"When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and g

ods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my
blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumble
d and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and ma
nacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for
me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--fre
e to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for
myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to s
pread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, fre
e to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! I stood erect and fearless
ly, joyously faced all worlds."
--Robert G. Ingersoll
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
--Epicurus
We may be confused about the distinction between tolerance and the refusal of ev
aluation, thinking that tolerance of others requires us not to evaluate what the
y do.
-Martha Nussbaum
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the mo
st oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipoten
t moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity
may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will t
orment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
"
C.S.Lewis
"To be is to do." -- I. Kant
"To do is to be." -- J. P. Sartre
"Do be do be do." -- F. Sinatra
''The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and toler
ates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neithe
r good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hol
d water.''
John W. Gardner
(to Winston Churchill, dismissively): Winston, you are drunk.
(Churchill): That may be true madam, but you are ugly, and in the morning, I wil
l be sober.
"Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress."
--Thomas A. Edison
"We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately." Benjam
in Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one anothe
r, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of indus
try and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has
earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the
circle of our felicity." Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
''To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he c
an never know that he is dead.''
Samuel Butler