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Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI is a video game made by Squaresoft. The following are taken from the original English translation by Ted Woolsey and from the GBA release.

Locke Cole
(in the SNES version) (in the Gameboy Advance, iOS and Android version)
 * ... ...!? This better not have anything to do with that Magitek-riding, Imperial witch!!!
 * to Arvis, when asked to help a mysterious girl
 * I won't leave you until your memory returns!! By the way, this secret entrance might be useful some day. Don't forget about it!
 * to Terra in a mine shaft, after she admits she cannot remember anything
 * I PREFER the term "treasure hunter"!
 * When he is asked about his stealing of things.
 * I would say that guy is missing a few buttons...
 * about Kefka
 * Terra...wait for me. I'll be back. And please, don't let a lecherous young king, who shall remain nameless, near you!
 * Hey! Call me a treasure hunter, or I'll rip your lungs out!
 * It's a little tight, but the price was right.
 * after stealing a merchant's clothes
 * These are a little large, but it'll do!
 * after stealing a soldier's clothes
 * Gotta get to Narshe on the fly!
 * Bloody Kefka, we are your worst enemy!
 * during the battle for the Esper
 * YOWZA! Izzat... you!?
 * to Celes in the dressing room
 * That ribbon suits you.
 * to Celes in the dressing room
 * Not a word of this to anyone, O Shrouded One...
 * to Shadow, after getting seasick
 * I think I'm gonna...
 * while seasick
 * Hey, squidball! Don't you ever learn?
 * To Ultros
 * Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Kefka!
 * I'll never let go. I promise.
 * to Celes in the ending, saving her from falling
 * You almost ate it trying to get that silly trinket!
 * to Celes in the ending, referring to his bandana
 * The rest of you wait here. I smell a rat...
 * on Emperor Gestahl's proposal
 * Even if it was only a little, I doubted you. But I am still your friend...
 * to Celes in Albrook
 * Nuts! Gotta to get to Narshe on the fly.
 * Dammit! Gotta to get to Narshe on the fly.

Edgar Roni Figaro

 * First of all, your beauty has captivated me! Second... I'm dying to know if I'm your type... I guess your ...abilities... would be a distant third.
 * explaining to Terra why he is helping her
 * Guess my technique's a bit rusty...
 * to himself when Terra does not immediately fall for him
 * You see, there are more girls here than grains of sand out there. I can't keep track of 'em all!
 * when asked if harboring a runaway girl from the Empire
 * He'd slit his momma's throat for a nickel!
 * To party regarding Shadow in a cafe
 * Look, don't you have a family? Just shut up and take it.
 * speaking to a Figaro Castle merchant who refuses to take money from the King
 * If something were to happen to me, all the world's women would grieve!
 * when spoken to on the airship in the World of Ruin
 * If it's heads, you win..... We'll choose whatever path we want, without any regrets....
 * to Sabin before flipping a two-headed coin to determine the successor of Figaro
 * Yeah. I got to know the gal who brought us tea. After a while she just blurted out the whole plan!
 * Watch your mouth! There's ladies present! I was a perfect gentleman!

Sabin Rene Figaro

 * Think a "bear" like me could help you out in your quest?
 * ...That's General Leo.. He could be my friend if he weren't my enemy.
 * I'm getting sick of this! Thou art such a pain in the...! Confound it all! I'm starting to talk like you!
 * Kid's got quite a lip!
 * No. Mr. Thou is THAT one. Over THERE!
 * talking to Gau and referring to Cyan
 * Uh... Why's everyone singing?
 * at the Opera House
 * Big brother, I didn't abandon the kingdom. Now I know why I have these stupid muscles!
 * You think a minor thing like the end of the world was gonna do me in?
 * So, you finally hit pay dirt, eh?
 * Can we really trust the Empire? I have an awful feeling about this...
 * after the Imperial banquet
 * Gau, how many times do I have to tell you, stop eating with your fingers?

Shadow

 * Leave us. The dog eats strangers...
 * The reaper is always one step behind me...
 * I'm working for the Empire, but don't worry, I'm not going to kill you!
 * I can't help you. You must look within for answers.
 * In this world are many like me who've killed their emotions. Don't forget that.
 * My allegiance is to the Empire. I have no right to fight with you.
 * Interceptor!!!!!
 * Baram! I'm going to stop running. I'm going to begin all over again...

Setzer Gabbiani

 * My life is a chip in your pile. Ante up!
 * upon agreeing to follow the group
 * A two-headed coin..? How low can you get? I love it!
 * I can't be attached to anything... otherwise I couldn't be a gambler.
 * Why not? Nothing to lose but my life... and I got that for free!
 * Daryl, I'm starting to sound like you.
 * Nonsense! I'll win the Falcon from you when I beat you in a race around the world!
 * We're gonna get us another one.... another airship, that is!
 * Urgh! For the time being, I don't own the skies!
 * I'm just a gambler... I just want to be left alone... This world is too chaotic for me. What's worse, I've lost my wings...
 * during the World of Ruin, long after the Blackjack is demolished

Cyan/Cayenne Garamonde

 * Thou art so... odd.
 * I HATE Machines!
 * Thou (repeated quote)
 * Elayne! Owain!
 * We can't have ye two prancing 'round all day!
 * You licentious howler!
 * You just have to show technology who's boss!
 * Dear Lola, I am writing to beg for your forgiveness. I am guilty of perpetuating a terrible lie. I have only now realized the error of my ways. I hope I can correct a great wrong. Your boyfriend, who you thought was in Mobliz, passed away some time ago. I have been writing in his stead. We humans tend to allow the past to destroy our lives. I implore you not to let this happen. It is time to look forward, to rediscover love, and embrace the beauty of life. You have so much life left to live.... Cyan
 * letter to Lola in the World of Ruin
 * The world before the fall, Lovely is the light of dawn, Noble is the heart of man...
 * I encountered Sir Gau in Maranda. He said he "Get Strong, Smash Kefka".
 * I will no longer live in the past. We must all look toward the future now.
 * These are…they're…um sort of a…minor diversion of mine…
 * Oh! Must thou embarrass me so?
 * …Dost thou truly think so?
 * Thou art…alive!?
 * I shall go with thee! We must not abandon this world to Kefka!
 * But…however did thou find me? W-wait! T-tell me thou did not read my letters…!
 * What an intriguing apparatus!
 * I love thee…I love thee more than anything.
 * I am Cyan Garamonde, your worst nightmare.

Gau

 * Mr. Thou! Mr. Thou!
 * finding Cyan's speech amusing
 * You... angry... me?
 * after Cyan turns away because of Gau's over-questioning
 * Uwaoooo~!
 * I'm Gau! I your friend...FRIEND! I join you again!
 * whenever he rejoins the party after performing his Leap skill, despite the fact that the party knows who he is
 * Gau find short cut.
 * during the ending sequence
 * Pretty Song!
 * in the Opera House
 * ...ooh...Gau...high place...not good...don't like...
 * Smells like parents' house here. Why so familiar?
 * after the Imperial Banquet
 * Shiny, shiny! Gau like!
 * Fa-ther alive…Gau H-appy.

Gogo

 * This should be fun. When do we leave?
 * I am GOGO, master of the simulacrum... My miming skills will astonish you.

Mog

 * Kupo!
 * Kupoppo!
 * Kupopupo!
 * Kupo...po!
 * An old dude named Ramuh taught me your language, kupo! He kept showing up in my dreams and telling me to help you, kupo! So... I'm gonna help you, kupo!
 * The hair! Watch the hair! I'm not a stuffed animal, kupo!
 * to Edgar when he is rescued by a crane
 * Thankupo!
 * Kupohoho!
 * I'm your boss, kupo! You're gonna join us, kupo!
 * to Umaro
 * Help me! Kupo!!!
 * to Edgar during the ending sequence when he is about to fall into a pit

Relm Arrowny

 * What a cute doggy!
 * Fuddy duddy.
 * Waaaaaaahhhh! I'm gonna paint your portrait!
 * Say, sweetie, would you pose for a portrait?
 * Who is this puffed up aerobics instructor, anyway?
 * about Sabin
 * You! You old fool! You're still standing?!
 * Grandpa! Who are these people? Can they use magic, too?
 * And what a terrible actor you are!
 * to Gungho
 * It's too hot out here, grandpa!
 * during a silence between Locke and Celes in Thamasa

Strago/Stragus Magus

 * Whatcha want with me? Espers? Espers, hmm.. haven't heard that word in a long while...
 * Flames, BEGONE!
 * I have a special little granddaughter!
 * All of you have that sparkle in your eyes…Well, this old man’s not giving up, either!
 * So full of energy! I must be the only one getting old…
 * So there I was, creeping through those caves that seemed to go on forever…I finally reached the deepest, darkest cavern and there he is, right in front of me. I stared the ugly brute straight in the eye, raised my staff, and let him have it. Bam! Thwack! Pow! Right in the kisser! Oh, I wish you could've been there to see me…
 * So I guess our town's little secret is out now...
 * All right, make some room for me.
 * NOT...A...THING.

Kefka/Cefka Palazzo

 * Phooey! Emperor Gesthal's stupid orders! Edgar, you pinhead! Why do you have to live in the middle of a stinking desert?!? These recon jobs are the pits! ...AHEM! There's SAND on my boots!
 * Oh, Edgar... You know you only stand to lose from trying to hide her from us! Hee-hee-hee... I truly hope nothing happens to your precious Figaro!
 * Oh? Then...welcome to my barbecue! Hee-hee-hee!
 * Son of a Submariner! You'll pay for this!
 * Once Leo's gone, I can turn this water into a flowing river of poison! Anyone who touches it'll be pushing up daisies! Hee-hee...
 * (About the prisoners of the castle his men are to poisoned) Who cares? They're the ones who were stupid enough to get caught by the enemy!
 * "Wait", he says... Do I look like a waiter?
 * Hee-hee... Nothing beats the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison! Uwee-hee-hee!
 * I'm a god! I'm all-powerful! Uwee-hee-hee... I'll collect more Espers... I'll extract their magic... And then... ... ... I'll revive the Warring Triad! I've already drained all your powers! You're useless to me now! You too! Take a hike!
 * Gah! How dare they put me in a place like this! ...Hmph! I just can't believe it! What a bore.
 * while imprisoned
 * Read my lips - mercy is for wimps! There's a reason "oppose" rhymes with "dispose"...If they get in your way, kill them!
 * Oh dear...you wanna fight me?! This is just dreadful!
 * How 'bout a little Magitek mayhem?
 * I don't care for the appearance of this pitiful little hamlet... So burn it!!
 * This little hamlet has too much boring and not enough burning... TORCH EVERYTHING!
 * I'd say you're all charged up, boys and girls...or whatever... Say, remind me to show you my Magicite collection someday! You might see a few familiar faces!!! Now for a little Magicite hocus-pocus...!
 * Ooh! They're warm to the touch! What treasures!
 * You really are a slow one. And always, always...ALWAYS such a little goody two-shoes!!!
 * to General Leo before killing him
 * Ouch! B-blood... Blood! Blood!!! You vicious brat! Argh... Grrr...! You know, you really are a stupid... Vicious... Arrogant, whiny, pampered, backstabbing, worthless... LITTLE BRAT!!!
 * to Celes after she stabs him on the Floating Continent
 * I hate hate hate hate hate hate... hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE YOU! (alternate version of the previous line from the original SNES translation)
 * Run! Run! Or you'll be well done!
 * Oh dear... Well, I guess I was a bit hasty in calling you a useless old man before... NOW you're useless!
 * after killing Emperor Gestahl
 * I've acquired the ultimate power! Observe...Such magnificent power! You're all nothing more than fleas compared to me now! Embrace your destruction... It is the fate of all things.
 * I will destroy everything... I will create a monument to non-existence!
 * Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?
 * Why do you build, knowing destruction is inevitable? Why do you yearn to live, knowing all things must die? (alternate version of the previous line which appears in the Anthology FMV)
 * And did you all find your "somethings" in this broken world that just won't die?
 * Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like lines from a self-help book! If that's how it's going to be... I'll snuff them all out! Every last one of your sickening, happy little reasons for living!
 * Hee-hee-hee! But what fun is destruction if no "precious" lives are lost?
 * Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!
 * The end draws near...
 * Just before using his "Forsaken" attack for the first time in the GBA version.
 * The end comes...beyond chaos
 * Just before using his "Goner" attack for the first time in the SNES version.

Ultros/Orthros
(after casting two spells at once in the Esper Mines)
 * What a delicious morsel! I wanna get my tentacles around her...! (about to attack Terra)
 * Gwee-hee-hee... You're up the creek without a paddle! And I'm not gonna let you through! ... Does that make me a bad octopus?
 * Uwee hee hee... Game over!
 * Yaaaouch! Seafood soup! (after being burned)
 * Seafood soup is NOT on the menu! (an alternate version to the above line in FFVI Advance)
 * Muscle heads? Hate 'em! (referring to Sabin)
 * Uh, well, Mom always said I was a slow learner... but I eat FAST!!
 * Oh, all right, Uncle Ulty REALLY wants you to paint his portrait!
 * Silence Knave! You are in the presence of octopus royalty! A lowborn thug like you could never defeat me!
 * I have more lives than I do arms!
 * Well, whadduya want I should do?
 * I'm nothing more than a stupid octopus! (after seeing his portrait)
 * Look at me! I'm a receptionist! G'fa, ha, ha! (in the Colosseum in the World of Ruin)
 * Imp! Pal! Buddy! (about to use his "Imp Song" spell)
 * I owe you one, so I'm gonna jam up your opera! (in a letter at the Opera House)
 * Mwa ha ha! Let's see if Maria can shrug THIS off!
 * Long time no see! You've changed! Did ya miss me?
 * I ain't no garden-variety octopus!
 * Don't tease the octopus, kids!
 * N'ghaaa! This is heavier than I thought! It'll take me 5 minutes to drop it! (referring to the four-ton weight in the opera scene)
 * You must hate it when I show up...Too bad!
 * You called?
 * Havin' fun yet?
 * Thwarted again! I feel like such a sucker. Well, kids, hate to ink and run...... but I AM an octopus!
 * You know, just the other day I was taking a snooze, when he came along and decided to start gnawing on my head. Let me tell ya, the guy's got sharp teeth! (referring to Typhon)
 * I'd try not to make him mad... He gets hungry when he's irritated. (referring to Typhon)
 * He's not so great with words, but his strength'll blow you away! Heh-heh... (referring to Typhon)
 * Looks like I lose again! But today I brought along a buddy of mine! Mr. Typhon! Come on down!!! (referring to Typhon)
 * I know what you're thinking... "Man, that was cheap"! So sorry, so sorry...

Others
(FFVI fan translation features the villain's name as Cefca)
 * Albrook/Alburg resident: How can you make a Gil in a world like this?
 * Banon/Bannan: Once, when people were pure and innocent, there was a box they were told never to open. But one man went and opened it anyway. He unleashed all the evils of the world: envy... greed... pride... violence... control... All that was left in the box was a single ray of light: Hope. We now confront those evils... And you are that last ray of light, our only hope...
 * Cid: Wow! All of a sudden I have a granddaughter!
 * Chadarnook/Chadnook: G'fu, fu, fu...Who're these numbskulls? No one...NO ONE...is going to remove me from this fine new painting!!
 * before attacking the party in Owzer's Mansion
 * Dadaluma: Good day, fine sirs, how may I be of service? I hate fighting so I better let you pass!
 * attacks party
 * Duncan: The Earth yawned open to take me, but I scrambled to safety!
 * Figaro Guard: Kefka's "One shy of a six pack!"
 * Figaro Guard (FFVI Advance): I hear that some fanatical members of the Cult of Kefka insist on spelling Kefka's name with Cs instead of Ks. That just seems silly to me. Kefka's Kefka. He's still the same villain, no matter how you spell his name.
 * General Leo: Shut up, Kefka. I oughta....
 * last words
 * Gestahl/Gastra: Soldiers of the Empire! We stand at the dawn of a new age! The lost power of magic has returned to us! We are the chosen ones!
 * Gestahl/Gastra: Celes, child... You alone are special. Why don't I give you and Kefka the task of creating progeny to populate my new Magitek Empire?
 * Gestahl/Gastra: I'm simply going to put you to sleep using the very power you unleashed! What's so funny? Well then, it's only suitable that you fall asleep laughing!
 * To Kefka on the Floating Continent
 * Imperial soldier: Returner Scum!
 * Imperial soldier: Hey, you! You're Returners!
 * Imperial soldier: Scram, you blockhead.
 * Imperial soldier: I'm not buying anything!
 * Imperial soldier: Three cheers for the Empire!
 * Imperial soldier: I oppose peace!
 * Kaiser Dragon/CzarDragon: Humans and their unsatiable greed... Your lust for power always leads to a lust of blood... This place is a sanctuary for wayward souls... What business have you filthy creatures here? You slaughter my bretheren, and befoul their rest with the profanity of your continued existence... You should not have come here. In the name of all dragonkind, I shall grant you the death you so desire. I am the dealer of destruction... I am the font from which fear springs... I am Kaiser... And your time is at an end.
 * Kaiser Dragon is encountered in an extra dungeon which only exists in the Gameboy Advance release of the game; he was planned to be in the SNES version as CzarDragon but was cut.
 * Mayor of Thamasa: Magic is forbidden!
 * Mayor of Thamasa: Welcome! Magic?  What is this Magic?
 * Maranda/Miranda Citizen: A knight came here recently... He was amazing! But his heart was full of chaos... When he can cope with the pain, he'll be the mightiest warrior alive.
 * Mobliz/Molbriz kid: I wanna see Katrin's baby!
 * Narshe/Narche/Nalch guards: Mashine-riding self-important swine! Take this!
 * Narshe/Narche/Nalch resident: Narshe is a neutral city! We want no war here, but that %#$@& empire won't listen!
 * Narshe/Narche/Nalch resident: Magic? Pshaw, what nonsense!
 * Old man: Deathgaze? I'd rather take an acid bath than fight that thing!
 * Rachel: I have to go now... ...I'll always love you... You must now cast off the anguish you've been harboring inside for so long.. Today I set your heart free. You must learn to love yourself again, and regain your self respect. ...... Phoenix! Be reborn again!! And give your power... to Locke!!
 * last words to Locke, after she is resurrected by the Phoenix and dies again
 * Ramuh/Ramah: Gestahl's methods are incorrect. You can't drain a live Esper of all its power. It is only when we are reduced to Magicite that our abilities can be transferred in total...
 * South Figaro Resident: We may be thieves, but at least we have goals in life!
 * South Figaro Kid: Clang! Clang!  Clang!  Clang! I'm Magitek Armor!
 * South Figaro Resident: If the "Light of Judgement" burns down our town 100 times, we'll rebuild it 200 times! Wait, does that even make sense?
 * Thief in Zozo: Zozo!? Never heard of it.
 * Thief in Zozo: Great people here!
 * Ultima Buster/Atma: I am the one known as Ultima... Forged an eternity ago and left here... Forgotten in the mists of time... Long have I pondered what I should do... Long, long have I pondered... But now it seems I have an answer...
 * Ultima Weapon/AtmaWeapon: My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form... Feeble creatures of flesh, your time is nigh!
 * Siegfried/Ziegfried: Aha! The ox bellows! Allow me to introduce my blade!
 * Siegfried/Ziegfried: Ha, ha, ha. Give up?

Dialogue

 * Arvis: Took you long enough! Busy with all that robbing and plundering, I presume?
 * Locke: I prefer the term "treasure hunting"!
 * Arvis: Ha! Semantic nonsense!
 * Locke: There's a huge difference! Anyway, is there something you need me to do?
 * Arvis: There is indeed. ...I met the girl.
 * Locke: ...!? You don't mean...?
 * Arvis: The city guard is pursuing her as we speak. This city has the strength to stand up to the Empire, but it won't use it. The people are just too stubbornly independent to join an underground resistance group like the Returners. I tried to explain that the Empire was controlling the girl, but they wouldn't even listen...
 * Locke: All right... So, you want me to get her out of Narshe?
 * Arvis: That would be the idea. Make your way to Figaro for the time being...

 * Cyan: This is the Phantom Train. It carries the departed to the other side.
 * Sabin: Wait! I don't want to go THERE!

 * [dining aboard the Phantom Train...]
 * Sabin: [pounding the table] Food! Food! Bring me everything you've got!
 * [Sabin is served by the ghost of a waiter]
 * Cyan: Is this train's food tr-truly safe to eat?
 * Sabin: What are you worried about? Can't wage war on an empty stomach!
 * Cyan: ... Do what thou wilt, sir. I'm sure there is no stopping...
 * Sabin: Whew! I'm stuffed! Shall we get moving?

 * Gau: Gau's treasure...shiny, shiny! Shiny, shiny, shiny!!!
 * Sabin: ...Can anything be THAT shiny?

 * Terra: When Locke and I escaped he fiddled with something right around here.
 * Edgar: Knowing him there's probably some hidden switch around here.

 * [aboard the Blackjack]
 * Locke: I can't believe this clunky old thing can fly... You sure it'll stay in the air?
 * Setzer: When things fall, they fall... Life's a game of chance. You play your cards, and Fate plays hers...

 * Relm: What's wrong, lover boy?
 * Edgar: ...How old are you?
 * Relm: Ten... Why? Weirdo. I'm going on ahead, okay?
 * Edgar: Not even a lady yet... Here's hoping you're still around in eight years, kid.

 * Ultros: Looks like I lose again! But today I brought along a buddy of mine! Mr. Typhon! Come on down!
 * [Typhon appears]
 * Typhon: Fungahhh!
 * Ultros: He's not so great with words, but his strength'll blow you away! Heh-heh...I'd try not to make him mad... He gets hungry when he's irritated.

 * Edgar: Several years and the little shrimp's grown into a whopping lobster!
 * Sabin: And you're a king crab!

 [After Terra uses magic when fighting with Edgar and Locke against two Magitek Armors, Edgar is very shocked]
 * Locke: What's the matter, Edgar? What made you jump like that all the sudden?
 * Edgar: D-d-did y-y-you just see what I saw? You did, right? Right?!
 * Locke: Yeah, this kid's really something, huh?
 * Edgar: Really something?! That was magic! MA-GIC!!!
 * Locke: M-M-M-M-MAGIC?! She used magic?!
 * Both: Pswswpswswpswswpsw.
 * Edgar: Terra... Your name was Terra, right? What... what exactly was that just now?
 * Terra: [very embarassed] I'm sorry, I...
 * Locke: [Locke pushes Edgar, causing him to fall in the sand] No, we should be apologizing. I didn't mean to make such a big deal out of it...
 * Edgar: Nor did I, it just... surprised me. I mean, I've never actually seen magic before! Where did you... [Terra doesn't say anything in shame]
 * Locke: It doesn't matter, does it, Edgar? Terra can use magic and we can't. That's all there is to it! The fact is... Her magic could really help us right now!
 * Terra: Thank you, Locke! Thank you, Edgar! [winks, and Locke and Edgar fall to the ground, laughing]

 * Strago: Go to your room!
 * Relm: I will not! What a fussy old man!

