Childhood Bedrooms

College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they  can move out and get going with life.

-- Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan at the Republican National Convention, 29 August 2012

Ease And Security

Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for the others.  Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever.

-- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, logician, and mathematician, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935)

Snob

The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.

-- John Buchan (1875-1940), Scottish novelist, poet, and politician, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Pilgrim's Way: An Essay in Recollection (1940)

An Engineer

A century hence, 2000 may be viewed as quite a primitive period in human history.  It's something to hope for. ...  I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer -- born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow.  As an engineer, I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession.

-- Neil Alden Armstrong (5 August 1930 - 25 August 2012), test pilot and astronaut, commander of Apollo 11, first man to walk on the moon, in "The Engineered Century", remarks delivered during National Engineers Week on behalf of the National Academy of Engineering at the National Press Club, 22 February 2000

Judge Nutter Speaks

He is going to do what he wants to do.  Now what do you think he is going to try to do in this next term?  One of the things, my opinion.  One of the things is he's going to try to give the sovereignty of the United States away to the United Nations.  What do you think the public is going to do when that happens?  We are talking civil unrest, civil disobedience, possibly, possibly civil war, OK?  Now what happens?  What happens?  Now I'm not talking just talking riots here and there.  I'm talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator.  OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens?  He is going to call in the UN troops, personnel carriers, tanks and weapons.

-- Lubbock County, TX Judge Tom Head, on the Drive Home on FOXTalk 950 with Jeff Klotzman, 20 August 2012

Going Forward

Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.

-- Lance Armstrong (1971-), retired US professional cyclist, 7-time winner of the Tour de France, announcing that he will not take part in USADA arbitration nor respond to assertions that he doped during his years of winning the Tour de France; U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart says the agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, 23 August 2012

Creation Of The Human Brain

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success. ... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

-- Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943), Serbian American physicist, inventor, and electrical engineer, quoted in Marconi and Tesla:  Pioneers of Radio Communication (2008) by Tim O'Shei

Headache

As human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.

-- Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, which has more than a million employees worldwide but is using a growing number of robots, New York Times, 19 August 2012

The Traveler

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience.  The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him.  He goes "sightseeing."

-- Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004), American historian and writer, "The Image: A Guide to Psuedo-Events in America", (1961)

Humble Genius

What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.

-- Oscar Levant (1906-1972), American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor, as quoted in "On the 8th Day -- God Laughed" (1995) by Gene Perret, pg 95

I Am Legend

I'm now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live.

-- Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (21 August 1986-), the first athlete to win the 100 meters and 200 meters at consecutive Olympics, New York Times, 10 August 2012

Whyness

The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living.

-- William Beebe (1877-1962), American naturalist, explorer, and author, as quoted in On Aggression by Konrad Lorenz (1963)

Silly Things

If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.

-- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian-born philosopher, Culture and Value (1980)

Almost Enough Time

Forty-eight years is almost enough time to hold a record.

-- Larisa Latynina, a gymnast whose career record of 18 Olympic medals was surpassed by Michael Phelps, who won gold in swimming the anchor leg in the 4x200 freestyle relay, New York Times, 1 August 2012