Daniel Namie > Daniel's Quotes

“The American classicist Edith Hamilton once described the great works of literature, "the strong fortresses of the spirit which men have built through the ages.”
― Edith Hamilton

“It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought—that is to be educated."

[Saturday Evening Post, September 27, 1958]”
― Edith Hamilton

“thought can never ripen into truth.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Arafat had said that the womb of the Palestinian woman was a "biological weapon," which he could use to create Palestine state by crowding people into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
― Yasser Arafat

“Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity run a home for the destitute and dying. Their mission is simple: help the poorest of the poor die with dignity”
― Eric Greitens

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, — is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
― John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy

“Inevitably it follows that anyone with an independent mind must become 'one who resists or opposes an authority or established convention': a rebel. ...And if enough people come to agree with—and follow—the REBEL, we now have a DEVIL. Until, of course, still more people agree. And then, finally, we have ... GREATNESS.”
― Nicholas Tharcher, Rebels & Devils; A Tribute to Christopher S. Hyatt

“The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd.”
― Nicholas Tharcher, Rebels & Devils; A Tribute to Christopher S. Hyatt

“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition... I have no other so great as that of being truely esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
― Sun Tzu

“Pluralism matters because life is not worth living without new experiences - new people, new places, new challenges. But discipline matters too; we cannot simply treat life as a psychedelic trip through a series of novel sensations.”
― Tim Harford, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

“The Most successful industry of the last forty years has been built on failure after failure after failure.”
― Tim Harford, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

“The evolutionary algorithm--of variation and selection, repeated--searches for solutions in a world where the problems keep changing, trying all sorts of variants and doing more of what works.”
― Tim Harford, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

“Given the likely shape of these ever-shifting landscapes, the evolutionary mix of small steps and occasional wold gambles is the best possible way to search for solutions.”
― Tim Harford, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

“What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.”
― Andy Warhol

“A person who has not made peace with his losses is likely to accept gambles that would be unacceptable to him otherwise.”
― Daniel Kahneman

“It's so damn complex. If you ever think you have the solution to this, you're wrong and you're dangerous.”
― H.R. McMaster

“If I were a Muslim, I'd probably be a jihadists'; another: Just because you invade a country stupidly doesn't mean you have to leave it stupidly.”
― David Kilcullen

“Nothing we design or make ever really works??? Everything we design and make is an improvisation, a lash-up, something inept and provisional.”
― David Pye

“The end of surprise would be the end of science. To this extent, the scientist must constantly seek and hope for surprise.”
― Robert Friedel

“We tend to hold that popping medicine in our mouths and swallowing is the extent of our involvement in the healing process. We believe that if we get better, it's because the medicine worked magic, not the person.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“Masturbation is an absolutely peerless cure for the hiccups”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“A gentleman who doesn't have the physical and/or emotional sensitivity to use condoms couldn't possibly possess the self-confidence required to fully procure the infinite sounding of pleasure from the depth of a woman's being, via the endlessness of her cunt.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“Most Whores are completely unaware of how important they are to society, and subsequently do not have the opportunity to learn how to be all-compassionate, all-loving, all-giving and all-receiving incarnations of the Goddess.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“Without honoring Whores, we cannot truly understand and transcend the dynamics of violence, destruction and ignorance fostered in our cuntfearing society.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain

“Sadly though, the general feelings among straight men is, ‘I ain’t no fucking faggot, so keep clear of my ass.’ Thus, a lot of men deprive themselves of this (anal sex) highly pleasurable sensation.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“The individual artist is a medium for making representational and deeply meaningful symbols of the community’s collective consciousness, whether they are symbols of the community’s religion, love, hurt, power, hate, hope, dream, fables, foibles or on and on and on.”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“There are two ways to make money in a capitalist, patriarchal setting:
1. Fuck other people over faster and more efficiently than they fuck you over.
2. Whore”
― Inga Muscio, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence

“The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke