“So those whose heads with snowy locks are crowned,
More ready to advise than aid are found.”
Francesco Berni (1497–1535) Italian poet
Così da sempre ogni capo canuto
Piu volentier consilio, ched ajuto.
XXX, 61
Rifacimento of Orlando Innamorato
Source: A Distant Mirror (1978), p. 173
“So those whose heads with snowy locks are crowned,
More ready to advise than aid are found.”
Francesco Berni (1497–1535) Italian poet
Così da sempre ogni capo canuto
Piu volentier consilio, ched ajuto.
XXX, 61
Rifacimento of Orlando Innamorato
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
To the 1864 general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as quoted in Abraham Lincoln : A History Vol. 6 (1890) by John George Nicolay and John Hay, Ch. 15, p. 324
1860s
William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 4
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India
Autobiography (1936; 1949; 1958)
Context: Organised religion allying itself to theology and often more concerned with its vested interests than with the things of the spirit encourages a temper which is the very opposite of science. It produces narrowness and intolerance, credulity and superstition, emotionalism and irrationalism. It tends to close and limit the mind of man and to produce a temper of a dependent, unfree person.
Even if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him, so Voltaire, said … perhaps that is true, and indeed the mind of man has always been trying to fashion some such mental image or conception which grew with the mind's growth. But there is something also in the reverse proposition: even if God exist, it may be desirable not to look up to Him or to rely upon Him. Too much dependence on supernatural forces may lead, and has often led, to loss of self-reliance in man, and to a blunting of his capacity and creative ability. And yet some faith seems necessary in things of the spirit which are beyond the scope of our physical world, some reliance on moral, spiritual, and idealistic conceptions, or else we have no anchorage, no objectives or purpose in life. Whether we believe in God or not, it is impossible not to believe in something, whether we call it a creative life-giving force, or vital energy inherent in matter which gives it its capacity for self-movement and change and growth, or by some other name, something that is as real, though elusive, as life is real when contrasted with death. <!-- p. 524 (1946)
“The Westboro Baptist Church is no more a church than Church's Fried Chicken is a church.”
Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
Letter to John Banister, Valley Forge (21 April 1778)
1770s
Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) French economist and businessman
Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book II, On Distribution, Chapter VIII, Section III, p. 357
Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) eighteenth President of the French Republic
Conversation with Anthony Eden, recounted in de Gaulle's Mémoires de guerre. Quoted in The Atlantic, November 1960.
World War II
Erkki Pulliainen (1938) Finnish zoologist and politician
Keskustan ympäristöteot pelottavat, Kaleva 15.5.2008.