"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
~~ Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-68]
"The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than that proportion."
~~ Adam Smith [1723-90], in "The Wealth of Nations", 1776
"For [Adam] Smith, the market moves toward monopoly; it is the job of the philosopher to define, and of the soveriegn state to restore, fair play."
~~ Adam Gopnik, in 2010
"Faith has wings but reason crawls and often in the wrong direction."
~~ Leonard Wibberley [1915-83]
"The definition of a Republican is: Someone who can't enjoy a meal unless they know [that] someone else is starving."
~~ Mary Karr, quoting her father in the great memoir "The Liar's Club" [1995]
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
~~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan [1927-2003]
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."
~~ Eric Hoffer [1902-83]
"No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty."
~~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan [1927-2003]
"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than because of their immediate feeling that he is leading them away from their unwanted selves. Surrender to a leader is not a means to an end but a fulfillment. Whither they are led is of secondary importance."
~~ Eric Hoffer [1902-83]
"What constitutes a freak when nearly the entire culture has become a freak show?"
~~ Charles Taylor
"Politicians should dress like NASCAR drivers so [that] we know who their corporate sponsors are"
~~ bumper sticker
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
~~ Martin Mull
"Unlimited corporate funding of candidates is a dagger directed at the heart of our democracy."
~~ Bill Moyers
"There is a time for departure, even when there's no certain place to go."
~~ Tennessee Williams [1911-83]
"All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare."
~~ Baruch de Spinoza [1632-77]
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."
~~ Dr. Samuel Johnson [1709-84]
"Doubt is the father of invention."
~~ Galileo [1564-1642]
"i've got my faults, but living in the past isn't one of them. There's no future in it."
~~ baseball manager George 'Sparky' Anderson [1934-2010]
"If there's anything I hate more than not being taken seriously, it's being taken too seriously."
~~ Billy Wilder [1906-2002]
"Life is a series of suicides, divorces, promises broken, children smashed, whatever."
~~ John Cassavetes [1929-89], line from movie "Love Streams" [1984]
"The Republican Party, as much as it pains me to say this, should be ashamed of themselves."
~~ David Stockman, Reagan's budget director, on "60 Minutes" in October 2010
"Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe."
~~ Euripedes [circa 480 B.C.E. – 406 B.C.E.]
"The texture of a film is affected very much by the honor with which you make it."
~~ movie director Danny Boyle
"God, there's got to be another way"
~~ The Who band, line from "Who Are You?" song, 1978
"No government is ever perfect. One of the chief virtues of democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic process can be pointed out and corrected."
~~ Harry S. Truman [1884-1972]
"I think now that the great thing is not so much the formulation of an answer for myself, for the theater, or the play – but rather the most accurate possible statement of the problem."
~~ Arthur Miller [1915-2005]
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
~~ Socrates [469-399 B.C.E.]
"Physics is the universe's operating system."
~~ Steven R. Garman
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
~~ old saying, as well as 1990 country-western hit by Aaron Tippin
"I learned a long time ago that reality is much weirder than anyone's imagination."
~~ Hunter S. Thompson [1937-2005]
"Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises."
~~ Samuel Butler [1612-80]
"I'm not surprised you're a lawyer. You probably couldn't make a living at much of anything else."
~~ Rex Stout [1886-1975]
"The price of failure is death; the price of success is death. Seek to succeed."
~~ G.E. Nordell, in the {unfinished} book “Warrior Mind”
{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}
