Quotes about society and politics

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“Accomplished leaders in a democracy never diverge from the rule of law, foundational values and traditions.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

2006

“Certain characteristics must exist for a democracy to survive. First, laws must be constructed in fairness and equality; and second, obedience of law by the citizens, and those who judge and enforce them; without strict adherence to these principles, democracies fail.

1994”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

“The past is behind you and there is nothing you can do to change it. However, you are in total control of your future.

RJ Intindola – 1980 *”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

“The most significant aspect of any long-term sustained relationship is trust; not even love is stronger; hence, you can still love someone without trust because of history, attachment, and family. But the type of love is different.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

2004

“We all gaze back into our past, to recall fond memories; the mistakes and errors we made, so we shall not repeat them in the present or the future.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1977

“The past is behind you and there is nothing you can do to change it. However, you are in total control of your future.

RJ Intindola – 1980 *”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

“Another Boring Love Story

She was risky at best.
She had a sordid past.
She was complicated.
She was wild.
She had numerous demons.
But she had a loving heart.
But she had a soft smile.
But her tears smelled like morning dew.
But she was intelligent and worldly.
But she intimidated men.
So, I dove in headfirst without a second thought.
And wow; she was a demon.
The End”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

2005

“A bibliophile of little means is likely to suffer often. Books don't slip from his hands but fly past him through the air, high as birds, high as prices.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

“California's like an artificial limb the rest of the country doesn't really need. You can quote me.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

"Saul Bellow: Treading on the Toes of the Brahmans," interview with Lawrence Grobel in Endangered Species: Writers Talk about Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives [Da Capo, 2001, ISBN ISBN 0-306-81004-2], p. 21
General sources

“Tocqueville predicted that in democratic countries the public would demand larger and larger doses of excitement and increasingly stronger stimulants from its writers. He probably did not expect that public to dramatize itself so extensively, to make the world scene everybody's theatre, or, in the developed countries, to take to alcohol and drugs in order to get relief from the horrors of ceaseless intensity, the torment of thrills and distractions. A great many writers have done little more than meet the mounting demand for thrills. I think that this demand has, in the language of marketing, peaked.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

"The Distracted Public" (1990)
It All Adds Up (1994)

“Americans must be the most sententious people in history. Far too busy to be religious, they have always felt that they sorely needed guidance.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

"The Jefferson Lectures" (1977), p. 139
It All Adds Up (1994)

“Can we find nothing good to say about TV? Well, yes, it brings scattered solitaries into a sort of communion. TV allows your isolated American to think that he participates in the life of the entire country. It does not actually place him in a community, but his heart is warmed with the suggestion (on the whole false) that there is a community somewhere in the vicinity and that his atomized consciousness will be drawn back toward the whole.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

"The Distracted Public" (1990), p. 159
It All Adds Up (1994)

“For the first time in history, the human species as a whole has gone into politics. Everyone is in the act, and there is no telling what may come of it.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account (1976), p. 38
General sources

“Bringing people into the here-and-now. The real universe. That's the present moment. The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real--the here-and-now. Seize the day.”

Saul Bellow book Seize the Day

Source: Seize the Day

“We do not make up history and culture. We simply appear, not by our own choice.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

Great Jewish Short Stories, introduction to the Dell paperback edition (1963)
General sources
Context: We are all such accidents. We do not make up history and culture. We simply appear, not by our own choice. We make what we can of our condition with the means available. We must accept the mixture as we find it — the impurity of it, the tragedy of it, the hope of it.

“We have seen many rich persons, many powerful persons, many famous persons, many beautiful persons, many learned and scholarly persons, and persons in the renounced order of life unattached to material possessions. But we have never seen any one person who is unlimitedly and simultaneously wealthy, powerful, famous, beautiful, wise and unattached, like Kṛṣṇa, in the history of humanity. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a historical person who appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago. He stayed on this earth for 125 years and played exactly like a human being, but His activities were unparalleled. From the very moment of His appearance to the moment of His disappearance, every one of His activities is unparalleled in the history of the world, and therefore anyone who knows what we mean by Godhead will accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to the Godhead, and no one is greater than Him. That is the import of the familiar saying “God is great.”

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) Indian guru

Source: Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

“Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that.”

Salvador Allende (1908–1973) Chilean physician and politician

Final address (1973)

“They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.”

Salvador Allende (1908–1973) Chilean physician and politician

Final address (1973)
Context: Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.

“I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.”

Salvador Allende (1908–1973) Chilean physician and politician

Final address (1973)
Context: I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act.
They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely, Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.

“Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny.”

Salvador Allende (1908–1973) Chilean physician and politician

Final address (1973)
Context: The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.

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