 * Strago: Alright, if you insist.
 * Relm: That's better!

 * [On the Blackjack, after the banquet]
 * Cid: Wow, what a ship!
 * Setzer: That landing really messed up the engine. It'll take a while to fix...
 * Cid: I'll help. No machine can stump me!
 * Setzer: Don't touch anything!
 * Cid: Go kill time in the casino! I can speed this crate up!
 * [In the Japanese version, Cid claims that he can speed the ship up by removing the casino, which is what angered Setzer]
 * Setzer: ...... You little...!! Get outta my sight!
 * Cid: But I could really make this thing hum...!
 * [Cid leaves]
 * Terra: You love this ship, more than anything, huh?
 * Setzer: Actually, when I was young there was something I was mad about...
 * Terra: ...huh?
 * Setzer: In my youth I dreamed of having the world's fastest airship.
 * Terra: You mean......
 * Setzer: At that time there was a young girl who piloted the Falcon, the fastest vessel ever made. Sometimes we were the worst of rivals...but other times we were the best of friends. We always egged each other on to go faster and higher. When she disappeared along with her ship...I felt like I lost my spirit.
 * Setzer: ...Poor Daryl...

 * Strago: Relm! Is that you, my dear? You're alive!
 * Relm: Idiot! Of course I'm alive!
 * Strago: Oh, I'm so happy...
 * Relm: Did you think I was gonna check out before you, old man?
 * Strago: You're as foul mouthed as ever, bless your heart!

 * Leo: Having trouble sleeping? I hear your emotions have returned...
 * Terra: ...It's strange, isn't it? The Empire used me, controlled my very thoughts...and now here I am, cooperating with the same people.
 * Leo: People are people. Not everyone in the Empire is like Kefka.
 * Terra: So...what about you?
 * Leo: I knew that you were half esper and being made to suffer through horrible experiments... Yet I did nothing. I'm no better than Kefka.
 * Terra: If a human and an esper can love one another... Do you think a human and I could love each other?
 * Leo: Of course!
 * Terra: But... I don't even know what it feels like to love someone.
 * Leo: You're still young. ...Someday you'll know. I'm sure of it.

 Welcome, friends! I knew you'd make it here, so I've prepared some suitable entertainment for you!

How long are you going to let the destruction continue?

Kefka: I've tapped into the ultimate power. Observe...!

Kefka: Such magnificent power! You are like insects to me!

Kefka: I will exterminate everyone, and everything!

People will keep rebuilding the things you take from them!

Kefka: Then I'll destroy those too. Kefka: Why do people rebuild things they know are going to be destroyed? Kefka: Why do people cling to life when they know they can't live forever? Kefka: Think how meaningless each of your lives is!

It's not the net result of one's life that's important! It's the day-to-day concerns, the personal victories, and the celebration of life... and love! It's enough if people are able to experience the joy that each day can bring!

Kefka: And have you found your "joy" in this nearly dead world of ours?

Yes!

Terra: I know what love is...!

Locke: And I have learned to celebrate life... and the living.

Cyan: My family lives on inside of me.

Shadow: I know what friendship is... and family...

Edgar: It is my dream to build a kingdom in which I can guarantee freedom and dignity.

Sabin: I have come to experience anew the love of my brother...

Celes: I've met someone who can accept me for what I am.

Strago: I have a special little Granddaughter!

Relm: And I have a brave Grandpa who'll stand by me through it all.

Setzer: My friend's airship... and her love!

Mog: I have my friends here!

Gau: You my friends! Me uwaooo all of you!

Kefka: This is sickening... You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet! Kefka: Prepare yourselves!

Kefka: Now, for my next trick, I will make you all... disappear!

Kefka, you don't know what you're doing! Stop!

Kefka: I command the greatest power in the universe! Kefka: You are all helpless before me!

Kefka: I will destroy everything... I will create a monument to non-existence!

Life will go on! There will always be people, and dreams!

Kefka: No! I will hunt them down. I will destroy it all! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!!

We will not allow you to harm another living thing.

Kefka: Hee, hee, hee!! But what fun is destruction if no "precious" lives are lost?

It's over, Kefka!

Opera scene
Impresario The West and the East were waging war... Draco, the West's great hero, thinks of his love, Maria. Is she safe? Is she waiting...?

Draco/Dracu Oh Maria! Oh Maria! Please, hear my voice! How I long to be with you!

Impresario The forces of the West fell, and Maria's castle was taken. Prince Ralse, of the East, took her hand by force. But she never stopped yearning for Draco...

Maria Oh my hero, so far away now. Will I ever see your smile? Love goes away, like night into day. It's just a fading dream. I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun. For eternity, for me there can be, Only you, my chosen one... Must I forget you? Our solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring? What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more!

Draco Come, Maria. Follow my lead.

Draco Ha ha ha ha...

Maria We must part now, my life goes on. But my heart won't give you up. Ere I walk away, let me hear you say I meant as much to you.... So gently, you touched my heart. I will be forever yours. Come what may, I won't age a day, I'll wait for you, always...

Chancellor Prince Ralse is looking for a dance partner. Leave the past behind. Our kingdom is adopting the spirit of the East.

Messenger The survivors of the West attack!

Ralse Impossible!

Soldiers Attack!!

Draco Wait!!

Draco Maria!

Maria Draco, I've waited so long. I knew you'd come.

Ralse Maria will finally have to become my queen!

Draco For the rest of my life, I'll keep you near...

Ralse It's a duel!

title: Final Fantasy VI


text:
Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor and psychologist.

Quotes

 * The striving for significance, this sense of yearning, always points out to us that all psychological phenomena contain a movement that starts from a feeling of inferiority and reach upward. The theory of Individual Psychology of psychological compensation states that the stronger the feeling of inferiority, the higher the goal for personal power.
 * From a new translation of "Progress in Individual Psychology" ("Fortschritte der Individualpsychologie", 1923), a journal article by Alfred Adler, in the AAISF/ATP Archives.

 * To be human means to feel inferior.
 * Statement of 1933, as quoted in Contemporary Theories and Systems in Psychology (1960) by Benjamin B. Wolman, p. 288

 * Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.
 * What Life Should Mean to You (1937), p. 14

 * It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
 * Quoted in: Phyllis Bottome, Alfred Adler: Apostle of Freedom (1939), ch. 5
 * Problems of Neurosis: A Book of Case Histories (1929)

 * Man knows much more than he understands.
 * As quoted in A Primer of Adlerian Psychology: The Analytic-Behavioural-Cognitive Psychology of Alfred Adler (1999) by Harold H. Mosak and Michael P. Maniacci

Quotes about Alfred Adler

 * The Adlerians, in the name of “individual psychology,” take the side of society against the individual. ... Adler’s later thought succumbs to the worst of his earlier banalization. It is conventional, practical, and moralistic. “Our science ... is based on common sense.” Common sense, the half-truths of a deceitful society, is honored as the honest truths of a frank world.
 * Russell Jacoby, Social Amnesia: A Critique of Conformist Psychology from Adler to Laing (1975), p. 23-25

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

title: Alfred Adler


text:
David Mermin

N. David Mermin (born March 30, 1935, in New Haven, Connecticut, USA) is Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus at Cornell University

Quotes

 * If I were forced to sum up in one sentence what the Copenhagen interpretation says to me, it would be 'Shut up and calculate!'
 * What's Wrong with this Pillow? by N. David Mermin, Cornell University, Physics Today, April 1989, page 9, doi:10.1063/1.2810963
 * Misattributed to Richard Feynman, by Matthew effect.
 * Attribution discussed in: Could Feynman Have Said This? by N. David Mermin, Physics Today, May 2004, page 10 (DOC)

 * Over the past fifty years or so, scientists have allowed the conventions of expression available to them to become entirely too confining.

