Siobhan > Siobhan's Quotes

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

“The Heath brothers stressed that, counterintuitively, big problems 'are most often solved by a sequence of small solutions, sometimes over weeks, sometimes over decades.' 'Shrink the change' became a kind of motto for me and my team, along with President Obama's version of the point: 'Better is good' (p. 517).”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”[4]”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist

“The United Staes had never in its history intervened to stop genocide and had in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred,”
― Samantha Power, "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide

“People who care, act, and refuse to give up may not change THE world, but they can change many individual worlds.”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“We decide, on issues large and small, whether we will be bystanders or upstanders.”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“Early on in my tenure, I was given a cartoon that circulated widely at the UN. The cartoon showed dozens of people listening to a speech. In the first panel, the speaker asks, “Who wants change?” and all audience members enthusiastically raise their hands. In the second panel, the speaker refines his question, asking, “Who wants to change?” This time, each audience member looks toward the ground, demurring.”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“F. Scott Fitzgerald famously described the importance of being able “to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time,” while still retaining “the ability to function.” I was quickly becoming practiced at this discomfiting balance.”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“This reminded me of the peril of applying analogies in geopolitics, best encapsulated in Mark Twain’s line: “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But he won’t sit on a cold stove either.”
― Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

“Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy