“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte
Potent Quotables
List of quotations that are insightful, thoughtful, and timeless.
The World Suffers
“The world suffers a lot. Not because the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of the good people.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte
--Napoleon Bonaparte
Decay of Decency
“The decay of decency in the modern age, the rebellion against law and good faith, the treatment of human beings as things, as the mere instruments of power and ambition, is without a doubt the consequence of the decay of the belief in man as something more than an animal animated by highly conditioned reflexes and chemical reactions. For, unless man is something more than that, he has no rights that anyone is bound to respect, and there are no limitations upon his conduct which he is bound to obey.”
--Walter Lippmann
--Walter Lippmann
Victory over Ignorance
“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte
--Napoleon Bonaparte
Call for Censorship
“Those who call for censorship in the name of the oppressed ought to recognize it is never the oppressed who determine the bounds of censorship.”
--Aryeh Neier
--Aryeh Neier
Insanity Rule
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
--Friedrich Nietzsche
--Friedrich Nietzsche
Few Men Think
“Few men think, yet all will have opinions. Hence men’s opinions are superficial and confused.”
--John Locke
--John Locke
Educating Men
“Educating a free man consists of teaching him how to think, whereas educating a slave consists in teaching him what to think.”
--Marcus Tullius Cicero
--Marcus Tullius Cicero
The Sea is Dangerous
“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore. Unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible. It is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors, to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.”
--Ferdinand Magellan
--Ferdinand Magellan
The High Road
“The high road is always easy to find, just not always easy to take.”
--Patricia Potyka
--Patricia Potyka
(click picture to enlarge)
Reason and Inquiry
“Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”
--Thomas Jefferson
--Thomas Jefferson
Dislike in Others
“The things we dislike most in others are the characteristics we like least in ourselves.”
--Marian Keys
--Marian Keys
Freedom Will Not Survive
"What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.”
--Thomas Sowell
--Thomas Sowell
Point the Way
“The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.”
--Henry Miller
--Henry Miller
Reputation versus Honor
“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.”
--Lois McMaster Bujold
--Lois McMaster Bujold
Drive for Power
“The drive for power is potentially endless and boundless. Some people in search of power cannot conceive any limitation to it.”
--Silvano Arieti
--Silvano Arieti
Quality of Leadership
“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.”
--Brian Tracy
--Brian Tracy
No Kings, No Wars
“In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
Cruel Unrelenting Enemy
"Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance or the most abject submission."
--George Washington
--George Washington
Sharp Wit
“What's the point of having a rapier wit if I can't use it to stab people?”
--Jeph Jacques
--Jeph Jacques
(click picture to enlarge)
Hollow Popularity
“Popularity is a form of success that is seldom worth the things you have to do in order to attain it.”
--Unknown
--Unknown
Free and Fair Judiciary
“All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Blessings of Freedom
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
Continue the Discussion
“Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the discussion.”
--Dwight Macdonald
--Dwight Macdonald
Moral Society
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Citizen Subjects
“But to the extent that government is strong, the individual is weak, with the result that even if his title is citizen, his position is that of subject.”
--Leopold Kohr
--Leopold Kohr
Nature of Crowds
“Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it.”
--Titus Livius (Livy)
--Titus Livius (Livy)
Generate Wealth
There are three ways you can generate wealth. You can grow it, you can build it, or you can mine it, but you cannot print it.”
--Gordon Long
--Gordon Long
Bill of Rights
“The Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively.”
--Walter Lippmann
--Walter Lippmann
More is Less
“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”
--Thomas Jefferson
--Thomas Jefferson
Religious Fascism
“Fascism does not so much aim to govern people as to monopolize the control of their consciences. The possession of power is not enough for fascism: it needs to possess the private conscience of all its citizens, it demands the “conversion” of a country. Fascism makes the same claims as a religion. It does not promise happiness to those who do not convert.”
--Giovanni Amendola
--Giovanni Amendola
Courage over Doubt
“Courage is the ability to take action even when storms of doubt rage within.”
