I have had a series of quotes on my homepage,
and rather than delete the old ones completely, I have collected them
here together with the date I first used them. Although I try to
only use accurate quotes, there's always the chance that I have made
a mistake, and I would welcome any corrections. A useful website
on Questionable Quotes
debunks some quotes as urban legends.
--John Sullivan
- Sep 2001
- "Those who would give up essential Liberty,
to purchase a little temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." --Benjamin Franklin,
reply of the Pennsylvania assembly to the Governor, Nov 11, 1755
(This became the motto of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1759.)
- Nov 2001
- "The President is merely the most important among a large number
of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to
the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct,
his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and
disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is
absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell
the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as
necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does
right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and
servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only
unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one
else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or
unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
--Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, 1918,
in his essay "Lincoln and Free Speech".
(The whole essay is available in his collected works,
published in 1926 by Scribner.)
- Sep 2002
- Goering: "Why, of course, the people don't want war.
Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war
when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm
in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war;
neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in American,
nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood.
But, after all, it is the leaders of
the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple
matter to drag the people along,
whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament,
or a communist dictatorship."
Gilbert: "There is one difference. In a democracy the people have
some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in
the United States only Congress can declare wars."
Goering: "Voice or no voice, the people can always
be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have
to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists
for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
It works the same in any country."
--Nazi leader Hermann Goering, iterviewed by Gustave Gilbert during
the Easter recess of the Nuremberg trials, 18 April 1946,
quoted in Gilbert's book Nuremberg Diary
- Nov 2002
- " Q: "If you were young again, would you start writing TeX again
or would you use Microsoft Word, or another word processor?"
A: "I hope to die before I have to use Microsoft Word."
--Harald Koenig asking Donald Knuth, Tübingen, 2001 Oct 2.