Classic Retort

I have to infer from that (statement) that you would be happier if Saddam Hussein were still in power.

-- Paul Wolfowitz


It's the classic retort given by neocons and other war supporters when anyone questions the wisdom of the Iraq War. But let's say I get disturbed by a spider crawling on the garage wall. I slam the car into it at 50 miles an hour, destroying the car and causing a few thousand dollars in damage to the garage. When my wife objects, I say: "I have to infer from that statement that you would be happier if that spider were still crawling up the wall."

"No, schmuck," she says, "I'd be happier if we still had a car and didn't have to fork out ten thousand dollars to fix the garage."

-- R. J. Eskow (Common Dreams, March 27)

States' Rights

My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing.

-- Christopher Shays, Republican congressman of Connecticut, on the Schiavo case

We Don't Want Pluralism

I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good ... our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism.

-- Randall Terry, spokesman for the Schindler family in the Florida Schiavo fiasco

The Child in One

Sometimes the child in one behaves a certain way and the rest of oneself follows behind, slowly shaking its head.

-- James E. Shapiro

I Respect Faith

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

-- Wilson Mizner

Scalia on the Ten Commandments

I bet that 90% of the American people believe in the Ten Commandments, and 85% couldn't tell you what they all are.

-- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; cited in Ellen Goodman,
"Monuments to God or History?" (Boston Globe, March 6, 2005)

Keep Your Faith

Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.

-- Roy R. Gilson

To Listen to Some Devout People

To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs.

-- Aurobindo Ghose, Indian philosopher (1872-1950)

The Government has Short-term Memory Loss

The struggle of humanity against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

-- Milan Kundera

The World Owes You?

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing; it was here first.

-- Mark Twain

Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

-- Irish Blessing

Who I Really Am

Son, when you grow up you will know who I really am. I am just a child like you who has been forced to act responsibly.

-- Rod Byrnes

If Words Are To Bear Fruit

If words are to enter men's minds and bear fruit, they must be the right words shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds.

-- J. B. Phillips

Caring

Children do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

-- Lenny Hoover, March 20, 1998

Your Children Are Not Your Children

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. ... You may house their bodies, but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

-- Kahlil Gibran, 1883 - 1931

The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy teaches children that they can sell body
parts for money.

-- David Richerby

Always Watching

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.

-- Robert Fulghum

Making Life Hard

Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist,
novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)

Men Have Become Tools

Men have become the tools of their tools.

-- Henry David Thoreau

Positive Attitude

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it
will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

-- Herm Albright

Welcome

I think I've found my inspiration.