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Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith (Arabic: بهائية, Baha'iyyah), pronounced /bəˈhaɪ/, is a monotheistic religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. Three core principles establish a basis for Bahá'í teachings and doctrine: the unity of God, that there is only one God who is the source of all creation; the unity of religion, that all major religions have the same spiritual source and come from the same God; and the unity of humanity, that all humans have been created equal, and that diversity of race and culture are seen as worthy of appreciation and acceptance.
 * See also:
 * Bahá'u'lláh
 * Báb
 * 'Abdu'l-Bahá

Báb (1819–1850)

 * The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.
 * Persian Bayan, VII, 19

 * It is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God's tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God's method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future!
 * Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 74–77

 * There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God's Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence, which is naught but the presence of God, to sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.
 * Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 74–77

 * How vast the number of people who are well versed in every science, yet it is their adherence to the holy Word of God which will determine their faith, inasmuch as the fruit of every science is none other than the knowledge of divine precepts and submission unto His good-pleasure.
 * Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 88

 * He hath everlastingly existed and will everlastingly continue to exist. He hath been and will ever remain inscrutable unto all men, inasmuch as all else besides Him have been and shall ever be created through the potency of His command. He is exalted above every mention or praise and is sanctified beyond every word of commendation or every comparison. No created thing comprehendeth Him, while He in truth comprehendeth all things.
 * Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 112–113

Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892)

 * Consort with all religions with amity and concord, that they may inhale from you the sweet fragrance of God. Beware lest amidst men the flame of foolish ignorance overpower you. All things proceed from God and unto Him they return. He is the source of all things and in Him all things are ended.
 * The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 254
 * This passage echoes the Quranic saying Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un ("surely, we belong to Allah and to Him do we all return"), which is found in Q 2:156.

 * Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
 * Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 93

 * O people of Baha! The source of crafts, sciences and arts is the power of reflection.
 * Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 72

 * Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindred's of the earth.
 * Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 167

 * Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches.
 * Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 138

 * The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds.
 * Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 156

 * O ye people of the world! The religion of God is for the sake of love and union; make it not the cause of enmity and conflict.
 * Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh

 * Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.
 * ''Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, CXII

 * Dedicate the precious days of your lives to the betterment of the world.
 * ''Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 183

 * Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 213

 * The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 215

 * All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 215

 * So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 287–289

 * It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.
 * Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 249–250

 * We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the nations....That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled.
 * Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, pp. 238–240

 * Although a person of good deeds is acceptable at the Threshold of the Almighty, yet it is first "to know," and then "to do." Although a blind man produceth a most wonderful and exquisite art, yet he is deprived of seeing it. Consider how most animals labor for man, draw loads and facilitate travel; yet, as they are ignorant, they receive no reward for this toil and labor. The cloud raineth, roses and hyacinths grow; the plain and meadow, the garden and trees become green and blossom; yet they do not realize the results and outcome of all these. The lamp is lighted, but as it hath not a conscious knowledge of itself, no one hath become glad because of it. Moreover, a soul of excellent deeds and good manners will undoubtedly advance from whatever horizon he beholdeth the lights radiating. Herein lies the difference: By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds.
 * Baha'i World Faith, pp. 382–383

'Abdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921)

 * The Divine Reality may be likened to the sun and the Holy Spirit to the rays of the sun. As the rays of the sun bring the light and warmth of the sun to the earth, giving life to all created beings, so do the "Manifestations" bring the power of the Holy Spirit from the Divine Sun of Reality to give light and life to the souls of men.
 * Paris Talks, p. 18. Abdu'l Baha, "The Holy Spirit, the Intermediary Power between God and Man", Paris Talks, 1912.

 * Let your ambition be the achievement on earth of a heavenly civilization!
 * Paris Talks, pp. 96–99

 * Their minds are so circumscribed by exterior manners and traditional interests that they are blind to any other realm of existence.
 * Paris Talks, pp. 96–99

 * The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another.
 * The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 32

 * The art of music is divine and effective. It is the food of the soul and spirit. Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted.
 * The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 52

 * Religion is not intended to arouse enmity and hatred nor to become the source of tyranny and injustice. Should it prove to be the cause of hostility, discord and the alienation of mankind, assuredly the absence of religion would be preferable.
 * The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 394

 * Religious teachings are like a course of treatment having for its purpose the cure and healing of mankind. If the only outcome of a course of treatment should be mere diagnosis and fruitless discussion of symptoms, it would be better to abandon and abolish it.
 * The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 394

 * Act in such a way that your heart may be free from hatred. Let not your heart be offended with anyone. If someone commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him. Do not complain of others. Refrain from reprimanding them, and if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the bearer. Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts. Beware! Beware! Lest ye offend any heart.
 * The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 453

title: Bahá'í Faith


text:
One, Two, Three

One, Two, Three is a 1961 American comedy film about a Coca Cola salesman set in a Berlin divided between the capitalist west and Communist East.
 * Written by Billy Wilder and written by him and I.A.L. Diamond, based on the 1929 Hungarian one-act play Egy, kettö, három by Ferenc Molnár.

C.R. MacNamara, the Coca-Cola (Berlin) boss, and Schlemmer, his German assistant

 * C.R. MacNamara: Just between us, Schlemmer, what did you do during the war?
 * Schlemmer: I was in der Untergrund: the underground.
 * C.R. MacNamara: Resistance fighter?
 * Schlemmer: No, motorman. In the underground, you know, the subway.
 * C.R. MacNamara: Of course you were anti-Nazi and you never liked Adolf.
 * Schlemmer: Adolf who?

 * [But later, Schlemmer recognizes the reporter Untermeyer]
 * Schlemmer: Herr Oberleutnant!
 * C.R. MacNamara: You two know each other?
 * Schlemmer: He was my commanding officer.
 * C.R. MacNamara: In the subway?
 * Schlemmer: No, after that, when I was drafted.
 * C.R. MacNamara: Aha! Gestapo!
 * Schlemmer: No, no, SS.

Otto, the young East German communist, Scarlet, his (to begin with secret) wife and daughter of the Coca-Cola top boss, the MacNamara's should take care of

 * Otto: I will not have my son grow up to be a capitalist.
 * Scarlet: When he's 18 he can make his mind up whether he wants to be a capitalist or a rich communist.

 * Otto: They have assigned us a magnificent apartment. Just a short walk from the bathroom.

 * Scarlett: Tell daddy I'm going to the U.S.S.R. That's short for Russia.
 * C.R. MacNamara: Are you out of your seventeen year old mind? Russia is to get out of, not to get into!

 * Otto: ''[bursts into room wearing boxers, shirt, tie and morning coat] I'm going to like this job!
 * C.R. MacNamara: It's about time you started cooperating.
 * Otto: You know what the first thing is I'm going to do? I'm going to lead the workers down there in revolt!
 * C.R. MacNamara: Put your pants on, Spartacus!

