Life

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer too much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt (b. 1858), U.S. President 1901-1909.

Wisdom

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

Abba Eban (b. 1915), Israeli politician. Speech, 16 Dec. 1970, London.

Drugs

A drug is neither moral nor immoral - it's a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary license to act like an asshole.

Frank Zappa (1940-93), U.S. rock musician. The Real Frank Zappa Book, ch. 17 (1989; written with Peter Occhiogrosso).

Certainty

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), U.S. statesman, writer. Letter, 13 Nov. 1789 (published in Complete Works, vol. 10, ed. by John Bigelow, 1887-88).

Government

In 1787, after the delegates in Philadelphia signed the new United States Constitution, a woman approached Benjamin Franklin. "Well, Doctor," she asked, "what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), U.S. statesman, writer.

Causes

A good cause can become bad if we fight for it with means that are indiscriminatingly murderous. A bad cause can become good if enough people fight for it in a spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice. In the end it is how you fight, as much as why you fight, that makes your cause good or bad.

Freeman Dyson (b. 1923), British-born U.S. physicist, author. Disturbing the Universe, pt. 1, ch. 4 (1979).

Greatness

Great men, great nations, have not been boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of the terror of life, and have manned themselves to face it.

Emerson

Comments or suggestions, Email me at sboucher@pipeline.com



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