"All our lives we fought against exalting the individual, against the elevation of the single person, and long ago we were over and done with the business of a hero, and here it comes up again: the glorification of one personality. This is not good at all." -Lenin Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. [Because] if I do not like what my local community does, I can move to another local community... [and] if I do not like what my state does, I can move to another. [But] if I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations. - Milton Friedman "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." -Alexander Tyler Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. - Benjamin Franklin
Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent. -Rumi Think of who created thought. -Rumi The eye is meant to see things. The soul is here for its own joy. -Rumi
"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." - Anne Frank "We must demand not more from each other, but more from ourselves" - Jewel "Cherish your vision, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the love that forms your purest thoughts, if you remain true to them, your world will at last be built" - James Allen "Put your good where it will do the most" -idk
"Sometimes it seems as if liberals have a genius for producing an unending stream of ideas that are counterproductive for the poor, whom they claim to be helping. Few of these notions are more counterproductive than the idea of 'menial work' or 'dead-end jobs.' Think about it: Why do employers pay people to do 'menial' work? Because the work has to be done. What useful purpose is served by stigmatizing work that someone is going to have to do anyway? Is emptying bed pans in a hospital menial work? What would happen if bed pans didn't get emptied? Let people stop emptying bed pans for a month and there would be bigger problems than if sociologists stopped working for a year. ... Many low-level jobs are called 'dead-end jobs' by liberal intellectuals because these jobs have no promotions ladder. But it is superficial beyond words to say that this means that people in such jobs have no prospect of rising economically. Many people at all levels of society, including the richest, have at some point or other worked at jobs that had no promotions ladder, so-called 'dead-end jobs.' The founder of the NBC network began work as a teenager hawking newspapers on the streets. Billionaire Ross Perot began with a paper route. You don't get promoted from such jobs. You use the experience, initiative, and discipline that you develop in such work to move on to something else that may be wholly different. ... Dead-end jobs are the kinds of jobs I have had all my life. But, even though I started out delivering groceries in Harlem, I don't deliver groceries there any more. I moved on to other jobs -- most of which have not had any promotions ladders. ... Notions of menial jobs and dead-end jobs may be just shallow misconceptions among the intelligentsia but they are a deadly counterproductive message to the poor. ... Liberals who encourage such attitudes may think of themselves as friends of the poor but they do more harm than enemies." --Thomas Sowell
That which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it... We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself. Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus
glad to see it was so important and i've always seen it "Earth First, We'll Destroy the Other Planets Later" but, eh, i guess it's all the same
"All myths, this one is based on a bit of truth and a heavy dose of wishful thinking" - KENNETH NEIL CUKIER