Quotes about majority
page 23

“There is no such thing as a good Brexit deal, which is why I believe we should advocate for Remain. That is what the overwhelming majority of Labour Party members, MPs and trade unions believe.”

Tom Watson (Labour politician) (1967) British politician

Brexit: Labour deputy Tom Watson calls for referendum ahead of election https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49657006 BBC News (11 September 2019) 2019

“A teacher's major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student's grandchild. A teacher, finally, has nothing to go on but faith, a student nothing to offer in return but testimony.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"Wallace Stegner and the Great Community"
What Are People For? (1990)

Teachers, Life, Faith

“In other words, gurus generalize from their own experience. Some gurus are inclined to believe that all humanity should accept their vision: others allege that, when the last trump sounds, their own followers will be saved, whilst the majority of mankind will remain unredeemed. This apparently arrogant assumption is closely connected with certain features of personality displayed by a variety of gurus.”

Anthony Storr (1920–2001) English psychiatrist

Introduction (p. XII–XIII)
Feet of Clay; Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus (1996, 1997)

Personality

“By 1980, the work of Feldstein, Boskin, Summers, and others had convinced many economists that U.S. taxes were in fact a significant obstacle to investment. Nor was this all: another major U.S. policy, the Social Security system, was also discouraging saving and investment.”

Paul Krugman book Peddling Prosperity

Source: Peddling Prosperity (1994), Ch. 2 : Taxes, Regulation, and Growth

Summer

“If it can be shown that the majority of women will probably be Liberal, or that they will divide equally, I should say that the balance is, very slightly, in favour of giving them votes.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Letter to William Ewart Gladstone (26 April 1891), quoted in J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I (1917), p. 235

Women

“Every year $1.5 trillion is spent on weapons and military which the majority of it, is related to the United States. If this money was spent to end poverty, would there be any poor people left in the world? They got money for wars But can't feed the poor”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Twitter 4 Dec 2018
2018

Money, War, People, Relation ships

“You will be a Parliament for the whole community. We used to say that we could not trust an Irish Parliament in Dublin to do justice to the Protestant minority. Let us take care that that reproach can no longer be made against your Parliament, and from the outset let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority. ... Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in this community. ... And so I say: from the start be tolerant to all religions, and, while maintaining to the last your own traditions and your own citizenship, take care that similar rights are preserved for those who differ from us.”

Edward Carson, Baron Carson (1854–1935) Irish politician, barrister and judge

Speech https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/dup/pr290312.htm to the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast (4 February 1921), quoted in Geoffrey Lewis, Carson: The Man Who Divided Ireland (2006), pp. 227–28

Fear, Religion, Justice, Communication

“The vast majority of people eat animal products not because of how they’re produced, but in spite of it.”

Jacy Reese (1992) American social scientist

The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System (2018)

Animals, People

“The crux is the reform of the treaty which would lead to common action. There must be a will to defend the central interests of Europe. If there is no majority voting, then the same level of impotence will continue.”

Jacques Delors (1925) French economist and politician

Speech to the European Parliament (23 October 1991), quoted in The Times (24 October 1991), p. 14
President of the European Commission

“Science can only answer to the great majority of "metaphysical" problems "I am ignorant."”

Karl Pearson book The Grammar of Science

Meanwhile, it is idle to be impatient or to indulge in system-making.

Introductory
The Grammar of Science (1900)

Problem, Science

“A major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don't.”

Jeff Flake (1962) American politician

Farewell speech to the U.S. Senate (2018)

“As poets we tend to not like the word “responsibility. I think it’s one of the major responsibilities of the poet.”

Juan Felipe Herrera (1948) American writer

We prefer “freedom”, we want to be as free as we can, but freedom and responsibility can go together. We’re responsible because we’re writers, and we’ve been at this all our lives… On the poet having both responsibility and freedom in “Interview with Juan Felipe Herrera” https://gulfstreamlitmag.com/archives/online-archives/current-issue-4/features/interview-with-juan-felipe-herrera/ (Gulf Stream, 2015)

Thinking

“The functional regions of the brain which subserve physical agony, the "pain centres", and the mainly limbic substrates of emotion, appear in phylogenetic terms to be remarkably constant in the vertebrate line. The neural pathways involving serotonin, the periaquaductal grey matter, bradykinin, dynorphin, ATP receptors, the major opioid families, substance P etc all existed long before hominids walked the earth. Not merely is the biochemistry of suffering disturbingly similar where not effectively type-identical across a wide spectrum of vertebrate (and even some invertebrate) species. It is at least possible that members of any species whose members have more pain cells exhibiting greater synaptic density than humans sometimes suffer more atrociously than we do, whatever their notional "intelligence."”

David Pearce (philosopher) (1959) British transhumanist

1.9 The Taste of Depravity https://www.hedweb.com/hedethic/hedon1.htm#taste The Hedonistic Imperative https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/514875 (1995)

Family, Pain, Intelligence, Suffering

“Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It's like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying (1930)

Way, Thinking

“You may observe yourself...what a difference there is between the true strength of this nation and the fictitious one of the Whigs. How much time, how many lucky incidents, how many strains of power, how much money must go to create a majority of the latter; on the other hand, take but off the opinion that the Crown is another way inclined, the church interest rises with redoubled force, and by its natural genuine strength.”

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English politician and Viscount

Letter to Mr. Drummond (10 November 1710), quoted in Gilbert Parke, Letters and Correspondence, Public and Private, of The Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Visc. Bolingbroke; during the Time he was Secretary of State to Queen Anne; with State Papers, Explanatory Notes, and a Translation of the Foreign Letters, &c.: Vol. I (1798), pp. 16–17

Money, Way, Time, Nature

“You can't say that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. Until very recently, that's what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it's considered bigotry.”

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

On marriage and specifically Gay marriage. Speech before the Federalist Society, November 2020

Marriage

“Claiming all power for the purpose of prosperity and justice in society is conflicting to its own cause, rather authorizing individual authority is the just way toward a better society, because each individual has the right to decide about himself, and for collective decision making in society, all individual has the right to provide their input in it, after that majorities’ rule and minorities’ rights is the key to move forward, otherwise its destruction of society.”

Zaman Ali (1993) Pakistani philosopher

Source: https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=co3AzQEACAAJ&dq=inauthor:%22Zaman+Ali%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVi-2e57jtAhWToVwKHUj0D3kQ6AEwAnoECAEQAg

Way, Making love, Justice, Decision

“The aims and ideals of the Soviet revolution inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of millions of people in the 1930s, during World War II, and in the postwar reconstruction period. This explains the Soviet Union's great leap forward, the achievement of a high level of industrial capacity in a very short time, the transformation of the Soviet Union into a major power in terms of science and culture. The historic victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazism, which was a surprise not only for Hitler but also for the Western democracies is also explained by what we have said above. All this is true. But the historical truth is also that the regime and the system abused the faith of the people in these high ideals, turning them to its own advantage. Rule by the people, equality, justice, and the promise of a happy future — all these ideas were utilized for the sake of maintaining and strengthening totalitarianism.”

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931) General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1990s, On My Country and the World (1999)

Democracy, Faith, Justice, Time

“When I was in college, I wanted to know more about my Native American past because I come from one of the 64 Native groups that are very much alive [in Mexico]. But there was nothing like that. So I ended up designing my own major that included women’s studies, philosophy, and anthropology.”

Lila Downs (1968) Mexican American singer-songwriter

On shaping her higher education in order to learn more about her heritage 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) Heritage and indigenous peoples

Past, Study, Women

“In the early 1890’s it required a great deal of courage for a woman to publicly to acknowledge before an audience that she believed in suffrage for her sex when she knew a majority did not.”

Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954) African Americans' rights activist

Source: p.144

Courage, Sex

“Glamour is astral in character, and is far more potent at this time than illusion, owing to the enormous majority of people who function astrally always.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Glamour: A World Problem (1950), The Nature of Glamor

Time, People

“The task of unveiling the hidden truth demands some knowledge of Cosmogenesis, of the emanation of the Universe from the Absolute, the finite from the Infinite, and of the successive cycles, major and minor, of involution and evolution. In addition, both knowledge of the Symbolical Language, its purposes, methods and classical symbols, and the faculty of analysing and interpreting historical metaphors, are necessary to open the casket containing the treasures of concealed wisdom—the Holy Bible itself.”

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

Source: The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible (1963)

Success, Knowledge, Truth, Universe

“Have you ever wondered, perhaps, why opinions which the majority of people quite naturally hold are, if anyone dares express them publicly, denounced as 'controversial, 'extremist', 'explosive', 'disgraceful', and overwhelmed with a violence and venom quite unknown to debate on mere political issues? It is because the whole power of the aggressor depends upon preventing people from seeing what is happening and from saying what they see.The most perfect, and the most dangerous, example of this process is the subject miscalled, and deliberately miscalled, 'race.'”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

The people of this country are told that they must feel neither alarm nor objection to a West Indian, African and Asian population which will rise to several millions being introduced into this country. If they do, they are 'prejudiced', 'racialist'... A current situation, and a future prospect, which only a few years ago would have appeared to everyone not merely intolerable but frankly incredible, has to be represented as if welcomed by all rational and right-thinking people. The public are literally made to say that black is white. Newspapers like the Sunday Times denounce it as 'spouting the fantasies of racial purity' to say that a child born of English parents in Peking is not Chinese but English, or that a child born of Indian parents in Birmingham is not English but Indian. It is even heresy to assert the plain fact that the English are a white nation. Whether those who take part know it or not, this process of brainwashing by repetition of manifest absurdities is a sinister and deadly weapon. In the end, it renders the majority, who are marked down to be the victims of violence or revolution or tyranny, incapable of self-defence by depriving them of their wits and convincing them that what they thought was right is wrong. The process has already gone perilously far, when political parties at a general election dare not discuss a subject which results from and depends on political action and which for millions of electors transcends all others in importance; or when party leaders can be mesmerised into accepting from the enemy the slogans of 'racialist' and 'unChristian' and applying them to lifelong political colleagues...In the universities, we are told that education and the discipline ought to be determined by the students, and that the representatives of the students ought effectively to manage the institutions. This is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but it is nonsense which it is already obligatory for academics and journalists, politicians and parties, to accept and mouth upon pain of verbal denunciation and physical duress.We are told that the economic achievement of the Western countries has been at the expense of the rest of the world and has impoverished them, so that what are called the 'developed' countries owe a duty to hand over tax-produced 'aid' to the governments of the undeveloped countries. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but it is nonsense with which the people of the Western countries, clergy and laity, but clergy especially—have been so deluged and saturated that in the end they feel ashamed of what the brains and energy of Western mankind have done, and sink on their knees to apologise for being civilised and ask to be insulted and humiliated.Then there is the 'civil rights' nonsense. In Ulster we are told that the deliberate destruction by fire and riot of areas of ordinary property is due to the dissatisfaction over allocation of council houses and opportunities for employment. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but that has not prevented the Parliament and government of the United Kingdom from undermining the morale of civil government in Northern Ireland by imputing to it the blame for anarchy and violence.Most cynically of all, we are told, and told by bishops forsooth, that communist countries are the upholders of human rights and guardians of individual liberty, but that large numbers of people in this country would be outraged by the spectacle of cricket matches being played here against South Africans. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but that did not prevent a British Prime Minister and a British Home Secretary from adopting it as acknowledged fact.
Source: The "enemy within" speech during the 1970 general election campaign; speech to the Turves Green Girls School, Northfield, Birmingham (13 June 1970), from Still to Decide (1972), pp. 36-37

Perfection, People, Dependency, Nature

“Corporate tax rates must also be cut to increase incentives and the availability of investment capital. The Government has already taken major steps this year to reduce business tax liability and to stimulate the modernization, replacement, and expansion of our productive plant and equipment. [...] For all these reasons, next year's tax bill should reduce personal as well as corporate income taxes, for those in the lower brackets, who are certain to spend their additional take-home pay, and for those in the middle and upper brackets, who can thereby be encouraged to undertake additional efforts and enabled to invest more capital.”

