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“For years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.”
— Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, during 1953 confirmation hearings to be Eisenhower’s Secretary of Defense. Wilson was asked by the Senate Armed Services Committee if, as Secretary of Defense, he could make a decision adverse to the interests of General Motors and responded by saying he could not conceive of any such conflict.
H/T to Arjun Jaikumar
I know President Bush and Vice President Cheney talk with regularity. I know the former president appreciates Dick’s forthright defense of the administration’s polices. And I know Vice President Cheney understands the special role that the former president occupies.
— Karl Rove, quoted by Politico, suggesting former President Bush is supportive of former Vice President Cheney speaking out against President Obama
There is no such thing as a bad system of government. Not even Communism. It is the men who execute it who make it good or bad.
— Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1975) Dictator of Argentina
Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.
— Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
It is force, not opinion, that queens it over the world, but it is opinion that looses the force.
— Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French mathematician, philosopher
Education is a weapon whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
— Josef Stalin (1879-1953) ruler of the U.S.S.R.
Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.
— Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, in April 1999, referring to the war in Kosovo
I was, I am, I will be, is a question of grammar and not of existence.
— B.M. Cioran (1911- ) Romanian-born philosopher
Saints are usually killed by their own people.
— Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) American journalist, TV commentator
As mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more able to allow that those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality.
— George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the United States
