We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing, "What is real?" Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power, that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. ~Philip K. Dick
#quotes #philip-k-dick #society #government #media #religion

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb
#proverbs #african-proverbs #history #reality

Something will be there when the flood recedes. We know that. It will be those people now standing in the water, and on those rooftops, many black, many poor. Homeless. Overlooked. And it will be New Orleans, though its memory may be shortened, its self-gaze and eccentricity scoured out so that what's left is a city more like other cities, less insular, less self-regarding, but possibly more self-knowing after today. A city on firmer ground. ~Richard Ford
#quotes #richard-ford #poverty #floods #new-orleans

I frankly encountered more anti-Semitism in the northeast than I did in Oklahoma, but not much either place. Anti-Semitism is not part of my life. ~Tim Blake Nelson
#quotes #tim-blake-nelson #anti-semitism

Children suck the mother when they are young and the father when they are old. ~English Proverb.
#proverbs #english-proverbs #parents

Africa is our center of gravity, our cultural and spiritual mother and father, our beating heart, no matter where we live on the face of this earth. ~John Henrik Clarke
#quotes #john-henrik-clarke #africa

I got picked on a lot, even by teachers too. I liked to listen to musicals and bake, and my homeroom teacher found out and mocked me in front of the whole class for baking. ~Dan Savage
#quotes #dan-savage #baking

Now, being in Africa, I was hungry for more of it, the changes of the seasons, the rains with no need to travel, the discomforts that you paid to make it real, the names of the trees, of the small animals, and all the birds, to know the language and have time to be in it and to move slowly. ~Ernest Hemingway
#quotes #ernest-hemingway #africa #travel

The present can try to bury the past, an operation that is most atrocious when it is most successful. ~Mary McCarthy
#quotes #mary-mccarthy #present #past #memories

Silence is a fence around wisdom. ~German Proverb
#proverbs #german-proverbs #silence #wisdom

The devil takes a hand in what is done in haste. ~Turkish Proverb
#proverbs #turkish-proverbs #haste

The nature of the South is changing faster than the stereotypes are. Much of the South now looks like San Jose. Is it still southern? ~John Shelton Reed
#quotes #john-shelton-reed #south #san-jose

I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny. ~Barbara Mertz
#quotes #barbara-mertz #ideas #criticism

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. ~James Madison
#quotes #james-madison #government #power

I love South American food, and I haven't really been down there. I really need a vacation. ~Nate Silver
#quotes #nate-silver #eating #vacation #south-america

I always had this energy level that made me want to come to New York. ~Roy Ayers
#quotes #roy-ayers #new-york

Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses. ~Charles Evans Hughes
#quotes #charles-evans-hughes #government

Thousands of climate scientists agree that global warming is not only the most threatening environmental problem but also one of the greatest challenges facing all of humanity. We must demand a separation between oil and state. We can get off oil and slow global warming. ~Leonardo DiCaprio
#quotes #leonardo-dicaprio #humanity #environment

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill
#quotes #winston-churchill #government #democracy #stupidity

Is it right to shoot the poor prostitute or a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, or a man who loves another man? ~Oriana Fallaci
#quotes #oriana-fallaci #ethics

They said to the wolf, "For what art thou following those poor little sheep?" He replied, "The dust upon which they tread is good for poor little eyes!" ~ Arabic Proverb
#proverbs #arabic-proverbs

Health care is not about insurance! Health care is about getting treatment. ~P. J. O'Rourke
#quotes #p-j-o-rourke #health #insurance #medicine

God help the rich man, let the poor man beg. ~English Proverb
#proverbs #english-proverbs #wealth

Conservatives brayed that government should stay out of the private sector; liberals bleated for nationalizing the banks. ~Steven Rattner
#quotes #steven-rattner #government #liberalism #conservativism

You will never enjoy the sweetness of a quiet prayer unless you shut your mind to all worldly desires and temporal affairs. ~Norbert of Xanten
#quotes #norbert-of-xanten