Quotes about commitment
page 20

“There is, in fact, but one great crime in the universe, and most of the instances of terrestrial wrong-doing are instances of this crime. It is the crime of exploitation—the considering by some beings of themselves as ends, and of others as their means—the refusal to recognize the equal, or the approximately equal, rights of all to life and its legitimate rewards—the crime of acting toward others as one would that others would not act toward him. For millions of years, almost ever since life began, this crime has been committed, in every nook and quarter of the inhabited globe.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

"The Ethics of Human Beings Toward Non-human Beings", pp. 276–277
The Universal Kinship (1906), The Ethical Kinship

Life, Universe

“The purpose of all penal schemes should be, not reciprocity, but reformation pure and simple; not the relentless and absurd infliction of misery commensurate with the crimes committed, but the achievement of the largest possible reformation with the gentlest and most strategic deprivation.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), Race Culture, pp. 221–222

“The history of government on this earth has been almost entirely a history of the rule of force held in the hands of a few. Under our Constitution, America committed itself to … the power in the hands of the people. … Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

1920s, Unveiling of Equestrian Statue of Bishop Francis Asbury, (Oct. 15, 1924)

People, Truth, Religion, Justice

“WikiLeaks and Assange have done more to expose the dark machinations and crimes of the American Empire than any other news organization. Assange, in addition to exposing atrocities and crimes committed by the United States military in our endless wars and revealing the inner workings of the Clinton campaign, made public the hacking tools used by the CIA and the National Security Agency, their surveillance programs and their interference in foreign elections…And WikiLeaks worked swiftly to save Edward Snowden, who exposed the wholesale surveillance of the American public by the government, from extradition to the United States by helping him flee from Hong Kong to Moscow…”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

"Crucifying Julian Assange" (2018)

War, Help

“In my opinion, they are not examples of real conversion. If a person through fear, compulsion, starvation or for material gain or consideration goes over to another faith, it is a misnomer to call it conversion. Most cases of mass conversion, of which we have heard so much during the past two years, have been to my mind false coin… I would, therefore, unhesitatingly re-admit to the Hindu fold all such repentants without much ado, certainly without any shuddhi… And as I believe in the equality of all the great religions of the earth, I regard no man as polluted because he has forsaken the branch on which he was sitting and gone over to another of the same tree. If he comes to the original branch, he deserves to be welcomed and not told that he had committed sin by reason of his having forsaken the family to which he belonged. In so far as he may be deemed to have erred, he has sufficiently purged himself of it when he repents of the error and retraces his step.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Mahatma Gandhi, The Collected Works Volume 66, New Delhi, 1976, pp. 163-64. As quoted in Goel, S.R. History of Hindu-Christian Encounters (1996)
Posthumous publications (1950s and later)

Fear, Family, Faith, Religion

“Let me say that there is no one in our government, at any level, who has the right to tell any American who they should be allowed to love or who they should be allowed to marry. My record in Congress for over six years shows my commitment to fighting for LGBTQ equality. I serve on the equality caucus and recently voted for passage of the Equality Act… Maybe many people in this county can relate to the fact that I grew up in a socially conservative home, held views when I was very young that I no longer hold today. I served with LGBT service members both in training and deployed downrange. I know that they would give their life me, and I would give my life for them.”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

In a lineup rich with liars and scandals, Tulsi Gabbard was the only 2020 candidate made to answer for her past, Washington Examiner, Becket Adams https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/in-a-lineup-rich-with-liars-and-scandals-tulsi-gabbard-was-the-only-2020-candidate-made-to-answer-for-her-past, (27 June 2019) 2019

Love, Life, People, Making love

“In the ultimate matter of life and death, survival or defeat, the insular position of the British nation has set us apart from the inhabitants of the adjacent continent. This is a political fact which cannot be pretended out of existence. As long as it remains true, or is believed by the British themselves to remain true, the commitment of Britain to any continental combination can never be total. … True, it has often been rumoured that Britain had lost, or was about to lose, that characteristic; but events have hitherto always proved that she had it still, and those events are the most formative element in the folk-memory of the British people. … This is the reason why Britain, which is in many sense as European as any nation, cannot be integrated politically with the European continent.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Source: Speech to The Hague (17 May 1971), quoted in The Common Market: Renegotiate or Come Out (Elliot Right Way Books, 1973), p. 109

Life, Death, People, Sense

“We must not approach the observance and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit. Its purpose is not to punish. Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions — divisions which have all lasted too long. Its purpose is national, not regional. Its purpose is to promote a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity.”

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)

1960s, Civil Rights Bill signing speech (1964)

Justice, Law, Freedom

“As a beacon of religious freedom and tolerance, Taiwan is committed to further strengthening ties with the Holy See via substantive cooperative initiatives spanning democracy, religious freedom and human rights.”

Chen Chien-jen (1951) Vice President of the Republic of China, Taiwanese epidemiologist and academic

Chen Chien-jen (2019) cited in " Report lauds Taiwan for Muslim rights http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/06/23/2003717421" on Taipei Times, 23 June 2019.

Democracy, Freedom

“At a time when we must heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good, I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota, to announce my candidacy for president of the United States.”

Amy Klobuchar (1960) United States Senator from Minnesota

Said at her campaign launch in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 10 February 2019. Quoted by CBS News. Amy Klobuchar launches presidential bid, joining record number of women candidates https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-klobuchar-2020-live-stream-rally-to-kick-off-presidential-campaign-minneapolis-minnesota-live-stream-2019-02-10/ (10 February 2019). Retrieved 14 September 2019. 2019

Democracy, Teachers, Time, Heart

“A grievous crime indeed against religion has been committed by the man who imagines that Islam is defended by the denial of the mathematical sciences.”

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic

The Deliverance from Error https://www.amazon.com/Al-Ghazalis-Path-Sufism-Deliverance-al-Munqidh/dp/1887752307, p: 34

Religion, Imagination, Mathematics, Science

“The Gramams are presided over by six Smarthas, who are presidents of the assemblies at which caste offences are tried. Such assemblies in former times required the sanction of the ruling chieftain, who, on representation made that a caste offence had been committed, issued orders to the local Smartha to hold an enquiry.”

William Logan (author) book Malabar Manual

Malabar Manual, Page 121 https://archive.org/details/MalabarLogan/page/n133 Malabar Manual (1887)

Time

“The most important secular commitment is to the truth, which is based on observation and evidence rather than on mere faith. Seculars strive not to confuse truth with belief.”

