The Great Quotes thread

[Kryztian]

[Kryztian]

(Elie Wiesel is a truly great man, and if he were alive, I would have to wonder what he would have to say about the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) using this quote. The ADL was originally a civil rights organization designed to confront racism and bigotry, especially against Jews, but also other minorities. But now, Jonathan Greenblatt, the leader of the ADL virulently attacks anyone who looks at the human suffering in Gaza, the West Bank, the victims of the Naqba, etc. as "anti-semetic". The ADL is now a hate group that promotes human suffering.)

[Raskolnikov]

"When a king feels that his people are about to rebel, he declares war on another country."

Napoleon Bonaparte

[Bill Ryan]

I do not fear God, I fear Persia.

— Alexander the Great, 334 BC

[Ewan]

Witnessed on a sign, anonymous...

We now live in an age where intelligent people are silenced so stupid people do not get offended.

[Raskolnikov]

"Empire abroad and liberty at home are incompatible. You can have one or the other, but history shows you cannot maintain both."

Connor Boyack

[Bill Ryan]

In war, truth is the first casualty.

— Aeschylus (Greek tragic dramatist, 525—456 BC)

This is very often quoted, simply because it's so true. But I never knew who first said it till I looked it up.

[Bill Ryan]

[Bill Ryan]

We can sell the war to the public.

— Edward Bernays (1917, when briefing US President Woodrow Wilson)

[Matthew]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
We can sell the war to the public.

— Edward Bernays (1917, when briefing US President Woodrow Wilson)

Ahh that's his name. I was struggling to remember it a few nights ago when talking to some friends of friends about how this guy Edward Something Something took war propaganda and applied the principles to TV commercials.

Posted by Edward Bernays
When I came back to the United States, I decided that if you could use propaganda for war, you could certainly use it for peace. And “propaganda” got to be a bad word because of the Germans using it, so what I did was to try and find some other words so we found the words “public relations”.

Edward Bernays: Father of American Public Relations (internet link)

[Michi]

"It Doesn’t Interest Me What You Do For A Living

I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or
have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling is true,

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty every day,
and if you can source your life from God’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, your and mine,
and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, -YES !-

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied,

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone all by yourself,
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."

Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

[Kryztian]

Interviewer: “What do you think of Western Civilization?”

Mahatma Gandhi: “I think it would be a good idea.”

(There does not seem to be any evidence that Gandhi said this, but it is a great quote, often attributed to him. )

[Ewan]

“The truth is like a Lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.”

~Saint Augustine, the doctor of the Roman Catholic Church.

[Raskolnikov]

"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

Ronald Reagan

[rgray222]

This is certainly one of the reasons why this man is so unlikeable:

“I start from the position that every human endeavour is flawed: if we were to discard everything that is flawed, there would be nothing left. We must therefore make the most of what we have; the alternative is to embrace death. The choice is a real one, because death can be embraced in a number of ways; the pursuit of perfection and eternity in all its manifestations is equivalent to choosing the idea of death over the idea of life. If we carry this line of argument to its logical conclusion, the meaning of life consists of the flaws in one's conceptions and what one does about them. Life can be seen as a fertile fallacy.”
― George Soros, The Alchemy of Finance

[bojancan]

“I have studied the Iran deal in great detail, greater by far than anyone else.”

/Trump's self admiration quote/

[Frankie Pancakes]

"Tump’s war machine is either made up of liars, morons, lying morons or (most likely), an eclectic mixture of all three."
Caitlin Johnstone

[Kryztian]

I think we need a "Not So Great Quotes Thread" for many of the rather negative quotes that are already here, that say something about the rather dark figures out there in the world. Here's another one:

“Almighty God who trains our hands for war and our fingers for battle. Grant this taskforce clear and righteous targets for violence. Break the teeth of the ungodly.”

- - Pete Hegseth

[AutumnW]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
In war, truth is the first casualty.

— Aeschylus (Greek tragic dramatist, 525—456 BC)

This is very often quoted, simply because it's so true. But I never knew who first said it till I looked it up.

"The truth is surrounded by a bodyguard of lies." Winston Churchill

he quote is frequently associated with his approach to wartime intelligence and the use of misinformation to protect strategic secrets, particularly during World War I

[AutumnW]

Love that. Augustine was a fantastic person and great mind.