--Claire Fox
--Claire Fox
Freedom of Speech
“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”
--Benjamin Franklin
--Benjamin Franklin
Do Not Fear Death
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
--Mark Twain
--Mark Twain
Shield of the Law
“The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Stoop To Conquer
“In wishing to be above men, put yourself by words below them, and, wishing to be before them, place yourself behind them.”
--Lao Tzu
--Lao Tzu
(click picture to enlarge)
Rule of Law
“Only the middle class cares about the rule of law. The poor are indifferent to the law, and the rich think it should not apply to them. So, when the middle class disappears, so do Republics.”
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
Preparation for Success
“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”
--Henry Ford
--Henry Ford
Resolute
“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.”
-- Cavett Robert
-- Cavett Robert
Power over Others
“The essence of politics is not the pursuit of the good society, nor for the maximization of social welfare, it is the realm where people compete in open and concealed ways for power and control over others.”
--Niccolo Machiavelli
--Niccolo Machiavelli
Better Yourself
“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
--William Faulkner
--William Faulkner
(click picture to enlarge)
Through Science
“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.”
--Henri Poincaré
--Henri Poincaré
Elite Indifference
“Elites are always indifferent and unconcerned to the plight of common people.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
Honest Mistake
“Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.”
--James Altucher
--James Altucher
Mindless Tools
“Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Conscience is Felt
“Conscience is a felt state, it is an intuitive form of knowledge about the rightness or wrongness of an action.”
--Claire Fox
--Claire Fox
Bamboozled
“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
--Carl Sagan
Move Mountains
“Those who remove mountains begin by carrying away small stones.”
--Chinese Proverb
--Chinese Proverb
(click picture to enlarge)
Blind Obedience
“The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism.”
--Sarah & Angelina Grimke
--Sarah & Angelina Grimke
End of the World
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”
--Richard Bach
--Richard Bach
More Speech
“If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
--Louis Brandeis
Be Just
“Man’s greatness lies in his decision to be greater than his condition. And if his condition is unjust, he has only one way of overcoming it, which is to be just himself.”
--Albert Camus
--Albert Camus
Heaven Born Captain
“Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactic in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”
--Sun Tzu
--Sun Tzu
Persuade the Stupid
“Never again should we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Danger Force
“Danger alone acquaints us with our own resources: our virtues, our armor and weapons, our spirit, and forces us to be strong.”
-- Fredrick Nietzsche
-- Fredrick Nietzsche
When to Fight
"If you will not fight for right when you can win easily without bloodshed you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
--Winston Churchill
--Winston Churchill
Spiritual Beings
“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
(click picture to enlarge)
More Safe, Less Free
“To be more safe they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”
--Alexander Hamilton
--Alexander Hamilton
Society and Government
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
Not Boring
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”
--David Bowie
--David Bowie
Hard Times
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
--G. Michael Hopf
--G. Michael Hopf
Love Is Freedom
“Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.”
--Rabindranath Tagore
--Rabindranath Tagore
(click picture to enlarge)
Tyranny Conquered
“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
Accept Challenges
“Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
--George S. Patton
--George S. Patton
World War IV
“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with stones and spears.”
--Unknown (misattributed to Albert Einstein and Omar Bradley)
--Unknown (misattributed to Albert Einstein and Omar Bradley)
Industrious
“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.”
--Johann Sebastian Bach
--Johann Sebastian Bach
No Tax For Prosperity
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
--Winston Churchill
--Winston Churchill
Miracles Happen
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
--Albert Einstein
--Albert Einstein
(click picture to enlarge)
Mass Psychosis
“The totalitarian systems represent a kind of collective psychosis. Whether gradually or suddenly, reason and common human decency are no longer possible in such a system: there is only a pervasive atmosphere of terror, and a projection of “the enemy,” imagined to be “in our midst.” Thus society turns on itself, urged on by the ruling authorities.”
