Quotes about right
page 88

Harold Monro photo

“His poetry, as a whole, is more nearly the real right thing than any of the poetry of a somewhat older generation than mine except Mr. Yeats's.”

Harold Monro (1879–1932) British poet

T. S. Eliot, in Alida Monro (ed.) The Collected Poems of Harold Monro (London: Cobden-Sanderson, 1933) p. xiv.
Criticism

Leigh Hunt photo
Ferdinand Foch photo
Fisher Ames photo
Robert Sheckley photo
Patrick Stump photo
Pope Benedict XVI photo
Nile Kinnick photo
Bhakti Tirtha Swami photo
Bryant Gumbel photo

“In the first two years this is a man [Clinton] who tried his best to balance the budget, to reform health care, to fight for gay rights, to support personal freedoms. Couldn’t those be considered doing the right things, evidence of true character?”

Bryant Gumbel (1948) American sportscaster

To David Maraniss, MSNBC’s InterNight, October 10, 1996. Real Video http://www.mediaresearch.org/rm/projects/99/gumbel8/segment1.ram

William Lloyd Garrison photo
Paul Simon photo

“Never been lonely,
Never been lied to,
Never had to scuffle in fear,
Nothing to dive to,
Born at the instant,
The church bells chime,
The whole world whispering,
You're born at the right time.”

Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer

Born at the Right Time
Song lyrics, The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)

Alex Jones photo

“When I think about all the children Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her. Yeah, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton has personally murdered children. I just can't hold back the truth anymore. Hillary Clinton is one of the most vicious serial killers the planet's ever seen.”

Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker

Said in a YouTube video posted on 4 November 2016, as quoted in "Alex Jones: ‘Hillary Clinton Has Personally Murdered And Chopped Up And Raped' Children" http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-hillary-clinton-has-personally-murdered-and-chopped-up-and-raped-children/ by Brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch (8 December 2016)
2016

Frederick Douglass photo

“And here I hold that a liberal and brotherly welcome to all who are likely to come to the United States is the only wise policy which this nation can adopt. It has been thoughtfully observed that every nation, owing to its peculiar character and composition, has a definite mission in the world. What that mission is, and what policy is best adapted to assist in its fulfillment, is the business of its people and its statesmen to know, and knowing, to make a noble use of this knowledge. I need not stop here to name or describe the missions of other or more ancient nationalities. Our seems plain and unmistakable. Our geographical position, our relation to the outside world, our fundamental principles of government, world-embracing in their scope and character, our vast resources, requiring all manner of labor to develop them, and our already existing composite population, all conspire to one grand end, and that is, to make us the perfect national illustration of the unity and dignity of the human family that the world has ever seen. In whatever else other nations may have been great and grand, our greatness and grandeur will be found in the faithful application of the principle of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and of all creeds. We are not only bound to this position by our organic structure and by our revolutionary antecedents, but by the genius of our people. Gathered here from all quarters of the globe, by a common aspiration for national liberty as against caste, divine right govern and privileged classes, it would be unwise to be found fighting against ourselves and among ourselves, it would be unadvised to attempt to set up any one race above another, or one religion above another, or prescribe any on account of race, color or creed.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1860s, Our Composite Nationality (1869)

Chinmayananda Saraswati photo

“Character is formed from the repeated choice of thoughts and action. Make the right choice - You shall have a firm and noble character.”

Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) Indian spiritual teacher

Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago

Mark Hopkins (educator) photo
Ali Al-Wardi photo
Allen C. Guelzo photo
P. D. James photo
Alan Sugar photo
Samuel Alito photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“The man who is right is a majority. We, who have God and conscience on our side, have a majority against the universe.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

As quoted in Frederick Douglass: The Colored Orator (1969) by Frederic May Holland, p. 212 http://books.google.it/books?id=GLbBa5OOhxMC&pg=PA212

