Favorite Historical Quotes

[Chance]

I was doing some Googling around the site and I couldn't find a thread about this. We've had movie quotes, but not historical quotes...?

My SO is watching 'The Crown,' and seeing John Lithgow as Churchill is reminding me of a ton of Churchill's more famous remarks. Anyways, I thought it'd be fun to share them. Some are inane, others are serious.

First:

20346

"I may be drunk, miss, but in the morning, I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." - Winston Churchill

"We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job." - Winston Churchill

"It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required." - Winston Churchill

(Hopefully all of those are historically accurate - I haven't researched them in depth.)

And some quotes from others.

"I'd rather go down the river with seven studs than with a hundred shitheads." - Charlie Beckwith

"Well, 'get overrun,' 'not make it,' ...it's a relative term. You can get overrun and still make it - you just got to kill everybody." - Paul Howe

"Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

"A person who never made mistake never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

[Joe in PNG]

"Damn it, boys, they're getting away!"- anon sailor during the Battle off Samar

[El Cid]

One of mine:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American … There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1907


Another:
"We're paratroopers, we're supposed to be surrounded." Dick Winters

[blues]

"Trust, like the soul, once departed never returns." - Publilius Syrus

[P30]

"Sapere aude (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapere_aude)!" = "Dare to think for yourself!" (Horace, Immanuel Kant et al.)

Kant claimed the phrase as the motto of the Age of Enlightenment. I hope for a new Age of Enlightenment. These days, too many people only parrot what the mainstream media say. Not good.

[SeriousStudent]

"I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years."

SECDEF James Mattis
- USMC, retired.

[Stephanie B]

“If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.” — Curtis LeMay

[alohadoug]

He who gives up liberty for security,
Gets neither and that is what he deserves.

Ben Franklin

[Bigguy]

"So I said to myself, 'Self! Looks we've gotten ourself in trouble.' "

~1978 — Relief Mate "Stinky" - MV Bernese .

[LOKNLOD]

"When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
Euripides, Orestes, 408 BC

[El Cid]

"So I said to myself, 'Self! Looks we've gotten ourself in trouble.' "

~1978 — Relief Mate "Stinky" - MV Bernese .

Reminds me of, "Allow myself to introduce myself." - Austin Powers.

[RevolverRob]

At one point, I had dozens of aphorisms on my office wall, I suspect I shall have them on the next office wall too. A few that I still appreciate greatly -

This one reminds me of the importance of red tape.


The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.

A great student, who, after spending most of her time in my office hours one term, to be a better student and scientist, gave me this quote to put on my wall. It means a lot from that perspective and from the fact it's a damn good quote.


By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.

A reminder to re-frame how we consider failure and move forward.


Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

And finally, the advice of my long-time mentor...


Remember; Work Harder, Work Faster, Don't Make Mistakes, Don't Fuck Up, and Try Not to Be Stupid.

[BehindBlueI's]

Most everything Mark Twain ever said.

[Matt O]

Seems relevant again today.

"I watched him with some interest, for it was the first time that I had seen a person whose profession was telling lies — unless one counts journalists." George Orwell.

[Corey]

"Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before this moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus and live it as nature directs." -Marcus Aurelius

Pretty much everything else he wrote is worth keeping in mind.

[23JAZ]

A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.Marcus Aurelius (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17212.Marcus_Aurelius)

[ACP230]

"You lose." "Silent" Calvin Coolidge when a woman told him she'd made a bet that she could get him
to say more than three words.

[ReverendMeat]

From a Rhodesian military strike across the border in northern neighbor Zambia:

"
RhAF: This is a message [...] from the Rhodesian Air Force. We are attacking the terrorist base [...] at this time. The attack is against Rhodesian dissidents and not against Zambia. Rhodesia has no quarrel, repeat no quarrel with Zambia or her security forces. We therefore ask you to not intervene or oppose our attack.

However, we are orbiting your airfield at this time, and are under orders to shoot down any Zambian Air Force aircraft which does not comply with this request and takes off. Did you copy all that?

Lusaka: Copied.

RhAF: Roger that. Cheers!"