--Joost Meerloo
--Joost Meerloo
Monsters Exist
“Monsters exist, but they are far too few in number to be truly dangerous; the most dangerous monsters are ordinary people ready to believe and obey without asking questions.”
--Primo Levi
--Primo Levi
External Happiness
“The ordinary man places his life’s happiness in things external to him, so that when he loses them or finds them disappointing, the foundation of his happiness is destroyed. In other words, his center of gravity is not himself.”
--Arthur Schopenhauer
--Arthur Schopenhauer
Fortify Democracy
“Authoritarianism cannot be harnessed to fortify democracy any more than wolves can be taught to guard sheep.”
---John Hayward
---John Hayward
Equal Rights and Laws
“The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer form the great body of the people of the United States; they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Hand Over Freedom
“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. Man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born.”
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
Love, Hate and Fear
“I used to think love and hate were the two most powerful human emotions, but I was wrong. They are not even within the same galaxy of fear.”
--Unknown
--Unknown
Define Slavery
“There is no difference between political and chattel slavery. The former, no less than the latter, denies a man’s ownership of himself and the products of his labor; and asserts that other men may own him, and dispose of him and his property, for their uses, and at their pleasure.”
--Lysander Spooner
--Lysander Spooner
Code of Ethics
“A strong code of ethics is as reliable as a compass.”
--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
(click picture to enlarge)
Foundation of Liberty
“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
--Henry David Thoreau
--Henry David Thoreau
System of Lies
“If the main pillar of the totalitarian system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth. This is why the truth must be suppressed more severely than anything else.”
--Václav Havel
--Václav Havel
Destined to Become
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bring Sunshine
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
--Anthony J. D’Angelo
--Anthony J. D’Angelo
A Lie's Velocity
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
--Winston Churchill
--Winston Churchill
Mind Power
“The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.”
--Colin Wilson
--Colin Wilson
(click picture to enlarge)
Biggest Fear
“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are.”
--Don Miguel Ruiz
--Don Miguel Ruiz
Intelligence v. Wisdom
“Intelligence is when you spot a flaw in your boss's reasoning. Wisdom is when you refrain from pointing it out.”
--James Dent
--James Dent
Rule of Law
“A society can only remain great when its rulers obey the laws so its people can obey the rulers.”
--Solon
--Solon
Euthusiasm Rises
"Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas."
--Henry Ford
--Henry Ford
Action Alone
“Your authority is in action alone, and never in its fruits; motive should never be in the fruits of action, nor should you cling to inaction.”
--Krishna
--Krishna
Moral Responsibility
"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Make You Stupid
“Fear and hatred make you stupid. And stupid people are easy to manipulate.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
Discovered Self
“Resiliency comes from a discovered self, not a constructed self. It comes from the gradual emergence of your unique, inborn abilities in a process called individuation. The better you become, the more unique you become as an individual, and it never ends.”
--Al Siebert
--Al Siebert
You Get Better
“I wish I could tell you it gets better. But, it doesn't get better. You get better.”
--Joan Rivers
--Joan Rivers
Great Opportunities
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
--Charles Swindoll
--Charles Swindoll
Memes Matter
“We must learn to treat the demagogue and aspirant dictators in our midst with the weapon of ridicule. Both are almost incapable of humor of any sort, and if we treat them with humor, they will begin to collapse.”
--Joost Meerloo
--Joost Meerloo
Life Happens
“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
--John Lennon
--John Lennon
(click picture to enlarge)
Forget to be Afraid
“Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.”
--Lady Bird Johnson
--Lady Bird Johnson
Freedom is Air
“Freedom is the air we cannot do without, that we breathe without even noticing it until the time comes when, deprived of it, we feel we are dying.”
--Albert Camus
--Albert Camus
Height of Heroism
“The greatest height of heroism to which an individual can attain is to know how to face ridicule; better still, to know how to make oneself ridiculous and not shrink for the ridicule.”
