Cool Quotes & Quick Thoughts
One human's collection of quotations and thoughts on current events, philosophy, life, politics, religion, and related topics.One of the greatest blessings we have is the ability to learn from those who have come before us. Can you imagine how far we wouldn't get without the head start we've been given from our ancestors?
It's very easy to take this wisdom for granted and I hope this page can, in some small way, aid in preventing that from happening. Of course, not all that has been left for us bears the same message and it will always be our job to sort through it and find the gems of truth. I have included quotations that I believe are sound and uplifting.
I have also thrown in a few thoughts of my own on this page so please don't think that I am somehow equating my tidbits with the rest, I mean I'm egocentric but not that bad!
How do I verify these quotations?
A while back I received an email from an individual who liked this page but was curious as to how accurate the contents were. It occurred to me that I really should have been citing source information from the start. To that end, I've begun to include source material for each quotation as I find the time. For every quotation that has source and/or background information available there will be an information button just like this:
INFO
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
--Thomas Jefferson
--Thomas Jefferson
Yes, the cost is high, but the price of neglect would be infinitely higher.
--Ronald Reagan (1982)
--Ronald Reagan (1982)
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
--Herodotus
--Herodotus
You are as happy as you decide to be.
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
I wrote this reply to a question about competition that appeared in Doc Ozone's discussion forum, the Asylum:
The SciFi channel had a Twilight Zone marathon over the New Year's weekend. I did my best to catch up on seeing as many as I could. That show has some incredibly awesome stories and very profound.
Anyways, have you seen the episode "A Game of Pool" with Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters? It was about a pool shark (Klugman) who's only goal was to be the "best". So he get's his wish and Winters comes back from the dead to play Klugman to see who's going to be the best of all time. At one point, Winters says that Klugman ought to take the time to live life and get out of the dark pool hall. Klugman is too consumed with being number one to understand this. Then Winters points out that it's good to have legends to look up to. He says that these legends tell those that follow to do their best and see if they can take the records a step further.
In other words, competition is a very healthy and useful method of doing our best if it's kept in it's proper perspective. I think we should all *use* competition to spur us on to greater achievements. We should use it as a benchmark or a measure to see how well we're doing or to see how good we can be with more effort. But at the same time we must not let our desire to be better overtake the higher priorities of life, such as actually taking the time to live it.
--Bugs
INFO
The SciFi channel had a Twilight Zone marathon over the New Year's weekend. I did my best to catch up on seeing as many as I could. That show has some incredibly awesome stories and very profound.
Anyways, have you seen the episode "A Game of Pool" with Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters? It was about a pool shark (Klugman) who's only goal was to be the "best". So he get's his wish and Winters comes back from the dead to play Klugman to see who's going to be the best of all time. At one point, Winters says that Klugman ought to take the time to live life and get out of the dark pool hall. Klugman is too consumed with being number one to understand this. Then Winters points out that it's good to have legends to look up to. He says that these legends tell those that follow to do their best and see if they can take the records a step further.
In other words, competition is a very healthy and useful method of doing our best if it's kept in it's proper perspective. I think we should all *use* competition to spur us on to greater achievements. We should use it as a benchmark or a measure to see how well we're doing or to see how good we can be with more effort. But at the same time we must not let our desire to be better overtake the higher priorities of life, such as actually taking the time to live it.
--Bugs
INFO
If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it you don't feel at homne there?
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not to envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.
--William Arthur Ward, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 3
--William Arthur Ward, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 3
Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
--Eleanor Roosevelt
Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.
--Ronald Reagan (1986)
--Ronald Reagan (1986)
Source Information
I saw this on a vehicle's bumper while vacationing in Ocean City State Park in Washington State during the month of August 2005.
CLOSE INFO
I saw this on a vehicle's bumper while vacationing in Ocean City State Park in Washington State during the month of August 2005.
CLOSE INFO
While other [military] alliances have been formed to win wars, our fundamental purpose is to prevent war while preserving and extending the frontiers of freedom.
--Ronald Reagan (1988)
--Ronald Reagan (1988)
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my ax.
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
--William A. Foster
--William A. Foster
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing what they could and should do for themselves.
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit.
--Carl Sagan
--Carl Sagan
It is never too late to become what you might have been.
--George Eliot
--George Eliot
Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade.
--Ben Franklin
--Ben Franklin
Go to college, get the knowledge, and
stay there 'til you're through.
