Steve Schiff

“Judaism emphasizes intelligence—textually, ritualistically, and culturally. Everything is learning, everything preparation, perpetually filling the mental toolbox until we are prepared for any situation (and it is too heavy to carry). Jews make up 0.2 percent of the world’s population, but have been awarded 22 percent of all Nobel Prizes—24 percent if you don’t include the Peace Prize. And with no Nobel for Being Exterminated, there was a decade when Jews wouldn’t have had much of a chance, so the practical percentage is yet higher. Why? It’s not because Jews are any smarter than anyone else; it’s because Jews put their emphasis on the kinds of things Stockholm rewards. Jews have been training for Nobel Prizes for thousands of years. But if there were Nobel Prizes for Contentment, for Feeling Safe, or for the Ability to Let Go, that 22 percent—24 percent without Peace—would need a parachute.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am

“Liberty is always under threat,” Scopes concluded, “and it literally takes eternal vigilance to maintain it.” He quoted Clarence Darrow: “You can only be free if I am free.”
― Brenda Wineapple, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation

“The size of the electorate, the impossibility of educating it sufficiently, the fierce ignorance of these millions of semi-literate, priest-ridden and parson-ridden people have gotten me to the point where I want to confine the actions of majorities.”
― Brenda Wineapple, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation

“Prejudice is not unique to Tennessee; it is ubiquitous and not easily eradicated,” he added. “On its simplest level, prejudice means people are afraid of what they don’t know and don’t understand. By this criteria, who of us is not affected by prejudice?”
― Brenda Wineapple, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation