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Quotations Central website Quotes,on health,  mind, body,  spirit, MIND/Body, Positive Psychology, Alternative Health,  stress, laughter, ADHD, heart, including unusual topics-- words that are metaphors, like ,deep,  muscle, silence, awakening, wonder, touch.

Favorite Quotations As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.  And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.  Justice William O. Douglas  

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and  more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious  day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Mandate? My ass!! Airamericaradio Nov. 9,2004

How do we nurture the healing side of religion over the killing side? How do we protect the soul of democracy against bad theology in service of an imperial state? Bill Moyers, Aug 2004

A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run." Elbert Hubbard

"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

"It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable."  Jean Baptiste Moliere

...more Americans voted against George Bush than any sitting president in history. Howard Dean, Nov. 3, 2004

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King

"I think the Florida election was stolen as were the elections in many, many states." Bev Harris blackboxvoting.org

I think in losing we find out who that person really is... Candace Crowley, CNN Nov 3, 2004, on Kerry concession speech.

Iraq is awash with tens of thousands of tons of explosives because we did not provide enough security when we entered Iraq .     David Kaye

"The corporatization of the press really has hurt the press." Howard Dean, on Tim Russert Show, 10/02/04

Every motherf*ckin' vote counts. Eminem

Jay Leno mentioned the bulge in Bush's Jacket at the first debate. John Edwards replied, "I Thought it was his battery."

If you're not a target, you're a failure. G. Gordon Liddy

"The Future Belongs to Freedom, Not to Fear" John Kerry

"Kerry's Probably Back in the game now." David Gergen

Cheneyism of the week: This one by Saxby Chambliss: "If we capitulate, if we change horses in mid stream, then the terrorists win." said to Judy Woodruff, on CNN

"George Bush has allowed radical Islamic Militants to isolate the U.S. instead of the U.S. isolating Islamic militants." John Kerry , Sept 24, 2004

We added more debt since George Bush than we added from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. John Kerry 9/8/04

Everything that Cheney and Bush say, as usual, is the opposite of what's true. Maureen Dowd on CNN's Aaron Brown 09/02/04

In war, God is not on either side, but in peace He is on both sides. Steve Consilvio

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush at signing of $417 billion defense spending bill.

:"It is through the truthful exercising of the best of human qualities - respect for others, honesty about ourselves, faith in our ideals - that we come to life in God's eyes. It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting." Bruce Springstein

"Feith had achieved the reputation in some military circles as 'the dumbest . . . guy on the planet.'" General Tommy Franks

"Life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values." Rev. Al Sharpton, 2004 Democratic Convention

"We need to take a different approach to the gathering storm that is the enormous hostility to us in the Muslim world. It's a very, very potent worry that could make the worry about al-Qaeda pale in comparison." Jamie Gorelick, 9/11 Commissioner

Asking if Kerry is as bad as Bush is like asking if a slap in the face is as painful as a brick to the skull. Greg Palast

"I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. ". John Kerry 2004 Dem Convention

We have found the terrorists and they are us! This is exactly why I have switched from being a lifelong conservative Republican to the Democratic Party. Conservative Republicanism is like a flesh eating disease that is devouring itself----flesh, bones, body and soul. It is not a place that any conservative, patriotic American nor church-going compassionate Christian (nor any other religious/spiritual person) should be identifying with. Its like a nightmarish six headed, fire breathing dragon lashing out at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I wonder who will win? James Boyne, article in OpEdNews.com

Trust is very much a part of our democracy. Jimmy Carter Democratic Convention 2004

"There's that old saying, You win some, you lose some... and then there's that little known third category. " Al Gore, Democratic Convention 2004

"Dick Cheney has the most powerful job in the world... telling George Bush What to do." Paul Begala, on Crossfire 7/19/04

"people are poor because they're lazy," George Bush, as quoted by Yoshihiro Tsurumi, a prof.at Harvard MBA program

Faith with no deeds is dead. ..John Kerry, address to 2004 NAACP meeting. 7/15/04

 ... the most pessimistic thing you can say is that America can't do any better than it is doing today. John Kerry, address to 2004 NAACP meeting. 7/15/04

"Same sh*t different a**hole," caption on a screen showing Bush and Hitler at an Ozzy Osbourne concert

The nation was not founded by habitual groupthinkers. But it stands a fair chance of being destroyed by them. Barbara Ehrenreich, NY Times, July 15, 2004

he'll have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar. Peter Townsend Commenting on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11

