making people believe that the world's foremost biologists, paleontologists, and geologists are a bunch of incompetent nincompoops. ~Ron PetersonCreationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. ~Isaac AsimovIn science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. ~Stephen J. GouldIf we are going to teach 'creation science' as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction. ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?The order of creation in the Bible is woefully incorrect and violates even the most simple and obvious rules of natural science. ~Charles Cazeau, U.S. professor of geologyCreation science has not entered the curriculum for a reason so simple and so basic that we often forget to mention it: because it is false, and because good teachers understand exactly why it is false. What could be more destructive of that most fragile yet most precious commodity in our entire intellectual heritage - good teaching - than a bill forcing honorable teachers to sully their sacred trust by granting equal treatment to a doctrine not only known to be false, but calculated to undermine any general understanding of science as an enterprise? ~Stephen Jay Gould, The Skeptical InquirerFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. ~Aldous HuxleyNo doubt a sizeable majority of Americans believe in the concept of a Creator or, at least, are not opposed to the concept and see nothing wrong with teaching school children about the idea. The application and content of First Amendment principles are not determined by public opinion polls or by a majority vote. Whether the proponents of Act 590 constitute the majority or the minority is quite irrelevant under a constitutional system of government. No group, no matter how large or small, may use the organs of government, of which the public schools are the most conspicuous and influential, to foist its religious beliefs on others. ~U.S. District Court Judge William R. Overton, overturning Arkansas Act 590, requiring public schools to teach creation scienceLouisiana's [1981] creationism law, which requires creationism to be taught wherever the theory of evolution is explained, is unconstitutional, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.... "The act's intended effect is to discredit evolution by counterbalancing its teaching at every turn with the teaching of creationism, a religious belief," the U.S. Court of Appeals said. ~Associated Press article in the San Francisco Chronicle, 9 July 1985More than half the college students polled in three states, including California, said they are creationists who believe that God created Adam and Eve, while about one-third believe in aliens, Big Foot and the lost city of Atlantis. The poll results, released yesterday by Texas researchers, also indicated that students who believe in creationism are less likely to read books, tend to be more politically conservative and have a lower grade-point average than students who dispute that God created Earth in six days. Last fall, about 1000 students attending colleges in Texas, Connecticut and California filled out detailed questionnaire on their beliefs. In Texas, 71 percent of students said they believe in the story of Adam and Eve, while 51 percent in Connecticut and 47 percent in California said they believed in the biblical first couple. An average of 44 percent of the students in the three states said the story of Noah's Ark is true. About one-third of all the students surveyed believed that Big Foot, a hairy man-like creature reputed to live in the mountains of northwest America, actually exists. An equal number believed in the lost city of Atlantis, a legendary island of advanced civilization that supposedly sank into the ocean. Thirty percent of the students responding to the survey said aliens from outer space visited Earth in ancient times. Overall, 37 percent said they believed in ghosts, and 39 percent said it is possible to communicate with the dead. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 3 November 1986 (UPI)If you're looking for a little background reading on scientific creationism, it's best not to take the word scientific too seriously. A three-year database search of 4,000 scientific publications - focusing on the names of people associated with the Institute for Creation Research and on phrases and keywords such as 'creationism' - didn't turn up a single paper. A follow-up study of 68 journals found that only 18 of 135,000 total manuscript submissions concerned scientific creationism, and all 18 were rejected. Reasons cited included 'flawed arguments,' 'ramblings,' and 'a high-school theme quality.' ~Science, September 1985The "dropping of context" - deliberately and deceitfully - by Creationist "spokesmen" is part of their game of fraud in the "use" of quotations from scientists. And it "works" (rhetorically, for the kinds of audience in front of which they use it) when the readers do NOT have the basic background in critical reading. ~Michael SiemonTo treat your facts with imagination is one thing, but to imagine your facts is another. ~John BurroughsAnother possible danger is that in presenting the gospel to the lost and in defending God's truth we ourselves will seem to be false. It is time for Christian people to recognize that the defense of this modern, young-Earth, Flood-geology creationism is simply not truthful. It is simply not in accord with the facts that God has given. Creationism must be abandoned by Christians before harm is done. The persistent attempt of the creationist movement to get their points of view established in educational institutions can only bring harm to the Christian cause. Can we seriously expect non-Christian educational leaders to develop a respect for Christianity if we insist on teaching the brand of science that creationism brings with it? Will not the forcing of modern creationism on the public simply lend credence to the idea already entertained by so many intellectual leaders that Christianity, at least in its modern form, is sheer anti-intellectual obscurantism? I fear that it will. ~Davis Young, Christianity and the Age of the Earth, 1982
Facts & Refutations
The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the Flood is perhaps the most implausible story for fundamentalists to defend. Where, for example, while loading his ark, did Noah find penguins and polar bears in Palestine? ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?God tells Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If this was the only way they could understand the difference between good and evil, how could they have known that it was wrong to disobey God and eat the fruit? ~Laurie LynnNot only might one-quarter to one-half of the weight be lost in planing, whereas with iron only a minute fraction was lost in this way, but half of the weight of timber in a wooden ship was wasted, its only use being to hold the other half in position. Even so, a wooden ship had great stresses as a structure. The absolute limit of its length was 300 feet, and it was liable to "hogging" and "sagging" in addition to being unable to withstand the local strain of the screw propeller. ~Sidney Pollard and Paul Robertson, The British Shipbuilding Industry, 1870-1914Jesus was almost certainly not 'of Nazareth.' An overwhelming body of evidence indicates that Nazareth did not exist in biblical times. The town is unlikely to have appeared before the third century. ~Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, The Messianic LegacyIf God is love, and if God is also omnipresent, then the Devil cannot exist. If the Devil exists, God cannot be love and also be omnipresent. Yet, an omnipresent God of love and the Devil are both said to exist. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure that there is something wrong here! ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianIt is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin. ~H.L. MenckenIt has been contended for many years that the Ten Commandments are the foundations of all ideas of justice and law. Nothing can be more stupidly false. Thousands of years before Moses, the Egyptians had a code far better. ~Robert G. IngersollYou who hate the Jews so, why did you adopt their religion? ~Friedrich Nietzsche, addressing anti-Semitic ChristiansThe problem with fundamentalists insisting on a literal interpretation of the Bible is that the meaning of words change. A prime example is 'Spare the rod, spoil the child.' A rod was a stick used by shepherds to guide their sheep to go in the desired direction. Shepherds did not use it to beat their sheep. The proper translation of the saying is 'Give your child guidance, or they will go astray.' It does not mean 'Beat the shit out of your child or he will become rotten' as many fundamentalist parents seem to belive. ~UnknownA sin [original sin] without volition is a slap at morality and an insolent contradiction in terms: that which is outside the possibility of choice is outside the province of morality. If a man is evil by birth, he has no will, no power to change it; if he has no will, he can be neither good nor evil; a robot is amoral. To hold, as man's sin, a fact not open to his choice is a mockery of morality. To hold man's nature as his sin is a mockery of nature. To punish him for a crime he committed before he was born is a mockery of justice. To hold him guilty in a matter where no innocence exists is a mockery of reason. ~Ayn RandA religious conservative is a fanatic about a dead radical. ~Unknown
The Bible
The Bible as we have it contains elements that are scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No amount of 'explaining away' can convince us that such passages are the product of Divine Wisdom. ~Bernard J. Bamberger, The Story of JudaismIf the Bible is mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust it to tell us where we're going? ~UnknownThe Bible may be the truth but it's not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ~Samuel ButlerNo man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means. ~George Bernard ShawThe Bible is literature, not dogma. ~George SantayanaMany Christians base the belief of a soul and God upon the Bible. Strictly speaking, there is no such book. To make the Bible, sixty-six books are bound into one volume. These books are written by many people at different times, and no one knows the time or the identity of any author. Some of the books were written by several authors at various times. These books contain all sorts of contradictory concepts of life and morals and the origin of things. Between the first and the last nearly a thousand years intervened, a longer time than has passed since the discovery of America by Columbus. ~Clarence Darrow, Why I Am An AgnosticAll that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention - of barbarian invention - is to read it. Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the coiled form of superstition - then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872The Bible is a mass of fables and traditions, mere mythology. ~Mark Twain, Mark Twain and the BibleThe Bible is a wonderful source of inspiration for those who don't understand it. ~George Santayana, 1863-1952, U.S. philosopher, writer, and professorThe Bible was a collection of books written at different times by different men - a strange mixture of diverse human documents - and a tissue of irreconcilable notions. Inspired? The Bible is not even intelligent. It is not even good craftsmanship, but is full of absurdities and contradictions. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismThe book, called the Bible, is filled with passages equally horrible, unjust and atrocious. This is the book to be read in schools in order to make our children loving, kind and gentle! ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872Few intelligent Christians can still hold to the idea that the Bible is an infallible Book, that it contains no linguistic errors, no historical discrepancies, no antiquated scientific assumptions, not even bad ethical standards. Historical investigation and literary criticism have taken the magic out of the Bible and have made it a composite human book, written by many hands in different ages. The existence of thousands of variations of texts makes it impossible to hold the doctrine of a book verbally infallible. Some might claim for the original copies of the Bible an infallible character, but this view only begs the question and makes such Christian apologetics more ridiculous in the eyes of the sincere man. ~Elmer Homrighausen, Christianity in AmericaThere are many extraordinary tales from antiquity, including women with snakes for hair, creatures whose gaze turns you to stone, creatures with equine bodies and human torsos, many accounts of people rising from the dead, lots of tales of magic, and numerous accounts of physical encounters with fantastic beings. Ancient people were a superstitious, scientifically primitive lot, and believed in many things that today we know are silly. I find it bizarre that so many people see nothing suspicious about the extraordinary or supernatural claims of the Bible, yet don't hesitate to express disbelief in equally well documented claims of minotaurs, basilisks, and wizards. ~Scott BrownA thorough reading and understanding of the Bible is the surest path to atheism. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianThe Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs. ~Bill MaherWhenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind. ~Thomas PaineThe next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word 'trinity.' The word 'trinity' appears nowhere in the bible. Neither does rapture, or second coming, or original sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased), by this, then add omniscience, omnipresence, supernatural, transcendence, afterlife, deity, divinity, theology, monotheism, missionary, immaculate conception, Christmas, Christianity, evangelical, fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, pope, cardinal, catechism, purgatory, penance, transubstantiation, excommunication, dogma, chastity, unpardonable sin, infallibility, incarnation, epiphany, sermon, Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday school, Dead Sea, golden rule, moral, morality, ethics, patriotism, education, atheism, apostasy, conservative (liberal is in), capital punishment, monogamy, abortion, pornography, homosexual, lesbian, fairness, logic, republic, democracy, capitalism, funeral, Decalogue, or Bible. ~Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to AtheistOne final snag in the "Bible only" view is this: the Bible itself teaches that moral truths are revealed outside the Scriptures. ~C. Stephen Layman, The Shape of the Good: Christian Reflections on the Foundation of EthicsRemember that millions of Christians still base their belief in a God upon the words of the Bible, which is a collection of the most flabbergasting fictions ever imagined - by men, too, who had lawless but very poor and crude imagination. Ingersoll and numerous other critics have shot the Christian holy book full of holes. It is worthless and proves nothing concerning the existence of a God. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismIf the Bible is telling the truth, then God is either untruthful or incompetent. If God is truthful, then the Bible is either untruthful or erroneous. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianAs it happens, Josephus, who mentions John the Baptist, does not mention Jesus. There is, to be sure, a paragraph in his history of the Jews which is devoted to Jesus, but it interrupts the flow of the discourse and seems suspiciously like an afterthought. Scholars generally believe this to have been an insertion by some early Christian editor who, scandalized that Josephus should talk of the period without mentioning the Messiah, felt the insertion to be a pious act. ~Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Guide To The BibleMost people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. ~Mark TwainOne does well to put on gloves when reading the New Testament. The proximity of so much uncleanliness almost forces one to do this. ~Fredrich Nietzsche
Science
There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ~J. Robert Oppenheimer, Life, 10 October 1949The truths which God revealed have been overthrown by the truths which man has discovered. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Someone with a fresh mind, one not conditioned by upbringing and environment, would doubtless look at science and the powerful reductionism that it inspires as overwhelmingly the better mode of understanding the world, and would doubtless scorn religion as sentimental wishful thinking. ~P.W. Atkins, "The Limitless Power of Science," Nature's Imagination, edited by John Cornwell, 1995I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science. ~Heinz Pagels, The Dreams of ReasonAcceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion. Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science. ~Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li MastersThe supernatural is the natural not yet understood. ~Elbert HubbardThe chief characteristic of the religion of science is that it works. ~Isaac AsimovReligion closes off the central questions of existence by attempting to dissuade us from further enquiry by asserting that we cannot ever hope to comprehend. We are, religion asserts, simply too puny. Through fear of being shown to be vacuous, religion denies the awesome power of human comprehension. It seeks to thwart, by encouraging awe in things unseen, the disclosure of the emptiness of faith. Religion, in contrast to science, deploys the repugnant view that the world is too big for our understanding. Science, in contrast to religion, opens up the great questions of being to rational discussion, to discussion with the prospect of resolution and elucidation. Science, above all, respects the power of the human intellect. Science is the apotheosis of the intellect and the consummation of the Renaissance. Science respects more deeply the potential of humanity than religion ever can. ~P.W. Atkins, "The Limitless Power of Science," Nature's Imagination, edited by John Cornwell, 1995Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing - fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts. Science can help us to get over this craven fear in which mankind has lived for so many generations. Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supports, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a better place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianScience is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesScience is the record of dead religions. ~The Oscariana of Oscar Fingall O'Flaherty Will Wilde [1856-1900] for George Bernard ShawSeparation of Church and State
God cannot be put into the national Constitution without putting liberty out of it. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysThe day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion - except for the sect that can win political power. ~Supreme Court Justice Robert Houghwout Jackson, dissenting opinion in Zorach v. Clauson (343 US 306 - 1952)The United States is not a Christian nation. It is a great nation with Christians, among others, in it. But our greatness is based on the fact that there is no official religion. ~Senator Lowell WeickerSo many Christians long for integration of church and state because they know it would be a Christian influence on government and politics. But would they still want religion's interference in the state if that religion were Buddhism or some other belief system that differed from their own? If the government were run by Muslim tenets, they'd be crying out for separation of church and state just as atheists always have. ~T. SachsThe greatest achievement ever made in the cause of human progress is the total and final separation of church and state. If we have nothing else to boast of, we could lay claim with justice that the first among the nations we of this country made it an article of organic law that the relations between man and his maker were a private concern, into which other men have no right to intrude. To measure the stride thus made for the Emancipation of the race, we have only to look back over the centuries that have gone before us, and recall the dreadful persecutions in the name of religion that have filled the world. ~David Dudley Field, 1805-1894I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~Original Pledge of Allegiance, 1892It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon that book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah. ~Robert G. IngersollThose of us who believe in the right of any human being to belong to whatever church he sees fit, and to worship God in his own way, cannot be accused of prejudice when we do not want to see public education connected with religious control of the schools, which are paid for by taxpayers' money. ~Eleanor RooseveltWhen politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them. ~Frank Herbert, DuneGive the church a place in the Constitution, let her touch once more the sword of power, and the priceless fruit of all ages will turn to ashes on the lips of men. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 1In addition, the New York Supreme Court, in a well known case (Miami Military Institute v. Leff 129 Misc. 481, 220 N.Y.S. 799, 810) said of the principle of religious freedom that it, 'has always been regarded by the American people as the very heart of its national life.' This would be difficult to maintain in a democracy without institutional separation of church and state. ~Anson Phelps Stokes, Church And State In The United States Vol. ICertainly the affirmative pursuit of one's convictions about the ultimate mystery of the universe and man's relation to it is placed beyond the reach of law. Government may not interfere with organized or individual expressions of belief or disbelief. Propagation of belief - or even of disbelief - in the supernatural is protected, whether in church or chapel, mosque or synagogue, tabernacle or meeting-house. ~Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court justice, majority decision, Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586, 1940I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote - where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference - and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. ~John F. Kennedy
Taxation & Money
Church tax exemption means that we all drop our money in the collection boxes, whether we go to church or not and whether we are interested in the church or not. It is systematic and complete robbery, from which none of us escapes. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Church Is a Burden, Not a Benefit, In Social LifeChurches should look to their members and friends only for the financing of their undertakings, and no church should engage in any undertaking, no matter how laudable it may be, that its members and friends are unable or unwilling to finance. ~Senator Sam ErvinThe divorce between church and state ought to be absolute. It ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no church property anywhere, in any state, or in any nation, should be exempt from taxation, for if you exempt the church property of any church organization, to that extent you impose tax upon the whole community. ~U.S. President James A. Garfield, address to CongressThe money man gives to get him into heaven is what he ought to use to improve the earth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIt takes the shingles from the widow's cottage to put paint on the house of God. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysSend me money, send me green, Heaven you will meet, Make a contribution and you'll get a better seat. ~Metallica
Humorous religion
I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. ~George CarlinWhere would Christianity be if Jesus got eight to fifteen years with time off for good behavior? ~New York State Senator James Donovan, speaking in support of capital punishmentIf there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? ~Art HoppeI believe in God; I just don't trust anyone who works for him. ~Comic on Comedy NetworkAs the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on. ~Woody AllenHow can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? ~Woody AllenAdam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. ~UnknownBorn again?! No, I'm not. Excuse me for getting it right the first time. ~Dennis MillerMaking fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope. ~P.J. O'RourkeInfidel: In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does. ~Ambrose BierceI prefer to think that God is not dead, just drunk. ~John Marcellus HustonChristian fundamentalism: the doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable, universe spanning entity that is deeply and personally concerned about my sex life. ~Andrew LiasThis is a little prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen. ~George Carlin, on Saturday Night Live"I refuse to prove that I exist" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing." "Oh," says man, "but the Babel Fish is a dead give-away, isn't it? It proves You exist, and so therefore You don't. Q.E.D." "Oh, I hadn't thought of that," says God, who promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. ~Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyIt is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry. ~H.L. MenckenThe only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. ~ChamfortI prefer to think of them as the Ten Suggestions. ~UnknownI was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said 'Stop! don't do it!' 'Why shouldn't I?' he said. I said, 'Well, there's so much to live for!' He said, 'Like what?' I said, 'Well...are you religious or atheist?' He said, 'Religious.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?' He said, 'Christian.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?' He said, 'Protestant.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?' He said, 'Baptist!' I said, 'Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist church of god or Baptist church of the lord?' He said, 'Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you original Baptist church of god, or are you reformed Baptist church of god?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!' I said, 'Die, heretic scum,' and pushed him off. ~Emo PhillipsReligions are like farts. Yours is good, but everyone else's stinks. ~Picket FencesWhy should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't! ~George Bernard ShawJim Bakker spells his name with 2 k's because 3 would be too obvious. ~Bill MaherI was at Bible camp, learning how to be more judgmental. ~Mrs. Flanders, Homer Simpson's neighbor on The SimpsonsForgive, O Lord, my little jokes on TheeAnd I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.~Robert FrostJesus saves... passes to Moses... shoots... scores! ~UnknownThere's nothing an agnostic can't do if he doesn't know whether he believes in anything or not. ~Monty Python, The Meaning of LifeIf you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a chance of being a prophet. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerIf I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said "No." ~Margaret "Stevie" Smith, 1902-1971Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them? ~Jules FeifferGod had to kill himself to appease himself, so that he wouldn't have to roast us (his beloved creations) alive for all eternity, except that he didn't really die. ~Unknown, capsule description of ChristianityGod is innocent. Noah built in a flood plain. ~As seen on a shirtWe suck so much we can't even want not to suck. ~Paul Golter, paraphrase of Romans 3:10-20The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that.... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E) temperature of the earth (-300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed.... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C. ~From Applied Optics, vol. 11, A14, 1972I think I'll believe in Gosh instead of God. If you don't believe in Gosh too, you'll be darned to heck. ~UnknownGod is real, unless declared integer. ~UnknownIf Jesus had been killed 20 years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses. ~Lenny BruceI'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. ~George CarlinI thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty. ~John WatersWhy is it when we talk to God we're praying - but when God talks to us, we're schizophrenic? ~Lily TomlinIf "he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword" holds true, then Jesus the carpenter met his end properly. After all, he was nailed to a piece of wood, wasn't he? ~UnknownScriptures: the sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. ~Ambrose BierceThere are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a 'hottest part' implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible. ~Richard DavissonIf God wanted people to believe in him, why'd he invent logic then? ~David Feherty, PGA Tour golferI'm looking for loopholes. ~W.C. Fields, when caught reading the Bible"God works in many ways his wonders to perform." But He's not a skillful mechanic. A man drives over a cliff and 'by a miracle' he only breaks his back. It would be more divine if he were a better driver and stayed on the road. ~Paul GoodmanThe Hell Law says that Hell is reserved exclusively for them that believe in it. Further, the lowest Rung in Hell is reserved for them that believe in it on the supposition that they'll go there if they don't. ~HBT, "The Gospel According to Fred" 3:1When you tell me that your Deity made you in his own image, I reply that he must have been very ugly. ~Victor HugoOn the other hand, the Bible contains much that is relevant today, like Noah taking 40 days to find a place to park. ~Curtis McDougallPuritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. ~H.L. MenckenImagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable. ~H.L. MenckenFor God so loved the world that He gave Man Free Will and then got pissed when we didn't meet his arbitrary standards. Oh, and he had his Son offed when he realized how impossible those standards were. ~Michael 4:23I have my own God, and I think my God finds me incredibly fucking funny. That's why I chose him as my God. ~Dennis MillerI was driving home early Sunday morning, through BakersfieldListening to gospel music on the public radio stationWhen the preacher said "You'll always have the Lord by your side."I was so pleased to be informed of thisThat I ran twenty red lights in his honor.Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord.~The Rolling Stones, "Faraway Eyes"Jesus was a Jew, yes, but only on his mother's side. ~Stanley Ralph RossIf a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, "Probably because of something you did." ~Saturday Night Live, Jack Handey, "Deep Thoughts "Our Father or Mother, who are either in heaven, nirvana, Mecca or Salt Lake City, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, providing thy will is that America is always the big winner over foreign heathen. Give us this day our daily white bread, black bread, Italian bread, Jewish rye, English muffins, or tacos, and a quarter-pounder with cheese and large fries to go. And lead us not into temptation, or into school buses that take us to neighborhoods where the kids are different. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, especially for people who still use words like 'thine.' ~Mark Russell, humoristHe [Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci] talked about Father Junipero Serra's qualifications for sainthood: they say he cured a nun's lupus. A miracle. Now I'm not a doctor, but I know lupus goes into remission. It's not always fatal. Have Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder play ping-pong together. That's a miracle. ~Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 February 1989If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls' sports, such as hot oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such. ~Homer Simpson, The SimpsonsSuppose we've chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we're just making him madder and madder. ~Homer Simpson's version of Pascal's Wager, The SimpsonsPrayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. ~School superintendent on The SimpsonsThose people who tell me that I'm going to hell while they are going to heaven somehow make me very glad that we're going to separate destinations. ~Martin TermanGod made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through. ~Paul ValeryWhen he that speaks, and he to whom he speaks, neither of them understand what is meant, that is metaphysics. ~VoltaireInspiration: a peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of God. ~VoltaireWhy do born-again people so often make you wish they'd never been born the first time? ~Katherine WhitehornI think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability. ~Oscar WildeWhen did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself. ~Peter O'Toole, The Ruling ClassThe missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already. ~Edward AbbeyGod wanted to have a holiday, so He asked St. Peter for suggestions on where to go. "Why not go to Jupiter?" asked St. Peter. "No, too much gravity, too much stomping around," said God. "Well, how about Mercury?" "No, it's too hot there." "Okay," said St. Peter, "what about Earth?" "No," said God, "They're such horrible gossips. When I was there 2000 years ago, I had an affair with a Jewish woman, and they're still talking about it." ~UnknownI got enough guilt to start my own religion. ~Tori AmosReligious cult: the church down the street from yours. ~B.C. comic strip, 30 April 1994In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' ~Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"Christian, n.: one who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money. ~Leon LedermanDear God. We paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing. ~Bart Simpson saying grace, The SimpsonsGod is loveLove is blindRay Charles is blindTherefore, Ray Charles is God.~UnknownThe Virgin Mary was an unwed teenage mother. ~As seen on a buttonThe Christian right is neither. ~As seen on a buttonAtheism is a non-prophet organization. ~As seen on a buttonOnce again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. ~UnknownA celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism. ~Carl SaganA great many men believe in providence until they get caught in a railroad accident. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, Thus Spake ZarathustraHumor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals. ~Agnes Repplier, Points of View
Sex
Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love. ~Butch HancockThe Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the...passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life. ~Bertrand Russell
Praying vs. Working
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. ~UnknownGive a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish. ~UnknownI prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. ~Frederick Douglass, escaped slaveMan must learn to rely upon himself. Reading bibles will not protect him from the blasts of winter, but houses, fires, and clothing will. To prevent famine, one plow is worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure more diseases than all the prayers uttered since the beginning of the world. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers. ~Austin O'MalleyWe will not, therefore, lose our time praying to an imaginary god for things which our own exertions alone can procure. ~Francisco FerrerIn the Middle East, the Bronze Age people of Canaan - the ancient region between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean that roughly corresponds to Israel - also failed to adapt to the drying out of their lands around 2200 BC(E). In their case, says Arlene Rosen of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, it was their beliefs that were their undoing. "In Canaan, people believed that environmental disasters were caused by a deity unhappy with the people," she says. Like the Mayans, the Canaanites could have coped with the new conditions by introducing new irrigation systems for their crops. Instead, they attributed the shift in climate to the wrath of the gods, built more temples and prayed for better times. Within a short time, the cities and towns were abandoned and the people became nomadic herders. ~"'Rigid' Cultures Caught Out by Climate Change," New Scientist, 5 March 1994Call on God, but row away from the rocks. ~Indian proverb
Origin - Fear - Opiate
Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself against the crushing supremacy of nature. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, 1927It is fear that first brought gods into the world. ~Petronius Arbiter, SatyriconThe gods retain their threefold task: they must exorcize the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelty of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed on them. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionReligion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand. ~Karl MarxThroughout the early Christian period, every great calamity - famine, earthquake, and plague - led to mass conversions, another indirect influence by which epidemic diseases contributed to the destruction of classical civilization. Christianity owes a formidable debt to bubonic plague and to smallpox, no less than to earthquake and volcanic eruptions. ~Hans Zinsser, Rats, Lice and History, 1934Theology is but the ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system. ~Baron Paul Henri T. d'HolbachReligion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. ~Bertrand RussellFor that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency. ~Albert EllisIf I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstances. ~Theodore Dreiser, 1941What is the function that a clergyman performs in the world? Answer: he gets his living by assuring idiots that he can save them from an imaginary hell. ~H.L. Mencken, Minority ReportsReligion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. ~Karl Marx
Acquisition of Religion
What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak. ~George Santayana, Reason in ReligionIn religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination. ~Mark TwainIt is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so. ~Ernestine RoseThere are ten church members by inheritance for every one by conviction. ~UnknownMiracles happen to those who believe in them. Otherwise why does not the Virgin Mary appear to Lamaists, Mohammedans, or Hindus who have never heard of her. ~Bernard Berenson, 1865-1959Beliefs, including religious ones, are learned. Which makes atheism a normal state of affairs and religious beliefs a learned 'abnormality.' No psychological theory is necessary to explain the causes of a normal base state. Any psychological theory of learning, attitude change or socialisation can explain the causes of religious belief. ~Rosemary Lyndall, clinical neuro-psychologistFrank: She was a little brunette of Jewish persuasion.Hawkeye: I wonder who persuaded her to be that.~M*A*S*H, "The Bus"History aside, the almost universal opinion that one's own religious convictions are the reasoned outcome of a dispassionate evaluation of all the major alternatives is almost demonstrably false for humanity in general. If that really were the genesis of most people's convictions, then one would expect the major faiths to be distributed more or less randomly or evenly over the globe. But in fact they show a very strong tendency to cluster...which illustrates what we all suspected anyway: that social forces are the primary determinants of religious belief for people in general. To decide scientific questions by appeal to religious orthodoxy would therefore be to put social forces in place of empirical evidence. ~Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of MindThe history of the rise of Christianity has everything to do with politics, culture, and human frailties and nothing to do with supernatural manipulation of events. Had divine intervention been the guiding force, surely two millennia after the birth of Jesus he would not have a world where there are more Muslims than Catholics, more Hindus than Protestants, and more nontheists than Catholics and Protestants combined. ~John K. Naland
Afterlife
If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. ~Albert CamusIt is an incredible con job when you think of it, to believe something now in exchange for life after death. Even corporations with all their reward systems don't try to make it posthumous. ~Gloria SteinemI do not believe in revealed religion - I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without speculating on another. ~Lord Byron, 1778-1824, letter to Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811Oh, one world at a time! ~Henry David Thoreau, when asked about afterlifeYour soul will be dead even before your body: fear nothing further. ~Friedrich NietzscheI have little confidence in any enterprise or business or investment that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders. ~Robert G. IngersollMan can contemplate his own mortality and finds the thought intolerable. Any animal will struggle to protect itself from a threat of death. Faced with a predator, it flees, hides, fights or employs some other defensive mechanism, such as death-feigning or the emission of stinking fluids. There are many self-protection mechanisms, but they all occur as a response to an immediate danger. When man contemplates his future death, it is as if, by thinking of it, he renders it immediate. His defence is to deny it. He cannot deny that his body will die and rot - the evidence is too strong for that; so he solves the problem by the invention of an immortal soul - a soul which is more 'him' than even his physical body is 'him.' If this soul can survive in an afterlife, then he has successfully defended himself against the threatened attack on his life. This gives the agents of the gods a powerful area of support. All they need to do is to remind their followers constantly of their mortality and to convince them that the afterlife itself is under the personal management of the particular gods they are promoting. The self-protective urges of their worshippers will do the rest. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977
Human Egotism
Little prigs and three-quarter madmen may have the conceit that the laws of nature are constantly broken for their sakes. ~Friedrich NietzscheThe idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker?... Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking "for our sakes was the world created." ~Julian the ApostateThe universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours. ~Bertrand RussellOcean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills. ~Ambrose BierceNature has neither a preference for our species nor a bias against it. ~James Randi, The Faith HealersReligion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism. ~William James, 1842-1910, U.S. philosopher and psychologist
Environment
Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and these sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is now the most dreadful thing, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke ZarathustraThe word "wilderness" occurs approximately three hundred times in the Bible, and all its meanings are derogatory. ~René Dubos, The Wooing of Earth, 1980We shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man. ~Lynn White, Jr., "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," 1967The victory of Christianity over paganism was the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture. By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. ~Lynn I. White, Jr., Science, 10 March 1967Christianity, with its roots in Judaism, was a major factor in the development of the Western worldview.... A basic Christian belief was that God gave humans dominion over creation, with the freedom to use the environment as they saw fit. Another important Judeo-Christian belief predicted that God would bring a cataclysmic end to the Earth sometime in the future. One interpretation of this belief is that the Earth is only a temporary way station on the soul's journey to the afterlife. Because these beliefs tended to devalue the natural world, they fostered attitudes and behaviors that had a negative effect on the environment. ~Donald G. Kaufman and Cecilia M. Franz, Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment, 1996Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. ~Genesis 1:28
Specific Religions
The Puritan through Life's sweet garden goesTo pluck the thorn and cast away the rose.~Kenneth HareThe Unitarian walks with a cane, the Congregationalist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist go with crutches, the Episcopalian has to be pushed about in an invalid's chair, while the Roman Catholic crawls on his hands and knees and is led around with a ring in his nose by a priest. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysA Mormon is a man that has the bad taste and the religion to do what a good many other people are restrained from doing by conscientious scruples and the police. ~Mr. DooleyYou've got a Methodist Coloring BookAnd you color really wellBut don't color outside the linesOr God will send you to hell~Dead Milkmen, "Methodist Coloring Book"
Religious Intolerance & Discrimination
Jesus Christ never commanded toleration as a motive for His disciples, and toleration is the antithesis of the Christian message. ~James L. Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and FreemasonryThey say there are strangers, who threaten usIn our immigrants and infidelsThey say there is strangeness, too dangerousIn our theatres and bookstore shelvesThose who know what's best for us -Must rise and save us from ourselvesQuick to judge...quick to anger...slow to understand...Ignorance and prejudice and fearWalk hand in hand.~RushI am angry at the Catholic church, because it says that women can't be priests. Right. Like my big dream is to run around in a long black dress and fuck altar boys. But I think I should have the choice. The pope agrees that women cannot be priests, and this is his reason: because there were no women priests when Jesus lived. And that's true. But there was also no pope. Does that stop him? ~E.L. GreggoryI write against the religion because if women want to live like human beings, they will have to live outside the religion and Islamic law. ~Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, in exile, 1994If Boy Scouts of America intends to issue invitations to children in public schools, they ought to 'Be Prepared' to abide by the admissions standards of public schools and stop discriminating on the basis of religious belief. ~Elliot Welsh, on Boy Scouts of America's denial of his non-religious sonThe theory that you should always treat the religious convictions of other people with respect finds no support in the Gospels. ~Arnold Lunn An engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation. His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton/polyester-blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce decree was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp. Quiz: How many biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives are supposed to be 'submissive' to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that 'pertains to a man' (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7, 10) as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22). So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or - at best - unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple could easily be among the millions of Americans who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. ~Deb Price, And Say Hi To JoyceThe [Christian] supremacists who lead the anti-gay crusade are wrong morally. They are wrong because justice is moral, and prejudice is evil; because truth is moral and the lie of the closet is the real sin; because the claim of morality is a subtle sort of subterfuge, a stratagem which hides the real aim which is much more secular. The supremacists don't care about morality, they care about power. They care about social control. And their goal, my friends, is the reconstruction of American Democracy into American Theocracy. ~Urvashi Vaid, 25 April 1993As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its leaves there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. ~Robert G. IngersollLet us condemn to hellfire all those who disagree with us. ~Militant religionists everywhere
The Harm of Religion
This is not an attack on the First Amendment rights of people who believe in faith healing. We just don't believe the First Amendment allows them to inflict their views upon their children and let them die from such things as infections, when one quick trip to a doctor would cure the problem. Children should not have to die to uphold the religious beliefs of their parents. ~Scott Greenwood, Children's Healthcare Is a Legal DutyTo make sure that my blasphemy is thoroughly expressed, I hereby state my opinion that the notion of a god is a basic superstition, that there is no evidence for the existence of any god(s), that devils, demons, angels and saints are myths, that there is no life after death, heaven nor hell, that the Pope is a dangerous, bigoted, medireview dinosaur, and that the Holy Ghost is a comic-book character worthy of laughter and derision. I accuse the Christian god of murder by allowing the Holocaust to take place - not to mention the "ethnic cleansing" presently being performed by Christians in our world - and I condemn and vilify this mythical deity for encouraging racial prejudice and commanding the degradation of women. ~James Randi, challenging blasphemy laws in several U.S. statesWhen the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. ~Bishop Desmond TutuThe Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad. ~Friedrich NietzscheOne, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned at the stake while the votes were being counted. ~Thomas B. ReedI am convinced that some political and social activities and practices of the Catholic organizations are detrimental and even dangerous for the community as a whole, here and everywhere. I mention here only the fight against birth control at a time when overpopulation in various countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet. ~Albert Einstein, 1954Whenever religion is involved, terrorists kill more people. ~Dr. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, ScotlandGod says do what you wish, but make the wrong choice and you will be tortured for eternity in hell. That sir, is not free will. It would be akin to a man telling his girlfriend, do what you wish, but if you choose to leave me, I will track you down and blow your brains out. When a man says this we call him a psychopath and cry out for his imprisonment and execution. When God says the same we call him 'loving' and build churches in his honor. ~William C. Easttom II, skeptic@icon.netThe whole Bible was written by slave owners, and for slave owners. There is no hint of criticism of slavery anywhere in that book. Jesus made no objection to mistreatment of slaves. He indicated that selling of debtors into slavery would be continued his forthcoming kingdom of heaven as well as masters having the right to beat their slaves and put them to torture. ~Merrill Holste, "Slavery and the Bible," American Atheist Magazine, May 1986Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the statement of an honest belief! More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds, than there are leaves on all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished forever and forever! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Man, Woman and ChildThat is the idea - that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems to me that the people who have held to it have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianThe church has contributed nothing to civilization. It has progressed somewhat, and it has become a little more decent, in reflection of the movements of civilization that have taken place outside of the church and usually in the face of the strong opposition of the church. But the church has always resisted the process of civilization. It has struggled to the last ditch, by fair means and foul, to preserve as long as it could the vestiges of ancient and medireview theology, with all the puerile moralities and harsh customs and medireview styles of belief. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Church Is a Burden, Not a Benefit, In Social LifeThe memory of my own suffering has prevented me from ever shadowing one young soul with the superstitions of the Christian religion. ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eight Years and MoreThe name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries than any other name has caused. ~John E. Remsburg, The Christ, 1910The question of the truth of a religion is one thing, but the question of its usefulness is another. I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian, 1957Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. ~ Bertrand RussellThe Santa myth is one of the most effective means ever devised for intimidating children, eroding their self-esteem, twisting their behavior, warping their values, and slowing their development of critical thinking skills. ~Tom Flynn, The Trouble with ChristmasThe smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume. ~Robert Green IngersollReligion has [always] been anti-human, anti-woman, anti-life, anti-peace, anti-reason, and anti-science. The god idea has been detrimental not only to humankind but to the earth. It is time now for reason, education, and science to take over. ~Madalyn O'Hair, Atheists: The Last MinorityReligion, to be sure, is full of inconsistencies between theory and practice; but there is and has always been sternly and largely a disposition of religion to enforce its theory in the conduct of life; religion has meant not simply dogmatism in abstract thinking but intolerance in legal and social action. Religion interferes with life and, being false, it necessarily interferes very much to the detriment of the sound human interests of life. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismFor many centuries the sword and cross were allies. Together they attacked the rights of man. They defended each other. ~Robert G. IngersollGod has done nothing for men and women except to scare them out of their wits. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysI believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking. ~H.L. Mencken, New York Times Magazine, 11 September 1955If children born into Christian families are taught: 'We are all equally unworthy in the sight of God. You are born in sin and are sinful by nature. Don't think, don't question, believe. Who are you to place your mind above that of the priest, the minister, the rabbi? If you have value it is not because of anything you have done or could ever do, it is only because God loves you. Submission to what you cannot understand is the beginning of morality. Do not be 'willful;' self-assertiveness is the sin of pride. Never think that you belong to yourself. In any clash between your judgement and that of your religious authorities, it is your authorities you must believe. Self-sacrifice is the foremost virtue and the noblest duty;' then consider what will be the likely consequences for the practice of living consciously, or the practice of self-assertiveness, or any of the other pillars of healthy self-esteem. ~Nathaniel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, 1994 (paraphrase)In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is valued above self-statement, and conformity is valued above integrity, those who preserve their self-esteem are likely to be heroic exceptions. ~Nathaniel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, 1994In some sects members are told to commit violent acts because the only way they can hasten redemption or achieve salvation is to eliminate the nonbelievers. ~Dr. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, ScotlandA disturbing fact continues to surface in sex abuse research. The first best predictor of abuse is alcohol or drug addiction in the father. But the second best predictor is conservative religiosity, accompanied by parental belief in traditional male-female roles. This means that if you want to know which children are most likely to be sexually abused by their father, the second most significant clue is whether or not the parents belong to a conservative religious group with traditional role beliefs and rigid sexual attitudes (Brown and Bohn, 1989; Finkelhor, 1986; Fortune, 1983; Goldstein et al, 1973; Van Leeuwen, 1990). ~Carol Holderread Heggen, Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes and Churches, Herald Press, Scotdale, PA, 1993, p.73Every religion in the world that has destroyed people is based on love. ~Anton LaVeyWhenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants, the worst is a slave in power. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Reasons WhyOrganized religion is responsible for the brainwashing of millions of young children too young to know the difference between reality and the fantasies of millions. ~Unknown
Religion's Power in Society
The greatest threat presented by modern religion is the archaic morals system that an insidious minority of Christians including the Radical Right, Christian Coalition, the RIAA along with many other influences and organizations wish to incorporate into our secular law! ~W.J. Wallace Jr., hypnopaedia@huxley.netScientific education and religious education are incompatible. The clergy have ceased to interfere with education at the advanced state, with which I am directly concerned, but they have still got control of that of children. This means that the children have to learn about Adam and Noah instead of about evolution; about David who killed Goliath, instead of Koch who killed cholera; about Christ's ascent into heaven instead of Montgolfier's and Wright's. Worse than that, they are taught that it is a virtue to accept statements without adequate evidence, which leaves them a prey to quacks of every kind in later life, and makes it very difficult for them to accept the methods of thought which are successful in science. ~J.B.S. HaldaneWe cannot hope for a society in which formal organized religion dies out. But we can stop behaving as if it was worthy of our collective respect. ~A.N. Wilson, Against ReligionImagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly and warn the people of Canada. ~Isaac Asimov, Canadian Atheists Newsletter, 1994For the church to say that abortion is not acceptable for a Catholic is fine. To say directly or indirectly that on something that is a church teaching that you must also vote according to that - that's not acceptable in a country based on the First Amendment. ~Vermont Senator Patrick LeahyReligion to me is much like the story "The Pit and the Pendulum," every time the blade of religious censorship swings it comes closer and closer to severing freedom from the people. ~W.J. Wallace Jr., hypnopaedia@huxley.net
Religion as Social Control
The church doctrines of obedience to authority, repentance, fear of punishment, self-abnegation, acceptance of outer direction rather than inner assurance, elevation of faith over reason, and intolerance make institutionalized religion an ideal instrument of social constraint. ~Madalyn O'Hair, Freedom under SiegeHow can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. ~Napoleon BonaparteSince the masses of the people are inconsistent, full of unruly desires, passionate, and reckless of consequences, they must be filled with fears to keep them in order. The ancients did well, therefore, to invent gods, and the belief in punishment after death. ~Polybius, c.204 - c.122 BCThe myths about Hades and the gods, though they are pure invention, help to make men virtuous. ~Diodorus Siculus, c. 20 BCReligion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. ~Seneca the Younger, c. 4 BC - 65 AD
Religion: An Outdated System
The Theologian is an owl, sitting on an old dead branch in the tree of human knowledge, and hooting the same old hoots that have been hooted for hundreds and thousands of years, but he has never given a hoot for progress. ~Emmet F. FieldsThere was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages. ~Ruth Hermence Green, Women Without SuperstitionYou find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianIn dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides. ~Heinrich Heine, Gedanken und Einfalle, Volume 10
Defensiveness & Fanaticism
While utterly discarding all creeds, and denying the truth of all religions, there is neither in my heart nor upon my lips a sneer for the hopeful, loving and tender souls who believe that from all this discord will result a perfect harmony; that every evil will in some mysterious way become a good, and that above and over all there is a being who, in some way, will reclaim and glorify every one of the children of men; but for those who heartlessly try to prove that salvation is almost impossible; that damnation is almost certain; that the highway of the universe leads to hell; who fill life with fear and death with horror; who curse the cradle and mock the tomb, it is impossible to entertain other than feelings of pity, contempt and scorn. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872If a fanatic is willing to give his life for a cause, he's probably willing to give yours as well. ~David GerroldThere is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not real, he becomes furious when they are disputed. ~Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and PoliticsOne cannot erect, on the basis of a motive that exists only for a very few, an obligation that shall apply to everyone. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionThat is the strength and at the same time the sin of the Christians - they will not accept that anyone else has so much as a splinter of the truth. ~Harry HarrisonTo listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs. ~Ghose AurobindoThe god who is reputed to have created fleas to keep dogs from moping over their situation must also have created fundamentalists to keep rationalists from getting flabby. Let us be duly thankful for out blessings. ~Garrett HardinIrrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors. ~Thomas Huxley, 1825-1895, English biologistNowhere is there an account or portrait of Christ laughing...he is always stern, serious and as gloomy as a prison guard. Never does one see him laughing until tears appear in his eyes like the roly-poly squint-eyed Buddha guffawing with arms upraised. ~I.R.The certainty with which a religious belief is held is usually in direct proportion to its absurdity. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianThe creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop the strongest proselytizing impulse. It is doubtful whether a movement which does not profess some preposterous and patently irrational dogma can be possessed of that zealous drive which 'must either win men or destroy the world.' It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction between profession and practice - that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt - are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others. ~Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, 1951As Pastor X slips out of bedHe puts a neat disguise onThat halo round his priestly headIs merely his horizon.~Piet Hein, 1966Commonly, those who have professed the strongest motives of love of a God have demonstrated the deepest hatred toward human joy and liberty. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismThe truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost their power of reasoning. ~Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, 1764Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction. ~Pascal, Pensees, 1670Televangelists: The Pro Wrestlers of religion. ~UnknownAnd no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naive. As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in our own time, we might be advised to leave them to heaven. They will not, unfortunately, do us the same courtesy. They attack us and each other, and whatever their protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody record of history makes clear that they are easily disposed to restore to the sword. My own belief in God, then, is just that - a matter of belief, not knowledge. My respect for Jesus Christ arises from the fact that He seems to have been the most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth. But even well-educated Christians are frustrated in their thirst for certainty about the beloved figure of Jesus because of the undeniable ambiguity of the scriptural record. Such ambiguity is not apparent to children or fanatics, but every recognized Bible scholar is perfectly aware of it. Some Christians, alas, resort to formal lying to obscure such reality. ~Steve AllenSociety is very well aware of the insecurity of the claim it makes on behalf of its religious doctrines. Otherwise it would certainly be very ready to put the necessary data at the disposal of anyone who wanted to arrive at conviction. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionNothing can exceed the mendacity of the religious press. I have had some little experience with political editors, and am forced to say, that until I read the religious papers, I did not know what malicious and slimy falsehoods could be constructed from ordinary words. The ingenuity with which the real and apparent meaning can be tortured out of language is simply amazing. The average religious editor is intolerant and insolent...and always accounts for the brave and generous actions of unbelievers by low, base, and unworthy motives. ~Robert G. IngersollFaith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate. ~F.M. KnowlesA fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. ~Winston ChurchillMost men would kill the truth if truth would kill their religion. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIf you cannot answer a man's argument, all it not lost; you can still call him vile names. ~Elbert Hubbard
Leave Us Alone!
