Category: Quote of the Week

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” – Cormac McCarthy, “No Country for Old Men”

“Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.” – Marko the Munchkin Wrangler, in his blog essay “Why the Gun is Civilization.”

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price [is] far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of …

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." – Helen Keller

“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.” – Robert A. Heinlein, “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long“

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves." – D.H. Lawrence

Eli: “No, I walk by faith, not by sight. It means that you know something even if you don’t know something. It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s faith, it’s faith. It’s the flower of light in the field of darkness, it’s giving me the strength to carry on, you understand?” Solara: “Is that from your book?” Eli: “No it’s Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison.” – Denzel Washington as Eli, The Book of Eli. (Screenplay by Gary Whitta)

"Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think." – Thomas A. Edison

"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." – Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala, Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Screenplay by George Lucas)

“And, behold, I [am] with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to thee of.” – Genesis 28:15 (KJV)

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the curiosity of inquiry." – Albert Einstein

“Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong-but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong! Heaven save us from poltroons who fear to make a choice. Let us stand up and be counted.” – John Joseph Bonforte, a character in Robert A. Heinlein’s novel “Double Star“

"Tears are the silent language of grief." – Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason." – Jerry Seinfeld

“…the United States government and its agencies have, by far, the largest pile-up of interest-bearing debts ($15.6 trillion), the largest accumulation of unsecured obligations (over $60 trillion), the largest yearly deficit ($1.6 trillion), and the greatest indebtedness to the rest of the world ($4.8 trillion).” – Martin D. Weiss