Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us - and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

God is in the details.

Mies Van der Rohe, "New York Tim

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.

Alma Gluck

One of the things that happens at the speed of light is that people lose their goals in life. So what takes the place of goals and objectives? Well, role-playing is coming in very fast.

Marshall McLuhan

In his life Christ is an example showingus how to live in his death he is a sacrifice satisfying our sins in his resurrection a conqueror in his ascension a king in his intercession a high priest.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

H. G. [Herbert George] Wells

I paint things as they are. I don't comment. I record.

Henri De Toulouse Lautrec

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow; if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.

Whitney Houston

We, the people. Manifest Destiny. Conceived in liberty. Fear itself. Ask not. Morning in America. United we stand. Yes, we can. In times of great change and tumult, presidents seek to inspire beleaguered Americans by reminding them of their national identity.

Ron Fournier

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.

Emmanuel Teney

Romance like a ghost escapes touching it is always where you are not, not where you are. The interview or conversation was prose at the time, but it is poetry in the memory.

George William Curtis

It pays to get drunk with the best people.

Joe E. Lewis

What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those of other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written. Everyday would make a whole book of 80,000 words -- 365 books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man -- the biography of the man himself cannot be written.

Mark Twain