Whatever is attempted without previous certainty of success, may be considered as a project, and amongst narrow minds may, therefore, expose its author to censure and contempt; and if the liberty of laughing be once indulged, every man will laugh at

It is inherent in the nature of sovereignty not to be amenable to the suit of any individual without its consent. This is the general sense and the general practice of mankind; and the exemption, as one of the attributes of sovereignty, is now enjoyed by the government of every State in the Union. . . . The contracts between a nation and individuals are only binding on the conscience of the sovereign, and have no pretensions to a compulsory force. They confer no right of action, independent of the sovereign will. To...authorize suits against States for the debts they owe...could not be done without waging war against the contracting State..., a power which would involve such a consequence, would be altogether forced and unwarranted.

Alexander Hamilton

A mind enclosed in language is in prison.

Simone Weil, Human Personality 1

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

Albert Einstein

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time is money, especially when you are talking to a lawyer or buying a commercial.

Frank Dane

The effort to remold, in one's own life, the culture one has grown into is heavy with danger. The searcher is likely to be treated as a criminal or a madman, condemned and criticized by his own society, ridiculed, even persecuted. Even if he is more fortunate--even if he is simply ignored by others--he must begin his struggle as a cripple. For to consciously reject the generalized attitudes' of the parent society is to reject positive reference points that have helped him evaluate his actions and accomplishments.This is the price of freedom on the peripheries. We are able to free ourselves from our parent culture only by destroying parts of ourselves, much as an animal might escape the hunter's trap by gnawing off its own leg. But unlike the wounded animal, the detached person is doubly crippled; however he mutilates himself, he will never quite be free of the trap but will carry it with him in his new freedom.

Donald A. Hansen, An Invitation

Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four.

Terry Pratchett

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

Plato

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

Elizabeth II

Though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve.

William Shakespeare

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

Henry A. Kissinger

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.

Dorothea Lange