text:
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery (17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976) was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the Second World War.

During the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War, Montgomery commanded the British Eighth Army from August 1942, through the Second Battle of El Alamein and on to the final Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943. He subsequently commanded the British Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Allied invasion of Italy and was in command of all Allied ground forces during the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord), from D-Day on 6 June 1944 until 1 September 1944.

After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1946–1948). From 1948 to 1951, he served as Chairman of the Commanders-in-Chief Committee of the Western Union. He then served as NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe until his retirement in 1958.

Quotes

 * I want to impose on everyone that the bad times are over, they are finished! Our mandate from the Prime Minister is to destroy the Axis forces in North Africa...It can be done, and it will be done!
 * Said to his troops in North Africa, promising the swift defeat of Rommel

 * The time has come to deal the enemy a terrific blow in Western Europe.
 * The blow will be struck by the combined sea, land and air forces of the Allies together constituting one great Allied team, under the supreme command of General Eisenhower.
 * On the eve of this great adventure I send my best wishes to every soldier in the Allied team.
 * To us is given the honour of striking a blow for freedom which will live in history; and in the better days that lie ahead men will speak with pride of our doings. We have a great and a righteous cause.
 * Let us pray that " The Lord Mighty in Battle " will go forth with our armies, and that His special providence will aid us in the struggle.
 * I want every soldier to know that I have complete confidence in the successful outcome of the operations that we are now about to begin.
 * With stout hearts, and with enthusiasm for the contest, let us go forward to victory.
 * And, as we enter the battle, let us recall the words of a famous soldier spoken many years ago :
 * "He either fears his fate too much,
 * Or his deserts are small,
 * Who dare not put it to the touch,
 * To win or lose it all. "
 * Good luck to each one of you. And good hunting on the main land of Europe.
 * Personal message to troops of 21st Army Group on the eve of D-Day
 * Personal message to troops of 21st Army Group on the eve of D-Day

 * Anyone who votes Labour ought to be locked up.
 * Speech at Woodford, October 1959

 * Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good.  That is the first rule.  I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war.  It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China".  It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.
 * In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962 (Hansard, Col. 227)

 * The United States has broken the second rule of war. That is: don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland in Asia. Rule One is, don't march on Moscow. I developed those two rules myself.
 * Interview, 2 July, 1968; quoted in New York Times, 3 July, 1968, p. 6.

 * The frightful casualties appalled me. The so-called "good fighting generals" of the war appeared to me to be those who had a complete disregard for human life. There were of course exceptions and I suppose one was Plumer; I had only once seen him and I had never spoken to him.
 * Regarding the generals of the First World War. 1

 * There were many reasons why we did not gain complete success at Arnhem. The following in my view were the main ones. First. The operation was not regarded at Supreme Headquarters as the spearhead of a major Allied movement on the northern flank designed to isolate, and finally to occupy, the Ruhr - the one objective in the West which the Germans could not afford to lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower always wanted to give priority to the northern thrust and to scale down the southern one. He ordered this to be done, and he thought that it was being done. It was not being done.   Second. The airborne forces at Arnhem were dropped too far away from the vital objective - the bridge. It was some hours before they reached it. I take the blame for this mistake. I should have ordered Second Army and 1st Airborne Corps to arrange that at least one complete Parachute Brigade was dropped quite close to the bridge, so that it could have been captured in a matter of minutes and its defence soundly organised with time to spare. I did not do so.  Third. The weather. This turned against us after the first day and we could not carry out much of the later airborne programme. But weather is always an uncertain factor, in war and in peace. This uncertainty we all accepted. It could only have been offset, and the operation made a certainty, by allotting additional resources to the project, so that it became an Allied and not merely a British project.  Fourth. The 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps was refitting in the Arnhem area, having limped up there after its mauling in Normandy. We knew it was there. But we were wrong in supposing that it could not fight effectively; its battle state was far beyond our expectation. It was quickly brought into action against the 1st Airborne Division.
 * Concerning Operation Market Garden in his autobiography, 'The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery' (1958)

 * The British soldier is second to none in the communities of fighting men. Some may possess more élan, others may be better disciplined; but none excels him in all-round character. We require no training in bravery in Britain; we can trust to our own native manliness to see us through. So it is with the soldier. It is his natural pride which gives him his fighting qualities. How often he has stood firm before tyranny and oppression, the last hope of the free world! In the midst of the noise and confusion of the battlefield, the simple homely figure of the British soldier stands out calm and resolute—dominating all around him with his quiet courage, his humour and his cheerfulness, his unflinching acceptance of the situation. May the ideals for which he has struggled never vanish from the world! May he never be forgotten by the nation for which he has fought so nobly! I know better than most to what heights the British soldier can aspire. His greatness is a measure of the greatness of the British character, and I have seen the quality of our race proved again and again on the battlefield.
 * Memoirs (London: Collins, 1958), pp. 543-544.

 * Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.
 * As quoted in Hearts Touched With Fire: My 500 Favorite Inspirational Quotations (2004) by Elizabeth Hanford Dole, p. 143

Quotes About Montgomery

 * On January 7, the senior British officer on the Continent, the commander of 21st Army Group, which included the U.S. Ninth Army but no longer the First, held a press conference. Montgomery told the press that on the very first day of the Bulge, "as soon as I saw what was happening I took certain steps myself to ensure that if the Germans got to the Meuse they would certainly not get over the river. And I carried out certain movements so as to provide balanced dispositions to meet the threatened danger... i.e., I was thinking ahead." Soon Eisenhower put him in command of the northern flank, and he then brought the British into the fight, and thus saved the Americans. "You have thus the picture of British troops fighting on both sides of American forces who have suffered a hard blow. This is a fine Allied picture." It had been an "interesting" battle, Montgomery said, rather like El Alamein; indeed, "I think possibly one of the most interesting and tricky battles I have ever handled." He added that GIs made great fighting men, when given proper leadership. Every American in Europe was outraged. As the GIs and their officers saw the battle, they had stopped the Germans before Montgomery came onto the scene. Almost no British forces were even engaged in the Bulge. Far from directing the victory, Montgomery had gotten in everyone's way and botched the counterattack. But what was especially galling about Montgomery's version of the Bulge was his immense satisfaction with the progress of the counterattack. Although the linkup of First and Third Armies was still a week away, and although the Germans were pulling out in good order, saving much of their equipment and men, Monty was claiming complete victory. Patton ranted and raved to every reporter who would listen, telling them publicly what he had already written privately in his diary- that had it not been for Montgomery, "we could have bagged the whole German army. I wish Ike were more of a gambler, but he is certainly a lion compared to Montgomery, and Bradley is better than Ike as far as nerve is concerned. Monty is a tired little fart. War requires the taking of risks and he won't take them."
 * Stephen E. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army From the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 (1997), p. 391-392

 * One always had the curious feeling of being taught by a great master. In this connection it is interesting to note that he was privately and affectionately known by those who worked for him at TAC HQ as 'Master'.
 * Lieutenant-Colonel C P Dawney, Military Assistant to Montgomery

 * I had the greatest admiration for his precision of statement and lucidity as a lecturer and also for what I, as an airman, considered his ability and breadth of view as a soldier. But he appeared to me to be regarded with grave suspicion for holding what I understood were heretical, though they seemed to me very reasonable, views about the conduct of future war. As a stranger in a strange land I kept my own counsel, but I left the course with a very definite impression that in Monty we certainly had a soldier who knew his onions, no matter what the "high-ups" in the army might officially think of the smell.
 * Arthur "Bomber" Harris in his memoirs, Bomber Offensive (1947)

 * I knew him well by reputation. He was probably the most discussed general in the British Army before the war, and-except with those who had served under him - not a popular figure. Regular armies in all countries tend to produce a standard type of officer, but Monty, somehow or other, didn't fit into the British pattern. His methods of training and command were unorthodox, always a deadly crime in military circles. He was known to be ruthlessly efficient, but somewhat of a showman. I had been told sympathetically that I wouldn't last long under his command, and, to be honest, I would rather have served under any other divisional commander.
 * Brian Horrocks, commander of a machine-gun battalion and later commander of XXX Corps, in his autobiography A Full Life (1960)

 * Monty was not such a dashing, romantic figure as his opponent; nor would you find him leading a forlorn hope in person, for the simple reason that if he was in command forlorn hopes did not occur. He had an extraordinary capacity for putting his finger straight on the essentials of any problem, and of being able to explain them simply and clearly. He planned all his battles most carefully - and then put them out of his mind every night. I believe he was awakened in the night only half a dozen times during the whole war.
 * Brian Horrocks, commander of a machine-gun battalion and later commander of XXX Corps, in his autobiography A Full Life (1960), comparing Montgomery to Rommel.

 * General Montgomery is a very able, dynamic type of army commander. I personally think that the only thing he needs is a strong immediate commander. He loves the limelight but in seeking it, it is possible that he does so only because of the effect upon his own soldiers, who are certainly devoted to him. I have great confidence in him as a combat commander. He is intelligent, a good talker, and has a flair for showmanship. Like all other senior British officers, he has been most loyal - personally and officially - and has shown no disposition whatsoever to overstep the bounds imposed by allied unity of command.
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, diary entry (11 June 1943)

 * Steady, Monty. You can't speak to me like that. I'm your boss.
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, in response to violent criticism by Montgomery about Eisenhower's broad front tactics before Operation Market Garden, as quoted in Arnhem — A Tragedy of Errors (1994) by Peter Harclerode, p. 27 and BBC documentary D-Day to Berlin, on Eisenhower's aircraft at Brussels airport on 10 September 1944.

