Another First

And so it is with humility ... determination ... and boundless confidence in America's promise ... that I accept your nomination for President of the United States!

-- Hillary Clinton in her speech at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first woman at the top of a major party ticket, 28 July 2016

More Yesterdays

Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to care more about our children and grandchildren.

-- Former President Bill Clinton in a speech at the Democratic National Convention, 27 July 2016, echoing a phrase he used on his 50th birthday, 19 August 1996

Quiet

There's nothing like a quiet ball park on the road.

-- Baseball announcer Tim McCarver, as the Cardinals tied the New York Mets 4-4 in the 9th inning at New York, 27 July 2016

Every Morning

I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves -- and I watch my daughters -- two beautiful, intelligent, black young women -- playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.  And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters -- and all our sons and daughters -- now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States.

-- First Lady Michelle Obama in a speech at the Democratic National Convention, 25 July 2016

Humbly And Gratefully

Friends, delegates and fellow Americans: I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

-- Donald Trump, accepting the Republican nomination for president of the United States, 21 July 2016

Vote Your Conscience

We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love.  That is the standard we should expect from everybody.  And, to those listening, please don't stay home in November. 

If you love our country, and love our children as much as you do, stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom, and to be faithful to the constitution. 

-- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), speaking at the Republican National Convention, 20 July 2016

The Real Damage

The real damage from terrorist attacks doesn't come from the explosion.  The real damage is done after the explosion, by the victims, who repeatedly and determinedly attack themselves, giving over reason in favor of terror.  Every London cop who stops someone from taking a picture of a public building, every TSA agent who takes away your kid's toothpaste, every NSA spook who wiretaps your email, does the terrorist's job for him.  Terrorism is about magnifying one mediagenic act of violence into one hundred billion acts of terrorized authoritarian idiocy.      

-- Cory Doctorow (1971-), Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author, "BBC photographer prevented from shooting St Paul's because he might be 'al Qaeda operative'", 30 November 2009

Rough Year

It's been a rough year for the media experts.  It must be humbling to be so wrong about so much for so long.

-- Willie Robertson, star of A&E's "Duck Dynasty" at the Republican National Convention, 18 July 2016

A Rocket

If you take all the machinery in the world and dump it in the ocean, within months more than half of all humanity will die and within another six months they’d almost all be gone; if you took all the politicians in the world, put them in a rocket, and sent them to the moon, everyone would get along fine.      

-- Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), American philosopher and systems theorist, Norie Huddle interview (1981)

We Cannot Let Terrorists Decide

You're speaking with, at one side a very happy man, and at the other a very sad man.  It's a very sad day I woke up to the terrible news from Nice, and it was a very just question as to whether we should race, but I think it was a just decision to race today.  I think we cannot let terrorists decide our lives in our society.

-- Tom Dumoulin, after claiming his second stage win at this year’s Tour de France, 15 July 2016

Crazy Ideas

Mostly, the most crazy ideas work the best.

-- Sjoerd Hoogendoorn, a security consultant who originated a program in the Netherlands of training eagles to intercept small drones midair, New York Times, 29 May 2016

Political Issues

All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.      

-- George Orwell (1903-1950), pen name of British novelist Eric Arthur Blair, "Politics and the English Language" (1946)

Everything

There must be more to life than having everything!

-- Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), American writer and illustrator of children's literature,  Higglety Pigglety Pop! or, There Must Be More to Life (1967)

Super Duper

So it'd be super-duper if the death threats could stop.

-- Urbana, IL resident Bryton Mellott, on Facebook, after he earlier posted photos of himself burning a US flag with the hashtag #ArrestMe, for which he was arrested and quickly released, 4 July 2016, 1:12am

The Opposite

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.  The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference.  The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.  And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.

-- Elie Wiesel (30 September 1928 – 2 July 2016), writer, professor at Boston University, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, US News & World Report (27 October 1986)

Fixed Star

Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much.  That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.  If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion.

-- Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the majority in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (319 U.S. 624), ruling that public school children could not be compelled to salute the U.S. flag (1943)

No Charges

[N]o charges are appropriate in this case.

-- FBI Director James Comey, announcing the conclusion of an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, 5 July 2016

The World Isn't Fair

The world isn't fair, but as long as it's tilting in my direction I find that there's a natural cap to my righteous indignation.

-- Scott Adams (1957-), American cartoonist and satirist, most famous for his Dilbert series of comic strips and books, in The Dilbert blog, The Benefits of Getting Old, 22 August 2006