[RoyGBiv]

“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
.... Benjamin Franklin


" Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."
..... Attributed to Marcus Aurelius, possibly incorrectly.

[NH Shooter]

"I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years."

SECDEF James Mattis
- USMC, retired.

And this one;

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

[Eric_L]

I don't like when people say "I'm doing my best", it seems......lame. I think of this when I hear that-


“Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required". Winston S. Churchill

[JohnO]

Heraclitus
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

John Paul Jones
"I have not yet begun to fight."

General Anthony McAuliffe at Bastogne
"Nuts."

Theodore Roosevelt
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

Issac Newton
"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

[ralph]

If you tell a big enough lie,and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
The lie can be maintained only for such a time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic, and/or military consequnces of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all it's powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus, by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy to the state..
Joseph Geobbles


More than ever these words ring true considering what's going on in our country today, everytime I hear some liberal open their pie hole, or see anti-fi riots on collages around this country these words come to mind.If anything, the quote above sums up the left, and it's thinking...

[gtae07]

Some R. A. Heinlein favorites:

How anybody expects a man to stay in business with every two-bit wowser in the country claiming a veto over what we can say and can't say and what we can show and what we can't show — it's enough to make you throw up. The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak.

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy...censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything — you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.

At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that “news” is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different—in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness.

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

Thing that got me was not her list of things she hated, since she was obviously crazy as a Cyborg, but fact that always somebody agreed with her prohibitions. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: "Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop." Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them "for their own good" — not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it.

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.

The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it continues until it destroys. I was not joking when I told them to dig into their own pouches. It may not be possible to do away with government – sometimes I think that government is an inescapable disease of human beings. But it may be possible to keep it small and starved and inoffensive – and can you think of a better way than by requiring the governors themselves to pay the costs of their antisocial hobby?

There is an old song which asserts that ‘the best things in life are free.’ Not true! Utterly false! This was the tragic fallacy which brought on the decadence and collapse of the democracies of the twentieth century; those noble experiments failed because the people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted . . . and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears.

[LOKNLOD]

One of my absolute favorites and one of the most simply truthful statements ever.

"Comparison is the thief of joy"
-Teddy Roosevelt

And one I use on my squabbling kiddos frequently:
"Leave the wrong with the person who did it."
-Marcus Aurelius

Another fave:

"Unearned suffering is redemptive."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[blues]

"That government is best which governs least..." H.D. Thoreau

[blues]

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it...

...Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. - Thomas Paine

[Drang]

Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.
Representative Robert Goodloe Harper (https://thefederalist-gary.blogspot.com/2013/02/robert-goodloe-harper-millions-for.html)
I have read that what he really said was "Not a penny", but why spoil a colorful quote with accuracy?

[GyroF-16]

Okay, here are a few of my favorites. I found most of them, and found them most meaningful, when I was running a unit and trying to teach our pilots, crew chiefs, etc, how to get airplanes airborne very quickly to defend our region of the country.


"Fear makes men forget, and skill that cannot fight is useless."
-Brasidas of Sparta, 429 B.C.

"Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily."
-Johann Friedrich von Schiller

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
-Theodore Roosevelt

"An amateur practices until he can do it right, a professional practices until he can't do it wrong."
-Stephen Hillier

"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable."
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
-Aristotle

To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder to do a special thing unique to him and his talents.
What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.
-Winston Churchill

[Jac]

"That government is best which governs least..." H.D. Thoreau

Better in full, imo...

I heartily accept the motto,—"That government is best which governs least;" and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe,—"That government is best which governs not at all;" and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

— Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

[Corey]

A few more gems from Marcus Aurelius.

For those who sometimes find it difficult to acccept help:

"Do not be ashamed of help. It is your task to achieve your assigned duty, like a soldier in a scaling party. What, then, if you are lame and cannot climb the parapet by yourself, but this is made possible with another’s help?"

How to cheer yourself up and value your friends:

"Whenever you want to cheer yourself, think of the qualities of your fellows – the energy of one, for example, the decency of another, the generosity of a third, some other merit in a fourth. There is nothing so cheering as the stamp of virtues manifest in the character of colleagues – and the greater the collective incidence, the better. So keep them ready to hand."

When bad things happen and life is hard:

"‘It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’ No, you should rather say: ‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, I can bear it without pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.’ Because such a thing could have happened to any man, but not every man could have borne it without pain. So why see more misfortune in the event than good fortune in your ability to bear it?... Can there be anything, then, in this happening which prevents you being just, high-minded, self-controlled, intelligent, judicious, truthful, honourable and free – or any of those attributes whose combination is the fulfilment of man’s proper nature. So in all future events which might induce sadness remember to call on this principal: ‘this is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune.’"

On Prayer:

"Either the gods have power or they do not. Now, if they have no power, why pray? If they do have power, why not pray for their gift of freedom from all worldly fear, desire, or regret, rather than the presence or absence of this or that? Certainly, if the gods can cooperate with men, they can cooperate to these ends.

But you might say: ‘The gods have put these things in my own power.’ Is it not then better to use your own power in freedom than show a servile and supine concern for what you cannot control? And who told you the gods do not help us even to the ends which lie within our own power? At any rate, pray about these things, and you will see. One man prays: ‘How can I sleep with this woman?’ Your prayer is: ‘How can I lose the desire to sleep with her?’ Another prays: ‘How can I be rid of that man?’ Your prayer: ‘How can I stop wanting to be rid of him?’ Another: ‘How can I save my little child?’ You: ‘How can I learn not to fear his loss?’ And so on. Give all your prayers this turn, and observe what happens."

I read Meditations of Marcus Aurelius at least one a year. I gain new insights with each reading.

[Shotgun]

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American … There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

A thousand times this.

[Cheap Shot]

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

[Corey]

A great quote on the timeless wisdom the founding fathers expressed in the Declaration of Independence:

"About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers." Calvin Coolidge

[Corey]

I don't like when people say "I'm doing my best", it seems......lame. I think of this when I hear that-


“Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required". Winston S. Churchill

"Don't do your best, do my best." Adam Carolla

[RoyGBiv]

I somehow managed to post this in the rage quitting thread yesterday. Wasn't even PUI.

" Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!"

– Hunter S. Thompson

[Corey]

"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”"

-R A Heinlein

[babypanther]

"Be a man of principle. Fight for what you believe in. Keep your word. Live with integrity. Be brave. Believe in something bigger than yourself. Serve your country. Teach. Mentor. Give something back to society.* Lead from the front. Conquer your fears. Be a good friend. Appreciate your friends and family. Be a leader and not a follower. Be valorous on the field of battle. And take responsibility for your actions."

Major Douglas A. Zembiec, USMC

[Cheap Shot]

"The society that makes great distinction between its Scholars and its Warriors will have it's thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools" –Thucydides

[Cheap Shot]

[SIZE=3]"The society that makes great distinction between its Scholars and its Warriors will have it's thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools" –Thucydides



“Keep the company of those who seek the truth- run from those who have found it”

― Václav Havel

[Wondering Beard]

"The society that makes great distinction between its Scholars and its Warriors will have it's thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools" –Thucydides


Apparently, that's a misattribution (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thucydides#Misattributed), it's supposed to be from Sir William Francis Butler, Charles George Gordon (1889).

[Wondering Beard]

"Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges"
The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government. Tacitus

[Maple Syrup Actual]

"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."

Aeschylus, from Agamemnon IIRC

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

[Coyotesfan97]

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.* Thucydides 471BC

[Coyotesfan97]

"I could not have tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humor."

Horatio Nelson

[Coyotesfan97]

"I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?"

Sir Walter Scott

[Cheap Shot]

Thank you!

Apparently my google fu is weak, and that quote to me is important and powerful enough (although I disagree with the last six words) that its important I get it right

[hufnagel]

"Nuts!" - Anthony McAuliffe

[Corey]

One more from Heinlein.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

[Cypher]

The fight's commenced! Get to fighting or get away!

Wyatt Earp to Ike Clanton at The Gunfight at (the vacant lot behind) the OK Corrall


“Benteen, Come on. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs. PS Bring pacs”

[FNFAN]

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”

― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: Third Series

[blues]

The fight's commenced! Get to fighting or get away!