 * Nevertheless, again there cropped up criticisms of Montgomery's "caution," which I had first heard among pressmen and airmen when he was conducting his long pursuit of Rommel across the desert. Criticism is easy- an unsuccessful attack brings cries of "butcher" just as every pause brings wails of "timidity." Such charges are unanswerable because proof or refutation is impossible. In war about the only criterion that can be applied to a commander is his accumulated record of victory and defeat. If regularly successful, he gets credit for his skill, his judgement as to the possible and impossible, and his leadership. Those critics of Montgomery who assert that he sometimes failed to attain the maximum must at least admit that he never once sustained a major defeat. In this particular instance I went over all details carefully, both with Montgomery and with Alexander. I believed then, and believe now, that a headlong attack against the Mount Etna position, with the resources available in the middle of July, would have been defeated. And it is well to remember that caution and timidity are not synonymous, just as boldness and rashness are not!
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (1948), p. 179

 * Field Marshal Montgomery, like General Patton, conformed to no type. He deliberately pursued certain eccentricities of behavior, one of which was to separate himself habitually from his staff. He lived in a trailer, surrounded by a few aides. This created difficulties in the staff work that must be performed in timely and effective fashion if any battle is to result in victory. He consistently refused to deal with a staff officer from any headquarters other than his own and, in argument, was persistent up to the point of decision.
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (1948), p. 286

 * Montgomery was always a master in the methodical preparation of forces for a formal, set-piece attack.
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (1948), p. 387

 * Much has been written about the remarkable effect Montgomery had on the troops, his appearance in peculiar hats, and so on. This was superficial. We judged him on results and his manner of achievement. Many of the troops never saw him: our first encounter was months later at Tripoli. Yet the signs of a new grip on affairs was palpable, as Churchill noticed. There was the first of those special messages to the troops. These were printed on sheets, some 11 inches by 8 inches, and were widely circulated. The first gave the gist of the famous address to the staff. We were going to fight where we stood. There would be no withdrawal, no surrender. We had to do our duty so long as we had breath in our bodies.
 * Denis Falvey, A Well-Known Excellence (2002)

 * I thought he (Montgomery) was very cautious, considering his immensely superior strength, but he is the only Field-Marshal in this war who won all his battles. In modern mobile warfare the tactics are not the main thing. The decisive factor is the organization of one's resources to maintain the momentum.
 * Wilhelm von Thoma who fought against Montgomery in North Africa. After the war he was interviewed by Basil Liddell Hart for his book The Other Side of the Hill (1948)

 * Montgomery is a first-class trainer and leader of troops on the battlefield, with a fine tactical sense. He knows how to win the loyalty of his men and has a great flair for raising morale. He rightly boasted that, after the battle of Alamein, he never suffered a defeat; and the truth is that he never intended to run the risk of a defeat; that is one reason why he was cautious and reluctant to take chances. There is, however, much to be said for his attitude when we consider that, up to October 1942, we had not won a single major battle since the start of the war - except Archie Wavell's operations against the Italians and some local victories against the Axis forces in the Western Desert. Yet I can't disguise that he was not an easy man to deal with; for example, administrative orders issued by my staff were sometimes objected to - in other words Monty wanted to have complete independence of command and to do what he liked. Still, no serious difficulties arose over these very minor disturbances, he was always reasonable when tackled.
 * General Harold Alexander in Memoirs: 1940-1945

 * I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen. There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle that has now begun will grow constantly in scale and in intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say, however. Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the supreme commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness. Nothing that equipment, science or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.
 * Winston Churchill, Speech to the House of Commons on the Invasion of France, 6 June 1944

 * In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable.
 * Winston Churchill, quoted in Ambrosia and Small Beer (1964) by Edward Marsh

 * Montgomery's problem was twofold. First, he had an inflated opinion of himself (even more than Patton's). Churchill later said that in defeat, Montgomery was unbeatable, but in victory, he became unbearable. Second, his verbal daring was not matched by his methods. As at El Alamein, he seldom commenced an offensive unless he had overwhelming superiority and could not fail. Marketgarden was the exception, and the failure stung him badly. Moreover, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, had minimum admiration for Eisenhower and kept feeding his angst privately to Montgomery. Warren Harding once said that his enemies were no problem, he could take care of them: "It's my goddamn friends that keep me awake at nights."
 * George M. Hall, The Fifth Star: High Command in an Era of Global War (1994), p. 123

 * King greatly enjoyed a luncheon with Mr. Churchill, who had invited him to meet Field Marshal Montgomery, whom he had not previously known. King felt that what Montgomery said made very good sense, and noted that he was not only very firm in all matters of military business, but equally firm in his personal disinclination to either smoke or drink. It is true that his beret was somewhat dramatic, but hardly more so than MacArthur's gold embroidered cap and corncob pipe or Patton's two pearl-handled pistols. Within the United States Navy, Halsey and King's old friend Jonas Ingram could hardly have been considered restrained in their style. Although King's own taste did not run to such personal exuberance, he was not necessarily surprised to find it in military commanders whose chiefs were as colorful as President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill.
 * Ernest King and Walter M. Whitehill, Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record (1952), p. 612

 * 'Monty' was the victor of the Alamein campaign which turned the tide in North Africa; he was enormously popular with the troops under his command and with the British public. Three years older than Eisenhower, his military career was fuller. The son of a clergyman, he followed a conventional path from public school to the British army academy at Sandhurst. In 1914 he was a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He saw fierce fighting on the Western front, was severely wounded, returned to the front and ended the war as a divisional chief-of-staff with the rank of major; two years later he saw combat again, against Sinn Fein in the struggle for Irish independence. Between the wars he was a successful staff officer; when war broke out again he was a major-general. As with Eisenhower, real responsibility came only in 1942 when Churchill chose him to take over the 8th Army in Egypt and turn back the Axis armies advancing on Suez. He was a good organizer and a careful strategist. His bloody baptism of fire in 1914 taught him not to gamble with the lives of his men. He suffered fools not at all, and had little respect for rank and distinction. He believed that officers should get close to their men, but with fellow commanders he could be prickly and arrogant. He possessed a strong self-belief which he communicated to those below him, but it was a quality that made him intolerant of allies and colleagues where Eisenhower was a model of appeasement. The eventual success of their awkward partnership owed more to Eisenhower's self-restraint than it did to any diffidence on the part of Montgomery.
 * Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (1995), p. 144-145

 * It is not surprising, however, that American generals found the British system irksome, especially as applied by Montgomery. To them his methods were the more objectionable because he was so clearly born to command and, even in his most tactful moments, he exercised his authority almost as a matter of right. Moreover, he was not as other men. He shunned the company of women; he did not smoke or drink or play poker with 'the boys.' He could never be 'slapped on the back.' Because he lived in a small tactical H.Q. with a few aides and liaison officers, he was looked upon as setting himself apart from (and therefore above) his fellow soldiers. This impression seemed to be confirmed by his practice, resented as much by other British services as it was by the Americans, of sending his Chief of Staff, de Guingand, to represent him at conferences.
 * Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (1952), p. 464

 * Unquestionably there was a marked element of professional vanity in Montgomery's make-up. He was not a man of snap judgments, but once he had made up his mind, he gave the impression of supreme confidence in the righteousness of his decision, and was frequently dogmatic in expounding his views because he had no time for cant, humbug or pomposity. The appearance of conceit was emphasized by his disregard for social graces when he was preoccupied with operations, but he was not so austere, aloof and unfriendly as many Americans thought. He was on closer and easier terms with his own troops than was any other British commander of his day, and he received unbounded loyalty from them. He was most approachable and informal with those who had operational reasons for seeing him and he freely sought advice in private discussion, but as he once said to de Guingand, "You can't run a military operation with a committee of staff officers in command. It will be nonsense!"
 * Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (1952), p. 465

 * When Montgomery held a conference of his senior commanders and advisers, it was to 'tell them the form' or to give out orders; not to collect ideas. In expounding a plan at this level, the clarity, the directness and simplicity of his presentation was most convincing, but on other occasions he frequently gave the impression that he was 'talking down' to his audience This was the result of his habit of presenting every problem in the simplest terms with the deliberate intention of inspiring confidence in his solution by making it easier to accomplish. De Guingand writes: "When tackling a problem... [Montgomery] cuts away all the frills and gets down to those factors that really matter. He simplifies everything to an extent I have not met elsewhere. Some say he over-simplifies- to some extent this is true, but the resultant dividend is enormous." Within the British Army this was certainly the case, but to many Americans who had come into direct personal contact with him all this simplification seemed to be so much condescension.
 * Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (1952), p. 465

 * The plan which Montgomery presented to Eisenhower at their meeting on August 23rd was bold enough, but it meant halting Patton and confining the Third Army to the defensive role of flank protection during the advance of the Second British and First American Armies to the Ruhr. Eisenhower's first reaction was that, even if it was militarily desirable (which he did admit), it was politically impossible to stop Patton in full cry "The American public," said Eisenhower, "would never stand for it; and public opinion wins war." To which Montgomery replied, "Victories win wars. Give people victory and they won't care who won it."
 * Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (1952), p. 468

