FLAVIUS ATLANTIKUS

Fajã do Lombo Gordo e Fajã do Araújo - S. Miguel - Açores

2011-01-07T12:31:00.005-01:00

Saudades da Terra - Gaspar Frutuoso (1522-1591)

Livro IV CAPÍTULO XXXVIII (S. Miguel – Açores)

Saudades da Terra

Gaspar Frutuoso (1522-1591)

Livro IV CAPÍTULO XXXVIII(S. Miguel – Açores - Sec XVI)

... …………………………… “Começa a compridão desta ilha da ponta do porto da vila do Nordeste, assim chamada por ter o rosto a este vento, e de modo que o seu contrairo vento, desta ponta, e o nordeste, junto do morro alto que, de vinte e trinta légua...s ao mar, primeiro se vê dos navegantes que vêm do oriente, situada no Lombo Gordo, em uma lomba que se chama de Salvador Afonso, em um lugar não mui chão, mas de boas casas e devotas igrejas, lugar alegre, de frescos pomares, com claras ribeiras, ……….………………………

O primeiro capitão da ordenança de guerra foi Gaspar Manuel, que ainda é vivo e morador agora em Vila-Franca do Campo, feito pelo Capitão Manuel da Câmara; em cujo lugar sucedeu Jorge Fernandes que, por ser velho, foi depois feito por eleição terceiro capitão Baltasar Manuel. O primeiro alferes foi João Lourenço, o Moço por alcunha, por haver outro João Lourenço, mais velho, no tempo de Gaspar Manuel em que não havia sargento. E vindo a ser capitão Baltasar Manuel, saiu também na eleição, por sargento primeiro, João Afonso Correia, e por alferes segundo Pero Carvalho, que é filho do alferes passado João Lourenço; em cuja capitania, na dita vila e seu termo, pode haver cento e setenta homens de armas e já teve mais gente, porque antes do segundo terremoto que aconteceu nesta ilha, tinha ela e seu termo duzentos e vinte vizinhos.………………………………………

……………., principalmente agora, depois que pelo segundo terremoto se cobriram os pastos de pedra pomes, não comem (o gado) senão rama. Com o incêndio do segundo terremoto que disse, se cobriu toda aquela comarca de cinza e pedra pomes, em muita altura, que como o vento, quando abriu a terra, era ponente, foi causa desta pedra pomes, que do centro saiu e se alevantou no ar, com a força do fogo, correr mais para aquela banda e fazer ali mais dano caindo sobre ela; mas os moradores e senhores das fazendas tiraram logo muitas ribeiras de água, com as quais, não com pequeno trabalho, as limparam, de tal maneira, que agora se recolhe, cada um ano nesta vila e seus termos, até seiscentos moios de pão, e cada vez ao diante se irão recolhendo mais. Era terra muito delgada, mas com a invenção do tremoço com que a outonam, engrossou já tanto que é tida em muita conta; não tem outras mais granjearias que as ditas, para sustentar seus moradores, e, se se faz algum pastel, é pouco. Serve-se de toda a ilha por batéis e barcos e carregam de trigo alguns navios no verão e outros tempos do ano. Tem da banda do sul porto limpo para ancorar, mas muito trabalhosa serventia para batéis e carros, por uma ladeira de um comprido lombo íngreme e defensável de imigos e cossairos, que só por ele podem subir, por ser aquela parte desta ilha, por todalas bandas do mar, de altas e talhadas rochas bem cercada; e da parte da terra, de ásperas e umbrosas serras e sarrados matos, donde as sobreditas águas continuamente estão correndo; mas, se por causa das serras e porto, a vila está segura, não está o mar daquela costa, por andarem muitas vezes cossairos espreitando e esperando os navios que vão para fora e doutras partes vêm para esta ilha, por todos irem demandar o alto morro que está perto dela, que é, como disse, a primeira coisa que se vê, quando vêm do oriente. ……………………………….

Da Ponta da Marquesa corre a costa tanto como meia légua ao sudoeste, passando pela lomba de Rui Garcia e pela lomba do Meio, donde corre uma ribeira, do Trosquiado (João Gonsçalves Botellho?), um homem assim chamado, porque se trosquiava sempre e não deixava crescer o cabelo, que chamam Lomba do Meio, por estar entre a de Rui Garcia e a lomba e ribeira dos Cambos; entre a ponta da Marquesa e a dos Cambos faz ali a terra uma grande baía de meia légua, que tem uma praia de areia, a que chamam as Prainhas, onde se acolhem os navios das tormentas e ventos su-sudoeste, sudoeste, oeste e noroeste; e para todos estes ventos e quase todos os outros, tirando o norte e sul, é este muito bom porto e limpo e seguro abrigo; onde também está uma fajã de terra de pão, de António Afonso, senhor do Lombo Largo, sogro do licenciado António Camelo; e logo adiante uma ponta, que se chama o Lombo Gordo, onde é o topo da ilha, como um cunhal dela, que se chama Topo ou Morro do Nordeste, que estará de Água Retorta um quarto de légua. Na rocha da ponta do Lombo Gordo nasceu uma árvore tão grande como uma romeira, que nunca se pôde saber que árvore era, nem de que espécie, a qual tinha as folhas como de pau branco e de cor de ouro, e dava umas maçãs de pau, como bugalhos, que regoavam; por cuja causa chamavam dantes àquela ponta ali a Árvore Formosa, que durou naquela parte muitos anos e já é consumida. Logo adiante, corre uma ribeira, que se chama dos Cambos, chamada assim porque não se podendo descer um homem que ia por ali perdido, fez uns cambos de pau, com que desceu ao calhau pela rocha abaixo. Mais adiante está uma ponta ao mar, pequena, onde está uma fajã de Francisco Fernandes, sogro que foi de Matias Lopes de Araújo, da vila de Água do Pau; da qual fajã até à ponta de João da Costa será uma légua, ao pé da qual (que é muito alta) está outra fajã de moio e meio de terra de pão, do mesmo João da Costa, filho de João Afonso.

Dela para trás vai virando a terra para o nordeste, tudo em rocha mui alta, onde não há mais que duas descidas abaixo ao calhau, onde se chama a Água Retorta, e duas ribeiras, uma chamada do Arco, porque furou a terra para ir para o mar e ficou um arco nela, e outra se chama a ribeira de Água Retorta, porque se vai retorcendo em voltas. Ali na terra, em cima daquelas altas rochas, está um ajuntamento de moradores, até dez casais, da freguesia do Faial, onde entre eles tem sua fazenda João Roiz Cordeiro, cidadão de Vila Franca do Campo. Daí para o sul, que será mais de quarto de légua, corre a costa ao noroeste, fazendo uma enseada ou baía de mais de meia légua, antre a ponta de João da Costa e outra que está logo além do Faial; estando depois da ponta de João da Costa uma altíssima rocha, direita ao prumo e talhada, que dizem ser a mais alta de toda a ilha, que se chama o Bode, por cair algum dela abaixo, donde caem também pedras (por ser mui íngreme), que mataram ali um moço e feriram dois, que por baixo passavam; e, para contar isto melhor, somente ao longo da costa, digo que da vila do Nordeste, correndo rocha alta, ao porto da dita vila, que é desembarcadouro em penedia brava, e uma calheta em que somente cabe um barco, há mais de dois tiros de escopeta, e do dito porto pela costa adiante, até chegar à costa do sul, tem muitos e bons surgidouros.

Do porto há, outro tanto espaço de rocha alta, uma grande e alta ponta, chamada da Marquesa; da Ponta da Marquesa vai fazendo a rocha uma enseada, de compridão de uma légua, até ao Morro, que é uma alta rocha, como cunhal da ilha, testa do Lombo Gordo, dentro da qual enseada, toda cercada de penedia, ao nível do mar, meia légua, quase no meio dela, vai beber no mar uma ribeira, que somente corre no inverno, chamada dos Cambos; além da qual ribeira, contíguo com ela, está um pequeno areal, de areia miúda e preta; e logo vão umas fajãs pequenas, que dão trigo e pastel, até entestar com o Morro já dito.

Este Morro é uma soberba serra que se chama o Lombo Gordo, que vai morrer e acabar em uma rocha muito alta, da banda do levante, chamada dos mareantes o Morro ou Topo, em que bate o mar uma légua da vila do Nordeste; e o mesmo Morro vai pela terra dentro, e crescendo cada vez mais, e alevantando-se até ao Pico da Vara, que é o mais alto monte da ilha, que por outro nome se chama toda aquela serra alta dos Graminhais, ao pé dos quais está a Lomba de São Pedro e a Algarvia, da banda do norte, e o Faial, e a Povoação Velha, da banda do sul.

Do qual Morro para diante, vai voltando a costa, de alta rocha e calhau grosso e miúdo, a lugares ao lível do mar, onde quando o mar se embravece chega ao pé da dita rocha meia légua até ao passo que se diz da Gorda, por passarem por cima de uma ponta de pedra, alando-se por uma corda de uma banda para outra. Junto do qual passo, quase apegados com ele, estão dois penedos altos, de modo de pedra queimada, que chamam os Ilheusinhos, onde há um bom surgidouro, o melhor que há por aquela banda do norte, dali até à Maia.

Dos Ilheusinhos, correndo a rocha alta e calhau ao longo do mar, pela mesma maneira dita atrás. até espaço de meia légua para o sul, está uma boa fajã de Simão da Ponte, com caminho de pé e de bestas, pela rocha arriba, que dá bom pão e pastel; junto da qual fajã, um tiro de besta, dobrando já a costa para a parte do sul, está uma grota chamada a Grota Funda; e apegado com ela, um tiro de pedra, está uma fonte de tão grossa água como a coxa de um homem, que nasce em meia rocha, ao pé de uma fajã pequena; acima da qual fajã e da outra atrás dita está uma povoação de gente, de até dez ou doze casais, que se chama Água Retorta, por respeito da fonte que pela rocha cai em voltas, e são da freguesia do Faial.

D’Água Retorta, que parte com o Lombo Gordo na banda do ponente, se começa o termo de Vila-Franca, porque ali fenece o do Nordeste; e dali para o ponente vai começando a costa do sul, correndo a rocha direita e mui alta, e tão íngreme que em muita parte dela não poderão andar cabras, ao lível com o mar, de calhau miúdo; ao pé da qual rocha, além meia légua, está uma fajã grande de Baltasar Manuel, de até dois moios de terra, muita parte da qual semeia de pão e a mais ocupada de mato, urze, murta e faia; e correndo a mesma rocha para loeste, a modo de enseada pouco curva, por espaço de um tiro de espingarda, está na mesma rocha uma veia de pedra branca da largura de oito côvados, desde o pé da rocha até o meio, que será altura de tiro de um bom berço, que se chama o Risco do Bode, que outros chamam Risco do Manaia, pelo ele ver, vindo do Reino para esta ilha, em tempo de cerração, sem ter vista a ilha, e pela brancura do Risco, julgar ser a ilha; e indo a descobri-la junto da costa, donde depois dizia o mesmo Manaia, vindo do Regno:—levo pela proa o Risco do Faial; e tão bom piloto era nesta travessa, que assim o fazia como dizia.

Ao pé do qual Risco, ou vieiro de pedra, nasce uma fonte pequena, de boa água doce; deste Risco branco caem muitas vezes pedras em tempo de chuva, com que correm muito perigo os que por ali caminham pelo pé daquela rocha; do qual Risco até às Formigas que estão ao su-sueste, há dez léguas, demorando-Ihe o Risco a elas ao nor-noroeste. Deste Risco branco corre a rocha direita ao noroeste, assim altíssima por espaço de um tiro e meio de escopeta até ao Faial, com uma baía que ali faz antre as duas pontas já ditas, no meio da qual está o dito lugar do Faial, situado em uma aberta, antre uma grande ribeira, da banda do oriente do lugar, logo passada a Rocha do Bode, ao pé dela, e uma levada que dela sai da parte do ocidente, com que moe um moinho, de que se servem os moradores do mesmo lugar do Faial, assim chamado por ser antigamente aquele vale coberto de muitas faias e altas, com raras sombras de brandos vimes, e outras espessas de verdes árvores, regadas não somente com a ribeira e levada, mas com muitas deleitosas e claras fontes que das ladeiras daquela montosa terra se vêm meter nelas até se misturarem suas doces águas com as salgadas do mar vizinho, em um bom porto que tem, pelo qual sobe muito pescado pelas correntes da ribeira acima, além da grande quantidade de eirós, que ela em si cria, das quais coisas todas está o lugar tão bastecido, como das muitas faias de que tomou o nome, o qual já é termo de Vila-Franca do Campo, de quem ela elege, a seus tempos, homens que a governam. Tem uma igreja, da invocação de Nossa Senhora da Graça, cuja festa principalmente se celebra a oito dias de Setembro; terá toda a freguesia trinta e sete fogos e almas de confissão cento e catorze, das quais são de sacramento oitenta e oito, e já teve mais; cujo primeiro vigairo foi um Rodrigo Anes Barabam,………..

……………………………………………… Dista do Nordeste três léguas, e alguns moradores deste caminho são desta freguesia; e ainda que o porto é mais que de serventia de batéis, poucas vezes surgem nele navios, por não servir para abrigo, nem ter carregação alguma. Os vizinhos dele, que são nobres e ricos, lavram pão e algum pastel; e tudo é muito bom, mas abasta para pouco mais que para seus moradores; tem madeira, que alguns granjeiam e mandam vender a caixeiros, a Vila-Franca e à cidade.

Está este lugar assentado (como digo) em um campo de oito até dez moios de terra, cercado de montes, quase de meia légua de altura de todas as partes, senão do sul, donde fica o mar, o qual campo parece que em algum tempo foi mar e com enchentes se atupiu de terra. No monte, da parte do oriente, está a roça de Pero de Freitas, onde roçam mato para semearem pastel e trigo; descendo dela para a banda do sul, está uma grota que se chama o Campo dos Alhos, porque havia ali muitos bravos, a qual grota, em tempo de inverno, toma muita água e toda corre para o Faial, com que dá muito trabalho aos moradores dele; e apegado com a grota, da banda do mar, fica o Pico Alto do Bode, que já disse, de criações de gado, e rocha mui alta de pedra vermelha, queimada, como coisa que em outros tempos ardeu; e dela caiem as pedras que disse, no caminho que vai do Nordeste e Água Retorta, ao longo do mar, e da fajã de João da Costa, que será de moio e meio de terra, e dá trigo, pastel e cevada, e criam-se nela muitos coelhos”. …………………………..

