I always turn to the sports pages first, which record people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures. —Earl Warren More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind, you have failed. —Jan de Hartog More about this quote Tags: error mankind Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
When half the world is still plagued by terror and distress, you stop guiltily sometimes in the midst of your house-laughter and wonder if you've a right to it. Ought any of us to laugh, until all of us can again, you ask yourself, sometimes. —Margaret Lee Runbeck More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
The decent moderation of today will be the least of human things tomorrow. At the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the opinion of good sense . . . was that people ought not to burn too large a number of heretics; extreme and unreasonable opinion demanded that they should burn none at all. —Maurice Maeterlinck More about this quote Tags: opinion reason moderation Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man. —David Harris More about this quote Tags: revolution decency Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope . . . and, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. —Robert F. Kennedy More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government. —Edward Abbey More about this quote Tags: government patriotism Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future. But we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen. —D. H. Lawrence More about this quote Tags: hope future tragedy habit Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
I bet, after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father. —Will Rogers More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
He who would be friends with God must remain alone or make the whole world his friend. —Mahatma Gandhi More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Antonio Rivera took refuge with other Nationalists in the Alcázar during the Spanish Civil War. As a pacifist, the youth refused at first to help defend the ancient stronghold, and was put on latrine duty. When the situation of the besieged became more desperate, he decided that it would not be inconsistent with his principles to aid in the defense, provided that he did not kill in hatred. He was assigned the position of loader to a heavy machine gun. It was said that he would give the signal to fire with the words: "Tirad — pero sin odio." (Fire — but without hatred. ) —Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes More about this quote Tags: war hatred killing defense Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Just because the solutions of problems are not visible at any particular time does not mean that those problems will never be alleviated — or confined to tolerable dimensions. History has a way of changing the very terms in which problems operate and of leaving them, in the end, unsolved, to be sure, yet strangely deflated of their original meaning and importance. —M. I. Abramowitz More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
Before God we are all equally wise and equally foolish. —Albert Einstein More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
I think Derek Wolcott was right: one has to be willing to surrender to a condition of awe, to the astonishment of the soul, to bewilderment, bafflement, humility. Or, as Emerson neatly put it, "Let the bird sing without deciphering the song. —Denise Shekerjian More about this quote Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email
While I was young, when I burned with the love of God, I thought I would convert the whole world to God. But soon I realized that it would be more than enough to convert the people who lived in my town, and I made an effort for a long time, but was not successful. Then I realized that my agenda was still too ambitious, and I focused on the people in my household. But I could not convert them either. Finally I realized: I must work on myself, if I'm really going to have something to offer God. But I didn't even accomplish this. —Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz More about this quote Tags: love God self ambition conversion Permalink for this quote facebook twitter tumblr email