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

Business, Home, Personality, Effort

“The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches. It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways. It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him. That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 19; translated by W. K. Marriot

Courage, Hate, Hope, People

“...the major objective of Brazilian society is the strengthening of peace. We believe that the ideological conflict between West and East cannot and should not be solved militarily, because if in a nuclear war we saved our lives, we would not be able to save, whether we won or were won, our reason for living.”

João Goulart (1918–1976) 24th President of Brazil

Source: João Goulart: Uma Biografia. Jorge Ferreira. 2011. Page 276. ISBN 978-85-200-1056-3

War, Peace

“Orthodox Buddhism strictly forbids religious rites, and the learned lamas acknowledge that they cannot bestow spiritual enlightenment, which can only be acquired by personal intellectual effort. Yet the majority believe in the efficacy of certain ritualistic methods of the healing of the sick, securing material prosperity, the conquest of evil beings and the guidance of the spirits of the dead in the other world.”

Alexandra David-Néel (1868–1969) French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, anarchist and writer

Magic And Mystery In Tibet

Dead, Personality, Learning, World

“People say I am eccentric and frail. Well, I may be frail in body and hearing, but I hope my state of mind is as alert as ever it was and I am going to speak my mind as freely as I have ever done. I am a common man and I speak for the common people of England and from the letters I receive, the great majority agree with me.”

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning (1899–1999) British judge

Interview (16 August 1990), quoted in The Times (17 August 1990), p. 1

People, Hope

“We are so concerned to flatter the majority that we lose sight of how very often it is necessary, in order to preserve freedom for the minority, let alone for the individual, to face that majority down.”

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925–2008) American conservative author and commentator

The Jeweler’s Eye, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons (1968) p. 68

Freedom

“To dwell on the lack thereof is a mental trap the majority of visionaries are taught to do.”

Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker

“No one I imagine is so stupid as to believe that truth or even an approximation of truth is derived from counting pieces of marked paper and that the largest pile of papers is it. What makes democracy so fragile is the certain knowledge, even by the winners, that it is often wrong and if they think it’s right now, then it’s either been wrong at some time in the past or will be at some time in the future. There is then a shaky agreement on both sides of a democratic debate that there is some more fundamental reason for using this method to make decisions than that it is always right. In Western Europe over the last century or so that shaky agreement has not always held together and indeed it still is far from ordinary worldwide. A common everyday reason why most people accept democratic results is that they are rarely always on the losing side. And in the case of government elections they can have another opportunity to persuade the majority that the opinion they hold is correct and hope that the mistakes of the previous few years are not so very bad. On a much deeper level however respecting the “will of the people” comes from a profoundly scary place.”

Justin Barrett (1971) Irish activist

A Republic of Innocent Dead Cannot Live https://nationalparty.ie/a-republic-of-innocent-dead-cannot-live/ (June 4, 2018)

Democracy, Imagination, Time, Past

“Pride to me is a celebration of self. It is a celebration of being fully aware of and proud of your existence. And it's also historically a major monumental moment for the queer community. It was started by a black trans woman. And the movement is still around because we are still looking to feel empowered and still looking for visibility for all of our members.”

Lauren Jauregui (1996) Cuban-American singer and songwriter

[Lauren Jauregui Talks Coming Out in the Digital Age, Teases Debut Solo Album: 'I'm So Proud Of It', https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8517545/lauren-jauregui-teases-debut-solo-album-video, Billboard, June 27, 2019]

Self-confidence, Feeling, Communication

“For the majority of people, though they do not know what to do with this life, long for another that shall have no end.”

Anatole France book The Revolt of the Angels

Source: The Revolt of the Angels (1914), Ch. XXI

Life, People

“To act in a language that I’m not fully immersed in, not fully fluent in, it does pose a bit of a challenge. It does have some good in it as well; there are pros and cons actually. But I do believe if there is a point that I could just be acting like I would in Japanese, but in English, I’m sure that would be so much fun and exciting. One major challenge is that I can’t just do an ad-lib, I can’t do it off the cuff, so really that’s the difference. But it is exciting.”

Yōsuke Kubozuka (1979) Japanese actor

Yosuke Kubozuka Talks New Crime Drama Giri/Haji https://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2019/10/17/yosuke-kubozuka-giri-haji-interview/ (October 17, 2019)

“Most people didn’t realise how I struggled throughout my life and career. There was a lot of pain, negative thoughts, and trauma that others didn’t see, and today the majority of the population is enduring this.”

Layne Beachley (1972) Australian surfer

LIFE LESSONS WITH LAYNE BEACHLEY https://www.tracksmag.com.au/news/riding-deep-with-layne-beachley-555092 (October 23 2020)

Life, Pain, People

“When we, as individuals, take from our neighbors what they won’t voluntarily give—at gunpoint, if necessary—we call it theft. When majorities take from minorities what they won’t voluntarily give—at gunpoint, if necessary—we call it taxation.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Healing Our World: The Compassion of Libertarianism, (2015), p. 21

“Simply, libertarians do not advocate the initiation of force, fraud, or theft to achieve social or political goals. If you refused to contribute to my favorite charity, and I took your money at gunpoint anyway, I’d be stealing from you. Similarly, if I vote for taxes to force you to contribute to that charity, I’m asking the government to take your money—at gunpoint, if necessary… Wrong doesn’t turn into right, just because the majority agrees to it. Minorities have no protection if they have to depend upon the majority for it.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 18

Money, Fraud, Dependency

“Democracy's premise rests on the notion that the collective wisdom of the majority will prove right more often than it's wrong; that given sufficient opportunity in the pursuit of happiness, your population will develop its talents, its intellect, its better judgment; that over time its capacity for discernment and self-correction will be enlarged.”

Ben Fountain (1958) American writer

Democracy, Happiness, Time, Wisdom

“Religion translates metaphysical or universal truths into dogmatic language; now though dogma is not accessible to all men in its intrinsic truth, which can only be directly attained by the Intellect, it is nonetheless accessible through faith, which is, for the great majority, the only possible mode of participation in the Divine Truths. As for intellectual knowledge, which proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning, it goes beyond dogma in the sense that, without ever contradicting the latter, it penetrates its internal dimension, that is, the infinite Truth that dominates all forms.”

Frithjof Schuon book The Transcendent Unity of Religions

[1993, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Quest Books, xxxi, 978-0-8356-0587-8]
Miscellaneous, Religion

Knowledge, Sense, Men, Universe

“It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death, sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1950s, Russell–Einstein Manifesto (1955)

Universe, Fear, Death, Disease

“And even if this causes major changes in our world, we have nothing to lose, because by opening the door that unites body and soul, what we will gain is total love.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About sex

Soul, World, Love, Change

“Marketing is all about winning people's attention where they spend time the most across major social media platforms.”

Vladimer Botsvadze

Time, People

“Real and major changes in religious or political power systems do not occur until substantial numbers of people realize the old systems are destructive, genocidal and beyond repair.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

Revolution by Number

People, Change

“It appears both amusing and terrifying at the same time, that the majority of the women claim to be the victims of narcissistic behaviours. I have no doubt that, this is something to do with the newly introduced gender equality, I called it ‘new’ because it has been put into practice only in the past decades.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Appearance, Time, Past, Women

“Without doubt, the mystics have accessed the cosmic consciousness and they are capable to use their intuitive abilities, unlike the majority of the people. This is the highest knowledge one can ever seek to possess in our age.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

People, Knowledge, Age

“If it is beneficial or helpful, then it must be good for the majority; no matter if it hurts you. Individualism must be put to death and allow the majority to prevail.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Hurt, Death, Help

“The land of perfectionism can be easily reached by avoiding the major imperfections in life.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life

“The major downside of democracy is that even the least critical minds will never think they are wrong.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Democracy, Thinking

“The majority of women are adventurers at heart. Traveling is something you cannot take away from them.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Women, Travel, Heart

“Any minority’s right to be different must be respected, but the right of the majority must not be questioned.
..
Without the values at the core of Christianity and other world religions, without moral norms that have been shaped over millennia, people will inevitably lose their human dignity.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

19 September 2013 during his speech at the Valdai forum
2013

People, World, Religion, Question

“We have been forced to put a major emphasis on the acquisition of technical knowledge.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

1930s- 1950s, An Economist Looks At the Peace (1945)

Knowledge

“Memories refused to fit, or fitted but came unglued. Even months later, how would I know if some major tranche of myself remained lost?”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish", p. 354
Cloud Atlas (2004), The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (Part 2)

Memory

“Most people go through life never knowing the truth about the major events of their time. They're watching a farce performed at the edge of the stage while the real drama is going on behind the curtain.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Source: Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005), Ch. 31

People, Truth, Life, Time

“Women are organisers at their workplace and are good at organising elections and mobilising people to go and vote. They are the majority of voters, meaning they are the ones who elect people to positions of authority.”

Thokozani Khuphe (1963) Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Source: Zimbabwe: Gender Equality A Right (2010)

People, Women

“The Hindus are so divided and so foolishly selfish that their majority does not count in actual politics. The atmosphere can clear only after a thunderstorm— after showers of blood.”

Jadunath Sarkar (1870–1958) Indian historian

Sir Jadunath Sarkar, letter on 14 August 1931 to Padam Bhushan Dr. G. S. Sardesai https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.98914/2015.98914.Life-And-Letters-Of-Sir-Jadunath-Sarkar-Section-1---2_djvu.txt https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/jadunath-sarkar-as-a-seer-a-few-glimpses

Selfishness

“Although men constitute the vast majority of prisoners in the world, important aspects of the operation of state punishment are missed if it is assumed that women are marginal and thus undeserving of attention.”

Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete?

Source: Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003), Chapter Four

World, Women, Men

“Our communities must face daily not a few difficulties of an economic order; above all, however, they must be able to react to an inferiority complex in the face of an oppressive Muslim majority, which makes them feel oppressed and can make them think that they are the "infidels."”

Martin Kmetec (1956) Slovenian Catholic archbishop

Source: Benedict XVI's Visit to Turkey: the Context https://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=3827 (November 2006)

Communication, Feeling, Thinking

“In recent decades the effects of environmental change on insect populations has been the focus of my research. It is widely recognised that invasive alien species, climate change and habitat destruction are all major players in the declines of many insects. Ladybirds are no exception.”

Helen Roy (1969) British ecologist and entomologist

Source: Ladybirds: an interview with Helen Roy, Ecological Entomologist at the BRC https://www.nhbs.com/blog/ladybirds-helen-roy (14 May 2013)

Change

“If you can’t be in the majority, at least be in the minority with enough leverage that you can really make things uncomfortable for the Speaker.”

Yvette Herrell (1964) American politician, businesswoman, and real estate agent

Source: Yvette Herrell: Nancy Pelosi’s Majority in ‘Shambles,’ Gives GOP ‘Leverage’ https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/11/11/yvette-herrell-nancy-pelosis-majority-in-shambles-gives-gop-leverage/ (11 November 2020)

“Let us stop this system of putting people in positions just because of the contacts they have. That is a major reason why we remain a poorly governed and undeveloped country.”

Grace Alele-Williams (1932–2022) mathematician

Source: https://guardian.ng/features/how-to-have-more-female-vice-chancellors-in-nigerian-varsities/Prof Grace Alele on allowing qualified people in position regardless of the gender.

Country, People

“From a cinema major’s perspective, philosophically, theoretically it’s easier for people to imprint on that character what they think they’re feeling. I don’t know why, but it seems easier for kids to identify with someone like Ferb, or Perry, when they say nothing.”