C.R. MacNamara dealing with Russian biznismeni of East Berlin, and they with him, with a brief comment by Otto

 * C.R. MacNamara: Cigarette? Cigar?
 * Peripetchikoff: Here, take one of these.
 * C.R. Macnamara: Thanks. Hm, 'Made in Havana'.
 * Peripetchikoff: We have trade agreement with Cuba. They send us cigars, we send them rockets.
 * C.R. Macnamara: Good thinking.

 * C.R. MacNamara: You know something? You guys got cheated. This is a pretty crummy cigar.
 * Peripetchikoff: Do not worry. We send them pretty crummy rockets.

 * Borodenko: When will papers be ready?
 * C.R. Macnamara: I'll put my secretary right to work on it.
 * Mishkin: Your secretary? She's that blond lady?
 * C.R. Macnamara: That's the one.
 * Peripetchikoff: [after conferring with the others] You will send papers to East Berlin with blond lady in triplicate.
 * C.R. Macnamara: You want the papers in triplicate, or the blond in triplicate?
 * Peripetchikoff: See what you can do.

 * Peripetchikoff: Well, Comrades, what are we going to do? He's got it - we want it. Are we going to accept this blackmailing capitalist's deal?
 * Mishkin: Let's take a vote.
 * Peripetchikoff: I vote yes.
 * Mishkin: I vote yes.
 * Peripetchikoff: Two out of three. Deal is on!
 * Borodenko: Comrades, before you get in trouble, I must warn you, I am not really from Soft Drink Secretariat. I am undercover agent assigned to watch you.
 * Mishkin: In that case I vote no. Deal is off.
 * Borodenko: But I vote yes!
 * Peripetchikoff: Two out of three again! Deal is on!

 * Otto Ludwig Piffl: Is everybody in this world corrupt?
 * Peripetchikoff: I don't know everybody.'''

 * MacNamara: You've defected?
 * Peripetchikoff: Is old Russian proverb: "go west young man."

Otto on the space race
Venus! American missiles (hand goes up then down) phft phft. Miami Beach.
 * Soviet missiles (shoots hand into the air) fffffffffffwwwwwwwwwwoooooosssh.

Otto on the US

 * Otto: Capitalism is like a dead herring in the moonlight. It shines, but it stinks!

 * C.R. MacNamara: Schlemmer!! [Last line in movie as MacNamara finds a Pepsi-Cola in the Coke machine.]

 * Otto: I spit on your money. I spit on Fort Knox. I spit on Wall Street.
 * C.R. MacNamara: Unsanitary little jerk, isn't he?

Cast

 * James Cagney – C.R. "Mac" MacNamara
 * Horst Buchholz – Otto Ludwig Piffl
 * Pamela Tiffin – Scarlett Hazeltine
 * Arlene Francis – Phyllis MacNamara
 * Leon Askin – Peripetchikoff
 * Howard St. John – Wendell P. Hazeltine

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: One, Two, Three


text:
User talk:213.59.86.136

This IP has been blocked temporarily, because it was used to post gratuitous and unwelcome advertising. SPAM is not welcome here. ~ Kalki 15:29, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:213.59.86.136


text:
David Byrne

David Byrne (born May 14, 1952, in Dumbarton, Scotland) is a musician, best known as a founding member and the principal songwriter of Talking Heads.

Quotes

 * I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is.
 * From his film True Stories

 * I have something to say about the difference between American and European cities, but I forgot what it was. I have it written down at home somewhere.
 * From his film True Stories

 * The better the singer's voice is, the harder it is to believe what they're saying. So I turn my weaknesses into an advantage.
 * In the self-interview on Stop Making Sense

 * I try to write about small things. Paper, animals, a house…love is kind of big. I have written a love song, though. In this film, I sing it to a lamp.
 * In the self-interview on Stop Making Sense

 * Interviewer: If I gave you fifty dollars, right now, what would you do with it? David Byrne: I would get something to eat.
 * In the self-interview on Stop Making Sense

 * It's like 60 Minutes on acid.
 * In the self-interview on Stop Making Sense

 * It's not music you would use to get a girl into bed. If anything, you're going to frighten her off.
 * On the music of Talking Heads, from Channel 4's The 100 Greatest Albums

title: David Byrne


text:
Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a chess grandmaster and political activist.

1990s

 * The public must come to see that chess is a violent sport. Chess is mental torture.
 * As quoted in Martin Amis's review of "Kasparov-Short" by Raymond Keene, Independent on Sunday, November 1995.

2000s

 * In conclusion, if you want to unravel the multitude of secrets of chess then don't begrudge the time.
 * Learn Chess with Gary Kasparov (2003)

 * My nature is that I have to excite myself with a big challenge.
 * Guardian interview, Stephen Moss Monday March 14, 2005

 * Every country has its own mafia. In Russia, the mafia has its own country.

Regarding Fischer random chess

 * "Of course, if people do not want to do any work then it is better to start the game from a random position." December 2001

How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

 * Having spent a lifetime analyzing the game of chess and comparing the capacity of computers to the capacity of the human brain, I've often wondered, where does our success come from? The answer is synthesis, the ability to combine creativity and calculation, art and science, into a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind, and are then refined and improved by experience.
 * Opening Gambit, Why Chess?, p. 4

 * It's not enough to be talented. It's not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions.
 * Part I, Chapter 1, The Lesson, p. 14

 * With each success the ability to change is reduced. My longtime friend and coach Grandmaster Yuri Dokhoian, aptly compared it to being dipped in bronze. Each victory added another coat.
 * Part I, Chapter 2, Strategy, p. 34

 * This obligation to move can be a burden to a player without strategic vision.
 * Part I, Chapter 3, Strategy And Tactics At Work, p. 36

 * You must also have a sense of when to stop.
 * Part I, Chapter 4, Calculation, p. 51

 * For inspiration I look to those great players who consistently found original ways to shock their opponents. None did this better than the eighth world champion, Mikhail Tal. The "Magician of Riga" rose to become champion in 1960 at age twenty-three and became famous for his aggressive, volatile play.
 * Part I, Chapter 5, Talent, p. 60-61

 * Everyone, at any age, has talents that aren't fully developed-even those who reach the top of their profession.
 * Part I, Chapter 6, Preparation, p. 69

 * We think about time as something not to waste, not as something to invest.
 * Part II, Chapter 7, MTQ: Material, Time, Quality, p. 93

 * In chess, bigamy is acceptable but monarchy is absolute.
 * Part II, Chapter 8, Exchanges And Imbalances, p. 102

 * I like to say that the attacker always has the advantage.
 * Part II, Chapter 10, The Attacker's Advantage, p. 122

 * If you're already in a fight, you want the first blow to be the last and you had better be the one to throw it.
 * Part II, Chapter 10, The Attacker's Advantage, p. 130

 * Question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well.
 * Part III, Chapter 11, Question Success, p. 135

 * Solving new problems is what keeps us moving forward as individuals and as a society, so don't back down.
 * Part III, Chapter 13, Man Vs. Machine, p. 170

