McKay Stewart

“Thatcherism. It would comprise the many elements already prefigured in Keith Joseph’s speeches—a rejection of Keynesianism, a constraining of the welfare state and government spending, a commitment to the reduction of direct government intervention in the economy, a sell-off of government-owned businesses, a concerted drive to reduce absurdly and punitively high tax rates, and a commitment to reduce the government’s”
― Daniel Yergin, The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy

“some parts of the world developed literate industrial societies with metal tools, other parts developed only nonliterate farming societies, and still others retained societies of hunter-gatherers with stone tools. Those historical inequalities have cast long shadows on the modern world, because the literate societies with metal tools have conquered or exterminated the other societies. While those differences constitute the most basic fact of world history, the reasons for them remain uncertain and controversial. This puzzling question of their origins was posed to me 25 years ago in a simple, personal form.”
― Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

“The American administration warned that the Soviet Union could use dependence on its natural gas to “blackmail” the Europeans by threatening to turn off the heat and stoves in Munich.”
― Daniel Yergin, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

“Say, ‘People of the Book, let us arrive at a statement that is common to us all: we worship God alone, we ascribe no partner to Him, and none of us takes others beside God as lords.’ If they turn away, say, ‘Witness our devotion to Him.’ People of the Book, why do you argue about Abraham when the Torah and the Gospels were not revealed until after his time? Do you not understand? You argue about some things of which you have some knowledge, but why do you argue about things of which you know nothing? God knows and you do not. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was upright and devoted to God, never an idolater, and the people who are closest to him are those who truly follow his ways, this Prophet, and [true] believers—God is close to [true] believers.”
― Anonymous