Quotable Quote-type stuff

I dunno, Lecktor's bit there just made me think a thread of quotes, or things, or whatever one finds particularly meaningful or true might be fun.

Here's mine:

"We live in a world in which people are beheaded, imprisoned, demoted, and censured simply because they have opened their mouths, flapped their lips, and vibrated some air. Yes, those vibrations can make us feel sad or stupid or alienated. Tough shit. That's the price of admission to the marketplace of ideas. Hateful, blasphemous, prejudiced, vulgar, rude, or ignorant remarks are the music of a free society, and the relentless patter of idiots is how we know we're in one. When all the words in our public conversation are fair, good, and true, it's time to make a run for the fence." -- Daniel Gilbert, Psychologist, Harvard University

"Good taste is the enemy of creativity" Pablo Picasso

Interesting.
Which "Lecktor's bit there" exactly are you referring to before I post my retort?

Here are a few of my faves.

On life n' politics;

tragedy is when i cut my finger. comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

-mel brooks

the world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.

-horace walpole

a good listener is usually thinking about something else.

-kin hubbard

political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.

-john w. gardner


On God/s;


i like your christ, i do not like your christians. your christians are so unlike your christ.

-mahatma gandhi

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

- Epicurus

i contend that we are both atheists. i just believe in one fewer god than you do. when you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why i dismiss yours.

-stephen roberts

if thou art god, avenge thyself!

-the marquis de sade,
while copulating with a prostitute filled with communion wafers


On growth;

give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and i shall move the world.

-archimedes

do not weep. do not wax indignant. understand.

-baruch spinoza

if the wind will not serve, take to the oars.

-latin proverb

fall seven times, stand up eight.

-japanese proverb



And finally;

don't let it end like this. tell them i said something.

-pancho villa,
last words

go on, get out. last words are for fools who haven't said enough.

-karl marx,
last words

i've had eighteen straight whiskeys. i think that's the record.

-dylan thomas,
last words

a witty saying proves nothing.

-voltaire

This is a new fave of mine. Especially if you are a simpleton, like me, and read "Lecktor has bit there" and wondered what morsel got bit and if there where any scraps left.

The essay you posted - the "sheep, wolves, sheepdog" one. I refer only to the "this is something I find valuable" aspect of it.

Although, I suppose

"Political tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth -- are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort."

from the "Notebooks of Lazarus Long" by ol' Robert Heinlein might apply as a "retort".

I hate to steal a quote, but I just loved this one. Words that make me physically laugh are enjoyable.


"If thou art god, avenge thyself!"

-The Marquis de Sade,
while copulating with a prostitute filled with communion wafers