Thomas

“We owe no allegiance, we bow to no throne, Our ruler is law and the law is our own; Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men, Who can handle the sword and the scythe and the pen Hurrah for Vermont! For the land that we till Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill Our vow is recorded—our banner unfurled, In the name of Vermont we defy all the world! Then cheer, cheer, the green mountaineer, then cheer, cheer, the green mountaineer”
― Paula Munier, A Borrowing of Bones

“He says, you have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.”
― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes

“There are boys here who have to mend their shoes whatever way they can. There are boys in this class with no shoes at all. It’s not their fault and it’s no shame. Our Lord had no shoes. He died shoeless. Do you see Him hanging on the cross sporting shoes? Do you, boys?”
― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes

“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”
― Ulysses S. Grant