Excellent Quote

“My darkness has been filled with the light of intelligence, and behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling and groping in social blindness” ~Helen Keller

Inspiring wisdom

"The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker."

"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant."

"There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."

"Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained."

~Helen Keller

I was looking for just one Keller quote that I saw on a mural in the Polk County Activities Center this weekend. I never could find it, but I did find a whole slew, which I posted on this and two other blogs! You knew that Keller overcame deafness and blindness to become an inspiring speaker and accomplished author- but did you know that she was an outspoken opponent of war, that she she campaigned for women's right to vote, workers' rights, racial tolerance and many other progressive causes?

Responsibility and Compassion

"We are all called to give back. Since there is nothing we can take with us from this life, we should try to leave behind as much as possible- it's a basic and well known truth. Those of us who have been blessed with worldly success have an even greater responsibility to make an impact with our time, talents, and resources; as we are reminded in the Gospels, 'From him to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48).'"

~John Wooden, 'A Game Plan for Life,' 2009

Great Quotes

"We claim we believe in compassion, which is an abstract, and when it's personified we discredit the man"
— Mort Sahl


"The distance between taking social action and having the knowledge is as wide as the mouth of the Mississippi."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"I don't think fascism is dying for."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"That feeling of hopelessness only serves your masters."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"You know what I want you to do? I want you to blow out the candle and curse the darkness."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)

"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."
— Mort Sahl


"The bravest thing that men do is love women."
— Mort Sahl


"You haven't lived until you've died in California"
— Mort Sahl


"Washington couldn't tell a lie, Nixon couldn't tell the truth, and Reagan couldn't tell the difference."
— Mort Sahl


"Reagan won because he ran against Jimmy Carter. If he ran unopposed he would have lost."
— Mort Sahl


"A conservative is someone who believes in reform. But not now."
— Mort Sahl

Poetry is Painting

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."
— Leonardo da Vinci

The ultimate philosophical quote

"stercus accidit"
~David Hume (1711 – 1776) Scottish Empiricist philosopher, economist, and historian

Right makes might, not vice versa

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than eviltriumphant."
~ Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes from an Iowa statesman

"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends." ~Henry A. Wallace

"A liberal knows that the only certainty in this life is change but believes that the change can be directed toward a constructive end." ~Henry A. Wallace

Has anyone seem my friend Bobby?

Robert Francis Kennedy

November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968

If only he had not been shot down in Los Angeles in June, August in Chicago would've been different. November 1968 would've been different. We may have left Vietnam 5 years and thousands of lives sooner. And Watergate would just be a hotel and a salad. If only.

"All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.


But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.

I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. "

Another quote that may be read in history books

"America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals."

~Sen Barack Obama, 6/3/2008

Words that will be written in history books

"What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize."

~Sen. Barack Obama

This has been a dramatic difference between Republicans and Democrats since the days of Joseph Mccarthy in the 1950s. Religion should be a tie that binds, not a tool for political leverage. And TRUE patriotism is standing up for the principals embodied in the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights- not just the flag or the pledge or some comfortable, capitalist, WASP way of life. It's not a lapel pin.

Choose hope over fear? Yes we can.

I ♥ Doonesbury

Sum of the problem

I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam: 'Who's telling the truth over there?'

'Everyone,' he said. 'Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience.'

~Bill Moyers

When I read this, I had to post it since my column this week mentions similarities between Iraq and Vietnam.

Molly Ivans

Mort Sahl

Jeff MacNelley

Hunter S. Thompson

Mike Royko

Great Quote

"Anyone who is different today faces harassment, whether it is in the way he dresses, or in the position he takes on important issues. And when the price of being different is a cold fear, with good reason, then freedom as we peddle it in our international publicity releases is gone. If and when it disappears, it won't be stolen by big government, the tax collector, or the Supreme Court. Fascism will be the people's choice. It usually is. We've managed to avoid it so far only because nobody nutty enough to give the people what they want has come along. Yet. "

~Mike Royko

Great Quote

"I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil.
And that no one knows the truth."

~Molly Ivins