CodyMan

“A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless'...”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“It is important not to confuse “patriotism” with “nationalism.” As I define it, nationalism is a monologue in which you place your country in a position of moral and cultural supremacy over others. Patriotism, while deeply personal, is a dialogue with your fellow citizens, and a larger world, about not only what you love about your country but also how it can be improved.”
― Dan Rather, What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism

“There is no period in history when it would have been better to be alive than today. People who fantasise about a romantic past imagine themselves living in Pharaoh’s court, Caesar’s palace, Plato’s athenaeum, a medieval knight’s manor, a king’s castle, a queen’s château, an emperor’s citadel, a cardinal’s cathedral. But the cold, hard reality is that 99.99 per cent of all the people who ever lived existed in what we would today consider squalid poverty.”
― Michael Shermer, Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality and Utopia

“Ka was like a wheel, its one purpose to turn, and in the end it always came back to the place where it had started.”
― Stephen King, The Waste Lands