Notable Quotable 325

Sep 11, 2024

Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.

- Wes Fesler

When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to [profess] things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

- Thomas Paine

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

- George Carlin

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

- H. L. Mencken

Not one of these nobly equipped young men has escaped the restless, exhausting, confusing, debilitating crisis of education. He feels that he cannot guide himself, cannot help himself - and then he dives hopelessly into the world of everyday life and daily routine, he is immersed in the most trivial activity possible, and his limbs grow weak and weary.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Strike.Me

Buy Me a Coffee

The individual is no longer rooted in society as a tree in a forest, rather he is comparable to the passenger in a rapidly moving vehicle whose name may be Titanic, but also Leviathan. As long as the weather holds and the outlook is pleasant, he will scarcely notice the curtailment of his freedom. He may even be filled with optimism and with the consciousness of power produced by the sense of speed. But all this changes when the fiery volcanic islands and icebergs emerge on the horizon. Then not only will technology claim a right to dominate fields other than the procurement of comfort, but at the same time the lack of freedom will become apparent-be it in the victory of elemental forces or in the fact that individuals who have remained strong acquire the means to exercise absolute power.

- Ernst Jünger

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.

- John Cage

In summary, Intelligence Intensification is desirable, because there is not a single problem confronting humanity that is not either caused or considerably worsened by the prevailing stupidity (insensitivity) of the species: badly wired robots bumping into and maiming and killing each other.

- Robert Anton Wilson

The family is essentially a protective force, and not least against the claims of the state. It is an area of private custom, as opposed to public law. It is an alternative to the state as a focus of loyalty, and thus a humanizing force in society. Unlike the state, it upholds non-material values, makes them paramount, indeed. It repudiates the exclusive claims of realpolitik. The family, in fact, is a gentle ideology in itself, because it is inconcievable without a system of morality based on altruism. The family embraces tradition rather than fashionable dogma. It upholds a balance of rights and responsibilities, and not merely within generations: it insists on respect for the past, and concern for the future.

- Paul Johnson

Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.

- Sen. Barry Goldwater