Category: Quote of the Day

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” – Edmund Burke

“Interestingly, NPR ran a local story over the weekend — an obscure little item — saying that Amtrak was determined to raise the average speed of its passenger trains running north from Connecticut through Vermont from 40 miles-per-hour to 60 mph. That would be some triumphant accomplishment! It would bring us back to about an 1860 level of service. Of course, I happen to believe that we will be lucky in a few years if we are able to enjoy an 1860s standard-of-living, so maybe this little side venture in public transport is perfectly in tune with America’s future.” – …

"I heartily accept the motto, — "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have." – Henry David Thoreau – 1849 (The opening lines of Civil Disobedience)

“Now there was no food in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us food; why should we die …

"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste." – Henry Ford

"A wild boar stood under a tree, and rubbed his tusks against the trunk. A fox passing by asked him why he thus sharpened his teeth when there was no danger threatening from either huntsman or hound. He replied, "I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them." To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace." – The Fables of Aesop, published by Henry Altemus Company, 1899.

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) by quiet men in clean, carpeted and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices." – C.S. Lewis. The Screwtape Letters

“We don’t talk Yakkity Yak. We talk lead.” – The fictional character Earl Swagger in the novel Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter

“Inflation hasn’t ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver. ” – Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“The lioness is often more formidable than the lion. No instinct is stronger than that of mother protecting child. There is nothing unfeminine about strength and empowerment.” – Massad Ayoob

"In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." – Proverbs 21:20

“The protection guaranteed by the amendments is much broader in scope. The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized …

"Nothing so cements and holds together all the parts of a society as faith or credit, which can never be kept up unless men are under some force or necessity of honestly paying what they owe to one another." – Cicero

“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” – Robert Woodruff (President Ronald Wilson Reagan had this quote posted on his desk at the White House)

“Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.” – Men at Work, Down Under