Favorite Quotes/Lyrics/Statistics/Cartoons, etc., etc.
compiled by suebob
Today's date is
My favorite quote:
If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?
Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (1949- )
Most of these quotes are just added to the page as I find them, however, there are some subjects that have several quotes associated with them. To go directly to these subjects, follow these links:
Al Gore
Bushisms - and other Presidents speak
Charles Dickens
Dr. Carl Sagan
Diversity, (or lack of)
Election 2000
Mary Tyler Moore
Potpourri
Quotable Links
Religious View of Life
Summary of the World
And because pictures are worth a thousand words, various cartoons, political and otherwise are scattered about as well.
Thanks for visiting, and enjoy browsing!
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Potpourri
"Question Authority"
Unknown
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.L.T. More, Isaac Newton (1934), p. 664.
William Blake
"To see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wildflower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour?"
William Blake
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, beside the will of evil."
Gandalf the Grey, to Frodo the Hobbit in 'The Lord of the Rings'
"Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her fanny off to jail."
George Carlin on Martha Stewart
I don't know who you are or where you come from, but if that's all you have to say, then shove off!
Spring Tyler (Hayley Mills) to William Ashton (James MacArthur) after Ashton mistook Spring for a boy in 'The Truth About Spring' (1964)
Subject: Hello from 150 NM above the Earrth
Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science round the clock. Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love.
I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the cityglow of Australia below, the crescent moon setting over the limb of the Earth, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet. Mount Fuji looks like a small bump from up here, but it does stand out as a very distinct landmark.
Magically, the very first day we flew over Lake Michigan and I saw Wind Point (Racine, WI) clearly. Haven't been so lucky since. Every orbit we go over a slightly different part of the Earth. Of course, much of the time I'm working back in Spacehab and don't see any of it. Whenever I do get to look out , it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness. I have seen my "friend" Orion several times.
Taking photos of the earth is a real challenge, but a steep learning curve. I think I have finally gotten some beautiful shots the last 2 days. Keeping my fingers crossed that they're in sharp focus. My near vision has gotten a little worse up here so you may have seen pics/video of me wearing glasses. I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world. All of the experiments have accomplished most of their goals despite the inevitable hiccups that occur when such a complicated undertaking is undertaken. Some experiments have even done extra science. A few are finished and one is just getting started today.
The food is great and I am feeling very comfortable in this new, totally different environment. It still takes a while to eat as gravity doesn't help pull food down your esophagus. It is also a constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated. Since our body fluids are shifted toward our heads our sense of thirst is almost non-existent.
Thanks to many of you who have supported me and my adventures throughout the years. This was definitely one to beat all. I hope you could feel the positive energy that I beamed to the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet.
Love to all,
Laurel
Last email received from Laurel Clark, astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle 'Columbia' which disentegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere on February 1, 2003. All 7 crew members were lost.
At the time of re-entry, the space vehicle was at an altitude of approximately 200,000 feet and moving about 12,500 mph.
"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."
"The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white wastecoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever."
Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol', 1843.
"My father said don't let's be gloomy. Let's try to find something to be glad about. So we made a game of it, the glad game."
Hayley Mills, as Pollyanna from the classic film "Pollyanna"
COGITA TUTE (think for yourself)
"I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career."
Gloria Steinem
"Like an old gold-panning prospector, you must resign yourself to digging up a lot of sand from which you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold ore."
Dorothy Bryant
"The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else."
Martina Navratilova
"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Sec of Defense
Ad Astra per Aspera!
(To the stars, no matter the difficulty!)
Unknown?
"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
John Adams, U.S. President
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
(Who will observe the observers?)
The epistemologist according to Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Philosophy of Science, 1958
"Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain."
Friedrich von Schiller
"magnificent desolation."
Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, describing the moon during the Apollo 11 landing, July 20th, 1969.
"I will give our new president [Bush] the same level of support and encouragement that was given to the current administration by such luminaries as Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Rush Limbaugh, Richard [Mellon] Scaife, Ted Olson, [Paul Greenberg] and, of course, George W. himself. In other words, I will badmouth the president daily, I will work in whatever small way I can to defeat and undermine his programs and agenda...and I will criticize and ridicule his wife and children at every opportunity."
Paul Kirkpatrick
Paradot Kynes
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.- Paradot Kynes, (First Planetologist of Arrakis) From DUNE, written by Frank Herbert. I'm not sure if this quote is from the book, or the film. I'm in the process of determining that right now.
UPDATE: From Stephan Krause:
"Paradot Kynes is an obscure character in the novel of Dune. He is father to Liet Kynes, father of Chani, and is only thought of by Kynes in one chapter. However at the very end of the book there are 3 appendixes that are about the planet Dune. One is religion, one is about the ecology, the one about the ecology details the changes first introduced by Paradot Kynes".
"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."
Janis Joplin
"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
Albert Camus 1913-1960
"To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything."
Anatole France 1844-1924
"When she finally stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a woman."
Betty Friedan 1921-
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1882-1945
"Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?"
Ludvig van Beethoven 1770-1827
"My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed -- my dearest pleasure when free."
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
"Art is either plagiarism or revolution."
Paul Gauguin 1848-1903
"That was a well-plotted piece of non-claptrap that never once made me want to retch".
Sideshow Bob
Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
A rose-red city - half as old as time!
"Petra" --- John William Burgon
"Ignorance is not innocence, but sin."
Robert Browning 1812-1889
"Make yourself a blessing to someone. Your kind smile or pat on the back just might pull someone back from the edge."
Carmelia Elliot
"When the legends die,
the dreams end;
When the dreams end,
there is no more greatness"
A saying frequently voiced by Korczak
"At no point in my life have I ever felt as though I were an American."
Toni Morrison (1931- )
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899
STA SOL NE MOEARE
(Stand, Sun, move not)
Epitaph
Nicolaus Copernicus
"I believe that we are here on the planet Earth to live,
grow up and do what we can to make this world a
better place for all people to enjoy freedom."
Rosa Parks
"Don't dare to be different, dare to be yourself.
If that doesn't make you different then something is wrong."
Laura Baker
"A mother is not a person to lean on
but a person to make leaning unnecessary."
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
"If we don't change, we don't grow.
If we don't grow, we are not really living."
Gail Sheehy
"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
That can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul."
Ella Wheller Wilcox
"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same."
Francesca Reigler
"My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the everchanging view."
Carole King
"I felt incomplete so I bought myself a suit. Something was missing so I purchased some shoes. Something else was lacking so I got myself a car. Still feeling a void I bought a house. In total desperation I mended my soul, And I never went without again. "
Deborah Ann Smith
"Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life."
Nancye Sims
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by frost."
JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."
Helen Keller
Dr. Carl Sagan (1934?-1996)
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. (Cosmos, p.30)
We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite
properly gives us pleasure.
In this respect the brain is like a muscle.
When it is in use we feel very good.
Understanding is joyous."
Diversity, or lack thereof. . .
Tom Roberts
People suffering from
"an irrational fear of their fellow Americans."
The Scary American
"God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and he is going to destroy you and a lot of others."Florida State Rep. Allen Trovillion to a group of gay Orlando-area High School Students.
Newsweek April 23, 2001
Mary Tyler Moore
"What is a family anyway? They're just a group of people who make you feel less alone and really loved. And that's what you've done for me. Thanks for being my family."
Mary Richards to her friends and co-workers (Lou, Murray, Ted, Georgette, and Sue Ann) on the last episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, aired September 3rd, 1977.
"Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you."
Mary Tyler Moore, 2002ish
Ode to Mary Richards
"Love Is All Around," written and sung by Sonny Curtis(1st season)
How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You might just make it after all
You might just make it after all
(2nd-6th seasons)
Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all
Religious View of Life
Heaven #1
"How sad it is that we need some sort of future carrot to persuade us
to act with gentleness, honesty, humility and generosity when it is so obvious that
those qualities alone will be quite sufficient to provide peace and security
in the life we have right now and obviate the need to always look beyond
this life to find happiness".
Seattle WA
Letter to Newsweek editors regarding the cover story "Visions of Heaven",
August 26, 2002
Heaven #2
"You fail to pinpoint the exact place where heaven dwells. Two thousand years
ago Jesus of Nazareth clearly explained that the place is in each
individual’s consciousness. Asked where paradise could be found, he promptly
replied, The kingdom of God is within you. After this categorical
response, it is pointless to suppose that heaven is somewhere outside
oneself, across the sea or up in the sky.".
Flagstaff, Ariz.
Letter to Newsweek editors regarding the cover story "Visions of Heaven",
August 26, 2002
Religious View of Life
Taoism---------------Shit Happens. Confucianism---------Confucius say, "Shit happens." Buddhism-------------If shit happens, it isn't really shit. Zen------------------What is the sound of shit happening? Hinduism-------------This shit happened before. Islam----------------If shit happens, it is the will of Allah. Protestantism--------Let shit happen to someone else. Catholicism----------If shit happens, you deserve it. Judaism--------------Why does shit always happen to us? Agnosticism----------What is this shit? Atheism--------------I don't believe this shit. Anon.
A Summary of the World
If we could shrink the Earth's population of 7 billion to a village of precisely 100 people with all existing human ratios remaining the same it would look like this: (have in mind that each of the villagers represents a population of 70 million thats more than the whole population of France)
First the good news: half of the villagers would be female the other half would be male.
61 people are from Asia (19 would be from China)
18 would be Eastern Indians
5 people from Africa
10 from Europe
not quite 9 would be from South America and the Caribbean
5 from North America
Their native language would be:
12 speak Mandarin Chinese
5 speak Spanish
5 speak English
5 speak Hindi or Bengali
3 speak Arabic
more than 2 speak Portuguese
2 speak Russian
2 speak Japanese
1 speaks German
the rest of the villagers can choose one or the other of the 6000 languages spoken on the planet.