 * … coincident with the explosive growth of research, the art of writing science suffered a grave setback, and the stultifying convention descended that the best scientific prose should sound like a non-human author addressing a mechanical reader. … We injure ourselves when we fail to make our discipline as clear and vibrant as we can to students - prospective scientists - and to the public who pay the taxes.

 * An extrapolation of its present rate of growth reveals that in the not too distant future Physical Review will fill bookshelves at a speed exceeding that of light. This is not forbidden by general relativity since no information is being conveyed.
 * quoting a joke he heard from Rudolf Peierls.

 * I would like to describe an attitude toward quantum mechanics which, whether or not it clarifies the interpretational problems that continue to plague the subject, at least sets them in a rather different perspective. This point of view alters somewhat the language used to address these issues—a glossary is provided in Appendix C—and it may offer a less perplexing basis for teaching quantum mechanics or explaining it to nonspecialists. It is based on one fundamental insight, perhaps best introduced by an analogy. My complete answer to the late 19th century question "what is electrodynamics trying to tell us" would simply be this: Fields in empty space have physical reality; the medium that supports them does not. Having thus removed the mystery from electrodynamics, let me immediately do the same for quantum mechanics: Correlations have physical reality; that which they correlate does not.
 * N. David Mermin, "What is quantum mechanics trying to tell us?", Am. J. Phys. 66, 753 (1998)

 * Quantum mechanics is the most useful and powerful theory physicists have ever devised. Yet today, nearly 90 years after its formulation, disagreement about the meaning of the theory is stronger than ever. New interpretations appear every year. None ever disappear. … The message from QBism is this: You needn't feel guilty about never getting nervous about this stuff. You were right not to be bothered. But for the sake of intellectual coherence, you had better reexamine what you wrongly may have thought you understood perfectly well about the nature of probability.
 * Fixing the shifty split, Physics Today, Volume 65, Issue 7, July 2012, p. 8

 * It is a fundamental quantum doctrine that a measurement does not, in general, reveal a pre-existing value of the measured property. On the contrary, the outcome of a measurement is brought into being by the act of measurement itself, a joint manifestation of the state of the probed system and the probing apparatus. Precisely how the particular result of an individual measurement is brought into being—Heisenberg's "transition from the possible to the actual"—is inherently unknowable. Only the statistical distribution of many such encounters is a proper matter for scientific inquiry.
 * Hidden variables and two theorems of John Bell, arXiv preprint quant-ph:1802.10119, 2018, p. 3

 * It once made sense to exclude the scientist from scientific explanations of the physical world. This warded off superstitious, animistic, or religious explanations. But without endorsing superstition, animism, or religion, today it makes sense to insist that the scientist should not be excluded from a philosophical understanding of the nature of scientific explanation. Why shouldn't such an understanding involve the explainer, as well as the explained?
 * Making better sense of quantum mechanics, arXiv preprint quant-ph/1809.01639, 2018, p. 30

About David Mermin

 * One of the most beautiful papers in physics that I know of is yours in the American Journal of Physics.
 * Richard P. Feynman in a letter to N. David Mermin, related to his AJP paper Bringing home the atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody, American Journal of Physics, Volume 49, Issue 10, pp. 940-943 (1981), as quoted in

title: David Mermin


text:
Ralph Peters

Ralph Peters (born 19 April 1952) is a retired United States Army officer, novelist, and political commentator.

Red Army (1989)

 * Red Army: A Novel of Tomorrow's War. New York: Pocket Books. All quotes are from the May 1989 hardcover edition.

 * "This is Ladoga Five. I have a special artillery vehicle with me. I can use the long-range set, if necessary." "Good. Get your vehicles on the road. And whatever you do, keep moving. We will all be behind you." The gravity in his commander's voice, and his simple choice of words, moved Bezarin. He switched over to his battalion radio net, anxious to send out the words that would set them all in motion. He knew that his tanks needed more time to resupply, that the stray vehicles had not been sufficiently integrated into the grouping to do much beyond merely following the vehicle to their immediate front. But he knew that now, with a great hole punched through the last line of the enemy's defense, there time was the dominant factor. He felt simultaneously elated and half-wild with small, cloying frustrations. He worked his radio in a fierce, uncompromising voice that had matured in the space of a morning. Major Bezarin wanted to move.
 * p. 232

Flames of Heaven (1993)

 * Flames of Heaven: A Novel of the End of the Soviet Union. New York: Pocket Books. All quotes are from the May 1993 hardcover edition.

 * "Just one thing," Sasha said suddenly. Pavel looked inquiringly into his brother's exhausted features. "I won't go without my cat."
 * p. 395

Hucksters in Uniform (1999)

 * Here I must inject a personal note—I never shed blood upon the field of Sidwell Friends, nor did I fight the battles of Yale Law. I am a miner's son, and my father was a self-made man who unmade himself during my youth.  Education was not a family legacy, and my kin belonged to the United Mine Workers of America, not to Skull and Bones.  My forebears fought this country's wars from the bottom ranks, and I began my own military career as a private. I have felt the full arrogance of those to whom much was given, and personally, wish that I might come to bury the elite, not to praise them.  Yet, those who would rise need examples to emulate.  It grates on me to write it, but our military needs a return of the nation's elite to the officer corps, to the extent that a traditional elite, with its spotty but essential ideals of service, still exists.
 * autobiographical aside from Beyond Terror, p. 319. Originally part of an essay entitled "Hucksters in Uniform" which appeared in the May 1999 edition of The Washington Monthly.

Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph? (1999)

 * If there is a single power the West underestimates, it is the power of collective hatred.
 * p. 13

 * We [Americans] choose not to understand the world on terms other than our own.
 * p. 51

Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World (2002)

 * At our worst in the Middle East, we unreservedly supported—or enthroned—medieval despots who suppressed popular liberation efforts, thus driving moderate dissidents into the arms of fanatics. From our diplomatic personnel held hostage in Iran a generation ago, to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, we have suffered for our support of repressive "stable" regimes that radicalized their own impoverished citizens.  In the interests of stability, we looked the other way while secret police tortured and shabby armies massacred their own people, from Iran to Guatemala.  But the shah always falls.  Would that we could tattoo that on the back of every diplomat's hand:  The shah always falls.
 * p. 174: originally published as "Stability, America's Enemy" in Parameters, Winter 2001-02

 * We [the U.S.] think nothing…of attempting to inflict upon other peoples forms of government ill-tailored to their needs.
 * p. 218

 * The message of Vietnam is not that Americans will not take casualties; it is that the American people do not want the lives of their sons and daughters wasted.
 * p. 287

 * We have moved from an age in which government leaders sought to do what was best for the people to one in which the political leadership is convinced it knows what is best for the people, whether they like it or not.
 * p. 133

 * There is no lack of bravery in the ranks of our armed forces, but bureaucratic cowardice rules in our intelligence establishment (as well as at the higher levels of military command).
 * p. 196

Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the Twenty-First Century (2007)

 * Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the Twenty-First Century (2007), Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books

 * [P]op prophets tell us that Muslims in Europe are reproducing so fast and European societies are so weak and listless that, before you know it, the continent will become "Eurabia," with all the topless gals on the Rivera wearing veils. Well, maybe not. The notion that continental Europeans, who are world-champion haters, will let the impoverished Muslim immigrants they confine to ghettos take over their societies and extent the caliphate from the Amalfi Coast to Amsterdam has it exactly wrong.
 * p. 332

