El > El's Quotes

“The specific use of folks as an exclusionary and inclusionary signal, designed to make the speaker sound like one of the boys or girls, is symptomatic of a debasement of public speech inseparable from a more general erosion of American cultural standards. Casual, colloquial language also conveys an implicit denial of the seriousness of whatever issue is being debated: talking about folks going off to war is the equivalent of describing rape victims as girls (unless the victims are, in fact, little girls and not grown women). Look up any important presidential speech in the history of the United States before 1980, and you will find not one patronizing appeal to folks. Imagine: 'We here highly resolve that these folks shall not have died in vain; and that government of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not perish from the earth.”
― Susan Jacoby, The Age of American Unreason

“Blessed are those who do whatever they can wherever they are, for no one is devoid of resources or opportunities.”
― Daniel Quinn

“Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one's self and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.”
― Thomas Hughes

“Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.”
― Joseph Conrad

“He hated all this, and somehow he couldn't get away.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.”
― Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes