Great Quotes III: Source and Context are Key

[MacAttack]

With the American Football seasons (pro and collegiate) starting:

“In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard; don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard!”

-Teddy Roosevelt

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

"I mean when we read the poetry of King Lear what is it to us how the poet lived? As for living our servants can do that for us, Villiers de l'Isle has said. Peeping and prying into greenroom gossip of the day, the poet's drinking, the poet's debts. We have King Lear: and it is immortal."
-Stephen Dedalus, p. 139, "Aeolus", Ulysses (based on 1939 Odyssey Press Edition, notes by Sam Slote)

A lesson that keeps getting rammed into my head with every incident that shows how unreliable other people are.
"No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, p. 129, “Schopenhauer as educator”, Untimely Meditations (translated by R. Hollingdale)

 

[cardgame]

Moral ambiguity never got anyone political and social power.

- Muspelli

 

[Hygro]

There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. Booker T Washington Pg 118 My Larger Education, Being Chapters from My Experience

Pray tell how you are qualified to recognize this as a great quote.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Shush, he might actually answer.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Come on, speak up now.
"The other two disasters, our homegrown Three Mile Island and the recent Fukushima disaster in Japan, are remarkable in how little damage happened. Nobody died in either of these events from anything nuclear-related (can any other industry boast zero fatalities for two-thirds of their worst-ever accidents?)."
-Ryan Menezes and Alex Dolphin, "I Work In A Nuclear Power Plant: 5 Insane Realities", Cracked

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Fun fact about radiation: The fatalities don't happen immediately. You can easily nudge the numbers in either direction, depending on whether you count shortened lifespans and cancer as fatalities or not.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

And delayed deaths and injuries are unique only to the nuclear industry.

 

[The_J]

Talk to the asbestos industry ^^.

 

[Phrossack]

We'll never know how many people die of diseases caused partly by pollution from coal plants. But since they poison people over a long period of time rather than killing a lot at once, people don't care. It's the big, exciting, interesting catastrophes that grab attention, not things that kill even more people but slowly and in a boring way.

 

[MacAttack]

"One death is a tragedy, one million deaths are a statistic"

Generally attributed to Stalin, but I doubt he was the originator.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

That's right, it comes from The Black Obelisk by Erich Maria Remarque, not from Stalin.

 

[MacAttack]

I have only read All Quiet on the Western Front of Remarque's works unfortunately. Probably why I missed that.

 

[Hygro]

I have only read All Quiet on the Western Front of Remarque's works unfortunately. Probably why I missed that.

Everyone's judging you right now.

 

[jackelgull]

I've only watched the movie adaptation.

 

[cardgame]

Adaptation was an excellent movie.

 

[Kyriakos]

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2015 EUROPE
From JOHN CLEESE

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels ..

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

Regards,
John Cleese ,
British writer, actor and tall person

 

[Arakhor]

What, no comments about the Greek men having sex with each other incessantly, leaving their womenfolk to run up monstrous debts that everyone is sure that the Vouli can handle?

 

[Kyriakos]

Wat?

I find your comments deeply insulting. Pistols at dawn. And there is no innuendo there either

 

[Arakhor]

I particularly enjoyed the line about the Spanish, though.