Quotations 4
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1margd
Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore.
― A.R. Moxon, author of novel, The Revisionaries
That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore.
― A.R. Moxon, author of novel, The Revisionaries
2margd
"This pandemic doesn't end just because we cross our arms and say it's over," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.
3Limelite
Russians, Listen To Your Writers
Not your politicians.
Not your politicians.
"People who recognize war as not only inevitable, but also useful, and therefore desirable, these people are terrible, terrible in their moral perversity" -- LN Tolstoy (War and Peace)
4librorumamans
"Pollution is directly connected to poverty. The poorer a community is, the more dirty the energy is they produce."
– Ted Cruz at 9:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bxx1jFSlMI
That just leaves me slack-jawed.
– Ted Cruz at 9:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bxx1jFSlMI
That just leaves me slack-jawed.
5Limelite
In re DJT, Jr.'s Texts To Mark Miller about Making His Dad Prez Again
What was he thinking?
What was he thinking?
Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason. -- Sir John Harington
72wonderY
Apologies for the length of this quote, but not sure where else to share it. But I thought it was worth posting. This is Heather Cox Richardson’s reflection on Lee’s surrender at Appomattox April 9, 1865:
“ On April 9, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant got out of bed with a migraine.
The pain had hit the day before as he rode through the Virginia countryside, where the United States Army had been harrying the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, for days.
Grant knew it was only a question of time before Lee had to surrender. After four years of war, the people in the South were starving, and Lee’s army was melting away as men went home to salvage whatever they could of their farm and family. Just that morning, a Confederate colonel had thrown himself on Grant’s mercy after realizing that he was the only man in his entire regiment who had not already abandoned the cause. But while Grant had twice asked Lee to surrender, Lee continued to insist his men could fight on.
So Grant had gone to bed in a Virginia farmhouse on April 8, dirty, tired, and miserable with a migraine. He spent the night “bathing my feet in hot water and mustard, and putting mustard plasters on my wrists and the back part of my neck, hoping to be cured by morning.” His remedies didn’t work. In the morning, Grant pulled on his clothes from the day before and rode out to the head of his column with his head throbbing.
As he rode, an escort arrived with a note from Lee requesting an interview for the purpose of surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. “When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache,” Grant recalled, “but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured.”
The two men met in the home of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee had dressed grandly for the occasion in a brand new general’s uniform carrying a dress sword; Grant wore simply the “rough garb” of a private with the shoulder straps of a lieutenant general. But the images of the noble South and the humble North hid a very different reality. As soon as the papers were signed, Lee told Grant his men were starving and asked if the Union general could provide the Confederates with rations. Grant didn’t hesitate. “Certainly,” he responded, even before he asked how many men needed food. He took Lee's answer—“about twenty-five thousand”—in stride, telling the general that “he could have... all the provisions wanted.”
Four years before, southerners defending their vision of white supremacy had ridden off to war boasting that they would beat the North’s misguided egalitarian levelers in a single battle. By 1865, Confederates were broken and starving, while the United States of America, backed by a booming industrial economy that rested on ordinary women and men of all backgrounds, could provide rations for twenty-five thousand extra men on a moment’s notice.
The Civil War was won not by the dashing sons of wealthy planters, but by people like Grant, who dragged himself out of his blankets and pulled a dirty soldier’s uniform over his pounding head on an April morning because he knew he had to get up and get to work.”
“ On April 9, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant got out of bed with a migraine.
The pain had hit the day before as he rode through the Virginia countryside, where the United States Army had been harrying the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, for days.
Grant knew it was only a question of time before Lee had to surrender. After four years of war, the people in the South were starving, and Lee’s army was melting away as men went home to salvage whatever they could of their farm and family. Just that morning, a Confederate colonel had thrown himself on Grant’s mercy after realizing that he was the only man in his entire regiment who had not already abandoned the cause. But while Grant had twice asked Lee to surrender, Lee continued to insist his men could fight on.
So Grant had gone to bed in a Virginia farmhouse on April 8, dirty, tired, and miserable with a migraine. He spent the night “bathing my feet in hot water and mustard, and putting mustard plasters on my wrists and the back part of my neck, hoping to be cured by morning.” His remedies didn’t work. In the morning, Grant pulled on his clothes from the day before and rode out to the head of his column with his head throbbing.
As he rode, an escort arrived with a note from Lee requesting an interview for the purpose of surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. “When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache,” Grant recalled, “but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured.”
The two men met in the home of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee had dressed grandly for the occasion in a brand new general’s uniform carrying a dress sword; Grant wore simply the “rough garb” of a private with the shoulder straps of a lieutenant general. But the images of the noble South and the humble North hid a very different reality. As soon as the papers were signed, Lee told Grant his men were starving and asked if the Union general could provide the Confederates with rations. Grant didn’t hesitate. “Certainly,” he responded, even before he asked how many men needed food. He took Lee's answer—“about twenty-five thousand”—in stride, telling the general that “he could have... all the provisions wanted.”
Four years before, southerners defending their vision of white supremacy had ridden off to war boasting that they would beat the North’s misguided egalitarian levelers in a single battle. By 1865, Confederates were broken and starving, while the United States of America, backed by a booming industrial economy that rested on ordinary women and men of all backgrounds, could provide rations for twenty-five thousand extra men on a moment’s notice.
The Civil War was won not by the dashing sons of wealthy planters, but by people like Grant, who dragged himself out of his blankets and pulled a dirty soldier’s uniform over his pounding head on an April morning because he knew he had to get up and get to work.”
82wonderY
From Thomas L. Friedman’s opinion column today:
one of America’s premier teachers of grand strategy, John Arquilla, who recently retired as a distinguished professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. When I called Arquilla and asked him what he’d tell Putin today, he didn’t hesitate: “I would say, ‘Make peace, you fool.’”
And Friedman summarizes another point
“ Grandmas with iPhones can trump satellites.”
one of America’s premier teachers of grand strategy, John Arquilla, who recently retired as a distinguished professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. When I called Arquilla and asked him what he’d tell Putin today, he didn’t hesitate: “I would say, ‘Make peace, you fool.’”
And Friedman summarizes another point
“ Grandmas with iPhones can trump satellites.”
9Molly3028
https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/please-tell-me-what-i-should-be-saying-mike-lee...
'Please Tell Me What I Should Be Saying': Mike Lee Perfectly Sums Up Trump-Era Republican Ethos in Text to Mark Meadows in early 2021
***
The 'Grievances on Parade' cult members have no moral compasses. They are puppets being controlled by a con artist puppeteer.
'Please Tell Me What I Should Be Saying': Mike Lee Perfectly Sums Up Trump-Era Republican Ethos in Text to Mark Meadows in early 2021
***
The 'Grievances on Parade' cult members have no moral compasses. They are puppets being controlled by a con artist puppeteer.
10margd
Sun Tzu said:
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact;
to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact;
to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
122wonderY
“I am oppposed to abortion. I do not believe that just because you are opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, a child educated, a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
Sister Joan Chittister
Sister Joan Chittister
13John5918
"I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral: The intellectual thing, I should want to say to them, is this: When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only "what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out?" Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think could have beneficial social effects, if it were believed. But look only and solely at: "What are the facts?" That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say. The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple. I should say: Love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. We have to learn to put up with the fact, that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. And if we are to live together and not to die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet."
Bertrand Russell - Message To Future Generations (1959)
Bertrand Russell - Message To Future Generations (1959)
14margd
To be alive and explore nature now is to read by the light of a library as it burns.
- Tom Mustill
British documentary filmmaker, one of the kayakers in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXnCBPkp15A
- Tom Mustill
British documentary filmmaker, one of the kayakers in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXnCBPkp15A
15margd
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
16margd
The Goose and the Common
Authors unknown - a number of versions©1700s
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine
The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back
(Climate emergency, insurrection leadership, so many inequities--protest rhyme from seventeenth century England reminds us that what we today call "privatisation" of common resources--and inequity--is an old story. https://unionsong.com/u765.html)
Authors unknown - a number of versions©1700s
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine
The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back
(Climate emergency, insurrection leadership, so many inequities--protest rhyme from seventeenth century England reminds us that what we today call "privatisation" of common resources--and inequity--is an old story. https://unionsong.com/u765.html)
17margd
It can be lonely to be the type of person that copes with uncertainty by running towards information instead of away from it.
- Dr. Lisa Iannattone @lisa_iannattone | 7:39 PM · Jul 7, 2022
Assistant Professor of Dermatology @med_umontreal. Adjunct Clinical Professor @McGillMed.
- Dr. Lisa Iannattone @lisa_iannattone | 7:39 PM · Jul 7, 2022
Assistant Professor of Dermatology @med_umontreal. Adjunct Clinical Professor @McGillMed.
182wonderY
On Brett Kavanaugh, skipping dessert at DC steakhouse amid protests outside:
“The least they could do is let him eat cake.”
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“The least they could do is let him eat cake.”
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
19margd
If you cannot imagine data that would convince you otherwise - the position you’re holding is an article of faith, not science.
Bill Hanage
Assoc Prof at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Bill Hanage
Assoc Prof at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
212wonderY
“Joe Manchin is a Democrat in the same sense that a jelly bean is a legume.”
@middleageriot
@middleageriot
242wonderY
“Finally we’re going to try to save the planet; which is a good thing. It’s where I keep most of my stuff!”
- Steven Colbert
- Steven Colbert
25margd
“A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb … But we are not helpless … We can sing the truth & name the liars.”
--Salman Rushdie
Jean Guerrero @jeanguerre | 1:57 PM · Aug 12, 2022:
Three months ago I heard Salman Rushdie speak at the PEN World Voices Festival...
We must tell better stories than the tyrants.
_________________________________________________________________
“How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.”
~ Salman Rushdie
__________________________________________________________________
“A poet's work {is} to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep.”
--Salman Rushdie
--Salman Rushdie
Jean Guerrero @jeanguerre | 1:57 PM · Aug 12, 2022:
Three months ago I heard Salman Rushdie speak at the PEN World Voices Festival...
We must tell better stories than the tyrants.
_________________________________________________________________
“How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.”
~ Salman Rushdie
__________________________________________________________________
“A poet's work {is} to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep.”
--Salman Rushdie
26margd
If you think you're too small to make a difference,
try spending the night with a mosquito.
--African Proverb
try spending the night with a mosquito.
--African Proverb
29margd
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
- John Watson (under his pen name Ian Maclaren) 1850-1907
- John Watson (under his pen name Ian Maclaren) 1850-1907
30margd
Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.
- David Bowie
- David Bowie
32margd
Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
- John F. Kennedy
- John F. Kennedy
33margd
You put your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution.
You didn't put your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin
You didn't put your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin
34John5918
A.A. Milne, of Winnie the Pooh fame, despite being a pacifist, served in World War I, including on the Somme. A definition of a patriot attributed to him is: "Someone who accuses other people of being unpatriotic".
35margd
The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
– Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 1980.
– Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 1980.
36margd
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived;
but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
– Maya Angelou.
but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
– Maya Angelou.
37margd
Whatever the cost of our libraries,
the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.
- Walter Cronkite
the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.
- Walter Cronkite
382wonderY
159 years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered his two minute address at Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
It’s worth reviewing them again today.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
It’s worth reviewing them again today.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
39margd
The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.
― Turkish Proverbs.
― Turkish Proverbs.
40margd
If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever, happens to the beasts, soon happens to man.
- Chief Seattle
- Chief Seattle
41margd
There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.
― Wendell Berry, Given
― Wendell Berry, Given
422wonderY
Dark Brandon shows up at State of the Union, mops the floor with lost Republicans
-USA Today opinion piece title
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/state-union-biden-de...
-USA Today opinion piece title
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/state-union-biden-de...
43John5918
"War consists of destroying people’s soul, changing their lives, their culture, smashing their links, their identity, all."
