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What we do in life echoes in eternity. [Maximus Decimus Meridius] In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. [Mark Twain] Truth is the first casualty of war. [Various] Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and pray for peace. We must march together, all out for God. [George S. Patton] Life is the purpose of life. [Mea Culpa] Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. [Viktor Emil Frankl] Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. [Frederich Schiller] They are there, by your side, they seem normal, but they are superheroes. Even if I were fully vaccinated, I would admire the unvaccinated for standing up to the greatest pressure I have ever seen, including from spouses, parents, children, friends, colleagues and doctors. People who have been capable of such personality, such courage and such critical ability undoubtedly embody the best of humanity. They are found everywhere, in all ages, levels of education, countries and opinions. They are of a particular kind; these are the soldiers that any army of light wishes to have in its ranks. They are the parents that every child wishes to have and the children that every parent dreams of having. They are beings above the average of their societies, they are the essence of the peoples who have built all cultures and conquered horizons. They are there, by your side, they seem normal, but they are superheroes. They did what others couldn't, they were the tree that withstood the hurricane of insults, discrimination and social exclusion. And they did it because they thought they were alone, and believed they were alone. Excluded from their families' Christmas tables, they have never seen anything so cruel. They lost their jobs, they let their careers sink, they had no more money... but they didn't care. They suffered immeasurable discrimination, denunciations, betrayals and humiliations... but they continued. Never before in humanity has there been such a casting, we now know who the resisters are on planet Earth. Women, men, old, young, rich, poor, of all races and all religions, the unvaccinated, the chosen ones of the invisible ark, the only ones who managed to resist when everything fell apart, collapsed. It's you, you've passed an unimaginable test that many of the toughest marines, commandos, green berets, astronauts and geniuses couldn't pass. You are made of the stuff of the greatest that ever lived, those heroes born among ordinary men who shine in the dark. [General Christian Blanchon, September 13, 2022] The target you watch is the target you hit. [Mea Culpa] This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you. They are given to me by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life as they are given to me, you taste them, and I know that you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life. I know it is good; and when I tell you of these things which are given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and rejoice more and more. [Joseph Smith jr.] Change is the only constant. [Heraclitus of Ephesus] It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. Oh! how I would delight to bring before you things which you never thought of! But poverty and the cares of the world prevent. [Joseph Smith jr.] The right question is usually more important than the right answer. [Plato] I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm yet deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance to the poor, than the long, smooth faced hypocrite. [Joseph Smith jr.] I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. [Aristotle] I will from time to time reveal to you the subjects that are revealed by the Holy Ghost to me. All the lies that are now hatched up against me are of the devil, and the influence of the devil and his servants will be used against the kingdom of God. The servants of God teach nothing but principles of eternal life, by their works ye shall know them. A good man will speak good things and holy principles, and an evil man evil things. I feel, in the name of the Lord, to rebuke all such bad principles, liars, etc., and I warn all of you to look out whom you are going after. I exhort you to give heed to all the virtue and the teachings which I have given you. [Joseph Smith jr.] If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them. [George Orwell] I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen. [Joseph Smith jr.] For two years one learns to speak, and then, for the rest of one's life, one learns to be silent. [Aristotle] I am not like other men. My mind is continually occupied with the business of the day, and I have to depend entirely upon the living God for everything I say on such occasions as these [a funeral]. [Joseph Smith jr.] Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. [Otto von Bismarck] Had I inspiration, revelation, and lungs to communicate what my soul has contemplated in times past, there is not a soul in this congregation but would go to their homes and shut their mouths in everlasting silence on religion till they had learned something. [Joseph Smith jr.] Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. [Henry Ford] Why be so certain that you comprehend the things of God, when all things with you are so uncertain? You are welcome to all the knowledge and intelligence I can impart to you. [Joseph Smith jr.] What we learn from history is that no one learns from history. [Otto von Bismarck] Some people say I am a fallen Prophet, because I do not bring forth more of the word of the Lord. Why do I not do it? Are we able to receive it? No! not one in this room. [Joseph Smith jr.] Freedom is a luxury few can afford. [Otto von Bismarck] My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. [Henry Ford] We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world. [Otto von Bismarck] Economics was long ago called "The Dismal Science", and for a very good reason: It poured cold water on all sorts of wonderful-sounding ideas. [Thomas Sowell] When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. [Henry Ford] A healthy man wants a thousand things; a sick man only one. [Confucius] You can't learn in school what the world is going to do next year. [Henry Ford] One of the first things taught in Statistics textbooks is that correlation is not causation. It is also one of the first things forgotten. [Thomas Sowell] A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. [Henry Ford] You'll never get to heaven 'til you're sick and tired of hell. [Mea Culpa] Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving. [Henry Ford] "Equal respect" is an internally contradictory evasion. If everything is respected equally, the term, respect, has lost its meaning. [Thomas Sowell] Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. [Anthony Weldon - The Court and Character of King James] When people are presented with the alternatives of hating themselves for their failure or hating others for their success, they seldom choose to hate themselves. [Thomas Sowell] He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions. [Confucius] Nobody is equal to anybody. The same man is not equal to himself on different days. [Thomas Sowell] Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. [Benjamin Franklin] Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true, but many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly, and repitition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence. [Thomas Sowell] The gem can not be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials. [Confucius] It is usually futile to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance. [Thomas Sowell] Live your life as an exclamation, not as an explanation. [Isaac Newton] The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their Sociology department. [Thomas Sowell] He who asks a question is a fool for a moment; he who does not is a fool for life. [Confucius] One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain. [Thomas Sowell] Life's biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon, and wise too late. [Benjamin Franklin] If the world were the way the left conceives it to be, it would be a better world than the way the right conceives it to be. It just happens that the world is not that way. [Thomas Sowell] The hard work of the future will be pushing buttons. [Nikola Tesla] History is what happened, not what we wish had happened, or what theory says should have happened. History connot be prettified in the interest of promoting acceptance, or mutual respect among peoples and cultures. [Thomas Sowell] Choose a profession you love, and you will never work a day in your life. [Confucius] History can be as cruel to theories as it has been to people. [Thomas Sowell] Study the past if you would divine the future. [Confucius] There's much in the history of every people that does not deserve respect, whether with individuals or with groups. [Thomas Sowell] Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today. [Benjamin Franklin] What has been called "living in harmony with nature" can also be called stagnating in poverty amid potential wealth. [Thomas Sowell] Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. [Confucius] Even those in the Western Hemisphere who hate European civilization express that hatred in a European language, and denounce it as immoral by European standards of morality. [Thomas Sowell] Tact is the knack for making a point without making an enemy. [Isaac Newton] When Benjamin Franklin was asked what the Constitutional Convention was producing, he replied, "A republic, madam, if you can keep it." Those who wrote the Constitution of the United States understood that a self-governing society was an experiment, and one that was not guaranteed against failure. [Thomas Sowell] Give a man a bowl of rice, and you will have fed him for a day; teach him how to grow his own and you will have saved his life. [Confucius] If you cannot tolerate imperfections, be prepared to kiss your freedom goodbye. [Thomas Sowell] Well done is better than well said. [Benjamin Franklin] The universe was not made to our specifications. Nor were human beings. So, there is nothing so surprising in the fact that we are dissatisfied with many things at many times. [Thomas Sowell] It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop. [Confucius] It was once the proud boast of educators that "We are here to teach you how to think, not what to think." But today, all too many educators see the classroom as a golden opportunity for them to indoctrinate a captive audience. [Thomas Sowell] It's not enough to use the right words; they must come from the right dictionary. [Mea Culpa] Races may prefer one race to another, but they prefer themselves to anybody else. [Thomas Sowell] Once you label me, you negate me. [Søren Kierkegaard] The welfare state is the oldest con-game in the world: First you take people's money away quietly, then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly. [Thomas Sowell] We have two lives, and the second begins when we recognize that we have only one. [Confucius] Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of the 'diversity' that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen, written in blood, from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It's scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repitition of a word. [Thomas Sowell] Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt. [Benjamin Franklin] There are no dead-end jobs; only dead-end people. Our current social philosophy, and the welfare-state apparatus based on it, are creating more dead-end people. [Thomas Sowell] Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand. [Confucius] No amount of taxation is ever described as 'greed' on the part of the government, or the clientele of the government. [Thomas Sowell] The best and free medicine is hunger. [Isaac Newton] If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room. [Confucius] At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; at forty, judgement. [Benjamin Franklin] Attack the evil within yourself rather than the evil in others. [Confucius] Time will judge us. [Nikola Tesla] He who flatters a man is his enemy. He who tells him of his faults is his savior. [Confucius] Lost time is never found again. [Benjamin