Wyatt Earp to Ike Clanton at The Gunfight at (the vacant lot behind) the OK Corrall


“Benteen, Come on. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs. PS Bring pacs”


Those words have always had a haunting quality to them. I can remember hearing them in my mind as I walked the battlefield site.

I also visited Tombstone some years earlier while taking a course at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. Another place with very intriguing history.

[Cypher]

Up men! And to your post and let no man forget today thay he is from Old Virginia!

General George Pickett July 3rd 1863

Sir, I have no Division.

General George Pickett July 3rd 1863 about an hour later

[Odin Bravo One]

"Men that don't know him won't like him, and men that do sometimes won't know how to take him; he ain't wrong, he's just different, but his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right."

-WN

"All I suggest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".

-PS

[Chance]

"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."

Aeschylus, from Agamemnon IIRC


That may be my new favorite quote ever. I want to use that in my intro class, but it may be a little too heavy-handed for freshmen.

[LSP552]

That may be my new favorite quote ever. I want to use that in my intro class, but it may be a little too heavy-handed for freshmen.

It would have scared me...:D

[SeriousStudent]

Reality and freshmen is often an unsatisfying mix.

[Corey]

"I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the CIO. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power, as I see fit.

I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday in the voting booth. That is a program of sorts, is it not? It is certainly program enough to keep conservatives busy, and liberals at bay. And the nation free."

William F. Buckley. 1959

[Drang]

"I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the CIO. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power, as I see fit.

I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday in the voting booth. That is a program of sorts, is it not? It is certainly program enough to keep conservatives busy, and liberals at bay. And the nation free."

William F. Buckley. 1959

Never been able to understand how Buckley could reconcile that philosophy with being anti-gun.

[Corey]

"What if they gave a war and nobody came?
Why, then, the war would come to you!
He who stays home when the fight begins
And lets another fight for his cause
Should take care:
He who does not take part
In the battle will share in the defeat.
Even avoiding battle will not avoid battle.
Since not to fight for your own cause
Really means
Fighting on behalf of your enemy's cause."

Bertoldt Brecht

[RevolverRob]

By Frank Lloyd Wright - Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change.

George S. Patton - If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

And there are so many great ones, by the last great president our country had - Dwight D. Eisenhower (born in Texas, like most of the greatest men to ever live) -

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from the adopted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.

I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.

[Corey]

All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.


-Winston Churchill

[Kanati]

"Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions."

George W Bush

[critter]

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
----- Thomas Jefferson

[Bobcat]

Pooverbs 12:4 A worthy wife is a crown for her husband, but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.

[Hambo]

"The problem with internet quotes is that you can't always depend on their accuracy" -Abraham Lincoln

;)

[41magfan]

“Hypocrisy may deceive the cleverest man, but a child recognizes it instantly, and is invariably revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised”
Leo Tolstoy

“I prefer dangerous liberty to peaceful slavery.”
Thomas Jefferson

“The sure way to lose happiness is to want it at the expense of everything else.”
Bette Davis

“A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of cyanide, does not ‘choose between two beverages;’ he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two ‘social systems;’ it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an ‘alternative’ to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings!”
Ludwig Von Mises

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Brilliant minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss things, simple minds discuss people".
JFK

“Many are the beautiful theories that have been demolished by ugly facts.”
Thomas Huxley

“To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth”
Theodore Roosevelt

I could go on and on ........

[Josh Runkle]

I could go on and on ........

Please do!


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[Drang]

“To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth”
Theodore Roosevelt
Source, please.

[41magfan]

Source, please.

I likely cannot, to be honest. I've compiled these quotes over a period of many years, so recalling the primary source is difficult. At one time, they were all scratched on a legal pad and I eventually reduced them to an electronic file.

I have a number of Teddy quotes, most of which came from a book entitled "Little Book of Quotes" which was given to me as a gift. That little book is packed up in a box somewhere, I think.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Drang]

A quick Google search finds several sites saying it's as accurate as the Abraham Lincoln Internet quote. Since the terms "conservative" and "liberal" weren't used then the way they are now, I find it thoroughly believable.