 * Caissa, the goddess of chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature.
 * Part III, Chapter 15, Crisis Point, p. 188

 * Millions like me in Russia want a free press, the rule of law, social justice, and free and fair elections. My new job is to fight for those people and to fight for these fundamental rights.
 * Part III, Endgame, p. 195

 * We have to always look ahead enough moves to be well prepared, even for victory!
 * Part III, Epilogue, p. 204

2010s

 * Allow dissent & free media for 6 months in Russia and see what happens. Putin would never risk it because he’s terrified of his own people and the truth, like every dictator.
 * As quoted in "Is Putin Popular?" (2018), by Jay Nordlinger, National Review

 * The leaders of the free world keep lowering their standards and authoritarians keep taking more territory. Eventually people wake up and ask why Putin murders in the UK or hacks in the US. Why wouldn’t he? You didn’t stop him before.
 * As quoted in "Is Putin Popular?" (2018), by Jay Nordlinger, National Review

 * People ask about dictators, "Why?" But dictators themselves ask, "Why not?"
 * As quoted in "Is Putin Popular?" (2018), by Jay Nordlinger, National Review

Regarding Fischer random chess

 * "Random chess lets me enjoy myself and get publicity for chess without having to disrupt my life for months of preparation." August 2018

 * "I think we're making theory or even making history because we're opening not even a new chapter but basically a new book on the game of chess. That's why I think all players are excited." —September 2018

Winter is Coming (2015)

 * Somehow people always forget that it's much easier to install a dictator than to remove one.
 * Foreword, p. XIV
 * Each victory pulls the victor down slightly and makes it harder to put in maximum effort to improve further.
 * Foreword, p. XX
 * The United States is a very different thing. It's a continent-spanning nation built from scratch by millions of immigrants from every part of the world on top of its native population.
 * p. 42
 * Anatoly Karpov and I donated the prize fund from our 1986 world championship match to the Chernobyl victim relief fund.
 * p. 17
 * Communism is like an autoimmune disorder; it doesn't do the killing itself, but it weakens the system so much that the victim is left helpless and unable to fight off anything else.
 * p. 33
 * We must decide what we value and decide what is worth fighting for and then–the most important part–we must fight for it.
 * p. 62
 * Reforms are only institutional if they have a real effect on how people live.
 * p. 100
 * It's not common, in our age, for someone to retire while still at the top, but I'm a man who needs a goal, and who wants to make a difference.
 * p. 136
 * Great leaders are formed only by taking on great challenges.
 * p. 190
 * The NSA is to the Stasi what a bad hotel is to a maximum security prison.
 * p. 223

On twitter (2016)

 * You can get quite far in a democracy if you can convince a majority that they are victims of a minority, and that only you can protect them.
 * Tweet (July 2016)

 * The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.
 * Tweet (December 2016)

Interview with Bill Kristol (2016)

 * Interview with Bill Kristol (February 2016), transcript

 * [C]hess was treated by the Soviet authorities as a very important and useful ideological tool to demonstrate the intellectual superiority of the Soviet communist regime over the decadent West.

 * "Socialism with a human face"? ... Frankenstein also had a human face.

Interview with Bill Kristol (2016)

 * Interview with Bill Kristol (April 2016), transcript

 * I was almost annoyed hearing that Putin plays chess and Obama or other leaders of the free world they play checkers. I thought I had to defend the integrity of my game because chess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it’s transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available so you know exactly what you have, you know exactly what your opponent has. You don’t know what he or she is thinking, but you definitely know what kind of resources your opponent can use to hurt you, to damage your position.

 * [C]hess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it's transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available so you know exactly what you have, you know exactly what your opponent has. You don’t know what he or she is thinking, but you definitely know what kind of resources your opponent can use to hurt you, to damage your position. Also, chess is very much a strategic game so you have to think long-term. Dictators don’t think long-term. Dictators, especially who are in power for so long as Putin is, they have to work on the survival mode. Because it’s all about today, maybe tomorrow morning. Everything that helps us survive is good. Because the moment the dictator thinks long-term, he’ll definitely miss guys from his own entourage hitting him in his own back. The game that defines dictators much better is poker because it’s about bluffs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a strong hand or weak hand. You can have a weak hand, but if you’re comfortable bluffing, raising stakes, and if you can read your opponent.

 * [I]t's very important to understand that this is the dictators always operate short-term, and democracies must operate long-term because it’s not about one individual who’s currently running the country, whether it’s president or prime minister. It’s about the success of the country. It’s about the success of the system. It’s about pressing, you know, all advantages and their strategic, lasting institutions that could make the difference even when the president or prime minister is no longer in the office.

 * Putin hasn’t come out of the blue, you know? It’s not just Putin. That’s why again in my book Winter is Coming, I emphasize why Vladimir Putin and enemies of the free world must be stopped. Because Putin, you may call him bosses of bosses, Capo dei Capi, he’s like a spider in the center of this web. Because Putin helps other bad guys, other thugs, dictators, and terrorists to sort of feel free to attack the free world. Because they all know that unless they attack the free world, unless they attack the United States as the leader of the free world, they will have no credibility with their own people because neither Putin nor Iranian mullahs, nor Al Qaeda, Islamic State or other dictators around the globe, they have nothing to offer but confrontation. They have to present themselves of the protectors of their own people against the world evil. And of course, they have to attack the free world that produces everything that, by the way, they use quite effectively against us. They cannot compete in innovations, they cannot compete in ideas, in productivity. But they can compete in something quite different because for us, each human life is unique. *For them, killing a thousand people, hundreds of thousands of people, a million is a demonstration of strengths. So we should realize that they have no allergy for blood. And they will keep pressing their advantage, and it’s not that we have grown – that our enemies have grown stronger. It’s our resolve that has grown weaker.

 * So what’s happened since ’92, it’s where the administrations that changed quite dramatically, the foreign policy, and it was working more like pendulum, swinging from one side to the other. Clinton did very little, W did too much, Obama has been doing nothing. It sent a message – sent numerous messages across the world. While people knew in the 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s that America was there, America was consistent. Even if you have a change in the Oval Office, one party replaces another, you could rely on the United States. America was behind American allies. Today? It’s probably, it’s a springtime to be an American enemy because this administration gives up everything to the enemies and betrays allies. And going back to George W. administration, it’s very popular to criticize Bush today, Bush 43. Especially for the Iraq invasion, and I’ve heard many voices, even within the Republican Party, it’s just floating with the popular trend. First of all, I have to say as somebody who was born and raised in a Communist country, I cannot criticize any action that led to the destruction of dictatorship. I think his people had wrong expectations. When they saw the collapse of Saddam’s dictatorship after American invasion of Iraq and then the collapse of a few other dictatorships during the Arab Spring, they had expectations that next day, it would be a democracy. It’s wrong. It was very naive because dictators succeeds the staying in power for so many years, not because he’s a nice guy, just helps his people to get out of poverty, but because he’s brutal, he’s cruel. He succeeds in destroying opposition, first political opposition and then freedom of press and remaining horizontal ties in the society. All the NGOs, anything that could represent not just a threat to him, but it’s any sort of the slightest dissent. It’s kind of a political desert. What do you expect in a desert after 10, 20, 30 – in the case of Gaddafi, 42 years of dictatorship?