Yuval Noah Harari book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Truth, Faith

“The strength of the alliance on which our security depends is dependent in turn on our willingness to meet our commitments to them.”

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

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

Dependency

“I have said to people when they ask me, if this Capitol crumbled to the ground, the one thing that would remain would be our commitment to our aid, I don’t even call it our aid, our cooperation with Israel. That’s fundamental to who we are.”

Nancy Pelosi (1940) American politician, first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, born 1940

2010s Source: 12 December 2018 https://mondoweiss.net/2019/01/acknowledges-pressure-solution/ in 2018 IAC National Conference.

People

“I have not said one word of hate. I do not hate Jewish people. Not one that is with me has ever committed a crime against the Jewish people, black people, white people, no matter what your color is. As long as you don’t attack us, we don’t bother you.”

Louis Farrakhan (1933) leader of the Nation of Islam

Farrakhan speaks of ‘satanic Jews’ in talk at Catholic church https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/farrakhan-speaks-of-satanic-jews-in-talk-at-catholic-church Jewish Telegraphic Agency (9 May 2019)

Hate, People, Color

“My suspicion is that any delay to Brexit is a plot to stop Brexit. This would be the most grievous error that politicians could commit.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg (1969) British politician

Theresa May offers MPs Brexit delay vote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47373996 BBC News (26 February 2019) 2019

Error

“A year ago we had undertaken no specific commitments on the Continent of Europe, beyond those which had then existed. … To-day we are bound by new agreements for mutual defence with Poland and Turkey; we have guaranteed assistance to Greece and Rumania against aggression. … We know that, if the security and independence of other countries are to disappear, our own security and our own independence will be gravely threatened. We know that if international law and order is to be preserved, we must be prepared to fight in its defence.”

Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British politician

Speech to the annual dinner of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (29 June 1939), quoted in The Times (30 June 1939), p. 9
Foreign Secretary

Law, Fight, Country

“It Suicide is the deliberate or the hurried action of the man who is trying to get out of a trouble and escape from it. Yet he cannot escape from it…He is wide awake on the other side of death, exactly the same man he was a moment before… no more changed than if he had merely taken off his coat. The result of his losing the physical body is that his capacity for suffering is very much increased…. All the part of him that drove him to suicide is there… The result of that is that he has still in him everything which made him commit the act; the consequence of this is that he keeps on committing it, going through the whole of the trouble that drove him up to the final act.”

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

Source: Suicides and Compassion 1932, The Theosophist https://www.theosophyforward.com/index.php/theosophy/609-suicides-and-compassion.html (2012)

Death, Suicide, Suffering, Change

“If I injure you, the injury persists even after I actually commit the act. If I stab you, you may suffer complications long after that initial actual stabbing. If I shoot you, you may suffer complications long after that initial shooting. That’s the case with African Americans. There are people well within the living memory of this country that are still suffering from the after-effects of that.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates (1975) writer, journalist, and educator

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Reparations Are Not Just About Slavery But Also Centuries of Theft & Racial Terror, Democracy Now (20 June 2019)

People, Suffering, Memory, Country

“As home secretary, I am committed to doing everything in my power to ensure Britain does not become a safe haven for anyone who supports violence or abuse against Jewish people.”

Sajid Javid (1969) British politician

Sajid Javid vows to tackle anti-Semitism in UK https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47389912, BBC News, 27 February 2019 2019

People, Home, Support

“It is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal and that the urgent task at hand is to find a deal that honours our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, can command support in Parliament and can be negotiated with the EU - not to seek an election or second referendum.”

Theresa May (1956) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Brexit: Theresa May to give MPs update on Tuesday https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47192233 BBC News (11 February 2019) 2010s, On Brexit

People, Support

“It appears that Hitler’s involvement with the communist-run Bavarian Soviet Republic (Bayerische Räterepublik in German) demonstrates some type of commitment to communism. After all, Hitler held an elected position during the red Räterepublik government that was under the complete control of the Communist Party of Germany. He did not flee or resign his position.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 333

Communication, Appearance

“Let the Nuns therefore tarry still in their convents and cloisters, and in their brothel houses of Satan: yea I put the case they were not whores as they are, yea and worse than that, vile and shameful Sodomites, committing such heinous and abominable acts, that it is horrible to think of, I put the case I say, there were none of all these villainies, yet all the chastity they pretend is nothing before God, in comparison of that that he hath appointed, that is to say, that albeit it seem but a vile thing, and a matter of none account, for a woman to take pains about housewifery, to make clean her children when they be arrayed, to kill fleas, and other such like, although this be a thing despised, yea and such, that many will not vouchsafe to look upon it, yet are they sacrifices which GOD accepteth & receiveth, as if they were things of great price and honourable.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

Que donc les nonnains demeurent en leurs convents et en leurs cloistres, et en leurs bourdeaux de Satan: ie di mesmes encores qu’elles ne fussent point putains comme elles sont, comme il y a encores pis de ces abominations de Sodome, faisans des choses si enormes et si abominables que c’est une horreur: encores, di-ie, que toutes ces vilenies-là n'y fussent point, si est-ce que toute la chasteté qu'elles pretendent, n'est rien envers Dieu, au prix de ce qu'il a ordonné, c'est asçavoir que combien que ce soyent choses contemptibles, et qui semblent estre de nulle valeur, qu'une femme ait peine d'adresser son mesnage, de nettoyer les ordures de ses enfans, de tuer les poux et autres choses semblables, que tout cela sera mesprisé, qu’on ne le daignera pas mesmes regarder, ce sont toutesfois sacrifices que Dieu reçoit et qu'il accepte, comme si c'estoyent choses precieuses et honorables. A Sermon of Master John Caluine, vpon the first Epistle of Paul, to Timothie..., London: G. Bishop and T. Woodcoke, 1579 http://www.truecovenanter.com/calvin/calvin_19_on_Timothy.html (ch. 2:13-15). Sermons of M. John Calvin, on the Epistles of S. Paule to Timothie and Titus, Laurence Tomson, trans., Printed for G. Bishop and T. Woodcoke, 1579, p. 231. http://books.google.com/books?id=g2WDtwAACAAJ&dq=Sermons+of+M.+John+Calvin+on+the+Epistles+of+S.+Paule+to+Timothie+and+Titus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XY8oUZXGJoq68wS494D4Dg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAQ (Facsimile reprint in Jean Calvin, Sermons on Timothy and Titus (16th-17th century facsimile editions), Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1983. ISBN 0851513743 ISBN 9780851513744, p. 231. "Let the Nunnes therefore..." http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22let+the+nunnes%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=bks&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp&ei=CYsoUcvQNoak8AS86oCoCQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42768644,d.eWU&fp=2dddfa4c5c79d088&biw=1086&bih=740 Sermons Sur la Premiere Epitre a Timothee (Sermons on the First Epistle to Timothy), Sermon 19 ("Dixneuvieme Sermon") in the Corpus Reformatorum, 1895, vol. 81 (Opera 31) p. 228. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&hs=PBY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=%22Que%20donc%20les%20nonnains%20demeurent%20en%20leurs%20convents%20et%20en%20leurs%20cloistres%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&q=%22comme%20il%20y%20a%20encores%20pis%20de%20ces%20abominations%20de%20Sodome%22&sa=N&tab=wp http://books.google.com/books?ei=Ts4vTMDbF4WBlAeG3fieCQ&ct=result&id=EcU8AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22volumen+lxxxi%22+reformatorum&q=convents#search_anchor.

