Irredeemable self...........

When one's respective sins out weigh  

the very humanity one professes 

then the action of others

whether be right or wrong matters little.

Quote of the Day....../ The gravest danger.......

This is the gravest danger

that today threatens civilization:

State intervention, 

the absorption of all spontaneous 

social effort by the State;

that is to say, of spontaneous 

historical action,

which in the long-run sustains, 

nourishes and impels 

human destinies.

 -José Ortega y Gasset(1883-1955) 

Spanish philosopher

Source: Espana Invertebrada, 1922

             *      *     *     *     * 

But to manipulate men, 

to propel them toward goals

which you -- the social reformers -- see, 

but they may not,

is to deny their human essence,

to treat them as objects 

without wills of their own,

and therefore to degrade them.

-- Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)
Source: Two Concepts of Liberty, 1958

Quote of the day............

A man’s liberties are none 

the less aggressed upon 

because those who coerce him 

do so in the belief 

that he will be benefited.

-Herbert Spencer(1820-1903)

Economist, philosopher
Source: The Principles of Ethics 

Quote of the day...........

Facts matter, that's all that matters.

People often times in very hot issues —

like race or gender — they take sides;

that's so wrong.

We have to wait for the facts.

 Facts really, really, matter.

It's painful, but people just take sides.

-- Greta Van Susteren.
American commentator.

Silent catalog..........

In a world that privillages it self

in violation of other's lives

price for one's silence and

profiteering through office

is indexed like a catalog.

Quote of the day.....

Most men are followers, and implicitly rely 

upon the judgment of others.

They mistake solemnity for wisdom, and 

regard a grave countenance as the title page and 

Preface to a most learned volume. 

So they are easily imposed upon by forms, 

strange garments, and solemn ceremonies. 

And when the teaching of parents, 

the customs of neighbors, and 

the general tongue approve and 

justify a belief or creed, no matter how absurd, 

it is hard even for the strongest to hold 

the citadel of his soul. 

In each country, in defence of each religion, 

the same arguments would be urged.

-- Robert G. Ingersoll
(1833-1899) American political leader, orator
Source: The Great Infidels (1881)

Quote of the day........

It is proof of a base and low mind for 

One to wish to think with the masses or majority,

merely because the majority is the majority.

Truth does not change because it is, or is not, 

believed by a majority of the people.

-- Giordano Bruno(1548-1699)
Source: On Shadows of Ideas

Quote of the day...........

If I am not for myself, Who will be for me ?

If I am not for others, Who am I ?

And if not now, when ?

-- rabbi Hillel ( 110 BC- 10 AD )

        *    *    *    *    *

Only a mediocre writer is always at his best.

-- Somerset Maugham.

This is It --Tich Nhat Hanh......

In the middle of the night

Like a drowning man

holding on to a blade of grass

seizing on a fleeting thought

to immemorialize  ones wits end

scribiling on blindly in darkness

hoping for a new dawn.

Quote of the day................

When we remember

we are all mad,

the mysteries disappear

and life stands explained.

-- Mark Twain
[Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)

Quote of the day....

[T]here is nothing more difficult to carry out, 

nor more doubtful of success, 

nor more dangerous to handle, 

than to initiate a new order of things.  

For the reformer has enemies in all those 

who profit by the old order, and 

only lukewarm defenders in all those

 who would profit by the new order.

-- Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527) Italian Statesman and Political Philosopher.

Quote of the day........

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous 

and the storm terrible,

but they have never found these dangers 

sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

-- Vincent van Gogh.

Quote of the day...........

If you would be a real seeker after truth,

it is necessary that at least once in your life

you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

-- Rene Descartes
(1596-1650) French philosopher
Source: Principles of Philosophy, 1644

              *     *     *     *     *

[When] Men are not allowed to think freely

about chemistry and biology,

why should they be allowed to think freely

about political philosophy?

-- Auguste Comte.
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte(1798-1857) 
French philosopher, founder of Positivism and Sociology
Source: The Positive Philosophy, 1830-40

              *     *     *     *     *

The free-thinking of one age is 

the common sense of the next.

-- Matthew Arnold (1822-1887)

Quote of the day.............

The heart of the liberal philosophy

is a belief in the dignity of the individual,

in his freedom to make the most of his capacities

and opportunities according to his own lights...

This implies a belief in the equality of man in one sense;

in their inequality in another."

-- Milton Friedman

(1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, 
economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan,
 "ultimate guru of the free-market system"
Source: Capitalism and Freedom, 1962

Quote of the day.........

You make men love 

their government and 

their country by giving them 

the kind of government 

and the kind of country 

that inspire respect and love; 

a country that is free and unafraid, 

that lets the discontented talk 

in order to learn the causes of 

their discontent and end those causes, 

that refuses to impel men to spy 

on their neighbors, 

that protects its citizens vigorously 

from harmful acts 

while it leaves the remedies for 

objectionable ideas 

to counter-argument and time.

-- Zecharian Chafee, Jr.(1865-1957)
Source: Free Speech in the United States, 1942

Quote of the day.....

The highest manifestation of 

life consists in this:

that a being governs its own actions.

A thing which is always subject to 

the direction of another is 

somewhat of a dead thing.

-- Saint Thomas Aquinas(1225-1274).

 Italian philosopher and theologian

       *       *       *       *       *

To learn who rules over you,

simply find out who you are 

not allowed to criticize.

-- Voltaire
[François Marie Arouet] (1694-1778)

Quote of the day.....

A wise man neither suffers 

himself to be governed,

nor attempts to govern others.

-- Jean de la Bruyere.

quote of the day..........

May the Declaration of Independence

be to the world, what I believe it will be 

(to some parts sooner,

to others later, but finally to all)

the signal of arousing men to burst 

the chains under which monkish ignorance and 

superstition had persuaded them 

to bind themselves, and to assume 

the blessings and security of self-government. 

That form which we have substituted, 

restores the free right to the unbounded

exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. 

All eyes are opened, or opening, 

to the rights of man.

-- Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826). 

US Founding Father, 3rd US President
drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Quote of the day.......

No man is justified in doing evil

on the ground of expediency.

-- Theodore Roosevelt(1858-1919) 

26th US President.

Carpe diem.......

Next to the swans nesting

By the lake side - eerie and surreal

Under the shadows of giant trees

That stood mourning through the night

Keeping a vigil, lighting a candle

People flowing in the streets streaming

The colored chalks glowing

With thoughts and words flowing

For good will hunting

There rises a memorial for 

The spirit’s resting.