 * Muslims are hardly welcome to pick up the trash on Europe's playgrounds. Don't let Europe's current round of playing pacifist dress up fool you: This is the continent that perfected genocide and ethnic cleansing, the happy-go-lucky slice of humanity that brought us such recent hits as the Holocaust and Srebenica.
 * p. 332

 * [H]istorical patterns are clear: When Europeans feel sufficiently threatened–even when the threat's concocted nonsense–they don't just react, they overreact with stunning ferocity. One of their more humane (and frequently employed) techniques has been ethnic cleansing.
 * p. 332

 * Europeans have enjoyed a comfy ride for the last sixty years–but the very fact that they don't want it to stop increases their rage and sense of being besieged by Muslim minorities they've long refused to assimilate (and which no longer want to assimilate).
 * p. 333

 * When Europeans feel sufficiently provoked and threatened–a few serious terrorist attacks could do it–Europe's Muslims will be lucky just to be deported...
 * p. 333

 * Europeans have just been better organized for genocide... Far from enjoying the prospect of taking over Europe by having babies, Europe’s Muslims are living on borrowed time...
 * p. 334

 * [T]he American dream is still alive and well, thanks: Even the newest taxi driver stumbling over his English grammar knows he can truly become an American. But European Muslims can't become French or Dutch or Italian or German. Even if they qualify for a passport, they remain second-class citizens. On a good day. And they're supposed to take over the continent that's exported more death than any other?
 * p. 334

 * All the copy-cat predictions of a Muslim takeover of Europe not only ignore history and Europe’s ineradicable viciousness and Europe's ineradicable piousness, but do a serious disservice by exacerbating fear and hatred. And when it comes to hatred, trust me: The Europeans don't need our help.
 * p. 334

Looking for Trouble (2008)

 * Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. All quotes are from the 2008 hardcover edition.

 * When I mentioned my decision to retire, it surprised everyone. The immediate advice from peers was that I should stay on for at least two years from the date of my promotion, since that was the minimum period of service-in-grade required, with a waiver, to qualify for a lieutenant-colonel's retirement pay. It showed how little they knew me: the notion that I would hang on for an additional year, counting down the days, just to collect a few hundred dollars more each month offended me. For the rest of my life, I'll be paid as a retired major, and I have never wished it otherwise. The Army was good to me even then, and the chain of command asked what it would take to make me change my mind and stay in uniform. I didn't even consider the offer. Once you make up your mind on so weighty an issue, you stick by your decision. And had I said, "Oh, assign me to X and I'll hang around," it would have seemed as if the whole fuss had been a bit of theater to get whatever I wanted. I had always served with dignity, if sometimes obstreperously, and I intended to leave on my own terms. Three and a half years later, on the morning of September 11, 2001, I did regret retiring from the Army. But my fate lay elsewhere.
 * p. 338

 * On February 1, 1998, I woke up as a civilian. And life got interesting.
 * p. 339

The War after Armageddon (2009)

 * The War After Armageddon: A Novel. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, New York, New York. All quotes are from the September 2009 hardcover first edition.

 * To those who solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
 * Dedication

 * They moved up between black trees, trip-me stumps, and small boulders. Everything in this world seemed disordered, messed up. Crazy people. Who started all this. For what? The nuclear blast hadn't reached his hood in East L.A. But the radiation did. He'd been on Okinawa. His family had been home. Now the Jihadis were going to get their shit handed to them.
 * p. 46-47

Endless War (2010)

 * Endless War: Middle-Eastern Islam vs. Western Civilization. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. All quotes are from the 2010 hardcover first edition.

 * To study what men have done is to see ourselves as we are: History's mirror disintegrates our makeup. With its casualty lists, litany of atrocities, and suggestions that heroism, too, may require violence, history shows us "the skull beneath the skin." And no matter how firmly we shut our eyes, the skull will still be there.
 * p. xi

Lines of Fire (2011)

 * Lines of Fire: A Renegade Writes on Strategy, Intelligence and Security. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. All quotes are from the 2011 hardcover edition.

 * Faced with opponents who sacrifice the innocent to their god, our generals study atheist guerrillas. To cope with fanatical killers with global ambitions, we turn to courts of law intended for common criminals. Pirates terrorize shipping lanes, while we wring our hands over their legal status. And all parties on the Potomac still insist that stability can be assured by supporting tyrants and that infernally corrupt governments are bound to reform if only we treat them respectfully. We mouth admirable principles for which we won't lift a finger. If we must be hypocrites, we should at least apply some intelligence to the task.
 * p. x

Cain at Gettysburg (2012)

 * Cain at Gettysburg: A Novel. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, New York, New York. All quotes are from the February 2012 hardcover first edition. The book alternates between different points-of-view from various historical characters.

 * In the sour air of his tent, Meade viewed himself with an engineer's cold eye: too dark of thought, too dour, a man alert to the smell of sulfur, but not to Heaven's scent. His wife was a proud, loyal woman, of good family. He could hear Margaret teasing. "George, I know you can smile!" She had got him a brigadier's rank at the start of the war, when his merits had not sufficed. He would have to do his best for her. And for the Union, of course. Major General George Gordon Meade had been happiest building lighthouses.
 * George G. Meade, p. 15

Hell or Richmond (2013)

 * Hell or Richmond: A Novel. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates. All quotes are from the 2013 hardcover edition. The book alternates between different points-of-view from various historical characters.

 * To the flesh-and-blood men who struggled, before we turned them into bronze and marble.
 * Dedication

 * He had to do the honorable thing, he understood that. Today of all days, it was vital to remain a gentleman, to speak faithfully and betray no emotions to his career's executioner. His family seemed ever destined for disappointment: his father, now him. Yet, he had done much, giving them all the victory they needed, that victory and more... Only to have a low cabal poison Lincoln against him. Liars. Devils. Whoremongers. Intimating, in the wake of Mine Run, that he sympathized with the Confederacy, that he was unfit to command, even that he was cowardly. All because he would not squander thousands of men to no purpose. Oh, yes. Had he overruled all military judgment, common sense, and decency and ordered Warren to attack, had he sacrificed five thousand soldiers in an act of folly, he might have been forgiven. But powerful men never spotted near a battlefield had seized upon his refusal to charge Lee's entrenchments, coiling like snakes to strike his reputation. Their ardor for slaughter repelled him. Perhaps he was better off being relieved. He could put this filth behind him, this infinite human vice of cold ambition. He could not understand how men could tell a public lie and then stand by it. He was not made for the politics of command, not for politics of any kind. He knew that his notions of honor seemed quaint, even laughable, to the likes of Sickles, Hooker, and Butterfield. But he could not imagine a life lived another way.
 * George G. Meade, p. 18-19

 * A mighty burst of rain assaulted the canvas, conjuring Gettysburg: his hour of glory, of triumph. The smoke, confusion, and carnage had calmed to reveal his army victorious. Lee had been defeated. Lee! His elation on that July afternoon had soared beyond all words, beyond his deathly exhaustion, and he had thought, mistakenly, that all might be well thereafter. Only to spend the night wrapped in an oilcloth, sitting on a rock amid the mud, under a tree that channeled the rain into torrents. Every roof had been required for the wounded his victory cost. The wounded, in their legions. Damn Washington, and damn the New York papers. None of the men in frock coats and cravats understood the human side of an army. How they had howled- and were howling still- because he had not chased Lee like an ill-trained dog. They refused to hear that three hard days of battle had left tens of thousands of wounded men in his care and thousands more as prisoners in his hands. They did not want to hear that his army, too, had been mauled and thrown into confusion, that officers had been slaughtered by the hundredfold, that ammunition pouches and caissons had been emptied, that entire divisions had nothing to eat and no water untainted by blood, that the corpses of the brave baked in the sun, or simply that he had done the best he could. The Army of the Potomac had worked a miracle, sending Lee home in shame, but it had not been wonder enough for the stay-at-homes.
 * George G. Meade, p. 19-20

2014

 * We know how to deal with apocalyptic blood-thirsty fanatics. We have two thousand years of historical examples in various religions of these death cults exploding out of the mainstream religion. And in two thousand years there is not a single example of these wildfire death cults being put down without extreme violence. Not a single example. But the Obama Administration doesn't know history, they don't want to know history, they don't want to deal with reality. And the reality is: That the way you deal with Islamic State - these blood-thirsty, blood-drunken terrorists - is to kill them, keep on killing them until you kill the last one, then you kill his pet goat! That's how you deal with them.
 * Fox News interview (20 August 2014)

Valley of the Shadow (2015)

 * Valley of the Shadow: A Novel. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, New York, New York. All quotes are from the May 2015 hardcover first edition. The book alternates between different points-of-view from various historical characters.