God, Pain, Children, Making love

“Although at the time I knew but little of the crimes he had committed, it was obvious to me that Himmler, as far as I was concerned, was intolerable. This I had to make quite clear to him, and one way or the other, I had to have a swift and final showdown with him. On the evening of April 30, shortly after the receipt of the telegram I told my ADC to telephone to Himmler, from whom I had parted in Luebeck only a few hours before, and ask him to come to Ploen forthwith. To my ADC he retorted with a blunt refusal, but when I myself spoke to him and told him that his presence was essential, he eventually consented to come.”

Karl Dönitz (1891–1980) President of Germany; admiral in command of German submarine forces during World War II

Source: Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days (1959), p. 443

Making love, Way, Time, Parting

“The system of administration was thoroughly remodelled. The Sullan proconsuls and propraetors had been in their provinces essentially sovereign and practically subject to no control; those of Caesar were the well-disciplined servants of a stern master, who from the very unity and life-tenure of his power sustained a more natural and more tolerable relation to the subjects than those numerous, annually changing, petty tyrants. The governorships were no doubt still distributed among the annually-retiring two consuls and sixteen praetors, but, as the Imperator directly nominated eight of the latter and the distribution of the provinces among the competitors depended solely on him, they were in reality bestowed by the Imperator. The functions also of the governors were practically restricted. His memory was matchless, and it was easy for him to carry on several occupations simultaneously with equal self-possession. Although a gentleman, a man of genius, and a monarch, he had still a heart. So long as he lived, he cherished the purest veneration for his worthy mother Aurelia… to his daughter Julia he devoted an honourable affection, which was not without reflex influence even on political affairs. With the ablest and most excellent men of his time, of high and of humbler rank, he maintained noble relations of mutual fidelity… As he himself never abandoned any of his partisans… but adhered to his friends--and that not merely from calculation--through good and bad times without wavering, several of these, such as Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Matius, gave, even after his death, noble testimonies of their attachment to him. The superintendence of the administration of justice and the administrative control of the communities remained in their hands; but their command was paralyzed by the new supreme command in Rome and its adjutants associated with the governor, and the raising of the taxes was probably even now committed in the provinces substantially to imperial officials, so that the governor was thenceforward surrounded with an auxiliary staff which was absolutely dependent on the Imperator in virtue either of the laws of the military hierarchy or of the still stricter laws of domestic discipline. While hitherto the proconsul and his quaestor had appeared as if they were members of a gang of robbers despatched to levy contributions, the magistrates of Caesar were present to protect the weak against the strong; and, instead of the previous worse than useless control of the equestrian or senatorian tribunals, they had to answer for themselves at the bar of a just and unyielding monarch. The law as to exactions, the enactments of which Caesar had already in his first consulate made more stringent, was applied by him against the chief commandants in the provinces with an inexorable severity going even beyond its letter; and the tax-officers, if indeed they ventured to indulge in an injustice, atoned for it to their master, as slaves and freedmen according to the cruel domestic law of that time were wont to atone.”

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Vol. 4, pt. 2, translated by W.P.Dickson
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2

Life, Death, Men, Bad luck

“Cowards are the nicest people, the most interesting, the gentlest, the most refined, the least likely to commit crimes.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

Madness in the Family (1988)

People

“First, what do we mean by anguish? The existentialist frankly states that man is in anguish. His meaning is as follows-When a man commits himself to anything, fully realizing that he is not only choosing what he will be, but is thereby at the same time a legislator deciding for the whole of mankind-in such a moment a man cannot escape from the sense of complete and profound responsibility.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

Source: Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), p. 30

Sense, Time

“Frankie Boyle: Britain, as a culture, runs on hypocrisy. David Cameron went to Sri Lanka. He told the Sri Lankans off for human rights abuses that they committed with weapons the Britain sold to them! Like Ronald McDonald calling you a fat bastard.”

Frankie Boyle (1972) Scottish comedian

Live at the Apollo 10/12/2014

“It was probably like two to three years ago. I went vegan for a couple of months, just to lose weight immediately. It wasn’t for the moral aspect back then. It was more because once you go vegan, it sheds the bad fat real fast. I do that before the season, but I’ve been fully vegan for about five to six months now since the season started, and probably a month before. … When I do things, I just fully commit to it. I feel like there is no point in half-assing. I just do it, and if I don’t like it, I just stop doing it. It’s been good. I was losing weight and getting more cut, as you can see, and I just felt really good. … You just feel really good, lighter. And there is a lot more energy you have throughout the day. For me, it’s been good from that aspect.”

JaVale McGee (1988) American basketball player

"The Real-Life Diet of JaVale McGee, Vegan" https://www.gq.com/story/javale-mcgee-real-life-diet, interview with GQ (February 27, 2018).

Bad luck, Feeling, Season

“I am really committed to my faith journey and I am committed to my family. My husband and I have been married for almost 30 years and we homeschool our kids. We have a different working-out-of the-box family, but we do make it work, obviously with God’s grace and we are very grateful for that.”

Jodi Benson (1961) American voice actress, actress and singer

Are there any drawbacks from not living in New York or L. A.? “Sometimes it can be a little bit lonely because we are the only family that we know that is in the entertainment industry, homeschools and is faith-based [while trying] to maintain some sort of ‘regular life’ so to speak in the midst of the crazy stuff. It is a little bit different I think. Sometimes we feel like we are the Lone Rangers, but this is where God has us and this is his calling for right now, for this season. We do it with joy and with integrity Interview with a Mermaid http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/peanutsandpopcorn/2013/09/interview-with-a-mermaid.html (2014)

God, Making love, Family, Faith

“President with a mind of his own, was a politician of high values, a distinguished parliamentarian, and a great scholar. His brilliant academic and political career was a saga of dedication and abiding commitment to the pursuit of higher learning and public service.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

A.B.Vajpayee in: p. 233.
Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001

Learning

“One of the great sons of Assam and India. His contribution to the Indian freedom struggle was invaluable. A firm believer in the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, he left an indelible imprint on the political landscape of our great nation. His long and distinguished career in public life, which culminated in his occupying the august position of President of India is a shining example of commitment to ethical values and selfless service to the people. Indeed, his contribution to the building of our society and country continues inspiring all of us.”

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) the fifth President of India and a politician

Manmohan Singh in: PM's Speech on Presentation of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award 2008 & 2009 and Unveiling of Plaque of Jica Assisted Water Supply Project for Guwahati City http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=69905, Prime Minister's Office, 8-February, 2011

Life, People, Freedom, Country

“As a monarch, Swati Tirunal was incredibly hardworking and supremely committed to his kingdom and people. Unfortunately, the dice in the game of life seemed to have been heavily loaded against him. The appointment of General Cullen as Resident sounded the death knell for the Maharaja.”

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813–1846) Maharajah of Travencore

Lakshmi Devnath, in "The Monarch musician"
About Swathi Thirunal

Life, Death, People, Game

“Thiago Silva is a classy defender, you know that if you put him on the field, he will not commit any fault, any error.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Rivelino, 2013 http://www.sambafoot.com/fr/informations/52740_thiago_silva_est_un_defenseur_de_classe_selon_rivelino.html From former and current footballers

Error

“He’s very elegant, he commits few fouls because he’s always first to every ball and this is an important gift. He’s also fast and has good technique and these are important skills for a defender. Italian football puts players to the test and he immediately showed he was up to the task and ready to play for Milan, at the San Siro. Playing with the kind of continuity he had this season proves he really belongs to the elite.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Franco Baresi, 2011 https://www.acmilan.com/en/news/show/134347 From former and current footballers

Football, Season

“For energy, drive, hard work, range of friends at the highest levels, incredible recall, commitment to causes, he was peerless.”

Ramnath Goenka (1904–1991) Indian politician

Two Cars And An Express

“As someone who has always aspired to build a company committed to its people and to the world, I admire her determination to achieve sustainability at an established company like Pepsi Co. And I believe that all socially responsible companies could learn from Indra Nooyi’s style of leadership.”

Indra Nooyi (1955) Indian-born, naturalized American, business executive

Herbart Schultz, President and CEO, Starbucks quoted in "Together with Business Studies XI" in page=135.

People, World, Learning

“What made her talent so great was her capacity to live what she sang. Her music was deepened by her connection to the struggles and the triumphs of the African American experience growing up in her father’s church, the community of Detroit, and her awareness of the turmoil of the South. She had a lifelong, unwavering commitment to civil rights and was one of the strongest supporters of the movement. She was our sister and our friend. Whenever I would see her, from time to time, she would always inquire about the well-being of people she met and worked with during the sixties.When she sang, she embodied what we were fighting for, and her music strengthened us. It revived us. When we would be released from jail after a non-violent protest, we might go to a late night club and let the music of Aretha Franklin fill our hearts. She was like a muse whose songs whispered the strength to continue on. Her music gave us a greater sense of determination to never give up or give in, and to keep the faith. She was a wonderful, talented human being. We mourn for Aretha Franklin. We have lost the Queen of Soul.”

Aretha Franklin (1942–2018) American musician, singer, songwriter, and pianist

John Lewis, "Congressman John Lewis on Aretha Franklin: ‘One of God’s precious gifts’" https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/congressman-john-lewis-aretha-franklin-one-god-precious-gifts/PRXHP5dgRpjhhuIUdjGEsO/, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (August 16, 2018)

People, Faith, Music, Soul

“We should be committed to ending this spate of gun violence and criminality. We should stop allowing the progressive, socialist left to manipulate us for the sake of their insidious ideological agenda. The problem is simple — doing that takes courage, and the left tends to define courage with examples such as Bradley Manning or Bowe Bergdahl. Real courage, however, is shown by those who don’t merely follow the trend or status quo, but who stand up for that which is right and truly just — and don’t kneel.”

Allen West (politician) (1961) American politician; retired United States Army officer

2010s, I'd like to see MORE football player protests — NOT less (27 September 2017)

Courage, Problem

“Esteemed chairman of the court, today we have to pass a verdict on the defendants Nicolae Ceaușescu and Elena Ceaușescu who have committed the following offenses: Crimes against the people. They carried out acts that are incompatible with human dignity and social thinking; they acted in a despotic and criminal way; they destroyed the people whose leaders they claimed to be. Because of the crimes they committed against the people, I plead, on behalf of the victims of these two tyrants, for the death sentence for the two defendants.”

Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989) General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party

Chief prosecutor Dan Voinea at the Ceaușescus' trial http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_the_closed_trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C5%9Fescu (25 December 1989) About Ceaușescu

Death, People, Way, Thinking

“Underneath the bitchy bon mots is a satirist of serious commitment.”

Pieter-Dirk Uys (1945) South African comedian

Jani Allan, "I'm just the dumb blonde with the jewellery", Sunday Times (1980), republished in Face Value by Jani Allan.

“Haaj Imad Mughniyah was martyred brutally and now they are launching a campaign against him. Nowadays they are publishing thousands of article in Western and Arab World media in which this great man is accused of having committed a long list of terrorist acts and other deeds, while he is no longer alive to defend himself.”

Imad Mughniyah (1962–2008) Lebanese militant, head of security for Hezbollah

Ayatollah Rafsanjani, Happiness expressed on Mughniyah's assassination blot on arrogance's reputation - Rafsanjani, Islamic Republic News Agency, 15 February 2008 http://www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-17/0802151221160447.htm,

World

“We--by whom I mean anyone over sixty--commit two offenses just bu existing. One is Lack of Velocity. We drive too slowly, walk to slowly, talk too slowly. The world will do business with dictators, perverts, and drugs barons of all stripes, but being slowed down it cannot abide.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

Our second offence is being Everyman's memento mori. The world can only get comfy in shiny-eyed denial if we are out of sight.
"The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish", p. 315 (Nook edition)
Cloud Atlas (2004)

World, Business

“Artaud sought to remove aesthetic distance, bringing the audience into direct contact with the dangers of life. By turning theatre into a place where the spectator is exposed rather than protected, Artaud was committing an act of cruelty upon them.”

Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French-Occitanian poet, playwright, actor and theatre director

Lee Jamieson, Antonin Artaud: From Theory to Practice, Greenwich Exchange, 2007, p. 23.

Life

“Sorrow be damned and all your plans. Fuck the faithful, fuck the committed, the dedicated, the true believers; fuck all the sure and certain people prepared to maim and kill whoever got in their way; fuck every cause that ended in murder and a child screaming.”

Iain Banks (1954–2013) Scottish writer

Against a Dark Background ISBN 1-85723-179-1 (UK) ISBN 0-553-29225-0 (US).
Non-Culture Novels, Against a Dark Background (1993)

People, Faith, Way

“Of course they aren’t ready for it, of course we’ll spoil the place. Are they any more ready for World War Three? You seriously think we could mess the place up more than they’re doing at the moment? When they’re not actually out slaughtering each other they’re inventing ingenious new ways to massacre each other more efficiently in the future, and when they’re not doing that they’re committing speciescide, from the Amazon to Borneo… or filling the seas with shit, or the air, or the land. They could hardly make a better job of vandalizing their own planet if we gave them lessons.”

Iain Banks (1954–2013) Scottish writer

“State of the Art” (p. 84)
Short fiction, The State of the Art (1991)

War, World, Making love, Way

“He is without doubt the greatest player I have ever played with, he has everything. At Liverpool, he is irreplaceable. Every big club has a standard bearer, a home-grown talent, someone with a lifelong commitment to the cause. People come and go but he’s always there. It’s him and 10 others. He’s everything to the side. That’s Steven Gerrard at Liverpool. I can’t even begin to imagine the place without him.”

Steven Gerrard (1980) English footballer

Fernando Torres on Steven Gerrard, Sep 2009 ( Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1213814/My-idol-Steven-Gerrard-best-player-world-insists-Liverpool-star-Fernando-Torres.html)

People, Home, Imagination

“The confirmation of Sam Alito as U. S. Attorney for New Jersey is testimony to the commitment he has shown and the success of his efforts as a law enforcement official. I am confident that he will continue to do all he can to uphold the laws of this nation with the kind of determination and vigor that has been his trademark in the past.”

Samuel Alito (1950) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Former Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Congressional Record, [1987-12-08], p. S17427.

Law, Confidence, Effort, Success

“People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.”

John Cheever (1912–1982) American novelist and short story writer

The Sixties, 1966 entry.
The Journals of John Cheever (1991)

Death, People, Madness

“If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote of Vincent's letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 3 April 1878; a cited in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to his Brother, 1872-1886 (1927) Constable & Co
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 483
1870s
Variant: Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Love, Making love, Disappointment, Sincerity

“Charlotte Brontë, with all her splendid gift for prose, stumbled and fell with that clumsy weapon in her hands. George Eliot committed atrocities with it that beggar description. Jane Austen looked at it and laughed at it and devised a perfectly natural, shapely sentence proper for her own use and never departed from it. Thus, with less genius for writing than Charlotte Brontë, she got infinitely more said.”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929), Chapter 4

Nature

“The most difficult thing to accept is that we are usually the source of our suffering. For example, if we believe that nothing works out for us, we never pour ourselves into our goals and so they never come to fruition. If we have decided that people always leave, we never fully commit to them and so the relationship we have with them never becomes secure.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

People, Suffering

“There is also need for leadership and concern on the part of white people of good will in the North, if this problem is to be solved. Genuine liberalism on the question of race. And what we too often find in the North is a sort of quasi-liberalism based on the principle of looking objectively at all sides, and it is a liberalism that gets so involved in looking at all sides, that it doesn’t get committed to either side. It is a liberalism that is so objectively analytical that it fails to get subjectively committed. It is a liberalism that is neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. And we must come to see that his problem in the United States is not a sectional problem, but a national problem. No section of our country can boast of clean hands in the area of brotherhood. It is one thing for a white person of good will in the North to rise up with righteous indignation when a bus is burned in Anniston, Alabama, with freedom riders, or when a nasty mob assembles around a University of Mississippi, and even goes to the point of killing and injuring people to keep one Negro out of the university, or when a Negro is lynched or churches burned in the South; but that same person of good will must rise up with the same righteous indignation when a Negro in his state or in his city cannot live in a particular neighborhood because of the color of his skin, or cannot join a particular academic society or fraternal order or sorority because of the color of his or her skin, or cannot get a particular job in a particular firm because her happens to be a Negro. In other words, a genuine liberalism will see that the problem can exist even in one’s front and back yard, and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Address to Cornell College (1962)

People, Justice, Color, Question

“A great many people, especially those who identify with new age spirituality and/or the hippie movement, neither commit nor take responsibility and confuse that with freedom.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

People, Age, Freedom

“The sin of self-pollution is one of the vilest, the basest, and the most degrading that a human being can commit. It is worse than beastly. Those who commit it place themselves far below the meanest brute that breathes.”

John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) American physician

Plain Facts for Old and Young, Burlington, IA: Segner & Condit, 1881, p. 428 https://books.google.it/books?id=pubVzCbD_DMC&dq=%22a+dreadful%22&focus=searchwithinvolume.

Self-confidence

“instead of migrants, European families must be given the money to enable them to commit to having as many children as possible.”

Viktor Orbán (1963) Hungarian politician, chairman of Fidesz

Money, Children, Family

“Plastic pollution free world is not a choice but a commitment to life - a commitment to the next generation.”

Amit Ray (1960) Indian author

Beautify your Breath - Beautify your Life (2015)

Life, World

“The worst crime you can commit is telling the audience something they already know, in any fashion, even for a moment.”

Aaron Sorkin (1961) American screenwriter, producer, playwright

[David Marchese, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/02/magazine/aaron-sorkin-interview.html?fbclid=IwAR3oNlfDJVpKDH4pjapLoSHjdT1kiW2Pa2sUhq_7qR5priCrjz7SSydwk0I, Aaron Sorkin on how he would write the Democratic primary for ‘The West Wing.’, New York Times, March 1, 2020, March 2, 2020]

Fashion

“Looking back, it seems to me extraordinary that we should have contemplated having both a nurse and a servant, but they were considered essentials of life in those days, and were the last things we would have thought of dispensing with. To have committed the extravagance of a car, for instance, would never have entered our minds. Only the rich had cars.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Part V: War, §IV
An Autobiography (1977)

Life, Cars

“If it should happen some day that a man, having in his hand the five hundred thousand officeholders who constitute the government, and the four hundred thousand soldiers composing the army, if it should happen that this man should tear up the Constitution, should violate every law, break every oath, trample upon every right, commit every crime, do you know what your irremovable magistrates, instructors in the right, and guardians of the law, would do? They would hold their tongues.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Napoleon the Little (1852), Book VIII, IV
Napoleon the Little (1852)

Law, Tear

“Although it is rarely noted in histories of the American Revolution, many of the arch-Revolutionaries came from a tradition of mystical fraternity. Except for such traces as the symbols on the reverse side of the Great Seal and the dollar bill, little evidence remains of this esoteric influence (Rosicrucian, Masonic, and Hermetic). That sense of fraternity and spiritual chisement played an important role in the intensity of the Revolutionaries and their commitment to the realization of a democracy.”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Five, The American Matrix for Transformation

Democracy, History, Sense

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

John Allen Paulos (1945) American mathematician

Preface (p. xiii; quoting Voltaire)
Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up (2008)

Making love

“O custodians of civilization, may we ask how long
Will you perpetrate horror, commit wrong on wrong?
Conceded that you want to test the sharpness of your swords,
But how long will you try them on our pliant throats?
You want to see the assembly with rhetoric hot ablaze,
How long can our sighs and wails satisfy your craze?
True that the tales of woe titillate your heart,
But how long can we relate the tales of grief and loss?
We know that you grudge the drought caused by the heavens high,
How long can our tears of blood your withering crops revive>
You require glimmering stars to brighten up your fate,
How far can these grains of dust emblazon your face?
Knowing we are faded leaves of a fallen tree,
How long will you continue to crush us out complete?”

Shibli Nomani (1857–1914) Indian scholar

Masterpieces of Patriotic Urdu Poetry, p. 101
Poetry, custodians of civilization

Fate, Star, Tear, Tree

“O people, you were not created in vain, nor will you be left to yourselves. Rather, you will return to a place in which Allah will descend in order to judge among you and distinguish between you. Destitute and lost are those who forsake the all-encompassing Mercy of Allah, and they will be excluded from Paradise, the borders of which are as wide as the heavens and the Earth. Don't you know that protection, tomorrow, will be limited to those who feared Allah [today], and to those who sold something ephemeral for something permanent, something small for something great, and fear for protection? Don't you realize that you are the descendants of those who have perished, that those who remain will take place after you, and that this will continue until you are all returned to Allah? Every day you dispatch to Allah, at all times of the day, someone who has ded, his term having come to an end. You bury him in a crack in the earth and then leave him without a pillow or a bed. He has parted from his loved ones, severed his connections with the living, and taken up residence in the earth, whereupon he comes face to face with the accounting. He is mortgaged to his deeds: He needs his accomplishments, but not the material things he left on earth. Therefore, fear Allah before death descends and its appointed times expire. I swear by Allah that I say those words to you knowing that I myself have committed more sins than any of you; I therefore ask Allah for forgiveness and I repent. Whenever we learn that one of you needs something, I try to satisfy his need to the extent that I am able. Whenever I can provide satisfaction to one of you out of you of my possessions, I seek to treat him as my equal and m relative, so that my life and his life are of equal value. I swear by Allah that had I wanted something else, namely, affluence, then it would have been easy for me to utter the word, aware as I am of the means for obtaining this. But Allah has issued in an eloquent Book (Quran) and a just example Sunnah by means of which He guides us to obedience and proscribes disobedience.”

Umar II (681–720) Umayyad caliph

History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. 24, p. 98/99, also quoted in Umar Bin Abd Al-Aziz, p. 708-710
Last Sermon delivered to People

Love, Life, Death, People

“I don't think you and I are very closely related, however, if you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades, and that is more important.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

Letter to María Rosario Guevara, 20 February 1964. Quoted in Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution (1971) by K. S. Karol

Spanish: No creo que seamos parientes muy cercanos, pero si Ud. es capaz de temblar de indignación cada vez que se comete una injusticia en el mundo, somos compañeros, que es más importante.

World, Thinking, Relation ships, Time

“Many disasters can be traced to our linguistic shortcomings. Millions of money and multitudes of men have been sacrificed in order to save the prestige of a mistake in translation committed "by authority."”

Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (1840–1899) British orientalist

Writings of Dr. Leitner, Chapter: Oriental Translations of English Texts, p. 151

Men, Money

“I want them [criminals] to literally feel terror at the thought of committing offences.”

Priti Patel (1972) British politician

I want criminals to be terrified, says Priti Patel: New Home Secretary vows to return to zero-tolerance policing as she demands full explanation over bungled 'Nick' sex abuse inquiry https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7316055/I-want-criminals-terrified-says-Priti-Patel-Home-Secretary-restore-confidence-Britain.html (2 August 2019) 2019

Feeling

“Capital punishment [could] serve as a deterrent. I do not think we have enough deterrents in this country for criminals – let’s not forget that murders, rapists and criminals of that nature choose to commit the crimes that they commit.”

Priti Patel (1972) British politician

Said during a Question Time debate. Quoted by the Independent. Priti Patel MP: Who is the new Treasury minister who supports death penalty and rejects plain packaging for cigarettes? https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/priti-patel-mp-who-is-the-new-treasury-minister-who-supports-death-penalty-and-rejects-plain-9608096.html (15 July 2014) 2014

Nature, Thinking, Country, Forgetting

“More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.
Millions of people who regularly contribute to churches, schools, and other organizations thereby relinquish the use of funds that would otherwise benefit their own families. The dollars these people drop into a collection plate or give to United Way mean forgone movies, dinners out, or other personal pleasures. In contrast, my family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge.
Moreover, this pledge does not leave me contributing the most precious asset, which is time. Many people, including — I’m proud to say — my three children, give extensively of their own time and talents to help others. Gifts of this kind often prove far more valuable than money.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

" My Philanthropic Pledge http://givingpledge.org/pdf/letters/Buffett_Letter.pdf" at The Giving Pledge (2010)

Death, Money, Children, People

“A country that promises it is committed to democracy has never faced the fact that in the enterprise we don’t have democracy. We have a tiny group of people making all the decisions. And that’s not a good idea. And maybe now we can face that the decisions they’ve made, individually and collectively, have plunged us into a situation where we cannot afford the luxury of not facing basic questions about how our economy is organized. We should have done it for the last 50 years. Maybe this new generation of young people coming into the Congress will begin that conversation and, hopefully, bring us along into a national debate on these subjects, which is long overdue.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

We Need a More Humane Economic System—Not One That Only Benefits the Rich (December 26, 2018)

People, Making love, Democracy, Idea

“Baldner contends that is "arrogant" and "paternalistic" morally to condemn something as definitive of the natural order as predation. However, it is in the nature of morality to devise ideals of a better world and to work toward realizing them. This entails judging this world to be less than ideal and working to change it. One could restrict moral evaluations to the products of human activity, but that would be arbitrary: what makes suffering (prima facie) morally bad is not that it is the result of human activity but that it is suffering. Our commitment to making the world a morally better place impels us to make moral evaluations of the natural order. There need be nothing either arrogant or paternalistic in making and acting on such evaluations, provided we recognize the very limited nature of our understanding and our power to make improvements.”

Steve F. Sapontzis (1945)

Steve Sapontzis, " Dicussion: Environmental Ethics and the Locus of Value https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2060&context=bts", Between the Species (Winter 1990), p. 9

Bad luck, World, Making love, Understanding

“In committing these crimes, the mullahs are testing Western governments. In such circumstances, a lack of resolve or a passive attitude by Western governments will intensify the regime’s terrorist actions.”

Maryam Rajavi (1953) Iranian politician

Maryam Rajavi as quoted in The Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/24/iranian-resistence-calls-european-action-against-r/ (24 September 2018)

“The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present—they are real.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 9 (p. 141)

Death, Men, Fear, Beauty

“We have become blind to the alternatives to violence. This involves us in a sort of official madness, in which, while following what seems to be a perfect logic of self-defense and deterrence, we commit one absurdity after another: We seek to preserve peace by fighting a war, or to advance freedom by subsidizing dictatorships, or to "win the hearts and minds of the people" by poisoning their crops and burning their villages and confining them in concentration camps; we seek to uphold the "truth" of our cause with lies, or to answer conscientious dissent with threats and slurs and intimidations. … I have come to the realization that I can no longer imagine a war that I would believe to be either useful or necessary. I would be against any war.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"A Statement Against the War in Vietnam" an address at the University of Kentucky (10 February 1968) http://books.google.com/books?id=-hHNuLumg8wC&pg=PA68 The Long-Legged House (1969)

War, People, Truth, Peace

“War crimes are only committed by defeated powers.”

Kevin Carson (1963) American academic

But as the Nazis learned in 1945, unemployed war criminals can usually find work with the new hegemonic power.
"The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand: Capitalism As a State-Guaranteed System of Privilege" (2011)

War

“The Satan is using this opportunity as it has always done to lead us astray from our religious duties in the name of precautions, treatment and protection. Whenever a calamity strikes, Satan makes the victims of calamity commit such acts which destroy their rewards and add to their woes. This is the time to populate the mosques and to invite the ummah towards repentance. As I have already said, this is the time to make our supplications effective. This is not the time to pay heed to false remedial measures….”

Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi (1965)

Speaking about the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi the emir of Tablighi Jamaat, March 22, 2020. MEMRI, April 6, 2020 https://www.memri.org/reports/tablighi-jamaat-emir-maulana-mohammad-saad-opposes-social-distancing-during-coronavirus https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/04/tablighi-jamaat-emir-satan-is-using-this-opportunity-to-lead-us-astray-this-is-the-time-to-populate-the-mosques. Published by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute). Transcription and Translation from Urdu by New Age Islam Edit Desk https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/tablighi-jamaat-spread-more-than-covid-19-virus;-its-head-maulana-saad-kandhalvi-propagated-un-islamic-obscurantism-and-exclusion,-as-has-been-tablighi-practice-since-1926/d/121488

Making love, Time, Falseness

“Will you be among those who pave the way? Will you take part now in this Great Work and fulfil the world’s need? There is no higher call than that to serve the world. There is no greater commitment than to serve your brother.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Message No.14
Messages from Maitreya the Christ (1981)

World, Way, Parting

“...any Japanese officer wishing to commit suicide would be given every facility.”

William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (1891–1970) former Governor-General of Australia

Source: Defeat Into Victory (1961), p. 442

Suicide

“If men are capable of committing evil actions, granting them power over others makes evil actions certain. But there is a difference. When men in government commit and evil act, they are legally shielded from their consequences of the act.”

Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) American libertarian businessman

Source: A Way to Be Free: The Autobiography of Robert LeFevre, Volume II, (1999), p. 487

Men, Making love, Evil

“Between our fear of failure
And our ultimate potential
We are called to action,
A line must be drawn.

Commit to Realization
And experimentation,
Stay centered in the Uncreated
Source of Creation,
Leave the critics behind.

Let Love draw the line.”

Alex Grey (1953) American artist

Art Psalms (2008), Let Love Draw the Line

Love, Fear, Making love, Failure

“Boys will be boys. Boys commit mistakes.”

Mulayam Singh Yadav (1939–2022) Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times

Comments in opposition to a change in law against rape. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/31/india-gang-rape-katra-sadatgunj-fathyer-speaks Burke, Jason (31 May 2014)

Boy

“Renunciation is not about pushing something away, it is about letting go. It's facing the fact that certain things cause us pain, and they cause other people pain. Renunciation is a commitment to let go of things that create suffering. It is the intention to stop hurting ourselves and others.”

Noah Levine (1971) American Buddhist teacher

Against the Stream (2007)

Pain, People, Suffering, Hurt

“Faith does not mean paying lip service. Faith requires commitment.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

The Transhumanism Handbook, 2019

Faith

“I don’t have a dream role. Every role I get is my dream role. Whatever the role… I have to commit to every time.”

David Zayas (1962) Puerto Rican actor

On being open to any acting role in “David Zayas Talks 'Shut Eye' and Acting Career” https://cinemovie.tv/Interviews/david-zayas-talks-shut-eye-and-acting-career-interview in CINEMOVIE (2016 Dec 8)

Dreams, Time

“When we have commited to a relationship, we have commited to communication.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Communication

“For what purpose then, has this enormous territory been committed to England? .... that every man, woman and child from Cape Comorin ot the Himalaya mountains, may be elevated, enlightened, Christianised.”

Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899) Linguist and dictionary compiler

Source: Modern India and the Indians, 1878. in Shourie, Arun (1994). Missionaries in India: Continuities, changes, dilemmas. New Delhi : Rupa & Co, 1994

Mountain

“Offences committed by people’s representatives should be severely and promptly punished. No one has the right to claim to be more inviolable than other citizens.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Original: (fr) XXXIII. Les délits des mandataires du peuple doivent être sévèrement et facilement punis. Nul n'a le droit de se prétendre plus inviolable que les autres citoyens.
Source: "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, proposed by Maximilien Robespierre" (24 April, 1793)

People

“Today’s tyranny is achieved by flooding people with so much diversion, so much bullshit information and frivolous distraction, that they are unable to make smart commitments.”

Mark Manson book Everything Is Fucked

People, Making love

“I don't know which way human psychology will go wrong. We have a world in which there is uncertainty. There are new technologies. And one of the problems is that we do things today with a thought to the future. Any purchase is one for the future. If you buy a refrigerator you are making a commitment to the future, so that you have food to eat for the next ten years. That's a simple theory, one of many simple theories -- theories that people agree on and that don't, in a fundamental way, change. But every once in a while there is unemployment, and wages will drop, and there will be several different interpretations.”

Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017) American economist

quoted in Conor Clarke, An Interview with Kenneth Arrow, Part One https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/07/an-interview-with-kenneth-arrow-part-one/22213/ (2009) New millennium

People, World, Making love, Food

“Other countries have obtained deliverances equally signal and complete, but in no country has that deliverance been obtained with such perfect peace; so entirely within the bounds of the Constitution; with all the forms of law observed; the government of the country proceeding in its regular course; every man going forth unto his labour until the evening. France boasts of her three days of July, when her people rose, when barricades fenced the streets, and the entire population of the capital in arms successfully vindicated their liberties. They boast, and justly, of those three days of July; but I will boast of our ten days of May. We, too, fought a battle, but it was with moral arms. We, too, placed an impassable barrier between ourselves and military tyranny; but we fenced ourselves only with moral barricades. Not one crime committed, not one acre confiscated, not one life lost, not one instance of outrage or attack on the authorities or the laws. Our victory has not left a single family in mourning. Not a tear, not a drop of blood, has sullied the pacific and blameless triumph of a great people.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

Speech to his committee at Leeds after the Reform Bill had received the Royal assent (1832), quoted in George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, Volume I (1876), pp. 283–284
1830s

Life, People, Family, Peace

“I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do — and I have done it — and God forgives me for it."”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Interview in Playboy magazine (1976), while a candidate for President.
Pre-Presidency

Women, God, Forgiveness, Time

“Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of death as I am of life.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

On the Heights of Despair (1934)

Life, Death, Suicide

“In my forty-five years of forming men’s groups, I have never heard of a man who was actively involved in a men’s group being hospitalized for depression, or commit suicide.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 287

Men, Suicide

“I love sci-fi, especially when it comes to dialogue with fans; they're so involved with the series. It's a great experience to be able to talk with the fans of the show. As an actor, you know much more about your character, even more so sometimes than gets shown on the show. Sci-fi fans really have a commitment to the characters even as much as the actors do. There's a synergy between making television and who gets to watch it.”

Brooke Nevin (1982) Canadian actress

'Breakout Kings' Actor Brooke Nevin Grows Up https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/breakout-kings-actor-brooke-nevin-grows-56115/ (June 1, 2011)

Love, Making love

“Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central Committee.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Leninism or Marxism? (1904)

Error

“Liberalism is not being killed by dictators. Liberalism is committing suicide—out of despair and a bad conscience. What liberalism needs is a revival, in the evangelical sense of the word. It needs to admit its sins, as the basis of renewing its life.”

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)
pp. 73-74

Life, Bad luck, Sense, Suicide

“One of the most dangerous words is 'extremist'. A person who commits acts of violence is not an 'extremist'; he is a criminal. If he commits those acts of violence with the object of detaching part of the territory of the United Kingdom and attaching it to a foreign country, he is an enemy under arms. There is the world of difference between a citizen who commits a crime, in the belief, however mistaken, that he is thereby helping to preserve the integrity of his country and his right to remain a subject of his sovereign, and a person, be he citizen or alien, who commits a crime with the intention of destroying that integrity and rendering impossible that allegiance. The former breaches the peace; the latter is executing an act of war. The use of the word 'extremist' of either or both conveys a dangerous untruth: it implies that both hold acceptable opinions and seek permissible ends, only that they carry them to 'extremes'. Not so: the one is a lawbreaker; the other is an enemy.The same purpose, that of rendering friend and foe indistinguishable, is achieved by references to the 'impartiality' of the British troops and to their function as 'keeping the peace.'”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

The British forces are in Northern Ireland because an avowed enemy is using force of arms to break down lawful authority in the province and thereby seize control. The army cannot be 'impartial' towards an enemy, nor between the aggressor and the aggressed: they are not glorified policemen, restraining two sets of citizens who might otherwise do one another harm, and duty bound to show no 'partiality' towards one lawbreaker rather than another. They are engaged in defeating an armed attack upon the state. Once again, the terminology is designed to obliterate the vital difference between friend and enemy, loyal and disloyal.Then there are the 'no-go' areas which have existed for the past eighteen months. It would be incredible, if it had not actually happened, that for a year and a half there should be areas in the United Kingdom where the Queen's writ does not run and where the citizen is protected, if protected at all, by persons and powers unknown to the law. If these areas were described as what they are—namely, pockets of territory occupied by the enemy, as surely as if they had been captured and held by parachute troops—then perhaps it would be realised how preposterous is the situation. In fact the policy of refraining from the re-establishment of civil government in these areas is as wise as it would be to leave enemy posts undisturbed behind one's lines.
Source: Speech to the South Buckinghamshire Conservative Women's Annual Luncheon in Beaconsfield (19 March 1971), from Reflections of a Statesman. The Writings and Speeches of Enoch Powell (1991), pp. 487-488

War, World, Peace, Help

“I have not asked for a single program which did not cause one or all Americans some inconvenience, or some hardship, or some sacrifice. But they have responded-and you in the Congress have responded to your duty--and I feel confident in asking today for a similar response to these new and larger demands. It is heartening to know, as I journey abroad, that our country is united in its commitment to freedom-and is ready to do its duty.”

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

Source: 1961, Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress

Feeling, Confidence, Freedom, Self-confidence

“I first joined the Labour party in Liverpool because of what I saw of the poverty, the unemployment, and the endless infamies committed on the inhabitants of the back-streets of that city. I am horrified that the threat of unemployment and economic misery is now being deployed against the same kind of people once again.”

Michael Foot (1913–2010) British politician

Source: Press conference after his election as Labour leader (10 November 1980), quoted in Simon Hoggart and David Leigh, Michael Foot: A Portrait (1981), p. 57 and The Guardian (11 November 1980), p. 1

People

Quotes about commitment page 20

Quotes about commitment
page 20