Joseph Hayne Rainey photo

“[A]fter I got evicted from the Republican Party, I began reading considerably more of the works of American anarchists, thanks largely to Murray Rothbard…and I was just amazed.When I read Emma Goldman, it was as though everything I had hoped that the Republican Party would stand for suddenly came out crystallised. It was a magnificently clear statement. And another interesting things about reading Emma Goldman is that you immediately see that, consciously or not, she's the source of the best in Ayn Rand. She has the essential points that the Ayn Rand philosophy thinks, but without any of this sort of crazy solipsism that Rand is so fond of, the notion that people accomplish everything all in isolation. Emma Goldman understands that there’s a social element to even science, but she also writes that all history is a struggle of the individual against the institutions, which of course is what I’d always thought Republicans were saying, and so it goes.In other words, in the Old Right, there were a lot of statements that seemed correct, and they appeal to you emotionally, as well; it was why I was a Republican—isolationist, anti-authoritarian positions, but they’re not illuminated by anything more than statement. They just are good statements. But in the writings of the anarchists the same statements are made, but with this long illumination out of experience, analysis, comparison…it's rock-solid, and so I immediately realised that I'd been stumbling around inventing parts of a tradition that was old and thoughtful and already existed, and that's very nice to discover that—I don't think it's necessary to invent everything.”

Karl Hess (1923–1994) American journalist

Anarchism in America http://alexpeak.com/art/films/aia/ (15 January 1983)

Jeremy Corbyn photo

“I have never been a supporter of or an apologist for Saddam Hussein. Indeed, I recall many lonely occasions in the House when I spoke against Saddam Hussein, his genocide against the Kurdish people and the way that the British Government were financing the re-arming of Iraq. Indeed, the chemical weapons being manufactured in Iraq largely comprise chemicals made in western Europe and north America. Some £1 billion was loaned to Saddam Hussein by British banks, with the agreement of the British Government. His power is largely the creation of western Europe and north America. I do not support him and I do not think that he was right to invade Kuwait…The only purpose of sending troops to the region is to defend and guarantee oil supplies. I find it difficult to accept that the United States is merely defending a small country against a larger country. If that were true, why were Grenada and Panama invaded? What was the Vietnam war about, other than a powerful United States wishing to extend its control and influence throughout the world? …If the shooting starts and there is war in the Gulf, the retaking of Kuwait will not be a clean, clinical operation—it will be a filthy and long war with hundreds of thousands of dead, and at the end of that war there will still have to be negotiations on the future order and the future government of that area and those countries.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1990/nov/07/first-day in the House of Commons (7 November 1990).
1990s

Russell L. Ackoff photo

“Managers cannot learn from doing things right, only from doing them wrong”

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) Scientist

Source: 2000s, A little book of f-laws: 13 common sins of management, 2006, p. 37 cited in: Andrew Carey (2008) Inside Project Red Stripe: Incubating Innovation and Teamwork at the Economist. p. 49.

Octave Mirbeau photo
Boris Johnson photo
Xun Zi photo
David Mermin photo
Doug Stanhope photo
Stella Vine photo
James Bradley photo
Edward R. Murrow photo
Paul Simon photo

“Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind…”

Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer

Bridge over Troubled Water
Song lyrics, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)

Sarah Dessen photo
Charles Krauthammer photo
Joe Higgins photo
Peter Weir photo
Adam Smith photo
Enver Hoxha photo

“Our only "crime" is that in Bucharest we did not agree that a fraternal communist party like the Chinese Communist Party should be unjustly condemned; our only "crime" is that we had the courage to oppose openly, at an international communist meeting (and not in the marketplace) the unjust action of Comrade Khrushchev, our only "crime" is that we are a small Party of a small and poor country which, according to Comrade Khrushchev, should merely applaud and approve but express no opinion of its own. But this is neither Marxist nor acceptable. Marxism-Leninism has granted us the right to have our say and we will not give up this right for any one, neither on account of political and economic pressure nor on account of the threats and epithets that they might hurl at us. On this occasion we would like to ask Comrade Khrushchev why he did not make such a statement to us instead of to a representative of a third party. Or does Comrade Khrushchev think that the Party of Labor of Albania has no views of its own but has made common cause with the Communist Party of China in an unprincipled manner, and therefore, on matters pertaining to our Party, one can talk with the Chinese comrades? No, Comrade Khrushchev, you continue to blunder and hold very wrong opinions about our Party. The Party of Labor of Albania has its own views and will answer for them both to its own people as well as to the international communist and workers' movement.”

