Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[WT Sharpe]

.....There are thousands of people in New York who seem to have quite forgotten the use of plain water as a beverage. In certain quarters of the city, 'lager' is the main staple of life, being for sale in almost every house, and the drink and even the food, of all the men, women and children. Lager is king! Lager is one of our most modern institutions. Ten years ago it was only a vulgar German word of unknown import; then it was looked upon as an insipid Dutch beer; but finally, a majority, perhaps, will vote that it is 'the people’s nectar.' Certain witnesses have testified and courts have decided that lager is not intoxicating; but in view of the fact that a pint of lager contains as much alcohol as an ordinary glass of brandy, it might be suspected that those witnesses had indeed been indulging in lager just at the time they needed their sober judgment.
..........— Scientific American, July 1860, "Lager Bier." Although ownership has changed hands more than once over the years, Scientific American has been published continously since its founding in 1845.

[poohbear_nc]

courts have decided that lager is not intoxicating;

[WT Sharpe]

.....What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.
..........— Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi (1970 - ), American journalist. "The Great American Bubble Machine: From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression — and they're about to do it again," RollingStone Politics section (Apr 05, 2010). Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12697/64796.

[WT Sharpe]

.....Late in 1775, in his short article entitled "A Serious Thought," he [Thomas Paine] had looked forward to the day when God "shall have blest us, and made us a people dependent only upon Him, then may our gratitude be shown by an act of continental legislation, which shall put a stop to the importation of Negroes for sale, soften the hard fate of those already here, and in time procure their freedom." Five years later, as Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Paine wrote the "Preamble to the Act Passed by the Pennsylvania Assembly March 1, 1780," which provided for the gradual emancipation of Negro slaves in the state. It was the first legislative measure passed in America for the emancipation of slaves.
..........— Philip S. Foner (1910–1994), American Marxist labor historian and teacher. From the Introduction to the Citadel Press edition (1989) of The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, in which Paine criticized the Bible as more "the word of a demon than the Word of God," was published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807.

[WT Sharpe]

.....Luste is lorde of al: it hath overcome Lordes, Learned Men, Wise and eloquent: it hath vanquished the gretest Knights that have ben.
..........— John (Giovanni) Florio (1553? - 1625), English writer, lexicographer. First Frutes (1578). Quoted in The Great Quotations (1961) by George Seldes.

[WT Sharpe]

.....To love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to pity the suffering, to assist the weak, to forget wrongs and remember benefits, to love the truth, to be sincere, to utter honest words, to love liberty, to wage relentless war against slavery in all its forms, to love wife and child and friend, to make a happy home, to love the beautiful in art, in nature, to cultivate the mind, to be familiar with the mighty thoughts that genius has expressed, the noble deeds of all the world; to cultivate courage and cheerfulness, to make others happy, to fill life with the splendor of generous acts, the warmth of loving words; to discard error, to destroy prejudice, to receive new truths with gladness, to cultivate hope, to see the calm beyond the storm, the dawn beyond the night, to do the best that can be done and then be resigned. This is the religion of reason, the creed of science. This satisfies the brain and heart.
..........— Robert G(reen) Ingersoll (1833-1899), American lawyer, orator, freethinker. The Complete Works of Robert G, Ingersoll in Twelve Volumes, Volume IV: Lectures, "The Foundations of Faith," VIII Conclusion.

[Paegan2246]

One of my favorite quotes:

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of ~ Blaise Pascal


Whenever my husband raises his eyebrows and goes "WTF" at me - I quote this. It explains quite a bit. :-)

[WT Sharpe]

.....When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, "I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men," Epictetus replied, "I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!"
..........— Epictetus (55 C.E. – 135 C.E.), Greek Stoic philosopher, born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey). The Golden Sayings, LXV.

[Angst]

Disobedience is the foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. (Henry David Thoreau)

[astra]

Originally Posted by Michizzle

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe.
~Albert Einstein

In the same vein

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."

— Elbert Hubbard

[Ea]

Originally Posted by astra

In the same vein

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."
— Elbert Hubbard

Good one.

[HamsterRage]

In the same vein:

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid."
---John Wayne

[WT Sharpe]

.....Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
..........— Philip K. Dick (1928-82) American science fiction writer and novelist. Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (1986), "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later."

[dougf4]

I hate to paraphrase, but I simply can't find the exact text or even which book it is from.

The line is from one of Louis Lamour's books. It describes a cowboy laying eyes on a pioneer woman whose family had been murdered and she survived for a long period of time in the wilderness by herself.

"She looked like she had been through the creek and over the mountain."

[dougf4]

"The hand of fate had dipped into the ragbag of humanity." - Jean Shepherd

“Out in the ocean, a rope is put around the man's neck. The other end of the rope is attached to an old jukebox and it is thrown overboard. The man invariably follows.”
- Jimmy Breslin