Renowned war photojournalist Reza Deghati. I can't find the original quote, but it is quoted in Tall Grass by Carlos Rodriguez Soto, an eye-witness account of the Lord's Resistance Army conflict in northern Ugandan.
"Peace is when a person fears only snakes".
Carlos Rodriguez Soto in the same book.
Renowned war photojournalist Reza Deghati. I can't find the original quote, but it is quoted in Tall Grass by Carlos Rodriguez Soto, an eye-witness account of the Lord's Resistance Army conflict in northern Ugandan.
"Peace is when a person fears only snakes".
Carlos Rodriguez Soto in the same book.
44margd
"Being a copper I like to see the law win. I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred hard guys that got knocked over on their first caper and never had a break since. That’s what I’d like. You and me both lived too long to think I’m likely to see it happen. Not in this town, not in any town half this size, in any part of this wide, green and beautiful U.S.A. We just don’t run our country that way."
- Raymond Chandler in The Big Sleep
- Raymond Chandler in The Big Sleep
45margd
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
— John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club
places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
— John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club
46librorumamans
"The power of the lie. Always seductive to the powerless."
— Ali Smith, Autumn
— Ali Smith, Autumn
48John5918
“Anyone can shoot a target, but it’s much more difficult to shoot ‘Brian’ who has three children and likes golf and does a bit of charity work … The actors in a conflict have to distance themselves from the humanity of their enemy but in doing that you diminish your own humanity.”
A former Provisional IRA member, quoted in the Imperial War Museum's exhibition on the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' (link)
A former Provisional IRA member, quoted in the Imperial War Museum's exhibition on the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' (link)
49margd
If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.
― Pete Seeger
― Pete Seeger
50margd
The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.
— Robert Swan
— Robert Swan
52alco261
Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
—Charles Babbage (1791–1871)
—Charles Babbage (1791–1871)
532wonderY
“ So a Democratic Senator is indicted on serious charges, and no Democrats attacking the Justice Department, no Democrats attacking the prosecutors, no Democrats calling for an investigation of the prosecution, and no Democrats calling to defund the Justice Department. Weird, huh?”
former Republican representative from Illinois and now anti-Trump activist Joe Walsh
former Republican representative from Illinois and now anti-Trump activist Joe Walsh
54margd
> 53 And within a few hours, D Senator Fetterman, D Gov of NJ, and other Democrats are calling on Menendez to resign.
(I'm old enough to remember Dems forcing Senator Al Franken (D) out...)
(I'm old enough to remember Dems forcing Senator Al Franken (D) out...)
55John5918
"There's no such thing as a hero. If you're not scared, you're an idiot."
Ron Morris, who served in World War II and participated in Operation Jaywick in 1943, when Australian and British commandos sabotaged Japanese shipping in Singapore, quoted in a BBC article on the raid here.
Ron Morris, who served in World War II and participated in Operation Jaywick in 1943, when Australian and British commandos sabotaged Japanese shipping in Singapore, quoted in a BBC article on the raid here.
56margd
>55 John5918: My dad used to say something similar. I remember him telling me "True bravery is to do your duty even though scared." We were watching Barney Fife in TV show Andy of Mayberry, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUBUm0Kh3kI
58John5918
"If Margaret Thatcher were to create an army in rural Sudan, it would be the RSF {Sudan's Rapid Support Forces}"
Magdi el Gizouli, in an interview entitled "Marketing War", speaking of the role of neoliberalism in Sudan's conflicts.
Magdi el Gizouli, in an interview entitled "Marketing War", speaking of the role of neoliberalism in Sudan's conflicts.
59librorumamans
"Wittiness is educated insolence."
Aristotle. Rhetoric, 1389a12
Aristotle. Rhetoric, 1389a12
602wonderY
“You should not be afraid of someone who has a library and reads many books; you should fear someone who has only one book and he considers it sacred, but he has never read it.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Friedrich Nietzsche
61margd
"Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect…"
- Jonathan Swift in "The Examiner" (1710)
- Jonathan Swift in "The Examiner" (1710)