Enver Hoxha (1908–1985) the Communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of L…

Speeches, Moscow Address

Alauddin Khalji photo

“They took captive a great number of handsome and elegant maidens, amounting to 20,000, and children of both sexes, 'more than the pen can enumerate'… In short, the Muhammadan army brought the country to utter ruin, and destroyed the lives of the inhabitants, and plundered the cities, and captured their offspring, so that many temples were deserted and the idols were broken and trodden under foot, the largest of which was one called Somnat, fixed upon stone, polished like a mirror of charming shape and admirable workmanship' Its head was adorned with a crown set with gold and rubies and pearls and other precious stones' and a necklace of large shining pearls, like the belt of Orion, depended from the shoulder towards the side of the body….
'The Muhammadan soldiers plundered all these jewels and rapidly set themselves to demolish the idol. The surviving infidels were deeply affected with grief, and they engaged 'to pay a thousand pieces of gold' as ransom for the idol, but they were indignantly rejected, and the idol was destroyed, and 'its limbs, which were anointed with ambergris and perfumed, were cut off. The fragments were conveyed to Delhi, and the entrance of the Jami' Masjid was paved with them, that people might remember and talk of this brilliant victory.' Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Amen! After some time, among the ruins of the temples, a most beautiful jasper-coloured stone was discovered, on which one of the merchants had designed some beautiful figures of fighting men and other ornamental figures of globes, lamps, etc., and on the margin of it were sculptured verses from the Kurdn. This stone was sent as an offering to the shrine of the pole of saints… At that time they were building a lofty octagonal dome to the tomb. The stone was placed at the right of the entrance. "At this time, that is, in the year 707 h. (1307 a. d.), 'Alau-d din is the acknowledged Sultan of this country. On all its borders there are infidels, whom it is his duty to attack in the prosecution of a holy war, and return laden with countless booty."”

Alauddin Khalji (1266–1316) Ruler of the Khalji dynasty

Somnath. Abdu’llah ibn Fazlu’llah of Shiraz (Wassaf) : Tarikh-i-Wassaf (Tazjiyatu’l Amsar Wa Tajriyatu’l Ãsar), in Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III : Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. pp. 43-44. Also quoted in Jain, Meenakshi (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts.
Quotes from The History of India as told by its own Historians

Haj Amin al-Husseini photo

“Arise, o sons of Arabia. Fight for your sacred rights. Slaughter Jews wherever you find them. Their spilled blood pleases Allah, our history and religion. That will save our honor.”

Haj Amin al-Husseini (1895–1974) Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader

Voices of Palestine http://frontpagemag.com/2011/frontpagemag-com/voices-of-palestine-haj-amin-al-husseini/
Alleged quotes

Frederik Pohl photo
Ulysses S. Grant photo

“The reporter's right; people are tired of war. If we don't destroy Lee's army? Lincoln could be defeated in November, and the Union? Gone forever. Only unconditional surrender will give us a lasting peace.”

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States

North and South, Book II https://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=vopVVBiC80g#General_Grant_s_Strategies (1986).
In fiction, <span class="plainlinks"> North and South, Book II http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090490/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast (1986)</span>

“The right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same thing.”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 61

James Russell Lowell photo
H.L. Mencken photo
Alfred de Zayas photo
Gianfranco Fini photo
Joe Biden photo
Ta-Nehisi Coates photo

“I'm getting screwed today. Right in the mouth.”

Radio From Hell (July 8, 2005)

Paul Mason (journalist) photo
Ralph Bunche photo
Daniel Handler photo

“At this point in the dreadful story I am writing, I must interrupt for a moment and describe something that happened to a good friend of mine named Mr. Sirin. Mr. Sirin was a lepidoptrerist, a word which usually means "a person who studies butterflies." In this case, however, the word "lepidopterist" means "a man who was being pursued by angry government officials," and on the night I am telling you about they were right on his heels. Mr. Sirin looked back to see how close they were--four officers in their bright-pink uniforms, with small flashlights in their left hands and large nets in their right--and realized that in a moment they would catch up, and arrest him and his six favorite butterflies, which were frantically flapping alongside him. Mr. Sirin did not care much if he was captured--he had been in prison four and a half times over the course of his long and complicated life--but he cared very much about the butterflies. He realized that these six delicate insects would undoubtedly perish in bug prison, where poisonous spiders, stinging bees, and other criminals would rip them to shreds. So, as the secret police closed in, Mr. Sirin opened his mouth as wide as he could and swallowed all six butterflies whole, quickly placing them in the dark but safe confines of his empty stomach. It was not a pleasant feeling to have these six insects living inside him, but Mr. Sirin kept them there for three years, eating only the lightest foods served in prison so as not to crush the insects with a clump of broccoli or a baked potato. When his prison sentence was over, Mr. Sirin burped up the grateful butterflies and resumed his lepidoptery work in a community that was much more friendly to scientists and their specimens.”

