James H. Cone (1938–2018) American theologian
Source: God of the Oppressed (1975, 1997), p. 46
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, , quoted in
regarding 2012 attack on US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya
Secretary of State (2009–2013)
Context: With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans—was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night and decided to go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.
James H. Cone (1938–2018) American theologian
Source: God of the Oppressed (1975, 1997), p. 46
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power
Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part III: Government as substitute husband, p. 315.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), IV : The Essence of Catholicism
Context: And why be scandalized by the infallibility of a man, of the Pope? What difference does it make whether it be a book that is infallible — the Bible, or a society of men — the Church, or a single man? Does it make any essential change in the rational difficulty? And since the infallibility of a book or of a society of men is not more rational than that of a single man, this supreme offense to the eyes of reason has to be postulated.
“What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.”
Quid enim refert, quantum habeas? multo illud plus est, quod non habes.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (-54–39 BC) Roman scholar
Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, bk. 12, ch. 2, sect. 13; translation from Riad Aziz Kassis The Book of Proverbs and Arabic Proverbial Works (Leiden: Brill, 1999) p. 159.
Misattributed
“History is bunk. What difference does it make how many times the ancient Greeks flew their kites?”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
History is Bunk, Says Henry Ford, Special to The New York Times, New York Times, October October 29, 1921. p. 1
Jack Kerouac book On the Road
Part Three, Ch. 11
Source: On the Road (1957)
Context: In 1942 I was the star in one of the filthiest dramas of all time. I was a seaman, and went to the Imperial Café on Scollay Square in Boston to drink; I drank sixty glasses of beer and retired to the toilet, where I wrapped myself around the toilet bowl and went to sleep. During the night at least a hundred seamen and assorted civilians came in and cast their sentient debouchements on me till I was unrecognizably caked. What difference does it make after all? — anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind.