Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[WT Sharpe]

.....It is time we realized that crimes without victims are like debts without creditors. They do not even exist. Any person who lies awake at night worrying about the private pleasures of other consenting adults has more than just too much time on his hands; he has some unjustifiable beliefs about the nature of right and wrong.
..........— Sam Harris (1967 - ), author, neuroscientist, skeptic. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004).

[WT Sharpe]

.....It is so much easier to assume than to prove; it is so much less painful to believe than to doubt; there is such a charm in the repose of prejudice, when no discordant voice jars upon the harmony of belief; there is such a thrilling pang when cherished dreams are scattered, and old creeds abandoned, that it is not surprising that men close their eyes to the unwelcome light.
..........— W(illiam) E(dward) H(artpole) Lecky (1838-1903), Irish essayist, historian. History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Vol. II, Second Edition (1865), pages 104-105.

[GeoffC]

“Dreams permit each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”

William Dement

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

“Dreams permit each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”

William Dement

And daydreams?

[kennyc]

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen from Anthem

[WT Sharpe]

.....Scientists have discovered that more elaborate false memories can be instilled in subjects with relative ease, both intentionally and unintentionally. In one much-publicized study, Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues at the University of California at Irvine were able to convince nearly one-third of their subjects that they had been lost in a shopping mall as a child. (Prior interviews with close relatives confirmed that the subjects—aged eighteen to fifty-three—had never actually had such an experience.) More controversial examples of false memories have involved recollections of alleged physical or sexual abuse that were "repressed" and later said to be recovered with the help of a therapist—often using hypnosis, "guided imagery," or other controversial practices.
..........— Dan Falk (1966 - ), Canadian science journalist, broadcaster, and author. In Search of Time: The Science of a Curious Dimension (2008).

[BenG]

"'My country, right or wrong,' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

The Defendant, G.K. Chesterton

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by BenG

"'My country, right or wrong,' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

The Defendant, G.K. Chesterton

Excellent quote! I love that one.

[poohbear_nc]

Eden is that old-fashioned House
We dwell in every day
Without suspecting our abode
Until we drive away.

Emily Dickinson

[WT Sharpe]

.....In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues.
..........— Thomas Babington MacAulay (1800-1859), British poet, historian, essayist, Whig politician. History of England (1848).

[WT Sharpe]

.....It is striking that Socrates and Jesus, the two most central figures in the philosophical and religious traditions of the West, were both executed. Clearly, challenging conventional wisdom is often experienced as offensive and threatening.
..........—Marcus Borg (1942 - ), American Biblical scholar, author. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (1994).

[Sparrow]

"To know all is to forgive all."
- Mme de Staël

[WT Sharpe]

Here is what George Seldes (1890 - 1995), American author and journalist, had to say about that quotation in his The Great Thoughts (1985; Introduction and a new compilation ©1996 by David Laskin):

.....Tout comprendre rend trés indulgent.
.....To understand all makes one tolerant.
..........— Madame de Staël (Anne Louise Germaine Necker, Baronne de Staël-Holstine) (1766-1817), Swiss-born French novelist. Corinne (1807).

A footnote reads:

.....Frequently misquoted as "Tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner" ["To understand all is to forgive all"]. This saying is credited, by scholars, to Buddha.


Yeah, I know. Picky, picky!

[WT Sharpe]

Okay, maybe not so notable or profound, but it is a quotation:


.....You know medical marijuana just makes me sick...and hungry.
..........— P.J. O’Rourke, journalist, humorist. Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, broadcast on ABC March 20, 1997.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Yeah, I know. Picky, picky!

I understand, and I forgive.