Lemony Snicket
The Hostile Hospital (2001)

Patrick Rothfuss photo
Alfred de Zayas photo

“All peoples have the right of self-determination.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order on the right of self determination http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/Reports.aspx.
2015, Report submitted to the UN General Assembly

Richard Bertrand Spencer photo

“No individual has a right outside of a collective community. You have rights, not eternally or given by God, or by nature.”

Richard Bertrand Spencer (1978) American white supremacist

Spencer interview with Dinesh D'Souza for the documentary Death of a Nation: Can We Save America a Second Time?

George Galloway photo
Robert Silverberg photo
Victor Villaseñor photo
Mitt Romney photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Dennis Skinner photo
Ray Comfort photo
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“Certainly after all you are right, damn well right - even making allowance for hope, the thing is to accept the probably disastrous reality. I am hoping to throw myself once again wholly in my work which has got behind hand.”

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

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, France, 29 March 1889; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 582), p 25
1880s, 1889

Larry Bird photo
Grover Cleveland photo

“The greatest business people I've met are determined to get it right no matter what the cost.”

Michael E. Gerber (1936) American business writer

Source: The E-Myth Revisited, 1995, p. 5

Ned Kelly photo
Richard Rodríguez photo
Jason Mewes photo
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge photo
Keith Olbermann photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
John Magufuli photo

“While reiterating Tanzania's support to the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration”

John Magufuli (1959) Tanzanian politician

President of the United Republic of Tanzania Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli has reaffirmed the support of his country to the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination said in a letter President of Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, on the occasion the celebrations in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of proclamation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, quoted on AllAfrica, "Tanzania: President of Tanzania Reiterates Support to Right of the Saharawi People to Self-Determination" http://allafrica.com/stories/201603011576.html, February 28, 2016.

Paul Watson photo

“I don't eat fish because there is no such thing as sustainable fishing in the world right now.”

Paul Watson (1950) Canadian environmental activist

The Philosophy of Paul Watson By Frank Johnson https://books.google.com/books?id=QfGXBAAAQBAJ

Nadine Gordimer photo
Frances Kellor photo
Joseph Massad photo
Al Sharpton photo
Margaret Thatcher photo
Benito Mussolini photo
William O. Douglas photo

“The law is not a series of calculating machines where answers come tumbling out when the right levers are pushed.”

William O. Douglas (1898–1980) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

"The Dissent: A Safeguard of Democracy," 32 Journal of the American Judicial Society 104, 105 (1948).
Other speeches and writings

Salvador Dalí photo
William L. Shirer photo
Jozef Israëls photo

“As the paintings the 'Night Watch' and the 'Staalmeesters' [famous works of Rembrandt ] are showed now it is clear to everyone that they have searched but, indeed messed with it, to enable these paintings to do what they can do [visually]. But you see, they did not find a good solution just because they appreciated the museum itself [a rather new building, then! ] higher than the paintings themselves. I told at the very first opening of the Rijksmuseum [1885] already everyone who wanted to listen to me: in this room, where the Night Watch' is hanging now, it can never comes to its full right…. There must be built for the 'Night Watch' and for the 'Staalmeesters' a separate room each…. [with] standing light and the paintings positioned on an easel or standard behind…. I just want to add here, that my own studio can serve as a very special model…. concerning the sizes and the lighting.”

Jozef Israëls (1824–1911) Dutch painter

Quote from Israëls' letter to the Dutch Minister S. van Houten, 4 Nov. 1894; as cited in In het Rijksmuseum, Jan Veth (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek); Holkema's Boekhandel http://docplayer.nl/42488824-In-het-rijksmuseum-door-jan-veth-met-twee-brieven-van-jozef-israels-holkema-s-boekhandel-i-4-november-mdcccxciv.html, Amsterdam, 1894, p. 10
During Israel's whole artistic life Rembrandt was his inspiration and had a strong impact on his own painting-style
Quotes of Jozef Israels, 1871 - 1900

Howard Stern photo