O Príncipe - de Nicolau Maquiavel (1469-1527)

2010-12-10T10:01:00.002-01:00

O Príncipe
Nicolau Maquiavel
Cap. VI - Dos Principados novos ...
pp 35, Ed. E.A.

... e não esqueçamos que não há coisa mais difícil de tratar, de êxito mais duvidoso nem de manejo mais perigoso do que aventurar-se alguém a impor novas instituições, pois aquele que as impõe tem como inimigos todos a quem a ordem antiga aproveitava e como tíbios defensores apenas os que poderão aproveitar da Nova. A tibieza destes últimos resulta, em parte, do medo aos adversários que tem as leis por eles e, em parte, também, da incredulidade dos homens, que não acreditam verdadeiramente numa coisa nova enquanto não vem realizada uma experiência firme.

J. Kenneth Galbraith - The Great Crash of 1929

2010-07-02T07:17:00.003Z

Aqui seguem mais alguns excertos do livro acima indicado:

«Booms (explosões artificiais de procura ou de preços), note-se, não são travados antes de terem começado. E depois de começarem o acto (de travagem) aparecerá sempre, como aconteceu aos assustados homens da Direcção da Reserva Federal em Fevereiro de 1929, como uma decisão a favor do imediato e contra a morte futura. Como já vimos, a morte imediata não tem apenas a desvantagem de ser imediata mas também a de identificar o executor.(TGC-JKG-pp206)

...................

Em 1929 o Professor Dice (Charles Amos) observava: As pessoas comuns acreditam nos seus líderes. Nós já não olhamos para os capitães da indústria como engrandecidos bandidos (Rober Barons). Não temos ouvido a sua voz no rádio? Será que não estamos familiarizados com os seus pensamentos, ambições e ideais, tanto que eles no-los expressaram quase como se o comunicassem a um amigo? Esse sentimento de confiança é essencial para um boom.

Quando as pessoas estão cautelosas, questionadoras, misantropas, suspeitosas ou serenas são imunes ao entusiasmo especulativo. (TGC-JKG-pp187 / 8)
..........

As organizações reguladoras, como as pessoas que as integram, tem um marcado ciclo de vida. Na juventude são vigorosas, agressivas, evangelistas, até mesmo intolerantes. Mais tarde elas amaciam e, em idade avançada - depois de uns 10 ou 15 anos - tornam-se, salvo algumas excepções, ou em braço armado da industria que regulam ou em estruturas senis.»

Lições sobre Dinheiro e Democracia

2010-06-22T12:06:00.002Z

Num mundo quase completamente dominado pelo dinheiro o que nos ensina o Mestre?

Jesus ficou tão transtornado com a visão dos cambistas no templo que entrou e começou a virar-lhes as mesas e a expulsá-los com um chicote, sendo esta a única vez durante todo o seu ministério que temos notícia de Ele ter usado a força.
O que teria levado o grande pacifista a tornar-se tão agressivo?

Durante muito tempo foi pedido aos judeus que pagassem o imposto do templo com uma moeda especial chamada “shekelshekel”. Era uma moeda que pesava meia onça de prata, sem imagem gravada do imperador pagão. Esta era para eles a única moeda aceitável por Deus.
Mas, porque havia somente um número limitado destas moedas em circulação, os cambistas estavam num mercado de compradores e, tal como aconteceria com qualquer outro bem escasso, eles puderam aumentar o preço até ao máximo suportável pelo mercado.

Os cambistas fizeram enormes lucros com o seu monopólio destas moedas e transformaram este acto de devoção (do pagamento do imposto do templo) num escárnio lucrativo. Jesus viu isto como um roubo ao povo e proclamou toda aquela cena como “um covil de ladrões”.*

Uma vez aceite o dinheiro como forma de compra e venda, aqueles que produzem, emprestam e manipulam esse dinheiro em grande quantidade ficam obviamente numa posição muito forte. Eles são os “Trocadores de Dinheiro” (cambistas).

*Mt 21:13, Mr 11:17, Lu 19:46

The History of Money – part 1
No sítio da organização não-lucrativa XAT
(tradução livre do capítulo JESUS FLIPS (many coins) 33 A.D.)

The Great Crash of 1929 - John Kenneth Galbraith - 2

2010-06-16T11:23:00.001Z

"A nossa vida politica favorece os extremos do discurso; o homem que é dotado nas artes do seu abuso está destinado a ser um notável, quase sempre, uma grande figura."

The Great Crash of 1929 - John Kenneth Galbraith - 1

2010-06-16T11:08:00.005Z

"Como instrumento de Politica Económica, o "encantamento" não permite a mínima das dúvidas ou escrúpulos.
...............
Ninguém sabia, mas também não podia ser forçado com frequência, que para um "encantamento" ser efectivo o conhecimento não era nem necessário nem assumido.
................

Wall Street não tinha sempre sido um símbolo glorificado na nossa (EUA) vida nacional. Em algumas regiões da devota nação, aqueles que especulavam em acções - os jogadores de casino, termo ainda mais infamatório usado - não eram considerados os maiores adornos morais da nossa sociedade."

Finanças - As marés especulativas dos nossos tempos

2010-06-16T11:03:00.001Z

Parece-me que a maioria de nós tem consciência da periódica ocorrência dos "mundos" fantasiosos criados, em vários domínios da vida, por especuladores. A maioria dos interessados nestes assuntos tem, também, consciência que um simples aviso à navegação feito por quem tem créditos e estatura no domínio, pode ser o suficiente para arrefecer o ímpeto dos menos avisados. O problema é que, por vezes, a prestação de um bom serviço à “causa pública” tem um preço e poucos se dispõem a paga-lo. Preferem muitos reservar a revelação do seu “verdadeiro” posicionamento para os livros de memórias, quando esse já é irrelevante e inconsequente.

Presentemente vivemos tempos incertos onde se acusam os especuladores monetários internacionais (e não só) dos males que afectam a Zona Euro e da sua moeda. Mas não estariam essas ameaças já visíveis (mesmo para leigos) à décadas? Não teria sido mais adequado usar da retórica adequada (e acção) no momento certo?

A este propósito (especulação desenfreada - imobiliária e bolsista) escrevia John Kenneth Galbraith, no seu livro “The Great Crash of 1929”:

“Em 1929, uma firme e robusta denuncia dos especuladores, e especulação, por alguém de elevada e reconhecida autoridade, emitindo aviso de que o mercado estaria demasiado valorizado, teria certamente quebrado a fantasia. Essa denuncia teria, certamente, feito muita gente recuar nesse mundo do faz-de-conta.
....
A verdadeira eficácia dessa medida (aviso à navegação) era o problema. De todas as armas no arsenal da Reserva Federal, as palavras eram aquela cujas consequências eram mais imprevisíveis. O seu efeito poderia ser instantâneo e terrível. Contudo essas consequências poderiam ser atribuídas com grande precisão à pessoa, ou pessoas, que as proferissem. E a retribuição seguir-se-ia. Para os mais cautelosos dirigentes da Reserva Federal, dos princípios de 1929, o silêncio parecia literalmente de ouro”.

Este parágrafo faz-me lembrar uma outra célebre citação atribuída a Napoleão Bonaparte:

“Ninguém tem o coração do lado contrário ao dos seus interesses”.

O problema é que os interesses tem evoluído mais no sentido dum egoísmo materialista, e dum visível hedonismo, do que no sentido humanista e no do serviço ao semelhante.

Uma interessante descrição e opinião sobre a especulação aqui.

A Simplicidade, o Humor e a Inteligência.

2010-04-13T12:58:00.034Z

A Simplicidade, o Humor e a Inteligência.

Cada um tem a sua percepção da vida, realidade e identidade; uns de forma mais clara e comunicativa e outros de forma mais nebulosa ou complexa. No meio de todas as formas de comunicar, existem frases proferidas por certas criaturas que, facilmente, colam duradouramente na mente dos outros; e porquê? Naturalmente por muitas e variadas razões, das quais ocorrem-me a especial, simples, inédita, chocante, desassombrada ou artística representação de realidades já conhecidas, mas que tem teimado em se apresentar travestidas.

Provavelmente as melhores frases proferidas não perduraram, não por falta de mérito dos respectivos autores mas porque a fama e o poder que não tinham é necessária para as projectar à altura necessária. O poder e a notoriedade conseguem projectar muita coisa a este nível orbital, inclusivamente algum lixo que teima em ficar na história.

Para mim, independentemente de concordar ou discordar da visão ou conduta dos respectivos autores, algumas dessas frases são "obras de arte" ou importantes sinais de aviso, razão pela qual as coloco aqui no meu "arquivo pessoal".

Retiradas segundo o respectivo assunto ou personalidade, apresento-as assim ordenadas:

Sens of Humor
Love
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Marcus Porcius Cato
Julius Caesar
Titus Flavius Vespasian
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Buddha
Sun Tzu
Saint Augustine
Niccolo Machiavelli
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
Napoleon Bonaparte
Abraham Lincoln
Adolf Hitler
Winston Churchill
Joseph Stalin
Gandhi
Herbert Hoover
Carroll Quigley
John Kenneth Galbraith
J. Edgar Hoover
Government
Politicians
Mother Teresa

Sens of Humor

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Henry Ward Beecher

A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.
Hugh Sidey

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
William Arthur Ward

Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.
Agnes Repplier

Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.
Mark Twain

Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn.
Irvin S. Cobb

Humor is reason gone mad.
Groucho Marx

Humor is richly rewarding to the person who employs it. It has some value in gaining and holding attention, but it has no persuasive value at all.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
Francis Bacon

The satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance.
Peter De Vries

This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.
Lin Yutang

Wit is the lowest form of humor.
Alexander Pope

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.
Bill Cosby

Love

First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity.
George Bernard Shaw

Fortune and love favor the brave.
Ovid

have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
Mother Teresa

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

If you want to be loved, be lovable.
Ovid

Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'
Erich Fromm

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.
George Bernard Shaw

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
William Shakespeare

Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.
Leo Buscaglia

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
Peter Ustinov

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Aristotle

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.
W. Somerset Maugham

Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion.
Miguel de Unamuno

Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
H. L. Mencken

Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat.
Ben Hecht

Love is the poetry of the senses.
Honore de Balzac

Love is the self-delusion we manufacture to justify the trouble we take to have sex.
Daniel S. Greenberg

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.
John Ciardi

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Love that is not madness is not love.
Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman giving all your love to just one man.
Tammy Wynette

The best proof of love is trust.
Joyce Brothers

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
Mother Teresa

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.
Henry Van Dyke

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Bertrand Russel

To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.
Henry Drummond

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.
Benjamin Disraeli

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.
W. Somerset Maugham

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.
Tom Robbins

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
Emily Bronte

Where there is love there is life.
Mohandas Gandhi

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life.
Joseph Conrad

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A great fortune is a great slavery.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A great mind becomes a great fortune.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

All art is but imitation of nature.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

All cruelty springs from weakness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Do everything as in the eye of another.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Every guilty person is his own hangman.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Every reign must submit to a greater reign.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Every sin is the result of a collaboration.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

For greed all nature is too little.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He has committed the crime who profits by it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He that does good to another does good also to himself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He who has great power should use it lightly.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He who is brave is free.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I don't consider myself bald, I'm just taller than my hair.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If you judge, investigate.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If you wished to be loved, love.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

If you would judge, understand.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

In war there is no prize for runner-up.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is quality rather than quantity that matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is the failing of youth not to be able to restrain its own violence.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is the quality rather than the quantity that matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

t makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Life is warfare.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Life, if well lived, is long enough.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

May be is very well, but Must is the master. It is my duty to show justice without recompense.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Modesty forbids what the law does not.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No man was ever wise by chance.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Nothing becomes so offensive so quickly as grief. When fresh it finds someone to console it, but when it becomes chronic, it is ridiculed, and rightly.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Nothing is void of God, his work is everywhere his full of himself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

One crime has to be concealed by another.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

One must steer, not talk.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice all things.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can't find.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man... It is more powerful than external circumstances.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The way is long if one follows precepts, but short... if one follows patterns.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The wish for healing has always been half of health.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Those who boast of their descent, brag on what they owe to others.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Time discovers truth.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

What is true belongs to me!
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

What nature requires is obtainable, and within easy reach. It is for the superfluous we sweat.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only to cast it down.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

When we are well, we all have good advice for those who are ill.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Where fear is, happiness is not.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

While we are postponing, life speeds by.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

You learn to know a pilot in a storm.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Marcus Porcius Cato

I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
Marcus Porcius Cato

It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.
Marcus Porcius Cato

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.
Cato

Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses.
Cato

Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternatives.
Cato

Julius Caesar

As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.
Julius Caesar

Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.
Julius Caesar

Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.
Julius Caesar

Experience is the teacher of all things.
Julius Caesar

Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.
Julius Caesar

I came, I saw, I conquered.
Julius Caesar

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.
Julius Caesar

I have lived long enough both in years and in accomplishments.
Julius Caesar

I have lived long enough to satisfy both nature and glory.
Julius Caesar

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.
Julius Caesar

If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
Julius Caesar

In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes.
Julius Caesar

It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.
Julius Caesar

It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.
Julius Caesar

It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.
Julius Caesar

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.
Julius Caesar

Men freely believe that which they desire.
Julius Caesar

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.
Julius Caesar

Men willingly believe what they wish.
Julius Caesar

No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
Julius Caesar

The die is cast.
Julius Caesar

What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.
Julius Caesar

Which death is preferably to every other? "The unexpected".
Julius Caesar

Titus Flavius Vespasian

It becomes an emperor to die standing.
Titus Flavius Vespasian

The body of a dead enemy always smells sweet.
Titus Flavius Vespasian

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

A handful of men, inured to war, proceed to certain victory, while on the contrary, numerous armies of raw and undisciplined troops are but multitudes of men dragged to the slaughter.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Few men are born brave. Many become so through training and force of discipline.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

