José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist
Source: History as a System (1962), p. 15
"We Are the Initiators" (1980)
José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist
Source: History as a System (1962), p. 15
Assata Shakur (1947) American activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army
To My People (July 4, 1973)
Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) American poet
On her worldly view of poetry in “Poet Lucille Clifton: 'Everything Is Connected'” https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124113507 in NPR (2010 Feb 28)
William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian pathologist, physician, educator, bibliophile, historian, author, cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospi…
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 678.
Daniel Ortega (1945) President of Nicaragua
Nothing Will Hold Back Our Struggle for Liberation (1979)
George Jackson (activist) (1941–1971) activist, Marxist, author, member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family
Source: Blood in My Eye (1971), p. 138
“I have always been more interested in experiment, than in accomplishment.”
Orson Welles (1915–1985) American actor, director, writer and producer
Kaysone Phomvihane (1920–1992) first General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (1955-1992)
Revolution in Laos: Practice and Prospects (1981) (excerpts)
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1961, Address to ANPA
Context: Today no war has been declared — and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.
If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions — by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security — and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.