"It is sometimes said that some complicated task is as difficult as herding cats. Actually, that’s not necessarily all that hard, if you’ve got a laser pointer to give the cats a mischievous little red dot to chase after." – H. J. Halterman, Along the Way, March 2009
“Baruch Atah A-donai E-loheinu Melech Ha`olam Oseh Ma`aseh Breishit.” (“Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the Universe who makes the works of Creation.”) – From the Birkat Hachamah recitation, April 8, 2009 (14 Nisan 5769). A mitzvah recitation made just once every 28 years.
“From November 1929 to April 1930, the Dow Jones rallied 48%. This rally however was followed by an 85% drop from the April 1929 highs to the July 1932 lows.” – Simon Maierhofer in Is Cash King Or Should You Jump On The Rally Bandwagon?
“It is upon a reckless people: squalid in their demeanor, stupid and arrogant in their politics, economics and military matters; sleazy in their popular culture the savage judgment of history will be rendered. The verdict will be guilty. The penalty will be death, for the people, the institutions and culture which so openly mocks all that is just and true and good about the American Republic. Like Rome, we have replaced Republic with Empire and, like Rome, we will pay the economic price for our folly.” – Doug McIntosh, “The Economic Farce is Ending”, June 5, 2005
"…and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." – Daniel 12:1-3 (KJV)
“[I] may have been on the losing side. I’m still not convinced it was the wrong side.” – Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly
"Call on God, but row away from the rocks." – Hunter S. Thompson
"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army." – General. George Washington, to his troops before the battle of Long Island, New York
“Manus haec inimica tyrannis ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam” [“This hand of mine, hostile to tyrants, seeks peace by the sword, but only under liberty”] – Algernon Sidney’s “Book of Mottoes“, circa 1659. (Also the original but unofficial Massachusetts state motto.)
Lazar: Halt, who goes there? Zus Bielski: We go here, Lazar. You only say ‘halt, who goes there?’ when you don’t know who goes there. We go there. Lazar: Oh. Sorry, Zus. – Defiance (2008) Screenplay by Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick, based on the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec
“Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.” – Ayn Rand, (author of Atlas Shrugged )
"If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." – 2 Thessalonians 3:10(b)
“The closest I ever got to the outdoors was the Ralph Lauren section at Neiman Marcus.” – Alicia Coppola as Mimi Clark, Jericho
“The net effect of the failures in banking is that a lot of people have less money than they expected they would have a year ago. This is bad enough, given our habits and practices of modern life. But what happens when farming collapses? The prospect for that is closer than most of us might realize. The way we produce our food has been organized at a scale that has ruinous consequences, not least its addiction to capital. Now that banking is in collapse, capital will be extremely scarce. Nobody in the cities reads farm news, or listens to farm …
“These derivatives are the root of the credit crunch. Why? Unlike all other property paper, derivatives are not required by law to be recorded, continually tracked and tied to the assets they represent. Nobody knows precisely how many there are, where they are, and who is finally accountable for them. Thus, there is widespread fear that potential borrowers and recipients of capital with too many nonperforming derivatives will be unable to repay their loans. As trust in property paper breaks down it sets off a chain reaction, paralyzing credit and investment, which shrinks transactions and leads to a catastrophic drop …