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale GulledgeEskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"Priest: "No, not if you did not know."Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"~UnknownThe act of bellringing is symbolic of all proselytizing religions. It implies the pointless interference with the quiet of other people. ~Ezra PoundIf God doesn't like the way I live, let him tell me, not you. ~As seen on a buttonImpiety, n.: Your irreverence toward my deity. ~Ambrose BierceOn religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' ~Senator Barry GoldwaterIt does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ~Thomas JeffersonIt is the position of some theists that their right to freedom OF religion is abridged when they are not allowed to violate the rationalists' right to freedom FROM religion. ~James T. Green
Does God Exist?
You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here.... I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me. ~Richard P. Feynman
The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying...it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. ~Carl Sagan
Traveler: "God has been mighty good to your fields, Mr. Farmer."
Farmer: "You should have seen how he treated them when I wasn't around."
~Unknown
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. ~Democritus
God has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose. ~Clarence Darrow
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. ~Denis Diderot
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. ~Voltaire, 1694-1778
Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays. ~Soren Kierkegaard
If triangles had a God, He'd have three sides. ~Old Yiddish proverb
The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. ~Richard F. Burton
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. ~Anne Lamott
I have never resisted the lord in my life, and I never will. But I'm not so hungry for dialogue with him that I have to make up his part as well as my own. ~Orson Scott Card
If priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to god. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always happened that god wanted what his agents liked. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Man is quite insane. He wouldn't know how to create a maggot, and he creates Gods by the dozen. ~Michel de Montaigne, Essais, III, xii, 1588
There have been many alleged revelations of God. There have, indeed, been many Gods as there have been many Bibles. And in different ages and different lands an endless game of guessing and disputing has gone on. Men have argued blindly about God. They still argue - just as blindly. And if there is a God, we must conclude that he has willfully left men in the dark. He has not wanted men to know about him. Assuming his existence, then it would follow that he would have perfect ability to give a complete and universal explanation of himself, so that all men could see and know without further uncertainty. A real God could exhibit himself clearly to all men and have all men following his will to the last letter without a doubt or a slip. But when we examine even cursorily the many contradictory revelations of God, the many theories and arguments, the many and diverse principles of piety, we perceive that all this talk about God his been merely the natural floundering of human ignorance. There has been no reality in the God idea which men could discover and agree upon. The spectacle has been exactly what we should expect when men deal with theories of something which does not exist. Hidden Gods - no Gods - all we see is man's poor guesswork. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the operations of pure chance. ~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
These gods did not even know the shape of the worlds they had created, but supposed them perfectly flat. Some thought the day could be lengthened by stopping the sun, that the blowing of horns could throw down the walls of a city, and all knew so little of the real nature of the people they had created, that they commanded the people to love them. Some were so ignorant as to suppose that man could believe just as he might desire, or as they might command, and that to be governed by observation, reason, and experience was a most foul and damning sin. None of these gods could give a true account of the creation of this little earth. All were woefully deficient in geology and astronomy. As a rule, they were most miserable legislators, and as executives, they were far inferior to the average of American presidents. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Thus a certain false psychology, a certain kind of fantasy in interpreting motives and experiences, is the necessary prerequisite for becoming a Christian and experiencing the need for redemption. With the insight into this aberration of reason and imagination, one ceases to be a Christian. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
One might be asked "How can you prove that a god does not exist?" One can only reply that it is scarcely necessary to disprove what has never been proved. ~David A. Spitz
Over the years I realized the god I prayed to was the god I invented. When I was talking to him, I was talking to myself. He had no understanding or qualities that I did not have. When I realized god was an extension of my imagination, I stopped praying to him. ~Howard Kreisner
It is difficult to imagine that the belief in a single jealous male god of uncertain temper represents a "higher" spiritual state than the belief in many gods, male and female alike, each an embodiment of some aspect of human life as it can be empirically known and experienced. ~Vincent Scully
I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian God may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them. The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible. ~Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, 1945
Unfortunately they cannot succeed in refuting the fact that the appearance and utterances of their spirits are merely the products of their own mental activity. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight - that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether. ~Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea
I think that in philosophical strictness at the level where one doubts the existence of material objects and holds that the world may have existed for only five minutes, I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptic orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely. ~Bertrand Russell
When belief in a god dies, the god dies. ~Harlan Ellison, "Deathbird Stories"
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. WE HAVE KILLED HIM - you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, foreward, in all direction? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light candles in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
One of the demands put upon the priests and holy-men is that they should provide impressive rituals. Nearly all religions include ceremonial procedures during which the followers of a particular deity can indulge in complex group activities. This is essential as a demonstration of the power of the gods - that they can dominate and command submissive behaviour from large numbers of people at one and the same time - and it is also a method of strengthening the social bonding in relation to the common belief. Since the gods are super-parents and super-leaders, they must necessarily have large houses in which to 'meet' with their followers. Anyone flying low over human settlements in a spacecraft and ignorant of our ways would notice immediately that in many of the villages and towns and cities there were one or two homes much bigger than the rest. Towering over the other houses, these large buildings must surely be the abodes of some enormous individuals, many times the size of the rest of the population. These - the houses of the gods - the temples, the churches and the cathedrals - are buildings apparently made for giants, and a space visitor would be surprised to find on closer examination that these giants are never at home. Their followers repeatedly visit them and bow down before them, but they themselves are invisible. Only their bell-like cries can be heard across the land. Man is indeed an imaginative species. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977
'God' as traditionally defined is a systematic contradiction of every valid metaphysical principle. The point is wider than just the Judeo-Christian concept of God. No argument will get you from this world to a supernatural world. No reason will lead you to a world contradicting this one. No method of inference will enable you to leap from existence to a 'super-existence.' ~Leonard Peikoff, The Philosophy of Objectivism
Is man one of God's blunders, or is God one of man's blunders? ~Friedrich Nietzsche
And it is in his own image, let us remember, that Man creates God. ~H. Havelock Ellis
On the sixth day God created man. On the seventh day, man returned the favor. ~Unknown
If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment. ~Voltaire
It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are. ~Ovid, Ars Amatoria
The ancient poets animated all objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of each city and country, placing it under its mental deity; 'til a system was formed, which some took advantage of, and enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began priesthood; choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounc'd that the Gods had order'd such things. Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast. ~William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"
Who made who? ~AC/DC
Atheism
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. ~Stephen Roberts
My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image to be servants of their human interests. ~George Santayana, 1863-1952
Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? ~Douglas Adams
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. ~Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted, 14 August 1966
Reason, Observation and Experience - the Holy Trinity of Science - have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
A wise man can do no better than to turn from the churches and look up through the airy majesty of the wayside trees with exultation, with resignation, at the unconquerable unimplicated sun. ~Llewelyn Powys, The Pathetic Fallacy
It dawned on me that a universe without deities was simpler and more internally consistent. The beauty and simplicity with which atheism, materialism (on the mind/body question), moral relativism, and other philosophical ideas all just fell into place has eliminated any doubt that I could be mistaken. I didn't realize until then how much cognitive dissonance the little logical inconsistencies in my previous beliefs had created. It is really wonderful for that to be gone. Atheism has given me more inner peace than religion ever could have. ~David Nye
I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape. ~Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
Belief in God? An afterlife? I believe in rock: this apodictic rock beneath my feet. ~Edward Abbey
I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people. ~Katherine Hepburn
In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners. ~Jonathon Miller
Atheism is the world of reality, it is reason, it is freedom.... [It is] bed-rock of sanity in a world of madness. ~Emmett F. Fields, Atheism: An Affirmative View
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Reasons Why, 1896
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. ~John Buchan, 1875-1940
An Atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An Atheist knows that heaven is something for which we should work now - here on earth - for all men together to enjoy. An Atheist thinks that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue, and enjoy it. An Atheist thinks that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment. Therefore, he seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist knows that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He knows that we cannot rely on a god nor channel action into prayer nor hope for an end to troubles in the hereafter. He knows that we are our brother's keeper and keepers of our lives; that we are responsible persons, that the job is here and the time is now. ~Madalyn Murray (later O'Hair), preamble to Murray v. Curlett, 27 April 1961
With its fears and superstitions and prejudices, religion poisons the mind of any one who believes in it - and even the best man, under the influence of religion, cannot reason wholesomely. Atheism, on the contrary, opens the mind to the clean winds of truth and establishes a fresh-air sanity. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
At the age of eighteen...I read Mill's Autobiography, where I found a sentence to the effect that his father taught him that the question 'Who made me?' cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question 'Who made God?'. This led me to abandon the 'First Cause' argument, and to become an atheist. Throughout the long period of religious doubt, I had been rendered very unhappy by the gradual loss of belief, but when the process was completed, I found to my surprise that I was quite glad to be done with the whole subject. ~Bertrand Russell, Autobiography
If I wanted a loving father, a faithful husband, an honorable neighbor, and a just citizen, I would seek him among the band of Atheists. ~John Tyndall, 1874
Theism tells men that they are the slaves of a God. Atheism assures men that they are the investigators and users of nature. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world - its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it. Conquer the world by intelligence and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian
Spirit Sans Nonsense
My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God. ~Albert Einstein
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. ~Thomas Paine
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings. Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. ~Pearl S. Buck
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma. ~Abraham Lincoln
To crush out fanaticism and revere the infinite, such is the law. Let us not confine ourselves to falling prostrate beneath the tree of creation and contemplating its vast ramifications full of stars. We have a duty to perform, to cultivate the human soul, to defend mystery against miracle, to adore the incomprehensible and to reject the absurd; to admit nothing that is inexplicable excepting what is necessary, to purify faith and obliterate superstition from the face of religion, to remove the vermin from the garden of God. ~Victor Hugo
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so! To my own Gods I go. It may be they shall give me greater ease than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities. ~Rudyard Kipling, 1888
Morality & Behavior
There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist. ~G.C. Lichtenberg, 1742-1799, German physicist and philosopher
I refuse to be labeled immoral merely because I am godless. ~Peter Walker
You're damn right we need a rational code of morality and ethics. But not much progress can be made in that direction while we've still got a majority ranting about gods, devils, souls, and absolute morality, and using an ancient book written by ignorant nomads as a guide. ~Doug Graham
There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave. ~Louis Kronenberger, The Spirit Of The Age Company Manners, 1954
The church to-day is a hospital for sick dogmas. Every Christian doctrine is a cripple; not one can walk or stand alone. Orthodoxy has put a false valuation on things. It calls a man good who goes to church, offers a prayer in public and accepts the Bible as the word of God; it calls a man bad who stays at home and enjoys himself with his family on Sunday, who eats without asking God to bless his food, and who does not expect to go to heaven on the vicarious railroad. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. ~Albert Einstein
I believe that at every level of society - familial, tribal, national and international - the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. ~Tenzin Gyatso, XIVth Dalai Lama
The first thing to get clear about Christian morality between man and man is that in this department Christ did not come to teach any brand new morality. The Golden Rule of the New Testament (Do as you would be done by) is a summing up of what everyone, at bottom, had always known to be right. ~C.S. Lewis
The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action. ~Albert Einstein
The influences that have lifted the race to a higher moral level are education, freedom, leisure, the humanizing tendency of a better-supplied and more interesting life. In a word, science and liberalism - the two forces, fundamentally skeptical, that we have seen continuously at work in human progress - have accomplished the very things for which religion claims the credit. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Outline of Bunk
When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out. ~Frank Sinatra
The noble soul has reverence for itself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
None of us can boast about the morality of our ancestors. The records do not show that Adam and Eve were married. ~Ed Howe
Religion is no more the parent of morality than an incubator is the mother of a chicken. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
In every age immorality has found no less support in religion than morality has. If the achievements of religion in respect to man's happiness, susceptibility to culture and moral control are no better than this, the question cannot but arise whether we are not overrating its necessity for mankind, and whether we do wisely in basing our cultural demands upon it. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason. ~Mary Wollstonecraft
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time. ~H.L. Mencken
Convicts register their religious affiliation when they're processed into prison. And about 99.5% of the huge U.S.A. prison population consists of inmates who identified themselves as members of religious denominations. ~Gene M. Kasmar
I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. ~Bertrand Russell
Moral: a peerless maxim enumerated by God in his Holy Bible, such as that of Deut. 23:1, if your testicles are crushed or your male member missing, you must never enter a sanctuary of the Lord. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, Atheologian
Most studies show that conventional religion is not an effective force for moral behavior or against criminal activity. ~Bernard Spilka, Ralph Hood, and Richard Gorsuch, The Psychology of Religion
Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful - just stupid.) ~Robert A. Heinlein
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. ~James Thurber
A Christian is a man who feels repentance on Sunday for what he did on Saturday, and what he is going to do on Monday. ~Thomas Ybarra
St. Augustine found lying among the clergy so prevalent that he wrote two books (De Mendacio in 395 A.D. and Contra Mendacium in 420 A.D.), urging that it stop. ~Gordon Stein, A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. ~Francis Bacon
Without a doubt the greatest injury of all was done by basing morals on myth. For, sooner or later, myth is recognized for what it is, and disappears. Then morality loses the foundation on which it has been built. ~Lord Samuel
Gilles de Rais supposedly sodomized, mutilated, and murdered more than 700 children. At his trial he told of his usual procedure of sexually assaulting boys, cutting open their chests and burying his face in their lungs, and opening their abdomens and handling their intestines. He also confessed to necrophilia with the dismembered bodies and to attempted intercourse with a fetus he cut out of a pregnant woman. At his trial de Rais repented, and the bishop of Nantes was forced to receive him back into the church. ~Bodies Under Siege
No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine. ~A.J. Ayer, Essay On Humanism
Where's the Christ in Christian?
Christendom has done away with Christianity without being quite aware of it. ~Soren Kierkegaard, Time, 16 December 1946
Christianity is not a religion; it's an industry. ~Unknown
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments. ~Benjamin Franklin
The religious part of Easter is treated with solemnity, even the resurrection, but the secular part is pure paganism with all the heartiness drained out of it. Easter needs its Dickens. ~Samuel Marchbank's Almanac
One would like to believe that people who think of themselves as devout Christians would also behave in a manner that is in according with Christian ethics. But pastorally and existentially, I know that this is not the case - and never has been. ~John Neuhaus, 1993
Organized Christianity has probably done more to retard the ideals that were its founders' than any other agency in the world. ~Richard Le Gallienne
If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be - a Christian. ~Mark Twain, Notebook
What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow in his footsteps? ~Unknown
To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. ~Elwyn Brooks White
Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it. ~C.C. Colton
And all the good you've done will soon be swept away,
You've begun to matter more than the things you say.
~Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jesus Christ Superstar
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ~Mahatma Gandhi
Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it. ~George Bernard Shaw
But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
The last Christian died on the cross. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Their Own Worst Enemies - Absurd Quotes
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God. ~George Bush
To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. ~Cardinal Bellarmino 1615, during the trial of Galileo
To affirm that the Sun...is at the centre of the universe and only rotates on its axis without going from east to west, is a very dangerous attitude and one calculated not only to arouse all Scholastic philosophers and theologians but also to injure our holy faith by contradicting the Scriptures. ~Cardinal Bellarmino, 17th Century Church Master Collegio Romano, who imprisoned and tortured Galileo for his astronomical works
If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it. ~William Jennings Bryan
There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral. ~Reverend Alexander Campbell
I feel most ministers who claim they've heard God's voice are eating too much pizza before they go to bed at night, and it's really an intestinal disorder, not a revelation. ~Rev. Jerry Falwell
I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work. ~Adolph Hitler, 1936
The equal toleration of all religions...is the same as atheism. ~Pope Leo XIII, "Imortale Dei"
Heaven and earth, centre and circumference, were created together, in the same instant, and clouds full of water...this work took place and man was created by the Trinity on the twenty-third of October, 4004 B.C., at nine o'clock in the morning. ~John Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1859
If I had to baptise a Jew, I would take him to the bridge of the Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words "I baptise thee in the name of Abraham." ~Martin Luther, quoted in Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor by Peter F. Wiener, 1985
The Catholic textbooks go so far as to state that oaths of office taken by the President, Congressmen, Governor, judge, etc. if the person be a Catholic must be taken with the mental restriction that his upholding of the Constitution and laws is subject to their non-conflict with the laws of the Catholic Church. ~Emmet McLoughlins, American Culture and Catholic Schools
[As for evolution]...cutting out the sections [on the subject] is preferable if the portions are not thick enough to cause damage to the spine of the book as it is opened and closed in normal use. When the sections needing correction are too thick, paste the pages together being careful not to smear portions of the book not intended for correction. ~R.E. Martin, American creationist, in "Reviewing and Correcting Encyclopaedias" (1983: 205-7), instructing followers to censor books that don't follow creation dogma
When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted its data. ~Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research
The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God. ~Boy Scouts of America, statement on membership form
The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship. ~Boy Scouts of America policy, 1970
This monkey mythology of Darwin is the cause of permissiveness, promiscuity, prophylactics, perversions, pregnancies, abortions, pornography, pollution, poisoning and proliferation of crimes of all types. ~Judge Braswell Dean, quoted in Time, March 1981
No man has the right to have his own religion. ~Bishop Hughes, Official Journal of Bishops, 26 January 1852
Use against heretics the spiritual sword of excommunication, and if this does not prove effective, use the material sword. ~Pope Innocent III, 1161-1216
The only Bible-honoring conclusion is, of course, that Genesis 1:11 is actual historical truth, regardless of any scientific or chronological problems thereby entailed. ~Dr. Henry Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research, 1972
We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides. ~Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits], Exercitia spiritualia, 1541
Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man...keep alive for yourselves. ~Moses, relaying God's orders to his people, Numbers 31:17-18
And whereas it has also come to the knowledge of the said Congregation that the Pythagorean doctrine - which is false and altogether opposed to the Holy Scripture - of the motion of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, which is also taught by Nicolaus Copernicus in De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium, and by Diego de Zuiga On Job, is now being spread abroad and accepted by many.... Therefore, in order that this opinion may not insinuate itself any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth, the Holy Congregation has decreed that the said Nicolaus Copernicus, De Revolutionibus orbium, and Diego de Zuiga, On Job, be suspended until they are corrected. ~Decree of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Index condemning De Revolutionibus, 5 March 1616
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. ~Jerry Falwell
The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example. ~Reverend R. Furman, D.D., Baptist, of South Carolina
Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood.... Vaccination never saved human life. It does not prevent smallpox. ~The Golden Age, (predecessor to Awake!), 4 February 1931 (Jehovah's Witnesses)
When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell "Stop!" to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind. Then recite a portion of the Bible or sing a hymn. ~Mormon Guide to Self-Control
I was feeling sorry for you and thinking I was doing my Christian duty by making love to you. ~Republican Bob Packwood, quoted from his diary, speaking to someone other than his wife
The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 30 December 1981
I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss. ~Pat Robertson
You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 14 January 1991
They have kept us in submission because they have talked about separation of church and state. There is no such thing in the Constitution. It's a lie of the left, and we're not going to take it anymore. ~Pat Robertson, 1993
When I said during my presidential bid that I would only bring Christians and Jews into the government, I hit a firestorm. "What do you mean?" the media challenged me. "You're not going to bring atheists into the government? How dare you maintain that those who believe in the Judeo-Christian values are better qualified to govern America than Hindus and Muslims?" My simple answer is, "Yes, they are." ~Pat Robertson, The New World Order
Any violence which does not spring from a spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only rest in a fanatical outlook. ~Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
We Catholics may lie and say we are Protestants when we are among the Protestants or we may lie when we are among the Huguenots and say we are Huguenots; and if we wish we can stoop so low as to say we are Jews when we are among the Jews if our lying would benefit the Catholic Church. ~Jesuit oath from the Congressional Record
It is high time that scholars of all godly religions united to confront the forces of immorality in the present day under various names such as secularism, human rights, freedom of speech. ~Tehran's Kayhan International newspaper urging cooperation with the Vatican in opposing the U.N. population control document
Priestesses should be burnt at the stake because they are assuming powers they have no right to. In the medieval world that was called sorcery. The way of dealing with sorcerers was to burn them at the stake. It's illegal now but if I had my way that is what would happen to them. In medieval times, I would burn the bloody bitches. ~Church of England vicar Rev. Anthony Kennedy, 9 March 1994 as reported in the Times, regarding female Church of England priests
Reason should be destroyed in all Christians. ~Martin Luther
Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his Reason. ~Martin Luther
But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly. For our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our conscience is encumbered with it before God. ~Martin Luther, On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543
Evolution is the root of atheism, of communism, nazism, behaviorism, racism, economic imperialism, militarism, libertinism, anarchism, and all manner of anti-Christian systems of belief and practice. ~H.M. Morris, The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, 1972
The only way we can determine the true age of the earth is for God to tell us what it is. And since He has told us, very plainly, in the Holy Scriptures that it is several thousand years in age, and no more, that ought to settle all basic questions of terrestrial chronology. ~Henry Morris, Institute for Creation Research President, 1974
People who are bitter and hateful about slavery are obviously bitter and hateful against God and his word, because they reject what God says and embrace what mere humans say concerning slavery. This humanistic thinking is what the abolitionists embraced. ~Alabama State Senator Charles Davidson, citing biblical defenses of slavery, 1996
Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest. ~Jimmy Swaggart, TV preacher, self-described pornography addict who paid prostitutes to commit "pornographic acts"
In the end all your knees will bow to Jesus Christ whether you want to or not. ~Kevin Tebedo, Director of Colorado for Family Values to an audience composed of various religions (Citizens Project Newsletter, August 1993)
At a recent Praise The Lord convention, the hotel reported that over 80% of the conventionites watched at least one X-rated movie on the hotel's pay-per-view cable. ~Unknown
The so-called geologic ages are essentially synonymous with the evolutionary theory of origins. The latter is the anti-God conspiracy of Satan himself. ~Dr. Henry Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research, 1978
Why can't the Jews and Arabs just sit down together and settle this like good Christians? ~Overheard in Congressional debate
Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the 'prophets, seers, and revelators' of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy. Lucifer...wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and to 'do their own thinking'.... When our leaders speak, the thinking had been done. When they propose a plan - it is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. ~Mormon Elder Boyd K. Packer, The Improvement Era, 1945
It was once proposed that all religious persuasions should be free and their worship publicly exercised. We Catholics have rejected this article as contrary to Roman Catholic canon law. ~Pope Pius VII, 1808
The state (the U.S. Constitution) has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he may desire. ~Pope Pius IX
The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations but also all of human thought. ~J. Gresham Machen
Let Catholic writers take care when defending the cause of the proletariat and the poor not to use language calculated to inspire among the people aversion to the upper classes of society. ~Pope Pius X, letter to the bishops of Italy, 18 December 1903
I honestly believe that in my lifetime we will see a country once again governed by Christians...and Christian values. What Christians have got to do is take back this country, one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one state at a time. ~Ralph Reed, Executive Director of the Christian Coalition
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. That danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man to the bonds of Hell. ~St. Augustine
Incest is a voluntary act on the woman's part. ~Charles Rice, Professor of Law, Notre Dame University, in a pamphlet published by the American Life League
I think the sky is blue because it's a shift from black through purple to blue, and it has to do with where the light is. You know, the farther we get into darkness, and there's a shifting of color of light into the blueness, and I think as you go farther and farther away from the reflected light we have from the sun or the light that's bouncing off this earth, uh, the darker it gets.... I think if you look at the color scale, you start at black, move it through purple, move it on out, it's the shifting of color. We mentioned before about the stars singing, and that's one of the effects of the shifting of colors. ~Pat Robertson, 700 Club
That [separation of church and state] was never in the Constitution, however much the liberals laugh at me for saying it, they know good and well it was never in the Constitution! Such language only appeared in the constitution of the communist Soviet Union. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 22 January 1995
The wars of extermination have given a lot of people trouble unless they know what was going on. The people in the land of Palestine were very wicked. They were given over to idolatry; they sacrificed their children; they had all kinds of abominable sex practices; they were having sex, apparently, with animals; they were having sex men with men, and women with women; they were committing adultery, fornication; they were worshipping idols, offering their children up; and they were forsaking God. God told the Israelites to kill them all - men, women and children, to destroy them. And that seems to be a terrible thing to do. Is it? Or isn't it? Well, let us assume there were 2,000 of them, or 10,000 of them living in the land, or whatever number there was of them. I don't have the exact number. Pick a number. God said, 'Kill them all.' Well, that would seem hard, wouldn't it? That would be 10,000 people who would probably go to Hell. But, if they stayed and reproduced, in 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 100 more years, they could conceivably be - 10,000 would go to a 100,000 - 100,000 could conceivably go to a million. And then, there would be a million people who would have to spend eternity in Hell! And it's far more merciful to take away a few than to see in the future a 100 years down the road, and say, 'Well, I have to take away a million people that would forever be apart from God,' because the abomination was there like a contagium. God saw that there was no cure for it. It wasn't going to change; their hearts weren't going to change; and all they would do is cause trouble for the Israelites, and pull the Israelites away from God, and prevent the truth of God from reaching the Earth. So, God, in love, took away a small number that he might not have to take away a large number. ~Pat Robertson, rationalizing genocide committed by the early Israelites, The 700 Club, 6 May 1985
These are actually chunks of lung itself being coughed up. I don't understand exactly what it is, but God has healed you right now. Amen. ~Pat Robertson, during a "faith healing" session
The New York Times reports that evangelist Pat Robertson, who will announce in two weeks whether he will run for the presidency, claims he can pray away bad weather. Robertson said in a recent interview that his prayers to keep Hurricane Gloria away from Virginia Beach last June had been successful, which was 'extremely important because I felt, interestingly enough, that if I couldn't move a hurricane, I could hardly move a nation.' Robertson said that if the hurricane had come ashore, he would have seen it as a sign from above to abandon his presidential ambitions. ~Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 September 1986
Television preacher Pat Robertson, who plans to officially announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next month, said he would not tolerate atheists in his administration, Time magazine reported yesterday. Although Robertson firmly denied a quote attributed to him that only born-again Christians and Jews should hold government jobs, he told Time that nonbelievers would have no place in his administration if he were elected. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 1987 (UPI)
Rescue teams battled yesterday to answer the desperate screams of mud-caked survivors of a volcano that killed as many as 20,000 people. A man stood buried up to his neck by mud and water, his legs pinned down by a body four feet below the surface. Another man, his foot crushed by rubble, lay for more than 24 hours on top of the bodies of his three children - but he survived along with his pregnant wife. "It was a miracle," Jose Martinez, a 49-year-old truck driver, said from his hospital bed in Bogota. "For those of us who survived, it was a miracle." ~San Francisco Chronicle, 16 November 1985 (Reuters)
President Bush, saying faith has fostered democratic change around the world, told the National Religious Broadcasters yesterday that "one cannot be America's president without a belief in God." ~San Francisco Chronicle, 30 January 1990 (UPI)
Couples who are not childless by choice are of course not culpable. But something is wrong if a couple refuses to have children without a very good reason. ~Bishop Santer, addressing the Birmingham [England] Diocesan Synod, Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1995
Freedom of the press is one of the greatest evils threatening modern society. Freedom of the press was universally one of the most pernicious of the evils of the day. ~Cardinal Pedro Segura, NY Herald Tribune, 5 December 1952
His heart shall be torn from his living bosom and thrown in his face, after which his head is to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple in his native village. His body is to be cut into four pieces and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the City of Alkamaar. ~Diedrich Sonoy, Lutheran governor in Holland, on the Catholic Nanning Koppezoon, who was tortured for refusing to convert
The man who has the hardihood to avow that he does not believe in a God, shows a recklessness of moral character and utter want of moral responsibility, such as very little entitles him to be heard or believed in a court of justice in a country designated as Christian. ~Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1871
Whatsoever person or persons withing this Province...shall from henceforth blaspheme God...or shall deny our Saviour Jesus to be the Sonne of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead...shall be punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands. ~Maryland's "Tolerance Act," 1649, often hailed as the first law for religious "freedom" in the colonies
It is your God-given right to destroy any man or woman calling themselves doctors who willingly slaughter innocent children. ~Keith Tucci, Executive Director, Operation Rescue
I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to hold the slave in bondage. ~Reverend Thomas Witherspoon, Presbyterian, of Alabama
A Roman Catholic priest and theologian has called on his church to consider the possibility of evangelizing extraterrestrials, according to published reports. After two Swiss astronomers said they had discovered the first planet in a solar system similar to Earth's, Piero Coda, a theology professor in Rome, said any beings living on the planet would be in need of salvation. ~Associated Baptist Press article, as quoted Jennifer Graham, Knight-Ridder Newspaper, in "Mork from Ork is Going to Hell? Some Scholars Say Extraterrestrials Would Be Tainted by Original Sin."
Technological "Progress"
All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark KennedyInventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's DictionaryModern technologyOwes ecologyAn apology.~Alan M. EddisonMen have become the tools of their tools. ~Henry David ThoreauIt has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert EinsteinOne machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ~Elbert HubbardFor a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. ~Richard P. FeynmanIf it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. ~Frank Lloyd WrightSoon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation. ~Jean ArpTechnological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
Technology...the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max FrischWestern society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences. ~Lewis MumfordGod never made His work for man to mend. ~John DrydenTechnology...is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971Don't get smart alecksyWith the galaxyLeave the atom alone.~E.Y. Harburg, "Leave the Atom Alone," 1957The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology. ~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday. ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970
Television
All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? ~Nicholas JohnsonTelevision has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. ~Ann LandersI find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho MarxWe cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores. When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos? Parents, don't make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ~George BushIf you came and you found a strange man...teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it. ~Jerome SingerTelevision is a medium because anything well done is rare. ~Fred AllenTelevision has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. ~Laurence J. PeterTV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~UnknownI wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work. ~Unknown
Advertising
What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. ~Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease. ~UnknownIt is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. ~R. SerlingAdvertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ~Stephen Butler Leacock, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance. ~Marshall McLuhan, introduction to Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America, 1974As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise. ~George Will, quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American QuotationsAdvertisers in general bear a large part of the responsibility for the deep feelings of inadequacy that drive women to psychiatrists, pills, or the bottle. ~Marya Mannes, But Will It Sell?, 1964Our society's values are being corrupted by advertising's insistence on the equation: Youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, success equals happiness. ~John Fisher, The Plot to Make You Buy, 1968
Property
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. ~Adam Smith, Wealth of NationsProperty is organized robbery. ~George Bernard ShawThe first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, "This is mine" and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race had been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: "Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one." ~Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1755
America & Patriotism
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. ~Bill VaughanHeroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! ~Albert EinsteinPatriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. ~Bertrand RussellIllegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. ~Robert OrbenAmerica's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. ~Bobcat GoldthwaiteWhen asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours." ~Vine Deloria, Jr.If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it. ~Norman ThomasTaxation with representation ain't so hot either. ~Gerald BarzanWhat a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it. ~Margot AsquithWhat the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds. ~Will RogersPatriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. ~George Jean NathanPatriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~George Bernard ShawThe love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~Pablo CasalsIt is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llahI pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora, fauna and human life that it supports, one planet indivisible, with safe air, water & soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace for all. ~Proposed new Pledge of Allegiance, as seen on a buttonThe taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. ~Ronald ReaganIf you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~UnknownVery little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it. ~Eric NicolAmerica is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. ~Georges ClemenceauIn America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. ~Peter Alexander UstinovRachel: The pilgrims came here to escape persecution from the British.Elizabeth: Yes, so they could go about persecuting the Indians.~ER, "Great Expectations"America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~Laurence J. PeterWe Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin HarrisonThere is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~William J. ClintonThe trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. ~Charles LuckmanWhat the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. ~From the movie Tommy BoyAmericans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. ~Alexis de TocquevilleAmerica is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there. ~Laurence J. PeterI bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father." ~Will RogersAmerica...just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. ~Hunter S. ThompsonAny American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore VidalI just don't know why they're shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "O.R."
Politics & U.S. Government
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard ArmourWhen buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. ~P.J. O'RourkeGovernments should not possess instruments of coercion and violence denied to their citizens. ~Edgar A. SuterWe live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy. ~Martin L. Gross, A Call for Revolution, 1993If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. ~Will RogersBad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean NathanThere are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de TocquevilleWe would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardWhen there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya CohenAll of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert EinsteinWhat is conservatism? Is it not the adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried? ~Abraham LincolnI think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidateThe way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford, in Anne Chisholm, Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists, 1972The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow WilsonDemocracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ~Robert ByrneA liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future. ~Leonard Bernstein, The New York Times, 30 October 1988A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. ~Robert FrostTake our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches the first prize. ~Saul BellowIn order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. ~Charles de GaulleIt might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~UnknownThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston ChurchillThose who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~PlatoUnder democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. ~Nikita KhruschevThe nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose. ~William SimonLiberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear. ~William E. Gladstone, 1866When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence DarrowGeorge Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~UnknownTruth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug GwynIf people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin ThroopThe modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~John Kenneth GalbraithDemocracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ~James Russell LowellA conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio speech, 26 October 1939Democracy: The substitution of election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ~George Bernard ShawMan will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ~Denis DiderotIn the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. AugustinePoliticians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John QuintonDemocracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin LichtenbergGiving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'RourkeIf all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard ShawNo man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham LincolnOur government...teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~Justice Louis Dembitz BrandeisA government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry GoldwaterA conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. ~Leo RostenThe Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'RourkeMany forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. ~Winston ChurchillConservative, n.: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. ~Ambrose BierceDemocracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think. ~UnknownA conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time. ~Alfred E. WiggamLiberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, New York Times, 8 October 1989Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~UnknownThe idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process. ~Adlai StevensonEvery two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles KrauthammerThe cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone. ~Robert L. HeilbronerMajority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. ~Larry FlyntHe didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlandsThe problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VIIPolitics, n.: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry HardimanIf voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma GoldmanChristmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard LammAncient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ~Will RogersOhio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. ~Will RogersIf you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National. ~George WillOne ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. ~Theodore Forstmann
Technological "Progress"
All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark Kennedy
Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison
Men have become the tools of their tools. ~Henry David Thoreau
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert Einstein
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ~Elbert Hubbard
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. ~Richard P. Feynman
If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation. ~Jean Arp
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max Frisch
Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences. ~Lewis Mumford
God never made His work for man to mend. ~John Dryden
Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971
Don't get smart alecksy
With the galaxy
Leave the atom alone.
~E.Y. Harburg, "Leave the Atom Alone," 1957
The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology. ~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973
The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday. ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970
Television
All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? ~Nicholas Johnson
Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. ~Ann Landers
I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx
We cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores. When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos? Parents, don't make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ~George Bush
If you came and you found a strange man... teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it. ~Jerome Singer
Television is a medium because anything well done is rare. ~Fred Allen
Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. ~Laurence J. Peter
TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Unknown
I wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work. ~Unknown
Advertising
What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. ~Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964
Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease. ~Unknown
It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. ~R. Serling
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ~Stephen Butler Leacock, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982
Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance. ~Marshall McLuhan, introduction to Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America, 1974
As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise. ~George Will, quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations
Advertisers in general bear a large part of the responsibility for the deep feelings of inadequacy that drive women to psychiatrists, pills, or the bottle. ~Marya Mannes, But Will It Sell?, 1964
Our society's values are being corrupted by advertising's insistence on the equation: Youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, success equals happiness. ~John Fisher, The Plot to Make You Buy, 1968
Property
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. ~Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
Property is organized robbery. ~George Bernard Shaw
The first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, "This is mine" and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race had been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: "Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one." ~Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1755
America & Patriotism
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. ~Bill Vaughan
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! ~Albert Einstein
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. ~Bertrand Russell
Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. ~Robert Orben
America's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. ~Bobcat Goldthwaite
When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours." ~Vine Deloria, Jr.
If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it. ~Norman Thomas
Taxation with representation ain't so hot either. ~Gerald Barzan
What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it. ~Margot Asquith
What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds. ~Will Rogers
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. ~George Jean Nathan
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~George Bernard Shaw
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~Pablo Casals
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah
I pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora, fauna and human life that it supports, one planet indivisible, with safe air, water & soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace for all. ~Proposed new Pledge of Allegiance, as seen on a button
The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. ~Ronald Reagan
If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~Unknown
Very little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it. ~Eric Nicol
America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. ~Georges Clemenceau
In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. ~Peter Alexander Ustinov
Rachel: The pilgrims came here to escape persecution from the British.
Elizabeth: Yes, so they could go about persecuting the Indians.
~ER, "Great Expectations"
America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~Laurence J. Peter
We Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin Harrison
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~William J. Clinton
The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. ~Charles Luckman
What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. ~From the movie Tommy Boy
Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. ~Alexis de Tocqueville
America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there. ~Laurence J. Peter
I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father." ~Will Rogers
America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. ~Hunter S. Thompson
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal
I just don't know why they're shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "O.R."
