"Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power chooses to prohibit."
Freda Adler
"In a democracy, we have always had to worry about the ignorance of the uneducated. Today we have to worry about the ignorance of people with college degrees."
Thomas Sowell
"The natural tendency of every government is to grow steadily worse-that is, to grow more satisfactory to those who constitute it and less satisfactory to those who support it."
H.L. Mencken
"A conspiracy is nothing but a secret agreement of a number of men for the pursuance of policies which they dare not admit in public."
Mark Twain
"Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out."
Anton Chekov
"When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place."
J. W. Goethe
"Modern government interference with business is a policy of protecting influential pressure groups from the effects of free competition in an unhampered market economy."
Ludwig von Mises
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back - Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
William H. Murray
"The next morning we heard that the closing session had lasted all night and that Khrushchev had made a speech of several hours, denouncing Stalin as a monster who had created a cult of personality. Khrushchev said that Stalin had murdered not only citizens, but even good communists. During the speech, a delegate yelled out, "Comrade Khrushchev, where were you when Stalin was doing all these terrible things?" Khrushchev shouted, "Who is that? Stand up!" No one rose. Khrushchev said, "That comrade is where I was."
Daniel Schorr
"Everyone likes to say 'Hitler did this' and 'Hitler did that'. But the truth is Hitler did very little. He was a world class asshole, but the evil actually done, from the death camps to WWII was all done by citizens who were afraid to question if what they were told by their government was the truth or not, and who because they did not want to admit to themselves that they were afraid to question the government, refused to see the truth behind the Reichstag Fire, refused to see the invasion by Poland was a staged fake, and followed Hitler into national disaster."
Michael Rivero
Glyme's formula for success: The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.
Handy guide to modern science: If it's green or wriggles, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it doesn't work, it's physics.
Green's law of debate: Anything is possible if you don't know what you're talking about.
Stewart's law of retroaction: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Muir's law: When we try to separate anything out by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
Oliver's law of location: No matter where you go, there you are.