 * Montgomery may have been right so far as the British public were concerned, but Eisenhower knew that his troops in the field and his people at home would see the issue in simple terms, almost in terms of American football. Patton was 'carrying the ball,' and was making an 'end run' with every American cheering him on. As Eisenhower saw it, there was no justification- in football or in battle- for taking the ball away from him. Patton had already proved himself to be a master of exploitation and his troops were already across the Seine. Montgomery had no such reputation and his troops had not yet reached the Seine. Neither the British nor the Canadians had yet shown a capacity for advancing with the dash and drive the Americans had demonstrated so brilliantly since the break-out. It is not surprising, therefore, that Eisenhower would have doubted at this stage whether Montgomery had the troops or the commanders to carry the northward thrust through to the Ruhr before the Germans could establish a coherent front.
 * Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (1952), p. 468

 * At the ceremony of signing the decoration I met Field-Marshal Montgomery for the first time. During the war I had closely followed the actions of British troops under his command. In 1940 the British Expeditionary Corps had sustained a disastrous setback at Dunkirk. Later, British troops under Montgomery's command had smashed the German corps under General Rommel at El Alamein. During the Normandy landing Montgomery had ably commanded the Allied forces and their advance to the banks of the Seine. Montgomery was above medium height, very agile, soldierly, trim and created an impression of a lively and intelligent man. He began to talk about the operations at El Alamein and at Stalingrad. In his view the two operations were of equal significance. I did not want to belittle the merits of the British troops, but still I had to explain to him that the El Alamein operation was carried out on an army scale, while at Stalingrad the operation engaged a group of fronts and it had a vast strategic importance- it resulted in the rout of a major enemy force in the area of the Volga and Don rivers and later, in the North Caucasus. It was an operation that actually marked a radical turning-point in the war and ensured the retreat of the German forces from our country.
 * Georgy Zhukov, The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov (1971), p. 661

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


text:
William Barclay

William Barclay (December 5, 1907 – January 24, 1978) was an Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow.

The Gospel of John (1955)

 * Jesus teaches that human need must always be helped; that there is no greater task than to relieve someone's pain and distress and that the Christian's compassion must be like God's—unceasing. Other work may be laid aside but the work of compassion never.
 * Vol. 1 (Revised edition. Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1975), p. 183

 * (a) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped trying. It is to have come to look on all faults as ineradicable and all virtues as unattainable.[…] (b) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped feeling.[…] When compassion goes the heart is dead. (c) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped thinking.[…] The day when the desire to learn leaves us, the day when new truths, new methods, new thought become simply a disturbance with which we cannot be bothered, is the day of our spiritual death. (d) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped repenting. The day when a man can sin in peace is the day of his spiritual death.
 * Vol. 1 (Revised edition. Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1975), p. 192

 * All life is based on the fact that anything worth getting is hard to get. There is a price to be paid for anything.  Scholarship can only be bought at the price of study, skill of craft or technique can only be bought at the price of practice, and eminence in any sport can only be bought at the price of training and discipline.
 * Vol. 2 (1964), p. 77

The Plain Man's Guide to Ethics (1973)

 * The Plain Man's Guide to Ethics: Thoughts on the Ten Commandments. London: Collins (Fontana Books), 1973

 * It is only by refusing to accept the situation that in the end we can change the situation.
 * Ch. 7, p. 89

 * Any creed or ideology or religion must be known and tested by its fruits, and its fruits are people.
 * Ch. 7, p. 92

 * When two people speak about a trial marriage, in which they live together without being married, they are not really reproducing the conditions of marriage, for they are not in a binding situation, which is the very essence of marriage, but in a quite impermanent situation out of which either may walk at any time. They are in a situation in which at any moment they can freely walk out of their problems instead of a situation in which they have to solve their problems, or wreck the situation. The whole point about marriage is that marriage can never be an experiment; it has to be a commitment; no one can experiment with a commitment; a commitment has to be accepted or refused.
 * Ch. 8, p. 149

title: William Barclay


text:
Wayne's World (film)

Wayne's World is a 1992 comedy about two slacker buddies and their local-access cable TV show.
 * Directed by Penelope Spheeris. Written by Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner, and Terry Turner, based on a sketch in Saturday Night Live.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll hurl.

Wayne Campbell

 * Let me bring you up to speed. My name is Wayne Campbell. I live in Aurora, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago — excellent. I've had plenty of joe-jobs; nothing I'd call a career. Let me put it this way: I have an extensive collection of nametags and hairnets. OK, so I still live with my parents, which I admit is both bogus and sad. But at least I have an amazing cable access show! And I still know how to party! But what I'd really love is to do "Wayne's World" for a living. It might happen! Sh'yeah! And monkeys might fly outta' my butt! Ah, the MirthMobile...

Dialogue

 * [Wayne and Cassandra visit a local music store]
 * Wayne Campbell: There it is-- Excalibur. ["kneels" in respect]
 * Cassandra: Wow. '64 Fender Stratocaster in classic white with triple single coil pickups and a whammy bar.
 * Wayne Campbell: Pre-CBS Fender corporate buy-out.
 * Cassandra: I'd raise the bridge, file down the nut, and take the buzz out of the low "E."
 * Wayne: [To the camera] God, I love this woman. [reacts at Garth who just walked into some chimes] Hi, Garth. Where's the clerk? I know. I'll use the "May I help you" riff. [picks up another guitar and does a heavy metal riff]
 * Attendant: May I help you?
 * Wayne: [puts down guitar] Yes, my good man. I'd like to have a look at this Fender Stratocaster, please.
 * Attendant: Oh really?
 * Wayne: Yes.
 * Attendant: Again?
 * Wayne: Yes.
 * Attendant: [opens plastic case and gives Stratocaster to Wayne] Careful. [Wayne starts strumming some chords but the attendant knows the song] Hey! [stops Wayne and points him and Cassandra to a "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" sign]
 * Wayne: [to camera] No Stairway. Denied!

 * [Wayne goes to Cassandra at a photoshoot]
 * Wayne Campbell: Am I supposed to be a man?! am I supposed to say "That's okay, I don't mind"? [splashing water on his face to simulate tears and pretending to sob] I don't mind. Well, I mind! I mind big-time! [title saying OSCAR SCENE appears] And you know what the worst part is? I NEVER LEARNED TO READ.
 * Cassandra: Is that true?
 * Wayne: Yes, everything except the reading part.

 * [Wayne and Benjamin Kane talk about the new sponsorship]
 * Benjamin Kane: Listen, we need to have a talk about Vanderhoff. The fact is, he's the sponsor, and you signed a contract guaranteeing him certain concessions, one of them being a spot on the show.
 * Wayne Campbell: [With a Pizza Hut pizza box] Well, that's where I see things just a little differently. Contract or no, I will not bow to any sponsor. [Pulls a slice out of the box, and poses]
 * Benjamin: Sorry you feel that way, but basically, it's the nature of the beast.
 * Wayne: [holding a bag of Doritos] Maybe I'm wrong on this one, but for me, the beast doesn't include selling out. [Eats a chip and poses] Garth, you know what I'm talking about, right?
 * Garth Algar: [dressed head-to-toe in Reebok sportswear] It's like people only do things because they get paid. And that's just really sad.
 * Wayne: I can't talk about it anymore. It's giving me a headache.
 * Garth: Here, take two of these. [drops two Nuprin into Wayne's hand, which is seen in black-and-white save for the yellow pills]
 * Wayne: Ahh, Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.
 * Benjamin: Look, you can stay here in the big-leagues and play by the rules, or you can go back to the farm club in Aurora. It's your choice.
 * Wayne: [Holds up a can of Pepsi.] Yes, and it's The Choice of a New Generation. [Takes a sip and smiles to the camera]

 * Wayne Campbell: So, do you... come to Milwaukee often?
 * Alice Cooper: Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans.
 * Pete: In fact, isn't "Milwaukee" an Indian name?
 * Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. Actually it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que," which is Algonquin for, "the good land."
 * Wayne: I was not aware of that.
 * Cooper: I think one of the most interesting aspects of Milwaukee is the fact that it's the only major American city to have ever elected three socialist mayors.
 * Wayne: Does this guy know how to party or what! ...Eh? Eh? [everyone stares blankly at Wayne.] Uh. Okay... Well, we gotta get going.
 * Alice Cooper: No, no, no, stick around, hang out with us.
 * Garth: Cool! Yeah we'll stay and hang around with ya's... with Alice Cooper...
 * Garth and Wayne: [bowing down] We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're scum! We suck! ... [Alice Cooper holds out his hand like royalty for them to kiss]

 * ''[at Stan Mikita's]
 * Glen the Manager: Anything wrong, Davy?
 * Davy: Yeah, I got paid today.
 * Glen: Yeah, I know what that's like.
 * Davy: No. You don't understand. They laid me off. I got one of these. [holds up pink slip]
 * Glen: Yeah, I know how that feels.
 * Davy: Know what I'd like to do?
 * Glen: Yeah, I know what you'd like to do. You'd like to find the guy who did it, rip his still-beating heart out of his chest and hold it in front of his face so he can see how black it is before he dies.
 * Davy: [blinks] Actually, I was thinking of filing a grievance with the union.
 * Glen: Well...the world's a twisted place.

 * [Wayne is pulled over by a traffic cop for speeding]
 * Wayne Campbell: Yes, officer, is there something wrong?
 * Traffic Cop: [holds up photo] Have you seen this boy?
 * Wayne: [looks at camera] AAAAAAAHHHH! [looks forward] AAAAHHH!!! [floors it]

 * Terry: I love you, man.
 * Russell: And I love you. Because I've learned that platonic love can exist between two grown men.
 * Benjamin Kane: And I've learned something, too. I've learned that a flawless profile, a perfect body, the right clothes, and a great car can get you far in America, almost to the top, but it can't get you everything.
 * Wayne: [Wayne and Garth step forward] Isn't it great we're all better people?
 * Wayne & Garth: FISHED IN!
 * Wayne & Garth: FISHED IN!

