Responsibilities

It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.

-- Sir Josiah Stamp (1880-1941)

Crime

C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute (it's worse thana crime, it's a blunder).

-- Charles de Talleyrand, 18th Century French statesman

The Thing That Sustains

The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated.

-- Oscar Wilde, "The Remarkable Rocket"

Find The Strangest Thing

In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it.

-- John A. Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (1911-)

RIP Rosa

It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made a demand and I just didn't feel like obeying his demand ... I was quite tired after spending a full day working.

-- Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 - October 24, 2005)

Sea Of Ignorance

We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.

-- John A. Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (1911-)

Find Something Strange

If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.

-- John A. Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (1911-)

Dangerous Patriot

The dangerous patriot ... drifts into chauvinism and exhibits blind enthusiasm for military actions.

-- Colonel James A. Donovan, USMC

Too Much Reality

Humankind cannot stand very much reality.

-- T. S. Eliot

Sick In America

You can't just be sick. You have to be sick and be drowning in paperwork.

-- Ellen Mayer of Chester, NY, who has gastrointestinal cancer, New York Times, October 13, 2005

Manufacture Of Consent

The manufacture of consent ... was supposed to have died out with the appearance of democracy ... but it has not died out. It has, in fact, improved enormously in technique ... Under the impact of propaganda, it is no longer plausible to believe in the original dogma of democracy.

-- Walter Lippman

Very Nice

Oh, a sleeping drunkard
Up in Central Park,
And a lion-hunter
In the jungle dark,
And a Chinese dentist,
And a British queen --
All fit together
In the same machine.
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice;
Nice, nice, very nice --
So many different people
In the same device.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

What We Pretend To Be

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. "Mother Night" (1961)

Unquestioning Faith

Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. "Mother Night" (1961)

Please Notice

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. "Knowing What's Right", In These Times, 2003

Don't Be Reckless

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, And don't put up with people that are reckless with yours.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Liberal Or Conservative

Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, "Cold Turkey", In These Times, May 10, 2004

RIP Nipsey

The genius who created me only took care of my dashing good looks, my razor sharp wit, and my irresistible attraction to the wrong women.

-- Nipsey Russell (1924-2005) as the Tinman, in The Wiz

No Criticism

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)

A New Population

When 25 percent of the population believe that the president should be impeached and 51 percent believe in UFOs, you may or may not need a new president, but you definitely need a new population.

-- Harry Reasoner (1923-1991), American journalist and news commentator

Repetition

Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first.

-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American scientist, publisher, diplomat