Quote Only Thread

[Jeff]

Only a madman expects a fig in winter. - Marcus Aurelius

[Simulist]

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." — Unknown

[Allegro]

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
~ H.L. Mencken (b 1880)

[Allegro]

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
~ Denis Diderot (b 1713), French philosopher, contributed to Encyclopédie


That which is called firmness in a king is called obstinacy in a donkey.
~ John Erskine (b 1879), American educator


The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
~ Richard Burton (b Richard Walter Jenkins Jr, 1925), Welsh actor

[Gouda]

Roman imperialism during the late Republic fed a growing desire among all classes for quick material advancement. Among the senatorial aristocracy, the greed for wealth, and with it, power, was insatiable. Pompey was without peer in 'investment procedures,' although others, like the young Brutus, revealed boundless pecuniary cruelty. In the context of unchallenged military superiority and rampant profiteering, Pompey and his contemporaries preferred client kingdoms to direct rule.

~ Thomas Burns, A History of the Ostrogoths

[barracuda]

“What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let me have a report at your convenience.”

- Winston Churchill

[Simulist]

"I like the Walrus best," said Alice, "because you see he was a little sorry for the poor oysters."
"He ate more than the Carpenter, though," said Tweedledee. "You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn't count how many he took: contrariwise."
"That was mean!" Alice said indignantly. "Then I like the Carpenter best — if he didn't eat so many as the Walrus."
"But he ate as many as he could get," said Tweedledum.
This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, "Well! They were both very unpleasant characters…"

— from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

[Allegro]

I grew up in an era where an orchestra was like a treasure chest.

…

We do not seem to be finding tomorrow’s Toscas.

[Allegro]

The government are very keen on amassing statistics. They collect them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root, and prepare wonderful diagrams. But you must never forget that every one of these figures comes in the first instance from the village watchman, who just puts down what he damn pleases.

...

The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight-of-hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin… But if you want to continue to be slaves of the bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers continue to create money and control credit.

[Allegro]

Talk of evidence, or the rationality of claims drawn from it, and of the truth or probability of those claims has been seen as simply the rhetoric behind which the victorious party cloaks its power. What passes for scientific knowledge becomes, then, simply the belief of the winners. I am among those who have found the claims of the strong program absurd: an example of deconstruction gone mad.

[barracuda]

"The MoD is aware of no clear evidence to prove or disprove the existence of aliens, and consequently the files are considerably less exciting than the 'industry' surrounding the UFO phenomena would like to believe.

Contrary to what many members of the public may believe, MoD has no interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life forms visiting the UK, only in ensuring the integrity and security of UK airspace."

- Ministry of Defense

[Allegro]

We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 AM of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. Refer.

[Allegro]

We, student and teacher, master and novice are all on the same road. We have decided in our hearts, deeply, even secretly, that it’s worth it; that we are strong enough and tough enough to stay the course. Good. Because we are needed - have been needed for millennia. Even before Shakespeare shook the world, we went into the churches, and in the streets, helping to overcome the dark and laugh at the devils. The Athenians knew they needed us; behind the mask we went, our voices magnified searching into their very souls. And eons ago, when one of us in that cave stood up before the fire, his shadow cast large on the stone behind and acted out the hunt, the watchers better understood their courage. We were needed then; we are needed now. Original.

[Gouda]

"The taxpayer doesn’t understand how critical the financial services industry is to them."

~ [Lord Mayor Nick] Anstee, in an interview at his 252-year-old Mansion House residence opposite the Bank of England.

[Ben D]

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

-Upton Sinclair.

People see what they're incentivized to see. If you pay someone not to see the truth, they won't see the truth.

-Michael Lewis