On Honor, being Honourable
“May I remind the Nobel laureates who have signed this appeal of one of Jean-Paul Sartre’s main reasons for voluntarily declining the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964: ‘It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form.ʼ”
On Leadership
“The man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also.” ——Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915)
On Money (Mammon)
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ——Upton Sinclair
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” ——Luke 16:13 (NIV)
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” —1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
On Open Mindedness
“Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind.” ——Henry Miller, American writer (1891–1980)
“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs. Self-conceit often regards it as a sign of weakness to admit that a belief to which we have once committed ourselves is wrong. We get so identified with an idea that it is literally a ‘pet’ notion and we rise to its defense and stop our eyes and ears to anything different.” ——John Dewey
On Overcoming The Elitists’ Evils
“The vested interests – if we explain the situation by their influence – can only get the public to act as they wish by manipulating public opinion, by playing either upon the public’s indifference, confusions, prejudices, pugnacities or fears. And the only way in which the power of the interests can be undermined and their maneuvers defeated is by bringing home to the public the danger of its indifference, the absurdity of its prejudices, or the hollowness of its fears; by showing that it is indifferent to danger where real danger exists; frightened by dangers which are nonexistent.” ——Sir Norman Angell (1872–1967)
On Praise and Worship
“Praise is a catalyst that speeds up God’s maturing process in our lives.” ——Ruth Myers, From 31 Days of Praise
On Prejudice and Bigotry
“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices – just recognize them” ——Edward R. Murrow
On Racism
“that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; that until there is no longer any first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; that until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race — until that day, the dreams of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained:” ——Speech by H.I.M. HAILE SELASSIE I – California 28th February 1968
“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices – just recognize them.” ——Edward R. Murrow
On Relationships, Relating, Communing, Connecting
“Ah, the parable of the prodigal son. The father did not miss his property; he ached for his son’s return. True wealth is measured in our relationships.” ——Author Unknown
On Responsibility
“With every civil right there has to be a corresponding civil obligation.” ——Edison Haines
“Whether or not you have children yourself, you are a parent to the next generation. If we can only stop thinking of children as individual property and think of them as the next generation, then we can realize we all have a role to play.” ——Charlotte Davis Kasl, Finding Joy (1994)
On Being Smart
“The grass is only greener on the other side of the fence because you aren’t tending your own garden.” ——Author Unknown
On Historical Revisionism
“We need not go to the Holocaust historic revisionists to see history revised for political or ethnic purposes, we only have to see what Hollywood, the media, the educational institutions and the publishing industries of the United States produces.” ——Author Unknown
“Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” ——African Proverb
On Torture
“You give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.” ——Jesse Ventura
“Answers to leading questions under torture naturally tell us nothing about the beliefs of the accused; but they are good evidence for the beliefs of the accusers.” ——C. S. Lewis
“No one has the right to ignite a war and lead an occupation and armies to conquer people, invading them and make them suffer all kinds of torture, murder, expulsion, displacement, bombing and terrorism by different lethal prohibited weapons and then come and speak as the savior of the people or a defender of their rights.” ——Muqtada al Sadr