Politics & U.S. Government
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Governments should not possess instruments of coercion and violence denied to their citizens. ~Edgar A. Suter
We live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy. ~Martin L. Gross, A Call for Revolution, 1993
If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. ~Will Rogers
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean Nathan
There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville
We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya Cohen
All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert Einstein
I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidate
The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford, in Anne Chisholm, Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists, 1972
The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow Wilson
Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ~Robert Byrne
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. ~Robert Frost
Take our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches the first prize. ~Saul Bellow
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. ~Charles de Gaulle
It might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~Unknown
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956
The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose. ~William Simon
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow
George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Unknown
Truth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug Gwyn
If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin Throop
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ~James Russell Lowell
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio speech, 26 October 1939
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ~Denis Diderot
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. Augustine
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton
Democracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin Lichtenberg
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'Rourke
If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard Shaw
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham Lincoln
Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry Goldwater
A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. ~Leo Rosten
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. ~Winston Churchill
Conservative, n.: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. ~Ambrose Bierce
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think. ~Unknown
Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~Unknown
The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process. ~Adlai Stevenson
Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer
Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. ~Larry Flynt
He didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands
The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII
Politics, n.: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma Goldman
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ~Will Rogers
Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. ~Will Rogers
If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National. ~George Will
One ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. ~Theodore Forstmann
Vegetarianism
A vegetarian is a person who won't eat anything that can have children. ~David BrennerHow can you eat anything with eyes? ~Will KelloggTruely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ~Leonardo da VinciIf slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartneyThe beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital. ~Neal Barnard, M.D.I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals. ~Henry David ThoreauI venture to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity of discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly painful and revolting, that if they could obtain a flesh diet on no other condition, they would relinquish it forever. ~W.E.H. LeckyAnimals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends. ~George Bernard ShawYou put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car. ~Harvey DiamondThe human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk. ~Michael Klaper, M.D., author of Vegan Nutrition: Pure & SimpleYou have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerPoor animals! How jealously they guard their pathetic bodies...that which to us is merely an evening's meal, but to them is life itself. ~T. Casey BrennanWhile we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? ~George Bernard ShawDear Lord, I've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us... a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird... a social being... capable of actual affection... nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family. ~Berke Breathed, Bloom Country BabylonMan is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. ~Samuel ButlerIf you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch. ~k.d. langRecognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal. ~Ingrid Newkirk, National Director of People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsNothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own. ~Robert Louis StevensonA man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. ~Leo TolstoyI just could not stand the idea of eating meat - I really do think that it has made me calmer.... People's general awareness is getting much better, even down to buying a pint of milk: the fact that the calves are actually killed so that the milk doesn't go to them but to us cannot really be right, and if you have seen a cow in a state of extreme distress because it cannot understand why its calf isn't by, it can make you think a lot. ~Kate BushI think if you want to eat more meat you should kill it yourself and eat it raw so that you are not blinded by the hypocrisy of having it processed for you. ~Margi ClarkThis [video footage from the movie Babe] is the way Americans want to think of pigs. Real-life "Babes" see no sun in their limited lives, with no hay to lie on, no mud to roll in. The sows live in tiny cages, so narrow they can't even turn around. They live over metal grates, and their waste is pushed through slats beneath them and flushed into huge pits. ~Morley Safer, "Pork Power," 60 Minutes, 19 September 1997"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai. ~Leo TolstoyAs soon as I realized that I didn't need meat to survive or to be in good health, I began to see how forlorn it all is. If only we had a different mentality about the drama of the cowboy and the range and all the rest of it. It's a very romantic notion, an entrenched part of American culture, but I've seen, for example, pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and their hysteria and panic was something I shall never forget. ~Cloris LeachmanWe manage to swallow flesh only because we do not think of the cruel and sinful thing that we do. Cruelty...is a fundamental sin, and admits of no arguments or nice distinctions. If only we do not allow our heart to grow callous, it protests against cruelty, is always clearly heard; and yet we go on perpetrating cruelties easily, merrily, all of us - in fact, anyone who does not join in is dubbed a crank. ~Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize 1913Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? ~PlutarchOne farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle. ~Henry David ThoreauIt is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation, that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion; and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust. ~Percy Bysshe ShelleyTo my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. ~Mahatma GandhiMy situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures. ~George Bernard ShawWe don't need to eat anyone who would run, swim, or fly away if he could. ~James CromwellVegetarianism is harmless enough, though it's apt to give a person wind and self-righteousness. ~Robert HutchinsonHeart attacks...God's revenge for eating his little animal friends. ~UnknownNothing spoils lunch any quicker than a rogue meatball rampaging through your spaghetti. ~Jim DavisTongue - a variety of meat, rarely served because it clearly crosses the line between a cut of beef and a piece of a dead cow. ~Bob EkstromPigs may not be as cuddly as kittens or puppies, but they suffer just as much. ~James CromwellA veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: "Cattle dragged and choked...knocking 'em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they're stunned they come back to life, and they're up there agonizing. They're supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren't and they'll go through the skinning process alive. I've worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They're all the same. If people were to see this, they'd probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house everybody gets so used to it that it doesn't mean anything." ~Slaughterhouse 1997According to the Environmental Protection Agency, factory farming pollutes U.S. waterways more than all industrial sources combined. ~PETAWhy does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God. I could be eating a slow learner. ~Lynda MontgomeryThink of me toniteFor that which you savorDid it give you something real,or could you taste the pain of my death in its flavor?~Wayne K. Tolson, from "Food Forethought"Animal Rights & Compassion
Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. ~Charles R. MagelThe assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality. ~SchopenhauerNon-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~Thomas A. EdisonThe question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy BenthamGod loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. ~Jacques Dreview, Afin de vivre bel et bienThe human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret.... It has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. ~Albert SchweitzerI care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. ~Abraham LincolnNo one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. ~UnknownCruelty is one fashion statement we can all do without. ~Rue McClanahanDrinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons, madam: that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals. ~Pierre-Augustin de BeaumarchaisThe squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest. ~Henry David ThoreauWe have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun. ~P.G. WodehouseI ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. ~Ellen DeGeneresThe fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot. ~Mark Twain, What Is Man?Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote. ~Paul HarveySupport the right to arm bears. ~Bumper stickerWild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. ~James Anthony FroudeHunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game. ~Paul RodriguezWhen a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of god we call him a sportsman. ~Joseph Wood KrutchThe animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men. ~Alice WalkerTo a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime. ~Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize 1915As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerMan is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. ~George Orwell, Animal FarmLife is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage. ~Sri AurobindoWhen I was twelve, I went hunting with my father and we shot a bird. He was laying there and something struck me. Why do we call this fun to kill this creature [who] was as happy as I was when I woke up this morning. ~Marv LevyThose who wish to pet and baby wild animals "love" them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more. ~Edwin Way Teale, Circle of the Seasons, 1953Cockfighting was illegal in Oklahoma until 1963, when a judge ruled that chickens are not animals and therefore unprotected by anticruelty laws. ~U.S. News & World Report, 6 December 1999It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions. ~Mark TwainEvery year tens of thousands of animals suffer and die in laboratory tests of cosmetics and household products...despite the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat accidental or purposeful misuse of the products. Please join me in using your voice for those whose cries are forever sealed behind the laboratory doors. ~Woody HarrelsonMichael W. Fox, vice-president of the Humane Society, said that, "to call an animal with whom you share your life a 'pet,' is reminiscent of men's magazines where you (a figure of speech, don't take it personally) have the Pet of the Month." It is supposed that the continued use of the word "pet" to designate dogs or cats threatens to reduce their level of respect to the current status of twentieth century North American women. Now that's radical. ~The McGill Red HerringVery little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come. ~Albert SchweitzerBecause the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account? ~Jean Paul RichterIn an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics. ~Pete SingerAnimals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished "shooting," my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans. ~Jimmy StewartGet a feel for fur: Slam your fingers in a car door. ~Anonymous, on the use of steel traps to capture fur-bearing animals, cited in Audubon, November 1990Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing it is not is a sport. Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal circumstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are endowed with human intelligence and given 12-gauge shotguns. Bet we'd see a lot fewer drunk yahoos (live ones, anyway) in the woods if that happened. ~R. Lerner, letter, Sierra, March-April 1991People must have renounced, it seems to me, all natural intelligence to dare to advance that animals are but animated machines.... It appears to me, besides, that [such people] can never have observed with attention the character of animals, not to have distinguished among them the different voices of need, of suffering, of joy, of pain, of love, of anger, and of all their affections. It would be very strange that they should express so well what they could not feel. ~Voltaire, Trate sur la toleranceHeaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made [man] is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one...that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~Mark TwainVivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character. ~George Bernard ShawI am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't.... The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further. ~Mark TwainIf we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons. ~C.S. LewisWhen it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. ~Ingrid NewkirkThe basis of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule: we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species in our dominant position. ~Christine StevensZoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all. ~Michael Fox, Sierra, November-December 1990There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties.... The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man. We have seen that the senses and intuitions, the various emotions and faculties, such as love, memory, attention and curiosity, imitation, reason, etc., of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or even sometimes a well-developed condition, in the lower animals. ~Charles DarwinThe indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit. All education should be directed toward the refinement of the individual's sensibilities in relation not only to one's fellow humans everywhere, but to all things whatsoever. In the societies of the Western world compassionate intelligence is encouraged in girls - in boys it is tabu. The tabu on tenderness in which boys are conditioned, the emphasis on "manliness," "machoism," plays havoc with the male's capacity for compassionate intelligence. Tenderness is considered to be feminine, and that is sufficient to remove it from the repertoire of masculine behavior. Indeed, things have reached such a pass in the Western world that many men seem to have lost all understanding of its meaning. The masculine world would substitute for it the idea of "justice." The difficulty with that is that there is not much compassion in their justice, and justice without compassion is not justice at all. ~Ashley MontagueThe animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. ~Henry Beston, The Outermost House, 1928People need to be desensitized to the suffering of others gradually. A society that teaches that the suffering of animals doesn't matter is well on its way to raising future sadists. Virtually every serial killer in America will tell you tales of a childhood spent tormenting frogs, cats, and dogs. This is no coincidence. The scale from swatting flies to knowingly eating the results of farmers who treat animals inhumanely to cold-blooded murder is a continuum with a slippery slope. How much blood is on your hands? ~Melissa SilvestreI abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence. ~Mahatma GandhiI had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months before I used one as a [heart] donor. When we put him to sleep in his cage in preparation for the operation, he chattered and cried incessantly. We attached no significance to this, but it must have made a great impression on his companion, for when we removed the body to the operating room, the other chimp wept bitterly and was inconsolable for days. The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures. ~Christian Barnard, surgeonI abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better, it should be abolished. I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not have been obtained without such barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing is evil. ~Charles Mayo, founder of the Mayo ClinicThere will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerThis tendency [to cruelty] should be watched in them [children], and if they incline to any such cruelty, they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom of tormenting and killing other animals will, by degrees, harden their hearts even towards men.... And they, who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferior creatures, will not be apt to be very compassionate or benign to those of their own kind. Children should from the beginning be brought up in an abhorrence of killing or tormenting living beings.... And indeed, I think people from their cradles should be tender to all sensible creatures.... All the entertainment and talk of History is of nothing but fighting and killing; and the honour and renown that is bestowed on conquerors, who, for the most part, are but the great butchers of mankind, further mislead youth. ~John Locke
War & Peace, Violence & Nonviolence
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. ~Bertrand RussellJoin the Army! Travel to exotic, distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people, and kill them. ~Full Metal JacketMankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. ~John F. KennedyThe direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. ~David Friedman"There are no atheists in foxholes" isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes. ~James MorrowEvery gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerWhat a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. ~Robert E. Lee, in a letter to his wife, 1864Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him. ~M*A*S*H, Colonel PotterWar would end if the dead could return. ~Stanley BaldwinOurs is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living. ~General Omar BradleyI dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?" ~Eve MerriamEveryone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals. ~Colman McCarthy, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~Voltaire, WarNations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham FlexnerWar will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. ~John F. KennedyIf it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how? ~Joan BaezI couldn't help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together. ~Ronald Reagan, 1985[John] Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war. ~Isaac AsimovThe tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst. ~Henry FosdickThere was never a good war or a bad peace. ~Benjamin FranklinMan is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out...and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" - with his mouth. ~Mark TwainIt doesn't require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won't be U.S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the senate. ~George McGovernI'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. ~George McGovernWhen the rich wage war, it's the poor who die. ~Jean-Paul SartreDraft beer; not people. ~UnknownThe release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. ~Albert EinsteinYou cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time. ~Albert EinsteinIf it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "no" to war. For one does not create a human society on mounds of corpses. ~Louis LecoinThe military don't start wars. Politicians start wars. ~William WestmorelandI have never advocated war except as a means of peace. ~Ulysses S. GrantWe are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerIn the name of peaceThey waged the warsAin't they got no shame~Nikki GiovanniNever think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~Ernest HemingwayWar makes thieves and peace hangs them. ~George HerbertYou can no more win a war that you can win an earthquake. ~Jeanette RankinSometime they'll give a war and nobody will come. ~Carl SandburgMan has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "A Declaration of Rights"To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. ~Michael ServetusThe draft is white people sending black people to fight yellow people to protect the country they stole from red people. ~Gerome Gragni and James Rado, 1967We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. ~GladstoneOlder men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. ~Herbert HooverThere is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. ~Havelock EllisWhy do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong? ~Holly NearIf they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots. ~Napoleon BonaparteIf we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war. ~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf WarThe pacifist's task today is to find a method of helping and healing which provides a revolutionary constructive substitute for war. ~Vera Brittain, 1964The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service. ~Albert EinsteinO Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it. ~Mark Twain, "The War Prayer"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~John Stewart Mill [I was very hesitant to post this quote. I disagree with war, but Mill's statement is thought-provoking nonetheless.]We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it's tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it's still valid. ~Gerard VanderhaarThe man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. ~Chinese proverbWhat broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? ~Alan PatonThere have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed. ~Gil BailieIn violence we forget who we are. ~Mary McCarthyIt is clear that the way to heal society of its violence...and lack of love is to replace the pyramid of domination with the circle of equality and respect. ~ManitonquatThus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet. ~Dave BarryI believe everybody in the world should have guns. Citizens should have bazookas and rocket launchers too. I believe that all citizens should have their weapons of choice. However, I also believe that only I should have the ammunition. Because frankly, I wouldn't trust the rest of the goobers with anything more dangerous than string. ~Scott AdamsI will not carry a gun.... I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even hari-kari if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun! ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "Officer of the Day"And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand. ~George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it. ~George Bernard ShawSo long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs. ~Elbert HubbardMan's destructive hand spares nothing that lives; he kills to feed himself, he kills to clothe himself, he kills to adorn himself, he kills to attack, he kills to defend himself, he kills to instruct himself, he kills to amuse himself, he kills for the sake of killing. ~Josef de MaistreNonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.Nonviolence doesn't always work - but violence never does. ~Madge Micheels-CyrusIn some cases nonviolence requires more militancy than violence. ~Cesar ChavezIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ~Mother TeresaPeace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonWhoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. ~Friedrich NietzscheEnvironment & Nature
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American proverbThere are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David ThoreauThe sun, the moon, and the stars would have disappeared long ago, had they happened to be within reach of predatory human hands. ~Havelock EllisEarth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in E.F. Schumacher, Small Is BeautifulThere's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all. ~Robert OrbenIt wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was yours. ~Greenpeace advertisement, New York Times, 25 February 1990We must not be forced to explore the universe in search of a new home because we have made the Earth inhospitable, even uninhabitable. For if we do not solve the environmental and related social problems that beset us on Earth - pollution, toxic contamination, resource depletion, prejudice, poverty, hunger - those problems will surely accompany us to other worlds. ~Donald G. Kaufman and Cecilia M. Franz, Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment, 1996The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies. ~Al GoreModern technologyOwes ecologyAn apology.~Alan M. EddisonHumankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle, 1855In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the cops. ~Paul Brooks, The Pursuit of Wilderness, 1971You said that you wanted to put us upon a reservation, to build us houses and make us medicine lodges. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. ~Ten Bears for the Comanche at The Council of Medicine Lodge Creek, 1867Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites. ~William Ruckelshaus, Business Week, 18 June 1990When a man throws an empty cigarette package from an automobile, he is liable to a fine of $50. When a man throws a billboard across a view, he is richly rewarded. ~Pat Brown, quoted in David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, 1985Worldwide practice of Conservation and the fair and continued access by all nations to the resources they need are the two indispensable foundations of continuous plenty and of permanent peace. ~Gifford PinchotMan has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth. ~Albert Schweitzer, quoted in James Brabazon, Albert SchweitzerTo live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance. ~BuddhaBecause we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us. ~Henrik TikkanenMan is a blind, witless, low brow, anthropocentric clod who inflicts lesions upon the earth. ~Ian McHargIf all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos. ~Edward O. WilsonWhy was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride possesses him: God created the gnat before thee. ~The TalmudHumanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind. ~David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the west...keeping the world in chains. If [our nation] took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts. ~Mahatma GandhiI'm not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? ~Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values.... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it. ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, July 1972Newspapers: dead trees with information smeared on them. ~Horizon, "Electronic Frontier"They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers. ~James G. Watt, quoted in Newsweek, 8 March 1982I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. ~Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, 26 August 1973The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. ~Ralph Nader, quoted in Linda Botts, ed., Loose Talk, 1980We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~Aldo LeopoldThe earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future. ~Marya Mannes, More in Anger, 1958There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet. ~Brooke Medicine EagleThe packaging for a microwavable "microwave" dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries. ~David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. ~Henry David ThoreauSo bleak is the picture...that the bulldozer and not the atomic bomb may turn out to be the most destructive invention of the 20th century. ~Philip Shabecoff, New York Times Magazine, 4 June 1978The sun is the only safe nuclear reactor, situated as it is some ninety-three million miles away. ~Stephanie Mills, ed., In Praise of Nature, 1990Dig a trench through a landfill and you will see layers of phone books like geographical strata or layers of cake.... During a recent landfill dig in Phoenix, I found newspapers dating from 1952 that looked so fresh you might read one over breakfast. ~William Rathje, The Economist, 8 September 1990Economic advance is not the same thing as human progress. ~John Clapham, A Concise Economic History of Britain, 1957And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess." ~Art Buchwald, 1970A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man. ~Arnold ToynbeeIn its broadest ecological context, economic development is the development of more intensive ways of exploiting the natural environment. ~Richard WilkinsonThe command "Be fruitful and multiply" was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two people. ~William Ralph Inge, More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, 1931The problem is no longer that with every pair of hands that comes into the world there comes a hungry stomach. Rather it is that, attached to those hands are sharp elbows. ~Paul A. Samuelson, Newsweek, 12 June 1967U.S. consumers and industry dispose of enough aluminum to rebuild the commercial air fleet every three months; enough iron and steel to continuously supply all automakers; enough glass to fill New York's World Trade Center every two weeks. ~Environmental Defense Fund advertisement, Christian Science Monitor, 1990Water flows uphill towards money. ~Anonymous, saying in the American West, quoted by Ivan Doig in Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, 1986If people in a Third World nation have no pure water for drinking, is it still all right to use First World water for swimming pools? ~Sara Ebenreck, Catholic World, July-August 1990The days a man spends fishing or spends hunting should not be deducted from the time that he's on earth. In other words, if I fish today, that should be added to the amount of time I get to live. That's the way I look at recreation. That's why I'll be a big conservation, environmental President, because I plan to fish and hunt as much as I possibly can. ~George Bush, quoted in Los Angeles Times, 30 December 1988For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death. ~Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages. ~Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, États et empires de la lune, 1656Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work. ~Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, translated by Philemon HollandA living planet is a much more complex metaphor for deity than just a bigger father with a bigger fist. If an omniscient, all-powerful Dad ignores your prayers, it's taken personally. Hear only silence long enough, and you start wondering about his power. His fairness. His very existence. But if a world mother doesn't reply, Her excuse is simple. She never claimed conceited omnipotence. She has countless others clinging to her apron strings, including myriad species unable to speak for themselves. To Her elder offspring She says - go raid the fridge. Go play outside. Go get a job. Or, better yet, lend me a hand. I have no time for idle whining. ~David BrinThe control man has secured over nature has far outrun his control over himself. ~Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, 1953To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. ~Theodore Roosevelt, seventh annual message, 3 December 1907Why do people give each other flowers? To celebrate various important occasions, they're killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? "Sweetheart, let's make up. Have this deceased squirrel." ~The Washington PostUnderstanding the laws of nature does not mean that we are immune to their operations. ~David GerroldLook at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars...and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~OshoA human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ~Albert EinsteinTill now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature. ~Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future, 1963Will urban sprawl spread so far that most people lose all touch with nature? Will the day come when the only bird a typical American child ever sees is a canary in a pet shop window? When the only wild animal he knows is a rat - glimpsed on a night drive through some city slum? When the only tree he touches is the cleverly fabricated plastic evergreen that shades his gifts on Christmas morning? ~Frank N. Ikard, North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, Houston, March 1968What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. ~Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 1964I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! ~Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,We fell them down and turn them into paper,That we may record our emptiness.~Kahlil GibranHow long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life? ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, November 1939I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899We have always had reluctance to see a tract of land which is empty of men as anything but a void. The "waste howling wilderness" of Deuteronomy is typical. The Oxford Dictionary defines wilderness as wild or uncultivated land which is occupied "only" by wild animals. Places not used by us are "wastes." Areas not occupied by us are "desolate." Could the desolation be in the soul of man? ~John A. Livingston, in Borden Spears, ed., Wilderness Canada, 1970It is imperative to maintain portions of the wilderness untouched so that a tree will rot where it falls, a waterfall will pour its curve without generating electricity, a trumpeter swan may float on uncontaminated water - and moderns may at least see what their ancestors knew in their nerves and blood. ~Bernand De Voto, Fortune, June 1947Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute the last clean air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence, so that never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste. ~Stewart L. Udall, quoted in William Schwarz, ed., Voices for the Wilderness, 1969No one should be able to enter a wilderness by mechanical means. ~Garrett Hardin, The Ecologist, February 1974
Writing & Words
Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~Nathaniel HawthorneThe role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs NinThe act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. ~Norbet PlattIt is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-WestStorytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. ~Hannah ArendtWriting became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'BrienSubstitute damn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark TwainI'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James MichenerThe time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. ~Mark TwainFill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William WadsworthIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences; what others say in a whole book. ~Friedrich NietzscheIf it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis RochWhat I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~Logan Pearsall SmithThe wastebasket is a writer's best friend. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerThe pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir NabakovYou write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur PolotnikWords are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes. ~Theodore Dreiser, 1900When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. ~Enrique Jardiel PoncelaDon't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton ChekhovThe story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it. ~Jules Renard, "Diary," February 1895Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. ~Orson Scott CardA proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one. ~Lord John RussellWriting is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. DoctorowDon't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice. ~Variation of part of William Safire's "Great Rules of Writing"No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. ~Henry B. AdamsWrite down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. ~Francis BaconFrom now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. ~Winston ChurchillDo not put statements in the negative form.And don't start sentences with a conjunction.If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.De-accession euphemisms.If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~UnknownA prose writer gets tired of writing prose, and wants to be a poet. So he begins every line with a capital letter, and keeps on writing prose. ~Samuel McChord Crothers, "Every Man's Natural Desire to Be Somebody Else" from The Dame School of Experience, 1920When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can. ~Samuel Lover, Handy Andy, 1842The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal, Lettres Provinciales XVI, 1656It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of them are so boring, is that every day we vacillate between examining our hangnails and speculating on cosmic order. ~Ann Beattie, Picturing Will, 1989The statement "to write something down" suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it. ~William Gass, "Habitations of the Word," Kenyon Review, October 1984
Books & Reading
A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. MorganA great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it. ~William StyronLiterature is the question minus the answer. ~Roland BarthesA classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~Italo Calvino, The Literature MachineThe worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James BryceAnyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~UnknownMany people, other than the authors, contribute to the making of a book, from the first person who had the bright idea of alphabetic writing through the inventor of movable type to the lumberjacks who felled the trees that were pulped for its printing. It is not customary to acknowledge the trees themselves, though their commitment is total. ~Forsyth and Rada, Machine LearningLiterature is news that stays news. ~Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading, 1934If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni MorrisonA good book has no ending. ~R.D. CummingI would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. EliotAlways read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~P.J. O'RourkeOutside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx
Poetry
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil GibranThere is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either. ~Robert GravesPoetry is what gets lost in translation. ~Robert FrostPoetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. ~Marianne MooreA poem is never finished, only abandoned... ~Paul ValeryHe who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life. ~George Sand, 1851Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire, "My Heart Laid Bare," Intimate Journals, 1864Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition. ~Eli Khamarov, The Shadow ZonePoetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. ~Carl Sandburg, Poetry ConsideredInk runs from the corners of my mouthThere is no happiness like mine.I have been eating poetry.~Mark Strand, "Eating Poetry," from Reasons for Moving, 1968Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~Plato, IonPoetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes. ~Carl SandburgThe poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem." ~Robert Penn Warren, "The Themes of Robert Frost," Hopwood Lecture, 1947A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful music...and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;" that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul." ~Soren Kierkegaard
Art & Music
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~Henry Ward BeecherCreativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott AdamsPainting is just another way of keeping a diary. ~Pablo PicassoArt is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twayla TharpThe aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William FaulknerEvery child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ~Pablo PicassoLife beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. ~Stella AdlerPainting is silent poetry. ~Plutarch, Moralia: How to Study PoetryArt is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. ~Amy LowellTo send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist. ~SchumannWe all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. ~Pablo PicassoA painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~StokowskiMusic washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach
Science
I think science has enjoyed an extraordinary success because it has such a limited and narrow realm in which to focus its efforts. Namely, the physical universe. ~Ken JenkinsThere is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. ~Mark TwainScience does not know its debt to imagination. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThe most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny..." ~Isaac AsimovA fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. ~Edward TellerResearch is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. ~Wernher Von BraunThe important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. ~Sir William BraggEvery great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. ~John DeweyScientists should always state the opinions upon which their facts are based. ~UnknownIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. ~Henry J. Tillman
Humor
Humor is a reminder that no matter how high the throne one sits on, one sits on one's bottom. ~TakiHumor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ~Christopher MorleyHumor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn. ~Irvin S. CobbImagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. ~Francis BaconA man isn't poor if he can still laugh. ~Raymond HitchcockHumor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity. ~James ThurberEvery survival kit should include a sense of humor. ~UnknownHumor results when society says you can't scratch certain things in public, but they itch in public. ~Tom WalshHumor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. ~Ron DentingerHumor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place. ~Mark TwainCommon sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. ~William JamesAfter God created the world, He made men and women. Then, to keep the whole thing from collapsing, He invented humor. ~Mack McGinnisIf I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide. ~Mahatma GandhiThe satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance. ~Peter De Vries
Parents & Parenting
Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. ~Carl JungTo bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. ~Josh BillingsYour children need your presence more than your presents. ~Jesse JacksonDon't handicap your children by making their lives easy. ~Robert A. HeinleinMy father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~Clarence Buddinton KellandToo often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~Roger Lewin
It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce MaynardDon't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert FulghumParents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have anything to do with it. ~Haim GinottSimply having children does not make mothers. ~John A. SheddIf you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent. ~Bette DavisAlthough there are many trial marriages, there is no such thing as a trial child. ~Gail SheehyIt kills you to see [your children] grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal DreamsA mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva JordanMaking the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth StoneBeing a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs..., since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. VermontIf I had my child to raise all over again,I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.I would do less correcting and more connecting.I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.I'd do more hugging and less tugging.~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings. ~Hodding Carter, Jr. The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children. ~Edward, Duke of WindsorThe problem with children is that you have to put up with their parents. ~Charles DeLintA suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De VriesEach day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. SwindollNow the thing about having a baby - and I can't be the first person to have noticed this - is that thereafter you have it. ~Jean Kerr
Children & Childhood
Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. ~John Betjeman, Summoned by BellsA child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. ~UnknownWhat a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. ~Sigmund FreudChildren need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold HulbertWe worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia TauscherA three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm. ~Bill VaughanA baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase. ~UnknownLittle children, headache; big children, heartache. ~Italian proverbChildhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. ~Rachel CarsonThere are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago. ~J. Robert Oppenheimer
Experience
Experience is the comb that nature gives us when we are bald. ~Belgian proverbHuman beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ~Douglas Adams, Last Chance to SeeLearn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself. ~Alfred SheinwoldExperience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. ~Aldous HuxleyWe should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. ~Mark TwainThe trouble with using experience as a guide is that the final exam often comes first and then the lesson. ~UnknownHistory is a vast early warning system. ~Norman CousinsWe learn from history that we do not learn anything from history. ~UnknownNothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. ~Auguste RodinNobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better. ~UnknownLife is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. ~Samuel ButlerExperience is what you got by not having it when you need it. ~UnknownGood judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. ~Rita Mae BrownExperience is simply the name we give our mistakes. ~Oscar WildeIf you fool me once, shame on you. If you fool me twice, shame on me. ~ProverbFailure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. ~Henry FordYou're not dumb, or stupid, just thoroughly wrong. ~Jerry KopkeExperience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones. ~UnknownLife is the art of drawing without an eraser. ~John GardnerYou couldn't get hold of the things you'd done and turn them right again. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to women and men, and that was probably a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens. ~Stephen King, The StandLife can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ~Soren KierkegaardMany a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl. ~Stephen LeacockIn our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterIf we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires. ~Pauline E. Phillips, a.k.a. Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby"The road to wisdom?Well, it's plainAnd simple to express:ErrAnd errAnd err againBut lessAnd lessAnd less.~Piet HeinEverything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. ~Andre Gide, Le traite du Narcisse, 1891
Adversity & Change
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. ~Garrison Keillor
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey
I owe much to my friends; but, all things considered, it strikes me that I owe even more to my enemies. The real person springs life under a sting even better than under a caress. ~Andr・Gide
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. ~Horace
We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn. ~Unknown
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello
As long as you keep getting born, it's alright to die some times. ~Orson Scott Card
Bad is never good until worse happens. ~Danish proverb
If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. ~Unknown
Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness. ~Andr・Gide, L'immoraliste
The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ~Harry Golden
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson
You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far. ~Uncle Remus
Things are never so bad they can't be made worse. ~The African Queen
Living is like licking honey off a thorn. ~Louis Adamic
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. ~Theodore Rubin
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa
We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them. ~Charles C. West
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
Sometimes the littlest things in life are the hardest to take. You can sit on a mountain more comfortably than on a tack. ~Unknown
Enduring habits I hate.... Yes, at the very bottom of my soul I feel grateful to all my misery and bouts of sickness and everything about me that is imperfect, because this sort of thing leaves me with a hundred backdoors through which I can escape from enduring habits. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ~Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought
Every rose has its thorn. ~Unknown
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. ~Edmund Burke
Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell. ~Unknown
For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted. ~Jean Paul Richter
There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it. ~George Bernard Shaw
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. ~Frank A. Clark
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Denning
There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out. ~Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss"
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ~Shunryu Suzuki
Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. ~Bertrand Russell
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~African proverb
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. ~Charles A. Beard
May you get what you wish for. ~Old Chinese curse
It just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants. ~Unknown
Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting, it may not be logical but it is often true. ~Mr. Spock, Star Trek
If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change. ~John A. Simone, Sr.
You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. ~Walt Disney
Every path has its puddle. ~English proverb
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. ~Washington Irving
When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton
It's just life... wake up and smell the thorns. ~From the movie Meet Joe Black
Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. ~Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. ~Frank Clark
How can something bother you if you won't let it? ~Anonymous
There is no education like adversity. ~Disraeli
That was rough.... Thing to do now is try and forget it.... I guess I don't quite mean that. It's not a thing you can forget. Maybe not even a thing you want to forget.... Life's like that sometimes... Now and then for no good reason a man can figure out, life will just haul off and knock him flat, slam him agin' the ground so hard it seems like all his insides is busted. But it's not all like that. A lot of it's mighty fine, and you can't afford to waste the good part frettin' about the bad. That makes it all bad.... Sure, I know - sayin' it's one thing and feelin' it's another. But I'll tell you a trick that's sometimes a big help. When you start lookin' around for something good to take the place of the bad, as a general rule you can find it. ~Old Yeller, the movie
Life Is Short!
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. ~Chinese proverb
Live every day as if it were your last and then some day you'll be right. ~H.H. "Breaker" Morant
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. ~Braveheart
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive. ~Bugs Bunny
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott
Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. ~James Dean
As if you could kill time, without injuring eternity. ~Henry David Thoreau
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. ~Stephen Vincent Ben騁
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln
There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval. ~George Santayana
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~Fr. Alfred D'Souza
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead. ~Scottish proverb
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burrough
There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses? ~David Brin
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. ~Charles Buxton
Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live. ~Margaret Fuller
Death tugs at my ear and says: "Live, I am coming." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Fear not that your life shall come to an end but rather that it shall never have a beginning. ~Cardinal John Henry Newman
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl
You may delay, but time will not. ~Benjamin Franklin
We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves. ~George M. Adams
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ~Annie Dillard
I would I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours. ~Bernard Berenson
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. ~Tagore
I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity. ~Hazel Lee
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch. ~From a television commercial
The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me what it talked. ~Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice. ~Indian saying
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. ~Unknown
There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. ~Diane Ackerman
Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them. ~Dion Boucicault
Is there life before death? ~Belfast graffito
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. ~Mark Twain
What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
When it comes time to die, make sure all you got to do is die. ~Unknown
May you live all the days of your life. ~Jonathan Swift
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. ~John Lennon
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it. ~From the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The future has a way of arriving unannounced. ~George F. Will
Time goes, you say? Ah, no! Alas, Time stays, we go. ~Henry Austin Dobson
How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flown.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. ~Hector Berlioz
Waste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life. ~Michael Leboeuf
You only live once; but if you live it right, once is enough. ~Adam Marshall
Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough. ~Seneca
There are but three events in a man's life: birth, life, and death. He is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live. ~Jean de la Bruy
So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Family & Friendship
I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter
There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
People change and forget to tell each other. ~Lillian Hellman
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. ~Swedish proverb
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you." ~A.A. Milne
Friends are family you choose for yourself. ~Unknown
Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you. ~Elbert Hubbard
When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. ~E.W. Howe
The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. ~Henry David Thoreau
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. ~Arnold Glasow
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
A friend is the only person you will let into the house when you are Turning Out Drawers. ~Pam Brown
One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human. ~George Santayana
A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts
True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable. ~Dave Tyson Gentry
You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~Laurence J. Peter
Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer. ~Unknown
A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. ~Grace Pulpit
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis
Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~Unknown
There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Unknown
The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had. ~Unknown
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau
A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Unknown
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not. ~Mignon McLaughlin
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. ~Plutarch
Send a friend or relative a free virtual greeting from Blue Mountain Arts.
Love
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein
Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. ~Rabbi Julins Gordon
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd cupid painted blind.
~William Shakespeare
The art of love... is largely the art of persistence. ~Albert Ellis
Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig
Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde
Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely. ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye
The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough. ~George Moore
I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.
~Unknown
To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world. ~Unknown
I've fallen in love many times... always with you. ~Unknown
Sometimes it's a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence. ~David Byrne
Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without. ~Dr. James C. Dobson
Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~Robert Frost
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. ~Zora Neale Hurston
Without love, the rich and poor live in the same house. ~Unknown
It's so easy to fall in love but hard to find someone who will catch you. ~Unknown
You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. ~Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy. ~George Jean Nathan
We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love. ~Tom Robbins
Lust fades, so you'd better be with someone who can stand you. ~From the movie The Story of Us
I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all. ~Lord Byron
Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. ~Miguel de Unamuno
I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone. ~Javan
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. ~Victor Hugo
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~Mother Teresa
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein
You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"
I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. ~J.D. Salinger
A kiss is a rosy dot over the 'i' of loving. ~Cyrano de Bergerac
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham
We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Unknown
Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination. ~Voltaire
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~From the movie Annie
Part of the reason that men seem so much less loving than women is that men's behavior is measured with a feminine ruler. ~Francesca M. Cancian
Can miles truly separate you from friends.... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? ~Richard Bach
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. ~William Shakespeare
A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. ~Mistinguett
The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. ~Peter De Vries
Falling in love is so hard on the knees. ~Aerosmith
I am tired, Beloved,
of chafing my heart against
the want of you;
of squeezing it into little ink drops,
And posting it.
~Amy Lowell, "The Letter"
In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing. ~Antonio Porchia, Voices
Maybe part of loving is learning to let go. ~From the television show The Wonder Years
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. ~Charlie Brown
Let no one who loves be unhappy... even love unreturned has its rainbow. ~James Matthew Barrie
Sometimes I wish I were a little kid again, skinned knees are easier to fix than broken hearts. ~Unknown
Civilization & Culture
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. ~Sigmund FreudCulture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don't. ~Lord RaglanWe are born princes and the civilizing process makes us frogs. ~SyrusWe never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. ~Bryan WhiteProgress might have been all right once but it has gone on too long. ~Ogden NashWe should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. ~Henry David Thoreau, WaldenWe pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within. ~Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of ManWe shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. ~Albert EinsteinWhen you can't do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing. ~Lois McMaster BujoldK is for "Kenghis Khan." He was a very nice person. History has no record of him. There is a moral in that, somewhere. ~Harlan Ellison, From A to Z in the Chocolate AlphabetThe chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race. ~Don MarquisA man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. ~Theodore RooseveltWe are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. ~Richard P. FeynmanAnimals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills. ~Voltaire, letter to Count Schomberg, 31 August 1769Codi: Gives you the willies, doesn't it? The thought of raising kids in a place where the front yard ends in a two-hundred-foot drop? [referring to cliff dwellings]Lloyd: No worse than raising up kids where the front yard ends in a freeway.~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal DreamsOne...gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion. It is, of course, natural to assume that these difficulties are not inherent in the nature of civilization itself but are determined by the imperfections of the cultural forms which have so far been developed. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionBut how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. ~Frederic Bastian, The LawIf dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. ~Andrew MasonThere are many humorous things in the world: among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages. ~Mark TwainSociety is a made-up formula of what we are supposed to be, kept alive by those who believe in it.... I laugh in the ugly face of society, with all its fabricated dimensions. ~Christina GerogiannisA man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. ~Oscar WildeIf the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin. ~Charles DarwinThe gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual. ~John Muir, letter to J.B. McChesney, 19 September 1871Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless. ~B.F. SkinnerIt is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct. ~Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its DiscontentsCivilization is what makes you sick. ~Paul GauguinThe end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Conformity & Thinking
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was. ~Margaret Mitchell
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary. ~Albert Einstein
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. ~Bertrand Russell
Not all those who wander are lost. ~J.R.R. Tolkien
What makes you think that human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their "beliefs." The reason is that beliefs guide behavior, which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is a self-congratulatory delusion. ~Michael Crichton, The Lost World
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it. ~Albert Einstein
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. ~Winston Churchill
Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. ~Voltaire
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. ~J.K. Galbraith
The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. ~George Bernard Shaw
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. ~Mark Twain
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common. ~John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question. ~Orson Scott Card
Doubt is healthy. It tests one's convictions. ~From the movie Haunted
Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. ~John F. Kennedy
Before you can break out of prison, you must first realize you're locked up. ~Unknown
One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints. ~Proverb
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~Herman Melville
We need - and should encourage and honor - not only discoverers of facts hitherto unknown but explorers of ideas and freethinkers of values. ~Walter Moberly, The Crisis in the University
If you don't control your mind, someone else will. ~John Allston
Be neither a conformist or a rebel, for they are really the same thing. Find your own path, and stay on it. ~Paul Vixie
Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out. ~Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
The problem with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than their minds. ~Walter Duranty
I guess I've spent my life listening to what wasn't being said. ~Eli Khamarov, America Explained!
Human beings, for all their pretensions, have a remarkable propensity for lending themselves to classification somewhere within neatly labeled categories. Even the outrageous exceptions may be classified as outrageous exceptions! ~W.J. Reichmann
I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. ~Wilson Mizner
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. ~Eric Hoffer
If you keep doing things like you've always done them, what you'll get is what you've already got. ~Unknown
The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory. ~Paul Fix
When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders. ~Veterans Fast for Life
Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity; and fashion will drive them to acquire any custom. ~George Bernard Shaw
What we call human nature in actuality is human habit. ~Jewel Kilcher, Pieces of You
Never accept the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a problem, that it must be the only solution. ~Raymond E. Feist
It's a rash man who reaches a conclusion before he gets to it. ~Jacob Levin
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. ~Clarence Darrow
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature. ~George Bernard Shaw
Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us - and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along. ~Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
My theory is that the hardest work anyone does in life is to appear normal. ~From the movie Ed TV
I don't rent space to anyone in my head. ~Anonymous man on Candid Camera, answering Allen Funt's question about why he had not gotten upset
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Dawn, 1881
Only dead fish swim with the stream. ~Malcolm Muggeridge
Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking. ~Steve Allen
Just because something is tradition doesn't make it right. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps. ~H.L. Mencken
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. ~Alexander Hamilton
I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. ~Fritz Perls
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. ~Anatole France
Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are. ~Quentin Crisp
If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. ~Juan Ramon Jimenez
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. ~John Cage
No. ~President Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy, when asked if she had any message for the children of America
The most damaging phrase in the language is: "It's always been done that way." ~Grace Hopper
The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them. ~Albert Einstein, letter to Sigmund Freud, 30 July 1932
The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone. ~Henrik Ibsen
Conformity is that jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. ~John F. Kennedy
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. ~Niels Bohr
Mad, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence. ~Ambrose Bierce
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. ~Voltaire
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model. ~Vincent Van Gogh
If you believe everything you read, you better not read. ~Japanese proverb
You don't have to hold a position in order to be a leader. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side - I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts. ~Bethania McKenstry
What luck for rulers that men do not think. ~Adolph Hitler
If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. ~Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849
The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity. ~Thomas Szasz
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. ~Albert Einstein
Never assume the obvious is true. ~William Safire
We all live in the protection of certain cowardices which we call our principles. ~Mark Twain
I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. ~Marshall McLuhan
History is particularly important in throwing light on the source of our attitudes about sex because many of the assumptions we make are not necessarily scientific or rational but holdovers of past belief systems that are no longer held by modern society. ~Vern Bullough
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. ~William James
To be a genuine individualist requires a great deal of strength and courage. It is never easy to chart new territory, to cross new frontiers, or to introduce subtle shadings to an established color. ~Toller Cranston
My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others! My manner of thinking stems straight from my considered reflections; it holds with my existence, with the way I am made. It is not in my power to alter it; and were it, I'd not do so. ~Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade
Integrity has no need of rules. ~Albert Camus
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~George Bernard Shaw
Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to. ~Howard Mumford Jones
My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant's bill of fare.
And, when they were served,
he regarded them with a penetrating stare.
Then he spoke great words of wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
"To eat these things," said my uncle,
"You must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what's solid,
but you must spit out the air!"
And as you partake of the world's bill of fare,
that's darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow.
~Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), from a commencement address
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was. ~Margaret Mitchell
Modern Society & Times
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. ~Krishnamurti
The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. ~Paul Valery
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on? ~Henry David Thoreau
It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man. ~David Harris
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B. ~"Fats" Domino
Too many of today's children have straight teeth and crooked morals. ~Unknown high school principal
I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance. ~Reuben Blades
Most people are awaiting Virtual Reality; I'm awaiting virtuous reality. ~Eli Khamarov, "Lives of the Cognoscenti"
It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers. ~Unknown, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. ~Lily Tomlin
Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~G.M. Trevelyan
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. ~Will Rogers
Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams. ~Mary Ellen Kelly
I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't like it, they said, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out." Parents have to take better control. ~Charles Barkley
It's not the bullet with my name on it that worries me. It's the one that says "To whom it may concern." ~Anonymous Belfast resident, quoted in London Guardian, 1991
Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation. ~Margaret Mead
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. ~Thomas Szasz
Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? ~William Lloyd Garrison
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. ~Unknown
What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork. ~Pearl Bailey
Society is composed of two great classes - those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners. ~S饕astien-Roch Nicholas de Chamfort, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
Justice is open to everyone in the same way as the Ritz Hotel. ~Judge Sturgess
Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes! ~Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, first inaugural address, 20 January 1953
Society honors its living conformists and its dead troublemakers. ~Mignon McLaughlin
In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults. ~Thomas Szasz
Our government has become too responsive to trivial or ephemeral concerns, often at the expense of more important concerns or an erosion of our liberty, and it has made policy priorities more dependent on where TV journalists happen to point their cameras.... As a nation we have lost our sense of tragedy, a recognition that bad things happen to good people. A nation that expects the government to prevent churches from burning, to control the price of bread or gasoline, to secure every job, and to find some villain for every dramatic accident, risks an even larger loss of life and liberty. ~William A. Niskanen, "For a Less Responsive Government," Cato Policy Report, 1996
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim." ~Lyndon B. Johnson
Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers. ~Erik Pepke
It is the safest of times, it is the riskiest of times.... What the Dickens is going on here? ~Denton Morrison, on chemicals, technology, and risk, quoted in National Academy of Sciences, Improving Risk Communication, 1989
You're obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd. You live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation. It is that permanent contradiction between your ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and vain pretenses of your civilisation which makes you sad, troubled and unbalanced. In that intolerable conflict you lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality, because at every moment they suppress and restrain and check the free play of your powers. That's the poisoned and mortal wound of the civilised world. ~Octave Mirbeau, The Torture Garden
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic. ~Thomas Szasz
If the anti-abortion movement took a tenth of the energy they put into noisy theatrics and devoted it to improving the lives of children who have been born into lives of poverty, violence, and neglect, they could make a world shine. ~Michael Jay Tucker
Why do children want to grow up? Because they experience their lives as constrained by immaturity and perceive adulthood as a condition of greater freedom and opportunity. But what is there today, in America, that very poor and very rich adolescents want to do but cannot do? Not much: they can "do" drugs, "have" sex, "make" babies, and "get" money (from their parents, crime, or the State). For such adolescents, adulthood becomes synonymous with responsibility rather than liberty. Is it any surprise that they remain adolescents? ~Thomas Szasz
The trouble with the laws these days is that criminals know their rights better than their wrongs. ~Unknown
I love mankind; it's people I can't stand. ~Charles Schultz
We can't quite decide if the world is growing worse, or if the reporters are just working harder. ~The Houghton Line, November 1965
Somebody recently figured out that we have 35 million laws to enforce the ten commandments. ~Attributed to both Bert Masterson and Earl Wilson
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988
There is no hope for a civilization which starts each day to the sound of an alarm clock. ~Unknown
Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. ~Bill Vaughn, quoted in Jon Winokur, The Portable Curmudgeon, 1987
I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures. ~Chief Justice Earl Warren
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells
Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money. ~Unknown
Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in. ~Peter Medawar
A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. ~Robert W. Kent
A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. ~Milton Berle
Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones is dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. ~G.K. Chesterton
The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," 1841
Laws are only words written on paper, words that change on society's whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool. ~John J. Miller, And Hope to Die
For the first time in history, sex is more dangerous than the cigarette afterward. ~Jay Leno
It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance. ~Elizabeth Taylor
Choice has always been a privilege of those who could afford to pay for it. ~Ellen Frankfort
We create an environment where it is alright to hate, to steal, to cheat, and to lie if we dress it up with symbols of respectability, dignity and love. ~Whitney Moore, Jr.
Academy: A modern school where football is taught. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence. ~Jacques Barzun, God's Country and Mine, 1954
When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. ~Betty Bender
If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all. ~Pearl S. Buck
Inflation hasn't ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Widespread caffeine use explains a lot about the twentieth century. ~Greg Egan, "Distress"
We think fast food is equivalent to pornography, nutritionally speaking. ~Steve Elbert, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
Chemicals, n: Noxious substances from which modern foods are made. ~Unknown
Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. ~Unknown
You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it. ~Art Buchwald
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. ~Robert Frost
Justice is incidental to law and order. ~John Edgar Hoover
The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution in spirit, the forces which had produced inequities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance, and fear. ~Aung San Suu Kyi
The most violent element in society is ignorance. ~Emma Goldman
If you suck on a tit the movie gets an R rating. If you hack the tit off with an axe it will be PG. ~Jack Nicholson
It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road. ~Bumper sticker
Finding Yourself
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates. ~Thomas Szasz, The Second SinYou have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. ~Alan AldaBe patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.... Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young PoetMan cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. ~Dr. Alexis CarrelIt is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. ~Agnes RepplierThe greatest explorers on earth never take voyages as long as those of the man who ascends to the depths of his heart. ~Julien GreenI took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am. ~Sylvia PlathThere came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anaïs NinThe value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose. ~Richard GrantSay not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. ~Kahlil Gibran, The ProphetI went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau, 1854A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it. ~George MooreIf in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead. ~Gelett BurgessThe man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. ~Muhammad AliPerhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. ~Wallace StevensThe words "I am" are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you. ~A.L. KitselmanIf you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions. ~UnknownIt is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts. ~K.T. JongIt takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummingsThere are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud. ~Carol ShieldsI can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want. ~Mark TwainYou cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. ~James A. FroudeThe greatest hazard of all, losing one's self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed. ~The Sickness Unto DeathI loathe the statement "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish statement. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm. ~James ThurberLife is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. ~Anaïs NinThere are...things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "Notes from the Underground," 1864It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy. ~Lucille BallOh! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves. ~William Shakespeare, "Coriolanus"When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before. ~Clifton FadimanThere is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. ~Nelson MandelaFor most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed. ~Clifton FadimanBypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be. ~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyConfusion now hath made his masterpiece. ~William ShakespeareI may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. ~Douglas AdamsIt is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling. ~Robert M. PirsigOne meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. ~French proverbThe indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. ~Ben SteinDriving down the wrong road and knowing it, the fork years behind, how many have thought to pull up on the shoulder and leave the car empty, strike out across the fields; and how many are still mazed among dock and thistle, seeking the road they should have taken? ~Damon Knight, The Man in the TreeYour work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. ~BuddhaUp to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, "This I am today; that I will be tomorrow." ~Louis L'AmourYou'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart. ~George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"Only you can set you free. ~Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"You're always in either first or fifth, but you know there's a lot of great gears in between. ~Tony to Angela on Who's The BossThey must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~ConfuciusThere's more than one answer to these questionsPointing me in a crooked line.And the less I seek my source for some definitiveThe closer I am to fine.~Indigo Girls, "Closer to Fine"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh, at yourself. ~Ethel BarrymoreNo question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious. ~George Bernard Shaw
Being Yourself
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, letter to a high school editor, 1955All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself. ~Ralph Ellison, "Battle Royal"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another. ~James Matthew BarrieAnd remember, no matter where you go, there you are. ~Confucius, commonly known due to Buckaroo BanzaiMost people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. ~Oscar WildeHe who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. ~Raymond HullAlways be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy GarlandWe are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. ~François Duc de La RochefoucauldGod has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~William ShakespeareIf you cannot be a poet, be the poem. ~David CarradineA man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. ~Paul ValeryAlmost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess. ~Samuel JohnsonHateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another. ~HomerHow many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone. ~Gabrielle "Coco" ChanelI think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part. ~Shirley MacLaineNever be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. ~Harvey FiersteinNever apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. ~Benjamin DisraeliAll the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. ~Goethe
Believing in Yourself & Self-Worth
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor RooseveltIt took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes. ~Sally FieldDon't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. ~UnknownOur remedies oft in ourselves do lieWhich we ascribe to heaven.~William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends WellA successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. ~David BrinkleyIt's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. ~UnknownWe have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies. ~Roderick ThorpeIt ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. ~W.C. FieldsWhether you think you can or think you can't, you are right. ~Henry FordIf you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. ~Vincent Van GoghMake the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly. ~Buckminster FullerSuccess comes in cans, not cant's. ~UnknownPut your future in good hands - your own. ~UnknownI am not a has-been. I am a will be. ~Lauren BacallI'm not old enough to play baseball or football. I'm not eight yet. My mom told me when you start baseball, you aren't going to be able to run that fast because you had an operation. I told Mom I wouldn't need to run that fast. When I play baseball, I'll just hit them out of the park. Then I'll be able to walk. ~Edward J. McGrath, Jr.If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. ~UnknownConfidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. ~Peter T. McintyreLife shrinks and expands in proportion to one's courage. ~Anaïs NinArgue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours. ~Richard BachYou have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael JordanIt is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~Edmund HillaryThousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others. ~Mark TwainNothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance. ~Bruce BartonA great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. ~Sydney SmithIt is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. ~Sally KemptonWhen the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there. ~Cecil SeligOther people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. ~Les BrownYou have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes.You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.You're on your own.And you know what you know.You are the guy who'll decide where to go.~Dr. SeussTrust yourself. You know more than you think you do. ~Benjamin SpockConfidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control. ~Richard KlineWhat lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonIf we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. ~Thomas Alva EdisonIt's me who is my enemyMe who beats me upMe who makes the monstersMe who strips my confidence.~Paula Cole, "Me," This FireA gold medal is a nice thing - but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. ~From Cool RunningsIf I am not for myself, who will be? ~Pirke AvothPlant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. ~Veronica A. Shoffstall, "After a While," 1971It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself. ~EpicurusI am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May AlcottEvery day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there. ~Henry Miller, SexusWhen there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. ~African proverbBe humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you. ~Nicholai VelimirovicGod wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily. ~UnknownYou probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do. ~Olin MillerYou're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose. ~Lou HoltzThere is no need to reach high for the stars. They are already within you - just reach deep into yourself! ~T. SachsOliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. "Dr. Holmes," quipped a friend, "I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows." "I do," retorted Holmes, "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies." ~UnknownNever waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run. ~George Bernard ShawJealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (translated from French)Envy is a waste of time. ~UnknownJealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point - that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. There is only one alternative - self-value. If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think it's a mistake or luck. Take your eyes off others and turn the scanner within. Find the seeds of your jealousy, clear the old voices and experiences. Put all the energy into building your personal and emotional security. Then you will be the one others envy, and you can remember the pain and reach out to them. ~Jennifer James
Perfection, Risk, & Living Life
No one is perfect...that's why pencils have erasers. ~UnknownA man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault. ~John Henry NewmanRing the bells that still can ringForget your perfect offering.There is a crack in everything,That's how the light gets in.~Leonard CohenTo avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. ~Elbert HubbardIt was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something. ~Ornette ColemanSometimes...when you hold out for everything, you walk away with nothing. ~From the television show Ally McBealUse the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best. ~Henry Van DykeBetter a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. ~Confucius, AnalectsThe most difficult part of attaining perfection is finding something to do for an encore. ~UnknownWhen you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target. ~George FisherI never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones. ~John PeelWhile one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. ~Henry C. LinkAn expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. ~Niels BohrThat's not serious; it's just human. ~Jerry KopkeThe only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. ~John PowellThe man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. ~Edward PhelpsThe human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. ~Winston ChurchillUnbeing dead isn't being alive. ~e.e. cummingsI want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. ~Kurt VonnegutMaking mistakes simply means you are learning faster. ~Weston H. AgorIf you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded. ~Lloyd JonesThe only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. ~Ellen GlasgowAnything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile...initially scared me to death. ~Betty BenderA man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much. ~HomerIf you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. ~UnknownIt is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. ~SenecaOur doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. ~William ShakespeareWe're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. ~Japanese proverbThe man who doesn't relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on. ~Elbert HubbardThe best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do. ~UnknownThere's no such thing as too late. That's why they invented death. ~From the movie Out to SeaYou'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne GretzkyIt's all right letting yourself go as long as you can let yourself back. ~Mick JaggerDon't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase - that's what wild geese are for. ~UnknownI am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo PicassoWhen in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. ~Cynthia Heimel, "Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics"I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonOpportunity always involves some risk. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. ~Frederick JacksonWhy not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? ~Frank ScullyYes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking. ~Tim McMahonMany great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at. ~UnknownIf there were dreams to sell, what would you buy? ~Thomas Lovell BeddoesFor ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. ~Tom Kimmel and Michael LilleOnly those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert F. KennedyWhat would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail? ~Dr. Robert Schuller
Goals, Effort, & Persistence
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry Ford
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. Peter
It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done. ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life, 1770
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug Larson
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf Hunt
The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLint
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~T.S. Eliot
I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson
Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~Unknown
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison
The best helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm. ~Fred Dehner
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves. ~Garth Henrichs
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Attributed to both Vidal Sassoon and Donald Kendall
Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. ~Ann Landers
When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. ~George Bernard Shaw
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. ~Reggie Leach
Wise men make more opportunities than they find. ~Francis Bacon
A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~Rita Mae Brown
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Huxley
Now I know, a refuge never grows
from a chin in the hand and a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
~Indigo Girls
If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. ~J.M. Power
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all. ~Sam Ewing
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers
Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. ~Unknown
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Abraham Lincoln
Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings. ~C.D. Jackson
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~Unknown
God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them. ~Unknown
If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
People know you for what you've done, not for what you plan to do. ~Unknown
Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out. ~Italian proverb
After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. ~Unknown
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. ~Frank Tibolt
An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. ~Arnold Glasow
Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese proverb
Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph Monod
Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~Peter Marshall
If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward Beecher
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale Carnegie
Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Unknown
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh Billings
Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese proverb
The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~Unknown
If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker
Life is full of obstacle illusions. ~Grant Frazier
The race is not always to the swift... but to those who keep on running. ~Unknown
You can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ~From the television show Family Matters
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott
It is never too late to be who you might have been. ~George Eliot
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~George Bernard Shaw
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Unknown
Success is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~Advertisement on a billboard
Someday is not a day of the week. ~Unknown
Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. ~Woody Allen
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva Young
What may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~Scottish proverb
The best way to get something done is to begin. ~Unknown
Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. ~Unknown
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant
The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle. ~Unknown
The impossible is often the untried. ~Jim Goodwin
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done. ~Henry Ford
When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent Eckhart
Try not. Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back
Don't waste time learning the "tricks of the trade." Instead, learn the trade. ~Attributed to both James Charlton and H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly Sills
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. ~Thomas A. Edison
The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~James Bond, Tomorrow Never Dies
If you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over. ~Unknown
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. ~Henry David Thoreau
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. ~David Lloyd George
In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ~Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949
Know your limits... but never stop trying to exceed them. ~Unknown
Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~Unknown
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
None of our men are "experts." We have most unfortunately found it necessary to get rid of a man as soon as he thinks himself an expert because no one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job. A man who knows a job sees so much more to be done than he has done, that he is always pressing forward and never gives up an instant of thought to how good and how efficient he is. Thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible. The moment one gets into the "expert" state of mind a great number of things become impossible. ~Henry Ford, Sr.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ~Peter Drucker
We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. ~Unknown
When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation. ~Pearl S. Buck
Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese proverb
When the horse is dead, get off. ~Unknown
The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. ~Elaine Agather
To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. ~Confucius
Success & Failure
If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average. ~M.H. Alderson
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas Edison
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill Cosby
The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything - and it works. ~William Strong
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill
I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. ~Jonathan Winters
If you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert Hubbard
There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." ~Carrie Fisher
Failure is an event... not a person. ~Unknown
There is no failure. Only feedback. ~Robert Allen
Don't aim for success, if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David Frost
What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~Mary Pickford
It is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final. ~Unknown
Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Try again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett
Failure doesn't mean you are a failure... it just means you haven't succeeded yet. ~Robert Schuller
It is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. ~Unknown
In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. ~George Bernard Shaw
Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry King
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. ~Unknown
That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Worry
If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don Herold
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen. ~James Russel Lowell
If things go wrong, don't go with them. ~Roger Babson
Worry is interest paid in advance for a debt you may never owe. ~Unknown
Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. ~Mark Twain
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~Unknown
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia
If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale Carnegie
I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time. ~Charlie Brown
Troubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them. ~Unknown
If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today. ~E. Joseph Cossman
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. ~Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"
People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross. ~Unknown
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. ~Unknown
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety. ~Plato
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. ~David Sarnoff
If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn't going to be much fun. ~From the television show Roseanne
Some people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live. ~Henry Van Dyke
He who doesn't fear death dies only once. ~Giovanni Falcone
Living in the Now
One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. ~Michael Cibenko
There is no distance on this earth as far away as yesterday. ~Robert Nathan
You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present. ~Jan Glidewell
Would you keep a chive on your tooth just because you enjoyed last night's potato? ~From the television show Boston Common
I have memories - but only a fool stores his past in the future. ~David Gerrold
No man is rich enough to buy back his past. ~Oscar Wilde
We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. ~Art Buchwald
If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done much today. ~Unknown
Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. ~Cherokee Indian proverb
The past is never there when you try to go back. It exists, but only in memory. To pretend otherwise is to invite a mess. ~Chris Cobbs
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~Alexander Graham Bell
Chasing the past, I stumbled into the future. ~T. Sachs
Nothing is worth more than this day. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. ~Montaigne
Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. ~Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. ~Babatunde Olatunji
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is. ~Alan Watts
We are always getting ready to live but never living. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tomorrow is no place to place your better days. ~Dave Matthews
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness. ~James Thurber
The future is always beginning now. ~Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving
I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. ~Albert Einstein
Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized. ~Leo Buscaglia
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. ~Dale Carnegie
Pile up too many tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays. ~The Music Man
Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far. ~Euripides
Life's a journey, not a destination. ~Aerosmith
If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. ~Senegalese proverb
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. ~Abraham Lincoln
Goals, Effort, & Persistence
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry FordShoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. PeterIt is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done. ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life, 1770Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug LarsonIf opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton BerleGoals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf HuntThe road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLintOnly those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~T.S. EliotI'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~Thomas JeffersonMany an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~UnknownOpportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas EdisonThe best helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm. ~Fred DehnerThe person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves. ~Garth HenrichsThe only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Attributed to both Vidal Sassoon and Donald KendallNobody ever drowned in his own sweat. ~Ann LandersWhen I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. ~George Bernard ShawSuccess is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. ~Reggie LeachWise men make more opportunities than they find. ~Francis BaconA deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~Rita Mae BrownThe rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas HuxleyNow I know, a refuge never growsfrom a chin in the hand and a thoughtful poseGotta tend the earth if you want a rose.~Indigo GirlsIf you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. ~J.M. PowerHard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all. ~Sam EwingEven if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will RogersSome people dream of success...while others wake up and work hard at it. ~UnknownThings may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Abraham LincolnGreat ideas need landing gear as well as wings. ~C.D. JacksonThough no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~UnknownGod gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them. ~UnknownIf a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerPeople know you for what you've done, not for what you plan to do. ~UnknownBetween saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out. ~Italian proverbAfter all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. ~UnknownWe should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. ~Frank TiboltAn idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. ~Arnold GlasowThe man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark TwainBe not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese proverbBetween the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph MonodSmall deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~Peter MarshallIf you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward BeecherHe who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him. ~Dutch proverbDon't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale CarnegieNobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~UnknownWhen you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. RooseveltThe question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand, The FountainheadDon't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh BillingsFall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese proverbThe greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~UnknownIf one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream MakerLife is full of obstacle illusions. ~Grant FrazierThe race is not always to the swift...but to those who keep on running. ~UnknownYou can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ~From the television show Family MattersIt's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert EinsteinPerseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter ElliottIt is never too late to be who you might have been. ~George EliotThe people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~George Bernard ShawOur greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonProblems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. ~Robert SchullerVitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott FitzgeraldWhen your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~UnknownSuccess is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~Advertisement on a billboardSomeday is not a day of the week. ~UnknownSeventy percent of success in life is showing up. ~Woody AllenTo think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. ~Eva YoungWhat may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~Scottish proverbThe best way to get something done is to begin. ~UnknownTomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. ~UnknownBehold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant
The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle. ~UnknownThe impossible is often the untried. ~Jim GoodwinI am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done. ~Henry FordWhen I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent EckhartTry not. Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda in The Empire Strikes BackDon't waste time learning the "tricks of the trade." Instead, learn the trade. ~Attributed to both James Charlton and H. Jackson Brown, Jr.There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly SillsHell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. ~Thomas A. EdisonThe distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~James Bond, Tomorrow Never DiesIf you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over. ~UnknownIf you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. ~Henry David ThoreauDon't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. ~David Lloyd GeorgeIn Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ~Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949Know your limits...but never stop trying to exceed them. ~UnknownOpportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~UnknownMost people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowNone of our men are "experts." We have most unfortunately found it necessary to get rid of a man as soon as he thinks himself an expert because no one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job. A man who knows a job sees so much more to be done than he has done, that he is always pressing forward and never gives up an instant of thought to how good and how efficient he is. Thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible. The moment one gets into the "expert" state of mind a great number of things become impossible. ~Henry Ford, Sr.There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ~Peter DruckerWe are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. ~UnknownWhen solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookThe young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation. ~Pearl S. BuckVision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese proverbWhen the horse is dead, get off. ~UnknownThis is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anyone could have. ~UnknownThe leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. ~Elaine AgatherTo go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. ~Confucius
Success & Failure
If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average. ~M.H. AldersonI have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas EdisonI don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill CosbyThe only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything - and it works. ~William StrongSuccess consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston ChurchillI couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. ~Jonathan WintersIf you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert HubbardThere is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." ~Carrie FisherFailure is an event...not a person. ~UnknownThere is no failure. Only feedback. ~Robert AllenDon't aim for success, if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David FrostWhat we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~Mary PickfordIt is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final. ~UnknownSuccess: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo EmersonOur business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits. ~Robert Louis StevensonTry again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel BeckettFailure doesn't mean you are a failure...it just means you haven't succeeded yet. ~Robert SchullerIt is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. ~UnknownIn order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookI dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind. ~George Bernard ShawThose who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry KingJudge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. ~UnknownThat man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Worry
If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don HeroldLet us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which will never happen. ~James Russel LowellIf things go wrong, don't go with them. ~Roger BabsonWorry is interest paid in advance for a debt you may never owe. ~UnknownRule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff.Rule #2: It's all small stuff.~Dr. Michael MantellDrag your thoughts away from your troubles...by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. ~Mark TwainToday is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~UnknownWorry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo BuscagliaIf you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. ~Dale CarnegieI've developed a new philosophy...I only dread one day at a time. ~Charlie BrownTroubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them. ~UnknownIf you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today. ~E. Joseph CossmanI come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. ~Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross. ~UnknownThe greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. ~UnknownNothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety. ~PlatoWe cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. ~David SarnoffMen fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other. ~Francis Bacon, "Of Death"If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn't going to be much fun. ~From the television show RoseanneSome people are so afraid do die that they never begin to live. ~Henry Van DykeHe who doesn't fear death dies only once. ~Giovanni Falcone
Happiness & Attitude
I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. ~Denis WaitelyIf you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one. ~Cavett RobertHe who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. ~Samuel JohnsonHappiness is never stopping to think if you are. ~P. SondrealBlessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. ~Jonathan SwiftBefore you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available. ~Jim BeggsEven if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. ~Jacques Prévert
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. ~Vince LombardiIf you haven't all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you wouldn't want. ~UnknownOh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left. ~Hubert HumphreyMy riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants. ~J. BrothertonMost people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy. ~Robert AnthonySeven days without laughter makes one weak. ~Mort WalkerIf you want to be happy, be. ~Leo TolstoyThe Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. ~Benjamin FranklinThe best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark TwainIf only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time. ~Edith WhartonNobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. ~Cynthia NelmsAttitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ~Winston ChurchillSo often time it happens, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key. ~The Eagles, "Already Gone"Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. ~Robertson DaviesA smile confuses an approaching frown. ~UnknownHappiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca ReiglerHappiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination. ~Immanuel KantIf you don't have a smile, I'll give you one of mine. ~UnknownThose who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad. ~Norm PapernickThe foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James OpenheimIf you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy RooneyHappiness sneaks through a door you didn't know that you left open. ~John BarrymoreIn the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert CamusThe only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders. ~Foster's LawPeople seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile. ~Lee MildonThe greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. ~William JamesWe're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. ~Oscar WildeTo be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have. ~Ken S. Keyes, Jr.I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. ~Joe WalshPeople take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. ~H. Jackson BrowneIt's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardLaughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. ~Victor HugoOften people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. ~Margaret YoungIndeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. ~St. AugustineCan anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThere are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. ~Logan Pearsall SmithThis is my "depressed stance." When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this. ~Charlie BrownEvery day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~UnknownJust because you're miserable doesn't mean you can't enjoy your life. ~Annette GoodheartPleasure is spread through the earthIn stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.~William Wordsworth, 1806Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel HawthorneMost people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be. ~Abraham LincolnSome people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. ~UnknownTranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys. ~Christian Nestell BoveeTo be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. ~George SantayanaCould we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. ~Katherine MansfieldLet me enjoy the earth no lessBecause the all-enacting MightWhich fashioned forth its lovelinessHad other aims than my delight.~Thomas Hardy, Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, 1909The only disability in life is a bad attitude. ~Scott HamiltonWe cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails. ~UnknownI don't like that man. I must get to know him better. ~Abraham LincolnA person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone. ~Robert FrostA happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. ~Hugh DownsA smile is a curve that sets everything straight. ~Phyllis DillerVery often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene. ~A.C. BensonThe most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummingsLaughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton BerleThe supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. ~Arnold ToynbeeWe tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. ~Frederick KeonigSome people are grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. ~Alphonse KarrLet us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. ~BuddhaSince the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. ~Italian proverbMen who never get carried away should be. ~Malcolm ForbesWe feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire. ~Eric HofferThings turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. ~Art LinkletterThere are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. ~William BennettAll my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind. ~Abraham LincolnIt's never too late to have a happy childhood. ~UnknownHappiness is nothing more than health and a poor memory. ~Albert SchweitzerThe world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~UnknownMan, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. ~Ken KeseyHappiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. ~Eleanor RooseveltHappiness is a direction, not a place. ~Sydney J. HarrisAlways remember to be happy because you never know who's falling in love with your smile. ~UnknownI have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. ~Galileo GalileiThe man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings. ~Henri Frederic AmielOf all the things you wear, your statement is the most important. ~Janet LaneOne of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. ~Bertrand RussellSome days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway. ~Emory AustinPeople are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. ~EpictetusSwallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day. ~Nicholas ChamfortA truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. ~UnknownIf you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai LamaThere are two types of people - those who come into a room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who come in and say, "Ah, there you are." ~Frederick L. CollinsThere is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. ~Lady BlessingtonA smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles GordyConsider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved. ~Marcus AntoniusYou shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe. ~James WhistlerA pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~Harry Truman
Integrity & Self-Respect
I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am. ~Samuel JohnsonLove all, trust a few, do wrong to none. ~William ShakespeareTranscend political correctness and strive for human righteousness. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookDo not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ~BuddhaWisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it. ~David Star Jordan, The Philosophy of DespairIt's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. ~Roy DisneyCharacter is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. ~J.C. WattsCharacter is much easier kept than recovered. ~Thomas PaineSelfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. ~Oscar WildeI hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been. ~C. HoppeOne does evil enough when one does nothing good. ~German proverbI never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day. ~Abraham LincolnThere is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience. ~French proverbDo not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. ~Henry David ThoreauIt is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. ~Alfred AdlerDon't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough. ~Arthur FreedMy country is the world, and my religion is to do good. ~Thomas Paine
Live truth instead of professing it. ~Elbert HubbardIn my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned. ~Jane Haddam
Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ~Cyril ConnollyNever let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right. ~Isaac AsimovI prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~Frederick DouglassIt is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. ~Andre GideThat you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. ~William J.H. BoetckerTo thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. ~Shakespeare, HamletMany a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street. ~Elbert HubbardA man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~J. Pierpoint MorganA man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company. ~Charles Evans HughesDignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. ~AristotleYou can out-distance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. ~Rwandan proverbFlattery is all right so long as you don't inhale. ~Adlai StevensonChop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. ~Henry FordA pure hand needs no glove to cover it. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterBetter keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~George Bernard ShawBe what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise. ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in WonderlandThe greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. ~SocratesLet us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only. ~Samuel Butler, ErewhonWe judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowYou don't carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation. ~Charles Dickens, Barnaby RudgeAs I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew CarnegiePeople may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. ~Lewis Cass
What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonNo man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterIf we cannot live so as to be happy, let us at least live so as to deserve it. ~Immanuel Hermass von FichteLive in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. ~Will RogersMy grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there. ~Indira GandhiThe right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesIt takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowI don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to. ~UnknownConscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking. ~H.L. MenckenMany of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves. ~UnknownFor the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse. ~Samuel RichardsonI am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. ~Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh MistressIf moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral. ~Samuel GinderIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. ~Bishop Desmond TutuDon't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~William FaulknerI am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. ~Mahatma GandhiYour religion is what you do when the sermon is over. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy statement of leaning into the light. ~Barry Lopez, Arctic DreamsMan is the only animal that blushes - or needs to. ~Mark TwainOur character is what we do when we think no one is looking. ~H. Jackson Browne, P.S. I Love YouThe best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others. ~UnknownThe only guy I have to get better than is who I am right now. ~Colonel Potter in M*A*S*HTake your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame. ~Erica JongIt is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it. ~A.A. HodgeHave no fear of robbers or murderers. They are external dangers, petty dangers. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murders. The great dangers are within us. Why worry about what threatens our heads or purses? Let us think instead of what threatens our souls. ~Victor HugoConscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good. ~UnknownThose who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. ~Lane OlinghouseNearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ~Abraham LincolnPrinciples have no real force except when one is well-fed. ~Mark TwainIf you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark TwainIt is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. ~H.L. MenckenNo man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. ~Abraham LincolnMake yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world. ~Thomas CarlyleA half truth is a whole lie. ~Jewish proverbA truth that's told with bad intentBeats all the lies you can invent.~William BlakeThe least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. ~AristotleThe most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph LichtenbergWith lies you may get ahead in the world - but you can never go back. ~Russian proverbHonesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain't lawful tender for a loaf of bread. ~Josh BillingsA lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. MohnHonesty is never seen sitting astride the fence. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911We tell lies when we are afraid...afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad WilliamsTruth fears no questions. ~UnknownPretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children. ~Oliver WendellMen occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~Winston ChurchillIt is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. ~Thomas Paine, The Age of ReasonHonesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
Laws of Life & Wisdom
Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern
Take care that no one hates you justly. ~Publilius Syrus
Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society
Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. ~Robert Brault
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. ~Arthur Miller
To the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution. ~Joe Cordare
You can't shake hands with a clenched fist. ~Indira Gandhi
Do not repeat anything you will not sign your name to. ~Unknown
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Unknown
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. ~Thomas a' Kempis
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. ~Dennis Wholey
Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else. ~Ivern Ball
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right. ~William Safire
Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Unknown
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. ~Steven D. Woodhull
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. ~Albert Einstein
Do not wait for the last judgement, it takes place every day. ~Albert Camus
During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use. ~Wendell Johnson
Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way. ~Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. ~Juvenal, Satires
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. ~Joseph Joubert
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. ~Phyllis Theroux
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. ~Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Whenever you fall, pick something up. ~Oswald Avery
To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell. ~Ancient proverb
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind. ~Mahatma Gandhi
A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward. ~George Jean Nathan
Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~W. Somerset Maugham
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped. ~African proverb
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it. ~Napoleon I
Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake. ~Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne
One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever come to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on the way. ~Vincent Van Gogh
Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or the last time. ~Betty Smith
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. ~Henry Miller, The Books in My Life
The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. ~Frank Hubbard
No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head. ~Terry Josephson
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow
Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face. ~Nelson DeMille
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. ~Mark Twain
If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut. ~Albert Einstein
Never Explain - your Friends do not need it and your Enemies will not believe you anyway. ~Elbert Hubbard
Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong. ~Dandemis
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~Albert Camus
It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. ~John Andrew Holmes
If you're headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns. ~Unknown
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. ~Rudyard Kipling
Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise. ~Unknown
The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep. ~Henry Maudsley
Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. ~Janis Joplin
While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. ~Doug Horton
A stumble may prevent a fall. ~English proverb
To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy. ~Hippocrates
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. ~Buddha
Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. ~Orson Rega Card
In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled. ~Paul Eldridge
Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. ~Malachy McCourt
If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you. ~Unknown
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis Roch
You can't hold a man down without staying down with him. ~Booker T. Washington
Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought. ~Dwight Morrow
Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Unknown
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~Albert Einstein
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. ~Abraham Lincoln
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. ~George Bernard Shaw
If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~Raymond Inmon
As you climb the ladder of success, be sure it's leaning against the right building. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. ~Victor Hugo
Well done is better than well said. ~Benjamin Franklin
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. ~Frank Herbert, Dune Chronicles
We seldom enjoy leisure we haven't earned. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole. ~Unknown
I... recommend to every one of my Readers, the keeping a Journal of their Lives for one Week, and setting down punctually their whole Series of Employments during that Space of Time. This kind of Self-Examination would give them a true State of themselves, and incline them to consider seriously what they are about. One Day would rectifie the Omissions of another, and make a Man weigh all those indifferent Actions, which, though they are easily forgotten, must certainly be accounted for. ~Joseph Addison, 1712
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. ~Don Wilder
Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. ~Marlene Dietrich
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. ~Plato
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. ~Woodrow Wilson
Preconcieved notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. ~Merry Browne
The best way to predict your future is to create it. ~Peter Drucker
Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman. ~Joseph Joubert
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was. ~Abraham Lincoln
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. ~Alice Walker
Almost everything in life is easier to get into than out of. ~Agnes' Law
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. ~Kahlil Gibran
Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey. ~Tad Williams
Anger is one letter short of danger. ~Unknown
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. ~Baltasar Gracian
The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it. ~Unknown
If you want to truly understand something, try to change it. ~Kurt Lewis
Never write a letter while you are angry. ~Chinese proverb
When you lose, don't lose the lesson. ~Unknown
There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire. ~John C. Collins
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough. ~William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. ~Jimmy Johnson
Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. ~H. Jackson Browne
Be nice to people on your way up because you'll need them on your way down. ~W. Migner
The easiest way to keep a secret is without help. ~Unknown
When you throw dirt, you lose ground. ~Texan proverb
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference. ~Unknown
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Unknown
You are never stronger than when you arm yourself with your weakness. ~Mme. DuDeffand
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. ~Garth Brooks
Sometimes the best way to hold onto something is to let it go. ~Unknown
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~Erica Jong
Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. ~Gordon R. Dickson
When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. ~Marquis de la Grange
Fortunately [psychoanalysis] is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist. ~Karen Horney
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Unknown
In trying to get our own way, we should remember that kisses are sweeter than whine. ~Unknown
There is only one thing about which I am certain, and that is that there is very little about which one can be certain. ~W. Somerset Maugham
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. ~Chinese proverb
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. ~Henri Louis Bergson
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. ~Harrison Ford
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. ~Malcolm S. Forbes
Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends. ~Shirley Maclaine
He who angers you conquers you. ~Elizabeth Kenny
Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make. ~Donald Trump
Making a Difference & Kindness
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Live simply that others might simply live. ~Elizabeth Seaton
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. ~Sydney Smith
What a person believes is not as important as how a person believes. ~Timothy Virkkala
If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
My life is my message. ~Mahatma Ghandi
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. ~Mahatma Ghandi
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. ~Edmund Burke
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. ~Lowell
You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself. ~Gene Mauch
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him. ~Albert Schweitzer
If everyone howled at every injustice, every act of barbarism, every act of unkindness, then we would be taking the first step towards a real humanity. ~Nelson DeMille
If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. ~Betty Reese
He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. ~Sunshine Magazine
A good example has twice the value of good advice. ~Unknown
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
Improvement begins with I. ~Arnold Glasow
This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. ~George Bernard Shaw
A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together! ~Unknown
Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. ~Unknown
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse Jackson
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah
A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon
A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them. ~Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein
Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. ~Attributed to both Zig Ziglar and Dr. Kenneth McFarland
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Unknown
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Unknown
While earning your daily bread, be sure you share a slice with those less fortunate. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden
The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth
A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child. ~Knights of Pythagoras
Be kind, remember everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~T.H. Thompson
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. ~H.L. Mencken
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Matthew Barrie
Charity sees the need, not the cause. ~German proverb
By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill
The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Unknown
In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. ~Etienne de Grellet
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~Benjamin Disraeli
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan proverb
I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. ~Henry Ward Beecher
Sometimes someone says something really small, and it just fits right into this empty place in your heart. ~From the television show My So-Called Life
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. ~Arthur Ashe
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. ~Mohammed Ali
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked [on the Jericho Road] was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even. ~Daniel Berrigan
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. ~George Bernard Shaw
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~Albert Pine
Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf. ~Native American proverb
Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
~Walt Whitman
As the bus slowed down at the crowded bus stop, the Pakistani bus conductor leaned from the platform and called out, "Six only!" The bus stopped. He counted on six passengers, rang the bell, and then, as the bus moved off, called to those left behind: "So sorry, plenty of room in my heart - but the bus is full." He left behind a row of smiling faces. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. ~The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, 1977
The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor's shoulder is to pat him on the back. ~Unknown
Marriage & Love
A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he's finished. ~Zsa Zsa GaborBigamy is having one husband or wife too many. Monogamy is the same. ~Oscar WildeSpouse: someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single. ~UnknownMarriage means commitment. Of course, so does insanity. ~UnknownMarriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. ~Mae WestMy wife says I never listen to her. At least I think that's what she said. ~UnknownI never knew what real happiness was until I got married and by then it was too late. ~Max KauffmanMarriage, n: The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two. ~Ambrose BierceMistress: something between a mister and a mattress. ~UnknownMother-in-law: a woman who destroys her son-in-law's peace of mind by giving him a piece of hers. ~UnknownBachelor: the only man who has never told his wife a lie. ~UnknownWedding rings: the world's smallest handcuffs. ~UnknownDivorce: The past tense of marriage. ~UnknownThe most dangerous food is wedding cake. ~American proverbLove: a temporary insanity curable by marriage. ~UnknownMarriage is not a word - it is a sentence. ~UnknownThere is so little difference between husbands, you might as well keep the first. ~Adela Rogers St. JohnWhen a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. ~Sacha GuitryIf love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? ~UnkownInfatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway. ~Judith ViorstLove is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. ~W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook, 1949Love is the delusion that one [man or] woman differs from another. ~Henry Louis Mencken
Men & Women
Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography. ~Robert ByrneBoys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardSome men are so macho they'll get you pregnant just to kill a rabbit. ~Maureen MurphyIf the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. ~Rita Mae BrownGod gave us all a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to run one at a time. ~Robin WilliamsWhat's the matter with you guys? The sight of blonde hair knocks you three rungs down on the evolutionary ladder. ~From the television show Civil WarsThe only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys. ~UnknownMen are always whining about how we're suffocating them. Personally, I think if you can hear them whining, you're not pressing hard enough on the pillow. ~UnknownWomen like silent men. They think they're listening. ~Marcel ArchardThe average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think. ~UnknownSure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece. ~UnknownIf a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave BarryIt is silly for a woman to go to a male gynecologist. It is like going to an auto mechanic who has never even owned his own car. ~Carrie SnowThe two women exchanged the kind of glance women use when no knife is handy. ~Ellery Queen
Sex
Remember, if you smoke after sex your doing it too fast. ~Woody AllenSex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer. ~Swami XDon't knock masturbation - it's sex with someone I love. ~Woody AllenSex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off. ~UnknownFamiliarity breeds contempt - and children. ~Mark TwainFlies spread disease - keep yours zipped. ~UnknownThere is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats. ~Elton John
Age & Death
You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. ~UnknownAs a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you. ~Fran Lebowitz, Social StudiesLife is a moderately good play with a badly written third act. ~Truman CapoteMiddle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. ~Bob HopeMiddle age is when a narrow waist and a broad mind begin to change places. ~UnknownI finally got my head together, and my body fell apart. ~UnknownYou can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a hundred. ~AllenThe really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it. ~Doris DayDeath is a low chemical trick played on everybody except sequoia trees. ~J.J. FurnasDie, v.: To stop sinning suddenly. ~Elbert HubbardI intend to live forever. So far, so good. ~Stephen WrightI wouldn't mind dying - it's the business of having to stay dead that scares the shit out of me. ~R. GeisDeath is life's way of telling you you're fired. ~UnknownMost people think life sucks, and then you die. Not me. I beg to differ. I think life sucks, then you get cancer, then your dog dies, your wife leaves you, the cancer goes into remission, you get a new dog, you get remarried, you owe ten million dollars in medical bills but you work hard for thirty five years and you pay it back and then one day you have a massive stroke, your whole right side is paralyzed, you have to limp along the streets and speak out of the left side of your mouth and drool but you go into rehabilitation and regain the power to walk and the power to talk and then one day you step off a curb at Sixty-seventh Street, and BANG you get hit by a city bus and then you die. Maybe. ~Denis Leary
Health
Eat right, exercise regularly, die anyway. ~UnknownHealth nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. ~Redd FoxxIf I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. ~Mickey MantleRed meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you! ~Tommy SmothersI drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. ~UnknownHealth is merely the slowest way someone can die. ~Unknown
Not Your Average Definitions
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it. ~Bob HopeA celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. ~Fred AllenA classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read. ~Mark TwainA compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted. ~UnknownA conclusion is the place where you got tired thinking. ~Martin H. FischerA criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. ~Robert W. KentA diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. ~Caskie StinnettA Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother. ~UnknownA gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't. ~UnknownA pedestrian is someone who thought there were a couple of gallons left in the tank. ~UnknownA pun is a short quip followed by a long groan. ~UnknownA synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of. ~Burt BacharachActing is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing. ~Ralph RichardsonBoy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average DictionaryBusiness is the art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence. ~Max AmsterdamHappiness is the agreeable sensation of contemplating the misery of others. ~UnknownHeredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other. ~Laurence J. PeterHome cooking: where many a man thinks his wife is. ~UnknownPuritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. ~H.L. MenckenShin: a device for finding furniture in the dark. ~UnknownSweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. ~Ambrose Bierce
Weather
A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. ~Carl ReinerWinter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert ByrneWeather forecast for tonight: dark. ~George CarlinDon't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
Humorous Advice
Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back. ~UnknownDon't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. ~Howard AikenIf you want to recapture your youth, just cut off his allowance. ~Al BernsteinNever do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. ~UnknownIf all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. ~John Kenneth GalbraithStart every day with a smile and get it over with. ~W.C. FieldsTo get something done a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent. ~Robert CopelandIf at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. ~UnknownA positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm AlbrightIf two wrongs don't make a right, try three. ~UnknownDon't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~Charles SchultzYou have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax - tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough. ~Pearl Williams
Computers
Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer (not advised) are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software. ~UnknownHardware: the parts of a computer that can be kicked. ~Jeff PesisI haven't lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere. ~UnknownBack up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse? ~UnknownRAM disk is not an installation procedure. ~UnknownThe best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec/sec. ~Marcus DolengoTreat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months. ~Clifford StollDon't anthropomorphize computers - they hate it. ~Unknown
Miscellaneous Humor
The number one sign you have nothing to do at work: The 4th Division of Paperclips has overrun the Pushpin Infantry and General White-Out has called for a new skirmish. ~Fred Barling, "Humorscope"A pun is the lowest form of humor, unless you thought of it yourself. ~Doug Larson
Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. ~Doug LarsonAll generalizations are bad. ~R.H. GrenierAll my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. ~Jane Wagner, The Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe, performed by Lily TomlinAn intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger. ~Dan RatherAn unwatched pot boils immediately. ~H.F. EllisBisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night. ~Woody AllenBlack holes result from God dividing the universe by zero. ~UnknownCondoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus. ~Bob RubinConfucious say: "Baseball wrong - man with four balls cannot walk." ~UnknownEagles may soar in the clouds, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines. ~Attributed to both Jason Hutchison and John BenfieldEvery day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. ~Robert OrbenHow come there's only one Monopolies Commission? ~Nigel ReesHow long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on. ~Zall's Second LawI am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top. ~English Professor, Ohio UniversityI am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~Woody AllenI can't believe that out of 10,000 sperm, you were the quickest. ~Steven PearlI don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. ~UnknownI feel like a fugitive from the law of averages. ~William H. MauldinI have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three. ~Elayne BooslerI hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it. ~Jack HandyIf a train station is where the train stops, what's a workstation? ~UnknownIf at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style. ~Quentin CrispIf the human mind was simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it. ~Emerson PughIf The Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me. ~Song title by Jimmy BuffetIf you don't find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalogue. ~Sears, Roebuck, and Co., Consumer's Guide, 1897If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. ~Earl WilsonIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. ~Henry J. TillmanIn spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. ~Kathy NorrisIt is easier to get forgiveness than permission. ~Stewart's Law of RetroactionI've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. ~Groucho MarxMadness takes its toll. Please have exact change. ~UnknownMan was predestined to have free will. ~Hal Lee LuyahMaybe this world is another planet's hell. ~Aldous HuxleyMonday is a lame way to spend 1/7 of your life. ~UnknownMoney talks...but all mine ever says is good-bye. ~UnknownMurphy was an optimist. ~O'Toole's CommentaryMy life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot. ~Ashleigh Brilliant98% of all statistics are made up. ~UnknownOnly Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. ~UnknownPeople are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. ~UnknownPoliticians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason. ~UnknownPuns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. ~Dave Barry, Why Humor Is FunnySometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world. ~Lily TomlinThe only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. ~Nicholas ChamfortThe only problemwith Haiku is that you justget started and then~UnknownThe remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good. ~Robert GravesThe ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. ~Douglas AdamsThe sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up. ~UnknownThe statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you. ~Rita Mae BrownThe surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and HobbesThere are a billion people in China. It's not easy to be an individual in a crowd of more than a billion people. Think of it. More than a BILLION people. That means even if you're a one-in-a-million type of guy, there are still a thousand guys exactly like you. ~A. Whitney Brown, The Big PictureThere is no gravity. The earth sucks. ~GraffitoTime is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once. ~Woody AllenWe pretend to work because they pretend to pay us. ~UnknownYou can't have everything...where would you put it? ~Steven Wright
Meaning & Purpose of Life
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~Robert ByrneA life without cause is a life without effect. ~BarbarellaJack Palance: "Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean shit."Billy Crystal: "Yeah, but what's that one thing?"Jack Palance: "That's what you've got to figure out."~From the movie City SlickersHere is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. ~Richard BachThe miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. ~Chinese proverbWhen I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma BombeckJust living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian AndersonI arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~Elwyn Brooks WhiteHe who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for. ~Moroccan proverbBut now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. ~Umberto Eco, Foucault's PendulumIn three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. ~Robert FrostIn the book of life, the answers aren't in the back. ~Charlie BrownOnly a few things are really important. ~Marie DresslerSometimes questions are more important than answers. ~Nancy Willard, quoted in The Meaning of Life, compiled by Hugh S. MoorheadUsefulness is happiness. ~AnonymousI have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don't have to know an answer.... I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. ~Richard Phillips FeynmanPerhaps we are looking at this from a wrong perspective; this search for the truth, the meaning of life, the reason of God. We all have this mindset that the answers are so complex and so vast that it is almost impossible to comprehend. I think, on the contrary, that the answers are so simple; so simple that it is staring us straight in the face, screaming its lungs out, and yet we fail to notice it. We're looking through a telescope, searching the stars for the answer, when the answer is actually a speck of dirt on the telescope lens. ~Jason Q., from Generation TerroristsRest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~J. Lubbock
Beauty
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~UnknownHad the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked. ~Ralph Ellison, "Battle Royal"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. ~Ninon de L'EnclosTell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,Then beauty is its own excuse for being~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Rhodora"Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see. ~George W. RussellIn every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. ~Christopher MorleyWe ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonEverything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~ConfuciusOne summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be see many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will. ~Rachel CarsonFlowers...are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society, where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but Nature more.~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's PilgrimageA morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. ~Walt WhitmanI think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914
Material Objects & Money
