Look Down

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
--Lyndon B. Johnson

Youth

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.
--Robert F. Kennedy

One Half

I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
--Jay Gould (19th century financier)

Awareness

Eternity is there and I was hoping for it. What I wish for now is no longer happiness but simply awareness.
--Albert Camus

In The Name Of

In the end, when you see what can be done in the name of God, it makes you wonder what is left for the devil.
--Anonymous (note left at memorial in Brussels, March 2016)

Engagement

This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen. It's also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.
--Rebecca Solnit

Who They Are

When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.
--Maya Angelou

Empathy

Empathy--the ability to feel with another, regardless of whether she or he is a friend, an intimate, an enemy, or an oddity--is a critical component of what makes us human, and humane.
--Meg Corning

Seductive

That's seductive, being paid attention to. That's almost all you have to do to win someone over, is just to see them.
--Dana Spiotta

The Difference

The difference between an amateur and a professional is that an amateur really likes everything they do.
--Bob Mankoff

Owners

It's worth being reminded every so often that in the higher consciousness of the bourgeoisie, nations and all other social arrangements exist only in order to generate payments to owners of financial assets.
--J. W. Mason

Lost

I am free and that is why I am lost.
--Franz Kafka

Cats

There once were two cats in Kilkenny,
Who thought there was one cat too many;
So they quarrelled and fit
They scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails, and the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there wasn't any.
--Folk ditty

Thinker

The thinker does not sit down and say to himself: "Now I am going to think out the relations between so and so." The process is not so much an active as a passive one. In short the thinker dreams over his subject.
--Rosamund E. M. Harding

Unwise Love

We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.
--Patrick Rothfuss

Organize

Poor folks ain't got a chance,
unless they organize.
--Florence Reece (Which Side Are You On?)

Liberal

The tolerance and pluralism of liberal societies can often be exploited or assaulted; this does not make tolerance wrong, nor does it show that pluralism is doomed.
--Adam Gopnick

Chaos

I gave in to chaos. The universe is full of it. Black holes eating solar systems. Species wiped out.
--John F. McBride

Ripple

Let's throw this pebble into the water, it may not go far in the beginning, but it will ripple out.
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Will

Man will sooner will nothingness than not will.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Enables

A good rule of thumb to distinguish between the biological and mythological is that biology enables, culture forbids.
--Yuval Noah Harari