[41magfan]

A quick Google search finds several sites saying it's as accurate as the Abraham Lincoln Internet quote. Since the terms "conservative" and "liberal" weren't used then the way they are now, I find it thoroughly believable.

Yep, that's certainly plausible. Thank you for that.

[41magfan]

Here's a few more:

“Equality before the law is probably forever unattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights, but privileges.”
HL Mencken

“Happiness is not a reward. It is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment. It is a result.”
Robert Green Ingersoll

“Just because you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”
George Carlin

“Some have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam, but only with ‘… violent Islamist extremists.’ Fourteen-hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise!”
Samuel P Huntington

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Adams

“Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.”
George Jean Nathan


“It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers! In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I’m readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I’ll, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials as they do now, after-the-fact.”
Robert E Lee

Some things never change, do they?

[SD]

have always wondered about General A. McAuliffe famous reply for the request to surrender was "cleaned up", for circulation by the media? I believe we all know the other words that usually accompany the statement "nuts"? (R U Fa-King nuts)?
Heraclitus
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

John Paul Jones
"I have not yet begun to fight."

General Anthony McAuliffe at Bastogne
"Nuts."

Theodore Roosevelt
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

Issac Newton
"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

[blues]

have always wondered about General A. McAuliffe famous reply for the request to surrender was "cleaned up", for circulation by the media? I believe we all know the other words that usually accompany the statement "nuts"? (R U Fa-King nuts)?

All I can say is that the Germans were lucky that McAuliffe wasn't an Italian from NYC. They'd have received a more colorful reply.

That said..."Nuts!" will live on as a classic of nuanced cool under the most trying of conditions.

[Drang]

have always wondered about General A. McAuliffe famous reply for the request to surrender was "cleaned up", for circulation by the media? I believe we all know the other words that usually accompany the statement "nuts"? (R U Fa-King nuts)?

All the witnesses present confirmed independently that his reply, in full, was "Nuts."

[JohnO]

All the witnesses present confirmed independently that his reply, in full, was "Nuts."

Sometimes less is more.

[SamAdams]

Not exactly 'inspiring', but it is true (and brought a chuckle first time I heard it) -

" You can get much further with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone. " - attributed to Al Capone


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[41magfan]

First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

Rev. Martin Niemöller

[txdpd]

Just because some jackass asserts a thing does not mean that it is worthy of refutation. If the same guy tells you that every space shuttle launch perturbs the Earth's orbit, and that the cumulative effects are just about to start the process of the loss of the atmosphere into space, thus creating a vacuum that will destroy all life on the planet in approximately 36 hours, would you deem this necessary to refute? How much time would you spend explaining to him why this cannot happen? Would not your time be spent better doing other things? And if you devise a concise explanation, why would you assume he would understand?
-Mark Rippetoe

[Dave J]

All the witnesses present confirmed independently that his reply, in full, was "Nuts."

Reportedly, McAuliffe was raised in a household where swearing was harshly disciplined, so “Nuts”was his personal substitute for the usual expletives.. It was his G-3, Harry Kinnard, who suggested that become the official reply to the Germans.

FWIW, the Belgian Army still maintains the building where the 101st command post was located, and recreated the scene as best they could. It’s an excellent tour if you’re ever in the area.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171024/be72686cbefecd75fa2853f43a864958.jpg

[41magfan]

Just because some jackass asserts a thing does not mean that it is worthy of refutation. If the same guy tells you that every space shuttle launch perturbs the Earth's orbit, and that the cumulative effects are just about to start the process of the loss of the atmosphere into space, thus creating a vacuum that will destroy all life on the planet in approximately 36 hours, would you deem this necessary to refute? How much time would you spend explaining to him why this cannot happen? Would not your time be spent better doing other things? And if you devise a concise explanation, why would you assume he would understand?
-Mark Rippetoe

I would make that my signature line if it weren't so lengthy.

[Chance]

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning."

Catherine Aird

[Chance]

“We must remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school.”

– Thucydides, “History of the Peloponnesian War” (431-404 B.C.)

Stolen from another thread.

[AMC]

Since we're on Thucydides:

"To you who call yourselves 'Men of Peace', I say that you will not stand...unless you have Men of Action at your side."