Quotes about choice
page 22

“The natural resource curse is not fate; it is choice. The exploitation of natural resources is an important part of globalization today, and in some ways the failures of the resource-rich developing countries are emblematic of globalization's failures.”

Joseph E. Stiglitz book Making Globalization Work

§5, p. 149
Making globalization work (2006)

Fate, Way, Failure, Nature

“I wish I could promise I'll
Be there when you dream
I wish that when you spoke to me
I'd know what you mean But you can't bring me comfort
By filling up my eyes
They don't stay dry
Hard as I try
Can't figure why
Made I this choice”

Happy Rhodes (1965) American singer-songwriter

"If Wishes Were Horses, How Beggars Would Ride" - Live performance (29 June 1999) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyG_g73R0wY Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998)

Dreams

“Most of us struggle for years against beliefs that have been deeply rooted in our being. We do everything we can think of to try to resist and fight against the beliefs when all we really need to do is sit down and directly pull these roots up so we can see them clearly and then replace them. It may be a bit time consuming, but look at it this way… you have the choice to struggle against them every day of your busy life or to take an hour or two of your time and focus specifically on doing the work necessary to alter them for good so you no longer have to struggle against them.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Life, Way, Business, Thinking

“You know, I wasn't gonna wait around. And I thought, 'You know, what I'd like to do if I have my choice, I wanna go to Big Sur and go back to painting.'”

Kim Novak (1933) American actress

For better or worse, I left Hollywood. I let in very few people in my life, and I got involved with animals in my life. And not just cats and dogs. I had to learn who I was again through animals, because animals know who you really are.
Source: CBS Sunday Morning interview (2020)
Context: On leaving Hollywood in the 1960s

Waiting, Painting

“We now face the grim choice posed by revolutionaries over the last two centuries, which involved "revolution or barbarism."”

Steven Best (1955) American activist

Our situation has deteriorated so dramatically that we must choose between revolution or ecological collapse, mass extinction, and possibly our own demise. The twenty-first century is a time of reckoning.
Conclusion: "Reflections on Activism and Hope in a Dying World and Suicidal Culture" (p. 162)
The Politics of Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century (2014)

“With infinite choice at our fingertips, we don't have to expose ourselves for an instant to anything that challenges our views if we don't want to. So the walls of the echo chambers grow stronger and stronger, until we only hear from the echo chamber next door when the shouty extremists are shouting, and their absurd views only make us more convinced of our own righteousness.”

Ben Croshaw (1983) English video game journalist

https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/14200-Hatred-And-Postal-Are-Deliberately-Offensive-So-Stop-Caring
Other Articles

Making love

“I also come from a matriarchal family. My grandmother was left alone, not by choice. And then my mother as well. We lost my father when I was 16; he died. I was an adolescent figuring out that you’re not really worth much when you’re all women…”

Lila Downs (1968) Mexican American singer-songwriter

On how her village shunned Downs’ solely female household in “Lila Downs Reminds Us of the Strength Women Bring to Latin America and its History” https://sheshredsmag.com/lila-downs-14/ in She Shreds (2018 May 3) Womanhood

Women, Family

“Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars. We must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet. Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful.”

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (1980) American marine biologist and policy expert

Source: A love story for the coral reef crisis https://www.ted.com/talks/ayana_elizabeth_johnson_a_love_story_for_the_coral_reef_crisis (April 2019)

Food, Hope, Communication, Motivation

“The easiest way to simplify society is to reduce it to a military organization. That is the most primitive form of social organization. And that is precisely what is being done. The unit of communal life shrinks. Wealth, prosperity, inventiveness, choice, demand are subordinated to simplified nationalistic aims. The very mind which created the liberal universe becomes atrophied through disuse.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 72

Life, Way, Communication, Universe

“I repeat: our practical choice is not between a tax-cut deficit and a budgetary surplus. It is between two kinds of deficits: a chronic deficit of inertia, as the unwanted result of inadequate revenues and a restricted economy; or a temporary deficit of transition, resulting from a tax cut designed to boost the economy, increase tax revenues, and achieve--and I believe this can be done--a budget surplus. The first type of deficit is a sign of waste and weakness; the second reflects an investment in the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Future

“Our true choice is not between tax reduction, on the one hand, and the avoidance of large Federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits. Surely the lesson of the last decade is that budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders but by slow economic growth and periodic recessions, and any new recession would break all deficit records. In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now. The experience of a number of European countries and Japan have borne this out. This country's own experience with tax reduction in 1954 has borne this out. And the reason is that only full employment can balance the budget, and tax reduction can pave the way to that employment. The purpose of cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Truth, Way, Country

“If we stay on this line, we will map every large galaxy in the observable universe by 2060. Think about that. Think about it: we've gone from arranging clamshells to general relativity to SDSS in a few thousand years -- and if we hang on 40 more, we can map all the galaxies. But we have to stay on the line. Will that be our choice? There are dark forces in this world that will rob our entire species of our right to understand our universe. Don't be afraid of the dark. Fight back. Join us.”

