Quodid The Ultimate Quotation Repository

All Quotes

I think God's going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.

—Steven Wright

More about this quote

Tags:
God humor civilization speed
Permalink for this quote

Among politicians and businessmen, "pragmatism" is the current term for "to hell with our children.

—Edward Abbey

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

We haven't accepted — we can't really believe — that the most characteristic product of our age of scientific miracles is junk, but that is so. And we still think and behave as though we face an unspoiled continent, with thousands of acres of living space for every man. We still sing "America the Beautiful" as though we had not created in it, by strenuous effort, at great expense, and with dauntless self-praise, an unprecedented ugliness.

—Wendell Berry

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

Instant gratification is not fast enough.

—Suzanne Vega

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

The secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power's sake . . . but absolute personal freedom, mobility, privacy. It is the instinct which drove America to the Pacific, all through the nineteenth century, the desire to be able to find a restaurant open in case you want a sandwich, to be a free agent, live by one's own rules.

—Joan Didion

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

Do you know there's a road that goes down to Mexico and all the way to Panama? And maybe all the way to the bottom of South America where the Indians are seven feet tall and eat cocaine on the mountainside? Yes! You and I, Sal, we'd dig the whole world with a car like this because, man, the road must eventually lead to the whole world. Ain't nowhere else it can go — right?

—Jack Kerouac

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

Cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed . . . by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.

—Roland Barthes

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

In the Baemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman, and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, about all the good things the person . . . has done in his lifetime. All his positive attributes, good deeds, strengths, and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days. At the end, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe.

—Alice Walker

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

People hurt other people the most when they're trying to kill their own pain, real or imagined.

—Frank J. Page

More about this quote

Tags:
people pain hurt
Permalink for this quote

If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying.

—Indira Gandhi

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

I walked with a friend to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the owner politely. The owner, however, did not even acknowledge it. "A sullen fellow, isn't he?" I commented as we walked away. "Oh, he's that way every night," shrugged my friend. "Then why do you continue being so polite to him?" I asked, and my friend replied, "Why should I let him determine how I'm going to act?

—Sidney J. Harris

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

You have to wait ten days to buy a gun in LA. I can't stay mad that long.

—Emo Philips

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

Everybody is talking about gun control. Got to control the guns. Fuck that. . . . I think we need some bullet control. I think every bullet should cost five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars for a bullet. Know why? 'Cause if a bullet cost five thousand dollars . . . people would think before they shot someone. "Man, I would blow your fucking head off, if I could afford it. I'm gonna get me a second job, start saving up, and you a dead man.

—Chris Rock

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

What do I think I'll most remember about the [August 2003] blackout? I guess it's the . . . wonderment of our leaders and the media that somehow there was no violence, that in nine hours of darkness we didn't kill each other. . . . Do we really . . . deserve a gold star for not allowing a momentary power outage to instantly propel us toward cannibalism? What a night of people pulling together: "Hey, that guy helped direct traffic through an intersection instead of crushing my skull with a brick. He's a saint!

—Jon Stewart

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote

When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her.

—Oscar Wilde

More about this quote

Permalink for this quote