“Richard Croker used to say that tellin’ the truth and stickin’ to his friends was the political leader’s stock in trade. p. 35”

Source: The Cruise of the 'Nona (1925), p. 116

2010s, I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian (2011)
Context: My friend Richard Feynman said, "I don't know." I heard him say it several times. He said it just like Harold, the mentally handicapped dishwasher I worked with when I was a young man making minimum wage at Famous Bill's Restaurant in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
"I don't know" is not an apology. There's no shame. It's a simple statement of fact. When Richard Feynman didn't know, he often worked harder than anyone else to find out, but while he didn't know, he said, "I don't know."
I like to think I fit in somewhere between my friends Harold and Richard. I don't know. I try to remember to say "I don't know" just the way they both did, as a simple statement of fact. It doesn't always work, but I try.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, Chapter 14 Tammany the Only Lastin’ Democracy

Source: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923), Chapter XXII, p. 265 (See also: New York Curb Exchange)

Source: The Flame is Green (1971), Ch. 5 : Muerte De Boscaje
Context: Things are set up as contraries that are not even in the same category. Listen to me: the opposite of radical is superficial, the opposite of liberal is stingy; the opposite of conservative is destructive. Thus I will describe myself as a radical conservative liberal; but certain of the tainted red fish will swear that there can be no such fish as that. Beware of those who use words to mean their opposites. At the same time have pity on them, for usually this trick is their only stock in trade.

Introduction -'Stepping Stones' interviews with Seamus Heaney Faber & Faber 2009
Poetry Quotes

Tommy, "Relapsing: Scotland Takes Drugs in Psychic Defense" (Chapter 2, Story 1).
Trainspotting (1993)

Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage