OK, let's have a "Quotes" thread!

Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius In short, stop being "human"?

Not at all. Humanity has also positive traits not just negative. Besides:

Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste. ~Brecht

Originally Posted by Germany_chris No be Buddhist

Originally Posted by enorbet Though perhaps Buddhism may{...}

What is this? Where did you see Buddhism? Try searching next time? I guess it could be Taoism since character is from China BUT quote is quote not because of origin. There is a reason why we have quote authors mentioned. Here's more:

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. ~Plato

Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.– Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Whitney v. California [1927]

^ Good quote! Reminded of this:

"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil; tvtropes

^^^ good book, only bested by ecce homo

Of great importance to the public is the preservation of this personal liberty; for if once it were left in the power of any the highest magistrate to imprison arbitrarily whomever he or his officers thought proper, (as in France it is daily practised by the crown,) there would soon be an end of all other rights and immunities. Some have thought that unjust attacks, even upon life or property, at the arbitrary will of the magistrate, are less dangerous to the commonwealth than such as are made upon the personal liberty of the subject. To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.– William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England [1753]

Almost forgot to add:

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” ~Les Brown

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.– H.L. Mencken

The more enlarged a mind becomes in its views of men and the world, the less it will be disposed to denounce the varieties of opinion and pursuit, and the more it will enjoy the benevolent results to which wisdom and philosophy point. A narrow mind chafes itself by its own prejudices; but a man, who is accustomed to generalize his observations, principles, and feelings, and to subdue his prejudices by a practical philanthropy, acquires an habitual superiority to the inequalities and provocations of society, and has learned the divine art of extracting good from evil.– Amasa Delano, A Narrative of Voyages and Travels [1817]

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
Mark Twain

The above concept (phrased poorly in different way) always struck me as one of the most important things most people ought to understand, but don't. So I went looking to see who supposedly originated it and how they phrased it. I don't know if the attribution to Twain is correct. I think the phrasing attributed to Twain is weak, but I haven't seen it phrased really well and the concept is very good.

Originally Posted by cousinlucky Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.– H.L. Mencken

Most of the online quotes of that use the word "each" not "one" and that makes the quote make sense. But many online sources use "one".

It is so easy to find bad info with google and on something like this, I don't know any easy way to find out what the original was.

Let us therefore, without regarding the ridiculous, narrow, and dishonest notions of selfish and inconsistent men, who say and do contradictory things, make general liberty the interest and choice, as it is certainly the right of all mankind; and brand those as enemies to human society, who are enemies to equal and impartial liberty.- Thomas Gordon, Preface to Cato's Letters [1724]

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on United States government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. -Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page

from the movie wizards the best threat I h ave ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rF2y7oMlQg

31:36 in to the movie

"let me down or hurt my friends especially the broud and I've got stuff planed that would tack 20years to kill you and you'll be screaming for mercy in the first 5seconds "

I think I know how to do that

"never argue with a fool people may not know the deference"by George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

"expectations are the root of all disappointments" by Major Malfunction
"anyone who can honestly watch there own thoughts will see that we talk our selves in to most of our negative emotions " by Major Malfunction

We don't need nations, and we don't need flags and armies to make us prosperous. All we need is voluntary private cooperation, and the feeling of solidarity and prosperous interdependence that comes from human creativity unleashed.– Michael Munger, "The Case for Voluntary Private Cooperation" [April 16, 2014]

“The life of the individual has meaning only insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful. Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.” Albert Einstein

And people say there were no smart people in past.