 * Bush Administration was a success.

 * [E]ven if we disagree about the Iraq invasion in 2003 and the consequent moves made by Bush 43 Administration, the decision of Obama Administration to retreat, especially announcing it, this is the worst you can do. At noon, at that day, that month, we are out. By sending the signal to the radical Islamists, to the forces that were about just to recover and prepare again for attacks against the free world, that was a recipe for disaster. It created a vacuum. It’s not a surprise that we live in a world today that is a much more dangerous place than in 2008. It helped Vladimir Putin to regain his confidence and because after his attack against the Republic of Georgia in 2008 in August, he was basically rewarded by Obama/Clinton “reset” policy instead of paying a price for taking territory of neighboring country.

 * Since ’91, it was more of poker because again, it’s America, even today is much more powerful than all the enemies combined. It’s probably the first time after the collapse of the Soviet Union that the forces of freedom, the free world, had overwhelming military and economic advantage. And also politically, it dominated the field because even the worst dictatorships now they’re trying to pretend that they have elections. Not pressing it’s advantages looks quite odd because it again create this vacuum, and also I think it affects ordinary people in these countries. Whether it’s Iran, Arab countries, Russia, because they used to look at America as a beacon of freedom and the country that stood firm defending the free world. And now it’s quite odd because America is there, but America is not there. The whole stories about current political climate here and elections, they’re for the eroding reputation of the United States, and I think the damage caused by this administration to the prestige of the country, and especially to the prestige of the presidency, this damage could take years to recover and rebuild.

 * It’s easy to lose your reputation, it’s easy to lose your friends, to lose their confidence, than to regain it.

 * My response to Bernie Sanders' you know uh stories you know fairytales is that uh the failure of capitalism is still much better than the success of socialism.

The Truth About Putin (2018)

 * Full text of "The Truth About Putin" (March 2018), The Weekly Standard

 * When I retired from professional chess in 2005 to join the Russian pro-democracy movement against Putin, I was frequently asked how my chess experience might help me in politics. My answer was that it wouldn’t help much at all, because in chess we had fixed rules and uncertain results, while in Russian politics it was exactly the opposite.

 * Putin should simply be called a dictator.

 * Let’s move on to the next major lie in my opening statement, the idea of Putin’s popularity in Russia. I could not begin to count the number of times I’ve been forced to address this myth, the persistence of which I again attribute to our lack of language to describe modern dictatorships. Terms like “polls” and “popularity” as applied to politicians in the free world have very different meanings in authoritarian regimes. I’m fond of asking in response to questions about Putin’s “popularity” if a restaurant is popular if it’s the only one in town and every other restaurant was burned to the ground.

 * This is not to say that a dictator or his policies cannot have popular support. The problem is defining what support means after 18 years of a personality cult and 24/7 propaganda that portrays Putin as a demigod protecting Russia from deadly enemies without and within. A year of fake news trolling and half-baked social media memes had half of America and its vaunted media running in circles in 2016. Imagine what it does to a population when that’s all there is, every hour, every day, for nearly two decades.

 * The same definition issue arises with the word “election.” In a free society, the day of the vote is the culmination of a long democratic process that depends on equal access to an unfettered media, fair conditions, debates, etc., none of which have existed in Russia for nearly 20 years. Postulating that Putin would win anyway even if the March 18 election were honest is a meaningless exercise. If he and his policies were truly popular, in the real sense of the word, he wouldn’t need to spend so much time and effort dominating the media, eliminating rivals, and rigging elections large and small. Persecuting bloggers and arresting a single protester standing in the town square with an anti-Putin sign does not strike me as the behavior of a ruler who believes in his own popularity.

 * As for polling, when an anonymous caller reaches a Russian at home to ask his opinion of the man who controls every aspect of the Russian police state, it would take great courage to report anything less than enthusiastic support. It is a testament to the bravery of many of my countrymen that Putin does not yet receive the 99 percent approval scores that Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi enjoyed up until the minute they no longer had the power of life and death over their own citizens.

 * It’s still unfathomable that Russia went from joyously celebrating the end of totalitarianism to electing a KGB lieutenant-colonel in just nine years. Never take your liberty for granted, and be careful whom you vote for because it may be the last election you’ll ever have.

 * In chess, we say that the player with the initiative is obliged to attack, otherwise the initiative will be lost and the counterattack will likely be decisive.

 * The implicit, or even explicit, offer made by authoritarians is stability in exchange for liberty. High oil prices allowed Putin to keep this bargain for a while, aided by an international community that lost interest in promoting liberty as soon as the Berlin Wall fell. Putin was welcomed by the G7 as an equal while destroying democracy and civil society at home. Imagine how difficult it was for us in Russia to attack Putin’s regime as undemocratic while he was being embraced by the leaders of the free world. Even Putin’s invasion of neighboring Georgia in August 2008 resulted in no censure or sanction. He was rewarded by Obama and Hillary Clinton’s reset a few months later, confirming to him that a move into Ukraine would also go unchallenged.

 * The old joke about the two main Soviet papers, Pravda (“Truth”) and Izvestia (“News”), was “There’s no news in the Truth and no truth in the News!”

 * There are an infinite number of ways to lie and only one truth. Propaganda today is not a wall, not a dike holding back information from reaching the people. It is a flood, overwhelming our critical thinking. The concept is not to promote a particular narrative or agenda but to create doubt and to make people believe that the truth is unknowable. There are no Russian forces in Ukraine. Russia didn’t meddle in the U.S. election. The popular Vladimir Putin was reelected on March 18, 2018.

 * Putin is willing to poison bodies in the free world, not only minds. Why would he do this? Why would he call attention to his murderous ways now? Well, I’ll turn that around and ask instead, why wouldn’t he? Dictators don’t ask “Why,” they ask “Why not?”

 * Like any bully, Putin only picks fights that he is sure he can win. History tells us that sooner or later, he will become so overconfident, so accustomed to his opponents folding their cards against his weak hand, that he will overstep, potentially resulting in a catastrophe on a global scale.

 * Russia’s election spectacle on March 18 isn’t only a domestic distraction. It provides Putin’s defenders in the free world with rhetorical ammunition, as do the approval polls and fake controversies over the fake opposition candidates. There is no form of democratic process or opposition in Putin’s Russia. Pretending otherwise makes you complicit in his propaganda. Stop calling them elections. Stop calling Putin a president. Stop calling to congratulate him on his victories. Let us begin the fight against Putin’s lies with the fundamental truth about what he really is.

