There 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 Bailie
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. ~Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, 2009 Jan 20, Washington, D.C.
The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have - and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. ~Paul Heyne
Homecoming unites the past and the present. ~Author Unknown
Literature is news that stays news. ~Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading, 1934
I 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
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? ~Source Unknown
If I were to characterize George Washington's feelings toward his country, I should be less inclined than most people to stress what is called Washington's love of his country. What impresses me as far more important is what I should call Washington's respect for his country. ~Randolph G. Adams
Princess Edane... heard a voice singing on a May Eve like this, and followed half awake and half asleep, until she came into the Land of Faery, where nobody gets old and godly and grave, where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue. ~William Butler Yeats, "The Land of Heart's Desire," 1894
Mankind has invested more than four million years of evolution in the attempt to avoid physical exertion. Now a group of backward-thinking atavists mounted on foot-powered pairs of Hula-Hoops would have us pumping our legs, gritting our teeth, and searing our lungs as though we were being chased across the Pleistocene savanna by saber-toothed tigers. Think of the hopes, the dreams, the effort, the brilliance, the pure force of will that, over the eons, has gone into the creation of the Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bicycle riders would have us throw all this on the ash heap of history. ~P.J. O'Rourke
The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them. ~Peter Lynch
There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream. ~Archibald MacLeish
To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word "boo." ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
To a pitcher, a base hit is the perfect example of negative feedback. ~Steve Hovley, 1969
When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there. ~Cecil Selig
The pilgrims were kicked out of England, quarreled with the Dutch, alienated the Indians, and had an evil reputation among the turkeys. ~Dave Beard
They have stopped deceiving you, not loving you. And it seems to you that they have stopped loving you. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of the field in hopes that the cow will back up to them. ~Elbert Hubbard
I am not a labor leader. I don't want you to follow me or anyone else. If you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of the capitalist wilderness you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into this promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else could lead you out. ~Eugene V. Debs
By night, an atheist half believes in God. ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. ~Braveheart
Experience is what you got by not having it when you need it. ~Author Unknown
It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea. ~Dylan Thomas