Juna Kollmeier American astrophysicist

Source: The most detailed map of galaxies, black holes and stars ever made https://www.ted.com/talks/juna_kollmeier_the_most_detailed_map_of_galaxies_black_holes_and_stars_ever_made (June 2019)

World, Understanding, Thinking, Universe

“Learn, then, that the service demanded is that unselfish service that gives everything and asks for nothing in return; and if you find that in you it is a necessity of your nature, not a choice but an overmastering impulse, then you may be sure that you are one of the men of the world who are taking the first steps towards the Path. (I need hardly say that when I say men I mean women too, but I cannot keep on saying "man and woman each time..)!”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man 1923, p. 29

Women, Men, World, Nature

“[Nature] turns us out into the world without giving us any choice in the matter; though all other suffrages and freedoms are perfectly insignificant in comparison with that of which we are thus deprived, an effective and enlightened vote on the question: Shall I, or shall I not, be born?”

James Thomson (B.V.) (1834–1882) Scottish writer (1834-1882)

"The Speedy Extinction of Evil and Misery", part II, p. 62
Essays and Phantasies (1881)

World, Question, Nature, Freedom

“A hundred years from now, when people look back at this period, they will marvel at the stupidity of it all: the stress, the motion sickness, and the self-neglect we put ourselves through. So we have two choices. We can be among the last people caught up in the “more bubble” when it bursts, or we can see the madness for what it is and join the growing community of Essentialists and get more of what matters in our one precious life.”

Greg McKeown (author) book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Popular Quotes, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Journal Articles

Life, People, Stupidity, Communication

“Life today is fast and full of opportunity. The complication is we think we have to do everything. The implication of this is we end up being pulled into endless distractions without pausing to really think. My position is we can make a different choice. We can discern what is really essential. We can design a life that really matters.”

Greg McKeown (author) book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Popular Quotes, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Journal Articles

Life, Making love, Thinking

“We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people's agendas to control our lives.”

Greg McKeown (author) book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Popular Quotes, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

People, Making love

“A general peace erected upon such foundations can be discussed. Until such a peace can be secured we have no choice but to go on.”

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)

1910s, Address to Congress: Analyzing German and Austrian Peace Utterances (1918)

Peace

“We reap as we sow. In trying to control others, we find ourselves controlled. In failing to honor our neighbor's choice, we create a world of poverty and strife.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle, (1993), p. 260

World

“In a movie, however, you might see an actor playing a character, and the actor may be a super grumpy person in real life, and that will, of course, come through. But you tend to think that’s just a character choice. But when you can see a long-running show and someone has made significant personal changes in their lives, you can really see that come across on screen.”

Andrew Francis (1985) Canadian actor

Interview With Actor Andrew Francis, “Chesapeake Shores” https://mydevotionalthoughts.net/2019/09/interview-with-actor-andrew-francis-chesapeake-shores-2.html (September 25, 2019)

Life, Thinking, Change, Personality

“The main task of socialism to-day is to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of either industrial management or the state bureaucracy—in brief, to distribute responsibility and so to enlarge freedom of choice.”

Richard Crossman (1907–1974) British Member of Parliament

‘Introduction’, New Fabian Essays (1952), p. 27

Freedom

“Never appoint an arbitrator; it is the third person determining your destiny. Such a choice would benefit the weak”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

Personality

“Growing up the way I did, I learned how easy it is for white people to get comfortable with a system that awards them all the perks. I knew my cousins were getting beaten for things that I'd done, but I wasn't interested in changing my grandmother's perspective, because that would mean I'd get beaten, too. Why would I do that? So that I'd feel better? Being beaten didn't make me feel better. I had a choice. I could champion racial justice in our home, or I could enjoy granny's cookies. I went with the cookies.”

Trevor Noah book Born a Crime

page 52/53
Born a Crime

People, Making love, Justice, Way

“I can understand that people get overwhelmed very quickly when you start to talk about an enormous issue like climate change. But I suggest they just choose one change and implement that in their lives, such as deciding not to eat bluefin tuna or shrimp anymore because it’s unsustainable. Then when that becomes simply part of your life, chose something else to implement. Make informed choices and make them part of your everyday life and don’t assume others are doing it for you.”

Céline Cousteau (1972) French-American explorer, filmmaker, and diver

300 Seconds with Céline S. Cousteau NOW talks to the filmmaker and explorer https://www.itmustbenow.com/feature/movers-mavericks/5-minutes-celine-s-cousteau/ (December 2018)

Life, People, Making love, Understanding

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.”

John Green book The Fault in Our Stars

Source: The Fault in Our Stars

World, Hope, Hurt

“We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker

Past, Animals

“Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

“Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Wisdom, Way, Lying

“I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

“Freedom of conscience and freedom of choice are not the same; where conscience dictates, choice decides. Where freedom of conscience is at stake, the relevant right is to perform a duty, not to make a choice. This was the issue for Madison and Jefferson. Religious liberty addressed the problem of encumbered selves, claimed by duties they cannot renounce, even in the face of civil obligations that may conflict.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Chap. 3. Religious Liberty and Freedom of Speech
Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Problem, Freedom

“Luck egalitarianism defends inequalities that arise from effort and choice. This highlights a point of convergence with free-market liberalism. Both emphasize personal responsibility and make the community’s obligation to help the needy conditional on showing that their neediness is no fault of their own.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Chap. 5. Success Ethics
The Tyranny of Merits (2020)

Communication, Effort, Help, Personality

“Let me tell you, young man—the dirty little secret of democracy is that just because you get a vote, doesn’t mean you get your choice.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Cryoburn (2010), Chapter 3 (p. 51)

Secret, Democracy

“You are the most overwhelming choice my heart has ever made.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

From the Quotes http://www.prevale.net/quotes.html page of the official website of Prevale Original: (it) Sei la scelta più travolgente che il mio cuore abbia mai fatto. Source: prevale.net

Heart

“The reason we feel alienated is because the society is infantile, trivial, and stupid. So the cost of sanity in this society is a certain level of alienation. I grapple with this because I’m a parent. And I think anybody who has children, you come to this realization, you know—what’ll it be? Alienated, cynical intellectual? Or slack-jawed, half-wit consumer of the horseshit being handed down from on high? There is not much choice in there, you see. And we all want our children to be well adjusted; unfortunately, there’s nothing to be well adjusted to!”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

Children, Stupidity, Feeling, Thinking

“The choice: the most responsible and complicated action in the world.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La scelta: l'azione più responsabile e complicata del mondo.
Source: prevale.net

World

“You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely.”

Donald Trump Jr. (1977) American businessman and son of U.S. President Donald Trump

According to Melania Trump and adult Trump children avoid the spotlight after one of nation's darkest days https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/melania-trump-white-house-capitol-riot/?hpt=ob_blogfooterold posted January 8, 2020

World

“As a result of the great choice of the people, I have been given the honoured responsibility of presiding over the new administration of the republic. I am very grateful to each and every one of you; with your support, I promise to follow this great call to duty.”

Roh Moo-hyun (1946–2009) 9th President of the Republic of Korea

Excerpts from inaugural address (25 February 2003)

People, Support

“When choices do not start from one's own ethnicity we defeat tribalism.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10938293-when-choices-do-not-start-from-one-s-own-ethnicity-we

“I never want to make beautiful pictures. I just want to make sure it’s right. Every set up, every shot, represents a choice: what you want to see, and what you don’t want to see.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"Interview: Wong Kar-wai on The Grandmaster" in Slant (15 August 2013) https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/interview-wong-kar-wai/

Beauty

“You know what else I'm sick and tired of? I'm sick and tired of men making laws about our bodies and our choices and our lives without consulting us.”

Kate Kelly (1980) American feminist

We raised our voices here': Massive women's march headlines Utah Legislature's opening day: Rally organizers vow to track bills related to women's rights and discrimination, The Salt Lake Tribune, Steve Griffin https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4853488&itype=CMSID, (25 January 2017)

Men, Law

“Certain guns have a reputation of being especially deadly. They would be the weapons of choice. Contrary to popular belief that these are guys who go berserk, they tend to be well-planned executions. They plan what they are going to wear and what weapons to bring.”