2020s

 * Putin's war on Ukraine has entered its next phase, one of destruction and slaughter of civilians. It is also a part of Putin's World War, a war on the civilized world of international law, democracy, and any threat to his power, which he declared long ago.
 * Start of Twitter thread (2 March 2022)

Stand with Ukraine in the fight against evil (2022)

 * "Stand with Ukraine in the fight against evil", TED talk (April 2022)

 * I regularly say in my lectures on artificial intelligence that humans will always have a monopoly on evil. It's not a threat, just a reminder that people choose. We are not algorithms. We are not bound by code or commandments or laws or treaties. We have them. But we choose. So let us talk now about the choices we make. About things in black and white. About Russia's war on Ukraine. And about good and evil.

 * My life experience prepared me to identify evil at an early age. Not my life as the chess player. Not even as the youngest world champion in history. No. My relevant experience is where I was born and raised, in what Ronald Reagan accurately called the “evil empire,” the USSR. As a young star in the chess-crazed Soviet Union in the ’70s and ’80s, I had many privileges my compatriots did not. I could travel to the West outside of the Iron Curtain, where it was obvious to me very quickly that they were the free world and we were not, despite what communist propaganda told us.

 * Oh, what a great moment in world history. How we celebrated, the evil empire had fallen, the future looked bright. And yet, eight years later, on December 31, 1999, a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB became the president of Russia. His name was Vladimir Putin. How this happened is a long, painful story. And in fact, I wrote a book about it in 2015 called "Winter is Coming." Not an original title, I have to admit. ... But I'm a fan of "Game of Thrones." ... And also I felt it was appropriate because it was a warning. The subtitle was more important: "Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped." The publisher, by the way, didn't like it. "Enemies." It's too harsh. Sounded like Cold War. Well, here we are, 17 years later. And if I wrote a sequel, it would be called “Winter Is Here.” And the subtitle would be "I Bleeping Told You So."

 * Putin was telling us what he was. All we had to do was listen. When Putin said that there was no such thing as a former KGB agent, I knew Russia's fragile democracy was in danger. When Putin said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, I knew Russia’s newly independent neighbors were at risk. And when Putin talked at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 about a return to spheres of influence, I knew he was ready to launch his plan. It was the language from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 1939. The language Hitler and Stalin used to divide Europe. And a year later, in 2008, Putin invaded the Republic of Georgia. 2014, Ukraine.

 * It's a paradox, isn't it? Dictators lie about everything they have done, but often they tell us exactly what they're going to do. Just listen. Anyone who is surprised at Putin's war crimes in Ukraine must not be aware about his long record, beginning with the Second Chechen War in Grozny more than two decades ago. Vladimir Putin has been a war criminal from the start.

 * I retired from professional chess to form a pro-democracy, anti-Putin movement in Russia. As you could see, it didn't go so well. But it was not about winning or losing. I knew it was my moral duty in keeping with the slogan of Soviet dissidents: "Do what you must and so be it." Ah, my friends and critics both kept telling me, "Gary, you are a chess player, you're not a politician. This is not chess. You see everything in black and white. Politics are gray. You have to compromise." Really? Those who peacefully marched with me for free Russia are either in exile, like me. Or in jail, like Alexei Navalny. Or even murdered like Boris Nemtsov. Compromise? Not black and white? Are you sure? Compromise with this?

 * You cannot look at the images from Ukraine in recent weeks and say there is no pure evil. Mariupol destroyed, Bucha slaughtered, Kramatorsk train station massacred. And worse is yet to come. And these horrors are not from Poland in 1945. Not from Rwanda in 1994. Not Aleppo 2016. This is Europe this week. How could this happen? How did we forget what evil can do? We have lost the generation that saw World War II firsthand. Otherwise we reserve absolute evil for fiction. In fables, they believe in true evil. Good is harder to define. There is no pure good. If anyone says they know what pure good is, it's probably evil. In fantasy tales of hobbits and elves and dwarves, there was an idea that good comes in different forms and shapes, often in conflict. But they had to be united when facing absolute evil. Good will disagree. Evil says, "No more disagreements ever." That was life in real Mordor, the Soviet Union. That's what Putin wants for Russia and the world. We celebrated the end of the Cold War, but for too long, we forgot that evil doesn’t die. It can be buried for a while under the rubble of the Berlin Wall, but it grows back through the cracks of our apathy.

 * Once the move is made you cannot change it. Acknowledge the wrongdoings of the past, but do not pretend it can be fixed. It's the present that must be fixed. The heroes of the past were far from perfect. But the world we live in is better because of them. We too cannot be perfect. But we must always try to be better.

 * As a chess player, I know that strategy is the future impact of present decisions. However grand our plans are for two, five, even ten moves ahead, it's the move that we make now that determines that future.

 * Ukraine is now on the front line of the war — global war — of freedom against tyranny. The war the free world didn't want to admit existed. It cannot be ignored any longer. Brave Ukrainians are fighting like hell and dying right now to remind us not to take liberty for granted. Putin, like every dictator before him, underestimated the free will of free people. They deserve every weapon, every resource to win this war. Because they're fighting for us. Not only for the whole and free Ukraine.

 * Everyone who told me a decade ago I was wrong, now is telling I'm right. Unfortunately. But we're still repeating the same mistakes of thinking that we can muddle through without taking risks, without taking a stand. The price of stopping a dictator always goes up with every delay, every hesitation. Meeting evil halfway, it's still a victory for evil.

 * This is not chess. This is not a battle between opposite colors, but of opposite values. Freedom, life and love versus tyranny, death and hatred. This is not chess. But sometimes things are black and white. Sometimes you have to fight for what you believe. Or you lose it. This is not chess. There are no draws, no compromises in our battle with true evil. It's win or lose. And so we must fight. And so we must win. Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine. Glory to freedom.

title: Garry Kasparov


text: User:Rumour

title: User:Rumour


text:
User talk:Rumour

Thunder only happens when it's raining, Players only love you when they're playing, Say... Women... they will come and they will go; When the rain washes you clean... you'll know. ~ Stevie Nicks in "Dreams" on the album Rumours (1977) ~

This is one of the openly revealed accounts created by ~ Taliesin 00:32, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

WorkChoices
I've just noticed that you went and cleaned up the tags on the WorkChoices quotes page, thank you very much for that. I did the list in a hurry so your help is greatly appreciated. Ed- 07:02, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikimania 2006
I've made it back home after attending the Wikimania conferences, and to the extent I have the time within the next week or so I will try to find a few quotes to post from the available material, including some recordings I made there. There were several events and addresses I wanted to attend but missed because I couldn't be two places at once. I'm pretty sure that I will be able to add at least a bit to the Ward Cunningham, Larry Lessig, and David Weinberger pages and maybe a few others, and might find some usable photos to post to the Commons. ~ Rumour 14:31, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Rumour and Reality

'''Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.''' ~ Laozi as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell ~

Poetry is an ethic. By ethic I mean a secret code of behavior, a discipline constructed and conducted according to the capabilities of a man who rejects the falsifications of the categorical imperative. ~ Jean Cocteau ~

This is a slightly revised and much shortened version of an email message that I am sending out to a few of the people who seem involved in some recent matters of concern at Wikipedia, Wikiquote and the Commons and elsewhere with some SUL accounts I recently created and with some IP addresses which I have regularly used:

When recent suspicions against some of my activities began I almost immediately was reminded of an old Twilight Zone' episode by Rod Serling, where a malicious influence releases the destructive capacities of people against each other: "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." It ends with the statement:

 * There are weapons that are simply thoughts, ideas, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. A thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all it's own for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is, is that these things can not be confined to the Twilight Zone.

