No Need For Diplomacy

“It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy … The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.”

~ Boutros-Boutros Ghali

Utopian Politics

"Anyone who deliberately tries to get himself elected to a public office is permanently disqualified from holding one."

~ Sir Thomas More (Utopia)

Wage War

"My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war."

~ Georges Clemenceau (1918)

He Knows Nothing

"He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."

~ George Bernard Shaw

Facts Are Stupid

"Facts are stupid things."

~ Ronald Reagan

Counting Votes

"As long as I count the votes what are you going to do about it? Say."

~ William M. "Boss" Tweed

A Tree Is a Tree

"A tree is a tree. How many more do you need to look at?"

~ Ronald Reagan (1966, opposing the California Redwoods Park)

To Err, to Blame

"To err is human. To blame someone else is politics."

~ Hubert Humphrey

Mind On Fire

"Better your mind on fire than your soul."

~ Thomas Fortenberry

The Purpose of Life

"The purpose of life is to bring forth goodness. Now, in this life."

~ Leo Tolstoy

Equality

"Equality should be a non-issue. It is a universal right. There is no lesser class of humanity."

~ Thomas Fortenberry

People Are in Revolt

"People are in revolt against life itself."

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Zinn's Deception

"The modern liberal state... often uses deception to gain its ends, not so much deception of the foreign enemy, but of its own citizens, who have been taught to trust their leaders."

~ Howard Zinn

The Egg of the Phoenix

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."

~ Christina Baldwin

Music That Misses the Point

"When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point."

~ Maria Callas (1923-1977), American opera singer.

The Lightness of Sadness

"Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness."

~ Italo Calvino