I cannot afford to waste my time making money. ~Jean Louis AgassizFew rich men own their own property. The property owns them. ~Robert G. IngersollWhen I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart. ~John WesleyAfter a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world. ~Pam ShawThe real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money. ~UnknownOnly when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~Cree Indian proverbYou have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. ~Vernon HowardThe only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments. ~Mad MagazineNo matter how hard you hug your money, it never hugs back. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. ~Norman Vincent PealeWe have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. ~William JamesThe essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ~EpictetusWaste your money and you're only out of money, but waste your time and you've lost a part of your life. ~Michael LeboeufThere are people who have money and people who are rich. ~Coco ChanelDo not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. ~Henry David ThoreauThe poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. ~John BergerPoverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit. ~Eli Khamarov, Lives of the CognoscentiThis planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. ~Douglas AdamsRacial injustice, war, urban blight, and environmental rape have a common denominator in our exploitative economic system. ~Channing E. Phillips, speech, Washington, D.C., 22 April 1970Seldom do people discernEloquence under a threadbare cloak.~JuvenalA rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. ~W.C. FieldsMammon, n.: The god of the world's leading religion. ~Ambrose BierceThe best things in life aren't things. ~Art BuchwaldWallets are the fabricated items into which we put our fabricated money, which most people believe to be their possession of the realest value. ~T. SachsAffluence creates poverty. ~Marshall McLuhan
Age & Youth at Heart
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. ~Doug LarsonA man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. ~John BarrymoreAge is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. ~Mark TwainNobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel UllmanHow old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? ~Satchel PaigeGrowing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili DavisOld age is fifteen years older than I am. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesAge does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim FiebigMen do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesThe years teach much which the days never knew. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonInflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. ~Sam EwingAge is opportunity no less,Than youth itself, though in another dress,And as the evening twilight fades away,The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri SalutamusWrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. ~Mark Twain, Following the EquatorTo be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesYouth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children. ~George Bernard ShawThe great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. ~Doris LessingDo not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~UnknownSome people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces to their hearts. ~Martin BuxhaumFather Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. ~Charles DickensThere's no pleasure on earth that's worth sacrificing for the sake of an extra five years in the geriatric ward of the Sunset Old People's Home. ~Horace RumpoleThe first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left. ~Jerry M. WrightI don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. ~T.S. EliotWhen childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell. That is why we dread children, even if we love them, they show us the state of our decay. ~Brian AldissWhen I can look Life in the eyes,Grown calm and very coldly wise,Life will have given me the Truth,And taken in exchange - my youth.~Sara TeasdaleWhen I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it. ~Mark TwainCourage, Fear, & Cowardice
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose RedmoonEvery man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonCourage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. ~Winston ChurchillCourage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. ~Mark TwainCourage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher-HersheyCourage is being afraid but going on anyhow. ~Dan RatherCourage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared. ~Eddie RickenbackerA coward is a hero with a wife, kids, and a mortgage. ~Marvin KitmanCoward: A man in whom the instinct of self-preservation acts normally. ~Sultana ZorayaBravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid. ~Franklin P. JonesCourage can't see around corners but goes around them anyway. ~M. McLaughlinIf God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs? ~Marvin KitmanCoward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs. ~Ambrose BierceSometimes the biggest act of courage is a small one. ~Lauren RaffoCowardice...is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination. ~Ernest HemingwaySometimes even to live is an act of courage. ~Lucius Annaeus SenecaSome have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. ~English proverb
Reality, Imagination, & Creativity
Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible. I think it's in my basement...let me go upstairs and check. ~M.C. EscherImagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. ~Jules de GaultierEverything you can imagine is real. ~Pablo PicassoReality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. ~Philip K. DickReality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~Albert EinsteinA fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant. ~UnknownNever tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. ~George S. PattonAre you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling? ~M.C. EscherNo man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. ~Samuel JohnsonHow many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. ~Abraham LincolnA rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. ~Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThere is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes, and values. ~David G. Myers, Social PsychologyObjectivity has about as much substance as the emperor's new clothes. ~Connie MillerI like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. ~Dr. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. SeussNothing encourages creativity like the chance to fall flat on one's face. ~James D. FinleyIllusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces. ~Sigmund FreudSome stories are true that never happened. ~Elie WeiselIt's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in WonderlandMy alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around! ~Dr. SeussImagination is intelligence having fun. ~UnknownHow do we know that the sky is not green and we are all colour-blind? ~UnknownThe Possible's slow fuse is litBy the Imagination.~Emily DickinsonThere are no facts, only interpretations. ~Friedrich NietzscheIt's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. ~Henry David ThoreauThey are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. ~Francis BaconI saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. ~MichelangeloA mind all logic is like a knife all blade. ~Rabindranath TagoreThink left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. ~Maya AngelouReality is nothing but a collective hunch. ~Lily TomlinYou can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~Mark TwainBut my dear man, reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know. ~Alan WattsDon't expect anything original from an echo. ~UnknownI paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. ~Pablo PicassoReality leaves a lot to the imagination. ~John LennonWhen you are describing,A shape, or sound, or tint;Don't state the matter plainly,But put it in a hint;And learn to look at all things,With a sort of mental squint.~Lewis CarrollI believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see. ~Duane MichalsYou can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ~Jack LondonCreativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. ~Norman PodhoretzI have a very firm grasp on reality! I can reach out and strangle it any time! ~UnknownThey who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. ~Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. ~Ansel AdamsTo think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. ~George KnellerThings are only impossible until they're not. ~Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next GenerationWhen patterns are broken, new worlds can emerge. ~Tuli Kupferberg
Perspective
A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to your eye. ~Samuel GraftonIs the glass half empty, half full, or twice as large as it needs to be? ~UnknownIf the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ~Abraham MaslowDon't think of organ donations as giving up part of yourself to keep a total stranger alive. It's really a total stranger giving up almost all of themselves to keep part of you alive. ~UnknownWe don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. ~Anaïs NinWhen you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity. ~Albert EinsteinThe whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. ChestertonEvery person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world. ~Arthur SchopenhauerEfficiency is intelligent laziness. ~David DunhamIf you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. ~Carl SaganWhen you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil GibranIf I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush. ~Dawn FrenchMy play was a complete success. The audience was a failure. ~Ashleigh BrilliantBut if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. ~George OrwellStolen kisses require an accomplice. ~Just One Fool Thing After Another: A Cowfolks' Guide to RomanceThe bluebird carries the sky on his back. ~Henry David ThoreauI am not an Athenian or a Greek, I am a citizen of the world. ~SocratesFor the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously. ~George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, 1903We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction. ~Douglas MacArthurThe devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. ~William ShakespeareA tree never hits an automobile except in self defense. ~American proverbPerfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-ExupéryIf you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. ~Ursula Le GuinThe real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel ProustWhat we see depends mainly on what we look for. ~John LubbockThere is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. ~William ShakespeareCredulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength. ~Charles LambThe reverse side also has a reverse side. ~Japanese proverbInnocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue. ~Anatole FranceThe knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ~Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the GalaxyWe have them just where they want us. ~James T. KirkSome men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not. ~George Bernard ShawChaperons don't enforce morality; they force immorality to be discreet. ~Judith MartinThere are always three sides to every story: your side, the other side, and the truth. ~UnknownIt isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the grain of sand in your shoe. ~UnknownEdible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ~Ambrose BierceIn the strict scientific sense we all feed on death - even vegetarians. ~Spock from Star Trek, "Wolf in the Fold"One man's frankness is another man's vulgarity. ~Kevin SmithI don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes. ~Robert A. HeinleinTravelers never think that they are the foreigners. ~Mason CooleyThe optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. ~James Branch Cabell, The Silver StallionA liberal is a conservative who's been arrested. A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged. ~Wendy KaminerWhere there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~Dorthea LangeA hen is only an egg's way of making another egg. ~Samuel ButlerThere's only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~J.C. BridgeWhen a guy goes to a hooker, he's not paying her for sex, he's paying her to leave. ~UnknownEvery exit is an entrance somewhere else. ~Tom StoppardA silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. ~C.S. Lewis
Education, Knowledge, & Curiosity
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~B.F. SkinnerEducation is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. ~Will DurantIt is important that students bring a certain rafamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it. ~Jacob ChanowskiThe object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~Robert Maynard HutchinsHe who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor HugoWhy should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age? ~Erich FrommA teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~Thomas CarruthersIf you think education is expensive, try ignorance! ~Andy McIntyreMan's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesEducation would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. ~Sir William HaleyIn your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue BookReal knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. ~ConfuciusThe most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. ~AntisthenesMillions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why. ~Bernard BaruchSome people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon. ~Alexander PopeI like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. ~Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. ~Malcolm S. ForbesIf you have a college degree you can be absolutely sure of one thing...you have a college degree. ~UnknownSit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing. ~Thomas HuxleyI have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark TwainIf you feel you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you. ~Robert F. GoheenPersonally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. ~Winston ChurchillThe larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder. ~Ralph W. SockmanAn educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong. ~R. BakerThe important thing is not to stop questioning. ~Albert EinsteinWhat does education often do? It makes a straight cut ditch of a free meandering brook. ~Henry David ThoreauEducation is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~Oscar WildeIt is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~AristotleI have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me. ~Dudley Field MaloneThere is nothing as stupid as an educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in. ~Will RogersTo teach is to learn twice. ~Joseph JoubertThe illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ~Alvin TofflerWe learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. ~Lloyd AlexanderThe purpose of a liberal education is to make you philosophical enough to accept the fact that you will never make much money. ~UnknownEducation, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ~Ambrose BierceThere is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. Anything that needs an adjective, be it civics education, or socialist education, or Christian education, or whatever-you-like education, is not education, and it has some different goal. The very existence of modified "educations" is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a mind that is free. An "education" that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must "teach" by homily and precept in the service of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is pure and unmistakable tyranny. ~Richard Mitchell, The Underground Grammarian, September 1982Education is the transmission of civilization. ~Ariel and Will DurantYou don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way. ~Marvin MinskyWisdom begins at the end. ~Daniel WebsterI keep six honest serving-men,They taught me all I knew;Their names are What and Why and WhenAnd How and Where and Who.~Rudyard KiplingThe one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions. ~Bishop Mandell CreightonIf you sincerely desire a truly well-rounded education, you must study the extremists, the obscure and "nutty." You need the balance! Your poor brain is already being impregnated with middle-of-the-road crap, twenty-four hours a day, no matter what. Network TV, newspapers, radio, magazines at the supermarket...even if you never watch, read, listen, or leave your house, even if you are deaf and blind, the telepathic pressure alone of the uncountable normals surrounding you will insure that you are automatically well-grounded in consensus reality. ~Rev. Ivan Stang, High Weirdness By MailThe cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. ~Ellen ParrI find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way. ~Franklin P. AdamsI think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Night, Sleep, & Dreams
Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep. ~Catherine O'HaraMost people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up. ~Ellen GoodmanIt's at night, when perhaps we should be dreaming, that the mind is most clear, that we are most able to hold all our life in the palm of our skull. I don't know if anyone has ever pointed out that great attraction of insomnia before, but it is so; the night seems to release a little more of our vast backward inheritance of instincts and feelings; as with the dawn, a little honey is allowed to ooze between the lips of the sandwich, a little of the stuff of dreams to drip into the waking mind. I wish I believed, as J. B. Priestley did, that consciousness continues after disembodiment or death, not forever, but for a long while. Three score years and ten is such a stingy ration of time, when there is so much time around. Perhaps that's why some of us are insomniacs; night is so precious that it would be pusillanimous to sleep all through it! A "bad night" is not always a bad thing. ~Brian W. AldissI often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~Vincent Van GoghThe night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand. ~Frederick L. KnowlesDawn: When men of reason go to bed. ~Ambrose BierceLife is something that happens when you can't get to sleep. ~Fran LebowitzSleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death. ~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowAnd if tonight my soul may find her peacein sleep, and sink in good oblivion,and in the morning wake like a new-opened flowerthen I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.~D.H. LawrenceIt's a cruel season that makes you get ready for bed while it's light out. ~CalvinThere are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. ~George CarlinTwilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star. ~Lucy Maud MontgomeryDreams are answers to questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask. ~X-FilesDreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. ~H.F. HedgeAll the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams. ~Elias CanettiDreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day. ~UnknownA dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read. ~The TalmudDreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha NormanDreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. ~William DementI am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. ~Rene Descartes, "Meditations on First Philosophy"Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher's the poet's equal there. ~E.M. CioranDreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language. ~Gail Godwin, Dream ChildrenThat which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it.... We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself. ~Paracelsus, quoted in The Dream GameHuge and mighty forms that do not live like living men, moved slowly through the mind by day and were trouble to my dreams. ~Wordsworth, Resolution and IndependenceI have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams.... Man...is above all the plaything of his memory. ~Andre Breton, "Manifesto of Surrealism," 1924
Animals & Pets
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben WilliamsThe greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel ButlerHorse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. ~W.C. FieldsIf you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. ~Phil PastoretEver consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! ~Anne Tyler, The Accidental TouristIt is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons. ~Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the GalaxyDogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. ~Max EastmanA dog is not almost human, and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such. ~John HolmesI have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. ~Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1907To insult someone we call him "bestial." For deliberate cruelty and nature, "human" might be the greater insult. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth
Death
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in IrelandBecause I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me.The Carriage held but just ourselvesAnd Immortality~Emily DickinsonA man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man. ~Percival Arland UssherThe idea is to die young as late as possible. ~Ashley Montagu'Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it. ~Lord ByronBoy, when you are dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you are dead? Nobody. ~J.D. SalingerWhile I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. ~Leonardo da VinciLife is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it. ~Alice WalkerI shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived. ~Willa CatherA man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own. ~Thomas MannIf man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted should betray his trust, and, in short, of coming eventually to hopeless misery. He would break down, at last, as every good fortune, as every dynasty, as every civilization does. In place of this we have death. ~Charles Sanders PeirceThe day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. ~SenecaDeath is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time. ~Rush LimbaughMillions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. ~Susan ErtzWe say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance. ~Marcel ProustTime rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation. ~Tennessee Williams, "The Rose Tattoo"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity. ~Edvard MunchThey tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice...that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person. ~Arthur SchopenhauerTo die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses: so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Expeditions of an Untimely ManFor what is it to die,But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?~Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet"Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit." ~Bill Maher, on Politically Incorrect, 1995Embalm, v.: To cheat vegetation by locking up the gases upon which it feeds. By embalming their dead and thereby deranging the natural balance between animal and vegetable life, the Egyptians made their once fertile and populous country barren and incapable of supporting more than a meagre crew. The modern metallic burial casket is a step in the same direction, and many a dead man who ought now to be ornamenting his neighbor's lawn as a tree, or enriching his table as a bunch of radishes, is doomed to a long inutility. We shall get him after awhile if we are spared, but in the meantime the violet and the rose are languishing for a nibble at his glutaeus maximus. ~Ambrose BierceMemory
Every man's memory is his private literature. ~Aldous HuxleyA memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen. ~Edward de BonoMemory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder YearsGod gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. BarrieOne need not be a chamber to be haunted;One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place.~Emily Dickinson, "Time and Eternity"There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory. ~Josh BillingsThe leaves of memory seemed to makeA mournful rustling in the dark.~Henry Wadsworth LongfellowMemory...is the diary that we all carry about with us. ~Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Advice
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~Erica JongSome people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. ~Gordon R. DicksonThe best advice is this: Don't take advice and don't give advice. ~UnknownNo one wants advice - only corroboration. ~John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our DiscontentWhen we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. ~Marquis de la Grange
Prejudice & Hate
We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudices. It is noble to rise above them. ~UnknownWhat 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. ~VoltaireJudge me all you want, just keep the verdict to yourself. ~From a Winston advertisementRacism isn't born, folks, it's taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list. ~Dennis LearyMorality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. ~Oscar WildeJudgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances. ~Dr. Wayne W. DyerOur thoughts are unseen hands shaping the people we meet. Whatever we truly think them to be, that's what they'll become for us. ~Richard CowperOne day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings. ~Franklin ThomasPrejudice is all in your head. ~As seen on a buttonIf only closed minds came with closed mouths. ~As seen on a buttonSmall is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds. ~Albert EinsteinI got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger. ~Muhammad Ali, 1967, refusing to fight in VietnamI think you should defend to the death their right to march, and then go down and meet them with baseball bats. ~Woody Allen, on the Ku Klux KlanJim Bakker spells his name with 2 k's because 3 would be too obvious. ~Bill MaherI swear to the LordI still can't seeWhy Democracy meansEverybody but me.~Langston Hughes, The Black Man SpeaksHating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat. ~Henry Emerson FosdickI will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. ~Booker T. WashingtonA Rattlesnake, if Cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is - a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. ~E. Stanley JonesAll men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first. ~James ThurberHatred is one long wait. ~René MaranWe hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them. ~Charles Caleb ColtonThere is a story of an Oxford student who once remarked, "I despise all Americans, but have never met one I didn't like." ~Gordon AllportIt is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterWomen & Feminism
Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes." ~Clare Boothe LuceI myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. ~Rebecca West, 1913Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. ~Cheris Kramarae and Paula TreichlerWomen belong in the house...and the Senate. ~UnknownWomen who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. ~Timothy LearyThe foolish and cruel notion that a wife is to obey her husband has sent more women to the grave than to the courts for a divorce. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes. ~Bella AbzugThere are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone. ~Gloria SteinemWomen have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge. ~UnknownWomen are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors. ~Evelyn CunninghamI've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing. ~Gloria SteinemFeminism directly confronts the idea that one person or set of people [has] the right to impose definitions of reality on others. ~Liz Stanley and Sue WiseNo woman is required to build the world by destroying herself. ~Rabbi SoferThe emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl." ~Shirley ChisholmI became a feminist as an alternative to becoming a masochist. ~Sally KemptonSensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours. ~Grover Cleveland, 1905I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem. ~Reverend Jerry Falwell[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. ~Pat RobertsonRemember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. ~Faith WhittlesyMost women are one man away from welfare. ~Gloria SteinemHistory is herstory too. ~UnknownNo one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry KissingerMan endures pain as an undeserved punishment; woman accepts it as a natural heritage. ~UnknownThe thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ~Roseanne BarrI see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament. ~Alanis Morissette, quoted in Reader's Digest, March 2000I'm tough, I'm ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. ~Madonna CicconeI was told that whistling wasn't ladylike, but I knew even then that women were simply not supposed to be that happy. ~Unknown, quoted in Kindling the Spirit by Lois P. FrankelBeing a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. ~Joseph ConradI think, therefore I'm single. ~Lizz WinsteadBecause women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and...for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement. ~"Women's Rights Manifesto," from a T-shirt sold by NOW (National Organization for Women)Homosexuality & Gay Rights
When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one. ~From the tombstone of a gay Vietnam veteranYou don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight. ~Barry GoldwaterThe Bible contains six 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 LavnerMy dear, I don't care what they do, so long as they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses. ~Mrs. Patrick CampbellHomosexuality is god's way of insuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children. ~Sam AustinIf gay and lesbian people are given civil rights, then everyone will want them! ~As seen on a buttonMy lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share. ~Rita Mae BrownThe only queer people are the ones who don't love anybody. ~Rita Mae BrownWhy is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest GainesIsn't it a violation of the Georgia sodomy law for the Supreme Court to have its head up its ass? ~Letter to Playboy magazine, February 1987You could move. ~Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the neighborhoodAs a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children. ~Anita Bryant, 1977I get sick of listening to straight people complain about, "Well, hey, we don't have a heterosexual-pride day, why do you need a gay-pride day?" I remember when I was a kid I'd always ask my mom: "Why don't we have a Kid's Day? We have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but why don't we have a Kid's Day?" My mom would always say, "Every day is Kid's Day." To all those heterosexuals that bitch about gay pride, I say the same thing: Every day is heterosexual-pride day! Can't you people enjoy your banquet and not piss on those of us enjoying our crumbs over here in the corner? ~Rob Nash, comedian An engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation. His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton/polyester-blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce decree was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp. Quiz: How many biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives are supposed to be 'submissive' to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that 'pertains to a man' (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7, 10) as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22). So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or - at best - unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple could easily be among the millions of Americans who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. ~Deb Price, And Say Hi To JoyceWar. Rape. Murder. Poverty. Equal rights for gays. Guess which one the Southern Baptist Convention is protesting? ~The Value of Families
Human Rights & Violations Thereof
The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting. ~Justice William J. Brennan, 1982Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political. ~Ignazio Silone, The God That FailedYou are a human being. You have rights inherent in that reality. You have dignity and worth that exists prior to law. ~Lyn Beth NeylonWhenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. ~Abraham LincolnI would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. ~Barry GoldwaterThe fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society, must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints. ~Samuel HendelHe that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas PaineHere is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered statement. ~Gerard K. O'Neill, 2081We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. ~Potter StewartWe have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. ~Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it. ~Mae WestThink for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~VoltaireThe peculiar evil of silencing the statement of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~Alfred Whitney GriswoldFreedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~A.J. Liebling, 1960To reject the word is to reject the human search. ~Max Lerner, 1953, on book purgingWhat progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. ~Sigmund Freud, 1933Every burned book enlightens the world. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThe paper burns, but the words fly away. ~Ben Joseph Akiba
Human Equality & Difference
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards. ~Bertrand RussellDon't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today. ~Malcolm XEveryone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven. ~Yiddish proverbAll the people like us are we,And everyone else is They.~Rudyard KiplingPeople are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities. ~Linda EllerbeeOnce the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~Italian proverbIn the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave. ~John James IngallsAs experience widens, one begins to see how much upon a level all human things are. ~Joseph FarrellThere is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future. ~Shri Haidakhan BabajiWho sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. ~Isa UpanishadThere is so much good in the worst of us,And so much bad in the best of us,That it hardly becomes any of usTo talk about the rest of us.~Edward Wallis Hoch
Abortion: Both Perspectives
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. ~Ronald ReaganIf the anti-abortion movement took a tenth of the energy they put into noisy theatrics and devoted it to improving the lives of children who have been born into lives of poverty, violence, and neglect, they could make a world shine. ~Michael Jay TuckerOnly half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive. ~UnknownSociety does not need more children; but it does need more loved children. Quite literally, we cannot afford unloved children - but we pay heavily for them every day. There should not be the slightest communal concern when a woman elects to destroy the life of her thousandth-of-an-ounce embryo. But all society should rise up in alarm when it hears that a baby that is not wanted is about to be born. ~Garrett HardinAgainst abortion? Don't have one. ~As seen on a button
History
History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there. ~George SantayanaThe past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down. ~A. Whitney Brown, The Big PictureUntil lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African proverbWhat is history but a fable agreed upon? ~Napolean BonaparteThe memories of men are too frail a thread to hang history from. ~John StillHistory is more or less bunk. ~Henry FordThe past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened. ~Peter BergerLegend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age. ~H.L. MenckenHistory is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions. ~Ted KoppelThe notion that any one person can describe 'what really happened' is an absurdity. If ten - or a hundred - people witness an event, there will be ten - or a hundred - different versions of what took place. What we see and how we interpret it depends entirely upon our individual past experience. ~David and Leigh Eddings
Profound & Philosophical
A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure. ~Segal's Law
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. ~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. ~Aesop
There's more to the truth than just the facts. ~Unknown
Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day. ~Polish proverb
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. ~Ludwig Bne
How can anyone be truly enlightened, when the truth is so poorly lit? ~Unknown
Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. ~Zen Buddist proverb
I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying. ~Charles C. Finn
Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. ~Zen saying
You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. ~Navajo proverb
Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. ~Russian proverb
Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. ~James Thurber
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. ~Heraclitus
Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind. ~Leo Rosten
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. ~Santayana, Essays
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~Niels Bohr
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. ~Aristotle
The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different. ~Aldous Huxley
The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth - that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one. ~H.L. Mencken
The future influences the present just as much as the past. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. ~John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911
When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that in itself is a choice. ~William James
You can't fall off the floor. ~Unknown
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top. ~Unknown
In general people experience their present naively, as it were, without being able to form an estimate of its contents; they have first to put themselves at a distance from it - the present, that is to say, must have become the past - before it can yield points of vantage from which to judge the future. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
Miscellaneous
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. ~Bertrand Russell, Autobiography
Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.
~John Webster
I simply believe that some part of the human soul is not subject to the laws of space and time. ~Carl Jung
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. What is so difficult to achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness. ~Fred Hoyle, Of Man and Galaxies
Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign. ~Anatole France, Le jardin d'Epicure
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again? ~Winnie the Pooh
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~Robert Fulghum
The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations. ~Eli Khamarov, Surviving on Planet Reebok
Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~Mark Twain
The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! ~Unknown
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes
There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. ~Henry Ford
Never strike your wife - even with a flower. ~Hindu proverb
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, call it the target. ~Patrick Toche
As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. ~Buddy Hackett
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~J.R.R. Tolkien
My heart that was rapt away by the wild cherry blossoms - will it return to my body when they scatter? ~Kotomichi
With every civil right there has to be a corresponding civil obligation. ~Edison Haines
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have. ~Don Herold
A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not. ~Unknown
The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize until you have tried to make it precise. ~Bertrand Russell, The Philosophy of Logical Atomism
Who lies for you will lie against you. ~Bosnian proverb
The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. ~William J. Clinton, 1997
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. ~Albert Einstein
A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone. ~Jo Godwin
Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ~Christopher Morley
Humor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. ~Ron Dentinger
You couldn't get hold of the things you'd done and turn them right again. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to women and men, and that was probably a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens. ~Stephen King, The Stand
Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding. ~Ambrose Bierce
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ~Eden Phillips
You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave. ~Quentin Crisp
There are mystically in our faces certain characters which carry in them the motto of our souls, wherein he that cannot read A, B, C may read our natures. ~Sir Thomas Browne
What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. ~William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways
Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. ~Eric Hoffer
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine and your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own: if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself: if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children. It doesn't interest me who you are, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. ~Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation
I shall not let a sorrow die
Until I find the heart of it,
Nor let a wordless joy go by
Until it talks to me a bit.
~Sara Teasdale
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are still in the early morning of our April day. ~Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on. ~Joseph Heller, Catch-22
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest. ~J.G. Holland
If you just set people in motion they'll heal themselves. ~Gabrielle Roth
General Skepticism (cont'd)
I want it so that every minister will be not a parrot, not an owl sitting upon a dead limb of the tree of knowledge and hooting the hoots that have been hooted for eighteen hundred years. But I want it so that each one can be an investigator, a thinker; and I want to make his congregation grand enough so that they will not only allow him to think, but will demand that he shall think, and give to them the honest truth of his thought. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of MosesMystical explanations are considered deep. The truth is that they are not even superficial. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay ScienceGod created sex. Priests created marriage. ~VoltaireIf primitive religion could be explained away as an intellectual aberration, as a mirage induced by emotional stress, or by its social function, it was implied that the higher religions could be discredited and disposed of in the same way. ~E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories Of Primitive Religion, 1965All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. ~StendhalA sober, devout man will interpret 'God's will' soberly and devoutly. A fanatic, with bloodshot mind, will interpret 'God's will' fanatically. Men of extreme, illogical views will interpret 'God's will' in eccentric fashion. Kindly, charitable, generous men will interpret 'God's will' according to their character. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismAnything beyond the limits and grasp of the human mind is either illusion or futility; and because your god having to be one or the other of the two, in the first instance I should be mad to believe in him, and in the second a fool. ~Marquis de Sade, 1740-1814As set forth by theologians, the idea of "God" is an argument that assumes its own conclusions, and proves nothing. ~Johann Most, c. 1890'Believing' cannot tip the scales in making a historical judgment about whether something really happened. I can choose to believe that George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Rappahannock, but my believing that he did it has nothing to do with whether or not he really did it. So also with the story of Jesus walking on the water: believing that he did it has nothing to do with whether he really did do it. 'Belief' cannot be the basis for historical conclusion; it has no direct relevance. ~Marcus J. Borg, "Faith and Scholarship," Bible Review, August 1993Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. ~VoltaireGod is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. ~VoltaireHe who begins by loving Christianity better than truth will proceed by loving his own sect better than Christianity and end in loving himself better than all. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridgeheresyhe sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to seehe tries to tell me what i put inside of mehe's got the answers to ease my curiosityhe dreamed a god up and called it christianityyour god is dead and no one caresif there is a hell i will see you therehe flexed his muscles to keep his flock of sheep in linehe made a virus that would kill off the swinehis perfect kingdom of killing, suffering and paindemands devotion atrocities done in his nameyour god is dead and no one caresdrowning in his own hypocrisyand if there is a hell i will see you thereburning with your god in humilitywill you die for this?~Trent Reznor, "The Downward Spiral," performed by the Nine Inch NailsHistory has the relation to truth that theology has to religion - i.e. none to speak of. ~Lazarus LongIf devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking...the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. ~Ayn Rand, Atlas ShruggedNo man ever yet tore down his altar and found a God behind it. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysOne should not go into church if one wants to breathe pure air. ~Friedrich NietzscheOperationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat. ~Julian HuxleyPreachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in the book. No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books. ~Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), 1904-1991Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of. ~Mark TwainReligion has caused more harm than any other idea since the beginning of time. There's nothing good I can say about it. People use it as a crutch. ~Larry FlyntReligious Displays, as distinct from religious beliefs, are submissive acts performed towards dominant individuals called gods. The acts themselves include various forms of body-lowering, such as kneeling, bowing, kowtowing, salaaming and prostrating; also chanting and rituals of debasement and sacrifice; the offering of gifts to the gods and the making of symbolic gestures of allegiance. The function of these actions is to appease the super-dominant beings and thereby obtains favours or avoid punishments. There is nothing unusual about this behaviour in itself. Subordinates throughout the animal world subject themselves to their most powerful companions in a similar way. But the strange feature of these human submissive actions, as we encounter them today, is that they are performed towards a dominant figure, or figures, who are never present in person. Instead they are represented by images and artifacts and operate entirely through agents called holy-men or priests. These middle-men enjoy a position of social influence and respect because some of the power of the gods rubs off on them. It is therefore extremely important to the holy-men to keep the worshippers permanently obedient to the super-dominant figures, and they do this in several ways. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977Saints fly only in the eyes of their disciples. ~Hindu proverbSo behold here the triumph God's wisdom has won.Behold here the damage that can't be undone.Stagnation is good, and we're good to the core,while faith rots us like salt rots the landIf your god helps the helpless, may he help you all well.I'm bound for the outside to find my own hell.If defiance means death, I would die before standlike a sheep to be thrown to God's hand.~Julia Ecklar, "The Hand of God," Divine InterventionSuppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other God that they should kill him; and suppose that afterward this same God took upon himself flesh, and came to this very chosen people and taught a different religion, and that thereupon the Jews crucified him; I ask you, did he not reap exactly what he had sown? What right would this god have to complain of a crucifixion suffered in accordance with his own command? ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 2Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 1The advent of the Christian God, as the maximum god attained so far, was...accompanied by the maximum feeling of guilty indebtedness on Earth. Presuming we gradually enter upon the reverse course, there is no small probability that with the irresistible decline of faith in the Christian god, there is now a considerable decline in mankind's feeling of guilt; indeed, the prospect cannot be dismissed that the complete and definitive victory of Atheism might free mankind of this whole feeling of guilty indebtedness towards its origin.... Atheism and a kind of second innocence belong together. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of MoralsThe Cross is a gibbet - rather an odd thing to make use of as a talisman against bad luck, if that is how we regard it. Or is it, instead, a cynical reminder that Virtue usually gets pilloried whenever it makes one of its occasional appearances in this world? ~Denis Johnston, The Brazen HornThe good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive - a definition that invalidates man's consciousness and nullifies his concepts of existence.... Man's mind, say the mystics of spirit, must be subordinated to the will of God.... Man's standard of value, say the mystics of spirit, is the pleasure of God, whose standards are beyond man's power of comprehension and must be accepted on faith.... The purpose of man's life...is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question. ~Ayn Rand, For the New IntellectualThe pursuit of happiness belongs to us, but we must climb around or over the church to get it. ~Heywood Broun, 1888-1939The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found, men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious. ~John Stuart MillThe true man walks the earth as the stars walk the heavens, grandly obedient to those laws which are implanted in his nature. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Theology: the study of elaborate verbal disguises for non-ideas. ~UnknownWe are told in the Pentateuch, that god, the father of us all, gave thousands of maidens, after having killed their fathers, their mothers, and their brothers, to satisfy the brutal lusts of savage men. If there be a god, I pray him to write in his book, opposite my name, that I denied this lie for him. ~Robert G. IngersollWhat I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. ~Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989Whatever sympathy I feel towards religions, whatever admiration for some of their adherents, whatever historical or biological necessity I see in them, whatever metaphorical truth, I cannot accept them as credible explanations of reality; and they are incredible to me in proportion to the degree that they require my belief in positive human attributes and intervenient powers in their divinities. ~John Fowles, The AristosWhen no one had answers they created God. Now we have most of them, and one day we will have all of them, rendering God useless. ~UnknownYou are digging for the answers,Until your fingers bleed,To satisfy the hunger,To satiate the need.They feed you on the guilt,To keep you humble and low,Some man and myth they made up,A thousand years ago.~Melissa Etheridge, "Silent Legacy,"A believer is a bird in a cage, a free-thinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wing. ~Robert G. IngersollA mystic is a person who is puzzled before the obvious but who understands the nonexistent. ~Elbert HubbardAmerica was founded by the refuse of the religious fanatics of England, these undesirable elements that came over on the Mayflower. Ignorant, religious fanatics who land here and abuse the Indians. ~Frank ZappaAs long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities. ~VoltaireAssuming that he believes at all, the everyday Christian is a pitiful figure, a man who really cannot count up to three, and who besides, precisely because of his mental incompetence, would not deserve such a punishment as Christianity promises him. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All too HumanBut I cannot give liberty of conscience to the pope and his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their councils, theologians, and canon laws that their conscience orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find their opportunity. ~Abraham LincolnBy the cold and religious we were taken in hand - shown how to feel good; and told to feel bad. ~Roger Waters, from The Final Cut (Pink Floyd)If you love God, burn the church. ~Jello BiafraJesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me. ~John Lennon, London Evening Standard, 4 March 1966Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a conqueror. Kill all and you are God. ~Jean Rostand, 1894-1977, French biologist and writerPower tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That unalterable rule applies both to God and man. ~John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 5 April 1887The truth cannot be asserted without denouncing the falsehood. ~Leslie StephenWhat the Gospels actually said was: don't kill anyone until you are absolutely sure they aren't well connected. ~Kurt Vonnegurt, Slaughterhouse 5You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;I will choose a path that's clear - I will choose Free Will.~Rush, "Free Will"
General Skepticism
A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. ~Albert EinsteinI didn't know I had a quarrel with him. ~Henry Thoreau in answer to the question, "Have you made your peace with God?""There are no atheists in foxholes" isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes. ~James MorrowThis is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. ~Dalai LamaI am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of. ~Clarence DarrowWithout cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance. ~John F. Schumaker, Corruption of Reality, Unified Theory of Religion, Hypnosis and PsychotherapyWe have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~Jonathan SwiftThe world is in need of less religion and more common sense. ~Llewelyn Powys, Celsus and OrigenHow can the Church be received as a trustworthy guide in the invisible, which falls into so many errors in the visible? ~John W. Draper, 1811-1882, U.S. chemistFaith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. ~Eric HofferGod is dead: but considering the state Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown. ~Friedrich NeitzscheIt is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui. ~Helen KellerWe are punished by our sins, not for them. ~Elbert HubbardI judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it. ~Joe MullallyWe must condemn Christianity, not Christians; strike the church, but spare the heart. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysPeople who rely most on God rely least on themselves. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysDevout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionYou never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough. ~Aldous HuxleyMarriage ceremony: an incredible metaphysical sham of watching God and the law being dragged into the affairs of your family. ~O.C. OgilvieThe Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon and I have more faith in the Shadow than in the Church. ~Ferdinand MagellanIt is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. ~Mark TwainPray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. ~Ambrose BierceThe churches must learn humility as well as teach it. ~George Bernard ShawI think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell's ass. ~Senator Barry GoldwaterReligion has not civilized man, man has civilized religion. ~Robert Green IngersollReligion is the fashionable substitute for belief. ~Oscar WildeAny organization could profit from a 10-year-old member with enough strength of character to refuse to swear falsely. ~New York Times editorial, 12 December 1993, on the Boy Scouts refusing membership to Mark Welsh, who would not sign a religious oathThere is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. ~George Bernard ShawCivilization has come about by going to school more than to church. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIf we must play the theological game, let us never forget that it is a game. Religion, it seems to me, can survive only as a consciously accepted system of make believe. ~Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have a StopMan is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion - several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. ~Mark Twain, The Lowest AnimalA man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle. ~ViqueThe world is not a prison house but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks. ~Edwin Arlington RobinsonIf there is a God, atheism must strike Him as less of an insult than religion. ~Edmond and Jules de GoncourtThe main doctrine of a fanatic's creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God. ~Andrew WhiteOrganized religion is like organized crime; it preys on people's weakness, generates huge profits for its operators, and is almost impossible to eradicate. ~Mike HermannThe question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles? ~John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1815A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live. ~VoltaireFor those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. ~Charles BukowskiFaith in God necessarily implies a lack of faith in humanity. ~Barbara G. Walker, Women Without SuperstitionFreethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. ~Leo Tolstoy, On Life and Essays on ReligionGod has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning. ~Imamu Amiri BarakaMen rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. ~Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus LongReligion supports nobody. It has to be supported. It produces no wheat, no corn; it ploughs no land; it fells no forests. It is a perpetual mendicant. It lives on the labors of others, and then has the arrogance to pretend that it supports the giver. ~Robert G. IngersollReligion often gets credit for curing rascals when old age is the real medicine. ~Austin O'MalleyIf anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm. ~Marcus AureliusTheology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. ~Robert A. Heinlein, "JOB: A Comedy of Justice"There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart. ~Blaise PascalThe man who gets on his knees has not learned the right use of his legs. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysAll religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry. ~Edgar Allen PoeSome things have to be believed to be seen. ~Ralph HodgsonBe not misled by reports or tradition or common opinion. Be not misled by proficiency in the scriptures, nor by speculation and conclusions, nor by attractive theories and favorite ideas, nor by impressions of personal merits (of the teacher) and not by the authority of some master. But rather, Kalamas, when you discern yourselves: these things are unprofitable, these things are blameworthy, these things are censured by the wise; these things, when performed and undertaken are conducive to misfortune and sorrow, indeed do you then reject them.... And when you discern yourselves: these things are profitable, these things are not blameworthy, these things are praised by the wise; these things, when performed and undertaken are conducive to good fortune and happiness, indeed do you then accept them. ~G. Buddha, Anguttara NikayaIt is an old habit with theologians to beat the living with the bones of the dead. ~Robert G. IngersollThe third major characteristic of God - "infinitude" - is the catchall, the universal modifier of Christian theology. God is not merely a being; he is infinite being. God is not merely good; he is infinite goodness. God is not merely wise; he is infinite wisdom. And so on down the list. God is exaggeration run amuck. ~George H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against GodThe beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance...logic can be happily tossed out the window. ~Stephen KingWe may define 'faith' as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of 'faith.' We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions. ~Bertrand RussellWhen a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified and people who are damned. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Reasons WhyTo become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. ~Isaac AsimovBeware of the man whose God is in the skies. ~George Bernard ShawA Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter facts of life in bandages of self-illusion. ~H.L. MenckenAll great truths begin as blasphemies. ~George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska, 1919A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes. ~James Feibleman, Understanding Philosophy, 1973No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionAnd that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,Lift not thy hands to It for helpRolls impotently on as Thou or I.~"The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," translated by Edward FitzgeraldAny system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system. ~Thomas PaineGenerally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous. ~David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, 1739After the survivor of the Spanish conquest has told his life's story he is convicted by the Inquisition: He posted no brief in defense or mitigation of his offenses, and when he was most solemnly advised by the Court President of the dire consequences he faced if found guilty, Juan Damasceno volunteered only one comment: "It will mean I do not go to the Christian heaven?" He was told that that would indeed be the worst of his punishments: that he would most assuredly not go to Heaven. At which, his smile sent a thrill of horror through every soul of the Court. ~Gary Jennings, AztecAs soon as you are willing to discard observational data because it conflicts with religion, you are giving up any hope of ever really understanding the universe. As soon as you pick religion as the touchstone of reality, then we have to start discussing how one can demonstrate the correctness of one religion over another when different religions disagree. ~Wilson HeydtBut I was not, to use the theological phrase, receptive. The great obstacle to the influx of grace was my own perfect happiness, and it is well known that God takes no thought for the happy, any more than He does for birds and puppies, perhaps realizing they have no need of Him and mercifully letting them alone. ~John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, 1970We are not accountable for the sins of Adam. ~Robert G. IngersollGod does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e., everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time. ~Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, 1991God is a concept by which we measure our pain. ~John Lennon, 1940-1980No creed can be stretched to the size of truth; no church can be made as large as man. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysBy the age of fifteen, I had convinced myself that nobody could give a reasonable explanation of what he meant by the word 'God' and that it was therefore as meaningless to assert a belief as to assert a disbelief in God. Though this, in a general way, has remained my position ever since, I have always avoided unnecessarily to offend other people holding religious belief by displaying my lack of such belief, or even stating my lack of belief, if I was not challenged. ~Hayek on Hayek: An Autobiographical Dialogue, edited by Stephen Kresge and Leif Wenar, 1994Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. ~Chapman CohenIf I were asked for a one-sentence soundbite on religion, I would say I was against it. ~Salman Rushdie, to Reuters News Service, 17 April 1996If there were no ministers and no priests, how long would there be any churches? ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysMan is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. ~Bertrand RussellCredulity is not a crime for the individual - but it is clearly a crime as regards the race. Just look at the actual consequences of credulity. For years men believed in the foul superstition of witchcraft and many poor people suffered for this foolish belief. There was a general belief in angels and demons, flying familiarly, yet skittishly through the air, and that belief caused untold distress and pain and tragedy. The most holy Catholic church (and, after it, the various Protestant sects) enforced the dogma that heresy was terribly sinful and punishable by death. Imagine - but all you need do is to recount - the suffering entailed by that belief. When one surveys the causes and consequences of credulity, it is apparent that this easy believer in the impossible, this readiness toward false and fanatical notions, has been indeed a most serious and major crime against humanity. The social life in any age, it may be said, is about what its extent of credulity guarantees. In an extremely credulous age, social life will be cruel and dark and treacherous. In a skeptical age, social life will be more humane. We assert that the philosophy of humanity - that the best interests of the human race - demand a strong statement and a repeated, enlightening statement of atheism. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismEach religion, so dear to those whose life it sanctifies, and fulfilling so necessary a function in the society that has adopted it, necessarily contradicts every other religion, and probably contradicts itself. ~George Santayana, Reason in ReligionOf all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ~C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and EthicsEverything is more or less organized matter. To think so is against religion, but I think so just the same. ~Napoleon BonaparteWhatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: "Great God, grant that twice two be not four." ~Ivan Turgenev, 1818-1883Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition. ~Paul Keller, American rationalistFaith is cold as ice -Why are little ones born only to sufferFor the want of immunityOr a bowl of rice?Well, who would hold a priceOn the heads of the innocent childrenIf there's some immortal powerTo control the dice?~Rush, "Roll The Bones"For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men and women of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other. This is the war between Science and Faith. The few have appealed to reason, to honor, to law, to freedom, to the known, and to happiness here in this world. The many have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to the unknown, and to misery hereafter. The few have said, "Think!" The many have said, "Believe!" ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872History shows that there is nothing so easy to enslave and nothing so hard to emancipate as ignorance, hence it becomes the double enemy of civilization. By its servility it is the prey of tyranny, and by its credulity it is the foe of enlightenment. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysI have repeatedly stressed that the selfish impulses of man constitute a much less historic danger than his integrative tendencies. To put it in the simplest way: the individual who indulges in an excess of aggressive self-assertiveness incurs the penalties of society - he outlaws himself, he contracts out of the hierarchy. The true believer, on the other hand, becomes more closely knit into it; he enters the womb of his church, or party, or whatever the social holon to which he surrenders his identity. ~Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the MachineI see these two legendary men [Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson] as symbolic of the American dream. Their position atop a vast religious/cable television/Bad Hair empire shows the entire world that America truly is the Land of Opportunity ®, where Narrow-Minded, Really Dumb Guys can, and regularly do, get to the top. ~Ron BarberMy reason taught me that I could not have made one of my own qualities - they were forced upon me by Nature; that my language, religion, and habits were forced upon me by Society; and that I was entirely the child of Nature and Society; that Nature gave the qualities and Society directed them. Thus was I forced, through seeing the error of their foundation, to abandon all belief in every religion which had been taught by man. ~Robert Owen, 1771-1858In an early class, one of the students asked me if I believed in God. I replied, 'I don't think so.' And then proceeded to wail on the theme, using material from this column of some weeks ago, in which I observed the perpetuation of insanity on this planet through the mediums of Arabs-vs-Jews, Catholics-vs-Protestants, Southern Baptists-vs-Everyone. I said I felt if 'God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them,' (Genesis 2:27, King James's italics, not mine) then we were God. And when Man (my capitalization, not King James's) in his most creative, his most loving, his most gentle and most human, then he is most God-like. The student said he would pray for my immortal soul. He also asked for my address, so he could send me some literature on the subject of God. I thanked him politely and told him I'd gotten all the literature I could handle on the subject from a certain Thomas Aquinas. ~Harlan EllisonSunday school: a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents. ~H.L. MenckenThe many instances of forged miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence, or which detect themselves by their absurdity, prove sufficiently the strong propensity of mankind to the extraordinary and marvellous, and ought reasonably to begat a suspicion against all relations of this kind. ~David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748The minister must take his pious grasp off of the throat of Sunday. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysThe observances of the church concerning feasts and fasts are tolerably well-kept, since the rich keep the feasts and the poor keep the fasts. ~Sydney SmithWhen we make mistakes they call it evil. When God makes mistakes they call it Nature! ~Jack Nicholson in The Witches of EastwickWould you sing 'Krishna bless America' or pledge allegiance to 'One nation under Allah'? If not, would that make you unpatriotic? ~Chris LeeIf all the evidence put forward for the authenticity of religious teachings originates in the past, it is natural to look round and see whether the present, about which it is easier to form judgements, may not also be able to furnish evidence of the sort. If by this means we could succeed in clearing even a single portion of the religious system from doubt, the whole of it would gain enormously in credibility. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionIf wisdom and diamonds grew on the same tree we could soon tell how much men loved wisdom. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911In the long run nothing can withstand reason and experience, and the contradiction which religion offers to both is all too palpable. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionThe world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue, are complete skeptics in religion. ~John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, British philosopherInvisible Pink Unicorns are beings of awesome mystical power. We know this because they manage to be invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. ~Steve EleyIt is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion. ~Bertrand RussellIt will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity. ~Abraham Lincoln, quoted in What Great Men Think Of Religion by Ira CardiffMan makes himself, and he only makes himself completely in proportion as he desacrilizes himself and the world. The sacred is the prime obstacle to his freedom. He will become himself only when he is totally demysticized. He will not be truly free until he has killed the last god. ~Mircea Eliade"Ours is a christian army;" so he saidA regiment of bangomen who led."And ours a christian navy," added heWho sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea.Better they know than men unwarlike doWhat is an army, and navy too.Pray God there may be sent them by-and-byThe knowledge what a christian is, and whyFor somewhat lamely the conception runsof a brass-buttoned Jesus firing guns.~Arma VirumquePhnom Penh. A Texas evangelist fled Cambodia on Saturday [26 November] after a mob, angry over his failure to perform faith-healing miracles, rioted outside his hotel.... Only the arrival of 20 armed police on Friday night kept the crowd from storming the luxury Hotel Cambodiana, where the Rev. Mike Evans and his entourage were staying after arriving for a scheduled five-day visit here Wednesday.... The preacher's appearance had been heralded on radio and television stations. "Blind eyes will open, the paralyzed will walk," promised the promotional announcements. Thousands of Cambodians, including sick, blind and paralyzed people from remote areas, came to the capital to attend his meetings. ~Associated Press, 27 November 1994 Playboy: "Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life?" Ayn Rand: "Qua religion, no - in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man's life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very - how should I say it - dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith." ~Playboy interview with Ayn RandReligion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice. ~Georges Bizet, letter to Edmond Galabert, 1866Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth. ~H.L. Mencken, Autobiographical Notes, 1925Religion is the highest vanity. ~Friedrich HebbelScience tells us what we can know but what we can know is little and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive of many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe. Uncertainty in the presence of vivid hopes and fears is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales. ~Bertrand RussellThere are two things in the world that can never get together - religion and common sense. ~George W. FooteTo put it as simply as possible: I am not a Muslim. I do not accept the charge of apostasy, because I have never in my adult life affirmed any belief, and what one has not affirmed one cannot be said to have apostatized from. The Islam I know states clearly that "there can be no coercion in matters of religion." The many Muslims I respect would be horrified by the idea that they belong to their faith purely by virtue of birth, and that a person who freely chose not to be a Muslim could therefore be put to death. ~Salman Rushdie, In Good Faith, 1990Chalma, Mexico. At least 41 Indian pilgrims, most of them elderly women and children, were trampled to death yesterday in a crush of worshipers heading through a narrow marketplace to church for this town's Ash Wednesday celebration. Chalma, about 35 miles southwest of Mexico City, is famous for its gold-trimmed church and the Father of Chalma image of Christ that is said to perform miracles. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 14 February 1991
Blind Faith, Authority & Renouncement of Reason
They were allowed to stay there on one condition, and that is that they didn't eat of the tree of knowledge. That has been the condition of the Christian church from then until now. They haven't eaten as yet, as a rule they do not. ~Clarence Darrow
Most reformers wore rubber boots and stood on glass when God sent a current of Commonsense through the Universe. ~Elbert Hubbard
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. ~Unknown
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
You have no right to erect your toll-gate upon the highways of thought. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ghosts
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. ~Carl Sagan, 1987
So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. ~Bertrand Russell
It is necessary to distinguish between the virtue and the vice of obedience. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911
Anything you don't understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it. ~Carl Sagan, Contact
What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command. ~Havelock Ellis
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. ~George Bernard Shaw
Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains? ~Francis Wright, 1828
They amuse themselves by playing an irrelevant ecclesiastical game called "Let's Pretend." Let's pretend that we possess the objective truth of God in our inerrant Scriptures or in our infallible pronouncements or in our unbroken apostolic traditions. ~Bishop John Shelby Spong
Two attempts have been made...to evade the problem. The first is the Credo quia absurdum of the early Father of the Church. It maintains that religious doctrines are outside the jurisdiction of reason - are above reason. Their truth must be felt inwardly, and they need not be comprehended.... Am I to be obliged to believe every absurdity? And if not, why this one in particular? ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes. ~Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today. ~Isaac Asimov
What can we say to a man who tells you that he would rather obey God than men, and that therefore he is sure to go to heaven for butchering you? Even the law is impotent against these attacks of rage; it is like reading a court decree to a raving maniac. These fellows are certain that the holy spirit with which they are filled is above the law, that their enthusiasm is the only law that they must obey. ~Voltaire, 1764
Theology is not what we know about God, but what we do not know about Nature. In order to increase our respect for the Bible, it became necessary for the priests to exalt and extol that book, and at the same time to decry and belittle the reasoning powers of man. The whole power of the pulpit has been used for hundreds of years to destroy the confidence of man in himself - to induce him to distrust his own powers of thought, to believe that he was wholly unable to decide any question for himself, and that all human virtue consists in faith and obedience. The church has said 'Believe and obey!' If you reason you will become an unbeliever, and unbelievers will be lost. If you disobey, you will do so through vain pride and curiosity, and will, like Adam and Eve, be thrust from Paradise forever! For my part, I care nothing for what the church says, except in so far as it accords with my reason; and the Bible is nothing to me, only in so far as it agrees with what I think or know. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, "Some Mistakes of Moses," Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 2
God is a gross answer, an indelicacy against us thinkers - at bottom merely a gross prohibition for us: you shall not think! ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
I don't care if it rains or freezes,
long as I got my plastic Jesus,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car;
It makes no difference if we hit a bump,
he's held on by a suction cup,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car.