James Alan Fox (1951) American criminologist

referring to the Glock semiautomatic handgun ([Glock semiautomatic pistol links recent mass shootings, Sari, Horwitz, w:Sari Horwitz, July 20, 2012, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/glock-semiautomatic-pistol-links-recent-mass-shootings/2012/07/20/gJQAINYwyW_story.html])
Quote

Guy

“Suicidal people have tunnel vision - no other choice seems possible. A counselor’s job is to put windows and doors in that tunnel.”

Diane Ackerman (1948) Author, poet, naturalist

People, Suicide

“Technology is a capability. To be good is a choice. Over the past 23 years, Tencent has managed to come this far because society and our country have provided support that allowed Tencent to continuously grow.”

Ma Huateng (1971) Chinese internet entrepreneur

"Tencent founder Pony Ma emphasises company’s investment in social value amid increasing antitrust and gaming scrutiny" in South China Morning Post (23 April 2021) https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3130836/pony-ma-emphasises-tencents-investment-social-value-amid-increasing

Support, Past, Country

“Right now, the region is more interested in looking at options for rapid transit than they are for more lanes on those bridges, especially given that our local road networks can't quite handle more volume of traffic. People on the North Shore want choice.”

Bowinn Ma (1985) Canadian politician

North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/ironworkers-bridge-sees-start-of-two-year-maintenance-project-3462200, Ironworkers bridge sees start of two-year maintenance project, February 26, 2021

People

“The consumer has been given no choice, but to keep buying and consuming non-stop.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“God can give you anything, but not make you immune to temptation and be patient in life. This is where freedom of choice, free will, comes into play.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life, God, Freedom

“I can easily give away everything I own, but don't sin against yourself by trying to interfere with my freedom of choice.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Freedom

“The Creator has blessed all His creations with the freedom of choice.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Freedom

“A society has many pasts from which it chooses those that go into the creation of its history. The choice is made by those in authority—the authority being of various kinds—although occasionally the voice of others may be heard.”

Romila Thapar (1931) Indian historian

The Past as Present : Forging Contemporary Identities Through History

History, Past

“Every statesman must accept the choice of the people.”

Petro Poroshenko (1965) Ukrainian businessman and politician

Interview to "Ukrains'ka Pravda" https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2019/07/29/7222233/ (29 July 2019)

People

“I will accept any choice of the people, because it is a democracy.”

Petro Poroshenko (1965) Ukrainian businessman and politician

Speech on debates https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-47926425 during the election campaign in 2019 (14 April 2019)

People, Democracy

“I think the only responsibility that writers have is to our own truth. If that happens to merge with contemporary issues, then yes, write that truth. But what we are haunted by is not a thing we choose. And that choice is most certainly not made by the latest headlines.”

Shobha Rao

On whether writers have the responsibility to write about contemporary issues in “‘I can’t think of a happier story’: Shobha Rao talks GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER” https://www.booklistreader.com/2018/03/06/books-and-authors/i-cant-think-of-a-happier-story-shobha-rao-talks-girls-burn-brighter/ in Booklist Reader (2018 Mar 6)

Truth, Thinking

“The secret of science is to ask the right question, and it is the choice of problem more than anything else that marks the man of genius in the scientific world.”

Henry Tizard (1885–1959) British chemist

Undated attributed quote

Secret, World, Question, Problem

“To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.”

Greg McKeown (author) book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Popular Quotes, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Wisdom, Thinking, Sleep, Time

“[W]e must decide which choices in our lives really matter and focus our time and energy there, letting many other opportunities pass us by.”

Barry Schwartz book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

The Paradox of Choice (2004)

Time

“Having too many choices produces psychological distress, especially when combined with regret, concern about status, adaptation, social comparison, and perhaps most important, the desire to have the best of everything—to maximize.”

Barry Schwartz book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

The Paradox of Choice (2004)

“[W]e now face a demand to make choices that is unparalleled in human history.”

Barry Schwartz book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

The Paradox of Choice (2004)

History

“[I]ncreased choice among goods and services may contribute little or nothing to the kind of freedom that counts. ...[I]t may impair freedom by taking time and energy we'd be better off devoting to other matters.”

Barry Schwartz book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

The Paradox of Choice (2004)

Freedom, Time

“Today humanity is confronted with the choice of total elimination or radical enhancement of human beings. This crisis demands that we draw the best from our scientific and religious resources.”

Kuruvilla Pandikattu (1957) Indian philosopher

Source: Creative Convergence, p.20., Science-Religion Dialog

Drawing

“I didn’t have any choice... What choice did I have? He’s the president.”

Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general

Source: Quoted in Colin Powell Was a Nice Man Who Helped Destroy Iraq, Peter Maass, https://theintercept.com/2021/10/18/colin-powell-dead-iraq/ The Intercept, (October 18, 2021)

“Money is shy and elusive. It must be wooed and won by methods not unlike those used by a determined lover, in pursuit of the girl of his choice.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Power of the Master Mind
Source: Think & Grow Rich, January 1963, p. 152.

Money, Girl, Lovers

“It is a race in which we can all choose to participate, or just to watch. But we should know that our choice will help determine the outcome.”

Howard Zinn book A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States (1980), Chapter 24. The Coming Revolt of the Guards

Help

“As a people, we have the power of choice. We get to choose who we are, what we become and what we do.”

Ibukun Awosika (1962) Nigerian business magnate

Source: https://globalleadership.org/articles/leading-yourself/gls21-notes-only-you-can-choose/?locale=en In her talk at Global Leadership Summit, 2021.

People

“We need to respect the independent choices of model of technology management and of public policies made by countries, and their right to participating in the global technological governance system as equals.”

Wang Qishan (1948) Chinese politician

Source: "China’s Vice President Decries Technological Hegemony" in The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-vice-president-urges-governments-to-address-their-domestic-problems-11548258999 (23 January 2019)

Country

“I don’t consider myself a successful screenwriter. I write screenplays because I have no choice. Often I’m simply the director’s last resort. I think that good novel-writing emphasizes characterization. It’s the personality that makes a good movie or novel character unforgettable.”

Geling Yan (1958) Chinese writer and screenwriter

Source: Interview with the Big Thrill

Thinking, Success, Personality

“[W]hen face with overwhelming choice, we... become "pickers,"... we must be willing to rely on habits, customs, norms, and rules to make some decisions automatic.”

Barry Schwartz book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Source: The Paradox of Choice (2004)

Decision

“I realize all you need to do is do it. I think we all restrict ourselves in our lives from doing things. We have choices and alternatives.”

Dan Hartman (1950–1994) American singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, record producer

Source: On lifting restrictions that you have placed in your own mind in order to achieve your goals in “Dan Hartman Manages to Turn a Career Valley into Peak” https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=943&dat=19890307&id=gGkLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OlMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6768,567004&hl=en in Mohave Daily Miner (1989 Mar 7)

Thinking

“You sound frantic, I hear panic in your voice
Just know the mechanics of making your choice and writin' your bars
Before you poke out your chest, loosen your bra
Before you step out of line and dance with the star
I could never end a career if it never start”

Kendrick Lamar (1987) American rapper, songwriter and record producer from California

untitled 07.
Source: Song lyrics, untitled unmastered. (2016)

Star, Dance

“The people working at the White House at the time are friends of mine, and they're friends of mine to this day. I don’t want to trivialize how difficult their decisions were. They did not have good choices.”

Michael McFaul (1963) American academic and diplomat

"Michael McFaul - The Frontline Interview" in PBS https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview/michael-mcfaul/ (23 June 2017)

People, Decision, Time, Housing

“Looking at the hundred or so scores I have done you might question the choices, but in a lot of ways this business is about relationships.”

Harry Gregson-Williams (1961) British composer

Source: Composer Harry Gregson-Williams discusses Disney’s Mulan https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/exclusive-interview-composer-harry-gregson-williams-discusses-disneys-mulan/ (September 12, 2020)

Way, Question, Business

“It is my goal to be more intentional about the choices I make about the themes in my films so this one spoke to me.”

Ego Boyo (1968) Nigerian actress and movie producer

Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/entertainment/381261-how-nigeria-police-can-improve-image-through-film-ego-boyo.html Boyo talks about police officers acts.

“Understand the person you had by your side by looking at their next choice.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Comprendi la persona che hai avuto al tuo fianco osservando la sua prossima scelta.
Source: prevale.net

Understanding, Personality

“I have amazing potential i can make good choices i am never alone i can do hard things i am beautiful inside and out i am of great worth he has a plan for me i know who i am a daughter of God.”

Sisi Yemmie (1984) Nigerian Youtuber

Source: https://www.pinterest.at/pin/361554676307752972/?d=t&mt=login

God, Beauty, Daughters

“Respect is one of the most elegant and cultural choices a human being can make.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il rispetto è una delle scelte più eleganti e culturali che un essere umano possa fare.
Source: prevale.net

“What do I want my boy to be?
Oft is the question asked of me,
And oft I ask it of myself -
What corner, niche or post or shelf
In the great hall of life would I
Select for him to occupy?
Statesman or writer, poet, sage
Or toiler for a weekly wage,
Artist or artisan? Oh, what
Is to become his future lot?
For him I do not dare to plan;
I only hope he'll be a man.I leave it free for him to choose
The tools of life which he shall use,
Brush, pen or chisel, lathe or wrench,
The desk of commerce or the bench,
And pray that when he makes his choice
In each day's task he shall rejoice.
I know somewhere there is a need
For him to labor and succeed;
Somewhere, if he be clean and true,
Loyal and honest through and through,
He shall be fit for any clan,
And so I hope he'll be a man.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: When Day is Done (1921), A Father's Wish, stanzas 1 and 2.

Life, Hope, Boy, Question

“There will always be something to do, my boy;
There will always be wrongs to right;
There will always be need for a manly breed
And men unafraid to fight.
There will always be honor to guard, my boy;
There will always be hills to climb,
And tasks to do, and battles new
From now to the end of time.There will always be dangers to face, my boy;
There will always be goals to take;
Men shall be tried, when the roads divide,
And proved by the choice they make.
There will always be burdens to bear, my boy;
There will always be need to pray;
There will always be tears through the future years,
As loved ones are borne away.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: The Path to Home (1919), p.119 - There Will Always Be Something To Do, stanzas 1 and 2.

Love, Men, Boy, Tear

“How much more evidence is necessary? Good schools don’t need more money or a longer year; they need real free-market choices, variety that speaks to every need and runs risks. We don’t need a national curriculum, or national testing either. Both initiatives arise from ignorance of how people learn, or deliberate indifference to it.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

Source: "I Quit, I Think" (1991)

Money, People, School, Learning

“"Sticazzi" has always been one of the best choices to safeguard one's health.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) "Sticazzi" è da sempre una delle scelte migliori per salvaguardare la propria salute.
Source: prevale.net

Health

“The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self.
You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education.”

Tara Westover book Educated

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 40, “Educated” (p. 329)

Education, Decision, Change, Betrayal

“The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of cause.”

Larry Niven book The Legacy of Heorot

Source: The Legacy of Heorot (1987), Chapter 22 “The Last Grendel” (p. 231; quoting William James)

“My own feminism is just human rights. I’m a woman who has rights to her own choices; I can do whatever I want whenever I want. It’s just that simple if I were a man it would be the same thing.”

Genevieve Nnaji (1979) Nigerian actress, producer, and director

Source: Views on feminism https://punchng.com/feminism-im-a-woman-who-makes-her-own-choices-says-actress-genevieve-nnaji/ on April 1st, 2019.

“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The 1930s
Source: [Winston Churchill Quotes Military History Matters, https://www.military-history.org/feature/winston-churchill-quotes.htm, www.military-history.org, 2010-11-20, 2022-03-09, en-US, Military History, Matters]

War

“It is essential to woman’s equality with man that she be the decisionmaker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints that impede her choice, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

On Abortion. 1993 Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. As quoted in: Olivia Waxman (August 2, 2018): Ruth Bader Ginsburg Wishes This Case Had Legalized Abortion Instead of Roe v. Wade. In: Time Magazine. Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20220527151841/https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ from the original https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ on May 27, 2022. 1990s

Sex

“It was his hope and ambition to cause many deaths. He was an arms salesman by choice, calm and even a little happy to see his products in such demand, capable of trying to clinch a sale at the bedside of a fresh corpse.”

John Brunner book The Jagged Orbit

Source: The Jagged Orbit (1969), Chapter 51, “If Your Number Comes Up Then Your Number Comes Up and That’s All There Is to It So What’s the Use of Worrying That’s What I Always Say” (p. 163)

Death, Happiness, Hope

“Adulthood essentially means making the right choices based on true love.”

Joseph Theodorus Suwatan (1940) Indonesian Roman Catholic bishop

Nuncio Asks Catholic Schools to Instill Value of Love https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2002/04/30/nuncio-asks-catholic-schools-to-instill-value-of-love&post_id=20552 (29 April 2002)

Love, Adulthood