America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
Oscar Wilde
@edgarblythe,
Great quote, on many account! I'm particularly touched by an eminent rationalist accepting his emotions as useful to cut the mind's chase.
@Olivier5,
I've never been bothered to doubt atheism, but I can see where many could be in that trap.
“Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
O tempora! O mores!
(Oh the times! Oh the customs!)
~Marcus Tullius Cicero, "First Oration Against Cataline"
Janis Ian quoted this from, I Thimk, Twitter:
“Am I racist if I feel uncomfortable about a guy with a turban on my plane because that isn’t okay with me.” Answer: "Ugh I know what you mean, I get really uncomfortable whenever I see a white man walk into a movie theater or elementary school.”
Actually we are a vulgar, pushing mob whose passions are easily mobilized by demagogues, newspaper men, religious quacks, agitators and such like. To call this a society of free peoples is blasphemous. What have we to offer the world besides the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment?
-Henry Miller
@edgarblythe,
thank especially for that one, eB
@ossobucotemp,
Many don't realize the depth of Miller's thinking. More than a few of his writings are boring, but he often came through with gems like that.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. ― George Bernard Shaw
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority. ― Edmund Burke
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. — George Washington
@giujohn,
Nope. He didn't write or say that.
@George,
If a man named Trump ever becomes president, revolt. Revolt with all your might.
George Washington
@George,
Your right...But he did say:
Washington made in his first State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1790: "A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined."
Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.
-Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn,, 1938
“Destiny is what you are supposed to do in life. Fate is what kicks you in the ass to make you do it.”
― Henry Miller
Something unfathomable lies behind every thought ... something for which there aren't any words.
Peter Weiss
