Quote of the Day for 2016-02-12

"We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."

— Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) The Canterville Ghost, chapter 1, The Court and Society Review, February 23, 1887

"They Can't Fight" by Frederick Burr Opper for the cover of Puck (January 15, 1896)

Quote of the Day for 2015-12-31

"Americans are uneasy with their possessions, guilty about power, all of which is difficult for Europeans to perceive because they are themselves so truly materialistic, so versed in the uses of power."

— Joan Didion (1934-     ) "7000 Romaine, Los Angeles 38," Slouching Towards Bethlehem, "The Howard Hughes Underground," The Saturday Evening Post, August 23, 1967

Howard Hughes, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and Grover Whalen in a ticker tape parade, celebrating Mr. Hughes' record-breaking flight around the world in 3 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, and 10 seconds (July 15, 1938)

Quote of the Day for 2015-10-15

"What right have the Americans to be forecasting our weather?"

— John B. Harris, letter to The Times of London in response to news of weather satellites launched by the United States. July 18, 1963, page 11

Robert Fitzroy, British naval officer and father of modern weather forecasting.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-28

"[America is] just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."

— Hunter S. Thompson (1939-2005) Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, September

President Nixon, while Vietnam War protesters interrupted a campaign rally at the Nassau Coliseum
on Long Island, NY, October 23, 1972. (Photograph by Michael Evans for The New York Times)