Franklin] I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand. [Confucius] Nature is pleased with simplicity, and nature is no dummy. [Isaac Newton] It is easy to hate, and difficult to love. This is a universal law. All good things are difficult to achieve, but bad things are very easy to get. [Confucius] An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. [Benjamin Franklin] To see what is right, and not do it, is the worst cowardice. [Confucius] You belong to the army whose uniform you wear. [Mea Culpa] Your life is what your thoughts make it. [Confucius] Haste makes waste. [Benjamin Franklin] When a goal is out of reach, don't adjust the goal; adjust your reach. [Confucius] No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. [Isaac Newton] By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest. Second, by imitation, which is easiest. And, third, by experience, which is bitterest. [Confucius] If a man empties his purse into his head, no one may take it from him. [Benjamin Franklin] Before seeking revenge, dig two graves. [Confucius] What one man calls God, another calls the laws of physics. [Nikola Tesla] Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. [Confucius] Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead. [Benjamin Franklin] If they spit at your back, it means you're ahead of them. [Confucius] A man may imagine things which are false, but he can only understand things which are true. [Isaac Newton] What you never do once, you'll never do twice. [Mea Culpa] Fear not that no one knows you. Rather strive to be worth knowing. [Confucius] Never ruin an apology with an excuse. [Benjamin Franklin] Roads were made for journeys, not destinations. [Confucius] Knowledge is a wealth that cannot be stolen. [Søren Kierkegaard] Many people die at twenty-five, and aren't buried until they are seventy-five. [Benjamin Franklin] He who thinks half-heartedly will not believe in God, but he who really thinks has got to believe in God. [Isaac Newton] Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you will have done much to abolish misery from their future, and crimes from society. [Benjamin Franklin] While it is patently true that there must be opposition in all things, it is just as true that mercy must never rob justice. [Mea Culpa] I don't care that they stole my idea; I care that they don't have any of their own. [Nikola Tesla] Keep your eyes wide open before marriage; half shut afterwards. [Benjamin Franklin] As a blind man has no concept of color, so we have no concept of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. [Isaac Newton] You will find the key to success under the alarm-clock. [Benjamin Franklin] Those who tell the stories rule society. [Plato] Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it is. [Benjamin Franklin] The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane. [Nikola Tesla] (This was a jab at Einstein and his theory of Relativity.) If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some. [Benjamin Franklin] The tyrant dies, and his rule is over. The martyr dies, and his rule begins. [Søren Kierkegaard] To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girlfriends. [Benjamin Franklin] Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more. [Nikola Tesla] Fatigue is the best pillow. [Benjamin Franklin] Merciful Father, I have squandered my days with plans of many things. This was not among them. But, at this moment, I beg only to live the next few minutes well. For all we ought to have thought, and have not thought; all we ought to have said, and have not said; all we ought to have done, and have not done; I pray thee God for forgiveness. [The prayer of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his Viking comrades, facing certain death in the face of the onrushing Wendol horde] We never live; we are always in the expectation of living. [Voltaire] The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another, and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. [James Matthew Barrie] Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. [Voltaire] Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults. [Benjamin Franklin] If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration. [Nikola Tesla] (In other words, The Father, the Son, and the Spirit.) Bad people live to eat and drink. Virtuous people eat and drink in order to live. [Plato] Our brain has very sensitive nerve cells, which allow us to feel the truth even when it is not yet available. [Nikola Tesla] You may not be able to judge a book by its cover, but books do not choose their own covers; men do. [Mea Culpa] Most people are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. [Nikola Tesla] A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. [Samuel Adams] The action of even the smallest creature leads to changes in the entire universe. [Nikola Tesla] We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. [Plato] As I review the events of my past life, I realize how subtle are the influences which shape our destinies. [Nikola Tesla] Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots. [Nikola Tesla] If any man preaches to you, doctrines contrary to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Book of Doctrine & Covenants, set him down as an imposter ... Try them by the principles contained in the acknowledged word of God; if they preach, or teach, or practice contrary to that, disfellowship them; cut them off from among you as useless and dangerous branches. [Joseph Smith jr., Times & Seasons April 1, 1844] In continuous loneliness, the mind becomes sharper and sharper. [Nikola Tesla] Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. [Plato] A new idea must not be judged on its immediate results. [Nikola Tesla] A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] My belief is firm in the law of compensation: The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labor and sacrifices made. [Nikola Tesla] Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. [Plato] Intuition precedes knowledge. [Nikola Tesla] It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. [Voltaire] There is nothing that more deserves to attract human attention, and to be a subject of study, than nature. [Nikola Tesla] The measure of a man is what he does with power. [Plato] If praying is like writing a letter home, then fasting is like hand-delivering it. [Mea Culpa] To understand a huge mechanism of nature, to discover its creative forces, and to understand its laws - this is the greatest goal of the human mind. [Nikola Tesla] Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] The secret to being creative is being alone. Ideas are born in loneliness. [Nikola Tesla] Courage is knowing what not to fear. [Plato] God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. [Voltaire] When men speak ill of thee, live so as no one may believe them. [Plato] All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; second it is violently opposed; third it is accepted as self-evident. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. [Plato] A [MAN] should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. [Robert A. Heinlein] There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless. [Plato] Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] Poets [prophets] utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand. [Plato] Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. [Voltaire] Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another. [Plato] No rose without a thorn, but many a thorn without a rose. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. [Plato] Our forefathers in the most remote ages have handed down to their posterity a tradition, in the form of a myth, that these [celestial] bodies are gods, and that the divine encloses the whole of nature. The rest of the tradition has been added later in mythical form with a view to the persuasion of the multitude and to its legal and utilitarian expediency; they say these gods are in the form of men or like some of the other animals, and they say other things consequent on, and similar to these which we have mentioned." [Aristotle, Metaphysics Book 12] If you were answered with silence, this does not mean that you were not answered. [Plato] Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every reunion a hint of the resurrection. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] Win your friends not with empty flattery, but with sincere words of love. [Plato] First rule of warfare: Don't be there. There is no wrong interpretation of this. [Mea Culpa] Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. [Voltaire] Drunkenness does not give rise to vices; it reveals them. [Plato] Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them; but, as a rule, the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] The gift of mental power comes from God, Devine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. [Nikola Tesla] I have long held the opinion that the amount of noise a man can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity, and can, therefore, be regarded as a pretty fair measure of it. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. [Voltaire] Nature shows that, with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] The glory of God is intelligence. [Jesus Christ, Doctrine and Covenants 93:36] The more stupidity is repeated, the more it appears to be wisdom. [Voltaire] The more intelligent a man is the less mysterious existence seems to him. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. [Thomas Sowell] It is often the case that people of noble character and great mental gifts betray a strange lack of worldly wisdom and a deficiency in the knowledge of men, more especially when they are young. [Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, section 29] ...for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. [Jesus of Nazareth, New Testament, Luke 16:8] For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things. [Jesus Christ, Doctrine and Covenants 88:40] Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their time. [Voltaire] No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for. [Voltaire] Hell is empty and all the devils are here. [William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Ferdinand, as he leaps into the sea] It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. [Voltaire] Human behavior flows from three main sources: Desire, Emotion and Knowledge. [Plato] I marvel at that society, so numb to its own hypocrisy, that it claims, in all seriousness, that diversity is its highest virtue, while, in literally the same breath, insisting that there are no such differences as race and gender. [Mea Culpa] It is with books as with men: A very small number play a great part. [Voltaire] Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. [William Shakespeare, Henry V, Chorus] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [Jesus of Nazareth] It is better to spare the guilty than to condemn the innocent. [Voltaire] I wasted time, and now doth time waste me. [William Shakespeare, Richard II, King Richard II] A state can be no better than the citizens of which it is composed. Our labor now is not to mold states, but to make citizens. [Voltaire] Those with more dollars than sense will acquire sense at the cost of many dollars. [Mea Culpa] Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. [Psalms 127:1] He must be very ignorant, for he answers every question he is asked. [Voltaire] Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear. [William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, King Henry the VIII] Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we become aware of it. [Joseph Goebbels] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. [Proverbs 9:10] ... says the same thing as ... The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name. [Confucius] ... but do you know why? Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. [Aristotle] An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers. [Plato] Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud. [Sophocles] The Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge, of a man who is of the literal seed of Abraham, than one that is a Gentile, though it may not have half as much visible effect upon the body; for as the Holy Ghost falls upon one of the literal seed of Abraham, it is calm and serene; and his whole soul and body are only exercised by the pure spirit of intelligence; while the effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile, is to purge out the old blood, and make him actually of the seed of Abraham. That man that has none of the blood of Abraham (naturally) must have a new creation by the Holy Ghost. In such a case, there may be more of a powerful effect upon the body, and visible to the eye, than upon an Israelite, while the Israelite at first might be far before the Gentile in pure intelligence. [Joseph Smith jr.] Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. [William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar] Difficulties are things that show a person what they are. [Epictetus] A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. [William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Touchstone] How often have you seen a headline like this? -- TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price. Weakness? It might be the unique strength that wins us a galaxy. [Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers] Carpe Diem: The fish you have to give a man every day because he's too lazy to dig for worms. [Mea Culpa] No legacy is so rich as honesty. [William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Ariel] Unless science is controlled by a greater moral force, it will become the Antichrist prophesied by the early Christians. [Charles Lindbergh] The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. [William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Ariel] Would to God, brethren, I could tell you who I am! Would to God I could tell you what I know! But you would call it blasphemy, and there are men upon this stand who would want to take my life. [Joseph Smith jr., as quoted by Orson F. Whitney in Life of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Kimball Family, 1888), 322] Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. [Benjamin Franklin] If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. [John Quincy Adams] How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child! [William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Ariel] The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. [William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice] Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny. [Aristotle] Eureka! [Archimedes of Syracuse] If I am so fortunate as to be the man to comprehend God, and explain or convey the principles to your hearts, so that the Spirit seals them upon you, then let every man and woman henceforth sit in silence, put their hands on their mouths, and never lift their hands or voices, or say anything against the man of God or the servants of God again. ... If I am bringing you to a knowledge of Him, all persecutions against me ought to cease. You will then know that I am His servant; for I speak as one having authority. [Joseph Smith jr., Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith] And if we go to hell, we will turn the devils out of doors and make a heaven of it. [Joseph Smith jr., Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith] The opinions of 10,000 men are of no value if none of them knows anything about the subject. [Marcus Aurelius] When you have something to say, silence is a lie. [Jordan B. Peterson] ... and I have something to say. [Mea Culpa] Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. [Frédéric Bastiat] The Child is father of the Man. [William Wordsworth, My Heart Leaps Up] The thug is aware that loudness convinces sixty persons where reasoning convinces but one. [Mark Twain, Is Shakespeare Dead?] If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink and sleep, and does not comprehend any of the designs of God, the beast comprehends the same things. It eats, drinks, sleeps, and knows nothing more about God; yet it knows as much as we, unless we are able to comprehend by the inspiration of Almighty God. If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves. [Joseph Smith jr., The King Follett Discourse] I may not always walk the straight and narrow, but I sure in hell try to cross it as often as I can. [J. Golden Kimball] The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart. And through all human hearts, this line shifts inside us; it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains an uprooted small corner of evil. [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956] ... and who can destroy a piece of his own heart? [Mea Culpa] Roman matrons once admonished their sons to return from war with their shields or on them. This practice eventually declined. So did Rome. [Plutarch, Moralia] God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way. [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity] It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us in trouble; it's the things we know that ain't so. [Artemus Ward] Traditions are the solutions to problems long forgotten, which return when the traditions themselves are forgotten. [Unknown] And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it. [Joseph Smith jr., Doctrine & Covenants 127:2] My brain is only a receiver. In the universe, there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists. [Nikola Tesla] It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface, and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. [Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark] [... who should have heeded his own advice] I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did. [Henry James] Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] The exaltation and happiness of any community, goes hand in hand with the knowledge possessed by the people, when applied to laudable ends; whereupon we can exclaim like the wise man; righteousness exalteth a nation; for righteousness embraces knowledge and knowledge is power. [Joseph Smith jr., Times and Seasons, 15 August, 1842] The Spirit of God speaking to the spirit of man has power to impart truth with greater effect and understanding than the truth can be imparted by personal contact even with heavenly