 He brings disaster upon his nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation.
Kahlil Gibran
Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran
A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I WOULD NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE OF HAPPINESS. But it is a comfort appropriate FOR THE WEAK, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak certainty of reason - BUT ONE CANNOT HAVE BOTH.
Robert Anson Heinlein
Friday
“If I ask people whether they believe in life, they never understand what I mean. It's a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do, then I know they don't believe in life. Why? God — whatever anyone chooses to call God — is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own.”
Ayn Rand
We the Living
Faith in the supernatural begins as faith in the superiority of others.
Ayn Rand
GS, FNI, 200 – ARL p 158
Faith and force . . . are corollaries: every period of history dominated by mysticism, was a period of statism, of dictatorship, of tyranny.
Ayn Rand
“Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,” PWNI, 80 – ARL p 158
Playboy: Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life? Rand: Qua religion, no — in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusion of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man’s life and code of moral values, were made by religion, before man graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very—how shall I say it?—dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith.
Ayn Rand
“Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” – ARL p 411
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
Robert A. Heinlein
Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long/Time Enough for Love
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent--it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.
Robert Anson Heinlein
Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long/Time Enough for Love
Beswick took over ... in a flurry of MBA jargon ... which ended up defeating us. There were executive summaries, flow charts, key accounts, spread sheets, listener psychographics, membership marketing plans, and strategic alliances -- all of which, in the end, amounted to bullshit.
Deborah Coddington
Page 131 of Perigo! Politically Incorrect
This was a subtle but complete misunderstanding of Simonyi’s intention and practice, and it just goes to show you that if you write convoluted, dense academic prose nobody will understand it and your ideas will be misinterpreted and then the misinterpreted ideas will be ridiculed even when they weren’t your ideas.
Joel Spolsky
http://joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html
Overly "permissive" parents tend to produce highly anxious children. By this I mean parents who back away from any leadership role; who treat all family members as equal not only in dignity but also in knowledge and authority; and who strive to teach no values and uphold no standards for fear of "imposing" their "biases" on their children.
Nathaniel Branden
Six Pillars of Self Esteem
"Dad," I said, "I want to go to the Moon." "Certainly," he answered . . . . "I said it was all right. Go ahead." "Yes . . . but how?" "Eh?" He looked mildly surprised. "Why, that's your problem, Clifford."
Robert A. Heinlein
Have Space Suit Will Travel
Humorlessness should be grounds for dismissal.
Camille Paglia
"Junk Bond & Corporate Raiders," on her remedy to reform academe
Double-posts are bastard children of the troubled mind.
Alec Mouhibian
There is no better way to cultivate taste in words, than by constantly reading the best English. None of the words and expressions which are taboo in good society will be found in books of proved literary standing. But it must not be forgotten that there can be a vast difference between literary standing and popularity, and that many of the “best sellers” have no literary merit whatsoever.
Emily Post
Etiquette (1922) - http://www.bartleby.com/95/8.html
Experience holds a dear school, but a fool will learn in no other.
Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.
Confucius
America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools even when they're working as designed cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.
William (Bill) H. Gates
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050227/ap/d88gh7do0.html
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
Mark Twain
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.
Aristotle
You can lead a boy to college but you can't make him think.
Elbert Hubbard
Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
Aristotle
Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
Thomas Jefferson
There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, and books.
Henry Ward Beecher
I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land?
W. E. B. DuBois
The Souls of the Black Folk
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends... they are the most accessible and the wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926)
The Happy Life (1896)
Human motivation occurs when folks think themselves competent, to gain or keep things thought valuable, by methods thought efficient.
Edward D. Thompson
Ed Thompson
Of all ignorance, the ignorance of the educated is the most dangerous. Not only are educated people likely to have more influence, they are the last people to suspect that they don't know what they are talking about when they go outside their narrow fields.
Thomas Sowell
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3856
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