Hudibras, Part III (1678)
1770s, Declaration of Independence (1776)
Excerpts from inaugural address (February 25, 2013)
“The world cannot utterly ignore men who lay down their lives for any cause.”
Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p. 90
Context: The world cannot utterly ignore men who lay down their lives for any cause. Men may write and agitate, they may scream never so shrilly about the wrongs of the world, but when they go forth to fight single-handed and to die for what they preach, they have at least earned the right to demand of society an inquiry.
XVI (tr. S. Butler); Patroclus to Hector.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
" Total Eclipse https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/annie-dillards-total-eclipse/536148/", Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982)
Thoughts on Religion and Philosophy http://books.google.pt/books?id=MGkNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA202&dq=%22Mahomet+established+a%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=oZmPU-fCDemp7Ab7s4HQAg&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Mahomet%20established%20a%20religion%22&f=false (W. Collins, 1838), Ch. XVI, p. 202
In the Depths http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/C/CloughArthurHugh/verse/poemsproseremains/depths.html, st. 3.
" My Philanthropic Pledge http://givingpledge.org/pdf/letters/Buffett_Letter.pdf" at the The Giving Pledge (2010)
Context: Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.
My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U. S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.
The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.
Arun Shourie - The World of Fatwas Or The Sharia in Action (2012, Harper Collins)
