Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.

My parents were both from Scotland, but had been resident in Lower Canada some time before their marriage, which took place in Montreal and in that city I spent most of my life.

Maria Monk

Had he and I but metBy some old ancient inn,We should have sat us down to wetRight many a nipperkin!But ranged as infantry,And staring face to face,I shot at him as he at me,And killed him in his place.I shot him dead because--Because he was my foe,Just so: my foe of course he was;That's clear enough; althoughHe thought he

Thomas Hardy, The Man He Killed

My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short.

Armistead Maupin

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

Isaac Asimov

Better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.

William Arthur Ward

It is a fact that around the world the elites of every country are making money.

Hillary Clinton

From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own.

Publilius Syrus

Next to inflation, majority rule is the most ingenious scheme ever contrived by government. Most people have never dared to question the basic morality or logic in the assumption that the majority should have power over the minority. A majority of the people in the South once believed in black slavery. Did that make it moral? A lynch mob is majority rule stripped of its fancy trappings and its facade of respectability. In a community where homosexuals outnumber heterosexuals, should the majority have the right to outlaw sex between married partners of the opposite sex? In a community where atheists outnumber non- atheists, should the majority have the right to outlaw the practice of religion? ... a dictatorship allows only a small number of people to interfere with the rights of others, a democracy makes it possible for great numbers of people to impose their will on others -- through the force of government. Is an act of aggression more right if carried out by the majority than by a dictator? Since approximately half the eligible voters vote this means that approximately 75% of the people are ruled by 25% of the people.

Robert J. Ringer

The epitome of culture is the search for truth, or at least a reasonable approximation of reality, most notably the need to know ourselves and the world around us.

Eric Chaisson

Difficulties show men what they are. In case of any difficulty, God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil.

Epictetus

The human mind is like a TV set. When it goes blank, it's a good idea to turn off the sound.

Anon.

The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.

Mikhail Gorbachev