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (1960) American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist and actor

Source: Phineas & Ferb's Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh on Their Platypus Super-Spy Perry https://www.mtv.com/news/2625269/phineas-ferbs-dan-povenmire-and-jeff-swampy-marsh/ (30 May 2012)

Feeling, People, Thinking

“War tore the guts out of the British empire, weakening it in resources and morale. The first major loss was Ireland.”

Jeremy Black (historian) (1955) British military historian

Source: A History of the British Isles (1996)

Loss, War

“With a 97 per cent vaccination rate (against COVID-19 as of July 2021), it is a tremendous result, and it shows that the majority have chosen to be vaccinated for the safety and wellbeing of the country, and for our children.”

Dalton Tagelagi (1968) New Zealand politician, Premier of Niue and bowler

Source: Dalton Tagelagi (2021) cited in " Covid-19: Niue days from full vaccination, travel bubble in place by end of year https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/125617802/covid19-niue-days-from-full-vaccination-travel-bubble-in-place-by-end-of-year" on Stuff, 7 July 2021.

Country, Children

“We have a very complicated situation with major floods at the level of major arteries, not only in the capital, but in various districts – landslides, collapsed bridges.”

Edite Tenjua (1972) São Tomé and Príncipe lawyer and businesswoman

Source: Edite Tenjua (2021) cited in: " Sao Tome: Government appeals for international help after major flooding https://www.macaubusiness.com/sao-tome-government-appeals-for-international-help-after-major-flooding/" in Macau Business, 30 December 2021.

“The best news of the day. Pfizer vaccine (a major trial was under progress) is 90% effective. Victory for science and humanity. Stock markets soaring across the world. Seems like the real deal this time.”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter https://twitter.com/chetan_bhagat/status/1325779100686970882

World, Science, Time, Victory

“The major weapon now being used by the combined Forces of Evil is chaos, disruption, lack of established security, and consequent fear... The entire rhythm of international thinking has to be altered, and that constitutes a slow and arduous task; the evil personalities which, in every country, are responsible for the chaos and uncertainty, have eventually to be replaced by those who can work in co-operation with the rhythm of the seventh Ray, and thus produce ordered beauty.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Source: The Externalization of the Hierarchy (1957) p. 668

Personality, Country, Thinking, Fear

“People need to feel they belong to their country. Their need for community is most pronounced in a time of adversity. The people who are hit hardest by a depression, who feel that their children will suffer, look for loyalty from the rest of the community and the government. The present immigration programme, in its indifference to the feelings of the old Australians, erodes those loyalties. The multicultural policy, and its emphasis on what is different and on the rights of the new minority rather than the old majority, gnaws at that sense of solidarity that many people crave for.”

Geoffrey Blainey book All for Australia

All for Australia (1984)

Communication, Loyalty, Country, Indifference

“We find ourselves in a time of global uncertainty and in such a time are called to offer the common man Christian hope, perspective for the future and faith in eternity. The people of today actually hunger the most for God. They seek solace in various surrogates and, therefore, experience disappointment. Nothing can give man meaning and peace except God. The Church should open its doors to all people. We Greek Catholics, with our mystical spirituality, ecclesiastical tradition and the wealth of our liturgy, can and should offer the living Christ, his joy, love, forgiveness and hope to the people around us in our own characteristic way. With great hope, I look toward the future of our Eparchy of Križevci and anticipate days of spiritual revival. Whoever truly wants to follow Christ will inevitably encounter resistance and persecution from the world. However, let us not lose hope. With God we are always in the majority and always on the winning side. May our many holy ancestors be our role models and support us on this path.”

Milan Stipić (1978) Croatian Greek-Catholic bishop

Source: The Episcopal Ordination of Msgr. Milan Stipić as the Bishop of Križevci https://ika.hkm.hr/english/the-episcopal-ordination-of-msgr-milan-stipic-as-the-bishop-of-krizevci/ (October 2020)

Wealth, Love, Hunger, God

“By noon it was clear that the Socialists would have a majority.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War (1948–1953)
Source: On the (July 26, 1945) landslide electoral defeat that turned him out of office near the end of WWII, in The Second World War, Volume VI: Triumph and Tragedy (1953), Chapter 40 (The End of My Account), p. 583.
Context: At luncheon my wife said to me, 'It may well be a blessing in disguise. 'I replied, 'At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.'

“There's a reason why you only do tax policy in a major way every few years — it's really complicated.”

Mark Warner (1954) United States Senator from Virginia

Source: " Senate Democrats target billionaires https://www.axios.com/senate-democrats-billionares-tax-biden-7078079f-7235-4ae6-ab7d-d3bd0476517e.html" (October 23, 2021)

Way

“Exploring the infinitely small particles to better protect our planet and understand its major challenges is essential, so that our decisions live up to the hopes of future generations.”

Stéphane Valeri (1962) Monaco politician

Source: Stéphane Valeri (2021) cited in: " High Level Visit to IAEA Monaco Laboratories Highlights Nuclear Techniques to Protect People, the Ocean https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/high-level-visit-to-iaea-monaco-laboratories-highlights-nuclear-techniques-to-protect-people-the-ocean" in International Atomic Energy Agency, 4 March 2021.

Understanding, Future, Hope, Decision

“An absolute majority doesn't mean absolute power. It doesn't mean governing alone. It's an increased responsibility.”

António Costa (1961) Prime Minister of Portugal

Source: António Costa (2022) cited in: " Portugal election: Socialists win unexpected majority https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60194375" in BBC News, 31 January 2022.

“So—I’m a major. New pay grade.”

Charles E. Gannon (1960) American novelist

She laughed. “My salary has just jumped from nothing to next-to-nothing. What will I spend it all on?”
Source: Fire with Fire (2013), Chapter 33 (p. 378)

“Unlike the left, we do not trot out any far-fetched or unachievable promises. Our program is straightforward and clear – there should not be any homeless, unemployed or hungry. This is the minimal goal, while the maximum goal is to make a major leap forward.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"TASS exclusive: Zhirinovsky's first interview as presidential candidate" https://tass.com/politics/983699?utm_source=google.com&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google.com&utm_referrer=google.com (29 December 2017)

“It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority. They really have become the party of Karl Marx.”

Elizabeth Cheney (1966) American lawyer

As quoted in "House democrats to strike 'so help me God' from oath", Breitbart News (29 January 2019)

God

“Right now, everyone is very emotional about what’s going on. And you know what? The overwhelming majority are those who support the president emotionally. There are so many people who want to support the president — not just emotionally, but also in their actions. They’re the overwhelming majority.”

Dmitry Peskov (1967) Russian politician

"'The traitors will disappear on their own' Dmitry Peskov on the coming 'purification of Russian society'" https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/18/the-traitors-will-disappear-on-their-own, Meduza, 18 March 2022

Support, People

“We need to see how dance, music, theater, art, poetry, are major arenas for alliance-building, especially among youth. Culture can usher in new visions”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (2017)

Youth, Art, Music, Dance

“Cooperation for development has now become the major trend of our contemporary world. We have clearly witnessed that diverse forms and scope of cooperation have taken place within and among the regions thus providing a strong boost to the world economic growth.”

Bounnhang Vorachit (1937) former General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (2016-2021)

"Keynote Address by H.E. Mr. Bounnhang Vorachith Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic" https://asean.org/keynote-address-by-h-e-mr-bounnhang-vorachith-prime-minister-of-the-lao-peoples-democratic-republic-2/ (26 July 2005)

Strong, World

“We try to educate the people as a Christian community. We have meetings and prayer time together. In this way, we do not judge things in terms of majority or minority in relationship to the other Christian denominations, because we work together so that all Christians may be one.”

Camillus Archibong Etokudoh (1949) Nigerian catholic priest

“A growing Church that participates in the nation's progress”: Nigerian Bishops comment (9 March 2009) Fides News Agecny http://www.fides.org/en/news/23120-AFRICA_NIGERIA_A_growing_Church_that_participates_in_the_nation_s_progress_Nigerian_Bishops_comment

People, Communication, Education, Time