 * Rud Hayes watched his division dissolve. What little he could see of it, anyway. He had just assured Kitching, an insolent young colonel newly attached, that his men would hold against any Reb assault, when thousands of screaming Johnnies had burst from the fog behind his left flank. Stunned, the one brigade he had managed to get into line buckled, then broke and disintegrated. Now he rode among swirls of air made visible, alternately ordering and begging his men to rally. Of all the brave soldiers he had led through three years of battles, few heeded him now.
 * p. 430

The Damned of Petersburg (2016)

 * The Damned of Petersburg: A Novel. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, New York, New York. All quotes are from the June 2016 hardcover first edition. The book alternates between different points-of-view from various historical characters.

 * As Hancock issued the order to Mott to move his division up onto White Oak Road, a cavalcade appeared behind his trail brigade. "Better hold off," Hancock told the division commander. "See what the hell they want. Just get de Trobriand placed. Then come back." His leg scourged him doubly. He almost felt like pounding his thigh with his fists, to beat out the pus and hammer the pain to death. Preceded by outriders, Grant and Meade came cantering side by side, trailed by more flags than a Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia. Behind the banners, enough well-mounted cavalrymen followed to be put to good use, had they not been retained to serve as palace guards. Their uniforms were mud-clotted now, to the delight of troopers less fortunate.
 * p. 373

Judgement at Appomattox (2017)

 * Judgement at Appomattox: A Novel. Published as a Forge Book by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, New York, New York. All quotes are from the August 2017 hardcover first edition. The book alternates between different points-of-view from various historical characters.

 * Peering through his field glasses, George Custer saw all that he needed to see. He turned to his brother, the privileged lieutenant, and to his senior staff men. "What do you say? Shall we give those poor devils a good thrashing?"
 * p. 217

title: Ralph Peters


text:
Maria Montessori

Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori (31 August 1870 – 6 May 1952) was an Italian educator, scientist, physician, philosopher, and feminist.

Quotes

 * It seems as though a new epoch were in preparation, a truly human epoch, and as though the end had almost come of those evolutionary periods which sum up the history of the heroic struggles of humanity; an epoch in which an assured peace will promote the brotherhood of man, while morality and love will take their place as the highest form of human superiority. In such an epoch there will really be superior human beings, there will really be men strong in morality and in sentiment. Perhaps in this way the reign of woman in approaching, when the enigma of her anthropological superiority will be deciphered. Woman was always the custodian of human sentiment, morality and honour, and in these respects man always has yielded women the palm.
 * Antropologia Pedagogica (1910), translated as Pedagogical Anthropology (1913), p. 259

 * Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.
 * Attributed in Words of Wisdom (1990), edited by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 58

 * The task of the educator of young children lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity.
 * Attributed in The Encarta Book of Quotations (2000), edited by Bill Swainson, p. 662

 * * "In the vivid description of the Gospel, it would seem that we must help the Christ hidden in every poor man, in every prisioner, in every sufferer. But if we paraphrased the marvelous scene and applied it to the child, we should find that Christ goes to help all men in the form of the child."
 * The Secret of Childhood, p. 106

 * We have in ourselves tendencies that are not good and which flourish like weeds in a field. (Original sin). These tendencies are many; they fall into seven groups, known of old as the Seven deadly sins. All deadly sins tend to separate us from the child; for the child compared to us, is not only purer but has mysterious qualities, which we adults as a rule cannot perceive, but in which we must believe with faith, for Jesus spoke to them so clearly and insistently that all the Evangelists recorded His words: Unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. That which the educator must seek is to be able to see the child as Jesus saw him. It is with this endeavour, thus defined and delimited, that we wish to deal.
 * The Secret of Childhood, p. 108

 * "The child is essentially alien to this society of men and might express his position in the words of the Gospel: My kingdom is not of this world"
 * The Secret of Childhood, p. 199

 * "Freedom without organization of work would be useless. The child left free without means of work would go to waste, just as a new-born baby, if left free without nourishment, would die of starvation.The organization of the work, therefore, is the cornerstone of this new structure of goodness [in education], but even that organization would be in vain without the liberty to make use of it."
 * Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook: A short guide to her ideas and materials (1914), Schocken Books, Inc." New York, p. 94

The Montessori Method (1912)

 * Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica applicato all'educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini (1909), translated as The Montessori Method : Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses (1912)

The difference is not substantial, for profound differences cannot exist in exterior technique alone, but lie rather within the inner man.''' Not with all our initiation into scientific experiment have we prepared new masters, for, after all, we have left them standing without the door of real experimental science; we have not admitted them to the noblest and most profound phase of such study, — to that experience which makes real scientists.
 * To prepare teachers in the method of the experimental sciences is not an easy matter. When we shall have instructed them in anthropometry and psychometry in the most minute manner possible, we shall have only created machines, whose usefulness will be most doubtful. Indeed, if it is after this fashion that we are to initiate our teachers into experiment, we shall remain forever in the field of theory. '''The teachers of the old school, prepared according to the principles of metaphysical philosophy, understood the ideas of certain men regarded as authorities, and moved the muscles of speech in talking of them, and the muscles of the eye in reading their theories. Our scientific teachers, instead, are familiar with certain instruments and know how to move the muscles of the hand and arm in order to use these instruments; besides this, they have an intellectual preparation which consists of a series of typical tests, which they have, in a barren and mechanical way, learned how to apply.
 * Ch. 1 : A Critical Consideration of the New Pedagogy in its Relation to Modern Science, p. 7

'''There exists, then, the "spirit" of the scientist, a thing far above his mere "mechanical skill," and the scientist is at the height of his achievement when the spirit has triumphed over the mechanism. When he has reached this point, science will receive from him not only new revelations of nature, but philosophic syntheses of pure thought.'''
 * We give the name scientist to the type of man who has felt experiment to be a means guiding him to search out the deep truth of life, to lift a veil from its fascinating secrets, and who, in this pursuit, has felt arising within him a love for the mysteries of nature, so passionate as to annihilate the thought of himself. The scientist is not the clever manipulator of instruments, he is the worshipper of nature and he bears the external symbols of his passion as does the follower of some religious order. To this body of real scientists belong those who, forgetting, like the Trappists of the Middle Ages, the world about them, live only in the laboratory, careless often in matters of food and dress because they no longer think of themselves; those who, through years of unwearied use of the microscope, become blind; those who in their scientific ardour inoculate themselves with tuberculosis germs; those who handle the excrement of cholera patients in their eagerness to learn the vehicle through which the diseases are transmitted; and those who, knowing that a certain chemical preparation may be an explosive, still persist in testing their theories at the risk of their lives. This is the spirit of the men of science, to whom nature freely reveals her secrets, crowning their labours with the glory of discovery.
 * Ch. 1 : A Critical Consideration of the New Pedagogy in its Relation to Modern Science, p. 8