Religion:
33 would have a Christian background
22 an Islamic one
almost 14 are Hindus
7 Buddhists
2 are atheists
Age:
26 would be under 14 years old
8 are 65 years and over
Income:
82 (!) would be from less developed countries with an average income of US$ 5440/year ($15/day)
51 of those would live on less than $2 a day
18 would be from developed countries with an average income of US$ 32470/year ($90/day)
Half of the entire population on Earth have lost an important connection to the cosmos because of light pollution in and around large cities.
25 would live in substandard housing or have no home at all.
13 would suffer from malnutrition
7 would be unable to read and write (age 15 and over)
7 would have a college education.
5 would be part of the LGBQT community
3 would be migrants
1 would have HIV/AIDS
The richest 1 in our village actually owns 40% of the entire wealth
6 people own 50% of the wealth and most of them would be citizens of the United States
When one considers our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective the need for cooperation tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent
Source:
Global Village
"My lands are where my dead lie buried"
Chief Crazy Horse
Al Gore
“It’s often true that the most important lessons any of us have to learn,” he says, “are the lessons we have to learn more than once.”
--------------
Clinton is a classic extrovert, Gore is ...
“not a classic introvert, but I’m on the line,” as he puts it “Most people in politics draw energy from backslapping and shaking hands and all that. I draw energy from discussing ideas.”
(I'm sure W can relate...HA!)
--------------
“No more Clintons. No more Bushes. Gore 2008.”
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President Richard M Nixon during his historic China visit at Badaling, the Great Wall of China. Sounds very much like another Republican president currently residing in the White House. (see below!)
George W. Bush-isms
As indicated in the following quotes, facts, and observations, the wit, wisdom, and knowledge of President-Appointed Bush and the position of the Bush Administration on various issues is truly astounding.
--------------
"I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not
need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing
about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to
me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody
an explanation."
--------------
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
--------------
"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
--------------
"I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun."
"The president believes that [high-energy consumption] is an American way
of life, and that it should be the goal of policymakers to protect the
American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one".
-------------
--------------
"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."
--------------
“The U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq will be studied for
years for their brilliance.”
--------------
"He doesn't make that many."
-------------
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"Republican minorities are not going to sound like Jesse Jackson."
--------------
"If you set aside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the safety
record of nuclear is really very good."
---------------
"To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say,
well done. And to the 'C' students, I say to you: you, too, can be
president of the United States."
(But, what does that say about us?)
---------------
-------------
By the way, after numerous counts by various media sources, the Florida
counts are still too close to call. Ironic that the election was
decided upon 1) by The Supreme Court, and 2) a state where the "final" tally
still does not indicate a clear winner.
---------------
Interesting:
Before the World Trade Center attack:
50% of Americans polled approved of Bush
A near-record 86 percent approve of the job Bush is doing,
the fourth-highest presidential approval measure ever;
Only Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Bush's father,
George H.W. Bush, received higher job-approval ratings --
- - all during times of war.
Update August 1st, 2003:
More and more Americans believe Bush mislead
the public regarding Iraq and their reported stash of WMD
(Weapons of Mass Destruction), and many are beginning to question the wisdom of attacking Iraq in the first place. Plus, Bush's overall job performance rating is slipping, as well.
Perhaps. But I'm still waiting for the Democrats (or anybody!) to stop cowering in a corner and come out swinging - alas, a long wait is in store, I suspect.
But, what now, in Iraq? Iran? Saudi Arabia? And?
________________
Update May 2006
May 11th, 2006 - Bush approval rating dips to 29%
Jan 2009 - Update
Bush's Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent
Only Richard Nixon was less popular at the time of his exit than Bush is today.
Those with the highest job approval at the conclusion of their presidencies were all two-term presidents: Bill Clinton, with 66% approval; Ronald Reagan, with 63%; and Dwight Eisenhower, with 59%.
________________
Famous Quotes and Authors.com
The Words
of Wisehearted Women
Yahoo -
Last update: Feb 2009 Milwaukee, WI
Source: Newsweek, May 21, 2001
2001 - Luckovich-Atlanta Constitution
Source: Newsweek April 30, 2001
Source: Newsweek, April 30, 2001
2001 - Luckovich-Atlanta Constitution
Source: Newsweek January 15, 2001
Newsweek, June 4, 2001
Newsweek, June 4, 2001
2000 - Peters - Dayton Daily News
Popular Vote
Gore - 50,996,582
Bush - 50,456,062
91 percent approve of his handling of the current crisis.
CBS News/N.Y. Times Poll Finds President Will Leave Office With Lowest Final Approval Rating Ever. Anyone who's been paying attention shouldn't be all that surprised.
Quotable Links
A great site to find quotes for any occasion!
Enough quotes to last a lifetime
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suebob