I can even go a hund'rd miles-an-hour,
as long as I've got that dee-vine power,
sittin' on the dashboard of my car.
~"Plastic Jesus," c. 1969, sign-on song of disc jockey Don Imis
If you think that your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument, rather then by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based on faith, you will realize that argument is useless and will therefore result to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting and distorting the minds of the young in what is called "education." ~Bertrand Russell
Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But it can put mountains where there are none. ~Friedrich Nietzche, Human, All Too Human, 1879
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile! ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers. ~Bruce Calvert
The faith that stands on authority is not faith. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The conclusion of belief is not so much a conclusion as a resolution, and it is for that reason that belief excludes doubt. ~Robert Adams
Religion seems to have a way of making people abandon logic. ~Amanda Baxter
Belief is when someone else does the thinking. ~Buckminster Fuller, 1972
A dogma will thrive in soil where the truth could not get root. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
In a sense, the religious person must have no real views of his own and it is presumptuous of him, in fact, to have any. In regard to sex-love affairs, to marriage and family relations, to business, to politics, and to virtually everything else that is important in his life, he must try to discover what his god and his clergy would like him to do; and he must primarily do their bidding. ~Albert Ellis
And who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the will of others? When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please? These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state. ~Galileo Galilei
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson
It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief. ~George Bernard Shaw
Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think. ~Arthur Shopenhauer
If the sole reason why you must not kill your neighbour is because God has forbidden it and will severely punish you for it in this or the next life - then, when you learn that there is no God and that you need not fear His punishment, you will certainly kill your neighbour without hesitation, and you can only be prevented from doing so by mundane force. Thus either these dangerous masses must be held down most severely and kept most carefully away from any chance of intellectual awakening, or else the relationship between civilization and religion must undergo a fundamental revision. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
Reasonable argument is impossible when authority becomes the arbiter. ~Orson Scott Card
Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature - is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak
A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A theologian is a person who uses the word 'God' to hide his ignorance. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Belief means not wanting to know what is true. ~Friedrich Nietzche, The Anti-Christ, 1889
To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
To command the professors of astronomy to confute their own observations is to enjoin an impossibility, for it is to command them not to see what they do see, and not to understand what they do understand, and to find what they do not discover. ~Galileo Galilei, "The Authority of Scripture in Philosophical Controversies"
An agreeable opinion is accepted as true: this is the proof by pleasure (or, as the church says, the proof by strength), that all religions are so proud of, whereas they ought to be ashamed. If the belief did not make us happy, it would not be believed: how little must it then be worth! ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
We must ask where the inner force of [religious] doctrines lies and to what it is that they owe their efficacy, independent as it is of recognition by reason. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
When we ask on what their claim to be believed is founded [religious teachings], we are met with three answers, which harmonize remarkably badly with one another. Firstly, these teachings deserve to be believed because they were already believed by our primal ancestors; secondly, we possess proofs which have been handed down to us from those same primaeval times; and thirdly, it is forbidden to raise the question of their authentication at all. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher - the clergyman. ~Victor Hugo
I cannot praise the Preacher's eyes,
I never saw his glance divine,
He always shuts them when he prays,
And when he preaches he shuts mine.
~Unknown
A doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. ~Albert Einstein, address at the Princeton Theological Seminary, 19 May 1939, published in Out of My Later Years, New York: Philosophical Library, 1950
Faith: an attitude fostered by individuals in high places in order to ensure the subservience of those in their charge. ~Unknown
Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. ~George Seaton
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would believe in anything. ~Unknown
Freethinkers reject faith as a valid tool of knowledge. Faith is the opposite of reason because reason imposes very strict limits on what can be true, and faith has no limits at all. A Great Escape into faith is no retreat to safety. It is nothing less than surrender. ~Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
It is all over with priests and gods when man becomes scientific. Moral: science is the forbidden as such - it alone is forbidden. Science is the first sin, seed of all sin, the original sin. This alone is morality. 'Thou shalt not know' - the rest follows. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Antichrist
Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches. ~Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274, Summa Theologica
Faith is an absolutely marvelous tool. With faith there is no question too big for even the smallest mind. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, Atheologian
He that cannot reason is a fool.
He that will not is a bigot.
He that dare not is a slave.
~Andrew Carnegie
If the lord had meant us to have faith, he'd have given us lobotomies. ~Zlatko
Freedom of Inquiry & Doubt
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat. ~John Morley
The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes. ~Salman Rushdie
The most fatal blow to progress is slavery of the intellect. The most sacred right of humanity is the right to think, and next to the right to think is the right to express that thought without fear. ~Helen H. Gardner, Men, Women and Gods
The feet of progress have always been shod by doubt. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
My mind is not for rent to any god or government. ~Rush, "Tom Sawyer"
An organization that requires the suppression of facts and the discouragement of knowledge in order to maintain its supremacy, is the relic of a tyranny which our free age and our free thought are in duty bound to remove from the earth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh? We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only by incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don't know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness. ~Leslie Stephen, "An Agnostic's Apology," Fortnightly Review, 1876
I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, and highest sense. ~Abraham Lincoln
The thoughts of man, in order to be of any real worth, must be free. Under the influence of fear the brain is paralyzed, and instead of bravely solving a problem for itself, tremblingly adopts the solution of another. As long as a majority of men will cringe to the very earth before some petty prince or king, what must be the infinite abjectness of their little souls in the presence of their supposed creator and God? Under such circumstances, what can their thoughts be worth? ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Nature tells man to consult reason, and to take it for his guide: religion teaches him that his reason is corrupted, that it is only a treacherous guide, given by a deceitful God to lead his creatures astray. Nature tells man to enlighten himself, to search after truth, to instruct himself in his duties: religion enjoins him to examine nothing, to remain in ignorance, to fear truth. ~Paul Henry Thiry d'Holbach, Systeme de la Nature, 1770
Having been admonished by this Holy Office [the Inquisition] entirely to abandon the false opinion that the Sun was the center of the universe and immovable, and that the Earth was not the center of the same and that it moved...I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I curse and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally all and every error and sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church. ~Galileo Galilei, Recantation, 22 June 1633
The account shows, however, that the gods dreaded education and knowledge then just as they do now. The church still faithfully guards the dangerous tree of knowledge, and has exerted in all ages her utmost power to keep mankind from eating the fruit thereof. The priests have never ceased repeating the old falsehood and the old threat: 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' From every pulpit comes the same cry, born of the same fear: 'Lest they eat and become as gods, knowing good and evil.' For this reason, religion hates science, faith detests reason, theology is the sworn enemy of philosophy, and the church with its flaming sword still guards the hated tree, and like its supposed founder, curses to the lowest depths the brave thinkers who eat and become as gods. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
The Church has through the centuries, understood that ideas are really more dangerous than other weapons. Their use should be restricted. ~Francis J. Lally, American Roman Catholic Monsignor, Mike Wallace interview, 1958
I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. ~Galileo
If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate a free inquiry? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes. ~John Adams, letter to John Taylor
Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. ~Thomas Jefferson
Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. ~Thomas Huxley
The doubter is the safe man; the man who can be depended upon. He does not build upon a foundation of guesswork, and the structure he erects will stand. Let us not fear doubt, but rather fear to have falsehood passed for truth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. ~Clarence Darrow
The believer is happy; the doubter is wise. ~Hungarian proverb
Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought. ~Graham Greene, 1981
To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true. ~Bertrand Russell, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization
We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don't stand up to experimentation, Buddha's own words must be rejected. ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, Time, 11 April 1988
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. ~Bertrand Russell
It is well said that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and I am confirmed every day in my intense conviction that the church as the church is the enemy of freedom. While protesting loudly its faith in the Truth with a capital T, "the truth shall make us free," it fights at every step every effort to learn the truth and publish it and be guided by it. ~Rupert Hughes, Why I Quit Going to Church, 1924
My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence is provided by such a God. We would be unappreciative of that gift...if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves. ~Carl Sagan
Christianity
No man treats a motor car as foolishly as he treats another human being. When the car will not go, he does not attribute its annoying behavior to sin, he does not say, "You are a wicked motorcar, and I shall not give you any more petrol until you go." He attempts to find out what is wrong and set it right. ~Bertrand Russell, Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?
Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness. ~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The whole point of Christianity is that everyone in the world, from Charles Manson to Mother Teresa, deserves to go to hell. ~Sean P. Ningen
Christian soldiers armed with virtue -
hearts afire with blind obsession,
cannot see the difference 'twixt
compassion and oppression.
~Sabbat, "The Clerical Conspiracy"
Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure. ~Harvard Lamphoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)
A certain sense of cruelty towards oneself and others is Christian; hatred of those who think differently; the will to persecute. Hatred of mind, of pride, courage, freedom, libertinage of mind, is Christian; hatred of the sense, of the joy of the senses, of joy in general is Christian. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. ~H.L. Mencken
Life can be beautiful, profound, and awe-inspiring, even without an irate god threatening us with eternal torment. ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?
Obedience. A religion of slaves. A religion of intellectual death. I like it. Don't ask questions, don't think, obey the Word of the Lord - as it has been conveniently brought to you by a man in a Rolls with a heavy Rolex on his wrist. I like that job! Where can I sign up? ~Oleg Kiselev
The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called 'faith.' What man, who ever thinks, can believe that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Strange...a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied seventy times seven and invented Hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him! ~Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger
The best defense against Christianity is a good Christian Education. ~Psycho Dave
The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by H. sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history. ~Lazarus Long, quoted in Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein
A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain - then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system? ~Robert A. Heinlein
It is possible to pay another man's debts on his behalf, but it is not possible to make a guilty man innocent by suffering in his place. ~Carl Lofmark, What is the Bible?
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
I want the man bearing the cross to be its only victim. ~Eugene Vintras, 1807-1875
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. ~Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov: A Memoir
Satan hasn't a single salaried helper; the Opposition employ a million. ~Mark Twain
But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes. ~Jean Jacques Rousseau, Contrat Social
If I were to construct a God I would furnish Him with some way and qualities and characteristics which the Present lacks. He would not stoop to ask for any man's compliments, praises, flatteries; and He would be far above exacting them. I would have Him as self-respecting as the better sort of man in these regards. He would not be a merchant, a trader. He would not buy these things. He would not sell, or offer to sell, temporary benefits of the joys of eternity for the product called worship. I would have Him as dignified as the better sort of man in this regard. He would value no love but the love born of kindnesses conferred; not that born of benevolences contracted for. Repentance in a man's heart for a wrong done would cancel and annul that sin; and no verbal prayers for forgiveness be required or desired or expected of that man. In His Bible there would be no Unforgivable Sin. He would recognize in Himself the Author and Inventor of Sin and Author and Inventor of the Vehicle and Appliances for its commission; and would place the whole responsibility where it would of right belong: upon Himself, the only Sinner. He would not be a jealous God - a trait so small that even men despise it in each other. He would not boast. He would keep private His admirations of Himself; He would regard self-praise as unbecoming the dignity of his position. He would not have the spirit of vengeance in His heart. Then it would not issue from His lips. There would not be any hell - except the one we live in from the cradle to the grave. There would not be any heaven - the kind described in the world's Bibles. He would spend some of His eternities in trying to forgive Himself for making man unhappy when he could have made him happy with the same effort and he would spend the rest of them in studying astronomy. ~Mark Twain
So, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, if you go for all these fairy tales, that 'evil' woman convinced the man to eat the apple, but the apple came from the Tree of Knowledge. And the punishment that was then handed down, the woman gets to bleed and the guy's got to go to work, is the result of a man desiring, because his woman suggested that it would be a good idea, that he get all the knowledge that was supposedly the property and domain of God. So, that right away sets up Christianity as an anti-intellectual religion. You never want to be that smart. If you're a woman, it's going to be running down your leg, and if you're a guy, you're going to be in the salt mines for the rest of your life. So, just be a dumb fuck and you'll all go to heaven. That's the subtext of Christianity. ~Frank Zappa
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Christianity came into existence in order to lighten the heart; but now it has to burden the heart first, in order to lighten it afterward. Consequently it will perish. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
Christianity inculcates the necessity of supplicating the Deity. Prayer may be considered under two points of view: as an endeavor to change the intentions of God, or as a formal testimony of our obedience. But the former case supposes that the caprices of a limited intelligence can occasionally instruct the Creator of the world how to regulate the universe; and the latter, a certain degree of servility analogous to the loyalty demanded by earthly tyrants. Obedience indeed is only the pitiful and cowardly egotism of him who thinks that he can do something better than reason. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristocracy. ~R.J. Rushdoony, The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism In America
The Christian faith from the beginning, is sacrifice: the sacrifice of all freedom, all price, all self-confidence of spirit. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
For Shakespeare, in the matter of religion, the choice lay between Christianity and nothing. He chose nothing. ~George Santayana, The Absence of Religion in Shakespeare
Creationism & Creation Science
Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof. ~Ashley MontagueGeology shows that fossils are of different ages. Paleontology shows a fossil sequence, the list of species represented changes through time. Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of squeezing one's eyes shut and wailing "Does not!" ~Dr.Pepper@f241.n103.z1.fidonet.org[Creation science is] an attempt to give credibility to Hebrew mythology by making people believe that the world's foremost biologists, paleontologists, and geologists are a bunch of incompetent nincompoops. ~Ron PetersonCreationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. ~Isaac AsimovIn science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. ~Stephen J. GouldIf we are going to teach 'creation science' as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction. ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?The order of creation in the Bible is woefully incorrect and violates even the most simple and obvious rules of natural science. ~Charles Cazeau, U.S. professor of geologyCreation science has not entered the curriculum for a reason so simple and so basic that we often forget to mention it: because it is false, and because good teachers understand exactly why it is false. What could be more destructive of that most fragile yet most precious commodity in our entire intellectual heritage - good teaching - than a bill forcing honorable teachers to sully their sacred trust by granting equal treatment to a doctrine not only known to be false, but calculated to undermine any general understanding of science as an enterprise? ~Stephen Jay Gould, The Skeptical InquirerFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. ~Aldous HuxleyNo doubt a sizeable majority of Americans believe in the concept of a Creator or, at least, are not opposed to the concept and see nothing wrong with teaching school children about the idea. The application and content of First Amendment principles are not determined by public opinion polls or by a majority vote. Whether the proponents of Act 590 constitute the majority or the minority is quite irrelevant under a constitutional system of government. No group, no matter how large or small, may use the organs of government, of which the public schools are the most conspicuous and influential, to foist its religious beliefs on others. ~U.S. District Court Judge William R. Overton, overturning Arkansas Act 590, requiring public schools to teach creation scienceLouisiana's [1981] creationism law, which requires creationism to be taught wherever the theory of evolution is explained, is unconstitutional, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.... "The act's intended effect is to discredit evolution by counterbalancing its teaching at every turn with the teaching of creationism, a religious belief," the U.S. Court of Appeals said. ~Associated Press article in the San Francisco Chronicle, 9 July 1985More than half the college students polled in three states, including California, said they are creationists who believe that God created Adam and Eve, while about one-third believe in aliens, Big Foot and the lost city of Atlantis. The poll results, released yesterday by Texas researchers, also indicated that students who believe in creationism are less likely to read books, tend to be more politically conservative and have a lower grade-point average than students who dispute that God created Earth in six days. Last fall, about 1000 students attending colleges in Texas, Connecticut and California filled out detailed questionnaire on their beliefs. In Texas, 71 percent of students said they believe in the story of Adam and Eve, while 51 percent in Connecticut and 47 percent in California said they believed in the biblical first couple. An average of 44 percent of the students in the three states said the story of Noah's Ark is true. About one-third of all the students surveyed believed that Big Foot, a hairy man-like creature reputed to live in the mountains of northwest America, actually exists. An equal number believed in the lost city of Atlantis, a legendary island of advanced civilization that supposedly sank into the ocean. Thirty percent of the students responding to the survey said aliens from outer space visited Earth in ancient times. Overall, 37 percent said they believed in ghosts, and 39 percent said it is possible to communicate with the dead. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 3 November 1986 (UPI)If you're looking for a little background reading on scientific creationism, it's best not to take the word scientific too seriously. A three-year database search of 4,000 scientific publications - focusing on the names of people associated with the Institute for Creation Research and on phrases and keywords such as 'creationism' - didn't turn up a single paper. A follow-up study of 68 journals found that only 18 of 135,000 total manuscript submissions concerned scientific creationism, and all 18 were rejected. Reasons cited included 'flawed arguments,' 'ramblings,' and 'a high-school theme quality.' ~Science, September 1985The "dropping of context" - deliberately and deceitfully - by Creationist "spokesmen" is part of their game of fraud in the "use" of quotations from scientists. And it "works" (rhetorically, for the kinds of audience in front of which they use it) when the readers do NOT have the basic background in critical reading. ~Michael SiemonTo treat your facts with imagination is one thing, but to imagine your facts is another. ~John BurroughsAnother possible danger is that in presenting the gospel to the lost and in defending God's truth we ourselves will seem to be false. It is time for Christian people to recognize that the defense of this modern, young-Earth, Flood-geology creationism is simply not truthful. It is simply not in accord with the facts that God has given. Creationism must be abandoned by Christians before harm is done. The persistent attempt of the creationist movement to get their points of view established in educational institutions can only bring harm to the Christian cause. Can we seriously expect non-Christian educational leaders to develop a respect for Christianity if we insist on teaching the brand of science that creationism brings with it? Will not the forcing of modern creationism on the public simply lend credence to the idea already entertained by so many intellectual leaders that Christianity, at least in its modern form, is sheer anti-intellectual obscurantism? I fear that it will. ~Davis Young, Christianity and the Age of the Earth, 1982
Facts & Refutations
The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the Flood is perhaps the most implausible story for fundamentalists to defend. Where, for example, while loading his ark, did Noah find penguins and polar bears in Palestine? ~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust: But Which One?God tells Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If this was the only way they could understand the difference between good and evil, how could they have known that it was wrong to disobey God and eat the fruit? ~Laurie LynnNot only might one-quarter to one-half of the weight be lost in planing, whereas with iron only a minute fraction was lost in this way, but half of the weight of timber in a wooden ship was wasted, its only use being to hold the other half in position. Even so, a wooden ship had great stresses as a structure. The absolute limit of its length was 300 feet, and it was liable to "hogging" and "sagging" in addition to being unable to withstand the local strain of the screw propeller. ~Sidney Pollard and Paul Robertson, The British Shipbuilding Industry, 1870-1914Jesus was almost certainly not 'of Nazareth.' An overwhelming body of evidence indicates that Nazareth did not exist in biblical times. The town is unlikely to have appeared before the third century. ~Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, The Messianic LegacyIf God is love, and if God is also omnipresent, then the Devil cannot exist. If the Devil exists, God cannot be love and also be omnipresent. Yet, an omnipresent God of love and the Devil are both said to exist. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure that there is something wrong here! ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianIt is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin. ~H.L. MenckenIt has been contended for many years that the Ten Commandments are the foundations of all ideas of justice and law. Nothing can be more stupidly false. Thousands of years before Moses, the Egyptians had a code far better. ~Robert G. IngersollYou who hate the Jews so, why did you adopt their religion? ~Friedrich Nietzsche, addressing anti-Semitic ChristiansThe problem with fundamentalists insisting on a literal interpretation of the Bible is that the meaning of words change. A prime example is 'Spare the rod, spoil the child.' A rod was a stick used by shepherds to guide their sheep to go in the desired direction. Shepherds did not use it to beat their sheep. The proper translation of the saying is 'Give your child guidance, or they will go astray.' It does not mean 'Beat the shit out of your child or he will become rotten' as many fundamentalist parents seem to belive. ~UnknownA sin [original sin] without volition is a slap at morality and an insolent contradiction in terms: that which is outside the possibility of choice is outside the province of morality. If a man is evil by birth, he has no will, no power to change it; if he has no will, he can be neither good nor evil; a robot is amoral. To hold, as man's sin, a fact not open to his choice is a mockery of morality. To hold man's nature as his sin is a mockery of nature. To punish him for a crime he committed before he was born is a mockery of justice. To hold him guilty in a matter where no innocence exists is a mockery of reason. ~Ayn RandA religious conservative is a fanatic about a dead radical. ~Unknown
The Bible
The Bible as we have it contains elements that are scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No amount of 'explaining away' can convince us that such passages are the product of Divine Wisdom. ~Bernard J. Bamberger, The Story of JudaismIf the Bible is mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust it to tell us where we're going? ~UnknownThe Bible may be the truth but it's not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ~Samuel ButlerNo man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means. ~George Bernard ShawThe Bible is literature, not dogma. ~George SantayanaMany Christians base the belief of a soul and God upon the Bible. Strictly speaking, there is no such book. To make the Bible, sixty-six books are bound into one volume. These books are written by many people at different times, and no one knows the time or the identity of any author. Some of the books were written by several authors at various times. These books contain all sorts of contradictory concepts of life and morals and the origin of things. Between the first and the last nearly a thousand years intervened, a longer time than has passed since the discovery of America by Columbus. ~Clarence Darrow, Why I Am An AgnosticAll that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention - of barbarian invention - is to read it. Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the coiled form of superstition - then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872The Bible is a mass of fables and traditions, mere mythology. ~Mark Twain, Mark Twain and the BibleThe Bible is a wonderful source of inspiration for those who don't understand it. ~George Santayana, 1863-1952, U.S. philosopher, writer, and professorThe Bible was a collection of books written at different times by different men - a strange mixture of diverse human documents - and a tissue of irreconcilable notions. Inspired? The Bible is not even intelligent. It is not even good craftsmanship, but is full of absurdities and contradictions. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismThe book, called the Bible, is filled with passages equally horrible, unjust and atrocious. This is the book to be read in schools in order to make our children loving, kind and gentle! ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872Few intelligent Christians can still hold to the idea that the Bible is an infallible Book, that it contains no linguistic errors, no historical discrepancies, no antiquated scientific assumptions, not even bad ethical standards. Historical investigation and literary criticism have taken the magic out of the Bible and have made it a composite human book, written by many hands in different ages. The existence of thousands of variations of texts makes it impossible to hold the doctrine of a book verbally infallible. Some might claim for the original copies of the Bible an infallible character, but this view only begs the question and makes such Christian apologetics more ridiculous in the eyes of the sincere man. ~Elmer Homrighausen, Christianity in AmericaThere are many extraordinary tales from antiquity, including women with snakes for hair, creatures whose gaze turns you to stone, creatures with equine bodies and human torsos, many accounts of people rising from the dead, lots of tales of magic, and numerous accounts of physical encounters with fantastic beings. Ancient people were a superstitious, scientifically primitive lot, and believed in many things that today we know are silly. I find it bizarre that so many people see nothing suspicious about the extraordinary or supernatural claims of the Bible, yet don't hesitate to express disbelief in equally well documented claims of minotaurs, basilisks, and wizards. ~Scott BrownA thorough reading and understanding of the Bible is the surest path to atheism. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianThe Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs. ~Bill MaherWhenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind. ~Thomas PaineThe next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word 'trinity.' The word 'trinity' appears nowhere in the bible. Neither does rapture, or second coming, or original sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased), by this, then add omniscience, omnipresence, supernatural, transcendence, afterlife, deity, divinity, theology, monotheism, missionary, immaculate conception, Christmas, Christianity, evangelical, fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, pope, cardinal, catechism, purgatory, penance, transubstantiation, excommunication, dogma, chastity, unpardonable sin, infallibility, incarnation, epiphany, sermon, Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday school, Dead Sea, golden rule, moral, morality, ethics, patriotism, education, atheism, apostasy, conservative (liberal is in), capital punishment, monogamy, abortion, pornography, homosexual, lesbian, fairness, logic, republic, democracy, capitalism, funeral, Decalogue, or Bible. ~Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to AtheistOne final snag in the "Bible only" view is this: the Bible itself teaches that moral truths are revealed outside the Scriptures. ~C. Stephen Layman, The Shape of the Good: Christian Reflections on the Foundation of EthicsRemember that millions of Christians still base their belief in a God upon the words of the Bible, which is a collection of the most flabbergasting fictions ever imagined - by men, too, who had lawless but very poor and crude imagination. Ingersoll and numerous other critics have shot the Christian holy book full of holes. It is worthless and proves nothing concerning the existence of a God. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismIf the Bible is telling the truth, then God is either untruthful or incompetent. If God is truthful, then the Bible is either untruthful or erroneous. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianAs it happens, Josephus, who mentions John the Baptist, does not mention Jesus. There is, to be sure, a paragraph in his history of the Jews which is devoted to Jesus, but it interrupts the flow of the discourse and seems suspiciously like an afterthought. Scholars generally believe this to have been an insertion by some early Christian editor who, scandalized that Josephus should talk of the period without mentioning the Messiah, felt the insertion to be a pious act. ~Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Guide To The BibleMost people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. ~Mark TwainOne does well to put on gloves when reading the New Testament. The proximity of so much uncleanliness almost forces one to do this. ~Fredrich Nietzsche
Science
There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ~J. Robert Oppenheimer, Life, 10 October 1949The truths which God revealed have been overthrown by the truths which man has discovered. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Someone with a fresh mind, one not conditioned by upbringing and environment, would doubtless look at science and the powerful reductionism that it inspires as overwhelmingly the better mode of understanding the world, and would doubtless scorn religion as sentimental wishful thinking. ~P.W. Atkins, "The Limitless Power of Science," Nature's Imagination, edited by John Cornwell, 1995I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science. ~Heinz Pagels, The Dreams of ReasonAcceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion. Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science. ~Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li MastersThe supernatural is the natural not yet understood. ~Elbert HubbardThe chief characteristic of the religion of science is that it works. ~Isaac AsimovReligion closes off the central questions of existence by attempting to dissuade us from further enquiry by asserting that we cannot ever hope to comprehend. We are, religion asserts, simply too puny. Through fear of being shown to be vacuous, religion denies the awesome power of human comprehension. It seeks to thwart, by encouraging awe in things unseen, the disclosure of the emptiness of faith. Religion, in contrast to science, deploys the repugnant view that the world is too big for our understanding. Science, in contrast to religion, opens up the great questions of being to rational discussion, to discussion with the prospect of resolution and elucidation. Science, above all, respects the power of the human intellect. Science is the apotheosis of the intellect and the consummation of the Renaissance. Science respects more deeply the potential of humanity than religion ever can. ~P.W. Atkins, "The Limitless Power of Science," Nature's Imagination, edited by John Cornwell, 1995Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing - fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things. In this world we can now begin a little to understand things, and a little to master them by help of science, which has forced its way step by step against the Christian religion, against the churches, and against the opposition of all the old precepts. Science can help us to get over this craven fear in which mankind has lived for so many generations. Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supports, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a better place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianScience is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor. ~Oliver Wendell HolmesScience is the record of dead religions. ~The Oscariana of Oscar Fingall O'Flaherty Will Wilde [1856-1900] for George Bernard ShawSeparation of Church and State
God cannot be put into the national Constitution without putting liberty out of it. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysThe day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion - except for the sect that can win political power. ~Supreme Court Justice Robert Houghwout Jackson, dissenting opinion in Zorach v. Clauson (343 US 306 - 1952)The United States is not a Christian nation. It is a great nation with Christians, among others, in it. But our greatness is based on the fact that there is no official religion. ~Senator Lowell WeickerSo many Christians long for integration of church and state because they know it would be a Christian influence on government and politics. But would they still want religion's interference in the state if that religion were Buddhism or some other belief system that differed from their own? If the government were run by Muslim tenets, they'd be crying out for separation of church and state just as atheists always have. ~T. SachsThe greatest achievement ever made in the cause of human progress is the total and final separation of church and state. If we have nothing else to boast of, we could lay claim with justice that the first among the nations we of this country made it an article of organic law that the relations between man and his maker were a private concern, into which other men have no right to intrude. To measure the stride thus made for the Emancipation of the race, we have only to look back over the centuries that have gone before us, and recall the dreadful persecutions in the name of religion that have filled the world. ~David Dudley Field, 1805-1894I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~Original Pledge of Allegiance, 1892It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon that book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah. ~Robert G. IngersollThose of us who believe in the right of any human being to belong to whatever church he sees fit, and to worship God in his own way, cannot be accused of prejudice when we do not want to see public education connected with religious control of the schools, which are paid for by taxpayers' money. ~Eleanor RooseveltWhen politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them. ~Frank Herbert, DuneGive the church a place in the Constitution, let her touch once more the sword of power, and the priceless fruit of all ages will turn to ashes on the lips of men. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 1In addition, the New York Supreme Court, in a well known case (Miami Military Institute v. Leff 129 Misc. 481, 220 N.Y.S. 799, 810) said of the principle of religious freedom that it, 'has always been regarded by the American people as the very heart of its national life.' This would be difficult to maintain in a democracy without institutional separation of church and state. ~Anson Phelps Stokes, Church And State In The United States Vol. ICertainly the affirmative pursuit of one's convictions about the ultimate mystery of the universe and man's relation to it is placed beyond the reach of law. Government may not interfere with organized or individual expressions of belief or disbelief. Propagation of belief - or even of disbelief - in the supernatural is protected, whether in church or chapel, mosque or synagogue, tabernacle or meeting-house. ~Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court justice, majority decision, Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586, 1940I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote - where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference - and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. ~John F. Kennedy
Taxation & Money
Church tax exemption means that we all drop our money in the collection boxes, whether we go to church or not and whether we are interested in the church or not. It is systematic and complete robbery, from which none of us escapes. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Church Is a Burden, Not a Benefit, In Social LifeChurches should look to their members and friends only for the financing of their undertakings, and no church should engage in any undertaking, no matter how laudable it may be, that its members and friends are unable or unwilling to finance. ~Senator Sam ErvinThe divorce between church and state ought to be absolute. It ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no church property anywhere, in any state, or in any nation, should be exempt from taxation, for if you exempt the church property of any church organization, to that extent you impose tax upon the whole community. ~U.S. President James A. Garfield, address to CongressThe money man gives to get him into heaven is what he ought to use to improve the earth. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIt takes the shingles from the widow's cottage to put paint on the house of God. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysSend me money, send me green, Heaven you will meet, Make a contribution and you'll get a better seat. ~Metallica
Humorous religion
I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. ~George CarlinWhere would Christianity be if Jesus got eight to fifteen years with time off for good behavior? ~New York State Senator James Donovan, speaking in support of capital punishmentIf there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? ~Art HoppeI believe in God; I just don't trust anyone who works for him. ~Comic on Comedy NetworkAs the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on. ~Woody AllenHow can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? ~Woody AllenAdam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. ~UnknownBorn again?! No, I'm not. Excuse me for getting it right the first time. ~Dennis MillerMaking fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope. ~P.J. O'RourkeInfidel: In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does. ~Ambrose BierceI prefer to think that God is not dead, just drunk. ~John Marcellus HustonChristian fundamentalism: the doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable, universe spanning entity that is deeply and personally concerned about my sex life. ~Andrew LiasThis is a little prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen. ~George Carlin, on Saturday Night Live"I refuse to prove that I exist" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing." "Oh," says man, "but the Babel Fish is a dead give-away, isn't it? It proves You exist, and so therefore You don't. Q.E.D." "Oh, I hadn't thought of that," says God, who promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. ~Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyIt is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry. ~H.L. MenckenThe only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. ~ChamfortI prefer to think of them as the Ten Suggestions. ~UnknownI was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said 'Stop! don't do it!' 'Why shouldn't I?' he said. I said, 'Well, there's so much to live for!' He said, 'Like what?' I said, 'Well...are you religious or atheist?' He said, 'Religious.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?' He said, 'Christian.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?' He said, 'Protestant.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?' He said, 'Baptist!' I said, 'Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist church of god or Baptist church of the lord?' He said, 'Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you original Baptist church of god, or are you reformed Baptist church of god?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!' I said, 'Die, heretic scum,' and pushed him off. ~Emo PhillipsReligions are like farts. Yours is good, but everyone else's stinks. ~Picket FencesWhy should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't! ~George Bernard ShawJim Bakker spells his name with 2 k's because 3 would be too obvious. ~Bill MaherI was at Bible camp, learning how to be more judgmental. ~Mrs. Flanders, Homer Simpson's neighbor on The SimpsonsForgive, O Lord, my little jokes on TheeAnd I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.~Robert FrostJesus saves... passes to Moses... shoots... scores! ~UnknownThere's nothing an agnostic can't do if he doesn't know whether he believes in anything or not. ~Monty Python, The Meaning of LifeIf you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a chance of being a prophet. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerIf I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said "No." ~Margaret "Stevie" Smith, 1902-1971Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them? ~Jules FeifferGod had to kill himself to appease himself, so that he wouldn't have to roast us (his beloved creations) alive for all eternity, except that he didn't really die. ~Unknown, capsule description of ChristianityGod is innocent. Noah built in a flood plain. ~As seen on a shirtWe suck so much we can't even want not to suck. ~Paul Golter, paraphrase of Romans 3:10-20The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that.... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E) temperature of the earth (-300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed.... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C. ~From Applied Optics, vol. 11, A14, 1972I think I'll believe in Gosh instead of God. If you don't believe in Gosh too, you'll be darned to heck. ~UnknownGod is real, unless declared integer. ~UnknownIf Jesus had been killed 20 years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses. ~Lenny BruceI'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. ~George CarlinI thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty. ~John WatersWhy is it when we talk to God we're praying - but when God talks to us, we're schizophrenic? ~Lily TomlinIf "he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword" holds true, then Jesus the carpenter met his end properly. After all, he was nailed to a piece of wood, wasn't he? ~UnknownScriptures: the sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. ~Ambrose BierceThere are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a 'hottest part' implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible. ~Richard DavissonIf God wanted people to believe in him, why'd he invent logic then? ~David Feherty, PGA Tour golferI'm looking for loopholes. ~W.C. Fields, when caught reading the Bible"God works in many ways his wonders to perform." But He's not a skillful mechanic. A man drives over a cliff and 'by a miracle' he only breaks his back. It would be more divine if he were a better driver and stayed on the road. ~Paul GoodmanThe Hell Law says that Hell is reserved exclusively for them that believe in it. Further, the lowest Rung in Hell is reserved for them that believe in it on the supposition that they'll go there if they don't. ~HBT, "The Gospel According to Fred" 3:1When you tell me that your Deity made you in his own image, I reply that he must have been very ugly. ~Victor HugoOn the other hand, the Bible contains much that is relevant today, like Noah taking 40 days to find a place to park. ~Curtis McDougallPuritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. ~H.L. MenckenImagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable. ~H.L. MenckenFor God so loved the world that He gave Man Free Will and then got pissed when we didn't meet his arbitrary standards. Oh, and he had his Son offed when he realized how impossible those standards were. ~Michael 4:23I have my own God, and I think my God finds me incredibly fucking funny. That's why I chose him as my God. ~Dennis MillerI was driving home early Sunday morning, through BakersfieldListening to gospel music on the public radio stationWhen the preacher said "You'll always have the Lord by your side."I was so pleased to be informed of thisThat I ran twenty red lights in his honor.Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord.~The Rolling Stones, "Faraway Eyes"Jesus was a Jew, yes, but only on his mother's side. ~Stanley Ralph RossIf a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, "Probably because of something you did." ~Saturday Night Live, Jack Handey, "Deep Thoughts "Our Father or Mother, who are either in heaven, nirvana, Mecca or Salt Lake City, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, providing thy will is that America is always the big winner over foreign heathen. Give us this day our daily white bread, black bread, Italian bread, Jewish rye, English muffins, or tacos, and a quarter-pounder with cheese and large fries to go. And lead us not into temptation, or into school buses that take us to neighborhoods where the kids are different. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, especially for people who still use words like 'thine.' ~Mark Russell, humoristHe [Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci] talked about Father Junipero Serra's qualifications for sainthood: they say he cured a nun's lupus. A miracle. Now I'm not a doctor, but I know lupus goes into remission. It's not always fatal. Have Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder play ping-pong together. That's a miracle. ~Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 February 1989If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls' sports, such as hot oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such. ~Homer Simpson, The SimpsonsSuppose we've chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we're just making him madder and madder. ~Homer Simpson's version of Pascal's Wager, The SimpsonsPrayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. ~School superintendent on The SimpsonsThose people who tell me that I'm going to hell while they are going to heaven somehow make me very glad that we're going to separate destinations. ~Martin TermanGod made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through. ~Paul ValeryWhen he that speaks, and he to whom he speaks, neither of them understand what is meant, that is metaphysics. ~VoltaireInspiration: a peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of God. ~VoltaireWhy do born-again people so often make you wish they'd never been born the first time? ~Katherine WhitehornI think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability. ~Oscar WildeWhen did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself. ~Peter O'Toole, The Ruling ClassThe missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already. ~Edward AbbeyGod wanted to have a holiday, so He asked St. Peter for suggestions on where to go. "Why not go to Jupiter?" asked St. Peter. "No, too much gravity, too much stomping around," said God. "Well, how about Mercury?" "No, it's too hot there." "Okay," said St. Peter, "what about Earth?" "No," said God, "They're such horrible gossips. When I was there 2000 years ago, I had an affair with a Jewish woman, and they're still talking about it." ~UnknownI got enough guilt to start my own religion. ~Tori AmosReligious cult: the church down the street from yours. ~B.C. comic strip, 30 April 1994In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' ~Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"Christian, n.: one who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money. ~Leon LedermanDear God. We paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing. ~Bart Simpson saying grace, The SimpsonsGod is loveLove is blindRay Charles is blindTherefore, Ray Charles is God.~UnknownThe Virgin Mary was an unwed teenage mother. ~As seen on a buttonThe Christian right is neither. ~As seen on a buttonAtheism is a non-prophet organization. ~As seen on a buttonOnce again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. ~UnknownA celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism. ~Carl SaganA great many men believe in providence until they get caught in a railroad accident. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays, 1911Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, Thus Spake ZarathustraHumor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals. ~Agnes Repplier, Points of View
Sex
Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love. ~Butch HancockThe Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the...passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life. ~Bertrand Russell
Praying vs. Working
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. ~UnknownGive a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish. ~UnknownI prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. ~Frederick Douglass, escaped slaveMan must learn to rely upon himself. Reading bibles will not protect him from the blasts of winter, but houses, fires, and clothing will. To prevent famine, one plow is worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure more diseases than all the prayers uttered since the beginning of the world. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers. ~Austin O'MalleyWe will not, therefore, lose our time praying to an imaginary god for things which our own exertions alone can procure. ~Francisco FerrerIn the Middle East, the Bronze Age people of Canaan - the ancient region between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean that roughly corresponds to Israel - also failed to adapt to the drying out of their lands around 2200 BC(E). In their case, says Arlene Rosen of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, it was their beliefs that were their undoing. "In Canaan, people believed that environmental disasters were caused by a deity unhappy with the people," she says. Like the Mayans, the Canaanites could have coped with the new conditions by introducing new irrigation systems for their crops. Instead, they attributed the shift in climate to the wrath of the gods, built more temples and prayed for better times. Within a short time, the cities and towns were abandoned and the people became nomadic herders. ~"'Rigid' Cultures Caught Out by Climate Change," New Scientist, 5 March 1994Call on God, but row away from the rocks. ~Indian proverb
Origin - Fear - Opiate
Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself against the crushing supremacy of nature. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, 1927It is fear that first brought gods into the world. ~Petronius Arbiter, SatyriconThe gods retain their threefold task: they must exorcize the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelty of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed on them. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionReligion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand. ~Karl MarxThroughout the early Christian period, every great calamity - famine, earthquake, and plague - led to mass conversions, another indirect influence by which epidemic diseases contributed to the destruction of classical civilization. Christianity owes a formidable debt to bubonic plague and to smallpox, no less than to earthquake and volcanic eruptions. ~Hans Zinsser, Rats, Lice and History, 1934Theology is but the ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system. ~Baron Paul Henri T. d'HolbachReligion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. ~Bertrand RussellFor that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency. ~Albert EllisIf I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstances. ~Theodore Dreiser, 1941What is the function that a clergyman performs in the world? Answer: he gets his living by assuring idiots that he can save them from an imaginary hell. ~H.L. Mencken, Minority ReportsReligion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. ~Karl Marx
Acquisition of Religion
What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak. ~George Santayana, Reason in ReligionIn religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination. ~Mark TwainIt is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so. ~Ernestine RoseThere are ten church members by inheritance for every one by conviction. ~UnknownMiracles happen to those who believe in them. Otherwise why does not the Virgin Mary appear to Lamaists, Mohammedans, or Hindus who have never heard of her. ~Bernard Berenson, 1865-1959Beliefs, including religious ones, are learned. Which makes atheism a normal state of affairs and religious beliefs a learned 'abnormality.' No psychological theory is necessary to explain the causes of a normal base state. Any psychological theory of learning, attitude change or socialisation can explain the causes of religious belief. ~Rosemary Lyndall, clinical neuro-psychologistFrank: She was a little brunette of Jewish persuasion.Hawkeye: I wonder who persuaded her to be that.~M*A*S*H, "The Bus"History aside, the almost universal opinion that one's own religious convictions are the reasoned outcome of a dispassionate evaluation of all the major alternatives is almost demonstrably false for humanity in general. If that really were the genesis of most people's convictions, then one would expect the major faiths to be distributed more or less randomly or evenly over the globe. But in fact they show a very strong tendency to cluster...which illustrates what we all suspected anyway: that social forces are the primary determinants of religious belief for people in general. To decide scientific questions by appeal to religious orthodoxy would therefore be to put social forces in place of empirical evidence. ~Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of MindThe history of the rise of Christianity has everything to do with politics, culture, and human frailties and nothing to do with supernatural manipulation of events. Had divine intervention been the guiding force, surely two millennia after the birth of Jesus he would not have a world where there are more Muslims than Catholics, more Hindus than Protestants, and more nontheists than Catholics and Protestants combined. ~John K. Naland
Afterlife
If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. ~Albert CamusIt is an incredible con job when you think of it, to believe something now in exchange for life after death. Even corporations with all their reward systems don't try to make it posthumous. ~Gloria SteinemI do not believe in revealed religion - I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without speculating on another. ~Lord Byron, 1778-1824, letter to Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811Oh, one world at a time! ~Henry David Thoreau, when asked about afterlifeYour soul will be dead even before your body: fear nothing further. ~Friedrich NietzscheI have little confidence in any enterprise or business or investment that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders. ~Robert G. IngersollMan can contemplate his own mortality and finds the thought intolerable. Any animal will struggle to protect itself from a threat of death. Faced with a predator, it flees, hides, fights or employs some other defensive mechanism, such as death-feigning or the emission of stinking fluids. There are many self-protection mechanisms, but they all occur as a response to an immediate danger. When man contemplates his future death, it is as if, by thinking of it, he renders it immediate. His defence is to deny it. He cannot deny that his body will die and rot - the evidence is too strong for that; so he solves the problem by the invention of an immortal soul - a soul which is more 'him' than even his physical body is 'him.' If this soul can survive in an afterlife, then he has successfully defended himself against the threatened attack on his life. This gives the agents of the gods a powerful area of support. All they need to do is to remind their followers constantly of their mortality and to convince them that the afterlife itself is under the personal management of the particular gods they are promoting. The self-protective urges of their worshippers will do the rest. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977
Human Egotism
Little prigs and three-quarter madmen may have the conceit that the laws of nature are constantly broken for their sakes. ~Friedrich NietzscheThe idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker?... Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking "for our sakes was the world created." ~Julian the ApostateThe universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours. ~Bertrand RussellOcean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills. ~Ambrose BierceNature has neither a preference for our species nor a bias against it. ~James Randi, The Faith HealersReligion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism. ~William James, 1842-1910, U.S. philosopher and psychologist
Environment
Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and these sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is now the most dreadful thing, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke ZarathustraThe word "wilderness" occurs approximately three hundred times in the Bible, and all its meanings are derogatory. ~René Dubos, The Wooing of Earth, 1980We shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man. ~Lynn White, Jr., "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," 1967The victory of Christianity over paganism was the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture. By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. ~Lynn I. White, Jr., Science, 10 March 1967Christianity, with its roots in Judaism, was a major factor in the development of the Western worldview.... A basic Christian belief was that God gave humans dominion over creation, with the freedom to use the environment as they saw fit. Another important Judeo-Christian belief predicted that God would bring a cataclysmic end to the Earth sometime in the future. One interpretation of this belief is that the Earth is only a temporary way station on the soul's journey to the afterlife. Because these beliefs tended to devalue the natural world, they fostered attitudes and behaviors that had a negative effect on the environment. ~Donald G. Kaufman and Cecilia M. Franz, Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment, 1996Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. ~Genesis 1:28
Specific Religions
The Puritan through Life's sweet garden goesTo pluck the thorn and cast away the rose.~Kenneth HareThe Unitarian walks with a cane, the Congregationalist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist go with crutches, the Episcopalian has to be pushed about in an invalid's chair, while the Roman Catholic crawls on his hands and knees and is led around with a ring in his nose by a priest. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysA Mormon is a man that has the bad taste and the religion to do what a good many other people are restrained from doing by conscientious scruples and the police. ~Mr. DooleyYou've got a Methodist Coloring BookAnd you color really wellBut don't color outside the linesOr God will send you to hell~Dead Milkmen, "Methodist Coloring Book"
Religious Intolerance & Discrimination
Jesus Christ never commanded toleration as a motive for His disciples, and toleration is the antithesis of the Christian message. ~James L. Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and FreemasonryThey say there are strangers, who threaten usIn our immigrants and infidelsThey say there is strangeness, too dangerousIn our theatres and bookstore shelvesThose who know what's best for us -Must rise and save us from ourselvesQuick to judge...quick to anger...slow to understand...Ignorance and prejudice and fearWalk hand in hand.~RushI am angry at the Catholic church, because it says that women can't be priests. Right. Like my big dream is to run around in a long black dress and fuck altar boys. But I think I should have the choice. The pope agrees that women cannot be priests, and this is his reason: because there were no women priests when Jesus lived. And that's true. But there was also no pope. Does that stop him? ~E.L. GreggoryI write against the religion because if women want to live like human beings, they will have to live outside the religion and Islamic law. ~Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, in exile, 1994If Boy Scouts of America intends to issue invitations to children in public schools, they ought to 'Be Prepared' to abide by the admissions standards of public schools and stop discriminating on the basis of religious belief. ~Elliot Welsh, on Boy Scouts of America's denial of his non-religious sonThe theory that you should always treat the religious convictions of other people with respect finds no support in the Gospels. ~Arnold Lunn An engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation. His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton/polyester-blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce decree was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp. Quiz: How many biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives are supposed to be 'submissive' to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that 'pertains to a man' (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7, 10) as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22). So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or - at best - unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple could easily be among the millions of Americans who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. ~Deb Price, And Say Hi To JoyceThe [Christian] supremacists who lead the anti-gay crusade are wrong morally. They are wrong because justice is moral, and prejudice is evil; because truth is moral and the lie of the closet is the real sin; because the claim of morality is a subtle sort of subterfuge, a stratagem which hides the real aim which is much more secular. The supremacists don't care about morality, they care about power. They care about social control. And their goal, my friends, is the reconstruction of American Democracy into American Theocracy. ~Urvashi Vaid, 25 April 1993As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its leaves there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. ~Robert G. IngersollLet us condemn to hellfire all those who disagree with us. ~Militant religionists everywhere
The Harm of Religion
This is not an attack on the First Amendment rights of people who believe in faith healing. We just don't believe the First Amendment allows them to inflict their views upon their children and let them die from such things as infections, when one quick trip to a doctor would cure the problem. Children should not have to die to uphold the religious beliefs of their parents. ~Scott Greenwood, Children's Healthcare Is a Legal DutyTo make sure that my blasphemy is thoroughly expressed, I hereby state my opinion that the notion of a god is a basic superstition, that there is no evidence for the existence of any god(s), that devils, demons, angels and saints are myths, that there is no life after death, heaven nor hell, that the Pope is a dangerous, bigoted, medireview dinosaur, and that the Holy Ghost is a comic-book character worthy of laughter and derision. I accuse the Christian god of murder by allowing the Holocaust to take place - not to mention the "ethnic cleansing" presently being performed by Christians in our world - and I condemn and vilify this mythical deity for encouraging racial prejudice and commanding the degradation of women. ~James Randi, challenging blasphemy laws in several U.S. statesWhen the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. ~Bishop Desmond TutuThe Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad. ~Friedrich NietzscheOne, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned at the stake while the votes were being counted. ~Thomas B. ReedI am convinced that some political and social activities and practices of the Catholic organizations are detrimental and even dangerous for the community as a whole, here and everywhere. I mention here only the fight against birth control at a time when overpopulation in various countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet. ~Albert Einstein, 1954Whenever religion is involved, terrorists kill more people. ~Dr. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, ScotlandGod says do what you wish, but make the wrong choice and you will be tortured for eternity in hell. That sir, is not free will. It would be akin to a man telling his girlfriend, do what you wish, but if you choose to leave me, I will track you down and blow your brains out. When a man says this we call him a psychopath and cry out for his imprisonment and execution. When God says the same we call him 'loving' and build churches in his honor. ~William C. Easttom II, skeptic@icon.netThe whole Bible was written by slave owners, and for slave owners. There is no hint of criticism of slavery anywhere in that book. Jesus made no objection to mistreatment of slaves. He indicated that selling of debtors into slavery would be continued his forthcoming kingdom of heaven as well as masters having the right to beat their slaves and put them to torture. ~Merrill Holste, "Slavery and the Bible," American Atheist Magazine, May 1986Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the statement of an honest belief! More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds, than there are leaves on all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished forever and forever! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Man, Woman and ChildThat is the idea - that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems to me that the people who have held to it have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianThe church has contributed nothing to civilization. It has progressed somewhat, and it has become a little more decent, in reflection of the movements of civilization that have taken place outside of the church and usually in the face of the strong opposition of the church. But the church has always resisted the process of civilization. It has struggled to the last ditch, by fair means and foul, to preserve as long as it could the vestiges of ancient and medireview theology, with all the puerile moralities and harsh customs and medireview styles of belief. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Church Is a Burden, Not a Benefit, In Social LifeThe memory of my own suffering has prevented me from ever shadowing one young soul with the superstitions of the Christian religion. ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eight Years and MoreThe name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries than any other name has caused. ~John E. Remsburg, The Christ, 1910The question of the truth of a religion is one thing, but the question of its usefulness is another. I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian, 1957Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. ~ Bertrand RussellThe Santa myth is one of the most effective means ever devised for intimidating children, eroding their self-esteem, twisting their behavior, warping their values, and slowing their development of critical thinking skills. ~Tom Flynn, The Trouble with ChristmasThe smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume. ~Robert Green IngersollReligion has [always] been anti-human, anti-woman, anti-life, anti-peace, anti-reason, and anti-science. The god idea has been detrimental not only to humankind but to the earth. It is time now for reason, education, and science to take over. ~Madalyn O'Hair, Atheists: The Last MinorityReligion, to be sure, is full of inconsistencies between theory and practice; but there is and has always been sternly and largely a disposition of religion to enforce its theory in the conduct of life; religion has meant not simply dogmatism in abstract thinking but intolerance in legal and social action. Religion interferes with life and, being false, it necessarily interferes very much to the detriment of the sound human interests of life. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismFor many centuries the sword and cross were allies. Together they attacked the rights of man. They defended each other. ~Robert G. IngersollGod has done nothing for men and women except to scare them out of their wits. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysI believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking. ~H.L. Mencken, New York Times Magazine, 11 September 1955If children born into Christian families are taught: 'We are all equally unworthy in the sight of God. You are born in sin and are sinful by nature. Don't think, don't question, believe. Who are you to place your mind above that of the priest, the minister, the rabbi? If you have value it is not because of anything you have done or could ever do, it is only because God loves you. Submission to what you cannot understand is the beginning of morality. Do not be 'willful;' self-assertiveness is the sin of pride. Never think that you belong to yourself. In any clash between your judgement and that of your religious authorities, it is your authorities you must believe. Self-sacrifice is the foremost virtue and the noblest duty;' then consider what will be the likely consequences for the practice of living consciously, or the practice of self-assertiveness, or any of the other pillars of healthy self-esteem. ~Nathaniel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, 1994 (paraphrase)In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is valued above self-statement, and conformity is valued above integrity, those who preserve their self-esteem are likely to be heroic exceptions. ~Nathaniel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, 1994In some sects members are told to commit violent acts because the only way they can hasten redemption or achieve salvation is to eliminate the nonbelievers. ~Dr. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, ScotlandA disturbing fact continues to surface in sex abuse research. The first best predictor of abuse is alcohol or drug addiction in the father. But the second best predictor is conservative religiosity, accompanied by parental belief in traditional male-female roles. This means that if you want to know which children are most likely to be sexually abused by their father, the second most significant clue is whether or not the parents belong to a conservative religious group with traditional role beliefs and rigid sexual attitudes (Brown and Bohn, 1989; Finkelhor, 1986; Fortune, 1983; Goldstein et al, 1973; Van Leeuwen, 1990). ~Carol Holderread Heggen, Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes and Churches, Herald Press, Scotdale, PA, 1993, p.73Every religion in the world that has destroyed people is based on love. ~Anton LaVeyWhenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants, the worst is a slave in power. ~Robert Ingersoll, Some Reasons WhyOrganized religion is responsible for the brainwashing of millions of young children too young to know the difference between reality and the fantasies of millions. ~Unknown
Religion's Power in Society
The greatest threat presented by modern religion is the archaic morals system that an insidious minority of Christians including the Radical Right, Christian Coalition, the RIAA along with many other influences and organizations wish to incorporate into our secular law! ~W.J. Wallace Jr., hypnopaedia@huxley.netScientific education and religious education are incompatible. The clergy have ceased to interfere with education at the advanced state, with which I am directly concerned, but they have still got control of that of children. This means that the children have to learn about Adam and Noah instead of about evolution; about David who killed Goliath, instead of Koch who killed cholera; about Christ's ascent into heaven instead of Montgolfier's and Wright's. Worse than that, they are taught that it is a virtue to accept statements without adequate evidence, which leaves them a prey to quacks of every kind in later life, and makes it very difficult for them to accept the methods of thought which are successful in science. ~J.B.S. HaldaneWe cannot hope for a society in which formal organized religion dies out. But we can stop behaving as if it was worthy of our collective respect. ~A.N. Wilson, Against ReligionImagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly and warn the people of Canada. ~Isaac Asimov, Canadian Atheists Newsletter, 1994For the church to say that abortion is not acceptable for a Catholic is fine. To say directly or indirectly that on something that is a church teaching that you must also vote according to that - that's not acceptable in a country based on the First Amendment. ~Vermont Senator Patrick LeahyReligion to me is much like the story "The Pit and the Pendulum," every time the blade of religious censorship swings it comes closer and closer to severing freedom from the people. ~W.J. Wallace Jr., hypnopaedia@huxley.net
Religion as Social Control
The church doctrines of obedience to authority, repentance, fear of punishment, self-abnegation, acceptance of outer direction rather than inner assurance, elevation of faith over reason, and intolerance make institutionalized religion an ideal instrument of social constraint. ~Madalyn O'Hair, Freedom under SiegeHow can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. ~Napoleon BonaparteSince the masses of the people are inconsistent, full of unruly desires, passionate, and reckless of consequences, they must be filled with fears to keep them in order. The ancients did well, therefore, to invent gods, and the belief in punishment after death. ~Polybius, c.204 - c.122 BCThe myths about Hades and the gods, though they are pure invention, help to make men virtuous. ~Diodorus Siculus, c. 20 BCReligion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. ~Seneca the Younger, c. 4 BC - 65 AD
Religion: An Outdated System
The Theologian is an owl, sitting on an old dead branch in the tree of human knowledge, and hooting the same old hoots that have been hooted for hundreds and thousands of years, but he has never given a hoot for progress. ~Emmet F. FieldsThere was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages. ~Ruth Hermence Green, Women Without SuperstitionYou find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A ChristianIn dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides. ~Heinrich Heine, Gedanken und Einfalle, Volume 10
Defensiveness & Fanaticism
While utterly discarding all creeds, and denying the truth of all religions, there is neither in my heart nor upon my lips a sneer for the hopeful, loving and tender souls who believe that from all this discord will result a perfect harmony; that every evil will in some mysterious way become a good, and that above and over all there is a being who, in some way, will reclaim and glorify every one of the children of men; but for those who heartlessly try to prove that salvation is almost impossible; that damnation is almost certain; that the highway of the universe leads to hell; who fill life with fear and death with horror; who curse the cradle and mock the tomb, it is impossible to entertain other than feelings of pity, contempt and scorn. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872If a fanatic is willing to give his life for a cause, he's probably willing to give yours as well. ~David GerroldThere is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not real, he becomes furious when they are disputed. ~Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and PoliticsOne cannot erect, on the basis of a motive that exists only for a very few, an obligation that shall apply to everyone. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionThat is the strength and at the same time the sin of the Christians - they will not accept that anyone else has so much as a splinter of the truth. ~Harry HarrisonTo listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs. ~Ghose AurobindoThe god who is reputed to have created fleas to keep dogs from moping over their situation must also have created fundamentalists to keep rationalists from getting flabby. Let us be duly thankful for out blessings. ~Garrett HardinIrrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors. ~Thomas Huxley, 1825-1895, English biologistNowhere is there an account or portrait of Christ laughing...he is always stern, serious and as gloomy as a prison guard. Never does one see him laughing until tears appear in his eyes like the roly-poly squint-eyed Buddha guffawing with arms upraised. ~I.R.The certainty with which a religious belief is held is usually in direct proportion to its absurdity. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, AtheologianThe creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop the strongest proselytizing impulse. It is doubtful whether a movement which does not profess some preposterous and patently irrational dogma can be possessed of that zealous drive which 'must either win men or destroy the world.' It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction between profession and practice - that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt - are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others. ~Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, 1951As Pastor X slips out of bedHe puts a neat disguise onThat halo round his priestly headIs merely his horizon.~Piet Hein, 1966Commonly, those who have professed the strongest motives of love of a God have demonstrated the deepest hatred toward human joy and liberty. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of AtheismThe truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost their power of reasoning. ~Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, 1764Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction. ~Pascal, Pensees, 1670Televangelists: The Pro Wrestlers of religion. ~UnknownAnd no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naive. As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in our own time, we might be advised to leave them to heaven. They will not, unfortunately, do us the same courtesy. They attack us and each other, and whatever their protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody record of history makes clear that they are easily disposed to restore to the sword. My own belief in God, then, is just that - a matter of belief, not knowledge. My respect for Jesus Christ arises from the fact that He seems to have been the most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth. But even well-educated Christians are frustrated in their thirst for certainty about the beloved figure of Jesus because of the undeniable ambiguity of the scriptural record. Such ambiguity is not apparent to children or fanatics, but every recognized Bible scholar is perfectly aware of it. Some Christians, alas, resort to formal lying to obscure such reality. ~Steve AllenSociety is very well aware of the insecurity of the claim it makes on behalf of its religious doctrines. Otherwise it would certainly be very ready to put the necessary data at the disposal of anyone who wanted to arrive at conviction. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an IllusionNothing can exceed the mendacity of the religious press. I have had some little experience with political editors, and am forced to say, that until I read the religious papers, I did not know what malicious and slimy falsehoods could be constructed from ordinary words. The ingenuity with which the real and apparent meaning can be tortured out of language is simply amazing. The average religious editor is intolerant and insolent...and always accounts for the brave and generous actions of unbelievers by low, base, and unworthy motives. ~Robert G. IngersollFaith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate. ~F.M. KnowlesA fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. ~Winston ChurchillMost men would kill the truth if truth would kill their religion. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other EssaysIf you cannot answer a man's argument, all it not lost; you can still call him vile names. ~Elbert Hubbard
Leave Us Alone!
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale GulledgeEskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"Priest: "No, not if you did not know."Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"~UnknownThe act of bellringing is symbolic of all proselytizing religions. It implies the pointless interference with the quiet of other people. ~Ezra PoundIf God doesn't like the way I live, let him tell me, not you. ~As seen on a buttonImpiety, n.: Your irreverence toward my deity. ~Ambrose BierceOn religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' ~Senator Barry GoldwaterIt does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ~Thomas JeffersonIt is the position of some theists that their right to freedom OF religion is abridged when they are not allowed to violate the rationalists' right to freedom FROM religion. ~James T. Green
Does God Exist?
You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here.... I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me. ~Richard P. Feynman
The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying...it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. ~Carl Sagan
Traveler: "God has been mighty good to your fields, Mr. Farmer."
Farmer: "You should have seen how he treated them when I wasn't around."
~Unknown
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. ~Democritus
God has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose. ~Clarence Darrow
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. ~Denis Diderot
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. ~Voltaire, 1694-1778
Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays. ~Soren Kierkegaard
If triangles had a God, He'd have three sides. ~Old Yiddish proverb
The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. ~Richard F. Burton
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. ~Anne Lamott
I have never resisted the lord in my life, and I never will. But I'm not so hungry for dialogue with him that I have to make up his part as well as my own. ~Orson Scott Card
If priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to god. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always happened that god wanted what his agents liked. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Man is quite insane. He wouldn't know how to create a maggot, and he creates Gods by the dozen. ~Michel de Montaigne, Essais, III, xii, 1588
There have been many alleged revelations of God. There have, indeed, been many Gods as there have been many Bibles. And in different ages and different lands an endless game of guessing and disputing has gone on. Men have argued blindly about God. They still argue - just as blindly. And if there is a God, we must conclude that he has willfully left men in the dark. He has not wanted men to know about him. Assuming his existence, then it would follow that he would have perfect ability to give a complete and universal explanation of himself, so that all men could see and know without further uncertainty. A real God could exhibit himself clearly to all men and have all men following his will to the last letter without a doubt or a slip. But when we examine even cursorily the many contradictory revelations of God, the many theories and arguments, the many and diverse principles of piety, we perceive that all this talk about God his been merely the natural floundering of human ignorance. There has been no reality in the God idea which men could discover and agree upon. The spectacle has been exactly what we should expect when men deal with theories of something which does not exist. Hidden Gods - no Gods - all we see is man's poor guesswork. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the operations of pure chance. ~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
These gods did not even know the shape of the worlds they had created, but supposed them perfectly flat. Some thought the day could be lengthened by stopping the sun, that the blowing of horns could throw down the walls of a city, and all knew so little of the real nature of the people they had created, that they commanded the people to love them. Some were so ignorant as to suppose that man could believe just as he might desire, or as they might command, and that to be governed by observation, reason, and experience was a most foul and damning sin. None of these gods could give a true account of the creation of this little earth. All were woefully deficient in geology and astronomy. As a rule, they were most miserable legislators, and as executives, they were far inferior to the average of American presidents. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
Thus a certain false psychology, a certain kind of fantasy in interpreting motives and experiences, is the necessary prerequisite for becoming a Christian and experiencing the need for redemption. With the insight into this aberration of reason and imagination, one ceases to be a Christian. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
One might be asked "How can you prove that a god does not exist?" One can only reply that it is scarcely necessary to disprove what has never been proved. ~David A. Spitz
Over the years I realized the god I prayed to was the god I invented. When I was talking to him, I was talking to myself. He had no understanding or qualities that I did not have. When I realized god was an extension of my imagination, I stopped praying to him. ~Howard Kreisner
It is difficult to imagine that the belief in a single jealous male god of uncertain temper represents a "higher" spiritual state than the belief in many gods, male and female alike, each an embodiment of some aspect of human life as it can be empirically known and experienced. ~Vincent Scully
I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian God may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them. The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible. ~Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, 1945
Unfortunately they cannot succeed in refuting the fact that the appearance and utterances of their spirits are merely the products of their own mental activity. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight - that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether. ~Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea
I think that in philosophical strictness at the level where one doubts the existence of material objects and holds that the world may have existed for only five minutes, I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptic orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely. ~Bertrand Russell
When belief in a god dies, the god dies. ~Harlan Ellison, "Deathbird Stories"
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. WE HAVE KILLED HIM - you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, foreward, in all direction? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light candles in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
One of the demands put upon the priests and holy-men is that they should provide impressive rituals. Nearly all religions include ceremonial procedures during which the followers of a particular deity can indulge in complex group activities. This is essential as a demonstration of the power of the gods - that they can dominate and command submissive behaviour from large numbers of people at one and the same time - and it is also a method of strengthening the social bonding in relation to the common belief. Since the gods are super-parents and super-leaders, they must necessarily have large houses in which to 'meet' with their followers. Anyone flying low over human settlements in a spacecraft and ignorant of our ways would notice immediately that in many of the villages and towns and cities there were one or two homes much bigger than the rest. Towering over the other houses, these large buildings must surely be the abodes of some enormous individuals, many times the size of the rest of the population. These - the houses of the gods - the temples, the churches and the cathedrals - are buildings apparently made for giants, and a space visitor would be surprised to find on closer examination that these giants are never at home. Their followers repeatedly visit them and bow down before them, but they themselves are invisible. Only their bell-like cries can be heard across the land. Man is indeed an imaginative species. ~Desmond Morris, Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour, 1977
'God' as traditionally defined is a systematic contradiction of every valid metaphysical principle. The point is wider than just the Judeo-Christian concept of God. No argument will get you from this world to a supernatural world. No reason will lead you to a world contradicting this one. No method of inference will enable you to leap from existence to a 'super-existence.' ~Leonard Peikoff, The Philosophy of Objectivism
Is man one of God's blunders, or is God one of man's blunders? ~Friedrich Nietzsche
And it is in his own image, let us remember, that Man creates God. ~H. Havelock Ellis
On the sixth day God created man. On the seventh day, man returned the favor. ~Unknown
If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment. ~Voltaire
It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are. ~Ovid, Ars Amatoria
The ancient poets animated all objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of each city and country, placing it under its mental deity; 'til a system was formed, which some took advantage of, and enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began priesthood; choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounc'd that the Gods had order'd such things. Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast. ~William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"
Who made who? ~AC/DC
Atheism
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. ~Stephen Roberts
My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image to be servants of their human interests. ~George Santayana, 1863-1952
Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? ~Douglas Adams
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. ~Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted, 14 August 1966
Reason, Observation and Experience - the Holy Trinity of Science - have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, The Gods, 1872
A wise man can do no better than to turn from the churches and look up through the airy majesty of the wayside trees with exultation, with resignation, at the unconquerable unimplicated sun. ~Llewelyn Powys, The Pathetic Fallacy
It dawned on me that a universe without deities was simpler and more internally consistent. The beauty and simplicity with which atheism, materialism (on the mind/body question), moral relativism, and other philosophical ideas all just fell into place has eliminated any doubt that I could be mistaken. I didn't realize until then how much cognitive dissonance the little logical inconsistencies in my previous beliefs had created. It is really wonderful for that to be gone. Atheism has given me more inner peace than religion ever could have. ~David Nye
I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape. ~Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
Belief in God? An afterlife? I believe in rock: this apodictic rock beneath my feet. ~Edward Abbey
I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people. ~Katherine Hepburn
In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners. ~Jonathon Miller
Atheism is the world of reality, it is reason, it is freedom.... [It is] bed-rock of sanity in a world of madness. ~Emmett F. Fields, Atheism: An Affirmative View
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences. ~Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Reasons Why, 1896
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. ~John Buchan, 1875-1940
An Atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An Atheist knows that heaven is something for which we should work now - here on earth - for all men together to enjoy. An Atheist thinks that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue, and enjoy it. An Atheist thinks that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment. Therefore, he seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist knows that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He knows that we cannot rely on a god nor channel action into prayer nor hope for an end to troubles in the hereafter. He knows that we are our brother's keeper and keepers of our lives; that we are responsible persons, that the job is here and the time is now. ~Madalyn Murray (later O'Hair), preamble to Murray v. Curlett, 27 April 1961
With its fears and superstitions and prejudices, religion poisons the mind of any one who believes in it - and even the best man, under the influence of religion, cannot reason wholesomely. Atheism, on the contrary, opens the mind to the clean winds of truth and establishes a fresh-air sanity. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
At the age of eighteen...I read Mill's Autobiography, where I found a sentence to the effect that his father taught him that the question 'Who made me?' cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question 'Who made God?'. This led me to abandon the 'First Cause' argument, and to become an atheist. Throughout the long period of religious doubt, I had been rendered very unhappy by the gradual loss of belief, but when the process was completed, I found to my surprise that I was quite glad to be done with the whole subject. ~Bertrand Russell, Autobiography
If I wanted a loving father, a faithful husband, an honorable neighbor, and a just citizen, I would seek him among the band of Atheists. ~John Tyndall, 1874
Theism tells men that they are the slaves of a God. Atheism assures men that they are the investigators and users of nature. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Meaning Of Atheism
We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world - its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it. Conquer the world by intelligence and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it. ~Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian
Spirit Sans Nonsense
My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God. ~Albert Einstein
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. ~Thomas Paine
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings. Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. ~Pearl S. Buck
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma. ~Abraham Lincoln
To crush out fanaticism and revere the infinite, such is the law. Let us not confine ourselves to falling prostrate beneath the tree of creation and contemplating its vast ramifications full of stars. We have a duty to perform, to cultivate the human soul, to defend mystery against miracle, to adore the incomprehensible and to reject the absurd; to admit nothing that is inexplicable excepting what is necessary, to purify faith and obliterate superstition from the face of religion, to remove the vermin from the garden of God. ~Victor Hugo
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so! To my own Gods I go. It may be they shall give me greater ease than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities. ~Rudyard Kipling, 1888
Morality & Behavior
There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist. ~G.C. Lichtenberg, 1742-1799, German physicist and philosopher
I refuse to be labeled immoral merely because I am godless. ~Peter Walker
You're damn right we need a rational code of morality and ethics. But not much progress can be made in that direction while we've still got a majority ranting about gods, devils, souls, and absolute morality, and using an ancient book written by ignorant nomads as a guide. ~Doug Graham
There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave. ~Louis Kronenberger, The Spirit Of The Age Company Manners, 1954
The church to-day is a hospital for sick dogmas. Every Christian doctrine is a cripple; not one can walk or stand alone. Orthodoxy has put a false valuation on things. It calls a man good who goes to church, offers a prayer in public and accepts the Bible as the word of God; it calls a man bad who stays at home and enjoys himself with his family on Sunday, who eats without asking God to bless his food, and who does not expect to go to heaven on the vicarious railroad. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. ~Albert Einstein
I believe that at every level of society - familial, tribal, national and international - the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. ~Tenzin Gyatso, XIVth Dalai Lama
The first thing to get clear about Christian morality between man and man is that in this department Christ did not come to teach any brand new morality. The Golden Rule of the New Testament (Do as you would be done by) is a summing up of what everyone, at bottom, had always known to be right. ~C.S. Lewis
The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action. ~Albert Einstein
The influences that have lifted the race to a higher moral level are education, freedom, leisure, the humanizing tendency of a better-supplied and more interesting life. In a word, science and liberalism - the two forces, fundamentally skeptical, that we have seen continuously at work in human progress - have accomplished the very things for which religion claims the credit. ~E. Haldeman-Julius, The Outline of Bunk
When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out. ~Frank Sinatra
The noble soul has reverence for itself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
None of us can boast about the morality of our ancestors. The records do not show that Adam and Eve were married. ~Ed Howe
Religion is no more the parent of morality than an incubator is the mother of a chicken. ~Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays
In every age immorality has found no less support in religion than morality has. If the achievements of religion in respect to man's happiness, susceptibility to culture and moral control are no better than this, the question cannot but arise whether we are not overrating its necessity for mankind, and whether we do wisely in basing our cultural demands upon it. ~Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason. ~Mary Wollstonecraft
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time. ~H.L. Mencken
Convicts register their religious affiliation when they're processed into prison. And about 99.5% of the huge U.S.A. prison population consists of inmates who identified themselves as members of religious denominations. ~Gene M. Kasmar
I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. ~Bertrand Russell
Moral: a peerless maxim enumerated by God in his Holy Bible, such as that of Deut. 23:1, if your testicles are crushed or your male member missing, you must never enter a sanctuary of the Lord. ~Rev. Donald Morgan, Atheologian
Most studies show that conventional religion is not an effective force for moral behavior or against criminal activity. ~Bernard Spilka, Ralph Hood, and Richard Gorsuch, The Psychology of Religion
Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful - just stupid.) ~Robert A. Heinlein
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. ~James Thurber
A Christian is a man who feels repentance on Sunday for what he did on Saturday, and what he is going to do on Monday. ~Thomas Ybarra
St. Augustine found lying among the clergy so prevalent that he wrote two books (De Mendacio in 395 A.D. and Contra Mendacium in 420 A.D.), urging that it stop. ~Gordon Stein, A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. ~Francis Bacon
Without a doubt the greatest injury of all was done by basing morals on myth. For, sooner or later, myth is recognized for what it is, and disappears. Then morality loses the foundation on which it has been built. ~Lord Samuel
Gilles de Rais supposedly sodomized, mutilated, and murdered more than 700 children. At his trial he told of his usual procedure of sexually assaulting boys, cutting open their chests and burying his face in their lungs, and opening their abdomens and handling their intestines. He also confessed to necrophilia with the dismembered bodies and to attempted intercourse with a fetus he cut out of a pregnant woman. At his trial de Rais repented, and the bishop of Nantes was forced to receive him back into the church. ~Bodies Under Siege
No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine. ~A.J. Ayer, Essay On Humanism
Where's the Christ in Christian?
Christendom has done away with Christianity without being quite aware of it. ~Soren Kierkegaard, Time, 16 December 1946
Christianity is not a religion; it's an industry. ~Unknown
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments. ~Benjamin Franklin
The religious part of Easter is treated with solemnity, even the resurrection, but the secular part is pure paganism with all the heartiness drained out of it. Easter needs its Dickens. ~Samuel Marchbank's Almanac
One would like to believe that people who think of themselves as devout Christians would also behave in a manner that is in according with Christian ethics. But pastorally and existentially, I know that this is not the case - and never has been. ~John Neuhaus, 1993
Organized Christianity has probably done more to retard the ideals that were its founders' than any other agency in the world. ~Richard Le Gallienne
If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be - a Christian. ~Mark Twain, Notebook
What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow in his footsteps? ~Unknown
To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. ~Elwyn Brooks White
Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it. ~C.C. Colton
And all the good you've done will soon be swept away,
You've begun to matter more than the things you say.
~Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jesus Christ Superstar
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ~Mahatma Gandhi
Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it. ~George Bernard Shaw
But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
The last Christian died on the cross. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Their Own Worst Enemies - Absurd Quotes
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God. ~George Bush
To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. ~Cardinal Bellarmino 1615, during the trial of Galileo
To affirm that the Sun...is at the centre of the universe and only rotates on its axis without going from east to west, is a very dangerous attitude and one calculated not only to arouse all Scholastic philosophers and theologians but also to injure our holy faith by contradicting the Scriptures. ~Cardinal Bellarmino, 17th Century Church Master Collegio Romano, who imprisoned and tortured Galileo for his astronomical works
If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it. ~William Jennings Bryan
There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral. ~Reverend Alexander Campbell
I feel most ministers who claim they've heard God's voice are eating too much pizza before they go to bed at night, and it's really an intestinal disorder, not a revelation. ~Rev. Jerry Falwell
I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work. ~Adolph Hitler, 1936
The equal toleration of all religions...is the same as atheism. ~Pope Leo XIII, "Imortale Dei"
Heaven and earth, centre and circumference, were created together, in the same instant, and clouds full of water...this work took place and man was created by the Trinity on the twenty-third of October, 4004 B.C., at nine o'clock in the morning. ~John Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1859
If I had to baptise a Jew, I would take him to the bridge of the Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words "I baptise thee in the name of Abraham." ~Martin Luther, quoted in Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor by Peter F. Wiener, 1985
The Catholic textbooks go so far as to state that oaths of office taken by the President, Congressmen, Governor, judge, etc. if the person be a Catholic must be taken with the mental restriction that his upholding of the Constitution and laws is subject to their non-conflict with the laws of the Catholic Church. ~Emmet McLoughlins, American Culture and Catholic Schools
[As for evolution]...cutting out the sections [on the subject] is preferable if the portions are not thick enough to cause damage to the spine of the book as it is opened and closed in normal use. When the sections needing correction are too thick, paste the pages together being careful not to smear portions of the book not intended for correction. ~R.E. Martin, American creationist, in "Reviewing and Correcting Encyclopaedias" (1983: 205-7), instructing followers to censor books that don't follow creation dogma
When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted its data. ~Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research
The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God. ~Boy Scouts of America, statement on membership form
The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship. ~Boy Scouts of America policy, 1970
This monkey mythology of Darwin is the cause of permissiveness, promiscuity, prophylactics, perversions, pregnancies, abortions, pornography, pollution, poisoning and proliferation of crimes of all types. ~Judge Braswell Dean, quoted in Time, March 1981
No man has the right to have his own religion. ~Bishop Hughes, Official Journal of Bishops, 26 January 1852
Use against heretics the spiritual sword of excommunication, and if this does not prove effective, use the material sword. ~Pope Innocent III, 1161-1216
The only Bible-honoring conclusion is, of course, that Genesis 1:11 is actual historical truth, regardless of any scientific or chronological problems thereby entailed. ~Dr. Henry Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research, 1972
We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides. ~Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits], Exercitia spiritualia, 1541
Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man...keep alive for yourselves. ~Moses, relaying God's orders to his people, Numbers 31:17-18
And whereas it has also come to the knowledge of the said Congregation that the Pythagorean doctrine - which is false and altogether opposed to the Holy Scripture - of the motion of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, which is also taught by Nicolaus Copernicus in De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium, and by Diego de Zuiga On Job, is now being spread abroad and accepted by many.... Therefore, in order that this opinion may not insinuate itself any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth, the Holy Congregation has decreed that the said Nicolaus Copernicus, De Revolutionibus orbium, and Diego de Zuiga, On Job, be suspended until they are corrected. ~Decree of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Index condemning De Revolutionibus, 5 March 1616
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. ~Jerry Falwell
The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example. ~Reverend R. Furman, D.D., Baptist, of South Carolina
Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood.... Vaccination never saved human life. It does not prevent smallpox. ~The Golden Age, (predecessor to Awake!), 4 February 1931 (Jehovah's Witnesses)
When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell "Stop!" to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind. Then recite a portion of the Bible or sing a hymn. ~Mormon Guide to Self-Control
I was feeling sorry for you and thinking I was doing my Christian duty by making love to you. ~Republican Bob Packwood, quoted from his diary, speaking to someone other than his wife
The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 30 December 1981
I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss. ~Pat Robertson
You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 14 January 1991
They have kept us in submission because they have talked about separation of church and state. There is no such thing in the Constitution. It's a lie of the left, and we're not going to take it anymore. ~Pat Robertson, 1993
When I said during my presidential bid that I would only bring Christians and Jews into the government, I hit a firestorm. "What do you mean?" the media challenged me. "You're not going to bring atheists into the government? How dare you maintain that those who believe in the Judeo-Christian values are better qualified to govern America than Hindus and Muslims?" My simple answer is, "Yes, they are." ~Pat Robertson, The New World Order
Any violence which does not spring from a spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only rest in a fanatical outlook. ~Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
We Catholics may lie and say we are Protestants when we are among the Protestants or we may lie when we are among the Huguenots and say we are Huguenots; and if we wish we can stoop so low as to say we are Jews when we are among the Jews if our lying would benefit the Catholic Church. ~Jesuit oath from the Congressional Record
It is high time that scholars of all godly religions united to confront the forces of immorality in the present day under various names such as secularism, human rights, freedom of speech. ~Tehran's Kayhan International newspaper urging cooperation with the Vatican in opposing the U.N. population control document
Priestesses should be burnt at the stake because they are assuming powers they have no right to. In the medieval world that was called sorcery. The way of dealing with sorcerers was to burn them at the stake. It's illegal now but if I had my way that is what would happen to them. In medieval times, I would burn the bloody bitches. ~Church of England vicar Rev. Anthony Kennedy, 9 March 1994 as reported in the Times, regarding female Church of England priests
Reason should be destroyed in all Christians. ~Martin Luther
Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his Reason. ~Martin Luther
But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly. For our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our conscience is encumbered with it before God. ~Martin Luther, On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543
Evolution is the root of atheism, of communism, nazism, behaviorism, racism, economic imperialism, militarism, libertinism, anarchism, and all manner of anti-Christian systems of belief and practice. ~H.M. Morris, The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, 1972
The only way we can determine the true age of the earth is for God to tell us what it is. And since He has told us, very plainly, in the Holy Scriptures that it is several thousand years in age, and no more, that ought to settle all basic questions of terrestrial chronology. ~Henry Morris, Institute for Creation Research President, 1974
People who are bitter and hateful about slavery are obviously bitter and hateful against God and his word, because they reject what God says and embrace what mere humans say concerning slavery. This humanistic thinking is what the abolitionists embraced. ~Alabama State Senator Charles Davidson, citing biblical defenses of slavery, 1996
Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest. ~Jimmy Swaggart, TV preacher, self-described pornography addict who paid prostitutes to commit "pornographic acts"
In the end all your knees will bow to Jesus Christ whether you want to or not. ~Kevin Tebedo, Director of Colorado for Family Values to an audience composed of various religions (Citizens Project Newsletter, August 1993)
At a recent Praise The Lord convention, the hotel reported that over 80% of the conventionites watched at least one X-rated movie on the hotel's pay-per-view cable. ~Unknown
The so-called geologic ages are essentially synonymous with the evolutionary theory of origins. The latter is the anti-God conspiracy of Satan himself. ~Dr. Henry Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research, 1978
Why can't the Jews and Arabs just sit down together and settle this like good Christians? ~Overheard in Congressional debate
Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the 'prophets, seers, and revelators' of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy. Lucifer...wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and to 'do their own thinking'.... When our leaders speak, the thinking had been done. When they propose a plan - it is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. ~Mormon Elder Boyd K. Packer, The Improvement Era, 1945
It was once proposed that all religious persuasions should be free and their worship publicly exercised. We Catholics have rejected this article as contrary to Roman Catholic canon law. ~Pope Pius VII, 1808
The state (the U.S. Constitution) has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he may desire. ~Pope Pius IX
The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations but also all of human thought. ~J. Gresham Machen
Let Catholic writers take care when defending the cause of the proletariat and the poor not to use language calculated to inspire among the people aversion to the upper classes of society. ~Pope Pius X, letter to the bishops of Italy, 18 December 1903
I honestly believe that in my lifetime we will see a country once again governed by Christians...and Christian values. What Christians have got to do is take back this country, one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one state at a time. ~Ralph Reed, Executive Director of the Christian Coalition
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. That danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man to the bonds of Hell. ~St. Augustine
Incest is a voluntary act on the woman's part. ~Charles Rice, Professor of Law, Notre Dame University, in a pamphlet published by the American Life League
I think the sky is blue because it's a shift from black through purple to blue, and it has to do with where the light is. You know, the farther we get into darkness, and there's a shifting of color of light into the blueness, and I think as you go farther and farther away from the reflected light we have from the sun or the light that's bouncing off this earth, uh, the darker it gets.... I think if you look at the color scale, you start at black, move it through purple, move it on out, it's the shifting of color. We mentioned before about the stars singing, and that's one of the effects of the shifting of colors. ~Pat Robertson, 700 Club
That [separation of church and state] was never in the Constitution, however much the liberals laugh at me for saying it, they know good and well it was never in the Constitution! Such language only appeared in the constitution of the communist Soviet Union. ~Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, 22 January 1995
The wars of extermination have given a lot of people trouble unless they know what was going on. The people in the land of Palestine were very wicked. They were given over to idolatry; they sacrificed their children; they had all kinds of abominable sex practices; they were having sex, apparently, with animals; they were having sex men with men, and women with women; they were committing adultery, fornication; they were worshipping idols, offering their children up; and they were forsaking God. God told the Israelites to kill them all - men, women and children, to destroy them. And that seems to be a terrible thing to do. Is it? Or isn't it? Well, let us assume there were 2,000 of them, or 10,000 of them living in the land, or whatever number there was of them. I don't have the exact number. Pick a number. God said, 'Kill them all.' Well, that would seem hard, wouldn't it? That would be 10,000 people who would probably go to Hell. But, if they stayed and reproduced, in 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 100 more years, they could conceivably be - 10,000 would go to a 100,000 - 100,000 could conceivably go to a million. And then, there would be a million people who would have to spend eternity in Hell! And it's far more merciful to take away a few than to see in the future a 100 years down the road, and say, 'Well, I have to take away a million people that would forever be apart from God,' because the abomination was there like a contagium. God saw that there was no cure for it. It wasn't going to change; their hearts weren't going to change; and all they would do is cause trouble for the Israelites, and pull the Israelites away from God, and prevent the truth of God from reaching the Earth. So, God, in love, took away a small number that he might not have to take away a large number. ~Pat Robertson, rationalizing genocide committed by the early Israelites, The 700 Club, 6 May 1985
These are actually chunks of lung itself being coughed up. I don't understand exactly what it is, but God has healed you right now. Amen. ~Pat Robertson, during a "faith healing" session
The New York Times reports that evangelist Pat Robertson, who will announce in two weeks whether he will run for the presidency, claims he can pray away bad weather. Robertson said in a recent interview that his prayers to keep Hurricane Gloria away from Virginia Beach last June had been successful, which was 'extremely important because I felt, interestingly enough, that if I couldn't move a hurricane, I could hardly move a nation.' Robertson said that if the hurricane had come ashore, he would have seen it as a sign from above to abandon his presidential ambitions. ~Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 September 1986
Television preacher Pat Robertson, who plans to officially announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next month, said he would not tolerate atheists in his administration, Time magazine reported yesterday. Although Robertson firmly denied a quote attributed to him that only born-again Christians and Jews should hold government jobs, he told Time that nonbelievers would have no place in his administration if he were elected. ~San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 1987 (UPI)
Rescue teams battled yesterday to answer the desperate screams of mud-caked survivors of a volcano that killed as many as 20,000 people. A man stood buried up to his neck by mud and water, his legs pinned down by a body four feet below the surface. Another man, his foot crushed by rubble, lay for more than 24 hours on top of the bodies of his three children - but he survived along with his pregnant wife. "It was a miracle," Jose Martinez, a 49-year-old truck driver, said from his hospital bed in Bogota. "For those of us who survived, it was a miracle." ~San Francisco Chronicle, 16 November 1985 (Reuters)
President Bush, saying faith has fostered democratic change around the world, told the National Religious Broadcasters yesterday that "one cannot be America's president without a belief in God." ~San Francisco Chronicle, 30 January 1990 (UPI)
Couples who are not childless by choice are of course not culpable. But something is wrong if a couple refuses to have children without a very good reason. ~Bishop Santer, addressing the Birmingham [England] Diocesan Synod, Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1995
Freedom of the press is one of the greatest evils threatening modern society. Freedom of the press was universally one of the most pernicious of the evils of the day. ~Cardinal Pedro Segura, NY Herald Tribune, 5 December 1952
His heart shall be torn from his living bosom and thrown in his face, after which his head is to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple in his native village. His body is to be cut into four pieces and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the City of Alkamaar. ~Diedrich Sonoy, Lutheran governor in Holland, on the Catholic Nanning Koppezoon, who was tortured for refusing to convert
The man who has the hardihood to avow that he does not believe in a God, shows a recklessness of moral character and utter want of moral responsibility, such as very little entitles him to be heard or believed in a court of justice in a country designated as Christian. ~Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1871
Whatsoever person or persons withing this Province...shall from henceforth blaspheme God...or shall deny our Saviour Jesus to be the Sonne of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead...shall be punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands. ~Maryland's "Tolerance Act," 1649, often hailed as the first law for religious "freedom" in the colonies
It is your God-given right to destroy any man or woman calling themselves doctors who willingly slaughter innocent children. ~Keith Tucci, Executive Director, Operation Rescue
I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to hold the slave in bondage. ~Reverend Thomas Witherspoon, Presbyterian, of Alabama
A Roman Catholic priest and theologian has called on his church to consider the possibility of evangelizing extraterrestrials, according to published reports. After two Swiss astronomers said they had discovered the first planet in a solar system similar to Earth's, Piero Coda, a theology professor in Rome, said any beings living on the planet would be in need of salvation. ~Associated Baptist Press article, as quoted Jennifer Graham, Knight-Ridder Newspaper, in "Mork from Ork is Going to Hell? Some Scholars Say Extraterrestrials Would Be Tainted by Original Sin."
