Quote of the Day for 2015-08-31

"Where all think alike, no one thinks very much."

— Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) The Stakes of Diplomacy

A flock of sheep, photographed on June 3, 2014 in Karsdorf, Germany by Jan Woitas (DPA/AFP/Getty Images)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-30

"A good storyteller is a person who has a good memory and hopes other people haven't."

— Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944) Quoted in Reader's Digest, 1939

George W. Bush declares "New Orleans is back, and better than ever" at Warren Easton High School on
August 28, 2015, a day before the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-29

"I don't know who my grandfather was, and am more concerned to know what his grandson will be."

— Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Quoted by Ida Tarbell in The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln

Slave children, probably in North Carolina, cira 1860.

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)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-27

"Ambition, n. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead."

— Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) The Devil's Dictionary, "A" section

George W. Bush flipping off the camera while getting ready for a local television
appearance. The never-aired footage was uploaded to YouTube on March 5th, 2006.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-26

"No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good."

— Mandell Creighton (1843-1901) Quoted by Louise Creighton in Life and letters of Mandell Creighton

Jesus doesn't love you.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-25

"An ally has to be watched just like an enemy."

— Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) Quoted by Adam Bruno Ulam in Expansion and Coexistence

Chancellor Merkel as Maria Von Trapp, singing The Sound of Music for President Obama at the G7 Summit in 2015.
Near the end of 2013, it was reported the NSA had bugged her cell phone.

Quote of the Day 2015-08-24

"When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice."

— Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) Attributed

The seagull attraction at Banksy's Dismaland Bemusement Park. (2015)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-23

"Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes."

— French proverb

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal at Katz's Delicatessen in When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-22

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."

— William Faulkner (1897-1962) Requiem for a Nun, Act 1, scene 3

David Duke attending a Louisiana Ku Klux Klan rally in 1979 (Photograph by Michael P. Smith)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-21

"It is well-known what a middleman is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other."

— Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) Speech before the House of Commons, April 11, 1845

Punch cartoon of Prime Minister William E. Gladstone and the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-20

"The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything."

— Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young," The Chameleon, December 1894, Page 3

Monty Python Live (mostly) (2014) Left to right, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam.

Quote of the day for 2015-08-19

"Never did Christ utter a single word attesting to a personal resurrection and a life beyond the grave."

— Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) What I Believe, Chapter 8

The resurrection of Jesus (photograph by Giedrius Blagnys)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-18

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."

— George Orwell (1903-1950) Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Chapter 3

Scene from They Live (1988)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-17

"The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself."

— Voltaire (1694-1778) La Femme Qui a Raison, Act 1, scene 2

Napoleon and Josephine by Harold H. Piffard, c.1895.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-16

"So much of our profession is taken up with pretending, ... that an actor must spend at least half his waking hours in fantasy."

— Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) Where's the Rest of Me?

Left to right Patricia Quinn, Tim Curry, and Nell Campbell from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-15

"Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey."

— Ouida (1839-1908) A Village Commune

Spanish Republic recruiting poster for the Civil War against the Fascists. (1936)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-14

"Animals do not admire one another. A horse does not admire his companion."

— Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) #401, Pensées de Pascal, Edited by Léon Brunschvicg

Base image for the Missing Unicorn project, by Camomile Hixon (2010)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-13

"Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience."

— Paul Newman (1925-2008) Quoted by Leslie Halliwell in Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion for 1984.

Paul Newman and Piper Laurie in a promo shot from The Hustler (1961)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-12

"There is more credit in being abused by fools than praised by rogues."

— F.E. Smith (1872-1930) Attributed

Unnamed protester at the Taxpayer March on Washington (September 12, 2009)

John Birch
Westbrook Pegler
WCTU
MCA
Rosie Clooney
Pinkie Lee
Red Skelton
Norman Vincent Peale
Justice Warren

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-11

"The whole secret of the study of nature lies in learning how to use one's eyes."

— George Sand (1804-1876) Letter to Juliette Lambert-Adam, April 7, 1868

Translation: Which animals are most like each other? – Rabbit and Duck.

Uncredited illustration from Fliegende Blätter, issue #2645 (October 23, 1892).

"What were ducks in the scientist's world before the revolution are rabbits afterwards."

– Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, chapter 10.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-10

"Only man has dignity; only man, therefore, can be funny."

— Father Ronald Knox (1888-1957) Introduction to Essays in Satire

Donald Trump

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-09

"It takes an entire village to raise a child."

— African proverb

by George E. Miller

As to the validity of this quote, Lawrence Mbogoni on H-Net wrote:

Proverb or not, "It takes a whole village to raise a child" reflects a social reality some of us who grew up in rural areas of Africa can easily relate to. As a child, my conduct was a concern of everybody, not just my parents, especially if it involved misconduct. Any adult had the right to rebuke and discipline me and would make my mischief known to my parents who in turn would also mete their own "punishment." The concern of course was the moral wellbeing of the community.

While it is interesting to seek provenance in regard to the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child," I think it would be misleading to ascribe its origin to a single source. … Let me give a few examples of African societies with proverbs which translate to 'It takes a village...':

In Lunyoro (Banyoro) there is a proverb that says "Omwana takulila nju emoi," whose literal translation is "A child does not grow up only in a single home."

In Kihaya (Bahaya) there is a saying, "Omwana taba womoi," which translates as "A child belongs not to one parent or home."

In Kijita (Wajita) there is a proverb which says "Omwana ni wa bhone," meaning regardless of a child's biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community.

In Kiswahili the proverb "Asiyefunzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu" approximates to the same.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-08

"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is also more nourishing."

— H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) "A Few Pages of Notes," The Smart Set, January 1915

Untitled work by Banksy from his Bristol Museum Vs. Banksy show.
Photograph by Josh Blair.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-07

"An open foe may prove a curse,  
But a pretended friend is worse."

— John Gay (1685-1732) "The Shepherd's Dog and the Wolf," Fables, Part 1, Fable 17

Iago plants suspicion in Othello’s mind that his wife is cheating with Cassio.

Illustration by H. C. Selous in The Plays of William Shakespeare. c. 1830.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-06

"It is ridiculous to think you can spend your entire life with just one person. Three is about the right number. Yes, I imagine three husbands would do it."

— Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) Attributed

Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh, India. Draupadi (far right) with her five husbands, from the Mahābhārata.

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-05

"No one can worship his God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach."

— Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) Speech before the Economic Club at the Hotel Astor in New York City, May 23, 1912

Great Famine memorial by Rowan Gillespie in Dublin (Photograph by Rick Munish)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-04

"Man [is a] tool-making animal."

— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Quoted by James Boswell in The Life of Samuel Johnson, April 7, 1778

Stone Hand-Axe, Number 2,2014 by Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-03

"Men are so made that they can resist sound argument, and yet yield to a glance."

— Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) "A Marriage Contract," Scenes from Private Life, The Human Comedy.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (circa 1665)

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-02

"Heaven is the place where the donkey at last catches up with his carrot."

— C. Kent Wright, Nectar in a Nutshell (Ladies' Home Journal)

Pardon My Planet comic strip by Vic Lee, April 7, 2014

Quote of the Day for 2015-08-01

"Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound; great debts are like cannon, of loud noise but little danger."

— Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Letter to Joseph Simpson, circa 1759.

Greeks demonstrate in front of the country's parliament on February 16, 2015 in a pro-government demonstration
after Athens rejected an initial EU bailout offer as "absurd" and "unacceptable" (AFP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki)