Quotes about making
page 4

“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki book Rich Dad Poor Dad

Source: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

School, Way, Learning

“Take your broken heart, make it into art.”

Carrie Fisher (1956–2016) American actress, screenwriter and novelist

Art, Heart

“Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.”

Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States

As quoted in Finding Your Bipolar Muse : How to Master Depressive Droughts and Manic Depression (2006) by Lana R. Castle, p. 258

Thinking

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

Douglas Adams book Mostly Harmless

Source: Mostly Harmless

People, Fools

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Source: The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx

Happiness, Dead, Happy, Inspirational

“You know how easily things grow out of nothing, when they pass through a mouth that smears them all over and makes something else out of them”

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Polish composer

Source: Chopin's Letters

“No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Tear, Cry

“You can't make your kids do anything. All you can do is make them wish they had. And then, they will make you wish you hadn't made them wish they had.”

Marshall B. Rosenberg (1934–2015) American psychologist

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Suffering, Help, Personality, Hurtful

“Two wrongs don't make a right.”

Roald Dahl The BFG

Variant: Two rights don't equal a left.
Source: The BFG (1982)

“If you can't make it good, at least make it look good.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

“The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

World, Strong

“To be a vegetarian is to disagree — to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars — we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it’s a strong one.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author

Preface to Food for the Spirit: Vegetarianism and the World Religions by Steven Rosen (New York: Bala Books, 1987, )
Variant: To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today... starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.
Context: Vegetarianism is my religion. I became a consistent vegetarian some twenty-three years ago. Before that, I would try over and over again. But it was sporadic. Finally, in the mid-1960s, I made up my mind. And I've been a vegetarian ever since. When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. … This is my protest against the conduct of the world. To be a vegetarian is to disagree — to disagree with the course of things today. Nuclear power, starvation, cruelty — we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.

Hunger, War, World, Thinking

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Source: Women

Drink, Problem, Forgetting

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Dogs

“There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Existencilism (2002)

World

“Don't count the days, make the days count.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Birthday

“A respectable appearance is sufficient to make people more interested in your soul”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

People, Soul, Appearance

“It ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're talking about when we talk about love.”

Raymond Carver book What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Variant: and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're talking about when we talk about love.
Source: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Love, Feeling

“Your cold blood cannot be worked into a fever; your veins are full of ice water; but mine are boiling, and the sight of such chillness makes them dance.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Water, Dance

“If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again.”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

“It's the imperfections that make things beautiful”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Beauty, Beauty, For Her

“There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

Sermon Number 10 on I Corinthians, 698. As quoted in John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait (1989) by William J. Bouwsma, pp. 134–135.
Epistles to the Corinthians

Men, World, Color, Grass

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Source: 1910s, My Larger Education, Being Chapters from My Experience (1911), Ch. V: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob (pg. 118)

People, Business, Learning

“He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Pain

“I confess I do not know why, but looking at the stars always makes me dream.”

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

Dreams, Star

“why can't we control our anger? because we love perfection. make a little room for imperfection in our lives.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1956) spiritual leader

Love, Perfection, Anger

“Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.”

Ludwig Börne (1786–1837) German writer

Variant: Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.

Truth

“In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“I like people who shake other people up and make them feel uncomfortable.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Source: Eyes: Poetry, 1967-1971

People, Feeling

“While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence, which, I believe, does make the woman.”

Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) Entrepreneur

Confidence, Strong, Self-confidence, Clothes

“We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and—in spite of True Romance magazines—we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely—at least, not all the time—but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

Source: The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Happiness, Way, Time, Heart

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”

Thomas à Kempis book The Imitation of Christ

Book I, ch. 16.
Source: The Imitation of Christ (c. 1418)

“Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating… too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Source: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Life, Education, Forgetting

“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.”

Ossie Davis (1917–2005) American actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist

Art, Change

“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist

With Love (1999)

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet, Act II, scene ii.

Thinking, Attitude, For Men

“I felt the first soft glow of intoxication that makes the blood warmer and spreads an illusion of adventure over uncertainty.”

Erich Maria Remarque book Three Comrades

Source: Three Comrades

“To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”

Edward Weston (1886–1958) American photographer

Law

“We all play chess with Fate as partner. He makes a move, we make a move. He tries to checkmate us in three moves, we try to prevent it. We know we can't win, but we're driven to give him a good fight.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author

Source: The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer

Fate, Fight

“All I’m trying to do is survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty, unbelievable lifestyle that they gave me.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

“Don't give up! I believe in you all.
A person's a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!”

Dr. Seuss book Fox in Socks

Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
Source: Fox in Socks

Personality

“All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.”

Tove Jansson book Moominland Midwinter

Source: Moominland Midwinter

Feeling

“Please make me empty, if I'm empty then I can receive, if I can receive it means it comes from somewhere outside of me, if it comes from outside of me I'm not alone! I cannot bear this loneliness. Above all it is loneliness.”

Leonard Cohen book Beautiful Losers

Source: Beautiful Losers

Loneliness

“… and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

“My favorite book is my next one. I’m always hoping to make my next book my best one.”

Mo Willems (1968) American children's illustrator and writer

Books, Hope

“In terms of experience, we want to make this (referring to the self) very pleasant. We want this to be blissful, ecstatic. But, as I said before, even being ecstatic is not goal by itself. If you are blissful by your own nature, then the important thing is that you are no more the issue. There are other issues in this existence; we can look at those. But if you are an issue, what other issue will you take in your hands? You will not touch anything. When I am enough trouble myself, why do I want to take on this one or that one? When I am no more an issue, now I am willing to dig into the whole existence and see what it is all about.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Of Mystics & Mistakes

Nature

“I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

Heart

“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

Fear

“Strange how complicated we can make things just to avoid showing what we feel!”

Erich Maria Remarque book The Night in Lisbon

Source: The Night in Lisbon

Feeling

“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Life, Deep, Success, Inspirational

“The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Love, Lovers

“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Life, Beauty, Loneliness, Night

“You do not know me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others makes trouble for himself.”

Chinua Achebe book Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart

Learning, Change

“Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated.”

Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) Iraqi politician and President

" Women: One Half of Our Society http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Women_-_One_half_of_our_society" (1981). <br class="br">Source: The Revolution and Woman in Iraq <br class="br">Context: The complete emancipation of women from the ties which held them back in the past, during the ages of despotism and ignorance, is a basic aim of the Party and the Revolution. Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated.

Women, Education

“I had the chance to make every possible mistake and figure out a way to recover from it. Once you realize there is life after mistakes, you gain a self-confidence that never goes away.”

Bob Schieffer (1937) Journalist, Anchor for CBS News

Source: This Just in: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV

Life, Way, Confidence, Chance

“What a difference it makes to come home to a child!”

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist

Home

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Learning

“If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

“You have only one life, make the most of it.”

Louis Sachar book Holes

Source: Holes, page 57.
Context: "You don't know that," said Mr. Pendanski. "I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that's no reason to give up. You'll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only have one life, so you should try to make the most of it."

Life

“Wise is the one who learns from another´s mistakes. Less wise is the one who learns only from his own mistakes. The fool keeps making the same mistakes again and again and never learns from them.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1956) spiritual leader

Source: Celebrating Silence: Excerpts from Five Years of Weekly Knowledge 1995-2000

Fools, Learning

“Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding your self that everything happens for a reason.”

John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter

Smile, Sense, Tear, Strong

“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book A Study in Scarlet

Source: A Study in Scarlet

People, World, Question

“Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person's skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934) Hungarian American psychologist

Source: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Nature, Effort, Personality

“When jumping is the sole option, you jump, and try to make it work.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague

“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that's why we're all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it's actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Source: Burton on Burton

Life, Way, Feeling, Thinking

“Time makes more converts than reason.”

Thomas Paine book Common Sense

Source: Common Sense

Time

“If you could not accept the past and its burden, there was no future, for without one there cannot be the other, and […] if you could accept the past you might hope for the future, for only out of the past can you make the future.”

Robert Penn Warren book All the King's Men

Source: All the King's Men (1946)

Hope, Past, Future

“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”

Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress

Tree, For women

“Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Inspirational

“I don't want to take my time going to work. I got a motorcycle and a sleeping bag and 10 or 15 girls. What the hell I want to go off and go to work for? Work for what? Money? I've got all the money in the world. I'm the king, man! I run the underworld, guy! I decide who does what and where they do it at! What am I gonna run around and act like I'm some teeny-bopper somewhere for somebody else's money? I make the money, man. I roll the nickels. The game is mine! I deal the cards.”

Charles Manson (1934–2017) American criminal and musician

Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-U2-cAUMM

Money, World, Guy, Girl

“Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Home, For Wife

“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

Death, World, Cats

“It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.”

Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman

Happiness, Happy, Cute

“Mary is the great mother. She is the mother. That's what Mary is. Whether she existed or not, is not the point. She exists at least as a hyper-reality. She exists as the mother. What's the sacrifice of the mother? That's easy: if you're a mother who's worth her salt, you offer your son to be destroyed by the world. That's what you do. And that's what's going to happen. He's going to be born, he's going to suffer, he's going to have his trouble in life, he's going to have his illnesses, he's going to face his failures and catastrophes, and he's going to die. That's what's going to happen, and if you're awake you know that, and then you say, 'well, perhaps he will live in a way that will justify that.' And then you try to have that happen. And that's what makes you worthy of a statue like [The Pieta]. 'Is it right to bring a baby into this terrible world?' Well, every woman asks herself that question. Some say no, and they have their reasons. Mary answers 'yes' voluntarily. Mary is the archetype of the woman who answers yes to life voluntarily. Not because she is blind. She knows what's going to happen. So, she's the archetypal representation of the woman who says yes to life knowing full well what life is. She's not naive. She's not someone who got pregnant in the backseat of a 1957 Chevy during one night of half-drunk idiocy. Not that. She does so consciously. Consciously, knowing what's to come. And then she allows it to happen, which is a testament to mothers.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Bible Series V: Cain and Abel: The Hostile Brothers
Concepts

Life, World, Way, Failure

“We don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents. And that's when you really experience the joy of painting.”

Bob Ross (1942–1995) American painter, art instructor, and television host

Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere. Collection 1: Ep. 8 "Wintertime Blues"; The Joy of Painting Season 20: Episode 3 Bob Ross: Winter in Pastel.

Happiness, Joy, Painting

“The elemental simplicities of wilderness travel were thrills not only because of their novelty, but because they represented complete freedom to make mistakes. … Perhaps every youth needs an occasional wilderness trip, in order to learn the meaning of this particular freedom.”

Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac

“Wisconsin: Flambeau”, p. 113.
A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "Wisconsin: Marshland Elegy," "Wisconsin: The Sand Counties" "Wisconsin: On a Monument to the Pigeon," and "Wisconsin: Flambeau"

Youth, Travel, Freedom, Learning

“Sometimes I am tempted to believe that I am better than anybody because I know Him. And then I remember that, I don't know him because I was smart enough to figure out some riddle. And I don't know him because I was good enough to ascend into heaven on my own and shake hands with him and meet him. Of all the things that make God awesome, the most awesome thing in the world that I can imagine from a god is that one who would be holy, and one that would be just,… and one that would be innocent and beautiful, and would have no need of me… that someone like that could love me is amazing. And uh, that does not make me a good person; but it makes Him a great God!”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

Louisville, Kentucky http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/louisville-kentucky-jun2594.html (June 25, 1994) <br class="br">In Concert

Love, God, World, Beauty

“The salat can be made up for, but there is no making up for false show or outward worship without presence.”

Shams-i Tabrizi (1185–1248) 1185-1248, spiritual instructor of Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi.

Me & Rumi (2004)

Falseness

“Disappointment can come only to those who make appointments with the future.”

Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) Indian spiritual teacher

Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago
Variant: Disappointment can come only to those who make appointments with the future.

Disappointment, Future

“I don't like girls who wear lots of make-up and you can't see their face. Some girls are beautiful but insecure and look much better without the make-up, but decide to put loads on. I like girls with nice eyes and a nice smile.”

Justin Bieber (1994) Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor

Quoted in MTV Justin Bieber: "Girls Look Better Without Make-Up" http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/justin-bieber/202740-justin-bieber, April 2010

Smile, Beauty, Girl

“I gotta big mouth, I can't help it, I talk from my heart, I'm real you know what I'm sayin whatever comes comes. But my controverse problems, It's not my fault, I try to find my way in the world you know, I try to be somebody instead of just, make money off of everybody. You know what im saying, so I go down paths that haven't been traveled before and I usually mess up, but I learn, you know what I'm saying, I come back stronger, I'm not talking ignorant, you know what I'm saying. So obviously put thought into what I do. So I think my mouth, my controverse, I have not been out of the paper since I joined Digital Underground, I've been in all, you know what I'm saying, my name has not been not uttered, you know what I'm saying, and that's good for me because I don't wanna be forgotten. If I'm forgotten then that means I'm comfortable and that means I think everything is okay.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

1990s, MTV interview (1994)

Money, World, Way, Travel

“Sorry, girl. But, you missed out. Well tough luck; that boy's mine now. We are more than just good friends; this is how the story ends. Too bad that you couldn't see; see the man that boy could be. There is more than meets the eye; I see the soul that is inside. He was a boy, she was girl. Can I make it any more obvious? We are in love, haven't you heard? How, we rock each other's world!”

Avril Lavigne (1984) Canadian singer-songwriter and actress

"Sk8er Boi"
Let Go (2002)

Love, World, Soul, Girl

“Take a close look at the part that "love" plays in your life. Make an inventory of love: people, things, ideas, experiences. Try to live your gratitude.”

Patch Adams (1945) Physician, activist, diplomat, author

Source: House Calls: How we can all heal the world one visit at a time (1998), p. 10

Love, Life, People, Idea

“Most adults have some childlike fascination for making and arranging larger structures out of smaller ones.”

Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) American cognitive scientist

Music, Mind, and Meaning (1981)

“The great success of this system is that it makes the general public afraid of taking responsibility, afraid of taking a position or giving a definite answer, or even of making mistakes.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Success

“God is not stupid. Don't make excuses before Him. God will not make excuses, even though man may cause damage to His promise. You must take that degree of responsibility too.”

Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) Korean religious leader

The Way of God's Will Chapter 1-5. Tradition, Official Business, and Responsibility http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/WofGW/wogw1-05.htm Translated 1980.

God, Stupidity

“Diego is Diego and for me he is the greatest player of all time. Even after a million years I am not even going to be close to Maradona. I have no intention of comparing myself with Maradona - I want to make my own history for something I have achieved.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

Response to the Maradona comparisons, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/7527633/Barcelonas-Lionel-Messi-says-he-will-never-be-as-good-as-Diego-Maradona.html

History, Time

“Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools, or health insurance for all?”

Kurt Vonnegut book A Man Without a Country

A Man Without a Country (2005)

Health, School

“And if you save yourself
You will make him happy.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Sappy
Song lyrics, B-sides and compilation tracks (1989-1993)

Happiness

“I have come not to make war on the Italians, but to aid the Italians against Rome.”

Hannibal (-247–-183 BC) military commander of Carthage during the Second Punic War

Spoken to Italian soldiers of Rome captured at the Battle of Lake Trasimene (24 June 217 BC) as quoted in Hannibal : One Man Against Rome (1958) by Harold Lamb, p. 119.

War

“A member of the human race who is completely incapable of understanding the higher productivity of labor performed under a division of labor based on private property is not properly speaking a person… but falls instead into the same moral category as an animal – of either the harmless sort (to be domesticated and employed as a producer or consumer good, or to be enjoyed as a “free good”) or the wild and dangerous one (to be fought as a pest). On the other hand, there are members of the human species who are capable of understanding the [value of the division of labor] but…who knowingly act wrongly… [B]esides having to be tamed or even physically defeated [they] must also be punished… to make them understand the nature of their wrongdoings and hopefully teach them a lesson for the future.”

Hans-Hermann Hoppe book Democracy: The God That Failed

Source: Democracy: The God That Failed (2001), P.173

Understanding, Nature, Future, Animals

“When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a short of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.”

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) American artist

In 'Possibilities', Vol. 1, no 1, winter 1947-48, p. 79; as quoted in Jackson Pollock (1983) by Elizabeth Frank, p. 68
1940's

Life, Fear, Change, Painting

“Look at me, see if I am poor, or my people either. The whites may get me at last, as you say, but I will have good times till then. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hard-tack, and a little sugar and coffee.”

Sitting Bull (1831–1890) Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man and holy man

Also told to Charles Larpenteur at Fort Union in 1867. Published in Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1993. p. 73.

People, Fools, Coffee, Time

“To make America the greatest is my goal,
So I beat the Russians, and I beat the Pole,
and for the USA won the medal of gold.
Italians said: "You're Greater than the Cassius of old´´.
We like your name, we like your game,
So make Rome your home if you will.
I said I appreciate your kind hospitality,
But the USA is my country still,
'Cause they're waiting to welcome me in Louisville.”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

Poem written after winning the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Summer Games in Rome, Italy, p. 35
The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)

Home, Game, Waiting, Country

“A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a disc jockey, or a crummy mediocre politician. A man can be a hero because he suffers and despairs; or because he thinks logically and analytically; or because he is "sensitive"; or because he is cruel. Wealth establishes a man as a hero, and so does poverty. Virtually any circumstance in a man's life will make him a hero to some group of people and has a mythic rendering in the culture — in literature, art, theater, or the daily newspapers.”

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer

Speech at Queen's College, City University of New York (March 12, 1975). "The Sexual Politics of Fear and Courage", ch. 5, published in Our Blood (1976).

Life, People, Art, Literature