In time of peace prepare for war.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Valor is superior to number.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Buddha

A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
Buddha

A jug fills drop by drop.
Buddha

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
Buddha

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
Buddha

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?
Buddha

Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
Buddha

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
Buddha

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Buddha

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Buddha

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
Buddha

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
Buddha

Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair.
Buddha

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.
Buddha

Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
Buddha

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
Buddha

Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
Buddha

He is able who thinks he is able.
Buddha

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.
Buddha

He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
Buddha

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Buddha

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Buddha

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
Buddha

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
Buddha

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
Buddha

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true.
Buddha

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Buddha

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
Buddha

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Buddha

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
Buddha

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Buddha

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.
Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Buddha

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
Buddha

The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.
Buddha

The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Buddha

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
Buddha

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha

The tongue like a sharp knife... Kills without drawing blood.
Buddha

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.
Buddha

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
Buddha

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.
Buddha

The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
Buddha

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.
Buddha

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
Buddha

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
Buddha

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Buddha

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
Buddha

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
Buddha

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Buddha

Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.
Buddha

Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.
Buddha

We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
Buddha

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
Buddha

What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?
Buddha

What we think, we become.
Buddha

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
Buddha

When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.
Buddha

Without health life is not life; it is only a state of langour and suffering - an image of death.
Buddha

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
Buddha

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
Buddha

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
Buddha

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Buddha

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha

Sun Tzu

ll men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
Sun Tzu

All war is based on deception.
Sun Tzu

All war is deception.
Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.
Sun Tzu

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.
Sun Tzu

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
Sun Tzu

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.
Sun Tzu

For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.
Sun Tzu

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
Sun Tzu

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.
Sun Tzu

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.
Sun Tzu

Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Sun Tzu

If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.
Sun Tzu

If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
Sun Tzu

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.
Sun Tzu

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
Sun Tzu

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
Sun Tzu

Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.
Sun Tzu

It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used.
Sun Tzu

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.
Sun Tzu

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.
Sun Tzu

Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.
Sun Tzu

Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.
Sun Tzu

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Sun Tzu

Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
Sun Tzu

Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.
Sun Tzu

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
Sun Tzu

Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.
Sun Tzu

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Sun Tzu

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Sun Tzu

The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.
Sun Tzu

The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.
Sun Tzu

The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
Sun Tzu

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
Sun Tzu

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
Sun Tzu

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.
Sun Tzu

The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.
Sun Tzu

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
Sun Tzu

There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.
Sun Tzu

There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
Sun Tzu

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Sun Tzu

Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.
Sun Tzu

To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Sun Tzu

To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
Sun Tzu

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
Sun Tzu

When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
Sun Tzu

You have to believe in yourself.
Sun Tzu

Saint Augustine

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
Saint Augustine

Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
Saint Augustine

By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.
Saint Augustine

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
Saint Augustine

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
Saint Augustine

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
Saint Augustine

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
Saint Augustine

Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?
Saint Augustine

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
Saint Augustine

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.
Saint Augustine

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.
Saint Augustine

Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
Saint Augustine

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.
Saint Augustine

God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.
Saint Augustine

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Saint Augustine

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.
Saint Augustine

He that is jealous is not in love.
Saint Augustine

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
Saint Augustine

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
Saint Augustine

Hear the other side.
Saint Augustine

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
Saint Augustine

I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.
Saint Augustine

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
Saint Augustine

I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
Saint Augustine

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don't accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend.
Saint Augustine

If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.
Saint Augustine

If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
Saint Augustine

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
Saint Augustine

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
Saint Augustine

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.
Saint Augustine

It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr.
Saint Augustine

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
Saint Augustine

Love is the beauty of the soul.
Saint Augustine

Love, and do what you like.
Saint Augustine

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
Saint Augustine

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
Saint Augustine

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.
Saint Augustine

No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.
Saint Augustine

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.
Saint Augustine

Our bodies are shaped to bear children, and our lives are a working out of the processes of creation. All our ambitions and intelligence are beside that great elemental point.
Saint Augustine

Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.
Saint Augustine

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Saint Augustine

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
Saint Augustine

Punishment is justice for the unjust.
Saint Augustine

Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
Saint Augustine

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
Saint Augustine

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
Saint Augustine

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.
Saint Augustine

The greatest evil is physical pain.
Saint Augustine

The purpose of all wars, is peace.
Saint Augustine

The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
Saint Augustine

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Saint Augustine

There is no possible source of evil except good.
Saint Augustine

There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.
Saint Augustine

This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
Saint Augustine

Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.
Saint Augustine

Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.
Saint Augustine

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
Saint Augustine

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
Saint Augustine

To seek the highest good is to live well.
Saint Augustine

We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.
Saint Augustine

We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.
Saint Augustine

We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.
Saint Augustine

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
Saint Augustine

What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.
Saint Augustine

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
Saint Augustine

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.
Saint Augustine

Niccolo Machiavelli

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
Niccolo Machiavelli

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
Niccolo Machiavelli

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.
Niccolo Machiavelli

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Before all else, be armed.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.
Niccolo Machiavelli

For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
Niccolo Machiavelli

God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
Niccolo Machiavelli

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
Niccolo Machiavelli

I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
Niccolo Machiavelli

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
Niccolo Machiavelli

It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
Niccolo Machiavelli

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
Niccolo Machiavelli

It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
Niccolo Machiavelli

It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Never was anything great achieved without danger.
Niccolo Machiavelli

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.
Niccolo Machiavelli

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
Niccolo Machiavelli

One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Politics have no relation to morals.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
Niccolo Machiavelli

The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
Niccolo Machiavelli

There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
Niccolo Machiavelli

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Niccolo Machiavelli

There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
Niccolo Machiavelli

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Niccolo Machiavelli

To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.
Niccolo Machiavelli

War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
Niccolo Machiavelli

War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
Niccolo Machiavelli

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
Niccolo Machiavelli

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Saint Thomas Aquinas

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

All that is true, by whomsoever it has been said has its origin in the Spirit.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Because of the diverse conditions of humans, it happens that some acts are virtuous to some people, as appropriate and suitable to them, while the same acts are immoral for others, as inappropriate to them.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Beware of the person of one book.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

How is it they live in such harmony the billions of stars - when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds about someone they know.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

If forgers and malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for excommunicating and even putting to death one convicted of heresy.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because He Himself is the way.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. Secondly, a just cause. Thirdly, a rightful intention.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

It is possible to demonstrate God's existence, although not a priori, yet a posteriori from some work of His more surely known to us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Law; an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Moral science is better occupied when treating of friendship than of justice.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

That the saints may enjoy their beatitude and the grace of God more abundantly they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in hell.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

The things that we love tell us what we are.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Three conditions are necessary for Penance: contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment; confession of sins without any omission; and satisfaction by means of good works.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Wonder is the desire for knowledge.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Jefferson

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
Thomas Jefferson

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
Thomas Jefferson

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

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.
Thomas Jefferson

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
Thomas Jefferson

Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Thomas Jefferson

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas Jefferson

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.
Thomas Jefferson

An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry.
Thomas Jefferson

An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.
Thomas Jefferson
An injured friend is the bitterest of foes.
Thomas Jefferson

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.
Thomas Jefferson

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.
Thomas Jefferson

Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.
Thomas Jefferson

Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.
Thomas Jefferson

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
Thomas Jefferson

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
Thomas Jefferson

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Thomas Jefferson

Delay is preferable to error.
Thomas Jefferson

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.
Thomas Jefferson

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.
Thomas Jefferson

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.
Thomas Jefferson

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.
Thomas Jefferson

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Thomas Jefferson

Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.
Thomas Jefferson

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Thomas Jefferson

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
Thomas Jefferson

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
Thomas Jefferson

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Thomas Jefferson

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
Thomas Jefferson

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson

Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.
Thomas Jefferson

Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
Thomas Jefferson

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.
Thomas Jefferson

He who knows best knows how little he knows.
Thomas Jefferson

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
Thomas Jefferson

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
Thomas Jefferson

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson

How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.
Thomas Jefferson

I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.
Thomas Jefferson

I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us.
Thomas Jefferson

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Thomas Jefferson

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.
Thomas Jefferson

I cannot live without books.
Thomas Jefferson

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
Thomas Jefferson

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
Thomas Jefferson

I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.
Thomas Jefferson

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.
Thomas Jefferson

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.
Thomas Jefferson

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.
Thomas Jefferson

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
Thomas Jefferson

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
Thomas Jefferson

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Thomas Jefferson

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.
Thomas Jefferson

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
Thomas Jefferson

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.
Thomas Jefferson

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.
Thomas Jefferson

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.
Thomas Jefferson

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.
Thomas Jefferson

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas Jefferson

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
Thomas Jefferson

If God is just, I tremble for my country.
Thomas Jefferson

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?
Thomas Jefferson

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.
Thomas Jefferson

Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.
Thomas Jefferson

In defense of our persons and properties under actual violation, we took up arms. When that violence shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also.
Thomas Jefferson

In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.
Thomas Jefferson

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
Thomas Jefferson

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
Thomas Jefferson

It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.
Thomas Jefferson

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Thomas Jefferson

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.
Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
Thomas Jefferson

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.
Thomas Jefferson

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.
Thomas Jefferson

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.
Thomas Jefferson

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.
Thomas Jefferson

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
Thomas Jefferson

Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Thomas Jefferson

Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.
Thomas Jefferson

Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.
Thomas Jefferson

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.
Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
Thomas Jefferson

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Thomas Jefferson

Never spend your money before you have earned it.
Thomas Jefferson

No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying as to put the right man in the right place.
Thomas Jefferson

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.
Thomas Jefferson

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.
Thomas Jefferson

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.
Thomas Jefferson

None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important.
Thomas Jefferson

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
Thomas Jefferson

Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.
Thomas Jefferson

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.
Thomas Jefferson

One man with courage is a majority.
Thomas Jefferson

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.
Thomas Jefferson

Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.
Thomas Jefferson

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
Thomas Jefferson

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.
Thomas Jefferson

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
Thomas Jefferson

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.
Thomas Jefferson

Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it.
Thomas Jefferson

Power is not alluring to pure minds.
Thomas Jefferson

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Thomas Jefferson

Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.
Thomas Jefferson

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
Thomas Jefferson

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.
Thomas Jefferson

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Thomas Jefferson

Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.
Thomas Jefferson

Taste cannot be controlled by law.
Thomas Jefferson

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
Thomas Jefferson

The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper.
Thomas Jefferson

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.
Thomas Jefferson

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Thomas Jefferson

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.
Thomas Jefferson

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.
Thomas Jefferson

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.
Thomas Jefferson

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
Thomas Jefferson

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
Thomas Jefferson

The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.
Thomas Jefferson

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
Thomas Jefferson

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.
Thomas Jefferson

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.
Thomas Jefferson

The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism.
Thomas Jefferson

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
Thomas Jefferson

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.
Thomas Jefferson

The second office in the government is honorable and easy; the first is but a splendid misery.
Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.
Thomas Jefferson

The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it.
Thomas Jefferson

The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.
Thomas Jefferson

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.
Thomas Jefferson

There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.
Thomas Jefferson

There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.
Thomas Jefferson

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.
Thomas Jefferson

Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.
Thomas Jefferson

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.
Thomas Jefferson

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
Thomas Jefferson

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.
Thomas Jefferson

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.
Thomas Jefferson

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson

We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.
Thomas Jefferson

We never repent of having eaten too little.
Thomas Jefferson

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Thomas Jefferson

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.
Thomas Jefferson

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.
Thomas Jefferson

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
Thomas Jefferson

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
Thomas Jefferson

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
Thomas Jefferson

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.
Thomas Jefferson

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
Thomas Jefferson

Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.
Thomas Jefferson

Andrew Jackson

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.
Andrew Jackson

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.
Andrew Jackson

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.
Andrew Jackson

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending.
Andrew Jackson

Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments.
Andrew Jackson

Disunion by force is treason.
Andrew Jackson

Elevate those guns a little lower.
Andrew Jackson

Every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support.
Andrew Jackson

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and its conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.
Andrew Jackson

Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted.
Andrew Jackson

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.
Andrew Jackson

I am a Senator against my wishes and feelings, which I regret more than any other of my life.
Andrew Jackson

I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an Emperor or a King my republican feelings and principles forbid it the simplicity of our system of government forbids it.
Andrew Jackson

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life.
Andrew Jackson

I have always been afraid of banks.
Andrew Jackson

I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.
Andrew Jackson

I would sincerely regret, and which never shall happen whilst I am in office, a military guard around the President.
Andrew Jackson

I've got big shoes to fill. This is my chance to do something. I have to seize the moment.
Andrew Jackson

If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword.
Andrew Jackson

In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown. Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years. The people would always re-elect the good judges.
Andrew Jackson

t is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.
Andrew Jackson

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.
Andrew Jackson

It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States.
Andrew Jackson

Mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges... which are employed altogether for their benefit.
Andrew Jackson

Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.
Andrew Jackson

Mr. Van Buren, your friends may be leaving you but my friends never leave me.
Andrew Jackson

Never take counsel of your fears.
Andrew Jackson

No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody.
Andrew Jackson

Nullification means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down.
Andrew Jackson
One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson

Our government is founded upon the intelligence of the people. I for one do not despair of the republic. I have great confidence in the virtue of the great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result.
Andrew Jackson

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.
Andrew Jackson

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
Andrew Jackson

The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests.
Andrew Jackson

The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts in the hour of danger.
Andrew Jackson

The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.
Andrew Jackson

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.
Andrew Jackson

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.
Andrew Jackson

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.
Andrew Jackson

The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.
Andrew Jackson

The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key... and bolt the door at once.
Andrew Jackson

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.
Andrew Jackson

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.
Andrew Jackson

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.
Andrew Jackson

There is nothing that I shudder at more than the idea of a separation of the Union. Should such an event ever happen, which I fervently pray God to avert, from that date I view our liberty gone.
Andrew Jackson

To the victors belong the spoils.
Andrew Jackson

Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that... the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.
Andrew Jackson

War is a blessing compared with national degradation.
Andrew Jackson

We are beginning a new era in our government. I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the government.
Andrew Jackson

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.
Andrew Jackson

Napoleon Bonaparte

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A Constitution should be short and obscure.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Dificilmente um homem põe o coração do lado contrário ao dos seus interesses.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
Napoleon Bonaparte
A true man hates no one.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Ability is nothing without opportunity.
Napoleon Bonaparte

All religions have been made by men.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Napoleon Bonaparte

An army marches on its stomach.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.
Napoleon Bonaparte

England is a nation of shopkeepers.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.
Napoleon Bonaparte

France has more need of me than I have need of France.
Napoleon Bonaparte
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.
Napoleon Bonaparte
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Napoleon Bonaparte

He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
Napoleon Bonaparte

History is a set of lies agreed upon.
Napoleon Bonaparte

History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I have only one counsel for you - be master.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.
Napoleon Bonaparte

I made all my generals out of mud.
Napoleon Bonaparte

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
Napoleon Bonaparte

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
Napoleon Bonaparte

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
Napoleon Bonaparte

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination rules the world.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
Napoleon Bonaparte

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.
Napoleon Bonaparte

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
Napoleon Bonaparte

In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.
Napoleon Bonaparte

It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Let the path be open to talent.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Medicines are only fit for old people.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
Napoleon Bonaparte

One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.
Napoleon Bonaparte

One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Respect the burden.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The army is the true nobility of our country.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The French complain of everything, and always.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The human race is governed by its imagination.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
Napoleon Bonaparte

The word impossible is not in my dictionary.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.
Napoleon Bonaparte

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Victory belongs to the most persevering.
Napoleon Bonaparte

War is the business of barbarians.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.
Napoleon Bonaparte

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
Napoleon Bonaparte

What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
Napoleon Bonaparte

When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
Napoleon Bonaparte

With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
Napoleon Bonaparte

You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.
Napoleon Bonaparte

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Abraham Lincoln

A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.
Abraham Lincoln

A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Abraham Lincoln

All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.
Abraham Lincoln

All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
Abraham Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
Abraham Lincoln

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

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
Abraham Lincoln

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln

As our case is new, we must think and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.
Abraham Lincoln

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.
Abraham Lincoln

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.
Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
Abraham Lincoln

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Abraham Lincoln

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
Abraham Lincoln

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.
Abraham Lincoln

Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old.
Abraham Lincoln

Everybody likes a compliment.
Abraham Lincoln

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
Abraham Lincoln

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.
Abraham Lincoln

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
Abraham Lincoln

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.
Abraham Lincoln

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.
Abraham Lincoln

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
Abraham Lincoln

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.
Abraham Lincoln

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Abraham Lincoln

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
Abraham Lincoln

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
Abraham Lincoln

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
Abraham Lincoln

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.
Abraham Lincoln

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.
Abraham Lincoln

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
Abraham Lincoln

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
Abraham Lincoln

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
Abraham Lincoln

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
Abraham Lincoln

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Abraham Lincoln

I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.
Abraham Lincoln

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
Abraham Lincoln

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Abraham Lincoln

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax.
Abraham Lincoln

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.
Abraham Lincoln

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.
Abraham Lincoln

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
Abraham Lincoln

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
Abraham Lincoln

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
Abraham Lincoln

If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.
Abraham Lincoln

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
Abraham Lincoln

In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln

Knavery and flattery are blood relations.
Abraham Lincoln

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
Abraham Lincoln

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
Abraham Lincoln

Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Abraham Lincoln

Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.
Abraham Lincoln
Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
Abraham Lincoln

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln

Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.
Abraham Lincoln

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.
Abraham Lincoln

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
Abraham Lincoln

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
Abraham Lincoln

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Public opinion in this country is everything.
Abraham Lincoln

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
Abraham Lincoln

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.
Abraham Lincoln

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln

Some day I shall be President.
Abraham Lincoln

Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.
Abraham Lincoln

Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.
Abraham Lincoln

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
Abraham Lincoln

The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.
Abraham Lincoln

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.
Abraham Lincoln

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.
Abraham Lincoln

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.
Abraham Lincoln

The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions.
Abraham Lincoln

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.
Abraham Lincoln

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Abraham Lincoln

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Abraham Lincoln

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.
Abraham Lincoln

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
Abraham Lincoln

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.
Abraham Lincoln

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.
Abraham Lincoln

There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, "Truth is the daughter of Time."
Abraham Lincoln

There is nothing true anywhere, The true is nowhere to be seen; If you say you see the true, This seeing is not the true one.
Abraham Lincoln

These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.
Abraham Lincoln

These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.
Abraham Lincoln

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Lincoln

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
Abraham Lincoln

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
Abraham Lincoln

To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.
Abraham Lincoln

Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.
Abraham Lincoln

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
Abraham Lincoln

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
Abraham Lincoln

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
Abraham Lincoln

When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.
Abraham Lincoln

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.
Abraham Lincoln

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
Abraham Lincoln

With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.
Abraham Lincoln

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Abraham Lincoln

Adolf Hitler

All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.
Adolf Hitler

All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.
Adolf Hitler

Any alliance whose purpose is not the intention to wage war is senseless and useless.
Adolf Hitler

Anyone who sees and paints a sky green and fields blue ought to be sterilized.
Adolf Hitler

As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.
Adolf Hitler

As soon as by one's own propaganda even a glimpse of right on the other side is admitted, the cause for doubting one's own right is laid.
Adolf Hitler

By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.
Adolf Hitler

Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.
Adolf Hitler

Generals think war should be waged like the tourneys of the Middle Ages. I have no use for knights; I need revolutionaries.
Adolf Hitler

Germany will either be a world power or will not be at all.
Adolf Hitler

Great liars are also great magicians.
Adolf Hitler

Hate is more lasting than dislike.
Adolf Hitler

He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.
Adolf Hitler

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.
Adolf Hitler

Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice.
Adolf Hitler

I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.
Adolf Hitler

I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature.
Adolf Hitler

I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker.
Adolf Hitler

I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.
Adolf Hitler

If today I stand here as a revolutionary, it is as a revolutionary against the Revolution.
Adolf Hitler

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.
Adolf Hitler

It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge.
Adolf Hitler

It is not truth that matters, but victory.
Adolf Hitler

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
Adolf Hitler

Mankind has grown strong in eternal struggles and it will only perish through eternal peace.
Adolf Hitler

Sooner will a camel pass through a needle's eye than a great man be "discovered" by an election.
Adolf Hitler

Strength lies not in defence but in attack.
Adolf Hitler

Struggle is the father of all things. It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world, but solely by means of the most brutal struggle.
Adolf Hitler

Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
Adolf Hitler

The art of leadership... consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.
Adolf Hitler

The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.
Adolf Hitler

The day of individual happiness has passed.
Adolf Hitler

The doom of a nation can be averted only by a storm of flowing passion, but only those who are passionate themselves can arouse passion in others.
Adolf Hitler

The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
Adolf Hitler

The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it.
Adolf Hitler

The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category.
Adolf Hitler

The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.
Adolf Hitler

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
Adolf Hitler

Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
Adolf Hitler

Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.
Adolf Hitler

Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.
Adolf Hitler

What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.
Adolf Hitler

Who says I am not under the special protection of God?
Adolf Hitler

Whoever lights the torch of war in Europe can wish for nothing but chaos.
Adolf Hitler

Words build bridges into unexplored regions.
Adolf Hitler

Winston Churchill

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Winston Churchill

A joke is a very serious thing.
Winston Churchill

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Winston Churchill

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.
Winston Churchill

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
Winston Churchill

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
Winston Churchill

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Winston Churchill

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
Winston Churchill

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
Winston Churchill

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Winston Churchill

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Winston Churchill

Baldwin thought Europe was a bore, and Chamberlain thought it was only a greater Birmingham.
Winston Churchill

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
Winston Churchill

Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.
Winston Churchill

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
Winston Churchill

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.
Winston Churchill

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
Winston Churchill

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
Winston Churchill

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
Winston Churchill

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
Winston Churchill

Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.
Winston Churchill

Eating words has never given me indigestion.
Winston Churchill

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
Winston Churchill

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
Winston Churchill

For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.
Winston Churchill

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
Winston Churchill

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
Winston Churchill

Great and good are seldom the same man.
Winston Churchill

He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Winston Churchill

Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.
Winston Churchill

History is written by the victors.
Winston Churchill

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
Winston Churchill

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Winston Churchill

I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.
Winston Churchill

I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.
Winston Churchill

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
Winston Churchill

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
Winston Churchill

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
Winston Churchill

I am easily satisfied with the very best.
Winston Churchill

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Winston Churchill

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.
Winston Churchill

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Winston Churchill

I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
Winston Churchill

I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.
Winston Churchill

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Winston Churchill

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
Winston Churchill

I like a man who grins when he fights.
Winston Churchill

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.
Winston Churchill

I never worry about action, but only inaction.
Winston Churchill

I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.
Winston Churchill

I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.
Winston Churchill

If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
Winston Churchill

If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.
Winston Churchill

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.
Winston Churchill

If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
Winston Churchill

If you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill

If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.
Winston Churchill

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
Winston Churchill

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
Winston Churchill

In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.
Winston Churchill

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.
Winston Churchill

In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Winston Churchill

In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
Winston Churchill

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
Winston Churchill

India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator.
Winston Churchill

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Winston Churchill

It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.
Winston Churchill

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
Winston Churchill

It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.
Winston Churchill

It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.
Winston Churchill

It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Winston Churchill

It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
Winston Churchill

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.
Winston Churchill

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Winston Churchill

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.
Winston Churchill

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.
Winston Churchill

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Winston Churchill

Most people stumble over the truth, now and then, but they usually manage to pick themselves up and go on, anyway.
Winston Churchill

Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.
Winston Churchill

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
Winston Churchill

My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them.
Winston Churchill

My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to have breakfast together, but it was so disagreeable we had to stop.
Winston Churchill

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Winston Churchill

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Winston Churchill

Never, never, never give up.
Winston Churchill

"No comment" is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.
Winston Churchill

No crime is so great as daring to excel.
Winston Churchill

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.
Winston Churchill

No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.
Winston Churchill

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
Winston Churchill

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
Winston Churchill

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Winston Churchill

One does not leave a convivial party before closing time.
Winston Churchill

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Winston Churchill

Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.
Winston Churchill

Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Winston Churchill

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.
Winston Churchill

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
Winston Churchill

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
Winston Churchill

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.
Winston Churchill

Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.
Winston Churchill

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Winston Churchill

Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.
Winston Churchill

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston Churchill

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
Winston Churchill

Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.
Winston Churchill

Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.
Winston Churchill

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam.
Winston Churchill

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.
Winston Churchill

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill

The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.
Winston Churchill

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
Winston Churchill

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
Winston Churchill

The first quality that is needed is audacity.
Winston Churchill

The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.
Winston Churchill

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Winston Churchill

The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read.
Winston Churchill

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.
Winston Churchill

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
Winston Churchill

The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
Winston Churchill

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
Winston Churchill

The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.
Winston Churchill

The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
Winston Churchill

There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
Winston Churchill

There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.
Winston Churchill

There is no such thing as a good tax.
Winston Churchill

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
Winston Churchill

There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.
Winston Churchill

These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.
Winston Churchill

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.
Winston Churchill

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.
Winston Churchill

To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
Winston Churchill

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
Winston Churchill

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
Winston Churchill

True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Winston Churchill

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
Winston Churchill

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.
Winston Churchill

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
Winston Churchill

We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
Winston Churchill

We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.
Winston Churchill

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
Winston Churchill

We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.
Winston Churchill

We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.
Winston Churchill

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.
Winston Churchill

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Winston Churchill

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
Winston Churchill

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
Winston Churchill

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
Winston Churchill

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
Winston Churchill

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.
Winston Churchill

When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.
Winston Churchill

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.
Winston Churchill

When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
Winston Churchill

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
Winston Churchill

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.
Winston Churchill

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Winston Churchill
Joseph Stalin

A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.
Joseph Stalin

Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.
Joseph Stalin

Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
Joseph Stalin

Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.
Joseph Stalin

Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
Joseph Stalin

Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.
Joseph Stalin

History shows that there are no invincible armies.
Joseph Stalin

I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.
Joseph Stalin

I trust no one, not even myself.
Joseph Stalin

Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.
Joseph Stalin

If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a "peace conference," you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph Stalin

If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.
Joseph Stalin

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.
Joseph Stalin

It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Joseph Stalin

Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts.
Joseph Stalin

Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
Joseph Stalin

The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Joseph Stalin

The only real power comes out of a long rifle.
Joseph Stalin

The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
Joseph Stalin

The Pope? How many divisions has he got?
Joseph Stalin

The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
Joseph Stalin

We don't let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?
Joseph Stalin

When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
Joseph Stalin

You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.
Joseph Stalin

Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Mohandas Gandhi

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
Mohandas Gandhi

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Mohandas Gandhi

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.
Mohandas Gandhi

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
Mohandas Gandhi

A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.
Mohandas Gandhi

A principle is the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practise perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice.
Mohandas Gandhi

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.
Mohandas Gandhi

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
Mohandas Gandhi

A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as witness.
Mohandas Gandhi

A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.
Mohandas Gandhi

Action expresses priorities.
Mohandas Gandhi

Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.
Mohandas Gandhi

All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.
Mohandas Gandhi

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.
Mohandas Gandhi

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
Mohandas Gandhi

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.
Mohandas Gandhi

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
Mohandas Gandhi

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
Mohandas Gandhi

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
Mohandas Gandhi

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
Mohandas Gandhi

Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
Mohandas Gandhi

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.
Mohandas Gandhi

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.
Mohandas Gandhi

Be the change that you want to see in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts.
Mohandas Gandhi