Cast

 * Mike Myers - Wayne Campbell
 * Dana Carvey - Garth Algar
 * Tia Carrere - Cassandra Wong
 * Rob Lowe - Benjamin Kane
 * Lara Flynn Boyle - Stacy
 * Michael DeLuise - Alan
 * Lee Tergeson - Terry
 * Dan Bell - Neil
 * Sean Gregory Sullivan - Phil, Wayne and Garth's perpetually wasted friend
 * Brian Doyle-Murray - Noah Vanderhoff
 * Colleen Camp - Mimi Vanderhoff
 * Kurt Fuller - Russell Finley
 * Chris Farley - the well-informed security guard
 * Meat Loaf - Tiny
 * Frank DiLeo - rock promoter Frankie "Mr. Big" Sharp
 * Ed O'Neill - Glen
 * Mike Hagerty - Davy
 * Frederick Coffin - Officer Koharski
 * Donna Dixon - Garth's dream woman
 * Ione Skye - Elyse
 * Robin Ruzman - a waitress
 * Charles Noland - Ron Paxton
 * Carmen Filpi - Old Man Withers
 * Chaz Healy - Concert-goer
 * Robert Patrick - T-1000
 * Alice Cooper with Pete Friesen, Derek Sherinian, Stef Burns, and Jimmy DeGrasso as themselves

title: Wayne's World (film)


text:
Wild ARMs

Wild ARMs is a video game series developed by Media Vision. The first installment of the series was released in 1997. Since then, there have been five major sequels, animations and few other spin-off games of Wild ARMs. Each game has different main characters at different era, but the events occurred on the same planet. For full details of Wild ARMs series, refer to Wikipedia article on Wild Arms: Wild Arms series.

Wild ARMs

 * Bloomberg Flash: To settle my score with you, I came dancing all the way up from the fires of hell.
 * Bloomberg Flash: This is my prey. Go home and play with your toys.
 * Zed: Here I am! The Grim Reaper's pen pal! The ultimate Macho Man!
 * Cecilia:Magic casting requires a lot of energy. That's why I'm always hungry after a battle. Plus, I love hamburgers. I learned how fun it was to eat through cooking and eating hamburgers at the abbey.
 * Elmina:You still don't get it, do you? That light is the Absolute Power. It's the power to go beyond yourself in order to protect the ones we love. That is the light of your new Courage...
 * 'ZeikFried:Pure power does not discriminate; all power is destined to destroy.
 * Jack Van Burace: Real Power is the power to protect the ones you love.
 * Rudy Roughnight: Hey... I'm sorry! Alright! It won't happen again!
 * Blue Robed Figure:"The one who does not have the courage to look at the truth is called a coward. A coward is afraid...
 * Tear Drop: You humans are the real Guardians of Filgaia... You hold the key to Filgaia's future.
 * Mother:The flame of life is the most beautiful at its scattering end... The end of a planet is the ultimate beauty supplied by the universe.
 * Lady Harken: So, you're an expert with Fast Draw, huh? Ha, it looks more like a Fat Draw than a Fast Draw.
 * Dan: Many think that courage is power. Real power is when you surpass your own desires to protect something dear...
 * Boomerang: The cycle of desire never ends...Luceid will never die...
 * Jane: Get off me, you idiot! How long do you plan to stay on top of me?!
 * CeciliaIf you want to be loved by someone, you have to love other people yourself...
 * Drake:When we found the wreckage on the beach, we laughed so hard. But then I realized that no matter how much I hate that bastard, Bartholemew, we both share a common love of the sea. So I decided to be a nice guy for a change.
 * Guardian Voices: If all the people in Filgaia had thoughts of Courage, Love, and Hope... The world would not have fallen. But, the weakness of their thoughts have brought Filgaia to its knees." - Guardian Voices
 * Boomerang: If humans can turn hope into power, perhaps I can turn desire into a blade..." - Boomerang
 * Door (One of the puzzle at De Le Metalica): It's true, Knowledge is the real treasure. It can help people, as well as confuse them. Door (One of the puzzle at De Le Metalica)
 *  Tablet 5 (One of the puzzle at De Le Metalica): People always speak of justice while using power to enforce it. What then is the meaning of justice? If you want justice as power, take the right door. If you want power as justice, take the left door.
 * Dan Dairam: If your destiny is clear, the pull of love will always be there.
 * Baskar Chief: The light that has been forgotten is waiting among our people. The power that is derived from Courage is the power to conquer the past. It is the essence of the inner revolution. The power to protect the precious is the power of Love. The powers of Love and Courage are the powers of the west wind. The hope for tomorrow. The belief in possibilities is the power of Hope. The great flapping wings of Zephyr will ultimately open Filgaia's future. -

Wild ARMs: 2nd Ignition

 * "If you've not averted your eyes, you'll notice that the ground is full of monsters. They are impure creatures, yet no one tries to remove them; no one tries to bring peace. Why? Because humans are weak, cowardly creatures." - Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus

 * “Ideas, Values, Consciousness, and Power…Put all that together and people get stronger. That’s progress for the future.” - Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus

 * “Why, when we all desire the same results, do people choose such different paths?” - Ashley Winchester

 * “That doesn’t make sense. Is what you’re describing really a ‘hero’? It doesn’t sound like one. Sure, some horrible things are happening in the world. But does that mean the ‘hero’ has to do something about it? Is a hero just someone who is sacrificed for others who can’t solve their own problems? By naming you their ‘hero’ does everyone else shirk their own duties and just stop trying? If a ‘hero’ is just a euphemism for ‘sacrifice,’ then no. I’m not happy about it at all. Especially when the ‘hero’ is someone I care for…” - Marina

 * “How can you not question a world full of deception? Worried, confused…You all who don’t look back don’t deserve a future!” - Caina

 * "Whenever I have this much fun, my glasses start falling down." - Judecca

Wild ARMs: 3rd Advanced

 * “An unforgettable memory can at times seem like an ugly scar.” - Clive

 * “If it’s a nightmare you seek, then a nightmare you get…One that never ends, and one you cannot wake from. Rot in my endless nightmare!” - Beatrice

 * “If every existence had an equal and beautiful moment to shine…it is when the light of life goes out. No matter how pathetic or unsightly…The moment of death is when you shine best…” - Melody

 * “Now that I have it, unlimited life and power seem so boring. All my life I had so many goals I wanted to accomplish. I tried so hard to cross them all off my list. But now, I have all the time in the world, with nothing that can stop me. Each time I remind myself of this, everything I’ve wanted to accomplish all seems insignificant. That’s why I have something big planed…something bigger then you can imagine. It’s not uncommon for a dog to bite the hand that feeds it.” - Janus

 * "Listen to the Donkey's orders and eliminate the enemy!" - Malik

 * "I no want you get fried like chicken!" - Zim

 * "Geez...Why does everyone hate us?"

 * "Looking for a shortcut can lead you astray."

 * "Well bro...We have no social graces, just like the boss..." - Dario and Romero

 * "I won't let you become anyone's memory!" - Virginia to Beatrice

Wild ARMs: Alter Code F

 * Sarcastic comments made by Jack and Hanpan about how much Cecilia ate.
 * Hanpan: "The enemy outnumbered us almost 2:1. However, our troops successfully engaged in blitz tactics and we attacked the enemy...
 * Jack: "One by one our men had to stop, but there were still so many of them! If it wasn't for one soldier who continued her efforts... Her firepower, speed, and war tactics were just too much for our enemies; she finished off the last enemies with a vengeance...
 * Hanpan: "All of the enemies who fell to her violence met a cruel and merciless end. Her ferocity toward the enemies even drew shivers down the spines of her own allies...
 * Jack: (looks to Cecilia)...How'd you like our real-time war report on the Great Chow Mein Uprising? It was a crazy battle!"
 * Hanpan: (looks to Cecilia as well) Wait, we forgot about the reserve armies, the fresh young carrot and broccoli cadets... Poor guys never had a chance...
 * Fernando:Since the beginning of time, every life form walks on the circular path and eventually returns to its original form.
 * Boomerang: As humans take their courage and make it power, I use my thirst for battle to power my blade." - Boomerang

Wild ARMs: 4th Detonator
Jude: I have to ask, just to be sure... You're not a bad guy... right? Arnaud: What makes you think I'm not? Jude: Because you're just a kid, like me. Arnaud: What? I look like a kid to YOU? Man, how depressing...
 * Arnaud: Hey, you're that kid!

 * "How can that kid be so strong?! Is this truly...the power of...ARMs...?!" - Acting Commander Tony, commenting on Jude's ability to use the ARM

 * "I won't insist that you eat quietly but...can't you behave in a manner that is befitting for you age? It's embarrassing for the rest of us to watch you behave like that in public." - Raquel, to soldiers in the pub of Port Rosalia

 * "I know a thing or two about swords, but unfortunately, 'charming' isn't in my repertoire. I'd be happy to give you a taste, but I may fall short of your expectations." - Raquel, to soldiers in Port Rosalia

Yulie: "It's hard to believe...there really are people like that..." Arnaud: " *ahem* And here is where I make my entrance." Arnaud: "We intended to jump in, too, but you handled things so flawlessly, we didn't even get the chance. Would you care to join us at our table so that we might introduce ourselves?" Raquel: "You don't look very trustworthy. Are you with those guys that just left? If so, I won't hold back." Arnaud: "What are you saying?!" Jude: "No, we're not with them. We were just so impressed with you... That was really cool!" Raquel: "Oh uh, thanks..." Arnaud: "You mentioned you were traveling alone? With the way things are these days, I can't help but worry about a girl like you traveling all by yourself." Jude: "What are you talking about, Arnaud? How can someone as cool as that be in any kind of danger?" Arnaud: "Kid, what the heck do looking cool and being in danger have to do with each other? What I'm trying to say is--" Yulie: "I'm sorry we're making such a fuss...we didn't mean to intrude upon you." Raquel: "I don't think it's anything you need to apologize for. Besides, they say that 'friendship is a beautiful thing,' do they not? I think a little fuss among friends is just fine." Jude: "Do we look like we're friends?!" Arnaud: "Well I sure would rather be friends with you! Why don't you tell us your name...?"
 * Jude: "That was so cool...I wish I'd taken my sword training more seriously."

 * "There are some Drifters who do bad things. In fact, the majority may be that way. However...there are definitely some Drifters who use their skills to help others. Being a Drifter in and of itself isn't a good or bad thing, but there are good ones and bad ones." - Raquel

 * "Kresnik...nothing's changed...I still hate you. How is... sacrificing yourself the best option? How can there be anything good in making Yulie cry? I hate you Kresnik...I hate you for making Yulie cry! But...I promise you...I promise I'll always protect Yulie...together...along with your ARM...I won't fail!" - Jude

 * "If humans are to reach the future, they must become strong! They must evolve to become stronger! I have the ability to get a glimpse of the future with these eyes... I have learned the terrible truth...that the future is closed off to this species. To protect the world for the people of this world, I will bear any shame and condemnation!" -Lambda

 * "They betrayed me! I wanted peace! I wanted to put an end to the war! Yet, why does war still persist?! It's because humans desire it!! If it's human nature to make war, then I'll just have to eliminate all of humanity! Eternal peace has no need for humans!!" - Hauser

 * "I've seen inside your heart, and it's not that I don't understand what you're trying to do... But I know without a doubt, that what you're doing is wrong! You will only bring about more anguish...so that others will suffer like you did. Just because you rationalized good and evil in the past, it doesn't mean you have to continue doing so, in the future. We'll never attain the peace you're seeking, if you use violence to fight violence." - Jude, to Hauser

Cecilia: "Everyone has... things they care about in their hearts." Jack: "To keep them from destroying everything...!" Rudy: "We'll go as far as it takes." Rudy: "Put your hearts together!"
 * (From Kindred Souls)

Wild ARMs: The Vth Vanguard

 * Avril: Johnny Appleseed...I think it's important.

 * Dean: Nothings impossible as long as you don't give up!

 * Dean: Prepare to face the force of my arms!

 * Greg: When you point a gun at someone they have the right to shoot back.

 * Greg: I don't care what the problem is, I'll blow them away.

 * Rebecca: "Take this" attack!

 * Dean: (To Kalivos): Have a taste of this! METEOR DRIVE!
 * (The shovel breaks in half upon impact)
 * Dean: Nooooooooooooooo! My precious Black Fenrir!
 * Rebecca: It's a shovel! You don't have to name it!
 * Dean: Oh! But Meteor Drive was okay with you!?
 * Rebecca: Moron! Watch out!

title: Wild ARMs


text:
Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy may refer to:
 * Final Fantasy
 * Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
 * Final Fantasy II
 * Final Fantasy III
 * Final Fantasy IV
 * Final Fantasy V
 * Final Fantasy VI
 * Final Fantasy VII
 * Final Fantasy VII Remake
 * Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
 * Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005 film)
 * Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
 * Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
 * Final Fantasy VIII
 * Final Fantasy IX
 * Final Fantasy X
 * Final Fantasy X-2
 * Final Fantasy XI
 * Final Fantasy XII
 * Final Fantasy XIII
 * Final Fantasy XIII-2
 * Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
 * Final Fantasy XIV
 * Final Fantasy XV
 * Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV
 * Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV
 * Final Fantasy XVI
 * Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
 * Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
 * Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
 * Final Fantasy Tactics/Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
 * Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
 * Final Fantasy Tactics Advance A2: Grimoire of the Rift
 * Final Fantasy Dimensions
 * Dissidia: Final Fantasy
 * Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
 * Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
 * Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia
 * Final Fantasy Type-0
 * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001 film)
 * Final Fantasy Unlimited
 * Last words in Final Fantasy

title: Final Fantasy


text:
Talk:Che Guevara

Unsourced
If you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote from this list please move it to the project page. --Antiquary 20:00, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

 * We're going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the revolution. By which I mean: nothing.

 * La revolución no se lleva en los labios para vivir de ella, se lleva en el corazón para morir por ella.
 * The revolution is not carried in the lips to live by, it is carried in the heart for die for.
 * Variant translation: The revolution lives on not in words to live by it, but in one's heart to die for it.

 * No se vive celebrando victorias, sino superando derrotas.
 * Live your life not celebrating victories, but overcoming defeats.

 * El conocimiento nos hace responsables.
 * Knowledge makes us accountable.

 * I was born in Argentina; this is no secret for anyone. I am Cuban as well as Argentinean and, if the highly illustrated lordships of Latin America may not feel offended, I feel such a patriotism for Latin America, for any country in Latin America, that in the moment it might be necessary, I would be ready to yield my life for the liberation of any Latin American nation, without asking anybody anything, without demanding anything, without exploiting anyone.

--This is a translation from a speech in Spanish available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bl8EIFcwZo  I do not trust my transcription of Spanish, but the YouTube page offers this version (starting at what is translated as " I feel such patritotism for Latin America . . . ."): "Me siento tan patriota de Latinoamérica, de cualquier país de Latinoamérica, como el que más y, en el momento en que fuera necesario, estaría dispuesto a entregar mi vida por la liberación de cualquiera de los países de Latinoamérica, sin pedirle nada a nadie, sin exigir nada, sin explotar a nadie." Ernesto Che Guevara. The quote may also be found on the Spanish Wikiquote page: https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernesto_Guevara  This is my first time here, but I will attempt to add this to the main page. paulrfrank July 4, 2015

 * No enemy, no forces should be underestimated — for there are no longer any isolated nations. As established by the second declaration in Havana, no nation in Latin America is weak, for it belongs to a family of 200 million brothers who all live in the same poverty and all have the same feelings. They all have the same enemy, they all dream of a better life and they count on the solidarity of all righteous people. This elegy of ours will be written by starving indians, by landless peasants, by exploited workers, by the progressive masses, by honest and brilliant intellectuals of which there are so many in Latin America.

--The quotation above comes from a speech by Ché. I don't know the date, but he was filmed and recorded delivering it. This is the English subtitle for the speech used in the film "Sacrificio: Who Betrayed Che Guevara?" There is an extract of this speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNQU9rRcfk0 --Rivergod 10:04, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

 * Under the discredited flag of the United Nations, dozens of countries under the military leadership of the United States participated in this war with the massive intervention of U.S. soldiers and the use, as cannon fodder, of the South Korean population that was enrolled.

 * Words that do not match deeds are unimportant.

Confirm quote?
"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate." As quoted in The Cuban Revolution : Years of Promise (2005) by Teo A. Babun and Victor Andres Triay, p. 57

This quote is completely out of character, it goes against everything Guevara ever said. Even compare is with other quotes on this page. Please could someone either confirm it of delete it. Thanks.

 * The quote doesn't appear in any of the major biographies, none of the books by Che, none of his speeches, etc. It doesn't even show up in print until 2005 in 3 attack books of Guevara - who all then cite one another with no original source for the quotes origin. Thus I removed it until some original sourcing can be found. RedThoreau 08:53, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I have restored the quote to the page, creating a "Disputed" section, and stating some of the reasons why there are legitimate questions about the authenticity of this remark:

 * To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.
 * As quoted in The Cuban Revolution : Years of Promise (2005) by Teo A. Babun and Victor Andres Triay, p. 57, without citation of sources; neither original sources nor published occurrences of this statement prior to 2005 have been located.

I have always recommended that such disputed, or in some cases clearly bogus quotes be maintained on the pages, with information regarding them, as a means of contending with or refuting unwarranted claims about them. ~ Kalki 10:40, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Che Guevara's racist remarks
The following quotes in which Che Guevara is expressing racist thoughts should be included. They are all taken from his own biography; The Motorcycle Diaries:

"The negro, those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing, have seen their territory invaded by a new kind of slave: the Portuguese."

"The negro is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations."

"The episode upset us a little because the poor man, apart from being homosexual and a first-rate bore, had been very nice to us, giving us 10 soles each, bringing our total to 479 for me and 163 1/2 to Alberto."

"The first person we hit on was the mayor, someone called Cohen; we had heard a lot about him, that he was Jewish as far as money was concerned but a good sort."

