“By-the-by, this doctrine of perpetual transmigration would be a curious plea to urge for the non-fulfilment of former engagements; seven years is I believe the term allotted for the entire change. Now, might not a man encumbered with debt plead at the expiration of the period in the Courts of Westminster, that he was not the person who actually contracted those debts? Or might not an inconstant couple sue for a divorce, on the plea that neither were the individuals who originally married?”

2010s, 2016, September, First presidential debate (September 26, 2016)

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Chpt.2, p. 8
Principles of Geology (1832), Vol. 1
Context: The marks of former convulsions on every part of the surface of our planet are obvious and striking. The remains of marine animals imbedded in the solid strata are so abundant, that they may be expected to force themselves on the observation of every people who have made some progress in refinement; and especially where one class of men are expressly set apart from the rest for study and contemplation.... Those modern writers, who are disposed to disparage the former intellectual advancement and civilization of eastern nations, might concede some foundation of observed facts for the curious theories now under consideration, without indulging in exaggerated opinions of the progress of science; especially as universal catastrophes of the world, and exterminations of organic beings, in the sense in which they were understood by the Brahmin, are untenable doctrines.

As quoted in "The Best Of The Rest: 20 More Quotes About Liberals" at Right Wing News (24 November 2010) http://rightwingnews.com/quotes/the-best-of-the-rest-20-more-quotes-about-liberals/

“The Challenge of Facts”, 1914 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1914sumner.html.

Source: Looking Backward, 2000-1887 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25439 (1888), Ch. 19

Source: Murder at the Vicarage

Flying Saucers Have Landed

明君之於內也，娛其色而不行其謁，不使私請。
Source: from "The Eight Villanies", Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, Columbia University Press, New York, 1996. Translated by Burton Watson.