I also kept in mind a saying:

 * There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity. ~ Shunryu Suzuki

I am posting this message as "Rumour" and am stating that I have been a long-time contributor to the Wikimedia projects, under various names. I hope to be a recognized as a good Rumour who helps reveal the good in most people, and who is opposed to the efforts of those who would confusedly and confusingly exaggerate and magnify the worst in anyone or any group of people for any reasons which they might believe they have.

I have also edited as Accountability, and hold myself fully accountable for all of my own actions, but not for other people's impressions of them.

I would like to state that I actually was a witness to the birth of WIkipedia, in its very first days as it emerged from the earlier effort to create Nupedia all those years ago. I had always thought Nupedia was far too restrictive in its policies, and recognized immediately that Wikipedia was a much better idea which would take off and be a success in ways Nupedia never could, but I actually didn't become much involved with editing of any of the Wikimedia projects until 2003. I consider them all very worthy projects which I would never seek to harm or disrupt.

Recently I have been very busy juggling many online and offline activities and tasks, and even now do not feel I have all the time I would like to address the recent highly distressing confusions regarding some of my recently created SUL accounts and those of an obnoxious twerp who vandalizes the projects, but feel it is time to begin doing so, before the situation decays even further.

Contrary to the apparent motives of vandals and trolls, I would much rather go about mostly unnoticed in making good and useful contributions to the wikis, and have absolutely no desire to attain any of the pathetic notoriety trolls and vandals do through edits aimed at being a disruptive nuisance to other people.

Over the past few days I have only had brief periods of time to attend to matters happening on the wiki projects, and my thoughts on recent confusions have been various and somewhat scattered as I typed them up at various times. I have just gathered up and tweaked some of the more significant statements now, and leave the rest as ideas which are not of immediate importance in the matter.

I actually do believe that when one actually witnesses unusual activity, one should be suspicious — but not presumptive, and that when vandalism actually occurs one should often feel free to "block first and ask questions later" — but that one should not block when vandalism has not actually occurred, or there is no truly solid indication that it is intended.

Though I could understand and accept many of the suspicions related to some of my accounts and activity, at first I was irritated, and even at times somewhat angry at what seemed to me entirely absurd presumptions of an association of my accounts with those of a vandal. Then I realized that there could conceivably have been some logical reasons, if any of these names or similar ones had been used by vandals on some wiki in the past, which certainly was possible, or even likely.

I am confident that a thorough examination of any of these usernames will reveal no records of vandal edits from any of the accounts actually "attached" to my own. If there actually is any appearance of such a record I would definitely like to know of it, because I know that I CERTAINLY did not make any such edits EVER, and if there is such an appearance, there MUST be some other reason for it. There were several accounts with names which seemed to have been moved to "NAME(Usurped)" since in created the SUL for them, and being rather confused as to what went on with these, I am concerned that there may have been some accounts UNATTACHED to my SUL which were in some way mistaken as attached accounts.

I can understand that anyone rightfully prone to be suspicious of people using multiple accounts might easily believe that they had stumbled upon some vandal's "motherlode" of accounts until they actually LOOK at any of the edits I have actually made with ANY of these which I have actually yet used.

I eventually planned to make at least a few significant edits with all of them, very many with a few of them, and to have interesting images and quotations with links to Wikiquote, WIkipedia, and the Commons exhibited on almost of them.

I am NOT interested in sharing many personal details about myself on ANY of these accounts, and generally prefer any account I use to be entirely without any reference to my own gender, age, nationality or anything else. I would much rather have many good names be put to good use a few times a year, rather than build up an impressive edit count on any particular name. Though I am usually not much concerned about edit counts or comparing them, that I might give an indication of my long term presence on Wikimedia projects to those not clearly familiar with my activities with my primary accounts, I just tallied the edit count of a few of my most active ones and the total is well in excess of 40,000 edits. I have no clear idea, and not very much interest in how much above that my actually edit count would be if I tallied up all of my accounts on all the wikis, but I CAN STATE THAT ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THE EDITS I HAVE EVER MADE HAVE BEEN ACTS OF VANDALISM, TROLLING, OR DISHONEST VOTING.

 * I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good. ~ Thomas Paine

Over the years I believe that I have at least twice been wrongly accused of being a sockpuppet of some particular editor at at Wikipedia, merely because I got involved in some petty disputes they were involved in as well, the most notable accusation being one many years ago that I was a sockpuppet of David Gerard, but I believe that this might be the first time in all these years that my most-used IPs were actually mis-identified as being those of a vandal, or any of my accounts was indefinitely blocked because of that. I am not absolutely certain that I have not had an account permanently blocked before, and believe that there might possibly have been some earlier incidents, years ago, where some account I created might have been blocked because of some false assumptions made because of the user name, but if there were any such incidents, I simply passed on without much concern about it, and do not actually know at this point what they might have been. This is DEFINITELY the first time I have encountered any major problems that greatly concerned me, where usernames I intended to make much use of were indefinitely blocked, my entirely innocent and useful edits with a few of them were rather rashly labeled the work of a vandal, or where the IPs I have used most were suspected of being the IPs of a known vandal, and any account I create with them blocked as if this absolute mis-identification were a certain and true thing, rather than an unconfirmed and absolutely false one.

Giordano Bruno, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, Søren Kierkegaard, and many other writers and artists have recognized the value, and sometimes the necessity of doing work under pseudonyms, to most effectively and fully address many of the issues with which they were most concerned.

 * He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees. ~ Benjamin Franklin

On the Wikimedia projects and elsewhere I have usually chosen names with ironic, humorous, and romantic connotations and certain poetic symbolism. That the names of these accounts rarely have any resemblance at all to those which seem to be normally employed by a vandal I was associated with initially left me quite incredulous that anyone had assumed such a connection. I then found out how extensive and pernicious a vandal this was, and tempered my views.

I am a person who can agree with many different perspectives on things which will often seem opposed or even contradictory to casual or very biased observers with narrow views, but which to me seem quite complementary, compatible and consistent in many ways. Other views which they find perfectly reasonable and just I will find extremely flawed, unjust and hypocritical.

I recognize that I often have very odd and hard to explain perspectives on many things, and I usually simply prefer to not even try to explain them to others, but to act with what insight I can to do what good I can, in the best ways I can. This does not always involve attending to the most irritating or most extreme forms of foolishness I might perceive in others, but more often involves focussing on what might be ignorance or confusions in my own perspectives. I don't believe that anyone has to believe or know of things exactly as I do, nor fully agree with me or anyone else on the value of anything that we might try to indicate or express.

Reality is a complex enough affair without making false assumptions about it, or leading others to do so with lies and distortions of the truth.

Life is a complex enough affair with complex problems, without making complex rules to govern and constrain it in ways that are not clearly necessary, and give all too little regard to the truth of matters.

These two statements sum up my own attitude to two forms of error: having too little regard for others and for the truth, so as to have no regard at all for rules and agreements, and the often far more dangerous error of having too much regard for power and such rules as can be maintained by it, rather than for Truth, Justice and Liberty.

The most humble and wise know that there is ALWAYS far more going on within Reality than any mortal mind can ever be aware of, and the most courageous are not afraid of asserting this, even to those who are most often inclined to believe that they know all that needs to be known about some matter.

 * Never, never rest contented with any circle of ideas, but always be certain that a wider one is still possible. ~ Richard Jefferies

I usually simply observe things far more than I actually participate in them. One means I have used to avoid attracting much notice or comment from casual observers is to simply use various identities to present various views which I consider valuable, or important to present, even when I do not entirely agree with them, and to be willing to address limited arguments in limited ways, rather than trying to elucidate to anyone the whole range of my reasons for doing the things which I do. I also can occasionally make minor changes or reversions to articles without there being even any intimation that the changes or reverts are in any way mandated by someone with greater status or standing on any project, and thus help make it more clear that they are always open to further debate.

To sum up my intentions in all things : '''I have long been intent on doing what I can to try to promote greater awareness of important truths and a kindlier disposition to each other among as many people as I can. I do not expect that this will always be an easy or safe thing to do, nor that all people ever will or ever should agree on all things. I do expect that most people can agree to disagree with others in civil and amicable manners, and not be presumptively insulting or suspicious against all those who disagree with them.'''

I have also often indicated a great aversion to the making of unnecessary or detrimental rules, even though I know that a few rules and agreements will always be necessary among most people. I have long thought some of the most important rules to value are those which indicate one should always strive to remain humble and make as few rules as necessary which constrain people's lives and capacities to communicate in respectful ways.

Not acting with too obviously strong a perspective nor too overwhelming a presence is one of the strategies I have long employed to most effectively help people find better ways to help themselves and become more willing to help each other to realize many vitally important truths and to manifest the most vitally crucial virtues.

I will close this message with a few quotes of the wise:

 * Befriend whoever excels in virtue. Yield to kind words and helpful deeds, and do not hate your friend for a trifling fault as you are able. For ability is near to necessity. ~ Pythagoras

 * Klaatu barada nikto! ... There must be security for all — or no one is secure... This does not mean giving up any freedom except the freedom to act irresponsibly. ~ Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still

 * Truth alone will endure; all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

My hope and my trust is that Gandhi's words are true and applicable in this case, that the crucial truth of matters can be made clear to everyone concerned, some level of my ironic and non-malicious humor can be appreciated, and that at least some of the recent actions taken against some of my accounts reversed. ~ Rumour 23:29, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Train connections
Just a note to Heidi and Nathan, in case you check out this page, and are trying to look up a few other things: The poet I spoke of yesterday was Robinson Jeffers, and the first wiki creator was Ward Cunningham. I hope things go well with both of you and you find interesting material here. ~ Rumour 22:58, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
 * As I mentioned elsewhere on this page, Accountability is another account through which I am privileged to have been able to contribute to the Wikimedia projects. ~ Rumour 23:11, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Rumour


text:
Stevie Nicks

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career.

Quotes

 * I can be. I do not normally try to be. In fact, there have been some reviews—which I’ve loved—that said I didn't try to sell my show on sex, that I sang my show. On the other hand, I know I'm cute. I can dance. I don't have a bad figure. I know exactly what I am. I'm certainly no great beauty. I know exactly how far I can go.
 * (when asked "Do you think you're sexy?") "20 Questions", Playboy, Vol. 29, No. 7 (July 1982)

 * I phoned Prince out of the blue, hummed a melody, and he listened," … "I hung up, and he came over within the hour. He listened again, and I said, 'Do you hate it?' He said, 'No,' and walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about twenty five minutes, and then left. He was so uncanny, so wild, he spoiled me for every band I've ever had because nobody can exactly re-create—not even with two piano players-what Prince did all by his little self.
 * (on "Stand Back") Musician, issue 123-128 (1989), p. 84.

 * I met Lindsey in high school in San Francisco. We had gone to some party and he was sitting in the middle of this gorgeous living room playing a song. I walked over and stood next to him, and the song was "California Dreaming," and I just started singing with him. And so I just threw in my Michelle Phillips harmony, and he was so beautiful. And then I didn't really see him again until two years later, when he called me and asked me if I wanted to be in his rock 'n' roll band, which I didn't even know existed. And within two or three months we were opening for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, all the San Francisco bands. Two years later, we packed up and moved to Los Angeles with about 12 demos.
 * "Blonde on Blonde", SPIN, Vol. 13, No. 7 (October 1997), p. 92

 * …People would say to me: ‘It would be very hard to be Mr. Stevie Nicks.’ And I’m going: well, yeah, probably, unless you were just a really nice guy that was really confident in himself, not jealous of me, liked my friends, enjoyed my crazy life and had fun with it. And, of course, there are very few men like that. I’m an independent woman and am able to take care of myself, and that is not attractive to men.”.
 * On people viewing her as too unruly to settle down in “Stevie Nicks on art, ageing and attraction: ‘Botox makes it look like you’re in a satanic cult!’” in The Guardian (2020 Oct 14)

 * …If I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac. There’s just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. And there were a lot of drugs, I was doing a lot of drugs … I would have had to walk away…And I knew that the music we were going to bring to the world was going to heal so many people’s hearts and make people so happy. And I thought: you know what? That’s really important. There’s not another band in the world that has two lead women singers, two lead women writers. That was my world’s mission.
 * On her abortion in “Stevie Nicks on art, ageing and attraction: ‘Botox makes it look like you’re in a satanic cult!’” in The Guardian (2020 Oct 14)

 * I sat at my piano, a feminist woman, and I wrote it, to say that nothing you or anybody else can do to me can change the fact that, as the opening line goes: ‘Every night that goes between / I feel a little less.’...Freedom…I am a totally free woman, and I am independent, and that’s exactly what I always wanted to be.
 * On her song “Storm” in “Stevie Nicks on art, ageing and attraction: ‘Botox makes it look like you’re in a satanic cult!’” in The Guardian (2020 Oct 14)

 * It's just about a lady who's a goddess of steeds and a maker of birds.
 * (on "Rhiannon") The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll (1996: Harvard University Press), ISBN 9780674802735, p. 281.

