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Post by Tamrin on Dec 1, 2013 9:47:28 GMT 10
1 of 2:Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them
A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled
Education is indoctrination if you're white — subjugation if you're black
The paradox of education is precisely this — that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated
Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have
I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we allJames BaldwinAmerican novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic (Died this day 1987) Be careful what you set your heart upon — for it will surely be yours
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 1, 2013 9:48:03 GMT 10
2 of 2:It is very nearly impossible ... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind
People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time
Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock
No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it
You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself
The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came inJames Baldwin (Died this day 1987) People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:28:23 GMT 10
Monday’s Quotes:Above all knowledge and science, we find within us a limitless ignorance when, passing beyond every name given to God or creatures, we expire and pass to an eternal Unnamable where we are lost
God in the depths of us receives God who comes to us: it is God contemplating God
Their naked understanding is penetrated with eternal clarity as the air is penetrated by the light of the sun
What is this Light, if it be not a contemplation of the Infinite, and an intuition of Eternity?
We behold that which we are, and we are that which we behold
Knowledge of ourselves teaches us whence we come, where we are, and whither we are going. We come from God, and we are in exile
Those who walk in the Divine Light discover in themselves the UnwalledBlessed John of Ruysbroeck ("the Admirable")Flemish mystic (Died this day 1381) You are as holy as you wish to be
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:29:36 GMT 10
All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature; the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost — the most legitimate — passion nature has bred into us and, without doubt, the most agreeable one
At all times, in every century, every age, there has been such a connection between despotism and religion that it is infinitely apparent and demonstrated a thousand times over, that in destroying one, the other must be undermined, for the simple reason that the first will always put the law into the service of the second
Are not laws dangerous which inhibit the passions? Compare the centuries of anarchy with those of the strongest legalism in any country you like and you will see that it is only when the laws are silent that the greatest actions appear
If it is the dirty element that gives pleasure to the act of lust, then the dirtier it is, the more pleasurable it is bound to be
Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life; it supports them all, lends strength to them all ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust
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!
Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargainMarquis de Sade (eponymous “sadist”) French aristocrat and writer ( Justine) (Died this day 1814) In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice(conversely, one does not have to wallow in mud to know you'll get dirty)
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:33:42 GMT 10
In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves... [The Bible] teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them."... I believe that to have interfered as I have done as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done! Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true... There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense... Now I have done
It is by my own folly that I have been taken. I could easily have saved myself from it had I exercised my own better judgment rather than yield to my feelings. I should have gone away, but I had thirty-odd prisoners, whose wives and daughters were in tears for their safety, and I felt for them. Besides, I wanted to allay the fears of those who believed we came here to burn and kill. For this reason I allowed the train to cross the bridge and gave them full liberty to pass on. I did it only to spare the feelings of these passengers and their families and to allay the apprehensions that you had got here in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard for life and property, nor any feeling of humanity…
I think, my friend, you are guilty of a great wrong against God and humanity. I say it without wishing to be offensive – and it would be perfectly right for anyone to interfere with you so far as to free those you wilfully and wickedly hold in bondage. I do not say this insultingly. I think I did right and that others will do right who interfere with you at any time and all times. I hold that the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you," applies to all who would help others to gain their liberty
I believe that to have interfered as I have done as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right
You may dispose of me very easily. I am nearly disposed of now. But this question is still to be settled, this Negro question, I mean; the end of that is not yet
I am fully persuaded that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than any other purpose
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with bloodBro. John BrownUS militant abolitionist (Harpers Ferry Raid) (Hanged this day 1859) This is a beautiful country(last words)
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:36:35 GMT 10
It is always well to accept your own shortcomings with candour but to regard those of your friends with polite incredulity
A truly appreciative child will break, lose, spoil, or fondle to death any really successful gift within a matter of minutes
Camouflage is a game we all like to play, but our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be as by what we want to conceal
The true snob never rests; there is always a higher goal to attain, and there are, by the same token, always more and more people to look down upon
Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence
Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it
If you can't ignore an insult, top it; if you can't top it, laugh it off; and if you can't laugh it off, it's probably deservedRussell LynesAmerican art historian, photographer, author and managing editor of Harper's Magazine (Born this day 1910) When it gets dark enough you can see the stars
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:43:10 GMT 10
You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there
Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not. It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don't like it shouldn't come to hear me
When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping
If I have stepped on some people at times because I am at the top, it couldn't be helped. What should I do if someone gets hurt ... retire?
I don't need the money, dear. I work for art
I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not a devil, either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged
I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I mustMaria Callas, OMRIAmerican-born Greek-Italian opera singer (Born this day 1923) Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddamn rules
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:44:26 GMT 10
My work on human capital began with an effort to calculate both private and social rates of return to men, women, blacks, and other groups from investments in different levels of education
Human capital analysis starts with the assumption that individuals decide on their education, training, medical care, and other additions to knowledge and health by weighing the benefits and costs. Benefits include cultural and other non- monetary gains along with improvement in earnings and occupations, while costs usually depend mainly on the foregone value of the time spent on these investments
Evidence from many countries on the earnings, unemployment, and occupations of blacks, women, religious groups, immigrants, and others has expanded enorm- ously during the past twenty-five years. This evidence more fully documents the economic position of minorities and how that changes in different environments
A crime persevered in a thousand centuries ceases to be a crime, and becomes a virtue. This is the law of custom, and custom supersedes all other forms of law
Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year. This is quite a profit- able sum, especially when one consider that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies
The amount of crime is determined not only by the rationality and preferences of would-be criminals, but also by the economic and social environment created by public policies, including expenditures on police, punishments for different crimes, and opportunities for employment, schooling, and training programs
He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when the sentence was about to be pronounced, pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was orphanGary BeckerAmerican economist, Nobel laureate (Economics, 1992) (Born this day 1930) I was not sympathetic to the assumption that criminals had radically different motivations from everyone else
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:45:21 GMT 10
Secrecy is as indispensable to human beings as fire, and as greatly feared
We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect
Liars share with those they deceive the desire not to be deceived
Confidentiality refers to the boundaries surrounding shared secrets and to the process of guarding these boundaries
While confidentiality protects much that is not in fact secret, personal secrets lie at its core. The innermost, the vulnerable, often the shameful: these aspects of self-disclosure help explain why one name for professional confidentiality has been "the professional secret." Such secrecy is sometimes mistakenly confused with privacy; yet it can concern many matters in no way private, but that someone wishes to keep from the knowledge of third parties
White lies are at the other end of the spectrum of deception from lies in a serious crisis. They are the most common and the most trivial forms that duplicity can take. The fact that they are so common provides their protective coloring. And their very triviality, when compared to more threatening lies, makes it seem unnecessary or even absurd to condemn them. Some consider all well-intentioned lies, how- ever momentous, to be white; I shall adhere to the narrower usage: a white lie, in this sense, is a falsehood not meant to injure anyone, and of little moral import
While all deception requires secrecy, not all secrecy is meant to deceiveSissela BokSwedish-born American philosopher and ethicist (Born this day 1934) To mature is in part to realize that while complete intimacy and omniscience and power cannot be had, self-transcendence, growth, and closeness to others are nevertheless within one's reach
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 2, 2013 5:47:08 GMT 10
We're just a conceited naked ape, but in our minds we're some "divine legend" and we see ourselves as some sort of god, seeing we can decide what will live and what will die, what will be saved and what will be destroyed, but honestly we're just a bunch of primates out of control
We are pirates of compassion hunting down and destroying pirates of profit
All of our targets were criminals, they were all operating in violation of international whaling laws
Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote that you cannot commit an act of violence against a non- sentient object. Back in 1986, the Green Party of Canada tried to toss me out of the Party for sinking whaling ships on the ground that it was a violent act. I pointed out that the Green Party of Canada supported violence when it was convenient politically - for example they supported and continue to support abortion which is, like it or not, a violent act, certainly more violent than sinking some metal into the sea. Violence is not violent when we justify it, be it abortion, or war, or eating meat for example. I support abortion but I'm not a hypocrite about it — it's violent, I accept that. Every American taxpayer accepts the violence that their tax-dollars fund
It's dangerous & humiliating. The whalers killed whales while green peace watched. Now, you don't walk by a child that is being abused, you don't walk by a kitten that is being kicked to death and do nothing. So I find it abhorrent to sit there and watch a whale being slaughtered and do nothing but "bear witness" as they call it. I think it was best illustrated a few years ago, the contradictions that we have, when a ranger in Zimbabwe shot and killed a poacher that was about to kill a black rhinoceros and uh human rights groups around the world said "how dare you? Take a human life to protect an animal". I think the rangers' answer to that really illustrated a hypocrisy. He said "Ya know ... if I was a police officer in Harare and a man ran out of Bark Place Bank with a bag of money and I shot him in the head in front of everybody and killed him, you'd pin a medal on me and call me a national hero. Why is that bag of paper more valued than the future heritage of this nation?"
We're now in the midst of a 3rd World War, but this time the enemy is ourselves, and the objective is to save the planet FROM ourselves... There's no hope for masses of humanity to do anything — they never have, they never will. All social change comes from the passion and intervention of individuals or small groups of individuals. Slavery wasn't ended by any gov- ernment or any institution. Women got the right to vote not because of any government. The civil rights movement, the same thing. India with Mahatma Gandhi, South Africa with Nelson Mandela. Again, it's always individuals. You need those individuals with the passion and the energy to get involved. In fact, I don't know of any government or any institutions that are doing anything to solve any of these problems. All over the world, all I am seeing is individuals and non-government organizations that are passionately involved in protecting ecosystems and species, and that's where I see some optimism. That's where I see results are happening
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a conservative organization. I am a conservative. You can't get more conservative than being a conservationist. Our entire raison d'être is to conserve and protect. The radicals of the world are destroying our oceans and our forests, our wildlife and our freedomPaul WatsonCanadian founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Born this day 1950) Intelligence is the ability of a species to live in harmony with its environment
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