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CARL SAGAN QUOTES

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"You don't take the country to war on the wings of a lie." -- Thomas L. Friedman -- NY Times -- 2003

Submitted by riprap

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"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 (1809-65), 16th US President, Republican

I like this because it has within it a way of living. There is the obvious problem of ensuring that the cause in question is just, but for most people, given enough information, deciding what is just is not that big a problem. To support something because someone else supports it, or because it has personal benefit, or because not to support it would cause personal loss, is wrong.

In news_garden there is a tendency for polarization of thought, left right in politics. I find this a problem because it leads to defending a political orientation rather than defending policies put forward by a particular political group. I don’t know much about the American system of politics because I’m not American, however I am aware that the founding fathers of America were concerned at the possibility of “political parties” rather than free thinking individuals being the dominant force.

Democracy only works when a people trust each other enough to support the majority even though they disagree with the majority. This requires that certain principles be held within that society that makes it a society. Self-evident truths, a foundation on which society agrees to be a society. A democracy cannot be competitive, the minority does not loose the majority does not win.

America is a very competitive society, which in itself is not a bad thing. However certain things require that people support a cause irrespective of whether they think they will be successful. Some things are that basic to a society that to loose them would be worse than continuing on without them. This is expressed in the following quote:

". . . I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government–every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of the Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, 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, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old." -- June 4, 1940 Winston Churchill

Terrorism is evil. It is a crime against humanity. It defies democratic principles. However to fight terrorism is not possible with superior military strength. Terrorism is not a military force. It is a criminal force, an ideology. Terrorism is an evil that seeks to destroy justice. If an unjust attempt is made to destroy terrorism, terrorism wins. In my opinion the response by President Bush to the 9/11 terrorist attack was wrong. Declaring “war on terror” was a mistake. Unfortunately that decision has now led to the present crisis in world affairs. And we the people can only wait to see where that decision will take us.

Submitted by Wilf

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"The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have … a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers." -- John Adams

Submitted by Alllie

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"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." -- Thomas Jefferson

Submitted by Alllie

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"Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense." -- Helen Rowland

Submitted by JediBabe

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"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."-- Sam Keen

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
-- Jule Renard

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The great tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by ugly fact." -- Aldous Huxley

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity." -- Aldous Huxley

Submitted by JediBabe

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"There are three easy ways of losing money - racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain." -- Lord Amherst

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." -- Charlotte Whitton

Submitted by JediBabe

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"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations."
-- Sir Winston Churchill

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The metric system did not really catch on in the United States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the 9 millimeter bullet."
-- Dave Barry

Submitted by JediBabe

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"I was so poor growing up ... if I wasn't a boy ...I'd have had nothing to play with." -- Rodney Dangerfield

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of the wise man is in his heart. " -- Benjamin Franklin

Submitted by JediBabe

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"In passing, also, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance he laid the blame on a woman." -- Nancy Astor

Submitted by JediBabe

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"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it." -- Margaret Fuller

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." -- Janis Joplin

Submitted by JediBabe

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"If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you. Democracy isn't just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well." -- Margaret Thatcher

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Democracy is not a spectator sport." -- Marian Wright Edelman

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Every democratic system evolves its own conventions. It is not only the water but the banks which make the river." -- Indira Gandhi

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Democracies have been, and governments called, free; but the spirit of independence and the consciousness of unalienable rights, were never before transfused into the minds of a whole people....The feeling of equality which they proudly cherish does not proceed from an ignorance of their station, but from the knowledge of their rights; and it is this knowledge which will render it so exceedingly difficult for any tyrant ever to triumph over the liberties of our country." -- Sarah Josepha Hale

Submitted by JediBabe

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"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." -- Rebecca West

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Whether women are better than men I cannot say -- but I can say they are certainly no worse" -- Golda Meir

Submitted by JediBabe

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"I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career."
-- Gloria Steinhem

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." -- Lois Wyse

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry." -- Gloria Steinem

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The people I'm furious with are the women's liberationists. They keep getting up on soapboxes and proclaiming that women are brighter than men. It's true, but it should be kept quiet or it ruins the whole racket."
-- Anita Loos

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women."-- Nancy Astor

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both." -- Alice Stone Blackwell

Submitted by JediBabe

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"It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower is to bloom." -- Alice Walker

Submitted by JediBabe

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"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." -- H. L. Mencken

Submitted by Nightbird

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"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive." -- Henry Steele Commage

Submitted by Nightbird

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"Americans used to roar like lions for liberty. Now we bleat like sheep for security." -- Norman Vincent Peale

Submitted by Nightbird

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"A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks; a woman loses hers after four kisses." -- H.L. Mencken

Submitted by Zeno

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"When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country." -- Elayne Boosler

Submitted by Zeno

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"A woman already knows." -- Frederick Ryder

Submitted by Zeno

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"Men get laid. women get screwed."-- Quentin Crisp

Submitted by Zeno

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"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man - - if you want anything done, ask a woman."-- Margaret Thatcher

Submitted by Zeno

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"I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as stray eyebrows."-- Janette Barber

Submitted by Zeno

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"When I was young, I was put in a school for retarded kids for two years before they realized I actually had a hearing loss. And they called ME slow!" -- Kathy Buckley

Submitted by Zeno

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"I think—therefore I'm single."
-- Lizz Winstead

Submitted by Zeno

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Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Submitted by Zeno

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"Boy George is all England needs - another queen who can't dress." -- Joan Rivers

Submitted by Zeno

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"You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy." -- Erica Jong

Submitted by Zeno

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"The United States goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. If the United States took up all foreign affairs, it would become entangled in all the wars of interest and intrigue, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own soul." -- John Quincy Adams

Submitted by Alllie

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"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals... and something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination - we learned to talk" -- Prof Stephen Hawkins

Submitted by JediBabe

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"You cannot have a revolution with white gloves" -- Lenin

Submitted by chairman_spikeb

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"One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic" -- Joseph Stalin

Submitted by JediBabe

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Have a care over my people. You have my people - do you that which I ought to do.They are my people. Every man oppresseth and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel, nor help themselves. See unto them - see unto them, for they are my charge. I charge you, even as God hath charged me. I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.” -- Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her judges, 1559.

Submitted by JediBabe

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"Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians." -- Baroness Thatcher commenting on the possibility of a Republican Britain.

Submitted by JediBabe

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"It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you descried a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure." -- Albert Einstein

Submitted by Tiron

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"There is no love more sincere than the love of food" -- George Bernard Shaw

Submitted by Tiron

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"It doesn't matter who gets the most votes in an election; it only matters who counts the votes." - Joseph Stalin

Submitted by Alllie

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"A dirty mind is a wealth of pleasure." - Aldous Huxley

Submitted by Alllie

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