 * I look around at all the girl singers, and I think they're all my children... and they're all going to do this... And, yes, maybe I inspired them because I did get through a lot, and I did have the same problems that they're going to have. You do have to give up a lot for it.
 * Laura Furman, Rumours Exposed (2003: Citadel Press), ISBN 9780806524726, p. 6

 * Lindsey [Buckingham] and I went up to Aspen and we went to somebody's incredible house and they had a piano and I had my guitar with me and I went in their living room, looking out over the incredible Aspen sky and I wrote 'Landslide.'
 * Laura Furman, Rumours Exposed (2003: Citadel Press), ISBN 9780806524726, p. 75

 * When I thought I was dying in rehab in 1994, 'I Won't back Down' was my mantra. It lifted my up out of the pain and made me fight through it. 'The Waiting'... summed up my life. We can't stand waiting, we rock 'n' roll men and women. Tom Petty's songs are like a great book that you revisit when you need help. His songs make me better.
 * "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers", Billboard, Vol. 118, No. 12 (25 March 2006), p. 38

 * That’s the words: "So I’m back to the velvet underground"—which is a clothing store in downtown San Francisco, where Janis Joplin got her clothes, and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, it was this little hole in the wall, amazing, beautiful stuff—”back to the floor that I love, to a room with some lace and paper flowers, back to the gypsy that I was."
 * (on the inspiration for "Gypsy") Leah Greenblatt, "Stevie Nicks On Her Favorite Songs: A Music Mix Exclusive", Entertainment Weekly, 31 March 2009

 * I'm going to spend my life writing poems, turning them into music that will affect people and touch their hearts. I'm going to write the songs that people can't write for themselves.
 * Kia Makarechi, "Stevie Nicks On Fleetwood Mac's Reunion Tour, Rihanna, Kanye West & Her Early Years In Music", Huffington Post, 3 December 2012

 * We all did everything we could do to try and talk her out of [quitting]. But you look in someone's eyes and you can tell they're finished. As Taylor Swift would say: 'We are never ever getting back together ever!' That's what Chris was saying... But I'd beg, borrow and scrape together $5 million and give it to her in cash if she would come back. That's how much I miss her.
 * (on asking Christine McVie to return in 2013) Caspar Llewellyn Smith, "Stevie Nicks: the return of Fleetwood Mac", The Guardian, 12 January 2013
 * …The reason I chose that kind of a platform boot was because the rest of my outfit is so filmy and floaty that I thought: If you’re going to wear that outfit, if you just wore a pair of stiletto high heels with ankle straps, it would look really pretty, but it would be way too airy-fairy. But if you put on a pair of really strong suede boots to your knee, that have got a substantial little platform and a really good heel, then if somebody tries to drag you off that stage, you can seriously kick them with that boot. And so those boots are not just a fashion statement. They are to make people understand that I’m not a ballerina. As much as I would have loved to be a ballerina, I’m not a ballerina — I’m a rock ‘n’ roll singer. And so when people get too close to me, I can just feel my foot starting to raise, you know? It’s like my karate moment. A few times I’ve said, “Let go of my hand,” and some people don’t. And my foot starts to raise, and they get it, like, “I don’t want to be kicked with that boot. So I better back off.” So they have their moments where I feel like they’re a weapon.
 * On how she might employ her “Cinderella” boots to ward off overeager fans in “Stevie Nicks on Her New Concert Film, the ‘Crazy’ Resurgence of ‘Dreams’ and Staying in Touch With the Spirits of Prince and Tom Petty” in The Variety (2020 Oct 25)

 * …I put them in my journal. And if I have a really big, important show, I call in all my spirits, and I say, “Tom, stand behind me. Prince, stand with me.” I ask for their help, because I know they’re up there. The Prince thing started a long time ago, because sometimes even before Prince died, I would say that. I wish Prince was here and he could just walk with me out there; because of his performing ability and how good he was on stage, sometimes I’d just go, “Come with me.” And I really do feel the presence, you know. I mean, Tom and I were way, way better friends than I was friends with Prince, because I hardly ever saw Prince. When I did see Prince, we’d have some really important conversations, and we talked on the phone sometimes for a couple hours. But Tom was a different kind of friend. Tom was really my buddy friend. I spent a lot of time at Tom’s different houses, and a lot of time with his family when he was still married to Jane. And that was a very hard loss for me.
 * On the loss of friends Tom Petty and Prince in “Stevie Nicks on Her New Concert Film, the ‘Crazy’ Resurgence of ‘Dreams’ and Staying in Touch With the Spirits of Prince and Tom Petty” in The Variety (2020 Oct 25)

Fleetwood Mac (1976)

 * She rings like a bell through the night And wouldn't you love to love her?
 * Rhiannon

 * Dreams unwind Love's a state of mind
 * Rhiannon

The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album) (1997)

 * I'll begin not to love you Turn around, see me runnin' I'll say I loved you years ago Tell myself you never loved me, no And did you say she was pretty? And did you say that she loves you? Baby, I don't wanna know.
 * Silver Springs

Rumours (1977)

 * Thunder only happens when it's raining, Players only love you when they're playing, Say, women, they will come and they will go, When the rain washes you clean you'll know.
 * Dreams

 * I don't want to know the reasons why, Love keeps right on walking down the line.
 * I Don't Want to Know

 * Well, did she make you cry, Make you break down, Shatter your illusions of love?
 * Gold Dust Woman

Bella Donna (album) (1981)

 * The clouds, never expect it, When it rains But the sea changes color, But the sea does not change, And so with the slow graceful Flow of age, I went forth with an, Age old desire to please, On the edge of seventeen.
 * Edge of Seventeen

 * Is love so fragile, And the heart so hollow, Shatter with words, Impossible to follow, You're saying I'm fragile, I try not to be, I search only, for something I can't see.
 * Leather And Lace

The Wild Heart (1983)

 * No one knows how I feel, What I say unless you read between my lines, One man walked away from me First he took my hand, take me home.
 * Stand Back

Rock a Little (1985)

 * A wound gets worse when it's treated with neglect.
 * Talk to Me

Quotes about Nicks

 * Stevie Nicks is the high priestess of her own religion, ruling a world of prancing Gypsies, gold-dust princesses, and white-winged doves, all without going anywhere near a sensible shoe. Like David Bowie or Bryan Ferry, she has spent a career turning her private fantasies into an elaborate pop mythology.
 * Kia Brackett and Christian David Hoard, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), ISBN 9780743201698, p. 585.

 * Witchcraft became part of the rock sensibility in the '70s, when Stevie Nicks twirled onstage swathed in scarves, bathed in incense smoke, and illuminated by hundreds of candles.
 * Maureen Callahan and Kim France, "Girls!", SPIN, Vol. 13, No. 8 (November 1997), p. 92.

 * Stevie bridges the gap between the powerful rock singers of the sixties, like Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, and what's going on today.
 * Sheryl Crow, as quoted in Laura Furman, Rumours Exposed (2003: Citadel Press), ISBN 9780806524726, p. 5

 * She had a huge influence on everybody, whether they admit it or not.
 * Courtney Love, as quoted in Laura Furman, Rumours Exposed (2003: Citadel Press), ISBN 9780806524726, p. 5

title: Stevie Nicks