If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread
then they can make something out of you.
--Mohammed Ali
--Mohammed Ali
IF thou would'st hear the Nameless, and wilt dive
Into the Temple-cave of thine own self,
There, brooding by the central altar, thou
May'st haply learn the Nameless hath a voice,
By which thou wilt abide, if thou be wise,
As if thou knewest, tho' thou canst not know;
For Knowledge is the swallow on the lake
That sees and stirs the surface-shadow there
But never yet hath dipt into the abysm,
The Abysm of all Abysms, beneath, within
The blue of sky and sea, the green of earth,
And in the million-millionth of a grain
Which cleft and cleft again for evermore,
And ever vanishing, never vanishes,
To me, my son, more mystic than myself,
Or even than the Nameless is to me.
And when thou sendest thy free soul thro' heaven,
Nor understandest bound nor boundlessness,
Thou seest the Nameless of the hundred names.
And if the Nameless should withdraw from all
Thy frailty counts most real, all thy world
Might vanish like thy shadow in the dark.
'And since—from when this earth began—
The Nameless never came
Among us, never spake with man,
And never named the Name'—
Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son,
Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in,
Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art both in one:
Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no
Nor yet that thou art mortal—nay my son,
Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,
Am not thyself in converse with thyself,
For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith
She reels not in the storm of warring words,
She brightens at the clash of ‘Yes' and ‘No',
She sees the Best that glimmers thro' the Worst,
She feels the Sun is hid but for a night,
She spies the summer thro' the winter bud,
She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls,
She hears the lark within the songless egg,
She finds the fountain where they wail'd ‘Mirage'!
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
INFO
Into the Temple-cave of thine own self,
There, brooding by the central altar, thou
May'st haply learn the Nameless hath a voice,
By which thou wilt abide, if thou be wise,
As if thou knewest, tho' thou canst not know;
For Knowledge is the swallow on the lake
That sees and stirs the surface-shadow there
But never yet hath dipt into the abysm,
The Abysm of all Abysms, beneath, within
The blue of sky and sea, the green of earth,
And in the million-millionth of a grain
Which cleft and cleft again for evermore,
And ever vanishing, never vanishes,
To me, my son, more mystic than myself,
Or even than the Nameless is to me.
And when thou sendest thy free soul thro' heaven,
Nor understandest bound nor boundlessness,
Thou seest the Nameless of the hundred names.
And if the Nameless should withdraw from all
Thy frailty counts most real, all thy world
Might vanish like thy shadow in the dark.
'And since—from when this earth began—
The Nameless never came
Among us, never spake with man,
And never named the Name'—
Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son,
Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in,
Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone,
Nor canst thou prove that thou art both in one:
Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no
Nor yet that thou art mortal—nay my son,
Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,
Am not thyself in converse with thyself,
For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith
She reels not in the storm of warring words,
She brightens at the clash of ‘Yes' and ‘No',
She sees the Best that glimmers thro' the Worst,
She feels the Sun is hid but for a night,
She spies the summer thro' the winter bud,
She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls,
She hears the lark within the songless egg,
She finds the fountain where they wail'd ‘Mirage'!
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
INFO
Source Information
From 'The Ancient Sage'
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
http://www.bartelby.org/236/98.html
CLOSE INFO
From 'The Ancient Sage'
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
http://www.bartelby.org/236/98.html
CLOSE INFO
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
--T.H. Huxley
--T.H. Huxley
I was listening to Paul Harvey's news show at noon last Friday, January 23. Just as I tuned in he was reading a letter he had received from one of his listeners. The letter was very touching as it explained how this listener had recently lost his beloved pet dog. Apparently this wasn't a typical relationship where an owner of a departed pet gets over the loss in a few weeks and goes on with life. This listener was truly overcome with grief over this loss and it didn't sound like he had a lot of close family to help him through. In his sorrow, he reached out by writing this letter and he explained how he hadn't been much of a church goer but seeing as how Paul Harvey was a personal friend of Billy Graham he wondered if he would pass on this question: Is there room for animals, like his Buddy, in heaven? Because he could carry on life so much better if he knew he would someday see his little friend again.
Well, at this point I was thinking how could Mr.Graham answer this question without either lying to this poor guy or devastating him further and possibly cutting him off from a chance to come closer to God. Because, you see, I asked this very same question in second grade and was downcast by the answer I received when I was told that, "No, animals don't go to heaven". Billy Graham's answer so made and impression on me that I just had to write it down here so I would remember it for a long time.
Heaven is a place where there is complete happiness. He assured the man that if having his Buddy there was essential to his happiness then he could be sure that God would have him there. And if he wanted literal support for this reassurance, to read Isaiah 65:25.
--Bugs
INFO
Well, at this point I was thinking how could Mr.Graham answer this question without either lying to this poor guy or devastating him further and possibly cutting him off from a chance to come closer to God. Because, you see, I asked this very same question in second grade and was downcast by the answer I received when I was told that, "No, animals don't go to heaven". Billy Graham's answer so made and impression on me that I just had to write it down here so I would remember it for a long time.
Heaven is a place where there is complete happiness. He assured the man that if having his Buddy there was essential to his happiness then he could be sure that God would have him there. And if he wanted literal support for this reassurance, to read Isaiah 65:25.
"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the Lord.
I have met many people who think there is something incorrect about "loving" animals and treating them other than just hamburgers or moving targets. After thinking about this more I recalled a parable from 2 Samuel that gave me a lot of comfort concerning God's attitude toward having pets and loving pets.
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
-- 2 Samuel 12:1-6
Of course, it is important to keep in mind that this was a parable told to David to admonish him for an evil he had done. Underneath and a little to the left of all that, however, I believe God viewed the relationship with the little ewe lamb acceptable and, yes, beautiful. -- 2 Samuel 12:1-6
--Bugs
INFO
If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay that way, but if you treat him as if he were what he could be, he will become what he could be.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
India is the most religious country in the world, Sweden is the most secular country in the world, and America is a country of Indians ruled by Swedes.
--Peter Berger
--Peter Berger
Stand with anybody that stands right while he is right,
and part with him when he goes wrong.
--Abraham Lincoln
and part with him when he goes wrong.
--Abraham Lincoln
Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
--Carl Sagan
--Carl Sagan
In Christian ethics ... animals are seen as mere things. They can therefore be used for vivisection, hunting, coarsing, bull-fights and horse-races and can be whipped to death as they struggle along with their heavy carts of stone. Shame on such a morality that fails to recognise the eternal essence that exists in every living thing and shines forth with inscrutable significance from all eyes that see the sun.
--Arthur Schopenhauer
INFO
--Arthur Schopenhauer
INFO
Source Information
On the Basis of Morality (German: Ăśber die Grundlage der Moral) is one of Arthur Schopenhauer's major works in ethics, in which he argues that morality stems from compassion. Schopenhauer begins with a criticism of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, which Schopenhauer considered to be clearest explanation of Kantian ethics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Basis_of_Morality
CLOSE INFO
On the Basis of Morality (German: Ăśber die Grundlage der Moral) is one of Arthur Schopenhauer's major works in ethics, in which he argues that morality stems from compassion. Schopenhauer begins with a criticism of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, which Schopenhauer considered to be clearest explanation of Kantian ethics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Basis_of_Morality
CLOSE INFO
Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and trebles that want another way. That was a true proverb of the wise man, rely upon it; "Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith.
--Ben Franklin
--Ben Franklin
There is nothing wrong with America that Americans can’t fix.
--Ronald Reagan
--Ronald Reagan
Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not to envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.
--William Arthur Ward
INFO
--William Arthur Ward
INFO
God has formed us moral agents... that we may promote the happiness of those with whom He has placed us in society, by acting honestly towards all, benevolently to those who fall within our way, respecting sacredly their rights, bodily and mental, and cherishing especially their freedom of conscience, as we value our own.
--Thomas Jefferson to Miles King, 1814
--Thomas Jefferson to Miles King, 1814
It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.
--Leo McKern
--Leo McKern
I know, sir, how well it becomes a liberal man and a Christian to forget and forgive. As individuals professing a holy religion, it is our bounden duty to forgive injuries done us as individuals. But when the character of Christian you add the character of patriot, you are in a different situation. Our mild and holy system of religion inculcates an admirable maxim of forbearance. If your enemy smite one cheek, turn the other to him. But you must stop there. You cannot apply this to your country. As members of a social community, this maxim does not apply to you. When you consider injuries done to your country your political duty tells you of vengeance. Forgive as a private man, but never forgive public injuries. Observations of this nature are exceedingly unpleasant, but it is my duty to use them.
--Patrick Henry
--Patrick Henry
If you talked to others the way you talk to yourself, would you have any friends?
--Rick Warren
--Rick Warren
The bookends of success are starting and finishing. Decisions help us start; discipline helps us finish.
--John C. Maxwell
--John C. Maxwell
Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish.
--Michelangelo
--Michelangelo
Source Information
Dan Hill is the head of interactive technology and design for BBC Radio and Music Interactive. He's charged with designing and building the BBC's radio and music-based interactive offerings across Web, digital TV, and mobile platforms. From "Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices" by Dan Saffer, pg. 167
CLOSE INFO
Dan Hill is the head of interactive technology and design for BBC Radio and Music Interactive. He's charged with designing and building the BBC's radio and music-based interactive offerings across Web, digital TV, and mobile platforms. From "Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices" by Dan Saffer, pg. 167
CLOSE INFO
I never mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law.
--George Washington
--George Washington
Sir my concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God's side.
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged
--Ronald Reagan
--Ronald Reagan
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.
--Irving Kristol
--Irving Kristol
It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately.
--Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816
--Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816
Most people would rather die than think, in fact they do.
--Bertrand Russell
--Bertrand Russell
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
--Pastor Martin Niemoller
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
--Pastor Martin Niemoller
Do you remember the things you worried about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
--Dale Carnegie
--Dale Carnegie
Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit.
--M. Scott Peck, M.D.
--M. Scott Peck, M.D.
If history has proven anything, it is that the spread of the gospel by the sword or by coercion has done nothing but misrepresent the message and bring disrepute to the gospel.
--Ravi Zacharias
--Ravi Zacharias
Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.
--Colin Powell
--Colin Powell
Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
--Sir Winston Churchill
--Sir Winston Churchill
The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty ... students' perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens.
--Thomas Jefferson
--Thomas Jefferson
Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment. Go some distance away, because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.
--Leonardo da Vinci
--Leonardo da Vinci
When we learn to treat our stuff like stuff, we can treat people like people.
--Sherman S. Pemberton
INFO
--Sherman S. Pemberton
INFO
Source Information
From a sermon preached on Sunday morning February 17, 2008 at La Habra Christian Church.
CLOSE INFO
From a sermon preached on Sunday morning February 17, 2008 at La Habra Christian Church.
CLOSE INFO
[Y]oung Americans must never again be sent to fight and die unless we are prepared to let them win.
--Ronald Reagan (1988)
--Ronald Reagan (1988)
The greatest person alive in the world at this moment is some unknown individual in some obscure place who, at this hour, has gone in love to be with another person in need.
Homiletics, March 31, 1996
--Albert Schweitzer
Homiletics, March 31, 1996
--Albert Schweitzer
It takes less time to do a thing right, than explain why you did it wrong.
--Henry Longfellow
--Henry Longfellow
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
--Goethe
--Goethe
To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.
--Edward R. Murrow
INFO
--Edward R. Murrow
INFO
Source Information
Edward R. Murrow (USIA Director, 1961 - 1964) said in 1963 before a House Subcommittee regarding U.S. public diplomacy activities:
American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful.... truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.
Ref: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32607.pdf
CLOSE INFO
Edward R. Murrow (USIA Director, 1961 - 1964) said in 1963 before a House Subcommittee regarding U.S. public diplomacy activities:
American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful.... truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.
Ref: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32607.pdf
CLOSE INFO
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing. It's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.
--Margaret Thatcher
--Margaret Thatcher
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
--Albert Einstein
--Albert Einstein
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs an comes short again and again; who knows the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
--Theodore Roosevelt
--Theodore Roosevelt
But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us;
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
Source Information
MERE CHRISTIANITY, Book 2 "What Christians Believe", Chapter 5 "The Practical Conclusion"
CLOSE INFO
MERE CHRISTIANITY, Book 2 "What Christians Believe", Chapter 5 "The Practical Conclusion"
CLOSE INFO
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of free men. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom.
--Patrick Henry
--Patrick Henry
When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Professor Alexander Tyler
wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over a thousand years ago:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.
--Alexander Tyler
INFO
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.
--Alexander Tyler
INFO
You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
--C. S. Lewis
INFO
Source Information
MERE CHRISTIANITY, Book 3 "Christian Behaviour", Chapter 1 "The Three Parts of Morality"
CLOSE INFO
MERE CHRISTIANITY, Book 3 "Christian Behaviour", Chapter 1 "The Three Parts of Morality"
CLOSE INFO
Source Information
From "Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices" by Dan Saffer, pg. 220
"The best way to predict the future," said Alan Kay, the Xerox PARC scientist who came up with the idea of a laptop computer, the Dynabook, in 1972, "is to invent it." The future arrives, second by second, whether we want it to or not, and it is the job of interaction designers to invent it, or at least to make it more humane. The sheer number of products and services, augmented by new technologies, that will become widely available in the next decade and their likely effect on the world will be staggering. Between the advancing technology and the people who will use it stand interaction designers, shaping, guiding, cajoling the future into forms for humans.
CLOSE INFO
From "Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices" by Dan Saffer, pg. 220
"The best way to predict the future," said Alan Kay, the Xerox PARC scientist who came up with the idea of a laptop computer, the Dynabook, in 1972, "is to invent it." The future arrives, second by second, whether we want it to or not, and it is the job of interaction designers to invent it, or at least to make it more humane. The sheer number of products and services, augmented by new technologies, that will become widely available in the next decade and their likely effect on the world will be staggering. Between the advancing technology and the people who will use it stand interaction designers, shaping, guiding, cajoling the future into forms for humans.
CLOSE INFO
When it is not possible to reason with holy warriors, it is necessary to immobilize them or crush them.
--William F. Buckley Jr.
--William F. Buckley Jr.
We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think. --The Buddha, 500 BC
One's own thought is one's world. What a person thinks is what he becomes. --Maitri Upanishad, 1,000 BC
As a man thinketh, so is he. --Proverbs 23:7
--Wisdom
One's own thought is one's world. What a person thinks is what he becomes. --Maitri Upanishad, 1,000 BC
As a man thinketh, so is he. --Proverbs 23:7
--Wisdom
A thought for my libertarian friends to ponder:
Once a number of men set out to sea. In an idle and mischievous moment, one of the passengers started to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat where he was sitting. "What are you trying to do?" ... cried his fellow passengers in alarm.
"What does it concern you what I am doing?" ... replied the man ... "I am not boring a hole under where you are sitting, only under my own place."
"It may be only under your place" ... retorted the others ... "But should the water fill the boat, it will capsize ... Then all of us will drown."
--Judean Sage, Simeon bar Yochai
Once a number of men set out to sea. In an idle and mischievous moment, one of the passengers started to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat where he was sitting. "What are you trying to do?" ... cried his fellow passengers in alarm.
"What does it concern you what I am doing?" ... replied the man ... "I am not boring a hole under where you are sitting, only under my own place."
"It may be only under your place" ... retorted the others ... "But should the water fill the boat, it will capsize ... Then all of us will drown."
--Judean Sage, Simeon bar Yochai
There are two freedoms -- the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.
--Charles Kingsley
--Charles Kingsley
Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid.
--David Hackworth
--David Hackworth
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
--John Wesley
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
--John Wesley
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
--General George Patton
--General George Patton
If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
--Herodotus
--Herodotus
The people and circumstances around me do not MAKE me what I am, they REVEAL who I am.
--Dr. Laura Schlessinger
--Dr. Laura Schlessinger
We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.
--G.K. Chesterton
INFO
--G.K. Chesterton
INFO
He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.
--Jesus Christ
--Jesus Christ
Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention, that of providing for the common defence will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined;
--George Washington
INFO
--George Washington
INFO
Source Information
Source: First Annual Message to Congress, January 8, 1790
I found this quote after discovering that what I had in this spot before was the following BOGUS quotation:
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference -- they deserve a place of honor with all that is good."
More explanation about this bogus version can be found here Bogus Founder Quotes.
CLOSE INFO
Source: First Annual Message to Congress, January 8, 1790
I found this quote after discovering that what I had in this spot before was the following BOGUS quotation:
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference -- they deserve a place of honor with all that is good."
More explanation about this bogus version can be found here Bogus Founder Quotes.
CLOSE INFO
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
--William Safire
--William Safire
We can’t build a safer world with honorable intentions and good will alone. Achieving the fundamental goals our nation seeks in world affairs – peace, human rights, economics progress national independence and international stability – means supporting our friends and defending our interests.
--Ronald Reagan (1983)
--Ronald Reagan (1983)
Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.
--Rick Warren
--Rick Warren
Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.
--Benjamin Franklin
--Benjamin Franklin
I was watching the last gubernatorial debate between Gray Davis and Dan Lungren for the 1998 California general election. The topic of sex education, condom distribution, and abstinence training in our public schools came up. I was struck by a comment that Gray Davis made in his response to these topics and I paraphrase, "If we provide our children with accurate and complete information, they will do the right thing." I don't think that's true at all. What if a child simply chooses to do the wrong thing in spite of being fully informed? Apparently, Gray Davis believes that we are born basically good and if we make kids happy and give them lots of love then they will just naturally do good things. I understand this is a very common believe among many of our educators. A disturbing variation on this belief says that if children have a high self-esteem, they will do the right thing. This has actually prompted some educators to not point out mistakes in children's tests because they feel it would damage their self-esteem. In a nutshell, I believe that we are born neutral, that it is much easier for us to do the wrong thing, and that doing the right thing must be taught and reinforced throughout our lives.
--Bugs
INFO
--Bugs
INFO
An America that is militarily and economically strong is not enough. The world must see an America that is morally strong with a creed and a vision. This is what has led us to dare and achieve. For us, values count.
--Ronald Reagan (1983)
--Ronald Reagan (1983)
All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading.
--Rick Warren
--Rick Warren
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
--Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787
--Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787
Search for the perfect church if you will; when you find it, join it, and realize that on that day it becomes something less than perfect.
--Father Andrew Greeley
--Father Andrew Greeley
Source Information
I observed this bumper sticker while driving North on the 405 freeway through Long Beach, California on Sunday February 3, 2008.
CLOSE INFO
I observed this bumper sticker while driving North on the 405 freeway through Long Beach, California on Sunday February 3, 2008.
CLOSE INFO
In all things it is a good idea to hang a question mark now and then on the things we have taken for granted.
--Bertrand Russell
--Bertrand Russell
The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has let you down.
--Ravi Zacharias
--Ravi Zacharias
This is the case with thousands: they appear desirous of knowing the truth, but have not patience to wait in a proper way to receive an answer to their question.
--Adam Clarke
--Adam Clarke
Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
--George Washington
INFO
--George Washington
INFO
Source Information
Source: George Washington's Farewell Address
I originally had this quotation: "Do not let any one claim to be a true American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics."
The problem was that is nowhere to be found in the Farewell Address, but it is commonly quoted on the Internet. I believe someone boiled down the quote I have listed there now because the sentiment is clearly present. Somehow the paraphrased version found its way to a web page and since very few people actually check sources (I used to be one of them!) it got propogated.
CLOSE INFO
Source: George Washington's Farewell Address
I originally had this quotation: "Do not let any one claim to be a true American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics."
The problem was that is nowhere to be found in the Farewell Address, but it is commonly quoted on the Internet. I believe someone boiled down the quote I have listed there now because the sentiment is clearly present. Somehow the paraphrased version found its way to a web page and since very few people actually check sources (I used to be one of them!) it got propogated.
CLOSE INFO
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
--Frank A. Clark
--Frank A. Clark
We have to realize that this country in its private sector has been fighting the most successful war on poverty the world has seen for the last 200 years.
--Ronald Reagan (1968)
--Ronald Reagan (1968)
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
--John Wooden
--John Wooden
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
--Ben Franklin
--Ben Franklin
There are only two races, the decent and the indecent.
--Viktor Frankl
--Viktor Frankl
Source Information
The quote in A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren on the title page of Chapter 1 by Bertrand Russell can be found in the book The Meaning of Life by philosopher Hugh S. Moorhead. It is the book that Rick mentions in the same chapter that has the quote. Hugh Moorhead collected statements on the meaning of life from 250 writers and scholars. In this compilation of statements you'll find the one from Bertrand Russell.
CLOSE INFO
The quote in A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren on the title page of Chapter 1 by Bertrand Russell can be found in the book The Meaning of Life by philosopher Hugh S. Moorhead. It is the book that Rick mentions in the same chapter that has the quote. Hugh Moorhead collected statements on the meaning of life from 250 writers and scholars. In this compilation of statements you'll find the one from Bertrand Russell.
CLOSE INFO
Source Information
I saw this on a bumper sticker at the intersection of Imperial and Beach on Sunday 3/23/2009.
CLOSE INFO
I saw this on a bumper sticker at the intersection of Imperial and Beach on Sunday 3/23/2009.
CLOSE INFO
Discontent is an ungrateful sin, because we have more mercies than afflictions; and it is an irrational sin, because afflictions work for good...The devil blows the coals of passion and discontent and then warms himself at the fire.
--Thomas Watson
--Thomas Watson
If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
--Anatole France
--Anatole France
We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
--Winston Churchill
--Winston Churchill
Organization doesn’t really accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.
--Colin Powell
--Colin Powell
Destiny is no matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
--William Jennings Bryan
--William Jennings Bryan
Whether you think you can or think you can't -- you are right.
--Henry Ford
--Henry Ford
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would 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
INFO
--Carl Sagan
INFO
Source Information
I would respectfully add that perhaps Mr. Sagan wasn't as well acquainted with the religious community as he was its counterpart. Sadly, he missed the recent apologies graciously offered by Pope John Paul II. As regards to politics... he has a good point ;-)
CLOSE INFO
I would respectfully add that perhaps Mr. Sagan wasn't as well acquainted with the religious community as he was its counterpart. Sadly, he missed the recent apologies graciously offered by Pope John Paul II. As regards to politics... he has a good point ;-)
CLOSE INFO
Happy relationships are built, not discovered.
--Sherman Pemberton
--Sherman Pemberton
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
--Patrick Henry
--Patrick Henry
Freedom Know this, that every man is free
To choose his life and what he'll be.
For this eternal truth is given,
God will force no man to heaven.
He'll call, persuade, direct aright,
Bless with wisdom, love, and light;
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.
--William C. Clegg
To choose his life and what he'll be.
For this eternal truth is given,
God will force no man to heaven.
He'll call, persuade, direct aright,
Bless with wisdom, love, and light;
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.
--William C. Clegg
Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them.
--George Orwell
--George Orwell
To educate a man in mind, and not in morals, is to educate a menace to society.
--Theodore Roosevelt
--Theodore Roosevelt
We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.
--St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople and Church Father (349–407)
--St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople and Church Father (349–407)
Position folds, power fades, preparation fails, but purpose overcomes.
--Sherman S. Pemberton
--Sherman S. Pemberton
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
--Jesus Christ
INFO
--Jesus Christ
INFO
Source Information
Source: The Gospel according to Matthew 7:1-5
This one is for all those who have tried to take this teaching out of context. Please notice that Jesus was not prohibiting judging but rather warning against judging others when you are not ready to be judged by the same standard. He says in the last sentence that once you have taken the problem out of your own life, then you can deal with your brother.
CLOSE INFO
Source: The Gospel according to Matthew 7:1-5
This one is for all those who have tried to take this teaching out of context. Please notice that Jesus was not prohibiting judging but rather warning against judging others when you are not ready to be judged by the same standard. He says in the last sentence that once you have taken the problem out of your own life, then you can deal with your brother.
CLOSE INFO
I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the
government of man.
--Thomas Jefferson to Augustus B. Woodward, 1824
--Thomas Jefferson to Augustus B. Woodward, 1824
It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
--Carl Sagan
--Carl Sagan
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart.
--John Bunyan, Leadership, vol. 6, no. 2
--John Bunyan, Leadership, vol. 6, no. 2
Do, or do not. There is no try.
--Master Yoda
--Master Yoda
Racial prejudice,
religious bigotry,
fetal genocide.
--bumper sticker
religious bigotry,
fetal genocide.
--bumper sticker
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
--John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790. (Speeches. Dublin, 1808.)
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
--abolitionist Wendell Phillips (1811-1844) paraphrasing John Philpot Curran (above)
--John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790. (Speeches. Dublin, 1808.)
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
--abolitionist Wendell Phillips (1811-1844) paraphrasing John Philpot Curran (above)
Bow your head down to worship some god, he never speaks to me I wonder if that's odd. Then he says, you're never listening.
--the church.starfish.lost
--the church.starfish.lost
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
--Dante, The Inferno
--Dante, The Inferno
People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.
--John Wanamaker
--John Wanamaker
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
--Marcus Aurelius
--Marcus Aurelius
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
--President Thomas Jefferson
--President Thomas Jefferson
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
--Mahatma Gandhi
--Mahatma Gandhi
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
--Elbert Hubbard
--Elbert Hubbard
Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?
--Robert F. Kennedy
--Robert F. Kennedy