Technological "Progress"
All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark KennedyInventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's DictionaryModern technologyOwes ecologyAn apology.~Alan M. EddisonMen have become the tools of their tools. ~Henry David ThoreauIt has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert EinsteinOne machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ~Elbert HubbardFor a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. ~Richard P. FeynmanIf it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. ~Frank Lloyd WrightSoon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation. ~Jean ArpTechnological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
Technology...the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max FrischWestern society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences. ~Lewis MumfordGod never made His work for man to mend. ~John DrydenTechnology...is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971Don't get smart alecksyWith the galaxyLeave the atom alone.~E.Y. Harburg, "Leave the Atom Alone," 1957The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology. ~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday. ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970
Television
All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? ~Nicholas JohnsonTelevision has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. ~Ann LandersI find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho MarxWe cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores. When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos? Parents, don't make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ~George BushIf you came and you found a strange man...teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it. ~Jerome SingerTelevision is a medium because anything well done is rare. ~Fred AllenTelevision has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. ~Laurence J. PeterTV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~UnknownI wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work. ~Unknown
Advertising
What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. ~Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease. ~UnknownIt is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. ~R. SerlingAdvertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ~Stephen Butler Leacock, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance. ~Marshall McLuhan, introduction to Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America, 1974As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise. ~George Will, quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American QuotationsAdvertisers in general bear a large part of the responsibility for the deep feelings of inadequacy that drive women to psychiatrists, pills, or the bottle. ~Marya Mannes, But Will It Sell?, 1964Our society's values are being corrupted by advertising's insistence on the equation: Youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, success equals happiness. ~John Fisher, The Plot to Make You Buy, 1968
Property
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. ~Adam Smith, Wealth of NationsProperty is organized robbery. ~George Bernard ShawThe first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, "This is mine" and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race had been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: "Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one." ~Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1755
America & Patriotism
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. ~Bill VaughanHeroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! ~Albert EinsteinPatriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. ~Bertrand RussellIllegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. ~Robert OrbenAmerica's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. ~Bobcat GoldthwaiteWhen asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours." ~Vine Deloria, Jr.If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it. ~Norman ThomasTaxation with representation ain't so hot either. ~Gerald BarzanWhat a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it. ~Margot AsquithWhat the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds. ~Will RogersPatriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. ~George Jean NathanPatriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~George Bernard ShawThe love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~Pablo CasalsIt is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llahI pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora, fauna and human life that it supports, one planet indivisible, with safe air, water & soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace for all. ~Proposed new Pledge of Allegiance, as seen on a buttonThe taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. ~Ronald ReaganIf you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~UnknownVery little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it. ~Eric NicolAmerica is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. ~Georges ClemenceauIn America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. ~Peter Alexander UstinovRachel: The pilgrims came here to escape persecution from the British.Elizabeth: Yes, so they could go about persecuting the Indians.~ER, "Great Expectations"America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~Laurence J. PeterWe Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin HarrisonThere is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~William J. ClintonThe trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. ~Charles LuckmanWhat the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. ~From the movie Tommy BoyAmericans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. ~Alexis de TocquevilleAmerica is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there. ~Laurence J. PeterI bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father." ~Will RogersAmerica...just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. ~Hunter S. ThompsonAny American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore VidalI just don't know why they're shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "O.R."
Politics & U.S. Government
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard ArmourWhen buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. ~P.J. O'RourkeGovernments should not possess instruments of coercion and violence denied to their citizens. ~Edgar A. SuterWe live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy. ~Martin L. Gross, A Call for Revolution, 1993If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. ~Will RogersBad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean NathanThere are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de TocquevilleWe would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" HubbardWhen there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya CohenAll of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert EinsteinWhat is conservatism? Is it not the adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried? ~Abraham LincolnI think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidateThe way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford, in Anne Chisholm, Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists, 1972The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow WilsonDemocracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ~Robert ByrneA liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future. ~Leonard Bernstein, The New York Times, 30 October 1988A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. ~Robert FrostTake our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches the first prize. ~Saul BellowIn order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. ~Charles de GaulleIt might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~UnknownThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston ChurchillThose who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~PlatoUnder democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. ~Nikita KhruschevThe nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose. ~William SimonLiberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear. ~William E. Gladstone, 1866When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence DarrowGeorge Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~UnknownTruth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug GwynIf people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin ThroopThe modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~John Kenneth GalbraithDemocracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ~James Russell LowellA conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio speech, 26 October 1939Democracy: The substitution of election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ~George Bernard ShawMan will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ~Denis DiderotIn the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. AugustinePoliticians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John QuintonDemocracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin LichtenbergGiving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'RourkeIf all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard ShawNo man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham LincolnOur government...teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~Justice Louis Dembitz BrandeisA government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry GoldwaterA conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. ~Leo RostenThe Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'RourkeMany forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. ~Winston ChurchillConservative, n.: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. ~Ambrose BierceDemocracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think. ~UnknownA conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time. ~Alfred E. WiggamLiberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, New York Times, 8 October 1989Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~UnknownThe idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process. ~Adlai StevensonEvery two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles KrauthammerThe cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone. ~Robert L. HeilbronerMajority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. ~Larry FlyntHe didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlandsThe problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VIIPolitics, n.: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry HardimanIf voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma GoldmanChristmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard LammAncient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ~Will RogersOhio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. ~Will RogersIf you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National. ~George WillOne ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. ~Theodore Forstmann
Technological "Progress"
All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark Kennedy
Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison
Men have become the tools of their tools. ~Henry David Thoreau
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert Einstein
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. ~Elbert Hubbard
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. ~Richard P. Feynman
If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation. ~Jean Arp
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max Frisch
Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences. ~Lewis Mumford
God never made His work for man to mend. ~John Dryden
Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971
Don't get smart alecksy
With the galaxy
Leave the atom alone.
~E.Y. Harburg, "Leave the Atom Alone," 1957
The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology. ~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973
The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday. ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970
Television
All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? ~Nicholas Johnson
Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. ~Ann Landers
I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx
We cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores. When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos? Parents, don't make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ~George Bush
If you came and you found a strange man... teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it. ~Jerome Singer
Television is a medium because anything well done is rare. ~Fred Allen
Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. ~Laurence J. Peter
TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Unknown
I wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work. ~Unknown
Advertising
What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. ~Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1964
Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease. ~Unknown
It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. ~R. Serling
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ~Stephen Butler Leacock, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982
Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance. ~Marshall McLuhan, introduction to Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America, 1974
As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise. ~George Will, quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations
Advertisers in general bear a large part of the responsibility for the deep feelings of inadequacy that drive women to psychiatrists, pills, or the bottle. ~Marya Mannes, But Will It Sell?, 1964
Our society's values are being corrupted by advertising's insistence on the equation: Youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, success equals happiness. ~John Fisher, The Plot to Make You Buy, 1968
Property
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. ~Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
Property is organized robbery. ~George Bernard Shaw
The first man who, having fenced off a plot of land, thought of saying, "This is mine" and found people simple enough to believe him was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors might the human race had been spared by the one who, upon pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had shouted to his fellow men: "Beware of listening to this imposter; you are lost if you forget the fruits of the earth belong to all and that the earth belongs to no one." ~Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1755
America & Patriotism
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. ~Bill Vaughan
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! ~Albert Einstein
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. ~Bertrand Russell
Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. ~Robert Orben
America's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. ~Bobcat Goldthwaite
When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours." ~Vine Deloria, Jr.
If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag; wash it. ~Norman Thomas
Taxation with representation ain't so hot either. ~Gerald Barzan
What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it. ~Margot Asquith
What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds. ~Will Rogers
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. ~George Jean Nathan
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~George Bernard Shaw
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? ~Pablo Casals
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah
I pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora, fauna and human life that it supports, one planet indivisible, with safe air, water & soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace for all. ~Proposed new Pledge of Allegiance, as seen on a button
The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. ~Ronald Reagan
If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~Unknown
Very little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it. ~Eric Nicol
America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. ~Georges Clemenceau
In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. ~Peter Alexander Ustinov
Rachel: The pilgrims came here to escape persecution from the British.
Elizabeth: Yes, so they could go about persecuting the Indians.
~ER, "Great Expectations"
America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~Laurence J. Peter
We Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin Harrison
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~William J. Clinton
The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. ~Charles Luckman
What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. ~From the movie Tommy Boy
Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. ~Alexis de Tocqueville
America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there. ~Laurence J. Peter
I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father." ~Will Rogers
America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. ~Hunter S. Thompson
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal
I just don't know why they're shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "O.R."
Politics & U.S. Government
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Governments should not possess instruments of coercion and violence denied to their citizens. ~Edgar A. Suter
We live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy. ~Martin L. Gross, A Call for Revolution, 1993
If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. ~Will Rogers
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean Nathan
There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville
We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya Cohen
All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert Einstein
I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidate
The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford, in Anne Chisholm, Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists, 1972
The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow Wilson
Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ~Robert Byrne
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. ~Robert Frost
Take our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches the first prize. ~Saul Bellow
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. ~Charles de Gaulle
It might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~Unknown
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956
The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose. ~William Simon
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow
George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Unknown
Truth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug Gwyn
If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin Throop
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ~James Russell Lowell
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio speech, 26 October 1939
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ~Denis Diderot
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. Augustine
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton
Democracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin Lichtenberg
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'Rourke
If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard Shaw
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham Lincoln
Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry Goldwater
A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. ~Leo Rosten
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. ~Winston Churchill
Conservative, n.: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. ~Ambrose Bierce
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think. ~Unknown
Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~Unknown
The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process. ~Adlai Stevenson
Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer
Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. ~Larry Flynt
He didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands
The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII
Politics, n.: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma Goldman
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ~Will Rogers
Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. ~Will Rogers
If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National. ~George Will
One ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. ~Theodore Forstmann
Vegetarianism
A vegetarian is a person who won't eat anything that can have children. ~David BrennerHow can you eat anything with eyes? ~Will KelloggTruely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ~Leonardo da VinciIf slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartneyThe beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital. ~Neal Barnard, M.D.I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals. ~Henry David ThoreauI venture to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity of discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly painful and revolting, that if they could obtain a flesh diet on no other condition, they would relinquish it forever. ~W.E.H. LeckyAnimals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends. ~George Bernard ShawYou put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car. ~Harvey DiamondThe human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk. ~Michael Klaper, M.D., author of Vegan Nutrition: Pure & SimpleYou have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonI did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerPoor animals! How jealously they guard their pathetic bodies...that which to us is merely an evening's meal, but to them is life itself. ~T. Casey BrennanWhile we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? ~George Bernard ShawDear Lord, I've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us... a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird... a social being... capable of actual affection... nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family. ~Berke Breathed, Bloom Country BabylonMan is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. ~Samuel ButlerIf you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch. ~k.d. langRecognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal. ~Ingrid Newkirk, National Director of People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsNothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own. ~Robert Louis StevensonA man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. ~Leo TolstoyI just could not stand the idea of eating meat - I really do think that it has made me calmer.... People's general awareness is getting much better, even down to buying a pint of milk: the fact that the calves are actually killed so that the milk doesn't go to them but to us cannot really be right, and if you have seen a cow in a state of extreme distress because it cannot understand why its calf isn't by, it can make you think a lot. ~Kate BushI think if you want to eat more meat you should kill it yourself and eat it raw so that you are not blinded by the hypocrisy of having it processed for you. ~Margi ClarkThis [video footage from the movie Babe] is the way Americans want to think of pigs. Real-life "Babes" see no sun in their limited lives, with no hay to lie on, no mud to roll in. The sows live in tiny cages, so narrow they can't even turn around. They live over metal grates, and their waste is pushed through slats beneath them and flushed into huge pits. ~Morley Safer, "Pork Power," 60 Minutes, 19 September 1997"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai. ~Leo TolstoyAs soon as I realized that I didn't need meat to survive or to be in good health, I began to see how forlorn it all is. If only we had a different mentality about the drama of the cowboy and the range and all the rest of it. It's a very romantic notion, an entrenched part of American culture, but I've seen, for example, pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and their hysteria and panic was something I shall never forget. ~Cloris LeachmanWe manage to swallow flesh only because we do not think of the cruel and sinful thing that we do. Cruelty...is a fundamental sin, and admits of no arguments or nice distinctions. If only we do not allow our heart to grow callous, it protests against cruelty, is always clearly heard; and yet we go on perpetrating cruelties easily, merrily, all of us - in fact, anyone who does not join in is dubbed a crank. ~Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize 1913Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? ~PlutarchOne farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle. ~Henry David ThoreauIt is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation, that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion; and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust. ~Percy Bysshe ShelleyTo my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. ~Mahatma GandhiMy situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures. ~George Bernard ShawWe don't need to eat anyone who would run, swim, or fly away if he could. ~James CromwellVegetarianism is harmless enough, though it's apt to give a person wind and self-righteousness. ~Robert HutchinsonHeart attacks...God's revenge for eating his little animal friends. ~UnknownNothing spoils lunch any quicker than a rogue meatball rampaging through your spaghetti. ~Jim DavisTongue - a variety of meat, rarely served because it clearly crosses the line between a cut of beef and a piece of a dead cow. ~Bob EkstromPigs may not be as cuddly as kittens or puppies, but they suffer just as much. ~James CromwellA veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: "Cattle dragged and choked...knocking 'em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they're stunned they come back to life, and they're up there agonizing. They're supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren't and they'll go through the skinning process alive. I've worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They're all the same. If people were to see this, they'd probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house everybody gets so used to it that it doesn't mean anything." ~Slaughterhouse 1997According to the Environmental Protection Agency, factory farming pollutes U.S. waterways more than all industrial sources combined. ~PETAWhy does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God. I could be eating a slow learner. ~Lynda MontgomeryThink of me toniteFor that which you savorDid it give you something real,or could you taste the pain of my death in its flavor?~Wayne K. Tolson, from "Food Forethought"Animal Rights & Compassion
Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. ~Charles R. MagelThe assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality. ~SchopenhauerNon-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~Thomas A. EdisonThe question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy BenthamGod loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. ~Jacques Dreview, Afin de vivre bel et bienThe human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret.... It has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. ~Albert SchweitzerI care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. ~Abraham LincolnNo one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. ~UnknownCruelty is one fashion statement we can all do without. ~Rue McClanahanDrinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons, madam: that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals. ~Pierre-Augustin de BeaumarchaisThe squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest. ~Henry David ThoreauWe have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun. ~P.G. WodehouseI ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. ~Ellen DeGeneresThe fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot. ~Mark Twain, What Is Man?Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote. ~Paul HarveySupport the right to arm bears. ~Bumper stickerWild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. ~James Anthony FroudeHunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game. ~Paul RodriguezWhen a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of god we call him a sportsman. ~Joseph Wood KrutchThe animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men. ~Alice WalkerTo a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime. ~Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize 1915As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerMan is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. ~George Orwell, Animal FarmLife is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage. ~Sri AurobindoWhen I was twelve, I went hunting with my father and we shot a bird. He was laying there and something struck me. Why do we call this fun to kill this creature [who] was as happy as I was when I woke up this morning. ~Marv LevyThose who wish to pet and baby wild animals "love" them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more. ~Edwin Way Teale, Circle of the Seasons, 1953Cockfighting was illegal in Oklahoma until 1963, when a judge ruled that chickens are not animals and therefore unprotected by anticruelty laws. ~U.S. News & World Report, 6 December 1999It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions. ~Mark TwainEvery year tens of thousands of animals suffer and die in laboratory tests of cosmetics and household products...despite the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat accidental or purposeful misuse of the products. Please join me in using your voice for those whose cries are forever sealed behind the laboratory doors. ~Woody HarrelsonMichael W. Fox, vice-president of the Humane Society, said that, "to call an animal with whom you share your life a 'pet,' is reminiscent of men's magazines where you (a figure of speech, don't take it personally) have the Pet of the Month." It is supposed that the continued use of the word "pet" to designate dogs or cats threatens to reduce their level of respect to the current status of twentieth century North American women. Now that's radical. ~The McGill Red HerringVery little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come. ~Albert SchweitzerBecause the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account? ~Jean Paul RichterIn an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics. ~Pete SingerAnimals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished "shooting," my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans. ~Jimmy StewartGet a feel for fur: Slam your fingers in a car door. ~Anonymous, on the use of steel traps to capture fur-bearing animals, cited in Audubon, November 1990Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing it is not is a sport. Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal circumstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are endowed with human intelligence and given 12-gauge shotguns. Bet we'd see a lot fewer drunk yahoos (live ones, anyway) in the woods if that happened. ~R. Lerner, letter, Sierra, March-April 1991People must have renounced, it seems to me, all natural intelligence to dare to advance that animals are but animated machines.... It appears to me, besides, that [such people] can never have observed with attention the character of animals, not to have distinguished among them the different voices of need, of suffering, of joy, of pain, of love, of anger, and of all their affections. It would be very strange that they should express so well what they could not feel. ~Voltaire, Trate sur la toleranceHeaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made [man] is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one...that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~Mark TwainVivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character. ~George Bernard ShawI am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't.... The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further. ~Mark TwainIf we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons. ~C.S. LewisWhen it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. ~Ingrid NewkirkThe basis of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule: we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species in our dominant position. ~Christine StevensZoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all. ~Michael Fox, Sierra, November-December 1990There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties.... The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man. We have seen that the senses and intuitions, the various emotions and faculties, such as love, memory, attention and curiosity, imitation, reason, etc., of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or even sometimes a well-developed condition, in the lower animals. ~Charles DarwinThe indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit. All education should be directed toward the refinement of the individual's sensibilities in relation not only to one's fellow humans everywhere, but to all things whatsoever. In the societies of the Western world compassionate intelligence is encouraged in girls - in boys it is tabu. The tabu on tenderness in which boys are conditioned, the emphasis on "manliness," "machoism," plays havoc with the male's capacity for compassionate intelligence. Tenderness is considered to be feminine, and that is sufficient to remove it from the repertoire of masculine behavior. Indeed, things have reached such a pass in the Western world that many men seem to have lost all understanding of its meaning. The masculine world would substitute for it the idea of "justice." The difficulty with that is that there is not much compassion in their justice, and justice without compassion is not justice at all. ~Ashley MontagueThe animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. ~Henry Beston, The Outermost House, 1928People need to be desensitized to the suffering of others gradually. A society that teaches that the suffering of animals doesn't matter is well on its way to raising future sadists. Virtually every serial killer in America will tell you tales of a childhood spent tormenting frogs, cats, and dogs. This is no coincidence. The scale from swatting flies to knowingly eating the results of farmers who treat animals inhumanely to cold-blooded murder is a continuum with a slippery slope. How much blood is on your hands? ~Melissa SilvestreI abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence. ~Mahatma GandhiI had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months before I used one as a [heart] donor. When we put him to sleep in his cage in preparation for the operation, he chattered and cried incessantly. We attached no significance to this, but it must have made a great impression on his companion, for when we removed the body to the operating room, the other chimp wept bitterly and was inconsolable for days. The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures. ~Christian Barnard, surgeonI abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better, it should be abolished. I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not have been obtained without such barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing is evil. ~Charles Mayo, founder of the Mayo ClinicThere will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerThis tendency [to cruelty] should be watched in them [children], and if they incline to any such cruelty, they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom of tormenting and killing other animals will, by degrees, harden their hearts even towards men.... And they, who delight in the suffering and destruction of inferior creatures, will not be apt to be very compassionate or benign to those of their own kind. Children should from the beginning be brought up in an abhorrence of killing or tormenting living beings.... And indeed, I think people from their cradles should be tender to all sensible creatures.... All the entertainment and talk of History is of nothing but fighting and killing; and the honour and renown that is bestowed on conquerors, who, for the most part, are but the great butchers of mankind, further mislead youth. ~John Locke
War & Peace, Violence & Nonviolence
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. ~Bertrand RussellJoin the Army! Travel to exotic, distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people, and kill them. ~Full Metal JacketMankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. ~John F. KennedyThe direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. ~David Friedman"There are no atheists in foxholes" isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes. ~James MorrowEvery gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerWhat a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. ~Robert E. Lee, in a letter to his wife, 1864Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him. ~M*A*S*H, Colonel PotterWar would end if the dead could return. ~Stanley BaldwinOurs is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living. ~General Omar BradleyI dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?" ~Eve MerriamEveryone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals. ~Colman McCarthy, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~Voltaire, WarNations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham FlexnerWar will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. ~John F. KennedyIf it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how? ~Joan BaezI couldn't help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together. ~Ronald Reagan, 1985[John] Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war. ~Isaac AsimovThe tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst. ~Henry FosdickThere was never a good war or a bad peace. ~Benjamin FranklinMan is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out...and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" - with his mouth. ~Mark TwainIt doesn't require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won't be U.S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the senate. ~George McGovernI'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. ~George McGovernWhen the rich wage war, it's the poor who die. ~Jean-Paul SartreDraft beer; not people. ~UnknownThe release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. ~Albert EinsteinYou cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time. ~Albert EinsteinIf it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "no" to war. For one does not create a human society on mounds of corpses. ~Louis LecoinThe military don't start wars. Politicians start wars. ~William WestmorelandI have never advocated war except as a means of peace. ~Ulysses S. GrantWe are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerIn the name of peaceThey waged the warsAin't they got no shame~Nikki GiovanniNever think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~Ernest HemingwayWar makes thieves and peace hangs them. ~George HerbertYou can no more win a war that you can win an earthquake. ~Jeanette RankinSometime they'll give a war and nobody will come. ~Carl SandburgMan has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "A Declaration of Rights"To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. ~Michael ServetusThe draft is white people sending black people to fight yellow people to protect the country they stole from red people. ~Gerome Gragni and James Rado, 1967We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. ~GladstoneOlder men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. ~Herbert HooverThere is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. ~Havelock EllisWhy do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong? ~Holly NearIf they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots. ~Napoleon BonaparteIf we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war. ~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf WarThe pacifist's task today is to find a method of helping and healing which provides a revolutionary constructive substitute for war. ~Vera Brittain, 1964The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service. ~Albert EinsteinO Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it. ~Mark Twain, "The War Prayer"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~John Stewart Mill [I was very hesitant to post this quote. I disagree with war, but Mill's statement is thought-provoking nonetheless.]We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it's tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it's still valid. ~Gerard VanderhaarThe man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. ~Chinese proverbWhat broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? ~Alan PatonThere have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed. ~Gil BailieIn violence we forget who we are. ~Mary McCarthyIt is clear that the way to heal society of its violence...and lack of love is to replace the pyramid of domination with the circle of equality and respect. ~ManitonquatThus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet. ~Dave BarryI believe everybody in the world should have guns. Citizens should have bazookas and rocket launchers too. I believe that all citizens should have their weapons of choice. However, I also believe that only I should have the ammunition. Because frankly, I wouldn't trust the rest of the goobers with anything more dangerous than string. ~Scott AdamsI will not carry a gun.... I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even hari-kari if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun! ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H, "Officer of the Day"And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand. ~George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it. ~George Bernard ShawSo long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs. ~Elbert HubbardMan's destructive hand spares nothing that lives; he kills to feed himself, he kills to clothe himself, he kills to adorn himself, he kills to attack, he kills to defend himself, he kills to instruct himself, he kills to amuse himself, he kills for the sake of killing. ~Josef de MaistreNonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.Nonviolence doesn't always work - but violence never does. ~Madge Micheels-CyrusIn some cases nonviolence requires more militancy than violence. ~Cesar ChavezIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ~Mother TeresaPeace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonWhoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. ~Friedrich NietzscheEnvironment & Nature
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American proverbThere are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David ThoreauThe sun, the moon, and the stars would have disappeared long ago, had they happened to be within reach of predatory human hands. ~Havelock EllisEarth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in E.F. Schumacher, Small Is BeautifulThere's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all. ~Robert OrbenIt wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was yours. ~Greenpeace advertisement, New York Times, 25 February 1990We must not be forced to explore the universe in search of a new home because we have made the Earth inhospitable, even uninhabitable. For if we do not solve the environmental and related social problems that beset us on Earth - pollution, toxic contamination, resource depletion, prejudice, poverty, hunger - those problems will surely accompany us to other worlds. ~Donald G. Kaufman and Cecilia M. Franz, Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment, 1996The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies. ~Al GoreModern technologyOwes ecologyAn apology.~Alan M. EddisonHumankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle, 1855In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the cops. ~Paul Brooks, The Pursuit of Wilderness, 1971You said that you wanted to put us upon a reservation, to build us houses and make us medicine lodges. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. ~Ten Bears for the Comanche at The Council of Medicine Lodge Creek, 1867Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites. ~William Ruckelshaus, Business Week, 18 June 1990When a man throws an empty cigarette package from an automobile, he is liable to a fine of $50. When a man throws a billboard across a view, he is richly rewarded. ~Pat Brown, quoted in David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, 1985Worldwide practice of Conservation and the fair and continued access by all nations to the resources they need are the two indispensable foundations of continuous plenty and of permanent peace. ~Gifford PinchotMan has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth. ~Albert Schweitzer, quoted in James Brabazon, Albert SchweitzerTo live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance. ~BuddhaBecause we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us. ~Henrik TikkanenMan is a blind, witless, low brow, anthropocentric clod who inflicts lesions upon the earth. ~Ian McHargIf all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos. ~Edward O. WilsonWhy was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride possesses him: God created the gnat before thee. ~The TalmudHumanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind. ~David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the west...keeping the world in chains. If [our nation] took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts. ~Mahatma GandhiI'm not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? ~Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values.... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it. ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, July 1972Newspapers: dead trees with information smeared on them. ~Horizon, "Electronic Frontier"They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers. ~James G. Watt, quoted in Newsweek, 8 March 1982I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. ~Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, 26 August 1973The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. ~Ralph Nader, quoted in Linda Botts, ed., Loose Talk, 1980We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~Aldo LeopoldThe earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future. ~Marya Mannes, More in Anger, 1958There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet. ~Brooke Medicine EagleThe packaging for a microwavable "microwave" dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries. ~David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. ~Henry David ThoreauSo bleak is the picture...that the bulldozer and not the atomic bomb may turn out to be the most destructive invention of the 20th century. ~Philip Shabecoff, New York Times Magazine, 4 June 1978The sun is the only safe nuclear reactor, situated as it is some ninety-three million miles away. ~Stephanie Mills, ed., In Praise of Nature, 1990Dig a trench through a landfill and you will see layers of phone books like geographical strata or layers of cake.... During a recent landfill dig in Phoenix, I found newspapers dating from 1952 that looked so fresh you might read one over breakfast. ~William Rathje, The Economist, 8 September 1990Economic advance is not the same thing as human progress. ~John Clapham, A Concise Economic History of Britain, 1957And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess." ~Art Buchwald, 1970A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man. ~Arnold ToynbeeIn its broadest ecological context, economic development is the development of more intensive ways of exploiting the natural environment. ~Richard WilkinsonThe command "Be fruitful and multiply" was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two people. ~William Ralph Inge, More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, 1931The problem is no longer that with every pair of hands that comes into the world there comes a hungry stomach. Rather it is that, attached to those hands are sharp elbows. ~Paul A. Samuelson, Newsweek, 12 June 1967U.S. consumers and industry dispose of enough aluminum to rebuild the commercial air fleet every three months; enough iron and steel to continuously supply all automakers; enough glass to fill New York's World Trade Center every two weeks. ~Environmental Defense Fund advertisement, Christian Science Monitor, 1990Water flows uphill towards money. ~Anonymous, saying in the American West, quoted by Ivan Doig in Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, 1986If people in a Third World nation have no pure water for drinking, is it still all right to use First World water for swimming pools? ~Sara Ebenreck, Catholic World, July-August 1990The days a man spends fishing or spends hunting should not be deducted from the time that he's on earth. In other words, if I fish today, that should be added to the amount of time I get to live. That's the way I look at recreation. That's why I'll be a big conservation, environmental President, because I plan to fish and hunt as much as I possibly can. ~George Bush, quoted in Los Angeles Times, 30 December 1988For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death. ~Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages. ~Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, États et empires de la lune, 1656Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work. ~Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, translated by Philemon HollandA living planet is a much more complex metaphor for deity than just a bigger father with a bigger fist. If an omniscient, all-powerful Dad ignores your prayers, it's taken personally. Hear only silence long enough, and you start wondering about his power. His fairness. His very existence. But if a world mother doesn't reply, Her excuse is simple. She never claimed conceited omnipotence. She has countless others clinging to her apron strings, including myriad species unable to speak for themselves. To Her elder offspring She says - go raid the fridge. Go play outside. Go get a job. Or, better yet, lend me a hand. I have no time for idle whining. ~David BrinThe control man has secured over nature has far outrun his control over himself. ~Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, 1953To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. ~Theodore Roosevelt, seventh annual message, 3 December 1907Why do people give each other flowers? To celebrate various important occasions, they're killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? "Sweetheart, let's make up. Have this deceased squirrel." ~The Washington PostUnderstanding the laws of nature does not mean that we are immune to their operations. ~David GerroldLook at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars...and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~OshoA human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ~Albert EinsteinTill now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature. ~Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future, 1963Will urban sprawl spread so far that most people lose all touch with nature? Will the day come when the only bird a typical American child ever sees is a canary in a pet shop window? When the only wild animal he knows is a rat - glimpsed on a night drive through some city slum? When the only tree he touches is the cleverly fabricated plastic evergreen that shades his gifts on Christmas morning? ~Frank N. Ikard, North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, Houston, March 1968What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. ~Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 1964I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! ~Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,We fell them down and turn them into paper,That we may record our emptiness.~Kahlil GibranHow long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life? ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, November 1939I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899We have always had reluctance to see a tract of land which is empty of men as anything but a void. The "waste howling wilderness" of Deuteronomy is typical. The Oxford Dictionary defines wilderness as wild or uncultivated land which is occupied "only" by wild animals. Places not used by us are "wastes." Areas not occupied by us are "desolate." Could the desolation be in the soul of man? ~John A. Livingston, in Borden Spears, ed., Wilderness Canada, 1970It is imperative to maintain portions of the wilderness untouched so that a tree will rot where it falls, a waterfall will pour its curve without generating electricity, a trumpeter swan may float on uncontaminated water - and moderns may at least see what their ancestors knew in their nerves and blood. ~Bernand De Voto, Fortune, June 1947Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute the last clean air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence, so that never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste. ~Stewart L. Udall, quoted in William Schwarz, ed., Voices for the Wilderness, 1969No one should be able to enter a wilderness by mechanical means. ~Garrett Hardin, The Ecologist, February 1974
Writing & Words
Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~Nathaniel HawthorneThe role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs NinThe act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. ~Norbet PlattIt is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-WestStorytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. ~Hannah ArendtWriting became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'BrienSubstitute damn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark TwainI'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James MichenerThe time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. ~Mark TwainFill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William WadsworthIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences; what others say in a whole book. ~Friedrich NietzscheIf it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis RochWhat I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~Logan Pearsall SmithThe wastebasket is a writer's best friend. ~Isaac Bashevis SingerThe pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir NabakovYou write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur PolotnikWords are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes. ~Theodore Dreiser, 1900When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. ~Enrique Jardiel PoncelaDon't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton ChekhovThe story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it. ~Jules Renard, "Diary," February 1895Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. ~Orson Scott CardA proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one. ~Lord John RussellWriting is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. DoctorowDon't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice. ~Variation of part of William Safire's "Great Rules of Writing"No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. ~Henry B. AdamsWrite down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. ~Francis BaconFrom now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. ~Winston ChurchillDo not put statements in the negative form.And don't start sentences with a conjunction.If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.De-accession euphemisms.If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~UnknownA prose writer gets tired of writing prose, and wants to be a poet. So he begins every line with a capital letter, and keeps on writing prose. ~Samuel McChord Crothers, "Every Man's Natural Desire to Be Somebody Else" from The Dame School of Experience, 1920When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can. ~Samuel Lover, Handy Andy, 1842The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal, Lettres Provinciales XVI, 1656It seems to me that the problem with diaries, and the reason that most of them are so boring, is that every day we vacillate between examining our hangnails and speculating on cosmic order. ~Ann Beattie, Picturing Will, 1989The statement "to write something down" suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it. ~William Gass, "Habitations of the Word," Kenyon Review, October 1984
Books & Reading
A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. MorganA great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it. ~William StyronLiterature is the question minus the answer. ~Roland BarthesA classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~Italo Calvino, The Literature MachineThe worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James BryceAnyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~UnknownMany people, other than the authors, contribute to the making of a book, from the first person who had the bright idea of alphabetic writing through the inventor of movable type to the lumberjacks who felled the trees that were pulped for its printing. It is not customary to acknowledge the trees themselves, though their commitment is total. ~Forsyth and Rada, Machine LearningLiterature is news that stays news. ~Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading, 1934If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni MorrisonA good book has no ending. ~R.D. CummingI would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. EliotAlways read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~P.J. O'RourkeOutside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx
Poetry
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil GibranThere is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either. ~Robert GravesPoetry is what gets lost in translation. ~Robert FrostPoetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. ~Marianne MooreA poem is never finished, only abandoned... ~Paul ValeryHe who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life. ~George Sand, 1851Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire, "My Heart Laid Bare," Intimate Journals, 1864Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition. ~Eli Khamarov, The Shadow ZonePoetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. ~Carl Sandburg, Poetry ConsideredInk runs from the corners of my mouthThere is no happiness like mine.I have been eating poetry.~Mark Strand, "Eating Poetry," from Reasons for Moving, 1968Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~Plato, IonPoetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes. ~Carl SandburgThe poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem." ~Robert Penn Warren, "The Themes of Robert Frost," Hopwood Lecture, 1947A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful music...and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;" that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul." ~Soren Kierkegaard
Art & Music
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~Henry Ward BeecherCreativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott AdamsPainting is just another way of keeping a diary. ~Pablo PicassoArt is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twayla TharpThe aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William FaulknerEvery child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ~Pablo PicassoLife beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. ~Stella AdlerPainting is silent poetry. ~Plutarch, Moralia: How to Study PoetryArt is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. ~Amy LowellTo send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist. ~SchumannWe all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. ~Pablo PicassoA painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~StokowskiMusic washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach
Science
I think science has enjoyed an extraordinary success because it has such a limited and narrow realm in which to focus its efforts. Namely, the physical universe. ~Ken JenkinsThere is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. ~Mark TwainScience does not know its debt to imagination. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonThe most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny..." ~Isaac AsimovA fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. ~Edward TellerResearch is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. ~Wernher Von BraunThe important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. ~Sir William BraggEvery great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. ~John DeweyScientists should always state the opinions upon which their facts are based. ~UnknownIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. ~Henry J. Tillman
Humor
Humor is a reminder that no matter how high the throne one sits on, one sits on one's bottom. ~TakiHumor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs. ~Christopher MorleyHumor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn. ~Irvin S. CobbImagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. ~Francis BaconA man isn't poor if he can still laugh. ~Raymond HitchcockHumor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity. ~James ThurberEvery survival kit should include a sense of humor. ~UnknownHumor results when society says you can't scratch certain things in public, but they itch in public. ~Tom WalshHumor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I'm rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations. ~Ron DentingerHumor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place. ~Mark TwainCommon sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. ~William JamesAfter God created the world, He made men and women. Then, to keep the whole thing from collapsing, He invented humor. ~Mack McGinnisIf I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide. ~Mahatma GandhiThe satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance. ~Peter De Vries
Parents & Parenting
Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. ~Carl JungTo bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. ~Josh BillingsYour children need your presence more than your presents. ~Jesse JacksonDon't handicap your children by making their lives easy. ~Robert A. HeinleinMy father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~Clarence Buddinton KellandToo often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~Roger Lewin
It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce MaynardDon't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert FulghumParents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have anything to do with it. ~Haim GinottSimply having children does not make mothers. ~John A. SheddIf you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent. ~Bette DavisAlthough there are many trial marriages, there is no such thing as a trial child. ~Gail SheehyIt kills you to see [your children] grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal DreamsA mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva JordanMaking the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth StoneBeing a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs..., since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. VermontIf I had my child to raise all over again,I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.I would do less correcting and more connecting.I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.I'd do more hugging and less tugging.~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings. ~Hodding Carter, Jr. The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children. ~Edward, Duke of WindsorThe problem with children is that you have to put up with their parents. ~Charles DeLintA suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De VriesEach day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. SwindollNow the thing about having a baby - and I can't be the first person to have noticed this - is that thereafter you have it. ~Jean Kerr
Children & Childhood
Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. ~John Betjeman, Summoned by BellsA child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. ~UnknownWhat a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. ~Sigmund FreudChildren need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold HulbertWe worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia TauscherA three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm. ~Bill VaughanA baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase. ~UnknownLittle children, headache; big children, heartache. ~Italian proverbChildhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. ~Rachel CarsonThere are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago. ~J. Robert Oppenheimer
Experience
Experience is the comb that nature gives us when we are bald. ~Belgian proverbHuman beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ~Douglas Adams, Last Chance to SeeLearn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself. ~Alfred SheinwoldExperience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. ~Aldous HuxleyWe should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. ~Mark TwainThe trouble with using experience as a guide is that the final exam often comes first and then the lesson. ~UnknownHistory is a vast early warning system. ~Norman CousinsWe learn from history that we do not learn anything from history. ~UnknownNothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. ~Auguste RodinNobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better. ~UnknownLife is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. ~Samuel ButlerExperience is what you got by not having it when you need it. ~UnknownGood judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. ~Rita Mae BrownExperience is simply the name we give our mistakes. ~Oscar WildeIf you fool me once, shame on you. If you fool me twice, shame on me. ~ProverbFailure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. ~Henry FordYou're not dumb, or stupid, just thoroughly wrong. ~Jerry KopkeExperience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones. ~UnknownLife is the art of drawing without an eraser. ~John GardnerYou couldn't get hold of the things you'd done and turn them right again. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to women and men, and that was probably a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens. ~Stephen King, The StandLife can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ~Soren KierkegaardMany a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl. ~Stephen LeacockIn our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterIf we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires. ~Pauline E. Phillips, a.k.a. Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby"The road to wisdom?Well, it's plainAnd simple to express:ErrAnd errAnd err againBut lessAnd lessAnd less.~Piet HeinEverything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. ~Andre Gide, Le traite du Narcisse, 1891
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