beings. Through the Holy Ghost, the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten. [Joseph Fielding Smith] Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. [Joel 3:10] The most beautiful words I have ever heard were when my child told someone else, "My father taught me ..." [Mea Culpa] I desire the Spirit of God to know and understand myself, that I might be able to overcome whatever of tradition or nature that would not tend to my exaltation in the eternal worlds. I desire a fruitful, active mind, that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God, when revealed through His servants without doubting. [Emma Smith in a letter to Joseph Smith jr.] May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy. [George Washington] Cultures don't blend; they clash. [Thomas Sowell] What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter so long as they are contented?' We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'a good time was had by all.' [C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain] When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers. [NOT Socrates] The one who learns and learns and doesn't practice is like the one who plows and plows and never plants. [Plato] Yea, he [Satan] saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him. [God, via Joseph Smith jr., Doctrine & Covenants 10:25] Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction. [Sophocles, Antigone] Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Prometheus, The Masque of Pandora] All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration, and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. [Max Planck] (The Grandfather of Quantum Physics) History doesn't repeat; it rhymes. [Various] Some people say a person receives a position in this church through revelation, and others say they get it through inspiration, but I say they get it through relation. If I hadn't been related to Heber C. Kimball I wouldn't have been a damn thing in this church. [J. Golden Kimball] One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. [Will Durant] Creativity is intelligence having fun. [Various] If you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't, then you might as well be damned for doing. [Mea Culpa] It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers. [Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear] Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire. [Joseph Smith jr.] Money is the god of our time, and Rothschild is his prophet. [Heinrich Heine, poet, philosopher, Jew, and Banker's son] No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth. [NOT Plato] If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. [NOT Mark Twain] This above all: to thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man [William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Polonius] The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] Rebuke flattery; compliments are insults in disguise. [Mea Culpa] Bach wrote on the title page of his Orgelbüchlein: "To the glory of the most high God, and that my neighbour may be benefited thereby." That is what I would have liked to say about my work. [Ludwig Wittgenstein] [and echoed by me] The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity-thou must commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart! [Joseph Smith jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith jr., 137 (25 March 1839)] If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten; Either write things worthy of reading or do things worthy of the writing. [Benjamin Franklin ... maybe] Science advances one funeral at a time. [Max Planck, Planck's principle] ... or, in other words ... A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. . . . An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth. [Max Planck, Scientific autobiography, 1950, p. 33, 97] Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. [Hypatia] The Tragic Cycle never ends. You may pause it briefly, perhaps even reverse it slightly, but, like the sun over Gibeon, night eventually comes. But so, too, does the dawn. [Mea Culpa] Thus ... The Phoenix only ever rises from the ashes of what went before. [Mea Culpa] Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] Then out spake brave Horatius, the Captain of the gate: "To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?" [Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome] If we subscribe to Benjamin Franklin's assertion that, 'Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.', then how can we expect any less of those we would 'liberate'? How can we justify surrendering our safety to buy their liberty, a gift whose value is only fully appreciated by those who've had to sacrifice for it? Send them your hopes, your prayers, perhaps even the means needed to free themselves, but do not send them your sons, and do not let them shirk their duty in your lands. Demand of them that they free themselves in their own. [Mea Culpa] The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. [Robertson Davies] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. [Hosea 4:6] Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. [Adam Smith] We will not be the lesser sons of greater fathers, in whose mighty company we will then not be ashamed to stand. [J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Théoden, king of Rohan] Corporal punishment is to physical abuse what medicine is to drug abuse. There is no fine line between them; they are worlds apart. [Mea Culpa] There is no heavier burden than a 'great potential'. [Linus van Pelt] Lo, There do I see my Father. Lo, There do I see my Mother and my Brothers and my Sisters. Lo, There do I see the line of my people back to the beginning. Lo, They do call to me. They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla; Where mine enemies have been vanquished; Where the brave shall live Forever; Nor shall we mourn, but rejoice for those that have died the glorious death. [1st century Norse prayer] To myself, I am only a child playing on the beach while vast oceans of knowledge lie undiscovered before me. [Isaac Newton] My name is Gladiator. [Maximus Decimus Meridius] |