Nor The Problem

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

-- Sir Karl Raimund Popper (1902 - 1994), Austrian-British philosopher, academic, and social commentator, Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (1972)

Familiar Doctrine

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

-- Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken (12 September 1880 - 29 January 1956), journalist, satirist, social critic, and freethinker, Prejudices, Third Series (1922) Ch. 3

Never Interrupt

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

-- Napoléon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821), French military general, First Consul of the French Republic, and then Emperor of the French and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I, as quoted in The Military Quotation Book (2002) by James Charlton, p. 93

The Great Enemy

The great enemy of communication is the illusion of it.

-- William H. Whyte Jr. (1917 - 1999), American urbanist, sociologist, organizational analyst, and people-watcher, "Is Anybody Listening?" Fortune Magazine (1950)

RIP James Earl Jones

I have never traveled to anyone else's drumbeat.  Some people have called me a rebel.  I qualify as one.  A lot of it is inadvertent, unintentional, not a gesture at all, just me, just the nature of myself, finding my own drumbeat.

-- James Earl Jones (17 January 1931 - 9 September 2024), American actor known for his roles in film and theater; one of the few performers to have achieved EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards), Voices and Silences (1993; 2002) p. 357 (2002 edition)

So Confident

The problem is not that Christians are conservative or liberal, but that some are so confident that their position is God's position that they become dismissive and intolerant toward others and divisive forces in our national life.

-- John Danforth (1936 -), former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. Senator (R-MO), and ordained Episcopal priest, Faith and Politics (2006) p. 10

The Day You Follow

The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.

-- Anthony de Mello (1931 - 1987), Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, and writer who became widely known for his books on spirituality, One Minute Wisdom (1989) Discipleship

A Collective Hunch

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.

-- Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (1939 -), American actress, comedian, writer, and producer since the late 1960s, speaking as Trudy in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985), written by Tomlin's spouse Jane Wagner

I Am Grateful

I have managed to conceal my madness fairly effectively, and as far as I know it hasn't hurt anybody badly, for which I am grateful.

-- William Saroyan (1908 - 1981), Armenian American author, My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)

Dissatisfied Unless

You can't satisfy everybody; especially if there are those who will be dissatisfied unless not everybody is satisfied.

-- Robert Nozick (1938 - 2002), American libertarian philosopher, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) Ch. 10 : A Framework for Utopia; The Framework as Utopian Common Ground, p. 320