Chains

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.
--Rosa Luxemburg

Capitalism

For my part I think that capitalism, wisely managed, can probably be made more efficient for attaining economic ends than any alternative system yet in sight, but that in itself it is in many ways extremely objectionable.
--John Maynard Keynes

Sacred

There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
--Wendell Berry

Life

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
--Oscar Wilde

Gangs

This is not a collegial body anymore. It is more like gang behavior.
--Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN, since 1982)

Aspire

That's the "war without end" objection. It's not that it will take a long time. It's that it will take forever, and we will cease being what we aspire to be in the meantime.
--Carlo Graziani

Fear

Fear is the foundation of most governments.
--John Adams

The Machine

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.
--Mario Savio (Sproul Hall, UC Berkeley, 1964)

Beautiful Place

The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don't mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun
if you don't mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don't sing
all the time.
--Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Labor

The labor movement means just this: it is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.
--Wendell Phillips (b. 1811)

Traces of Happiness

This is the aim of my explorations: examining the traces of happiness still to be glimpsed.
--Italo Calvino

Money

We see 10 million commercials a day, and every day is the same life-killing chase for money, money and more money; the only thing that changes from minute to minute is that every tick of the clock brings with it another space-age vendor dreaming up some new way to try to sell you something or reach into your pocket.
--Matt Taibbi

The Dots

You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
--Steve Jobs

Disconnect

The disconnect between the seriousness of our angst and the silliness of our politics--between how big our problems are and how hopeless or just plain stuck the people who are supposed to address them seem--defies belief.
--Frank Bruni

Success

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.
--Thomas Wolfe

Champion

We forget that the United States is to boardroom looting what Nigeria is to email scams--the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
--Brett Arends

Truth

The definition of hell: truth realized too late.
--E. O. Wilson

Experience

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
--Oscar Wilde

Be...

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few.
--Benjamin Franklin

Remembering

Some would have us believe that remembering every year has no significance, that it is laughable, that it is important to move past the memory of a thing to create art, or to make jokes, or to have a new and different life. Those things happen, because time will not allow us to remain physically in one position. Remembering is about being human. It is about being alive.
--Kara VanderBijl