Sunday, November 21, 2004

Quotes and Authors

Alright, about 9 days ago, I posted some quotes I found. When I did the original post, I did not include who said the phrases in efforts to see if the words matter or who says the words matter.

Thank you Dana and Matt for responding with some thoughts and as promised, here is the complete list, along with the authors.

Side note, I'm not stating I agree with all of these quotes.

You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy.
-Charles Manson (This quote was really thrown into the mix as funny. I figured Matt would enjoy it and I think he did.)

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
-John F. Kennedy

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
-Ronald Reagan

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.
-Jimmy Carter (Dana, this is a good quote. I liked it because I thought about how we, as Americans, should remember there is a world of humans out there, and I hope the world thinks the same.)

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
-Ronald Reagan (Just thought it was cute!)

The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt.
-Jesse Jackson (I really liked this one and both Dana and Matt commented that they thought this one was meaningful.)

The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
-Adolf Hitler (Okay, yes I put a quote or two (or three) by Hitler on here. The thing is, Hitler was a powerful man and was able to control people to help with his actions. I find it important to not just ignore what he said, but learn from what he used to gain power and watch for it to make sure the actions are never repeated. Intelligence and charisma are qualities that many leaders have but intent is something to be considered.)

Delay is preferable to error.
-Thomas Jefferson (I like Thomas Jefferson but I 1/2 agree with this quote. Delay is not preferable to error but I would phrase it as, Planning and Informed Decisions are preferable to error.)

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
-Abraham Lincoln

How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.
-Adolf Hitler (Nothing like the obvious, huh?)

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.
-Jesse Jackson (I loved this quote. That's just me.)

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
-Thomas Jefferson (I just liked this one because it shows that democracy is not what everyone thinks, there are still differences in opinion and for this form of government to work, the people still need a voice, no matter who was elected. The elected person is still a public servant.)

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
-Abraham Lincoln (This can never be proved. No one knows who the world's greatest con man was because to be the greatest, the con would never be found out. Although, in the context of which drew me to this quote, be careful who you lie to. Sometimes the receiver has a better memory than the liar and it may be caught, even if it is a year or two down the road.)

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
-Thomas Jefferson (Use your voice. It's that simple.)

Words build bridges into unexplored regions.
-Adolf Hitler (This quote was used again to see if the author or the words were important. Both Dana and Matt commented on this quote and I do agree with it, no matter who said it. Communication is one of the things that moves people to action and discovery.)

I hope the quotes prompted thoughts about what your beliefs are, what you think, and helped those who read them make up their minds without prejudices. I do think the words are important and I think that just because I don't like a person (Hitler), it doesn't mean I should just ignore what happened or what was said.

Finally, does anyone know what movie this is from? (I do, it's just another quiz.)

"I was Time magazine's Man of the Year."

"So was Hitler."

"But not twice."

If you would like to see more quotes, please let me know. I have many and I could do this again, easily.

2 Comments:

At 5:54 PM, Rev said...

"Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear." - Alan Corenk

More democracy quotes found here: http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/democracy/

At 1:24 PM, CarpeDM said...

I liked it. It still ticks me off that Hitler spoke about words. He was a book burner! So, in essence, he's saying that words will build bridges but only the words he wants to be heard.

I should have figured that it was Manson who said the first one.