BobbyGalt 23:29, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

 * I actually find nothing all that notable about these quotes; though they may be legitimate, I myself have no interest in adding them to the article, and perceiving them to have relatively little significance as quoted, might have some objection to them being added without significant context — though I have restored this comment, after someone removed it as mere trolling — I consider it a valid suggestion — but not one I agree with. ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 05:04, 29 May 2011 (UTC),

 * There are an array of problems with BobbyGalt's original suggestion and implication ... (since this issue has come up before on the main Wikipedia article, I am going to reuse parts from those discussions)
 * (1)  The last two comments are not even "racist" – which shows that the original poster (this was his first and only edit ever to Wikiquote) is just copying and pasting something he obviously found on a blog etc. As for the "Jewish" comment, biographer Jon Lee Anderson on pg 33-34 of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life points out how the young Guevara belonged to an "anti-fascist" cell during WWII with his Jewish friend Raul Melivosky and that Ernesto was the only student to stand up to a "notoriously pro-Nazi history professor".
 * (2)  As for the first two comments, they are actually part of an incomplete passage (out of an 150 pg diary) that is not only taken out of its textual context – but its historical context with its implication that this is a view that Guevara held throughout his life. In fact biographer Jon Lee Anderson on pg 92 of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life addresses this passage and explains how his views evolved in the preceding months following this July 17, 1952 diary passage which Guevara wrote as a 24 year old. According to Anderson, Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado had just arrived in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, which at this time was "swollen with migrants" as a result of the nation’s oil boom. As a result the hillsides were draped with "squalid worker slums" comprised of a mostly Afro-Hispanic (black) population. Anderson goes on to state how Guevara up to that point, except for a few brief instances in his life, had never "been around black people" (which were a rarity in his native Argentina) especially for someone of Che’s economic & social class. On this occasion Guevara after meandering through a local "barrio" (slum) made a written "observation" that Anderson states was "reflective" of the "arrogance and condescension" of a "stereotypical white Argentinean" (especially in 1952). The full diary passage that Anderson includes is as follows:

 * "The negro, those magnificent examples of the African race who have conserved their racial purity by a lack of affinity with washing, have seen their patch invaded by a different kind of slave: The Portuguese. These two races now share a common experience, fraught with bickering and squabbling. Discrimination, and poverty unite them in a daily battle for survival but their different attitudes to life separate them completely: the black is indolent and fanciful, he spends his money on frivolity and drink; the European comes from a tradition of working and saving which follows him to this corner of America and drives him to get ahead, even independently, of his own individual aspirations."

 * (3)  Of importance however, Anderson notes two pages later [pg 94] how after visiting the U.S. for a brief time (30 days in Miami), directly after he made this observation, Guevara complained to friends about "white discrimination against blacks" that he had witnessed.
 * (4)  This coincides with the end of Guevara’s journey 3 months later (after the "indolent" remarks), when Guevara then states that he "is not the man he once was" and declares himself a transformed individual.
 * (5)  As for whether this remark makes Che racist, what we do know from his later life is that, (a) Che pushed for racially integrating the schools in Cuba, years before they were racially integrated in the Southern United States. (b) Che's friend and personal bodyguard shown here (who accompanied him at all times after 1959) was Harry "Pombo" Villegas, who was Afro-Cuban (black). Pombo accompanied Che to the Congo and to Bolivia, where he survived and now lives in Cuba. Of note, Pombo speaks positively of Guevara to this day shown here. (c) When Che spoke before the U.N. in 1964, he spoke out in favor of black musician Paul Robeson, in support of slain black leader Patrice Lumumba (who he heralded as one of his heroes), against white segregation in the Southern U.S., and against the white South African apartheid regime. (d) When Guevara ventured to the Congo, he fought with a Cuban force of 100 Afro-Cubans (blacks) shown here including those black Congolese fighters who he fought alongside against a force comprised partly of white South African mercenaries. This resembled the fight in Cuba, where Che's units were also made up of mostly mulattos and blacks. (e) Later Guevara offered assistance to fight alongside the (black) FRELIMO in Mozambique shown here & here, for their independence from the Portuguese. (f) Per this --> BBC article we have the recent remarks by Che's black Swahili interpreter in the Congo (Dr. Freddy Ilanga) that the later Guevara "showed the same respect to black people as he did to whites." (g) Lastly, in August 1961 (9 years after his "indolent" remark), Guevara attacked the U.S. for "discrimination against blacks, and outrages by the Ku Klux Klan", which matched his declarations in 1964 before the United Nations (12 years after his "indolent" remark) , where Guevara denounced the United States policy towards their black population, stating:

 * "Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?"

 * Now despite all of these issues, could Che have still been racist against blacks or secretly found them "indolent?" I guess so, but these actions (as his biographers Anderson, Castaneda and Taibo note) especially in the 1960’s do not resemble a man with racist attitudes towards black people. Most biographers, claim that this unfortunate early "observation" by Guevara, represented his opinion as a young 24 year old venturing out amongst other races for the first time, and do not represent the man whom the world would later know as Che.
 * (6)  Now is it worthy of inclusion in this Wikiquote article? I don’t believe so and agree with Kalki. Redthoreau 08:08, 29 May 2011 (UTC)
 * The quote about "those magnificent examples of the African race" are not anymore out of context than any other quote in this article. I know that you obviously like Che, but try to restrain your bias.
 * This article is not supposed to be a hagiography. Is it? Then don't whitewash it, show the whole picture. RafaelJC12 (talk) 23:44, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

That's hilarious.. "If you ignore all the other confirmed racist comments then the two I've cherry picked might not count, also its the guys first ever post and I think he might have cut n pasted it"

Supporting the anti-authoritarian elements of the enemy's population isn't a noble cause. David Duke supports the Palestinians but only because he hates the Jews so much. - BB --71.7.179.126 13:58, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

 * If Che was anti-semite or homophobic, its debatable. But acording to solid sources, he did had racial sentiments. "He (Che Guevara) despised blacks... He always was in conflict with Juan Almeida Bosque, who he used to call el negrito..." "...then, he despised indians, he used to said -the illiterate indians of mexico-" (Miguel Sanchez "el coreano" - Che Guevara, el falso heroe Documentary) "...They said that because he (Che Guevara) called thing for their names, and he used to said negro with no doubt, negro for luck o misfortune, but negro and not of color, of what color?" (Dariel Alarcon - Interview) If the wikiquote include racist quotes of Abraham Lincon, why not about Che Guevara? --190.162.167.201 16:35, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

 * Answer: Miguel Sanchez El Coreano is not credible. In fact, Juan Almeida Bosque always said good things about Guevara. For example:
 * http://www.cubadebate.cu/opinion/2009/09/12/el-che-que-conozco/#.WGMUfFPhDIU
 * Miami Cuban-Americans are often very violent and unreliable. Like all his life established, Guevara was not racist at all. - User:Aynayasa

Restoration of a few quotes
Several quotes were recently removed, originally with the rationale that there should not be two quotes by the same person — I rejected that rationale and restored them, after which they have were again removed with the summary statement that even without such a rule, they should be removed because "these say similar things to the ones present." I do not accept that as an entirely valid reason either, but list the quotes I am once again restoring here — along with other statements by the authors which were retained by the removal.

 * Che is a figure who can constantly be examined and re-examined. To the younger, post-cold-war generation of Latin Americans, Che stands up as the perennial Icarus, a self-immolating figure who represents the romantic tragedy of youth. Their Che is not just a potent figure of protest, but the idealistic, questioning kid who exists in every society and every time.
 * Jon Lee Anderson, in The New York Times (26 May 2004)
 * These remarks are significantly different than: I have yet to find a single credible source pointing to a case where Che executed "an innocent". Those persons executed by Guevara or on his orders were condemned for the usual crimes punishable by death at times of war or in its aftermath: desertion, treason or crimes such as rape, torture or murder.

 * Che sowed the seeds of social conscience in Latin America and the world, he was a flower prematurely cut from its stem.
 * Fidel Castro, "Cuba remembers Che Guevara 40 years after his fall" by Rosa Tania Valdes, at Reuters (8 October 2007)
 * This is significantly different than Castro's statement: "Why did they think that by killing him, he would cease to exist as a fighter? ... Today he is in every place, wherever there is a just cause to defend."

 * He always did what he said he was going to do, That's why he is still timely.
 * Alberto Granado, as quoted in "Che Remembered 40 Years After Death" by Alvaro Suazo in The Washington Post (6 October 2007)
 * I see no strong reason to remove this though I acknowledge that part of this one is somewhat similar in theme to: "What I appreciated most was his honesty — and his ability to transform negative things into positive things. ... he was not compromising. It wasn't easy unless you shared his vision and believed in it."

 * We feel sick about this grand show that goes on every year on the anniversary of his death. Rather than honour a man who came to invade the country, we should honour the armed forces, the soldiers who defended the country.
 * Bolivian General Gary Prado Salmon, commander of the mission to capture Guevara, "Che Guevara Honored 40 Years After Death" at AHN News (11 October 2007)
 * This is significantly more extensive criticism than : The myth of the holy Che must finally be destroyed.

 * Che Guevara executed dozens and dozens of people who never once stood trial and were never declared guilty … In his own words, he said the following: "At the smallest of doubt we must execute." And that's what he did at the Sierra Maestra and the prison of Las Cabanas.
 * Armando Valladares, in "‘Che’ spurs debate, Del Toro walkout" in The Washington Times (27 January 2009)
 * This is significantly more extensive and notable criticism than: He was a man full of hatred.

I have restored the quotes in question, and do not see any strong reason to remove any of them, and the only one I can agree could be removed as perhaps repetitive is "He always did what he said he was going to do, That's why he is still timely." ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 11:00, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Che Guevara


text:
George MacDonald

George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author and Christian universalist minister most famous for his poetry, fairy tales and fantasy novels.

Quotes

 * I think the reason children get tired of their toys so soon is just that it is against human nature to be really interested in what is of no use. If you say that a beautiful thing is always interesting, I answer, that a beautiful thing is of the highest use. Is not the diamond that flashes all its colours into the heart of a poet as useful as the diamond with which the glazier divides the sheets of glass into panes for our windows?
 * The History of Gutta Percha Willie, the Working Genius (1873)

 * To receive honestly is the best thanks for a good thing.
 * Mary Marston (1881), Chapter V

 * Two people may be at the same spot in manners and behaviour, and yet one may be getting better, and the other worse, which is the greatest of differences that could possibly exist between them.
 * The Princess and Curdie (1883)

 * But God lets men have their playthings, like the children they are, that they may learn to distinguish them from true possessions. If they are not learning that he takes them from them, and tries the other way: for lack of them and its misery, they will perhaps seek the true!
 * Donal Grant (1883)

 * "In the midst of life we are in death," said one; it is more true that in the midst of death we are in life. Life is the only reality; what men call death is but a shadow — a word for that which cannot be — a negation, owing the very idea of itself to that which it would deny. But for life there could be no death. If God were not, there would not even be nothing. Not even nothingness preceded life. Nothingness owes its very idea to existence.
 * From "Life" in Unspoken Sermons Series II (1886)

You are tender-hearted, and you want to be true, and are trying to be; learn these two things: Never be discouraged because good things get on so slowly here; and never fail daily to do that good which lies next to your hand. Do not be in a hurry, but be diligent. Enter into the sublime patience of the Lord. Trust to God to weave your little thread into the great web, though the pattern shows it not yet. When God's people are able and willing thus to labor and wait, remember that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; the grand harvest of the ages shall come to its reaping, and the day shall broaden itself to a thousand years, and the thousand years shall show themselves as a perfect and finished day.
 * I record the conviction that in one way or another, special individual help is given to every creature to endure to the end. It has been my own experience, that always when suffering, whether mental or bodily, approached the point where further endurance appeared impossible, the pulse of it began to ebb and a lull ensued.
 * As quoted in The Way To Win : Showing How To Succeed In Life (1887) by John Thomas Dale, p. 89

 * If sin must be kept alive, then hell must be kept alive; but while I regard the smallest sin as infinitely loathsome, I do not believe that any being, never good enough to see the essential ugliness of sin, could sin so as to deserve such punishment. I am not now, however, dealing with the question of the duration of punishment, but with the idea of punishment itself; and would only say in passing, that the notion that a creature born imperfect, nay, born with impulses to evil not of his own generating, and which he could not help having, a creature to whom the true face of God was never presented, and by whom it never could have been seen, should be thus condemned, is as loathsome a lie against God as could find place in heart too undeveloped to understand what justice is, and too low to look up into the face of Jesus.
 * From ‘’Justice’’ in Unspoken Sermons Series III (1889)

 * I firmly believe people have hitherto been a great deal too much taken up about doctrine and far too little about practice. The word doctrine, as used in the Bible, means teaching of duty, not theory. I preached a sermon about this. We are far too anxious to be definite and to have finished, well-polished, sharp-edged systems — forgetting that the more perfect a theory about the infinite, the surer it is to be wrong, the more impossible it is to be right.
 * From a letter to his father, quoted in George MacDonald and His Wife (1924) by Greville MacDonald

Phantastes (1858)

 * Alas! how easily things go wrong! A sigh too deep or a kiss too long, And then comes a mist and a weeping rain, And life is never the same again.

 * What we call evil, is the only and best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good.

 * That is always the way with you men; you believe nothing the first time; and it is foolish enough to let mere repetition convince you of what you consider in itself unbelievable.

 * What distressed me most — more even than my own folly — was the perplexing question, How can beauty and ugliness dwell so near?

 * "But tell me how it is that she could be so beautiful without any heart at all — without any place even for a heart to live in." "I cannot quite tell," she said; "but I am sure she would not look so beautiful if she did not take means to make herself look more beautiful than she is. And then, you know, you began by being in love with her before you saw her beauty … But the chief thing that makes her beautiful is this: that, although she loves no man, she loves the love of any man; and when she finds one in her power, her desire to bewitch him and gain his love (not for the sake of his love either, but that she may be conscious anew of her own beauty, through the admiration he manifests), makes her very lovely—with a self-destructive beauty..."
 * On the Alder Tree

 * Afterwards I learned, that the best way to manage some kinds of painful thoughts, is to dare them to do their worst; to let them lie and gnaw at your heart till they are tired; and you find you still have a residue of life they cannot kill.

 * So, then, as darkness had no beginning, neither will it ever have an end. So, then, is it eternal. The negation of aught else, is its affirmation. Where the light cannot come, there abideth the darkness. The light doth but hollow a mine out of the infinite extension of the darkness. And ever upon the steps of the light treadeth the darkness; yea, springeth in fountains and wells amidst it, from the secret channels of its mighty sea. Truly, man is but a passing flame, moving unquietly amid the surrounding rest of night; without which he yet could not be, and whereof he is in part compounded.

 * Why are all reflections lovelier than what we call the reality? — not so grand or so strong, it may be, but always lovelier?

 * There is no cheating in nature and the simple unsought feelings of the soul. There must be a truth involved in it, though we may but in part lay hold of the meaning.

 * All that man sees has to do with man. Worlds cannot be without an intermundane relationship. The community of the centre of all creation suggests an interradiating connection and dependence of the parts. Else a grander idea is conceivable than that which is already embodied.

 * Benefits conferred awaken love in some minds, as surely as benefits received in others.

 * Endurance must conquer, where force could not reach.

Many ways we wend; Many days, and many ways, Ending in one end.''' Many a wrong, and its curing song; Many a road, and many an inn; '''Room to roam, but only one home For all the world to win.'''
 * '''Thou goest thine, and I go mine —

 * It is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence. I learned that he that will be a hero, will barely be a man; that he that will be nothing but a doer of his work, is sure of his manhood.

 * I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. All true love will, one day, behold its own image in the eyes of the beloved, and be humbly glad. This is possible in the realms of lofty Death.

The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)

 * We must do the thing we must Before the thing we may; We are unfit for any trust Till we can and do obey.
 * Willie's Question

 * You would not think any duty small, If you yourself were great.
 * Willie's Question

 * The man that feareth, Lord, to doubt, In that fear doubteth thee.
 * The Disciple

Unspoken Sermons, First Series (1867)

 * ...the regions where there is only life, and therefore all that is not music is silence.
 * The Hands of the Father

 * A condition which of declension would indicate a devil, may of growth indicate a saint.
 * The Consuming Fire

 * It may be an infinitely less evil to murder a man than to refuse to forgive him. The former may be the act of a moment of passion: the latter is the heart’s choice.
 * ‘’It Shall Not Be Forgiven’’

 * We are and remain such creeping Christians, because we look at ourselves and not at Christ; because we gaze at the marks of our own soiled feet, and the trail of our own defiled garments....Each, putting his foot in the footprint of the Master, and so defacing it, turns to examine how far his neighbor’s footprint corresponds with that which he still calls the Master’s, although it is but his own.
 * ‘’The Eloi’’

At the Back of the North Wind (1871)

 * Where did you come from baby dear? Out of the everywhere into the here.... Where did you get your eyes so blue? Out of the skies as I came through.

 * Diamond, however, had not been out so late before in all his life, and things looked so strange about him! — just as if he had got into Fairyland, of which he knew quite as much as anybody; for his mother had no money to buy books to set him wrong on the subject.

 * For that great Love speaks in the most wretched and dirty hearts; only the tone of its voice depends on the echoes of the place in which it sounds.
 * Chapter 18

The Marquis of Lossie (1877)

 * Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husks.

 * A true friend is forever a friend.

 * To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879)

 * Full text online at Project Gutenberg

 * Afflictions are but the shadow of His wings.
 * Ch. 25

 * "Is it not a strange drift this of men," said the curate, "to hide what is under the veil of what is not? to seek refuge in lies, as if that which is not, could be an armor of adamant? to run from the daylight for safety, deeper into the cave? In the cave house the creatures of the night, — the tigers and hyenas, the serpent and the old dragon of the dark; in the light are true men and women, and the clear-eyed angels. But the reason is only too plain; it is, alas! that they are themselves of the darkness and not of the light. They do not fear their own. They are more comfortable with the beasts of darkness than with the angels of light. They dread the peering of holy eyes into their hearts; they feel themselves naked and fear to be shamed, therefore cast the garment of hypocrisy about them. They have that in them so strange to the light that they feel it must be hidden from the eye of day, as a thing hideous, that is, a thing to be hidden. But the hypocrisy is worse than all it would hide. That they have to hide again, as a more hideous thing still.
 * Ch. 31 : A Conscience

