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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:49:26 GMT 10
The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual
For people who have no critical acumen, a state is a mythical entity, for those who think critically it is a rational fiction, created by man in order to facilitate human coexistence
A state always calls itself fatherland when it is ready for murder
Religion and political expediency go beautifully hand in hand
Before anything else, we need a new age of Enlightenment. Our present political systems must relinquish their claims on truth, justice and freedom and have to replace them with the search for truth, justice, freedom and reason
Revolutions demand enormous sacrifices and, at the same time, create a new need to change the world again
One does not set fire to a world which is already lostFriedrich DürrenmattSwiss author and dramatist ( The Physicists) (Born this day 1921) Someone who is about to die does not mourn the dead
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:50:16 GMT 10
A man must shape himself to a new mark directly the old one goes to ground
I seemed to vow to myself that someday I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth, the end of the axis upon which this great round ball turns
I do not intend to sacrifice the scientific utility of the expedition to a mere record-breaking journey, but say frankly, all the same, that one of my great efforts will be to reach the southern geographical Pole
I have often marvelled at the thin line which separates success from failure
Superhuman effort isn't worth a damn unless it achieves results
We had seen God in His splendours, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man
Difficulties are just things to overcome, after allBro. Sir Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (Died this day 1922) Optimism is true moral courage
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:53:30 GMT 10
I am guiding you to seek truth from the facts of the historical conditions of our society and to identify the problems. The correct solutions will come with the correct identification of the problems
We badly need to gather our thoughts and clear our minds. We need a political ceasefire without conceding ideological territory
Pakistan was once called the most allied ally of the United States. We are now the most non-allied
A dreaded society is not a civilized society. The most progressive and powerful society in the civilized sense, is a society which has recognized its ethos, and come to terms with the past and the present, with religion and science, with modernism and mysticism, with mater- ialism and spirituality; a society free of tension, a society rich in culture. Such a society cannot come with hocus-pocus formulas and with fraud. It has to flow from the depth of a divine search
If things do not change, there will be nothing left to change. Either power must pass to the people or everything will perish
You cannot be big unless you are prepared to kiss the ground. You cannot defend the soil unless you know the smell of that soil. I know the smell of our soil. I know the rhythm of our rivers. I know the beat of our drums. The theories, the dogmas and the scripts stand outside the gates of history. The dominant factor is the aspiration of the people and the ability to seek total identification with it
Your grand-father taught me the politics of pride, your grandmother taught me the politics of poverty. I am beholden to both for the fine synthesis. To you, my darling daughter, I give only one message. It is the message of the morrow, the message of history. Believe only in the people, work only for their emancipation and equality. The paradise of God lies under the feet of your mother. The paradise of politics lies under the feet of the peopleZulfikar Ali BhuttoPakistani politician (President 1971/3 & P.M. 1973/7) (Born this day 1928) They are going to kill me. It doesn't matter what evidence you or anyone comes up with. They are going to murder me for murder I didn't commit
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:54:33 GMT 10
1 of 2:The truth is a young maiden as modest as she is beautiful, and therefore she is always seen cloaked
If two things don't fit, but you believe both of them, thinking that somewhere, hidden, there must be a third thing that connects them, that's credulity
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
The order that our mind imagines is like a net, or like a ladder, built to attain something. But afterward you must throw the ladder away, because you discover that, even if it was useful, it was meaningless ... The only truths that are useful are instruments to be thrown away
In the United States there's a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner
Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them
When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everythingUmberto Eco, OMRIItalian medievalist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist (Born this day 1932) There's only one culture: strangle the last priest with the entrails of the last Rosicrucian
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:55:44 GMT 10
2 of 2:To survive, you must tell stories
There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics … Cretins don’t even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble … Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation … Fools don’t claim that cats bark, but they talk about cats when everyone else is talking about dogs. They offend all the rules of conversation, and when they really offend, they’re magnificent … Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says that all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, therefore cats bark … Morons will occasionally say something that’s right, but they say it for the wrong reason … A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn’t know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic on the other hand, doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars … There are lunatics who don’t bring up the Templars, but those who do are the most insidious. At first they seem normal, then all of a sudden…
The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. If it had been possible he would have settled the matter otherwise, and without bloodshed. He doesn't boast of his own death or of others'. But he does not repent. He suffers and keeps his mouth shut; if anything, others then exploit him, making him a myth, while he, the man worthy of esteem, was only a poor creature who reacted with dignity and courage in an event bigger than he was
Wanting connections, we found connections — always, everywhere, and between everything. The world exploded in a whirling network of kinships, where everything pointed to everything else, everything explained everything else…
Someone said that patriotism is the last refuge of cowards; those without moral principles usually wrap a flag around themselves, and those bastards always talk about the purity of race
The Devil is not the Prince of Matter; the Devil is the arrogance of the spirit, faith without smile, truth that is never seized by doubt. The Devil is grim because he knows where he is going, and, in moving, he always returns whence he came
I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked, because I discovered they are the same as the weaknesses of the saintlyUmberto Eco, OMRI (Born this day 1932) After all, the cultivated person's first duty is to be always prepared to rewrite the encyclopaedia
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:58:06 GMT 10
It is characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever proposing something which is old, and because it has recently come to their own attention, supposing it to be new
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race
If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you and you have to battle with only one of them
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement. It is a maxim of our institutions, that the government does not make the people, but the people make the government
It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final
There is far more danger of harm than there is hope of good in any radical changes
Calvin Coolidge Jr. US politician, 30th President (1923 - 1929) (Died this day 1933)
Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments. This is both historically and logically true. Of course the government can help to sustain ideals and can create institutions through which they can be the better observed, but their source by their very nature is in the people. The people have to bear their own responsibilities. There is no method by which that burden can be shifted to the government. It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:58:50 GMT 10
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom
There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation — veneer isn't worth anything
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater
When our thoughts — which bring actions — are filled with hate against anyone, Negro or white, we are in a living hell. That is as real as hell will ever be
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, com- passionate 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 theseGeorge Washington CarverAmerican scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor (Died this day 1943) Where there is no vision, there is no hope
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:59:32 GMT 10
The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world
It is true that many scientists are not philosophically minded and have hitherto shown much skill and ingenuity but little wisdom
I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed
Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the impossible; reason distinguishes between the sensible and the senseless. Even the possible can be senseless
There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that 'belief' must be discarded and replaced by 'the scientific method
To present a scientific subject in an attractive and stimulating manner is an artistic task, similar to that of a novelist or even a dramatic writer. The same holds for writing textbooks
If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair successMax BornGerman-British physicist & Nobel laureate (Physics, 1954) (Died this day 1970) I have tried to read philosophers of all ages and have found many illuminating ideas but no steady progress toward deeper knowledge and understanding. Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress: I am convinced that theoretical physics is actual phil- osophy. It has revolutionized fundamental concepts, e.g., about space and time (relativity), about causality (quantum theory), and about substance and matter (atomistics), and it has taught us new methods of thinking (complementarity) which are applicable far beyond physics
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 6, 2014 10:56:33 GMT 10
Monday’s Quotes:Act, and God will act
I am not afraid … I was born to do this
I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid
Of the love or hatred God has for the English, I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be thrown out of France, except those who die there
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying
I would rather die than do something which I know to be a sin, or to be against God's will
Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truthJoan of Arc, French martyr (Born this day 1412) Hold the cross high so I may see it through the flames!
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 6, 2014 10:57:18 GMT 10
I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth
Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work
Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me
Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed
Love your neighbor as yourself; but don't take down the fence
I learned you can't trust the judgment of good friends
Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will comeCarl SandburgAmerican poet ( Rootabaga Stories) (Born this day 1878) I am an idealist. I believe in everything — I am only looking for proofs
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