Jeff Dow

“It is the future that we are more likely to think of immediately when the idea of progress is brought up," says Robert Nisbet, "but it was only when men became conscious of a long past . . . that a consciousness of progressive movement from past to present became possible" (History of the Idea of Progress, New York, 1980, p. 323).”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency.”
― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

“After ejection I had about thirty seconds to make my last statement in freedom before I landed in the main street of a little village right ahead. And so help me, I whispered to myself: "Five years down there, at least. I'm leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.”
― James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

“If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.”
― Ernest Hemingway