But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac.
Mohandas Gandhi

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
Mohandas Gandhi

Commonsense is the realised sense of proportion.
Mohandas Gandhi

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.
Mohandas Gandhi

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi

Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.
Mohandas Gandhi

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
Mohandas Gandhi

Each one prays to God according to his own light.
Mohandas Gandhi

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Mohandas Gandhi

Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.
Mohandas Gandhi

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.
Mohandas Gandhi

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.
Mohandas Gandhi

Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies.
Mohandas Gandhi

Fear has its use but cowardice has none.
Mohandas Gandhi

Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.
Mohandas Gandhi

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mohandas Gandhi

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.
Mohandas Gandhi

Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
Mohandas Gandhi

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
Mohandas Gandhi

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
Mohandas Gandhi

Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it.
Mohandas Gandhi

God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.
Mohandas Gandhi

God sometimes does try to the uttermost those whom he wishes to bless.
Mohandas Gandhi

God, as Truth, has been for me a treasure beyond price. May He be so to every one of us.
Mohandas Gandhi

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mohandas Gandhi

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.
Mohandas Gandhi

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.
Mohandas Gandhi

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.
Mohandas Gandhi

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
Mohandas Gandhi

I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed.
Mohandas Gandhi

I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.
Mohandas Gandhi

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.
Mohandas Gandhi

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.
Mohandas Gandhi

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.
Mohandas Gandhi

I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul.
Mohandas Gandhi

I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.
Mohandas Gandhi

I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice.
Mohandas Gandhi

I know, to banish anger altogether from one's breast is a difficult task. It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort. It can be done only by God's grace.
Mohandas Gandhi

I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others.
Mohandas Gandhi

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mohandas Gandhi

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.
Mohandas Gandhi

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
Mohandas Gandhi

I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God's creation, woman, the object of our lust.
Mohandas Gandhi

I would heartily welcome the union of East and West provided it is not based on brute force.
Mohandas Gandhi

If co-operation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.
Mohandas Gandhi

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mohandas Gandhi

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.
Mohandas Gandhi

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.
Mohandas Gandhi

Imitation is the sincerest flattery.
Mohandas Gandhi

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
Mohandas Gandhi

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Mohandas Gandhi

Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.
Mohandas Gandhi

Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God's hands.
Mohandas Gandhi

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
Mohandas Gandhi

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.
Mohandas Gandhi

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.
Mohandas Gandhi

Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.
Mohandas Gandhi

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one's belly, in order to be able to save one's head.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.
Mohandas Gandhi

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
Mohandas Gandhi

Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.
Mohandas Gandhi

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.
Mohandas Gandhi

Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.
Mohandas Gandhi

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.
Mohandas Gandhi

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.
Mohandas Gandhi

Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been know to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.
Mohandas Gandhi

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.
Mohandas Gandhi

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.
Mohandas Gandhi

Morality is contraband in war.
Mohandas Gandhi

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.
Mohandas Gandhi

Morality which depends upon the helplessness of a man or woman has not much to recommend it. Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.
Mohandas Gandhi

My life is my message.
Mohandas Gandhi

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.
Mohandas Gandhi

Nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it.
Mohandas Gandhi

No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.
Mohandas Gandhi

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence is the article of faith.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.
Mohandas Gandhi

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
Mohandas Gandhi

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
Mohandas Gandhi

One's own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one's Maker and no one else's.
Mohandas Gandhi

Only he can take great resolves who has indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.
Mohandas Gandhi

Peace is its own reward.
Mohandas Gandhi

Poverty is the worst form of violence.
Mohandas Gandhi

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
Mohandas Gandhi

Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness.
Mohandas Gandhi

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
Mohandas Gandhi

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Mohandas Gandhi

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
Mohandas Gandhi

Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive.
Mohandas Gandhi

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.
Mohandas Gandhi

Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one's own religion.
Mohandas Gandhi

Religion is more than life. Remember that his own religion is the truest to every man even if it stands low in the scales of philosophical comparison.
Mohandas Gandhi

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.
Mohandas Gandhi

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.
Mohandas Gandhi

Self-respect knows no considerations.
Mohandas Gandhi

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
Mohandas Gandhi

Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.
Mohandas Gandhi

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mohandas Gandhi

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.
Mohandas Gandhi

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mohandas Gandhi

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problem.
Mohandas Gandhi

The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
Mohandas Gandhi

The good man is the friend of all living things.
Mohandas Gandhi

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
Mohandas Gandhi

The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
Mohandas Gandhi

The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.
Mohandas Gandhi

The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.
Mohandas Gandhi

The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.
Mohandas Gandhi

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
Mohandas Gandhi

The pursuit of truth does not permit violence on one's opponent.
Mohandas Gandhi

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.
Mohandas Gandhi

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.
Mohandas Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mohandas Gandhi

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.
Mohandas Gandhi

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.
Mohandas Gandhi

Those who know how to think need no teachers.
Mohandas Gandhi

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.
Mohandas Gandhi

Though we may know Him by a thousand names, He is one and the same to us all.
Mohandas Gandhi

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
Mohandas Gandhi

To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.
Mohandas Gandhi

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
Mohandas Gandhi

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.
Mohandas Gandhi

Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Mohandas Gandhi

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.
Mohandas Gandhi

Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.
Mohandas Gandhi

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.
Mohandas Gandhi

Violent men have not been known in history to die to a man. They die up to a point.
Mohandas Gandhi

We do not need to proselytise either by our speech or by our writing. We can only do so really with our lives. Let our lives be open books for all to study.
Mohandas Gandhi

We may have our private opinions but why should they be a bar to the meeting of hearts?
Mohandas Gandhi

We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.
Mohandas Gandhi

We must become the change we want to see in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

We should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.
Mohandas Gandhi

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.
Mohandas Gandhi

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Mohandas Gandhi

What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.
Mohandas Gandhi

What is true of the individual will be to-morrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.
Mohandas Gandhi

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.
Mohandas Gandhi

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
Mohandas Gandhi

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.
Mohandas Gandhi

Where love is, there God is also.
Mohandas Gandhi

Where there is love there is life.
Mohandas Gandhi

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
Mohandas Gandhi

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
Mohandas Gandhi

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Mohandas Gandhi

Herbert Hoover

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.
Herbert Hoover

Children are our most valuable natural resource.
Herbert Hoover

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.
Herbert Hoover

It is the youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow... that are the aftermath of war.
Herbert Hoover

Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.
Herbert Hoover

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.
Herbert Hoover

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.
Herbert Hoover

The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage.
Herbert Hoover

The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.
Herbert Hoover

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.
Herbert Hoover

Carroll Quigley

In addition to their power over government based on government financing and personal influence, bankers could steer governments in ways they wished them to go by other pressures.
Carroll Quigley

In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so.
Carroll Quigley

Instead, there were a variety of controls of which some could be influenced by bankers, some could be influenced by the government, and some could hardly be influenced by either.
Carroll Quigley

Islam, the third in historical sequence of the ethical monotheistic religions of the Near East, was very successful in establishing its monotheism, but had only very moderate success in spreading its version of Jewish and Christian ethics to the Arabs.
Carroll Quigley

It is this power structure which the Radical Right in the United States has been attacking for years in the belief that they are attacking the Communists.
Carroll Quigley

On this basis, which was originally financial and goes back to George Peabody, there grew up in the twentieth century a power structure between London and New York which penetrated deeply into university life, the press, and the practice of foreign policy.
Carroll Quigley

Once again the mastermind was Lionel Curtis, and the earlier Round Table Groups and Institutes of International Affairs were used as nuclei for the new network.
Carroll Quigley

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers.
Carroll Quigley

The failure of Christianity in the areas west from Sicily was even greater, and was increased by the spread of Arab outlooks and influence to that area, and especially to Spain.
Carroll Quigley

The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally.
Carroll Quigley

The traditional Christian attitude toward human personality was that human nature was essentially good and that it was formed and modified by social pressures and training.
Carroll Quigley

There were people who said the Society of Cincinnati in the American revolution, of which George Washington was one of the shining lights, was a branch of the Illuminati.
Carroll Quigley

This persistence as private firms continued because it ensured the maximum of anonymity and secrecy to persons of tremendous public power who dreaded public knowledge of their activities as an evil almost as great as inflation.
Carroll Quigley

Thus, the use of fiat money is more justifiable in financing a depression than in financing a war.
Carroll Quigley

To this day the Arab influence is evident in southern Italy, northern Africa and, above all, in Spain.
Carroll Quigley

When goods are exchanged between countries, they must be paid for by commodities or gold. They cannot be paid for by the notes, certificates, and checks of the purchaser's country, since these are of value only in the country of issue.
Carroll Quigley

When the business interests... pushed through the first installment of civil service reform in 1883, they expected that they would be able to control both political parties equally.
Carroll Quigley

John Kenneth Galbraith

A person buying ordinary products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions.
John Kenneth Galbraith

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
John Kenneth Galbraith

All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
John Kenneth Galbraith

By all but the pathologically romantic, it is now recognized that this is not the age of the small man.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Economics is a subject profoundly conducive to cliche, resonant with boredom. On few topics is an American audience so practiced in turning off its ears and minds. And none can say that the response is ill advised.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Few can believe that suffering, especially by others, is in vain. Anything that is disagreeable must surely have beneficial economic effects.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them what they wanted.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Humor is richly rewarding to the person who employs it. It has some value in gaining and holding attention, but it has no persuasive value at all.
John Kenneth Galbraith

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
John Kenneth Galbraith

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.
John Kenneth Galbraith

In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.
John Kenneth Galbraith

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.
John Kenneth Galbraith

In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.
John Kenneth Galbraith

In economics, the majority is always wrong.
John Kenneth Galbraith

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.
John Kenneth Galbraith

It has been the acknowledged right of every Marxist scholar to read into Marx the particular meaning that he himself prefers and to treat all others with indignation.
John Kenneth Galbraith

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.
John Kenneth Galbraith

It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Meetings are a great trap. Soon you find yourself trying to get agreement and then the people who disagree come to think they have a right to be persuaded. However, they are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
John Kenneth Galbraith

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Of all classes the rich are the most noticed and the least studied.
John Kenneth Galbraith

One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.
John Kenneth Galbraith

People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The commencement speech is not, I think, a wholly satisfactory manifestation of our culture.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The great dialectic in our time is not, as anciently and by some still supposed, between capital and labor; it is between economic enterprise and the state.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The Metropolis should have been aborted long before it became New York, London or Tokyo.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
John Kenneth Galbraith

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.
John Kenneth Galbraith

There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose.
John Kenneth Galbraith

There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.
John Kenneth Galbraith

There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth.
John Kenneth Galbraith

There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith

War remains the decisive human failure.
John Kenneth Galbraith

We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.
John Kenneth Galbraith

We can safely abandon the doctrine of the eighties, namely that the rich were not working because they had too little money, the poor because they had much.
John Kenneth Galbraith

We have escapist fiction, so why not escapist biography?
John Kenneth Galbraith

Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.
John Kenneth Galbraith

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.
John Kenneth Galbraith

J. Edgar Hoover

Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.
J. Edgar Hoover

Banks are an almost irresistible attraction for that element of our society which seeks unearned money.
J. Edgar Hoover

I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce.
J. Edgar Hoover

Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.
J. Edgar Hoover

Justice is incidental to law and order.
J. Edgar Hoover

No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family.
J. Edgar Hoover

The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.
J. Edgar Hoover

We are a fact-gathering organization only. We don't clear anybody. We don't condemn anybody.
J. Edgar Hoover

Government

Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it.
Richard Lamm

Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.
James Russell Lowell

Democracy is an abuse of statistics.
Jorge Luis Borges

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
H. L. Mencken

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
Jonathan Swift

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
P. J. O'Rourke

Government is an unnecessary evil. Human beings, when accustomed to taking responsibility for their own behavior, can cooperate on a basis of mutual trust and helpfulness.
Fred Woodworth

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington

If human beings are fundamentally good, no government is necessary; if they are fundamentally bad, any government, being composed of human beings, would be bad also.
Fred Woodworth

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Thomas Jefferson

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
James Madison

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
Otto von Bismarck

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.
Benjamin Franklin

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.
William Penn

Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.
Larry Flynt

Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.
Lily Tomlin

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern.
Lord Acton

The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.
Gore Vidal

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
Milton Friedman

The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.
Woodrow Wilson

The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
Thomas Paine

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.
Karl Marx

You don't pay taxes - they take taxes.
Chris Rock

Politicians

A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.
Woodrow Wilson

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
Caskie Stinnett

A free America... means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it.
Frank Lloyd Wright

An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.
Arnold H. Glasow

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
Gore Vidal

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.
William E. Simon

Conservatives define themselves in terms of what they oppose.
George Will

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
E. B. White

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Aristotle

Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?
Robert Orben

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
A. J. Liebling

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.
Gore Vidal

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
Margaret Thatcher

I can't let important policy decisions hinge on the fact that an election is coming up every 90 days.
Gerhard Schroeder

I do have a political agenda. It's to have as few regulations as possible.
Dan Quayle

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
Will Rogers

I just don't believe in the basic concept that someone should make their whole career in public service.
Dan Quayle

I think it's a terrible shame that politics has become show business.
Sydney Pollack

I was a woman in a man's world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot.
Jeane Kirkpatrick

If the United Nations is a country unto itself, then the commodity it exports most is words.
Esther B. Fein

If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.
Nelson Mandela

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.
Emma Goldman

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
Louis D. Brandeis

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
Noam Chomsky

If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't.
Hyman Rickover

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.
Charles de Gaulle

In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
Charles de Gaulle

In politics the middle way is none at all.
John Adams

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.
Ronald Reagan

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
Doug Larson

It has been well said that a hungry man is more interested in four sandwiches than four freedoms.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.
Sandra Day O'Connor

It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Joseph Stalin

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.
William E. Gladstone

Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.
Kahlil Gibran

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry A. Kissinger

No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action.
Emma Goldman

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
Plato

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
Newt Gingrich

Politics have no relation to morals.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.
Mao Tse-Tung

Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Ambrose Bierce

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Mark Twain

Television is democracy at its ugliest.
Paddy Chayefsky

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
Ross Perot

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.
Dante Alighieri

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.
P. J. O'Rourke

The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.
Theodore White

The good news is that, according to the Obama administration, the rich will pay for everything. The bad news is that, according to the Obama administration, you're rich.
P. J. O'Rourke