When most of our journalists fail us, it's hardly surprising that the few who are brave enough to expose the lies of the powerful become heroes, even if their work is pretty coarse. When a scruffy comedian from Michigan can bring us closer to the truth than the BBC, it's time for a serious examination of why news has become the propaganda of the victor. George Monbiot 7/12/2004

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." --Abraham Lincoln

"Fury is an entirely appropriate response to a system that sends young people to kill other young people in a war that never should have been waged. Yet the American right is forever trying to pathologise anger as something menacing and abnormal, dismissing war opponents as hateful and, in the latest slur, "wild-eyed". This is much harder to do when victims of wars begin to speak for themselves: no one questions the wildness in the eyes of a mother or father who has just lost a son or daughter, or the fury of a soldier who knows that he is being asked to kill, and to die, needlessly." Naomi Klein

"Latins for Republicans. It's like roaches for Raid." John Leguizamo, a comedian and actor who is Puerto Rican

Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 5 and 6:

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

I'm not going to condone, I'm not going to overly criticize the language they use to express themselves. Hypocrite Senator Bill Frist, (R) to Wolf Blitzer, on Late Edition, 6/26/04 commenting on Dick Cheney telling Senator Leahy to Go F*ck Himself, while on the Senate Floor. And then they approve fining Howard Stern and raise fines for obscenity in the media. F**king Hypocrites!! 

"Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man... , But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians -- wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage." Ron Reagan told mourners at his sunset service in California June 2004

Denial is the number one aspect of medicine. That's why people don't get check-ups. Larry King on discussing his book about heart attack June 23, 2004

"I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war than I do George Bush. The reason is, Blair knows better,... Blair is not an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy?" Michael Moore in reuters interview cited in Guardian

...we get the kind of heroes we deserve. Our celebrities reflect our values and desires....Our cult of a fame that is not accompanied by the requirement of heroic altruism may symbolise a chronic selfishness and triviality in western culture that are symptomatic of cultural decline and also politically dangerous. Karen Armstrong,  article, From Buddha to Beckham, Guardian

Sometimes I think the networks are more powerful than the president of the United States. Amy Goodman, on C-Span June 6, 2004

"..the seven words we can't say. There are about 70 now. We just got a memo".Don Imus to George Carlin

When you lose your job, the unemployment rate isn't four percent, it's 100 percent. Thomas Friedman,   on Paula Zahn Now show,CNN, June 3, 2004

Visions are contagious. They animate and empower. They literally transform - from the small (family, community, region) to the entire planet. And they can just as easily be toxic as positive, a reality our Founders both knew and used. Thom Hartmann May 31, 2004

It must kill George Bush that John McCain is the most popular and Beloved Republican in America.

Paul Begala Crossfire May 28, 2004

There's a terrible sense of dread filtering across America at the moment and it's not simply because of the continuing fear of terrorism and the fact that the nation is at war. It's more frightening than that. It grows out of the suspicion that we all may be passengers in a vehicle that has made a radically wrong turn and is barreling along a dark road, with its headlights off and with someone behind the wheel who may not know how to drive.

 -Bob Herbert May 24, 2004 NY Times

"You know back in 2000 a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true." --James Carville

"There are certain principles in life that transcend patience, and one of them to me is the obligation not to discriminate against people." Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor, on opening marriage licenses to Gays.

He transplanted a spine into the presidential campaign.         NY Times on Howard Dean

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president . . . right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-- Teddy Roosevelt, 1918

"I despise this war, and 99.9% of the people I served with feel the same way. We should bring our troops home now."

Army Reservist Charity Thompson, after returning from Iraq.

"From the first month of the Bush administration, I have heard complaints from old military hands - some in uniform, some not - that the new secretary's (Rumsfeld) arrogance and insularity were creating a dysfunctional Pentagon,"      Robert Novak

"This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts," George Will

classic quotations

Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act. Annie Besant

Liberty is a great celestial Goddess, strong, beneficent, and austere, and she can never descend upon a nation by the shouting of crowds, nor by arguments of unbridled passion, nor by the hatred of class against class.                             Annie Besant

I will suggest that the great aim of our education is to bring out of the child who comes into our hands every faculty that he brings with him, and then to try to win that child to turn all his abilities, his powers, his capacities, to the helping and serving of the community which is a part. Annie Besant

The heart will listen when the eyes are closed. The heart will hear when the mind is shut. The heart will move you when you feel you have nothing left. Stories talk to the heart. Our stories will rescue the heart of America. Rob Kall

From CNN: Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett told CNN that in 1997, he overheard Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff while Bush was Texas governor, tell the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard to gather Bush's files and "make sure there wasn't anything there that would embarrass the governor." About 10 days later, Burkett said, he saw many of Bush's files in a trash can. (Guardsman says he saw Bush's Guard records in trash)

Not watching TV -- and not wanting to be on TV -- has in itself become a form of virginity in America, rarer than the other kind, so rare as to be poignant. There was nothing fun about watching it being violated for public consumption, even if the Deans were wholly complicit in their own video deflowering.

