What is your favorite quote? And why?

[cafolini]

Some persons have what has been called “presence.” This is an unexplainable ability to enter a place and change the disposition of the audience in their absolute favor. David Letterman, Larry King, and Jay Leno, some of the very best interviewers of the 20th century recognized this “presence.” There have been several people in history that have had it. To mention a few: Cyrus the Great of Fars, Alfred the Great of England, Eleanor Roosevelt at the UN, Lew Wasserman of MCA, Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show. ~ C A Cafolini

[cafolini]

Russian president Putin is one of those guys who often makes me smile and sometimes laugh out loud. He plays it as if the UN were a body of people able to make decisions regarding how we in USA will act. But the UN is an advisory organ, not a decision-making one.
Regarding Syria and the gasing of rebels we will act according to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’s best interest, regardless of the stupid KGB blah-blah of Dicktopped Putin. We have demonstrated this again and again and will do it once more for sure. ~ C A Cafolini

[cafolini]

Memorable quotes from basic training in the 60's.

This is my weapon
this is my gun
this is for fighting
this is for fun.

***
-What is the spirit of the bayonet?
-To kill, sergeant, sir. To kill.
-How many kinds of bayonet fighters are there?
-The quick and the dead, seargent, sir. The quick and the dead.

[Emil Miller]

I just found this from Thomas Pynchon, it's an acute observation on the cabalistic nature of politicians; especially in relation to their desire to bomb Syria without proof or legality.

Quotation:

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers."

[cacian]

''to understand life you must conquer right, and to do that you must live prosper and give ''

''to infinity a beyond and to the beyond a long, let both bond, to you there is mond''

[cafolini]

Tyrants, despots and nepotists are so much the same in their obstinacy that they cannot be dealt with other than by getting them out of their posts by whatever means are available. ~ C A Cafolini

The last words of Saddam Husain:

I am the president of Iraq and I'm willing to negotiate ~ Ace in the hole.

I am Saddam. Allah loves me ~ Close to death.

When president Videla, in Argentina was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes:

"Going to prison is just another service I'll render my country."

[Bleeding Pawn]

“You must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul.” - Ratatouille

[cafolini]

Today there is no quote that could reach the memorial that is taking place as the families of the victims of 9/11 read the names.

[Bleeding Pawn]

Some problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors. - D.Brown.

[cafolini]

It is true that if the Syrians of Assad use chemical weapons, we should attack their headquarters without delay. But Assad's army already killed tens of thousands with so-called conventional weapons and we should arm the rebels like we did in Lybia. Assad, like one more Gadaffi that will eventually bite the dust, will scream "kill the rats," to the heavens just like Gadaffi did. We have to, we must help get him and his out of there without delay. ~ C A Cafolini

[Melanie]

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

[cafolini]

Once I met a man, born into Islam. He was an exiled like myself (whatever that is). He was a good man from Iraq and very ingenious, industrious, and more. We could talk many subjects, for he was well read. He would tell me stories about the torture chambers of Chemical Ali in the fascist government of Saddam Husain, how he had been in jail for months and how his good fortune had finally liberated him. He was a relative to one of the powerful hypocrites in government and by the pleading of his wife he was given a ticket to exile in America.
One day we were discussing the Quran, Mohamed’s exile from La Mecca to Yatrib, later known as Medina (The City of the Prophet), and the battles that were fought against the tribes until by the time of his death he had the Arabs at his feet.
Suddenly he started telling me that the Quran was a revelation, for it was impossible for Mohamed to have created it. He said, “Mohamed didn’t know his *** from a hole in the ground. He was an analphabet, a very poor man.”
I began thinking of Handel’s famous Messiah and paralleling it, “Unto us a true prophet is born, and the government shall rest upon his shoulder.”
But he was no longer listening. He had gone into a trance, as if seeking the unspeakable. And that, my friends, was the funniest joke a Muslin ever told me.

C A Cafolini

[cafolini]

1. Understanding the meaning of morals requires the following thoughts.

We invented the word immorality to hide from ourselves a clear understanding of morals. Naturally we then think of bad morals as immoral. But morals are a gift of pre-eminence, a-priori. This gift lets us judge what's convenient or inconvenient to us, that is, good or bad morals. You may consider this a gift of God or not. I prefer to look at it that way, but it is irrelevant in the actual context. Bad morals are the ones of a criminal. They are simply not convenient morals. Good morals are the ones of a law-abiding citizen. They are simply convenient morals. And in this regard, if you grasp this, the word "immorality" in contrast to "morality" loses the feigned meaning and disappears as such. Also in knowing this, any "amorality" becomes impossible, for a moral judgment is always imperative in behavior calls. Hope you get this. It's the way it ist, ex-ist, and makes sense at once. ~ C A Cafolini

[Buckthorn]

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

[cafolini]

In college, you learn how to learn. Four years is not too much time to spend at that. ~ Mary Oliver