The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.
Adlai E. Stevenson

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith

The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces.
Maureen Murphy

The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.
Fidel Castro

The secret of getting things done is to act!
Dante Alighieri

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
Erich Fromm

The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.
Herbert Hoover

The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.
Deng Xiaoping

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Alexander Hamilton

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
Thomas Paine

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you.
Ralph Nader

Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing.
Bernard Baruch

Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.
George Will

We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate.
Kin Hubbard

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
P. J. O'Rourke

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
Clarence Darrow
When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.
John W. Gardner
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
Thomas Jefferson
Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.
Robert Kennedy

Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
Mother Teresa

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.
Mother Teresa

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Teresa

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.
Mother Teresa

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.
Mother Teresa

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
Mother Teresa

God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
Mother Teresa

Good works are links that form a chain of love.
Mother Teresa

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.
Mother Teresa

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.
Mother Teresa

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
Mother Teresa

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
Mother Teresa

I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
Mother Teresa

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
Mother Teresa

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa

If we want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.
Mother Teresa

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Mother Teresa

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.
Mother Teresa

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
Mother Teresa

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.
Mother Teresa

It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.
Mother Teresa

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.
Mother Teresa

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.
Mother Teresa

It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.
Mother Teresa

Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.
Mother Teresa

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Mother Teresa

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
Mother Teresa

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given.
Mother Teresa

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.
Mother Teresa

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.
Mother Teresa

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
Mother Teresa

Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.
Mother Teresa

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.
Mother Teresa

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.
Mother Teresa

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.
Mother Teresa

Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.
Mother Teresa

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.
Mother Teresa

Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
Mother Teresa

Peace begins with a smile.
Mother Teresa

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
Mother Teresa

Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.
Mother Teresa

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.
Mother Teresa

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.
Mother Teresa

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
Mother Teresa

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.
Mother Teresa

The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.
Mother Teresa

The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.
Mother Teresa

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.
Mother Teresa

There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.
Mother Teresa

There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
Mother Teresa

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.
Mother Teresa

We are all pencils in the had of God.
Mother Teresa

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.
Mother Teresa

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Mother Teresa

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
Mother Teresa

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
Mother Teresa

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.
Mother Teresa

We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Mother Teresa

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.
Mother Teresa

Fonte: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes

Ferraria - S. Miguel - Azores

2008-01-23T19:21:00.000-01:00

Aqui, na Ferraria, é notório, e até impressionante, a magnitude da energia das ondas dissipada nos rochedos, mesmo em dias sem serem de tempestade.

A resistência destes rochedos parece assemelhar-se, às vezes, ao apego dos açorianos às ilhas e à sua recusa em transferir-se para outras paragens menos "castigadoras". Para se viver em ilhas como estas, é necessário resistir como estes rochedos resistem.

2008-01-15T16:50:00.000-01:00

"Depois de perdida a "sua" localização, os defensores mais qualificados da Ota estão agora a fazer, tarde e a más horas, a discussão que sempre faltou sobre o aeroporto - a discussão política. O problema do défice de discussão sobre o novo aeroporto nunca foi técnico, foi sempre político. Muita coisa que deveria ser discutida antes foi considerada fechada e apenas prejudicando a "decisão" rápida do "governo das decisões expeditas". Os defensores da Ota, certos das suas vantagens, também achavam que o que se deveria fazer era "andar para a frente". Pagam hoje o preço de ver a mesma linguagem de meia bola e força ser usada para avançar a toda a velocidade com Alcochete.

Mas o mais interessante sobre o aeroporto, sua necessidade e tipo, sua localização e impacto, o seu papel na economia nacional, sobre os "interesses" presentes e ausentes, sobre que Portugal fará o aeroporto e sobre que aeroporto precisa Portugal, sobre o efeito da "cidade aeroportuária" como chave de desenvolvimento para todo o país ou apenas para a concentração Lisboa-Setúbal, sobre os riscos de fazer mais um "elefante branco" e destruir o pouco que resta de Portugal por estragar, tudo isto está a ser dito por pessoas como Henrique Neto e José Reis (no Prós e Contras). Henrique Neto fez aliás a mais demolidora intervenção contra o "bloco central de interesses" e contra o governo que ouvi nos últimos tempos. É tão rara que até parecia chinês. Não é preciso concordar com eles sobre Ota versus Alcochete, mas a discussão que estão a suscitar é a que sempre fez falta".
Post de: Adrupto 15.1.08

BCP, Vara e Berardo SGPS

2008-01-04T21:44:00.001-01:00

"A escaramuça levantada em torno da eventual subida de Armando Vara aos céus do BCP - abençoado por várias extraordinárias figuras de accionistas, desde o improvável Berardo ao ex-jornalista Ulrich cuja intervenção foi considerada "decisiva" pelos "especialistas" - vale a pena? Quando ele foi para a administração da Caixa, levantou-se idêntica escaramuça. Aí, porventura com mais razão do que agora. Agora, se bem que curta, o homem já possui alguma biografia na matéria. E não deve ser constantemente perseguido por ter tido a ideia de criar uma fundação paralela à então Prevenção Rodoviária Portuguesa, por ter concluído um curso superior na defunta Independente, numa premonitória antecipação das "novas oportunidades", ou por ter sido sócio de Sócrates e de outros numa empresa de gasolinas na Amadora onde foi candidato a presidente de câmara. Como diria o velho Shakespeare, ele é o que ele é.

A questão, parece-me, é outra.

Vara não deve nada do que é presentemente na banca à banca. Deve-o apenas ao currículo partidário e governativo. Ele e outros, de outros ou do mesmo partido. Assumir isto, os tais extraordinários accionistas assumirem isto, representa uma mudança de paradigma relativamente ao maior banco privado português - e, por tabela, ao sistema bancário nacional -, já que a CGD faz, por natureza, parte do bolo repartível entre o "centrão" mais um: o PP depois da reciclagem no governo. As últimas desvergonhas perpetradas pelas derradeiras administrações do BCP, nas quais só agora Constâncio reparou, autorizaram o avanço das patrulhas partidárias. Uma carreira puramente partidária, boa, má ou assim-assim, passou a ser mais cotada do que uma carreira exclusivamente ao serviço da gestão bancária. A culpa é de Armando Vara? "

Post de: Portugal dos Pequeninos - Publicada por João Gonçalves em 27.12.07

Amores e desencontros na política à portuguesa

2007-12-20T20:45:00.000-01:00

Ainda, embora atrasado, sobre as licenciaturas da Universidade Independente ...

Vã Glória - posted by "Quinta Coluna": 5/17/2007

2007-12-20T19:50:00.000-01:00

Esta carta, publicada no "Quinta Coluna", a meu ver, merece um lugar num "Podium" semelhante ao "Manifesto Anti-Dantas".

Versa assim o dito blogue:

Francisco Moita Flores anda de candeias às avessas com a Secretária de Estado da Reabilitação por questões de protocolo. Transcrevo na íntegra a carta enviada pelo autarca de Santarém à senhora Secretária de Estado.

Exmª Senhora
Secretária de Estado da Reabilitação
D.Idália Moniz

Depois do nosso encontro em Amiais de Baixo, no passado dia 16, e do sibilino conselho que V.Exª me murmurou na hora da despedida, acorri apressado, num misto de ansiedade e desvanecimento, à procura da Lei do Protocolo de Estado. Não era caso para menos. Eu ousara declarar que, por gentileza, deixava V.Exª fechar a sessão em que nos encontrávamos e era óbvio o meu gesto cavalheiro pois pertencia ao Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Santarém. Mas depois do discreto e merecido raspanete, reconheço que saí de Amiais com o coração em sobressalto, coração apertado de penitências, voz embargada de vergonha pois, mais uma vez, este ‘Presidente atípico’ como V.Exª certeiramente me catalogou depois de uma das minhas ‘gaffes’ à entrada, teria terminado em glória com mais ‘atipicidade’ à saída.

Sobravam-me quilómetros até ao canto onde arrumo, com cautela de santuário, as leis do Estado. Era grande a aflição, confesso, e saltei sobre a invocada, bem impressa no nosso ilustradíssimo Diário da República e li. Ou melhor, reli pois que fizera em tão precioso documento uma lavadela de olhos logo quando fora publicada.

Soaram-me sinos nos sentidos. A nossa bem amada Lei nº 40/2006 de 25 de Agosto mostrava, num formalíssimo e severíssimo protocolo who is who a galeria social do Estado. E lá estava, logo a abrir a primeira decepção. Os nossos tão aplaudidos Secretários de Estado remetidos para uma ignóbil 20ª posição e os Presidentes de Câmara atirados confortavelmente para o 41º lugar da tabela de classificação por pontos. E digo confortavelmente, pois é posição que permite a autarca menos escrupuloso com as formalidades do Estado, sair discretamente durante uma cerimónia enfadonha e ir até ao jardim fumar o seu cigarrito e tornar a entrar para o seu discreto 41º lugar sem que alguém dê pela sua falta.

Ora dizia eu que reli a lei e a minha alma exultou. Não me espalhara outra vez. V.Exª sabe, muitos dos meus amigos chamam-me a atenção, e com razão, para o facto de eu entender o Protocolo de Estado como um problema de sapato e de verniz. E se me aplaudem por dar muita importância ao sapato, não deixam de reparar que me preocupo pouco com o verniz. Reconheço que sou filho de más leituras. A severidade de Camilo ou de Eça para o excesso de verniz da classe política, pouco preocupada com o feitio do sapato, foi herança que me desnorteou os cromossomas e bem me penitencio de tanta distracção. Mas enfim! Agora que reli fico com a consoladora certeza que, por esta vez, em terras de Amiais de Baixo, este vosso humilde servo foi, não só gentil, mas respeitador da Lei do Verniz. É que existe um maçador artº 31, nº 1, que coloca, no seu município, o presidente da câmara numa posição que diria, tonitruante. Preside a tudo, Santo Deus! E só lhe ganha a palma Presidente da República, Presidente da Assembleia da República, Primeiro Ministro e, se for fora dos Paços do Concelho, qualquer ministro. Nem uma palavra para Secretários de Estado! Nem um mero afago, um simples carinho. Nada!

Se cominarmos esse antipático artº 31 com o pretensioso artº 33 , então Secretário de Estado tem lugar depois dos nossos bons Presidentes de Junta tomarem assento. Uma injustiça, afirmo eu. Um verdadeiro agravo à brilhante sonoridade que justamente submete quem ouve o título de Secretário de Estado. Não fosse V.Exª uma brilhante Secretária de Estado e não desistiria de a exortar a mobilizar os seus colegas de titulatura para greve reivindicativa contra si própria, ou melhor dizendo, contra o seu inestimável governo.

Não posso dissertar mais sobre esta matéria porque uma outra inquietação me assalta. A minha primeira leitura, e a recente leitura, da Lei do Verniz associada ao discreto raspanete que V.Exª me pregou, com elegância é certo, me conduz a uma terrível descoberta: V.Exª não conhece as leis produzidas pela Assembleia da República que a elegeu! Que fez de V.Exª competente Secretária de Estado! Que deu a V.Exª o rápido brilho que tantos camaradas seus procuram em vão há tanto tempo!

Já se percebeu, com certeza que V.Exª percebeu, que sendo o actual Presidente de Câmara Municipal de Santarém, pessoa pouco dada a essas sublimidades mundanas que não vou fazer do meu obscuro, mas rigoroso, conhecimento da Lei do Verniz uma bandeira de luta pelo bem do nosso concelho. Nem tão pouco essa Lei resolverá o buraco financeiro que o executivo camarário, que teve a honrosa presença de V.Exª, deixou aos vindouros como herança. E para continuar a ser elegante, afasto como se afasta Belzebu, a flatulenta ideia de enviar a um Secretário de Estado cópia da Lei do seu mandato só pelo reles motivo de a desconhecer.

Eu até acho bem que os Secretários de Estado desconheçam as leis que produzem os seus governos e parlamentos. Deixa-lhes o espírito mais livre para as grandiosas tarefas que quotidianamente carregam sobre os ombros, nomeadamente para algum verniz nos gestos e actos.. E V. Exª com uma Secretaria de Estado tão difícil, que obriga a produção de sapato em abundância faz bem em deixar a minudência do verniz para um pobre autarca.

Por esta mesma razão, venho informar V.Exª que a partir de agora vou encarregar-me dessa vulgaridade que os meus amigos me censuram de desleixar. Produza V.Exª os sapatos que do verniz tratarei com gosto e prazer em servi-la.

Confesso que é sacrifício. Sacrifício pessoal, entenda-se. Prefiro mil vezes ver um Secretário de Estado a adornar uma bela mesa, enfeitada de apoiantes e profissionais da política, com um apontamento de flores no centro, uns quantos pacotes de manteiga, mais alguns salgados a condizer, e gravatas distintas, soberbas, do que ser forçado a impor o meu rebelde temperamento a tão augustas personagens, incluindo o pacote de manteiga. Mas se nada valho entre estrelas, querubins e safiras, tenho certeza certa que o Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Santarém, cidade e concelho de prestígio, vai definitivamente ocupar o lugar a que tem direito, por respeito ao augusto Governo de V.Exª e informar os Presidentes de Junta das suas responsabilidades formais. Com grande desgosto meu. Mas seguramente aliviando V.Exª do pesado fardo dos protocolos que desconhece mas com bom proveito para o nobre ofício de secretariar o Estado.

Creia-me com amizade bem disposta e consideração alegre

Com os melhores cumprimentos

O Cidadão
(Francisco Moita Flores)

Tratado de Lisboa - Descodificado, segundo M. Portas

2007-12-19T20:43:00.000-01:00

O Tratado - Geral (I)
A a Carta dos Direitos (II)
O Directório (III)
É a economia, estúpido! (IV)

Serão acrescentados novos tópicos neste post.

2007-12-19T09:58:00.000-01:00

Subject: Natal 2007 Date: terça-feira, 18 de Dezembro de 2007 18:20

"Segundo noticias hoje divulgadas, após uma breve visita de inspecção, a ASAE fechou e selou o estábulo do presépio, por objectiva falta de condições de higiene e segurança. Foram ainda encontradas várias embalagens irregulares de leite e outros produtos não embalados individualmente na origem e sem prazo de validade, que os ocupantes do presépio alegaram serem "oferendas de pastores". Todos estes produtos, em claro desacordo com as normas da Comunidade, foram apreendidos e serão prontamente destruídos.A Comissão de Protecção de Menores retirou o Menino Jesus à alegada família por falta de garantias quanto à capacidade de criação e educação por parte desta. As condições em que a criança foi encontrada indicavam precisamente isso, segundo os agentes. A criança, um menino, foi imediatamente entregue a uma instituição de acolhimento onde ficará até ser encontrado o pai biológico. A criança foi encontrada numa manjedoura, vestida apenas com uma fralda, pelo que se suspeita de maus tratos continuados. A mãe, de nome Nossa Senhora, está obrigada a pulseira electrónica e a apresentações semanais na esquadra de Belém e o pai adoptivo, auto-denominado São José, ficou em prisão domiciliária. A vaca foi de imediato enviada a um matadouro oficial para ser abatida por suspeita de BSE. O burro, assustou-se com a rusga, conseguiu fugir e foi incluído no Circo Chen. Porque só sabe zurrar e exalar um bafo quente, deverá brevemente servir de jantar aos leões... Entretanto, na fronteira do Caia, a Brigada Fiscal deteve três indivíduos sem identificação que se faziam transportar em camelos. Estão em prisão preventiva por suspeita de trafico de metais preciosos e substancias psicotrópicas, que foram para analise, além de entrada ilegal no Espaço Schengen. Os camelos em que se faziam transportar foram apreendidos e enviados para o Jardim Zoológico, por suspeita de importação ilegal de animais exóticos. As arvores de Natal foram proibidas pelo Ministério do Ambiente porque no caso de serem naturais, delapidam as florestas nacionais e, se forem de plástico, são feitas a partir de combustíveis fosseis, pelo que contribuem para o aumento do buraco do ozono. As medidas já foram aplaudidas pela Quercus, Greenpeace e ambientalistas vários. As prendas são desaconselhadas pela DECO que publicou um estudo em que prova que 85,7% dos brinquedos à venda são perigosos para as crianças, porque têm pequenas peças que se podem soltar e engolir, e para os Pais porque usam os cartões de credito como se não houvesse amanhã... coisa que é provável que haja, não obstante a falta de conformidade dos dias com a calibragem média (é sabido que os dias de Inverno se apresentam bastante abaixo do formado médio e em desconformidade com as normas do sector). A ASAE estuda o assunto pelo que não se sabe qual será o futuro dos dias. O Pai Natal foi proibido de voar com as suas renas, por falta de homologação do plano de vôo pelo operador do sector. Aparentemente, haverá também problemas com a propulsão dos trenós, cuja homologação pela CE se encontra pendente por serem demasiado poluentes e não respeitarem os limites de emissão de determinados gases com efeito estufa. Tal medida, aliás, tem um efeito cumulativo e ineficaz, uma vez que já tinha sido proibida a introdução de objectos pelas chaminés devido ao perigo de incêndio dos recuperadores de calor.Também as crianças foram proibidas de porem sapatinhos e meias nas chaminés pela mesma razão. A medida foi apoiada pela Associação de Protecção à Criança, porque a ansiedade causada pela espera dos presentes poder contribuir para o stress infantil, como apontam alguns estudos norte-americanos. O Instituto Português de Cardiologia publicou um comunicado em que alerta para os perigos da Ceia de Natal devido ao elevado consumo de fritos e açúcar ricos em colesterol e bacalhau com elevado teor de sal, propondo em alternativa um jantar à base de sopa de legumes e uma peça de fruta.Também a Liga de Defesa dos Animais publicou um comunicado insurgindo-se contra a "habitual chacina de perus nesta época" e convocando uma manifestação para o Terreiro do Paço na noite de 24 de Dezembro, onde simbolicamente alguns perus serão devolvidos à liberdade!!! (entretanto a Associação de Caçadores da Trafaria convocou uma "batida ao peru" mas isso é outra historia.....) O Governo já declarou este como "o mais europeu de todos os Natais", que se espera que decorra sem os costumeiros incidentes (chaminés fumegantes, Pais Natais chamuscados dando entrada nos serviços de urgência e renas com stress pós-traumático), pelo que desejou um Feliz e Tranquilo Natal a todos os portugueses. Está já nomeada com carácter de urgência uma comissão de peritos para analisar as repercussões negativas e as desconformidades do Ano Novo, pelo que é provável que este ano se prolongue ou nunca mais acabe".

De: JCN

Chegou-me este mimo hoje pelo correio, via pessoa amiga.
Feliz Natal , com a ASAE e estes "protectores de crianças e perús" por longe.

Os pequenos partidos estarão em vias de extinção?

2007-12-18T23:31:00.000-01:00

"Por via de legislação apropriada, o PS e o PSD estão a tentar aos poucos acabar com os pequenos partidos em Portugal, de forma a alternarem-se no poder em todos os cargos. Depois da anunciada nova lei das autarquias em que os pequenos partidos ficam praticamente excluídos de ocuparem pelouros nas Câmara Municipais e mesmo de poderem eleger vereadores, surge agora a aplicação de uma lei estrategicamente escondida e que agora (certamente espera-se contestação até 2009) o Tribunal Constitucional resolveu fazer aplicar em que os partidos com menos de 5000 militantes inscritos serão automaticamente extintos.

Este atentado à pluralidade democrática torna-se ainda mais perverso quando entre os maiores partidos (PSD e PS) é muito difícil encontrar diferenças significativas. Passados mais de 30 anos desde o fim da ditadura, esta quer instalar-se de novo com novos contornos.

Sobre este tema fica aqui uma sugestão de leitura, incluindo os comentários".
posted by José Luís Araújo

"Há um detalhe importante nesta dinâmica, que é o seguinte:

Com a lei de financiamento dos partidos que existe, os pequenos tendem a ficar cada vez mais pequenos e os grandes cada vez maiores, pois quem não tem votos não factura e sem cash ou aparece um filantropo ou não há com que produzir as gigantescas omeletes mediáticas que são as que asseguram os votos.

Seria também importante nestas dinâmicas perceber se a lei de financiamento dos grandes partidos reflectem realidades aceitáveis.

Depois há a questão da cobertura mediática e seus critérios.

Aí há tempos, numas presidenciais, um dos pequenos candidatos queixou-se de falta de cobertura. Um dos jornais visados tentou emendar a mão e lá mandou um jornaleiro. Na ressaca desabafava o editor que " tinha destacado um repórter para cobrir uma iniciativa onde não tinham estado mais de dez pessoas na sala". Das ideias do homem, nem um virgula. Mas ao lado, um comício sem um ideia mas com muita gente, mereceu ampla cobertura.É esta a natureza das coisas a que há quem chame "democracia".
Posted by Tiago

Era adolescente quando terminou o regime de "partido único".

Percorri parte da vida a assistir à defesa e a defender o multipartidarismo.

Custa-me a aceitar o regresso ao monopartidarismo "multifacetado".

Afinal onde está o direito à diferença? Onde está o direito à expressão e representação efectiva e genuína dos cidadãos?

Será que a lei da "selecção natural" dos partidos não é suficiente? Porque se intromete o Estado nesta selecção prévia?

Recordo que meu avô dizia que se o meu partido estivesse no poder e eu nele "riscasse" alguma coisa, não desejaria a saúde de nenhum outro. Só que se esquecia de sublinhar que esta atitude era a aplicação da "lei da selva"; da "lei do mais forte"; a lei do "matas ou morres"; da lei básica "instintiva e animal". Mas se a civilização é um valor, este desenvolvesse com convivência e ordem consentidas, em paz. O ambiente onde impera apenas a força e visão de um (mesmo que com várias faces), não parece favorecer a civilização (pelo menos durante muito tempo).

Só a eminencia de tempos dificeis poderá justificar a reconcentração de poderes (dizem que a democracia é para ricos em tempo de paz) e o silenciamneto dos "desafinados". Estarão nuvens negras a aproximarem-se?

Santa Maria vista de São Miguel - AZores

2007-12-18T17:11:00.001-01:00

A esta distancia, não se percebe como demorou tanto tempo João Soares de Albergaria a descobrir S. Miguel.
Se calhar, nunca saia de Vila do Porto. Se calhar não via bem.

Madrugada em Ponta Delgada

2007-12-18T17:11:00.000-01:00

O paraíso pode ser aqui.

Era interessante que os nossos representantes moderassem os apetites daqueles que, de fora ou não, não se importam em liquida-lo por um "prato de lentilhas".

Futuro Casino - Ponta Delgada

2007-12-18T17:07:00.000-01:00

Vamos a ver se os vícios a vender por este casino serão para nos depenar ou para depenar a outros!

Fajã de Cima - Parque Urbano - Ponta Delgada

2007-12-18T16:53:00.000-01:00

A fusão da Fajã de Cima com Ponta Delgada, está à vista. A cintura verde agrícola está a desaparecer e os "pombais" humanos a tomar o seu lugar.

Há quem diga que, apesar de se saber que a necessidade humana mais básica ser a alimentação, não tem havido grande preocupação em manter uma reserva compatível com possíveis tempos de crise alimentar (e a história reporta muitos).

Nos dias que correm, fruto de contexto que aqui não vale a pena desenvolver, a actividade agrícola não conseque concorrer com outras. O problema reside no facto de as outras serem alimentadas por "balão" que não é mantido pelo sopro da população açoriana. Se quem está soprando deixar de soprar, que escapatória teremos?

Avenida D. João III - Igreja da Mãe de Deus - Ponta Delgada

2007-12-18T16:47:00.000-01:00

Coexistencia pacifica!
Forçada ou não, não há alternativa. Como este ex-mausoléu, os sinais da vida e ocupação passadas vão lutando por se manter de pé. E não é facil manter-se; muitos cairam pelo caminho.

Avenida Marginal de ponta Delgada - AZores

2007-12-18T16:38:00.000-01:00

Há quem defenda que o retorno do investimento em parques de estacionamento urbanos ultrapassou o do investimento em imobiliário habitacional.

Será porque, na prática, ninguém os poderá evitar? Será porque terão um IMI mais macio?

Oxalá as entidades concessionárias não venham a ter condições de se entender entre si, no tocante a tarifas; caso contrário será mais um "imposto" a pagar por viver em PDL.

S. Roque - Ponta Delgada - Azores

2007-12-18T16:34:00.000-01:00

Esta neblina matinal felizmente não corre o risco de se transformar no smog dos grandes centros urbanos. Mais por termos a condição atlântica periférica do que em resultado de se estar a conter a concentração populacional.

Populo - S. Roque - Ponta Delgada - Açores

2007-12-18T16:28:00.000-01:00

Tem sido um privilégio viver nesta zona da ilha de S. Miguel.

Oxalá o Livramento, S. Roque, Fajã de Baixo, Calheta e Lagoa continuem a oferecer condições para, em segurança, fruir este ambiente costeiro e suburbano, sem a pressão demográfica com que alguns tentam carregar-lhe.

È um facto que a urbanização sempre trouxe vantagens para a civilização e actividades humanas. Todavia essa valia, em cada local e contexto, tem o seu ponto de equilíbrio. Uma vez ultrapassado significativamente, os prejuízos resultantes dos excessos, nem num par de gerações se pagam e ainda menos se corrigem.

Há quem defenda que esta vertigem de concentração poderia ser mitigada com o que chamam de “Plano Regional de Ordenamento do Território”, que orientando também a distribuição do investimento publico, orientaria a distribuição das ocupações/emprego e, consequentemente, da fixação da população. Todavia, consta que esse plano foi iniciado nos primórdios dos anos 80, revisto várias vezes, nunca aprovado e ainda menos publicado. Há quem defenda que quando o for, na melhor das hipóteses, será inútil.

Oxalá o bom senso penetre neste regime de governação e administração democrática e que ilumine aqueles que decidem, aqueles que escolhem quem decide e aqueles que, podendo ser escolhidos para decidir bem, não se tem chegado à frente.

Fajã do Calhau - Agua Retorta - Faial da Terra - Açores

2007-12-12T15:26:00.000-01:00

Uma obra "Kolossal"!
Há quem diga que é uma vitória da determinação e da acção contra a burocracia territorial;
Há quem diga que é o fruto de grande intuição técnica e grande generosidade para com um concelho periférico;
Há quem diga que é o triunfo do pragmatismo contra a pretensão do uso de poder "ilegítimo" por parte de ambientalistas;
Há quem diga que enquanto cães ladram a banda toca e passa;
Há quem diga que é dinheiro à água; Há quem diga que isto mais parece uma mina de ferro em "céu aberto" do que uma acesso viário a uma Fajã;
Há quem diga que esta obra justificaria um estatuto de atracção turistica da ilha.
Eu digo que é "Kolossal".

Ponta Delgada - Avenida Infante D. Herique - 1

2007-12-12T14:57:00.000-01:00

Uma imagem da cidade, sujeita a transformação recente e veloz que, provavelmente, dentro de dois anos já não será assim.

Já dizia o Poeta que "nada se ganha; nada se perde; tudo se transforma". Mas a verdade é que os nossos afectos vão deixando de ter o conforto da visão; vale-nos é a memória deles e o sentimento que ficou.