He loves light and not darkness, therefore shines, therefore reveals. True, there are infinite gulfs in him, into which our small vision cannot pierce, but they are gulfs of light, and the truths there are invisible only through excess of their own clarity. There is a darkness that comes of effulgence, and the most veiling of all veils is the light. That for which the eye exists is light, but through light no human eye can pierce. — I find myself beyond my depth. I am ever beyond my depth, afloat in an infinite sea; but the depth of the sea knows me, for the ocean of my being is God. — What I would say is this, that the light is not blinding because God would hide, but because the truth is too glorious for our vision. The effulgence of himself God veiled that he might unveil it — in his Son. Inter-universal spaces, icons, eternities — what word of vastness you can find or choose — take unfathomable darkness itself, if you will, to express the infinitude of God, that original splendor existing only to the consciousness of God himself — I say he hides it not, but is revealing it ever, for ever, at all cost of labor, yea of pain to himself. His whole creation is a sacrificing of himself to the being and well-being of his little ones, that, being wrought out at last into partakers of his divine nature, that nature may be revealed in them to their divinest bliss. He brings hidden things out of the light of his own being into the light of ours. But see how different we are, — until we learn of him! See the tendency of man to conceal his treasures, to claim even truth as his own by discovery, to hide it and be proud of it, gloating over that which he thinks he has in himself, instead of groaning after the infinite of God! We would be forever heaping together possessions, dragging things into the cave of our finitude, our individual self, not perceiving that the things which pass that dreariest of doors, whatever they may have been, are thenceforth "but straws, small sticks, and dust of the floor." When a man would have a truth in thither as if it were of private interpretation, he drags in only the bag which the truth, remaining outside, has burst and left.
 * God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation, — a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth. On and on, from fact to fact divine he advances, until at length in his Son Jesus he unveils his very face. Then begins a fresh unveiling, for the very work of the Father is the work the Son himself has to do, — to reveal. His life was the unveiling of himself, and the unveiling of the Son is still going on, and is that for the sake of which the world exists. When he is unveiled, that is, when we know the Son, we shall know the Father also. The whole of creation, its growth, its history, the gathering total of human existence, is an unveiling of the Father. He is the life, the eternal life, the Only. I see it — ah! believe me — I see it as I cannot say it. From month to month it grows upon me. The lovely home-light, the one essence of peaceful being, is God himself.
 * Ch. 31 : A Conscience

The Fantastic Imagination (1893)

 * Preface to an American edition of MacDonald's Fairy Tales · Full text online

 * Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale ; then read this and that as well, and you will see what is a fairytale. Were I further begged to describe the fairytale, or define what it is, I would make answer, that I should as soon think of describing the abstract human face, or stating what must go to constitute a human being. A fairytale is just a fairytale, as a face is just a face; and of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful.

 * Some thinkers would feel sorely hampered if at liberty to use no forms but such as existed in nature, or to invent nothing save in accordance with the laws of the world of the senses; but it must not therefore be imagined that they desire escape from the region of law. Nothing lawless can show the least reason why it should exist, or could at best have more than an appearance of life.

 * The natural world has its laws, and no man must interfere with them in the way of presentment any more than in the way of use; but they themselves may suggest laws of other kinds, and man may, if he pleases, invent a little world of his own, with its own laws; for there is that in him which delights in calling up new forms — which is the nearest, perhaps, he can come to creation. When such forms are new embodiments of old truths, we call them products of the Imagination; when they are mere inventions, however lovely, I should call them the work of the Fancy: in either case, Law has been diligently at work.

If you do not know what it means, what is easier than to say so? If you do see a meaning in it, there it is for you to give him. A genuine work of art must mean many things; the truer its art, the more things it will mean. If my drawing, on the other hand, is so far from being a work of art that it needs THIS IS A HORSE written under it, what can it matter that neither you nor your child should know what it means? '''It is there not so much to convey a meaning as to wake a meaning. If it do not even wake an interest, throw it aside. A meaning may be there, but it is not for you.''' If, again, you do not know a horse when you see it, the name written under it will not serve you much.
 * "Suppose my child ask me what the fairytale means, what am I to say?"

 * A fairytale is not an allegory. There may be allegory in it, but it is not an allegory. He must be an artist indeed who can, in any mode, produce a strict allegory that is not a weariness to the spirit.

"But words are not music; words at least are meant and fitted to carry a precise meaning!" It is very seldom indeed that they carry the exact meaning of any user of them! And if they can be so used as to convey definite meaning, it does not follow that they ought never to carry anything else. Words are like things that may be variously employed to various ends. They can convey a scientific fact, or throw a shadow of her child's dream on the heart of a mother. They are things to put together like the pieces of a dissected map, or to arrange like the notes on a stave.
 * A fairytale, like a butterfly or a bee, helps itself on all sides, sips at every wholesome flower, and spoils not one. The true fairytale is, to my mind, very like the sonata. We all know that a sonata means something; and where there is the faculty of talking with suitable vagueness, and choosing metaphor sufficiently loose, mind may approach mind, in the interpretation of a sonata, with the result of a more or less contenting consciousness of sympathy. But if two or three men sat down to write each what the sonata meant to him, what approximation to definite idea would be the result? Little enough — and that little more than needful. We should find it had roused related, if not identical, feelings, but probably not one common thought. Has the sonata therefore failed? Had it undertaken to convey, or ought it to be expected to impart anything defined, anything notionally recognizable?

I will go farther. The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is — not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself. The best Nature does for us is to work in us such moods in which thoughts of high import arise. Does any aspect of Nature wake but one thought? Does she ever suggest only one definite thing? Does she make any two men in the same place at the same moment think the same thing? Is she therefore a failure, because she is not definite? Is it nothing that she rouses the something deeper than the understanding — the power that underlies thoughts? Does she not set feeling, and so thinking at work? Would it be better that she did this after one fashion and not after many fashions? Nature is mood-engendering, thought-provoking: such ought the sonata, such ought the fairytale to be.
 * A fairytale, a sonata, a gathering storm, a limitless night, seizes you and sweeps you away: do you begin at once to wrestle with it and ask whence its power over you, whither it is carrying you? The law of each is in the mind of its composer; that law makes one man feel this way, another man feel that way. To one the sonata is a world of odour and beauty, to another of soothing only and sweetness. To one, the cloudy rendezvous is a wild dance, with a terror at its heart; to another, a majestic march of heavenly hosts, with Truth in their centre pointing their course, but as yet restraining her voice. The greatest forces lie in the region of the uncomprehended.

Not what he pleases, but what he can. '''If he be not a true man, he will draw evil out of the best; we need not mind how he treats any work of art! If he be a true man, he will imagine true things: what matter whether I meant them or not?''' They are there none the less that I cannot claim putting them there! One difference between God's work and man's is, that, while God's work cannot mean more than he meant, man's must mean more than he meant. For in everything that God has made, there is layer upon layer of ascending significance; also he expresses the same thought in higher and higher kinds of that thought: it is God's things, his embodied thoughts, which alone a man has to use, modified and adapted to his own purposes, for the expression of his thoughts; therefore he cannot help his words and figures falling into such combinations in the mind of another as he had himself not foreseen, so many are the thoughts allied to every other thought, so many are the relations involved in every figure, so many the facts hinted in every symbol. A man may well himself discover truth in what he wrote; for he was dealing all the time with things that came from thoughts beyond his own.
 * "But a man may then imagine in your work what he pleases, what you never meant!"

I say again, if I cannot draw a horse, I will not write THIS IS A HORSE under what I foolishly meant for one. Any key to a work of imagination would be nearly, if not quite, as absurd. The tale is there, not to hide, but to show: if it show nothing at your window, do not open your door to it; leave it out in the cold. To ask me to explain, is to say, "Roses! Boil them, or we won't have them!" My tales may not be roses, but I will not boil them. So long as I think my dog can bark, I will not sit up to bark for him.
 * "But surely you would explain your idea to one who asked you?"

The best way with music, I imagine, is not to bring the forces of our intellect to bear upon it, but to be still and let it work on that part of us for whose it exists. '''We spoil countless precious things by intellectual greed. He who will be a man, and will not be a child, must — he cannot help himself — become a little man, that is, a dwarf. He will, however, need no consolation, for he is sure to think himself a very large creature indeed.''' If any strain of my "broken music" make a child's eyes flash, or his mother's grow for a moment dim, my labour will not have been in vain.
 * If there be music in my reader, I would gladly wake it. Let fairytale of mine go for a firefly that now flashes, now is dark, but may flash again. Caught in a hand which does not love its kind, it will turn to an insignificant, ugly thing, that can neither flash nor fly.

Lilith (1895)

 * We are often unable to tell people what they need to know because they want to know something else.
 * Chapter 9

 * That which is in a man, not that which lies beyond his vision is the main factor in what is about to befall him: the operation upon him is the event.
 * Chapter 16

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

 * Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

 * Come, come to Him who made thy heart; Come weary and oppressed; To come to Jesus is thy part; His part, to give thee rest.
 * p. 152

 * All is loss that comes between us and Christ.
 * p. 95

 * Division has done more to hide Christ from the view of men than all the infidelity that has ever been spoken.
 * p. 148

 * God Himself — His thoughts, His will, His love, His judgments are men's home. To think His thoughts, to choose His will, to judge His judgments, and thus to know that He is in us, with us, is to be at home. And to pass through the valley of the shadow of death is the way home, but only thus, that as all changes have hitherto lead us nearer to this home, the knowledge of God, so this greatest of all outward changes — for it is but an outward change — will surely usher us into a region where there will be fresh possibilities of drawing nigh in heart, soul, and mind to the Father of us all.
 * p. 257

title: George MacDonald


text:
Damien Echols

Damien Echols (born Michael Wayne Hutcheson on December 11, 1974) is an American who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death as part of the "West Memphis Three". He was imprisoned in June 1993 and on was put on Arkansas' Death Row in March 1994. He was released in August 2011 in an agreement with the state of Arkansas known as an Alford plea.

Sourced
Poem 92

 * Teenage girls with no life experiences and boys who call themselves punk are on my radio singing about how much pain they've endured and how hard their lives are
 * Poem written on Death Row; from Arkansas Literary Forum, Volume 9 2007, as noted on the Free The West Memphis 3 web site. (url accessed on October 16, 2008).

title: Damien Echols