Frank Rich, commenting on the Deans appearance on TV with Diane Sawyer,in his article What's Love Got to Do With It?

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..taxing less and spending more... it's fun in the short run, but it's a recipe for disaster.

Bill Clinton

According to one recruiter, the war in Iraq is having a toll: 'it is harder to get young people to see the opportunities the Army can provide when they are barraged with daily death tolls from Iraq.'"

The measurement in this race is not where you come from, it is "what do you fight for."

Not one Republican president has balanced the budget in 34 years. You can not trust republicans with your money.

If O'Neill is telling the truth - and we have no reason to doubt his veracity - there's serious doubt about the loyalty of this administration to America.

I think we're dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame."

Wesley Clark

This president cares more about corporations than he does about the people of the United States of America.. and we're gonna change that. 

Howard Dean

Kucinich once again won applause by supporting the creation of a clear path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and by characterizing the Bush Administration's new immigration proposal as "indentured servitude."  The Statue of Liberty, Kucinich said, does not say "Give us your poor and your tired, and we'll fingerprint them, we'll take their photograph, and we'll deport them after we've gotten their work out of them."

"From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." Howard Dean

"Throughout history, even the harshest and most shameful measures are regularly accompanied by professions of noble intent -- and rhetoric about bestowing freedom and independence."

Noam Chomsky

The inadequate, unrealistic planning for the occupation of Iraq will never be admitted publicly, but it is common knowledge at high levels of the administration.

Robert Novak

In his memoirs, "A World Transformed", written five years ago, George Bush, Sr., wrote the following to explain why he didn't go after Saddam Hussein at the end of the first Gulf War:

"Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible......we would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq......there was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles.
Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we
hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."

The real job of your life is to figure out what IS the job of your life-- your calling. ... what motivates me is being able to fulfill my potential, is always trying to best what I've done.

Oprah Winfrey, on Larry King, 12/9/03

Bush and Kerry use the F Word

From CAP's Progress Report:

Now

"I'm very disappointed that he would use that kind of language. I'm hoping that he's apologizing."

- White House Chief of Staff Andy Card on Sen. John Kerry's use of profanity, 12/7/03

THEN

"F--- Saddam. We're taking him out."

- President Bush, March 2002

"There's Adam Clymer, major league a**hole from the New York Times."

- President Bush, 9/4/2000

"'What do you and [your father] talk about?' 'p*ssy,' George W. replied."

- Salon, 4/9/99

"You no good f---ing sonofa b*tch. I will never f---ing forget what you wrote."

- George W. Bush, April 1986

"Oxycontin should only be used as bait when going after large mouth bass."

Anderson Cooper, on Rush Limbaugh accusing the police of going on a fishing expedition regarding his drug use.  

"Privatisation is presented as being the only alternative to an inefficient, corrupt state. In fact, it is not a choice at all... it is a mutually profitable business contract between the private company (preferably foreign) and the ruling elite of the Third World."

Arundhati Roy

...it's all connected anyway, isn't it? I mean sound and color are the same thing, it's all vibration. So if it makes people feel good, like the music and my voice did, and still does hopefully, that's what it's all about, making people feel good."

Annie Haslam, singer for Rennaisance, on her painting

Getting Democrats organized is like herding cats."

Al Sharpton

Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that rips me apart, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.

--Jorge Luis Borges

Hope""what's the alternative to it""despair. Hope is what made this country what it is.

Studs Turkel (on the Thom Hartmann Show)

The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or woman.

It's really hard to impose democracy. It has to emerge naturally. You have to get out of the way and let it happen.

General Wesley Clark

If you want to rock the Vote, You have to Rock the Boat.

The worst of Nature brings out the best in our fellow human beings.

George W. Bush, on the way neighbors were helping each other after 2003 Southern California Fires.