ctwillie’s Submitted Quotes

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument.

A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.

Pessimist (n.) One who believes, accurately, that all is for the worst in the worst of all possible worlds; see "realist"

ANTONYMS: Optimist, Dumb-ass

The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won't come.

If you wake up and you're not in pain, you know you're dead.

Each new morn,
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face

Why the need for “But let me be clear” — unless what preceded it most certainly was not too clear?

[L]ook around. See the miracles the private sector does–you can stick a piece of plastic in the wall and cash will come out. You can go to a foreign country, hand that piece of plastic to a total stranger that does not even speak your language and he will rent you a car... When you get home Visa or MasterCard will have the accounting correct to the penny. Government cannot even count votes accurately.

Better an end with horror, than a horror without end.

The strategy is to get it out of the dumper. We tried something, [inexpensive, prime-time soap operas] which was a spectacular failure. Failure is never permanent unless you accept it. That type of programming didn't work, so we got rid of it, and we started other things.

The problem with most people who don't succeed is that they see options…It's the way I was brought up. I dug ditches, I put in sewer pipe, I put in guardrail. When I was 18, my dad looked at me and said, "Where are you going?… You can't live here….You going to go in the service? (continues in Notes)

You can't sell a book in America if you don't dump on Bush. That's the cheapest shot in the world. You cannot get an advance, and you can't sell a book because the publishers are all people who hate Bush and the Republicans.

When I see something [in the news] particularly horrible about America that I think is a little out of proportion to what is actually going on, I call up the desk and say, "Do you have any pictures of people lined up at the border trying to get out?"
(Quote continued in Notes)

If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

...he wasn't a very heavy weight, intellectually. His head was an hour-glass; it could stow an idea, but it had to do it a grain at a time, not the whole idea at once.

One cannot have everything the way he would like it. A man has no business to be depressed by a disappointment, anyway; he ought to make up his mind to get even.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

"If you can't tear down the wall, at least wear down the rock."

"You can change what you want or you can wish for what you need."

"If your interests aren't special to you, they sure as hell aren't going to be special to anybody else."