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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:06:15 GMT 10
Saturday’s Quotes:Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with what- ever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along
Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame, when once it is within thee
Living well is the best revenge
Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit
Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy
If a donkey bray at you, don't bray at himGeorge HerbertWelsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest (Died this day 1633) Deceive not thy physician, confessor, nor lawyer
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:06:49 GMT 10
The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested
Yes, people that have convictions are difficult. Fortunately, they're rare
If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank
You'll find as you grow older that you weren't born such a great while ago after all. The time shortens up
The conqueror is regarded with awe; the wise man commands our respect; but it is only the benevolent man that wins our affection
Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself
Now I know that so long as we have social inequality we shall have snobs; we shall have men who bully and truckle, and women who snub and crawl. I know that it is futile to, spurn them, or lash them for trying to get on in the world, and that the world is what it must be from the selfish motives which underlie our economic lifeWilliam Dean HowellsUS realist author and literary critic (Born this day 1837) Some people stay longer in an hour than others do in a month
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:07:33 GMT 10
A man is well educated when he knows where to find what he doesn’t know
Very often it is impossible for us to restrain our interpretation of another, our theory of his subjective characteristics and intentions
The eighteenth century called upon man to free himself of all the historical bonds in the state and in religion, in morals and in economics
Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it
Secrecy is thus, so to speak, a transition stadium between being and not-being
The first internal relation that is essential to a secret society is the reciprocal confidence of its members
The most sacred duty of each member is to preserve the profoundest silence with reference to such things as concern the well-being of the orderGeorg SimmelGerman philosopher and sociologist (Born this day 1858) Man's nature, originally good and common to all, should develop unhampered
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:08:13 GMT 10
A writer's promise is like a tiger's smile
The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it
For ignorance is the first requisite of the historian — ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection that unattainable by the highest art
It is not the historian's business to be complimentary; it is his business to lay bare the facts of the case, as he understands them ... dispassionately, impartially and without ulterior motives
Human beings are too important to be treated as mere symptoms of the past. They have a value which is independent of any temporal process — which is eternal, and must be felt for its own sake
When the onward rush of a powerful spirit sweeps a weaker one to its destruction, the commonplaces of the moral judgement are better left unmade
Discretion is not the better part of biographyGiles Lytton StracheyBritish writer ( Eminent Victorians) (Born this day 1880) If this is dying, then I don't think much of it(said on his death bed)
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:08:47 GMT 10
The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead
America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description
Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by
There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists, can arrive at the truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of the fairy tale
If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to blind, imprison, and destroy
I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see meRalph EllisonUS novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer (Born this day 1914) When I discover who I am, I'll be free
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:09:27 GMT 10
When I was born, I was colored. I soon became a Negro. Not long after that I was black. Most recently I was African-American. It seems we're on a roll here. But I am still first and foremost in search of freedom
Katrina was not unforeseeable ... It was the result of a political structure that subcontracts its responsibility to private Contractors and abdicates its responsibility altogether
We've taken citizens from this country without the right to be charged, without being told what they're taken for, we've spirited them out of this country, taken them to faraway places, and reports come back with some consistency that they are being tortured, that they're not being told what they've done. And even some who have been released have come back and testified to this fact
My social and political interests are part of my career. I cannot separate them. My songs reflect the human condition. The role of art isn't just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be
I work for the United Nations. I go to places where enormous upheaval and pain and anguish exist. And a lot of it exists based upon American policy. Whom we support, whom we support as heads of state, what countries we've helped to overthrow, what leaders we've helped to diminish because they did not fit the mold we think they should fit, no matter how ill advised that thought may be
Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live
Fascism is fascism. Terrorism is terrorism. Oppression is oppressionHarry BelafonteJamaican-American musician and actor (Born this day 1927) You can cage the singer but not the song
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 1, 2014 7:11:25 GMT 10
Democracy brought to others through the barrel of a gun is not democracy
American society has always exercised a stronger pressure on individual behavior than Western European societies; but in time of war this pressure is notched a few degrees, and starts to become quite alarming
Nothing is more commonplace than the reading experience, and yet nothing is more unknown. Reading is such a matter of course that at first glance it seems there is nothing to say about it
Upon the occurrence of the event, we must decide if the event was an illusion or whether it is real and has actually taken place
For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent. That is something of which we are all quite capable
We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found
People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the worldTzvetan TodorovFrench philosopher of Bulgarian origin ( The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other ) (Born this day 1939) Life cannot withstand death, but memory is gaining in its struggle against nothingness
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 2, 2014 7:40:12 GMT 10
Sunday’s Quotes:We should pray for a sane mind in a sound body
Never does Nature say one thing and wisdom another
Remote though your farm be, it's something to be the lord of one green lizard — and free
A man who has nothing can whistle in a robber's face
Revenge is always the joy of narrow, sick and petty minds
Hold it the greatest wrong to prefer life to honour and for the sake of life to lose the reason for living
Only death reveals what a nothing the body of man isJuvenal, Roman poet ( Satires) (Born this day 55 CE) Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?(“Who is to guard the guards themselves?”)
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 2, 2014 7:40:50 GMT 10
Mystery is the wisdom of blockheads
In all science error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last
Nine-tenths of the people were created so you would want to be with the other tenth
I do not admire politicians; but when they are excellent in their way, one cannot help allowing them their due
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform — They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent
To act with common sense according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy is to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respect- fully to one's lot; bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it
Life is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who thinkHorace WalpoleEnglish art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and politician (Died this day 1797) The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 2, 2014 7:49:12 GMT 10
The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, "My country, right or wrong." In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right
If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other
From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own
Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny
What is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strongly and so advantageously situated as this Republic is? Of course I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it. But, surely, it should not, as our boyish jingoes wish it to do, swagger about among the nations of the world, with a chip on its shoulder, shaking its fist in every- body's face. Of course, it should not tamely submit to real encroachments upon its rights. But, surely, it should not, whenever its own notions of right or interest collide with the notions of others, fall into hysterics and act as if it really feared for its own security and its very independence
The animosities inflamed by a four years' war, and its distressing incidents, cannot be easily over- come. But they extend beyond the limits of the army, to the people of the north. I have read in southern papers bitter complaints about the unfriendly spirit exhibited by the northern people — complaints not unfrequently flavored with an admixture of vigorous vituperation. But, as far as my experience goes, the "unfriendly spirit" exhibited in the north is all mildness and affection compared with the popular temper which in the south vents itself in a variety of ways and on all possible occasions
It is by no means surprising that prejudices and resentments, which for years were so assiduously cultivated and so violently inflamed, should not have been turned into affection by a defeat; nor are they likely to disappear as long as the southern people con- tinue to brood over their losses and misfortunes. They will gradually subside when those who entertain them cut resolutely loose from the past and embark in a career of new activity on a common field with those whom they have so long considered their enemiesCarl SchurzGerman revolutionist, American statesman & Union Army general (Born this day 1829) We have come to a point where it is loyalty to resist, and treason to submit
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