Category: Verbatim

The enthusiasm for war, and the predatory temper of which it is the index, prevail in the largest measure among the upper classes, especially among the hereditary leisure class.

— Thorsten Veblen (1887-1929), American social scientist

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

— Oscar Wilde

The only unnatural sex act is that which you cannot perform.

— Alfred Kinsey

The first 20 stories written about a public figure set the tone for the next 2,000, and it is almost impossible to reverse it.

— Charles W. Colson, White House aide

The most tyrannical governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.

— Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet and fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.

— Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961), American writer, Nobel Prize 1954

National hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, dramatist, philosopher

The right of a minority is to draw its salaries, and its function is to make a quorum.

— Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902), Speaker of the House of Representatives

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

— Woody Allen

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.

— George Santayana (1863-1952), American skeptical philosopher