--Miguel de Unamuno
--Miguel de Unamuno
Absolute Power
“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.”
--Barry Goldwater
--Barry Goldwater
Felt Grief
“Grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.”
--Pericles
--Pericles
Stupidity is More Dangerous
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
State Best Ordered
“That state is best ordered when the wicked have no command, and the good have.”
--Pittacus
--Pittacus
Prefer a Loss
“Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; for the one is painful but once, but the other for one’s whole life.”
--Chilon
--Chilon
Burden of Freedom
“Relieving people of the burden of freedom in order to make them feel safe is a recurring theme in the history of authoritarianism.”
--Frank Furedi
--Frank Furedi
Dwarf Men
“A state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.”
--John Stuart Mill
--John Stuart Mill
Reunited
“It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.”
--Lewis B. Smedes
--Lewis B. Smedes
(click picture to enlarge)
Thristed Truth
“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduces them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”
--Gustave Le Bon
--Gustave Le Bon
Weep for Liberty
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Desire for Safety
“The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”
--Tacitus
--Tacitus
Persistant Fear Mongering
“Persistent fear mongering in conjunction with promises that compliance to the regime will bring the citizens salvation creates true believers who will do whatever the regime commands, even if these commands require them to go to an early grave.”
--Claire Fox
--Claire Fox
Psychic Epidemics
“It is not famine, not earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer but man himself who is man’s greatest danger to man, for the simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes.”
--Carl Jung
--Carl Jung
Govern Myself
“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and if they will not adapt to me, I adapt to them.”
--Michel de Montaigne
--Michel de Montaigne
Don't Ask, Do
“It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
--Jewish Proverb
--Jewish Proverb
(click picture to enlarge)
Great Citiznes
“The great citizens of a country are not those who bend the knee before authority but rather those who, against authority if need be, are adamant as to the honor and freedom of that country.”
--Albert Camus
--Albert Camus
Not in the Stars
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
--William Shakespeare
--William Shakespeare
New Year Brings
“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”
--Vern McLellan
--Vern McLellan
Any Period
“If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of revolution, when the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Disastrous Year
“Sometimes a year has been so disastrous and so terrible that entering a new year will automatically mean entering a wonderful year.”
--Mehmet Murat Ildan
--Mehmet Murat Ildan
Excellence Is Habitual
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
--Will Durant (misattributed to Aristotle)
--Will Durant (misattributed to Aristotle)
(click picture to enlarge)
Leaders' Balance
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”
--Arnold Glasow
--Arnold Glasow
Insubordinate Person
“Every insubordinate person, when he rises up against oppression, reaffirms thereby the solidarity of all men.”
--Albert Camus
--Albert Camus
Ideal Conduct
“He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.”
--Walter Lippmann
--Walter Lippmann
Political Unity
“When political unity is preached by a ruling class, it is not a path that will lead to increased freedom, but is a path to a despotic hell.”
--Niccolo Machiavelli
--Niccolo Machiavelli
An Honest Man
“The main trouble with being an honest man was that it lost you all your illusions.”
--James Jones
--James Jones
Ah, Women
“Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.”
--Fredrick Nietzsche
--Fredrick Nietzsche
(click picture to enlarge)
Simple Truth
“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.”
--Charles Dickens
--Charles Dickens
Terrible Things
“Historically, the most terrible things; war, genocide, and slavery, have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.”
--Howard Zinn
--Howard Zinn
Fear and Hatred
“Through the lens of fear and hatred, normal people will do things they otherwise never would.”
--Derek Hunter
--Derek Hunter
Blessings of Freedom
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
No Hopeless Situations
“There are no hopeless situations, only individuals who have gone hopeless about them.”
--Ferdinand Foch
--Ferdinand Foch
(click picture to enlarge)
Anti-American
“America was the first country ever founded on freedom, so anything that comes along that inhibits your freedom by definition is anti-American.”
--Joe Rogan
--Joe Rogan
Mind Made Up
“When one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
--Rosa Parks
--Rosa Parks
What is Luck?
“There is no thing known as bad luck. There is luck, or no luck at all.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
Deprive Arms
“Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.”
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
Integrity Values
“Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.”
--Chris Karcher
--Chris Karcher
American Fascist
“The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.”
--Henry A. Wallace
--Henry A. Wallace
Commitment's Magic
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”
--William Hutchinson Murray
(often mistakenly attributed to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
--William Hutchinson Murray
(often mistakenly attributed to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
(click picture to enlarge)
Die Free
"I would rather die a free man fighting to stay free than live in a world with no freedom.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
Good Friend
“A good friend speaks truly and from the heart, the one whose speech is always pleasant cannot be trusted.”
--Viking Proverb
--Viking Proverb
Secure Liberty
“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.”
--Thomas Paine
--Thomas Paine
Love Oneself
“As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health - food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is love of oneself.”
--Charlie Chaplin
--Charlie Chaplin
Wretched Countries
“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a thing terrible to public traitors.”
--Benjamin Franklin
--Benjamin Franklin
The Happiest Life
“For the happiest life, rigorously plan your days, leave your nights open to chance.”
--Mignon McLaughlin
--Mignon McLaughlin
(click picture to enlarge)
More Dangerous
“There is nothing more dangerous than a person who wants to be left alone but is forced to get involved.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
Face Your Fears
“Face your fears, pursue your ambitions, and become the hero you are destined to be.”
--Josh Kaufman
--Josh Kaufman
Happiness Butterfly
“Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”
--Henry David Thoreau
--Henry David Thoreau
Popular Government
“A popular government, without popular information, or the mean of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
--James Madison
--James Madison
Give Forward
“Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.”
--Albert Camus
--Albert Camus
(click picture to enlarge)
Thankgiving Blessings
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
--W. T. Purkiser
--W. T. Purkiser
Eternal Vigilance
“But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Path of Truth
“Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it.”
--Robert F. Kennedy
--Robert F. Kennedy
Judging a Person
“Judging a person does not define who they are. It defines who you are.”
--Kristen Stewart
--Kristen Stewart
Life Laughs
“Life laughs at you when you are unhappy; life smiles at you when you are happy; but life salutes you when you make others happy.”
--Charlie Chaplin
--Charlie Chaplin
Real Magic
“There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”
--Norman Vincent Peale
--Norman Vincent Peale
Dream's Pursuit
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
--Walt Disney
--Walt Disney
(click picture to enlarge)
Escape Anxiety
“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions, not outside.”
--Marcus Aurelius
--Marcus Aurelius
Give Thanks
“Give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”
--Brian Tracy
--Brian Tracy
Essential Integrity
“Integrity is essential and irreplaceable. It is the most valuable asset for a person, a company, or a society seeking to build and progress.”
--Rex Tillerson
--Rex Tillerson
Lie to Yourself
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
Step Forward
“If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”
--Nora Roberts
--Nora Roberts
Love Drives
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
(click picture to enlarge)
Clutches of Old Age
“No matter how cautiously you live there is no escaping the fatal clutches of old age. So then, better to join the fray and fight proudly for something worth obtaining.”
--Viking Proverb
--Viking Proverb
Meaningless Liberty
“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down.”
--Frederick Douglass
--Frederick Douglass
Universal Truth
“Whenever one discovers a universal truth, it unifies rather than divides. Truth is thus the very enemy of tyranny, for it offers clarity, and one can no longer be ruled over when they can see a superior alternative to their oppression.”
--Cynthia Chung
--Cynthia Chung
No Profit In the Cure
“There is no profit in curing a disease, only in treating its symptoms.”
--Steven Gundry
--Steven Gundry
Thanksgiving Frequency
“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”
--Edward Sandford Martin
--Edward Sandford Martin
(click picture to enlarge)
Kill a Tyrant
“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.”
--John Adams
--John Adams
Voices from the Past
“When we stop listening to the voices from the past, when we plug our ears against their advice and their injunctions, we make ourselves children, lost boys and girls without a map or compass.”
--Jeff Minick
--Jeff Minick
Bodly Decisive
“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.”
--Marilyn Moats Kennedy
--Marilyn Moats Kennedy
Have a Heart
“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
--Charles Dickens
--Charles Dickens
National Survival
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.”
--Cicero
--Cicero
Mediocrity Sucks
“Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you’ll suck forever.”
--Brian Wilson
--Brian Wilson
(click picture to enlarge)
Judge a Man
“Judge a man not by how he treats his equals but by how he treats his inferiors.”
--Charlie Chaplin
--Charlie Chaplin
Political Correctness
“Political correctness is tyranny; just tyranny with manners.”
--Charlton Heston
--Charlton Heston
Interest of Tyrants
“It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail.”
--Samuel Adams
--Samuel Adams
Beware Tyranny
“We must beware of a tyranny of opinion which tries to make only one side of a question the one which may be heard.”
--Winston Churchill
--Winston Churchill
Keep Going
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. The desire and ability to press on has and always will solve the problems of the human race and divide those who achieve from those who might have been.”
--Jeffrey Fry
--Jeffrey Fry
(click picture to enlarge)
Diplomacy
“A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.”
--Caskie Stinnett
--Caskie Stinnett
Liberty's Responsibility
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
--George Bernard Shaw
--George Bernard Shaw
Fraud and Force
“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.”
--George Orwell
--George Orwell
Share Riches
“Joyous is he who shares in his riches. The coward hoards and lives in fear, rarely delighting in the fortune that seldom comes his way.”
--Viking Proverb
--Viking Proverb
Different View
“Every person has a different view of another person’s image. That’s all perception. The character of a man, the integrity, that’s who you are.”
--Steve Alford
--Steve Alford
Permeated with Hypocrisy
“Life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics.”
--Vaclav Havel
--Vaclav Havel
Cannot Stand
“If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand.”
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Strange Medicine
“Forgiveness is a strange medicine. If you give it to others, it heals the wounds in your heart.”
--Unknown
Believe in People
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
--Abraham Lincoln
--Abraham Lincoln
Freedom of Others
“People came to realize that not standing up for the freedom of others meant surrendering one’s own freedom.”
--Václav Havel
--Václav Havel
World of Small Men
“The world is full of men who despise you, fear your ambition, and jealously guard their shrinking realms of power.”
--Robert Greene
--Robert Greene
Representative Government
“In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
Death and Pain
"Death and pain are not frightening, it’s the fear of pain and death we need to fear."
--Epictetus
--Epictetus
The Oxygen
“The oxygen of capitalism is cooperation. The oxygen of totalitarians is hatred for differences.”
--Barry Brownstein
--Barry Brownstein
Sum Of Success
“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”
--Robert Collier
--Robert Collier
(click picture to enlarge)
True Soldier
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
--G.K. Chesterton
--G.K. Chesterton
Danger from Within
“From the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been a people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad. It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power.”
--Andrew Jackson
--Andrew Jackson
No Good Measure
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
--Marilyn Strathern
--Marilyn Strathern
Forget Everything
“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it.”
--William Durant
--William Durant
(click picture to enlarge)
Shifting Blame
“Men are only too clever at shifting blame from their own shoulders to those of others.”
--Titus Livius (Livy)
--Titus Livius (Livy)
Your Effort
“God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.”
--Josiah Gilbert Holland
--Josiah Gilbert Holland
Give Power
“Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.”
--Alexander Hamilton
--Alexander Hamilton
Confidence from Challenges
“Confidence comes from being vulnerable, not by shielding yourself. It is a function of exposure. The more you are exposed to challenges, the more you grow. To grow in confidence, you must first be open to embarrassment.”
--Unknown
--Unknown
Impeccable Word
“Be Impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”
--Don Miguel Ruiz
--Don Miguel Ruiz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)