OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

(Always adding more)

Great minds give great ideas

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The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated. - H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

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He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. - Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

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"The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his [or her] deception, the one who lies with sincerity.": Andre Gide

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"And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war." Aristotle, Politics

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"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your
food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." by: Tecumseh -(1768-1813) Shawnee Chief

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"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." : Albert Einstein - (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921

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"One of the world's greatest problems is the impossibilty of any person searching for the truth on any subject when they believe they already have it." --Dave Wilbur

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No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority: Thomas Jefferson: American 3rd US President (1801-09)

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"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power." Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd US president

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"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

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"We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it." -- George Bernard Shaw - (1856-1950) Irish comic dramatist

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"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it."
-- Richard Lamm [Richard Douglas "Dick" Lamm] (1935- ) American politician, lawyer, governor of Colorado (D) (1975-1987), 1996 US presidential candidate for the Reform Party
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"Stop saying, 'Support our troops' and start demanding that President Bush, 'Bring our troops home!' They want to come home, their loved ones want them safely in the bosom of their families; so, show your support by calling on legislators to pressure the White House to 'Bring our troops home.' Start cranking out those new bumper stickers and resist the urge to embrace blind allegiance dressed in the splendid garb of patriotism."

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"Patriotism is too often mistaken for nationalism. Nationalism is a strong devotion to one's country, and is well-represented by the tired phrase, 'My country, right or wrong.' Is it really a good idea to support one's country when it is doing something wrong?

Such misguided nationalism also rears its head when talk of flag-burning is in the air. However, it seems to me that the values that a flag or nation stand for are more important than the flag or even the nation itself. True patriotism is about taking pride in our country when it does right, and helping to put it back on track when it is not upholding the very values that it stands for.

Another misleading attitude is about 'supporting the troops.' This is irrelevant. It's not a matter of supporting the troops, because 'the troops' aren't the ones who make the decision to go to war. If we really want to support the troops, we should not send them to risk their lives in useless and unnecessary wars, but only deploy them when we truly need military defense." - Michael A. Clem, Oklahoma

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"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along... All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." Hermann Goering

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"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice." - Albert Einstein

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"If a person is decent and a pro-government American patriot, he or she is not intelligent. If a person is intelligent and a pro-government American patriot, he or she is not decent. And if a person is decent and intelligent, he or she is not a pro-government American patriot."
- William Blum, Killing Hope (1995)

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1. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain

2. We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. --Winston Churchill

3. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. --George Bernard Shaw

4. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

5. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. --James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

6. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. --Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J.Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)

7. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. --P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

8. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.--Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

9. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

10. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. --Will Rogers

11. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. --P.J. O'Rourke

12. If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist. -- Joseph Sobran, Editor of the National Review at one time (1995)

13. In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. --Voltaire (1764)

14. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. --Pericles (430 B.C.)

15. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. --Mark Twain (1866)

16. Talk is cheap-except when Congress does it. --(Unknown)

17. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. --Ronald Reagan

18. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. --Winston Churchill

19. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. --Mark Twain

20. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

21. There is no distinctly native American criminal class-save Congress. --Mark Twain

22. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley, Artist 1928-1995

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"Stupidty is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death.
There is no appeal, and execution is
carried out automatically and without pity."
Robert A. Heinlein
"TIme Enough For Love"

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"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask
not your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands of those
who feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget
that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
http://www.apfn.org

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There can be no such thing as a necessary evil. For if a thing is really
necessary, it cannot be an evil. And if it is an evil, it is not
necessary.

-- Tiorio

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Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak;
Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

-- Winston Churchill
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Men have been wise in many different modes; but they have
always laughed the same way. ( Samuel Johnson )
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We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him
Napoleon Boneparte
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Success is getting what you want; Happiness is wanting what
you get. ( Dale Carnegie )
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Much can be analyzed of a man's character by noting what
excites his laughter. ( Robert C. Savage )
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Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency
they're going to catch you in next. ( Robert C. Savage )
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Getting what they deserve doesn't satisfy many people.
Dying is the last thing I ever intend to do.
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The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. I have met
people so empty of joy that when I clasped their frosty fingertips it
seemed as if I were shaking hands with a northeast storm. Others
there are whose hands have sunbeams in them, so that their grasp
warms my heart. It may be only the clinging touch of a child's hand,
but there is as much potential sunshine in it for me as there is in a
loving glance for others. ( Helen Keller ( pure in sight ))
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Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs: He suffers
so deeply that he had to invent laughter.
( Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche )
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Several have defined man as "an animal that laughs." They might
equally well have defined him as an animal that is laughed at.
( Henri Bergson )
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A sign of greatness is to be able to laugh at yourself with others --
and enjoy it as much as they do.
Great minds ... discuss ideas. Average minds ... discuss events.
Small minds ... discuss people.
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The most certain sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her
state is like that of thins in the regions above the moon, always
clear and serene. ( Michel de Montaigne ( 1580 ))
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All men have happiness as their object: there is no exception.
However different the means they employ, they all aim at the same
end. ( Blaise Pascal )
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A man doesn't know what true happiness is until he gets married.
Then it's too late. ( Milton Berle )
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If we could forget our troubles as easily as we forget our blessings,
how different things would be .....
..... Laughter is heard farther than weeping.
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Money can't buy you happiness. I just helps you look for it in
more places. ( Milton Berle )
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Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
Liberty is two wolves attempting to have a sheep for dinner and
finding a well-informed, well-armed sheep.
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Edmund Burke said:
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do
nothing."
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seeing is opening up the question again. Knowing what is going on is the
end goal. Believing is simply the lack of thought.
Tom Ivers
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Since EveryThing in Life is but an Experience, Perfect in BEing What-It-Is,
having nothing to do with Right or Wrong, Good or Bad, Acceptance or
Rejection; I might as well burst out Laughing!!!
---Long Chen Pa----
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He who knows not,
And knows not that he knows not,
Is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not,
And knows that he knows not,
Is a child - teach him.
He who knows,
And knows not that he knows,
Is asleep - wake him.
He who knows,
And knows that he knows,
Is wise - follow him.
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If I like it, it's mine.
If it's in my hand, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it is mine.
If I saw it first, it's mine.
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"If every person has the right to defend - even by force - his person, his
liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the
right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights
constantly."
THE LAW, by Frederic Bastiat, Paris, 1850
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A university creative writing class was asked to write a concise essay
containing these four elements:
- religion - royalty - sex - mystery
The prize-winning essay read: "My God," said the Queen. "I'm pregnant.
I wonder who did it?"
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin
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"The history of liberty is a history of the limitations
of governmental power, not the increase of it."
- Woodrow Wilson
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Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
- George Bernard Shaw
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln
"Our government has no character."
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As for believing what I write--I don't believe anything. I either know
it, or I'm still thinking about it. Tom Ivers
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"Goldwynisms" as:
"An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."
"Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined."
"I had a great idea this morning, but I didn't like it."
"Gentlemen, include me out."
"A hospital is no place to be sick."
"If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive."
"I read part of it all the way through."
"If I look confused it's because I'm thinking."
"That's the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand that lays the golden egg."
"Never make forecasts, especially about the future."
And perhaps the best of them all:
"I don't want yes men around me. I want everyone to tell the truth, even if it costs them their jobs."
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"Do you have the right to free speech?"
"Yes."
"Do you own a gun?"
"No."
"Shut up."
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"The most effective way of making people accept the validity of the values they are to serve is to persuade them that they are really the same as those which they...have always held, but which were not properly understood or recognized before. And the most efficient technique to this end is to use the old words but change their meaning. Few traits of totalitarian regimes are at the same time so confusing to the superficial observer and yet so characteristic of the whole intellectual climate as the complete perversion of language, the change of meaning of the words by which the ideals of the new regimes are expressed."
-- F. A. Hayek
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I have to agree with: Judge Learned Hand when he summed up the principal > of liberty: > > "I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon > constitution, upon laws and courts. These are false hopes, believe me, > these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when > it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help > it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save > it." Quoted from The Big Bluff, by Marvin Cooley
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Truth is violated by falsehood but outraged by silence!
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It's never too late by Charley Reese

 

 

found on Worldnetdaily.com

It's never too late to back up
and find the right road to travel
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By Charley Reese
Commentary

Published in The Orlando Sentinel, August 27, 1998

A better gauge of the mood of the country than a
public-opinion poll or the Dow Jones industrial average is
the food-court test.

You can take the food-court test by visiting any shopping
mall that has one, buying a cup of coffee or a Coke, and
observing the faces of the people around you.

If the sea of faces is darkened with fear, anger, wariness,
anxiety or sadness, then you know, that regardless of what
the experts or the statistical indices say, not all is
right in Camelot. If Americans, of all people, cannot be
happy in the midst of an opulent market while they eat,
then something is seriously wrong. The last few times I
checked the food court, the sea was definitely troubled.

It's a common saying now that America has a crisis of
the spirit, and, like a lot of common sayings, that's true.
The four main ideas of the 20th century that were offered
in lieu of religious faith were materialism, skepticism,
the cult of the will and subjectivism. All collapsed.

Materialism, which is the pursuit of stuff, turns out to be
empty. After one has gotten stuff, stored it, moved it,
maintained it, insured it, one gets to the final stuff, a
cemetery lot and headstone, where all the stuff has to be
abandoned. I don't remember the declensions of nouns or the
conjugation of verbs from my Latin classes, but I do
remember what a Roman said about stuff. A man becomes a
slave to his possessions.

Americans bought into the industrial model that is based on
the myth of perpetual growth. Inevitably that led to the
idea of disposable stuff, such as cheap furniture and
appliances that one buys, uses for a while and then dumps
in order to buy more. It has led to the drug culture. It's
no wonder Americans consume drugs because the whole idea of
health care in America is fundamentally created by the
pharmaceutical industry.

Americans are bombarded with drug advertisements. Got
a headache? Take a pill. A muscle ache? Take a pill.
Whatever, take a pill -- preferably one that the
manufacturers have marked up 1,200 percent. As one
observer once put it, if a doctor can't drug it or cut it,
he doesn't know what in the heck to do.

It's odd that we Americans, blessed with an ample and
fertile country our ancestors were politically incorrect
enough to take from the people who lived in it, blessed
with wealth beyond the dream of ancient kings, nevertheless
seem to be increasingly neurotic, grumpy, irritable and
unhappy.

I agree with C.S. Lewis that when you find you've taken the
wrong road, going ahead isn't progress. Progress is going
back until you find the right road that takes you where you
want to go.

We took the wrong road when we abandoned
property-based capitalism built around self-sufficient
farms and small towns and took the road toward giant
industrialism and finance capitalism. We took another wrong
turn away from a life grounded in faith toward a false
utopia run by science. We took yet another wrong turn when
we left the belief in mysteries for the belief in something
even more preposterous -- reason. We got further lost when
we abandoned a federal republic of sovereign states and
chose instead the European model of the centralized state.

Seems to me it's time to do what the post-modern
pointy-heads say can't be done -- turn back the clock and
retrace our steps. If we stay on the current path, we will
end up in a hell of our own creation. Instead of a shining
city on a hill, it will be a nightmarish Gotham run by Big
Brother and his goon squads.

A good society is where people smile not smirk and laugh
with joy rather than with mockery and embarrassment. A good
society values people more than stuff, honor more than
fame, beauty more than luxury, morality more than wealth.

Updated 4-9-2010

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