A Justiça criminosa, Clara Ferreira Alves

2007-12-12T11:57:00.000-01:00

Por uma vez gostava que em Portugal alguma coisa tivesse um fim, ponto final, assunto arrumado. Não se fala mais nisso.
Vivemos no país mais inconclusivo do mundo, em permanente agitação sobre tudo e sem concluir nada.
Desde os Templários e as obras de Santa Engrácia que se sabe que nada acaba em Portugal, nada é levado às últimas consequências, nada é definitivo e tudo é improvisado, temporário, desenrascado.
Da morte de Francisco Sá Carneiro e do eterno mistério que a rodeia, foi crime, não foi crime, ao desaparecimento de Madeleine McCann ou ao caso Casa Pia, sabemos de antemão que nunca saberemos o fim destas histórias, nem o que verdadeiramente se passou nem quem são os criminosos ou quantos crimes houve.
Tudo a que temos direito são informações caídas a conta-gotas, pedaços do enigma, peças do quebra-cabeças. E habituámo-nos a prescindir de apurar a verdade porque intimamente achamos que não saber o final da história é uma coisa normal em Portugal e que este é um país onde as coisas importantes são "abafadas", como se vivêssemos ainda em ditadura.
E os novos códigos Penal e de Processo Penal em nada vão mudar este estado de coisas. Apesar dos jornais e das televisões, dos blogues, dos computadores e da Internet, apesar de termos acesso em tempo real ao maior número de notícias de sempre, continuamos sem saber nada, e esperando nunca vir a saber com toda a naturalidade.
Do caso Portucale à Operação Furacão, da compra dos submarinos às escutas ao primeiro-ministro, do caso da Universidade Independente ao caso da Universidade Moderna, do Futebol Clube do Porto ao Sport Lisboa Benfica, da corrupção dos árbitros à corrupção dos autarcas, de Fátima Felgueiras a Isaltino Morais, da Braga parques ao grande empresário Bibi, das queixas tardias de Catalina Pestana às de João Cravinho, há por aí alguém que acredite que algum destes secretos arquivos e seus possíveis e alegados, muito alegados crimes, acabem por ser investigados, julgados e devidamente punidos?
Vale e Azevedo pagou por todos.
Portugal tem um défice de responsabilidade civil, criminal e moral muito maior do que o seu défice financeiro, e nenhum português se preocupa com isso apesar de pagar os custos da morosidade, do secretismo, do encobrimento, do compadrio e da corrupção.
Os portugueses, na sua infinita e pacata desordem existencial, acham tudo "normal" e encolhem os ombros.
Quem se lembra dos doentes infectados por acidente e negligência de Leonor Beleza com o vírus da sida?
Quem se lembra do miúdo electrocutado no semáforo e do outro afogado num parque aquático?
Quem se lembra das crianças assassinadas na Madeira e do mistério dos crimes imputados ao padre Frederico?
Quem se lembra que um dos raros condenados em Portugal, o mesmo padre Frederico, acabou a passear no Calçadão de Copacabana?
Quem se lembra do autarca alentejano queimado no seu carro e cuja cabeça foi roubada do Instituto de Medicina Legal?
Em todos estes casos, e muitos outros, menos falados e tão sombrios e enrodilhados como estes, a verdade a que tivemos direito foi nenhuma.
No caso McCann, cujos desenvolvimentos vão do escabroso ao incrível, alguém acredita que se venha a descobrir o corpo da criança ou a condenar alguém? As últimas notícias dizem que Gerry McCann não seria pai biológico da criança, contribuindo para a confusão desta investigação em que a Polícia espalha rumores e indícios que não substancia.
E a miúda desaparecida em Figueira? O que lhe aconteceu?
E todas as crianças desaparecida antes delas, quem as procurou?
E o processo do Parque, onde tantos clientes buscavam prostitutos, alguns menores, onde tanta gente"importante" estava envolvida, o que aconteceu?
Arranjou-se um bode expiatório, foi o que aconteceu.
E as famosas fotografias de Teresa Costa Macedo? Aquelas em que ela reconheceu imensa gente "importante", jogadores de futebol, milionários, políticos, onde estão? Foram destruídas? Quem as destruiu e porquê?
E os crimes de evasão fiscal de Artur Albarran mais os negócios escuros do grupo Carlyle do senhor Carlucci em Portugal, onde é que isso pára?
O mesmo grupo Carlyle onde labora o ex-ministro Martins da Cruz, apeado por causa de um pequeno crime sem importância, o da cunha para a sua filha.
E aquele médico do Hospital de Santa Maria suspeito de ter assassinado doentes por negligência? Exerce medicina?
E os que sobram e todos os dias vão praticando os seus crimes de colarinho branco sabendo que a justiça portuguesa não é apenas cega, é surda, muda, coxa e marreca.
Passado o prazo da intriga e do sensacionalismo, todos estes casos são arquivados nas gavetas das nossas consciências e condenados ao esquecimento. Ninguém quer saber a verdade. Ou, pelo menos, tentar saber a verdade.
Nunca saberemos a verdade sobre o caso Casa Pia, nem saberemos quem eram as redes e os "senhores importantes" que abusaram, abusam e abusarão de crianças em Portugal, sejam rapazes ou raparigas, visto que os abusos sobre meninas ficaram sempre na sombra.
Existe em Portugal uma camada subterrânea de segredos e injustiças, de protecções e lavagens, de corporações e famílias, de eminências e reputações, de dinheiros e negociações que impede a escavação da verdade. Este é o maior fracasso da democracia portuguesa e contra isto o PS e o PSD que fizeram? Assinaram um iníquo pacto de justiça.
«Pluma Caprichosa» - «Expresso» de 20 de Outubro de 2007 - c.a.a.

2007-12-11T11:21:00.000-01:00

Miguel Sousa Tavares
Jornal Expresso 08/12/2007
Excerto sobre a Cimeira União Europeia-África:
«Para que serve este imenso ‘bazaar’? Principalmente, para nada, como dizem os alentejanos. Tudo o que havia a discutir e a assinar, como a tão desejada por Sócrates ‘Declaração de Lisboa’, já está acordado e escrito. Mas os grandes do mundo precisam e adoram estas oportunidades mediáticas e, afinal de contas, um fim-de-semana em Lisboa, com dois banquetes e um concerto com a Marisa e a Cesária Évora pelo meio, nem é nada desagradável: os europeus aproveitam para ver sol e os africanos para ver mundo e mandarem as «madames» às compras. Não é Paris nem Londres, mas sempre é um país hospitaleiro, que gosta de receber bem e cuja política externa não incomoda ninguém e se contenta em que lhe dêem coisas inócuas e que soam bem, como a ‘Declaração de Lisboa’.»«Em concreto, a cimeira vai custar umas dezenas de milhões de euros aos portugueses, a Europa rica vai dar à África miserável 1,2 mil milhões de euros até 2010 - dos quais, como de costume, apenas cerca de 10% chegarão ao destino e terão utilidade concreta. Destarte, a Europa sacode os seus problemas de consciência, como um pai que passa um cheque ao filho ‘com problemas’ e não se preocupa mais com o assunto. Mas os produtos agrícolas de África - a sua melhor hipótese de sair da miséria - continuarão fechados aos mercados europeus para proteger a sagrada PAC e os agricultores ricos da França e outros mais e o comércio em geral continuará a ser ditado por relações de desigualdade e batota. A Europa continuará a dar peixes, mas não a ensinar a pescar. Quanto à África e aos seus ditadores de opereta, com as mãos manchadas de um sangue que não sai e os bolsos atulhados de dinheiro roubado às suas populações, limita-se a estender a mão a mais uma esmola e a agradecer a oportunidade de reconhecimento internacional por que a diplomacia portuguesa tanto se esforçou nos últimos meses.»«Esta é a triste história das relações da Europa com África de há cinco décadas para cá: os governos europeus dão umas esmolas e, em troca, avançam a seguir as multinacionais que sacam tudo o que podem sacar e enchem as contas bancárias dos governantes africanos na Suíça. Quando as cenas de miséria do continente negro se começam a tornar outra vez incómodas nas televisões ocidentais, convoca-se nova cimeira com os corruptos e dá-se-lhes mais uma esmola para aliviar as consciências ou produz-se mais uma grandiosa Declaração de Lisboa ou de Reiquejavique para enganar os tontos. Mas nunca os ricos se atrevem a exigir aos pobres que roubem menos e que matem menos - isso estragaria os negócios. Assim, a ‘Declaração de Lisboa’ não deixará, certamente, de conter uma referência ‘muito forte’ aos direitos humanos e à democracia, a qual será tranquilamente apoiada por gente estimável como Mugabe, do Zimbabwe, José Eduardo dos Santos, de Angola, ou Omar Bongo, do Gabão - que, juntos, perfazem oitenta e oito anos de poder, de arbitrariedades de toda a ordem e de negócios, mais uma sempre bem-vinda e inestimável factura de hotel em Lisboa.»

Ética e Responsabilidade Social

2007-12-10T13:30:00.000-01:00

É já amanhã, terça-feira, dia 11 de Dezembro, que se realiza em Ponta Delgada, no Núcleo de Arte Sacra da Igreja do Colégio, às 18h30, a apresentação da ACEGE, com uma conferência a proferir pelo Dr. José Roquette, Presidente do Conselho de Administração da Finagra. O tema da conferência é Ética e Responsabilidade Social nas Empresas.

Pico da Vara - S. Miguel Açores - 1992

2007-12-08T22:55:00.000-01:00

Travessia Pico da Vara-Tronqueira em 1992.
Periódicamente o verde aveludado da serra é ferido pelas derrocadas decorrentes das grandes chuvadas. Nem a "armação" do solo, promovida pelas raizes do Incenso, é suficiente para travar, de forma significativa, estes fenómenos.

Pico da Vara - S. Miguel - Açores - 2007

2007-12-08T22:51:00.001-01:00

Povoação e Faial da Terra vistos do Pico da Vara.
A escala das convulsões geológicas que deram origem a esta zona da ilha, é impressionante.

Pico da Vara - S. Miguel - Açores

2007-12-08T22:34:00.000-01:00

Cedro do Mato.
Esta belissima arvore (que faz lembrar um Bonsai) corre sérios riscos de desaparecer (junta/ c/ outras esp.) em menos de uma década. As especies invasoras (que não as da lista oficial publicada) liquidarão em poucos anos estas arvores/arbustos de crescimento lento. Quem descer do Pico da Vara para a Lomba da Fazenda, concluirá rápidamente acerca da veloz e irremiável transformação em curso.

Pico da Vara - S. Miguel Açores 2007

2007-12-08T22:26:00.000-01:00

Todos os anos centenas de pessoas trepam ilha a cima em direcção aos 1100m de altitude do Pico da Vara.
Pelo Planalto dos Graminhais (a partir da Achada ou Salto do Cavalo) o desnível a vencer é bem menor. Todavia outros acessos existem/existiram (Algarvia, Santo António, Fazenda, Tronqueira e Povoação).

Pico da Vara - 2007 - S. Miguel - Açores

2007-12-08T22:06:00.000-01:00

Forças ciclópicas foram necessárias para escavar os triliões de toneladas necessários à modelação deste vale (Tronqueira/Pico da Vara). Não existem registos históricos de eventos meteorológicos ou telúricos compativeis com esta escala. Perdidos na bruma de tempos remotos deverão estar os acontecimentos diluvianos que moldaram esta parte da ilha.

Pico da Vara 2007- Azores Islands

2007-12-08T21:54:00.000-01:00

Por estes atalhos passaram milhares de pessoas que, ao longo de séculos, precisaram de se deslocar entre o concelho de Nordeste e a costa Sul da ilha de S. Miguel (Vila Franca e outras).

Navio Escola Sagres, nos Açores

2007-12-06T10:08:00.000-01:00

Santa Maria à Vista (Azores)

2007-12-06T10:02:00.000-01:00

Queen Elizabeth II em S. Miguel - Açores

2007-12-06T09:56:00.000-01:00

2007-11-21T14:24:00.000-01:00

"Never put thyself in the way of temptation: even David coud not resist it".
Talmud

2007-11-21T14:22:00.001-01:00

"Que as palavras entre dois inimigos sejam tais que, caso se tornem amigos, não se sintam envergonhados delas".
As'dï

2007-11-21T14:18:00.000-01:00

"Circunspecção na calamidade; misericórdia na grandeza; bom discurso em assembleia; força na adversidade: estes são os atributos das grandes almas."
Hitopadesa

2007-11-21T14:06:00.000-01:00

"Não existe nem metade do perigo na espada desesperada de um conhecido inimigo, do que na branda insinuação de um pretenso amigo".
R. Chamberlain.

"Nada é mais opressivo de que um segredo; é difícil para as mulheres mantê-lo durante muito e, mesmo nesta matéria, há um bom numero de homens que são mulheres".
La Fontaine

2007-11-10T08:07:00.000-01:00

Política Educativa e o Vórtice Cultural e Anímico

2007-11-10T06:48:00.000-01:00

Já no final da Monarquia Constitucional / primórdios da 1ª República ...... se resvalou para um clima de grande valorização da energia e caracter do povo, ao ponto de dele se escrever o seguinte:

"Um povo imbecilizado e resignado, humilde e macambúzio, fatalista e sonâmbulo, burro de carga, besta de nora, aguentando pauladas, sacos de vergonhas, feixes de misérias, sem uma rebelião, um mostrar de dentes, a energia dum coice, pois que nem já com as orelhas é capaz de sacudir as moscas; um povo em catalepsia ambulante, não se lembrando nem donde vem, nem onde está, nem para onde vai; um povo, enfim, que eu adoro, porque sofre e é bom, e guarda ainda na noite da sua inconsciência como que um lampejo misterioso da alma nacional, - reflexo de astro em silêncio escuro de lagoa morta (...)Uma burguesia, cívica e politicamente corrupta ate à medula, não descriminando já o bem do mal, sem palavras, sem vergonha, sem carácter, havendo homens que, honrados (?) na vida intima, descambam na vida publica em pantomineiros e sevandijas, capazes de toda a veniaga e toda a infâmia, da mentira a falsificação, da violência ao roubo, donde provém que na politica portuguesa sucedam, entre a indiferença geral, escândalos monstruosos, absolutamente inverosímeis no Limoeiro (...)Um poder legislativo, esfregão de cozinha do executivo; este criado de quarto do moderador; e este, finalmente, tornado absoluto pela abdicação unânime do pais, e exercido ao acaso da herança, pelo primeiro que sai dum ventre, - como da roda duma lotaria.A justiça ao arbítrio da Politica, torcendo-lhe a vara ao ponto de fazer dela saca-rolhas;Dois partidos (...), sem ideias, sem planos, sem convicções, incapazes (...) vivendo ambos do mesmo utilitarismo céptico e pervertido, análogos nas palavras, idênticos nos actos, iguais um ao outro como duas metades do mesmo zero, e não se amalgando e fundindo, apesar disso, pela razão que alguém deu no parlamento, - de não caberem todos duma vez na mesma sala de jantar (...)

Guerra Junqueiro, in "Pátria", escrito em 1896