 * The peril of servilism and dependence lies not only in that "useless consuming of life," which leads to helplessness, but in the development of individual traits which indicate all too plainly a regrettable perversion and degeneration of the normal man. I refer to the domineering and tyrannical behaviour with examples of which we are all only too familiar. The domineering habit develops side by side with helplessness. It is the outward sign of the state of feeling of him who conquers through the work of others. Thus it often happens that the master is a tyrant toward his servant. It is the spirit of the task-master toward the slave.
 * Ch. 5 : Discipline, p. 100

We must make of the future generation, powerful men, and by that we mean men who are independent and free.'''
 * Let us picture to ourselves a clever and proficient workman, capable, not only of producing much and perfect work, but of giving advice in his workshop, because of his ability to control and direct the general activity of the environment in which he works. The man who is thus master of his environment will be able to smile before the anger of others, showing that great mastery of himself which comes from consciousness of his ability to do things. We should not, however, be in the least surprised to know that in his home this capable workman scolded his wife if the soup was not to his taste, or not ready at the appointed time. In his home, he is no longer the capable workman; the skilled workman here is the wife, who serves him and prepares his food for him. He is a serene and pleasant man where he is powerful through being efficient, but is domineering where he is served. Perhaps if he should learn how to prepare his soup he might become a perfect man! '''The man who, through his own efforts, is able to perform all the actions necessary for his comfort and development in life, conquers himself, and in doing so multiplies his abilities and perfects himself as an individual.
 * Ch. 5 : Discipline, p. 100

The Secret of Childhood (1936)

 * Adults have not understood children or adolescents and they are, as a consequence, in continual conflict with them. The remedy is not that adults should gain some new intellectual knowledge or achieve a higher standard of culture. No, they must find a different point of departure. The adult must find within himself the still unknown error that prevents him from seeing the child as he is.
 * Ch. 2

 * If a child finds no stimuli for the activities which would contribute to his development, he is attracted simply to 'things' and desires to possess them.
 * Ch. 23

The Discovery of the Child (1948)

 * Rewards and punishments, to speak frankly, are the desk of the soul, that is, a means of enslaving a child's spirit, and better suited to provoke than to prevent deformities.
 * Ch. 1

 * The best instruction is that which uses the least words sufficient for the task.
 * Ch. 7

To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the first duty of the educator. For such a delicate mission great art is required to suggest the right moment and to limit intervention, last one should disturb or lead astray rather than help the soul which is coming to life and which will live by virtue of its own efforts. This art must accompany the scientific method, because the simplicity of our lessons bears a great resemblance to experiments in experimental psychology.
 * This is our mission: to cast a ray of light and pass on. I compare the effects of these first lessons the impressions of a solitary wanderer who is walking serene and happy in a shady grove, meditating; that is leaving his inner thought free to wander. Suddenly a church bell pealing out nearby recalls to himself; then he feels more keenly that peaceful bliss which had already been born, though dormant, within him.
 * Ch. 8 : The Exercises, p. 141
 * Variant translation:
 * This then is the first duty of an educator: to stir up life but leave it free to develop.

The Absorbent Mind (1949)

 * If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.
 * Part I : The Child's Part in World Reconstruction, p. 4

The child is endowed with unknown powers, which can guide us to a radiant future. If what we really want is a new world, then education must take as its aim the development of these hidden possibilities.
 * If help and salvation are to come they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.
 * Part I : The Child's Part in World Reconstruction, p. 4

 * We teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master. We then become witnesses to the development of the human soul; the emergence of the New Man who will no longer be the victim of events but, thanks to his clarity of vision, will become able to direct and to mold the future of mankind.
 * Part I : The Child's Part in World Reconstruction, p. 9

 * The child is truly a miraculous being, and this should be felt deeply by the educator.
 * Part II : How Language Calls to the Child, p. 121

 * One who has drunk at the fountain of spiritual happiness says good-by of his own accord to the satisfactions that come from a higher professional status … What is the greatest sign of success for a teacher thus transformed? It is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
 * Ch. 27 : The Teacher's Preparation, p. 283; part of this has become paraphrased as :
 * The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
 * As attributed in Winning Strategies for Classroom Management (2000), p. 2

Quotes about Montessori

 * If a teacher can discern what a child is trying to do in his informational interaction with the environment, and if that teacher can have on hand materials relevant to that intention, if he can impose a relevant challenge with which the child can cope, supply a relevant model for imitation, or pose a relevant question the child can answer, that teacher can call forth the kind of accommodative change that constitutes psychological development or growth.
 * Joseph McVicker Hunt, in his Introduction to the 1964 edition of The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori

title: Maria Montessori


text:
Edward Abbey

Edward Paul Abbey (29 January 1927 – 14 March 1989) was an American writer noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies.
 * See also:
 * Lonely Are the Brave (1962 film, based on his 1956 novel The Brave Cowboy)

Quotes

 * Appalachia. Appalachia ... Good God I lived there, in the northern fringe, on a little sub-marginal farm in western Pennsylvania, for the first eighteen years of my life.  Eighteen years.  Good God.  Finally rescued by Hitler and the war (The war), the draft, the United States Army, God bless them all.  Otherwise, who knows, I might still be there driving a coal truck for the strippers, or teaching English to sullen delinquents with TV-shriveled minds in some grimy small-town high school, or even--God, the soul curls to think of it--traipsing the Appalachian Trail from end to end, for fun! for recreation! for re-creation!
 * "The Appalachian Trail, and Beyond" foreword to Appalachian Odyssey by Steve Sherman and Julia Older (1977) page vii.

 * Heaven is home. Utopia is here. Nirvana is now.
 * Abbey's Road (1979)

 * Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Of course, people with guns kill more people. But that's only natural. It's hard. But it's fair.
 * Abbey's Road in In Defense of the Redneck (1979), p. 168.

 * We're all undesirable elements from somebody's point of view.
 * Abbey's Road (1979)

 * The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer." Egalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed — but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government – and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.”
 * Abbey's Road (1979)

 * Enjoy our great American West -- climb those mountains, run those rivers, hike those canyons, explore those forests, and share in the bounty of wilderness, friendship, love, and the common effort to save what we love. Do this and we will be strong, and bold, and happy, we will outlive our enemies, we will live to piss on their graves.
 * Remarks, Glen Canyon Dam, Spring Equinox 1981.

 * My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time.
 * Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, 1951-1989 (1994) p. 92

 * One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.
 * Quoted in Saving Nature's Legacy : Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity (1994) by Reed F. Noss, Allen Y. Cooperrider, and Rodger Schlickeisen, p. 338 ISBN 1559632488

Desert Solitaire (1968)

 * Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (1968) [Univ. of Ariz. Press edition, 1988] ISBN 0671695886

 * May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.  May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you — beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.
 * Preface (dated June 1987) for 1988 reprint of Desert Solitaire

 * This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary. A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio, or Rome — there's no limit to the human capacity for the homing sentiment.
 * "The First Morning", p. 1

 * I'd sooner exchange ideas with the birds on earth than learn to carry on intergalactic communications with some obscure race of humanoids on a satellite planet from the world of Betelgeuse.
 * "The First Morning", p. 7

 * I'm a humanist; I'd rather kill a man than a snake.
 * "Serpents of Paradise", p. 18

 * All living things on earth are kindred.
 * "Serpents of Paradise", p. 22

 * I hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. (Bricks to all greenhouses! Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!)
 * "Cliffrose and Bayonets", p. 25

 * Love flowers best in openness and freedom.
 * "Cliffrose and Bayonets", p. 26

 * Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful.
 * "Cliffrose and Bayonets", p. 37

 * A great thirst is a great joy when quenched in time.
 * "Water", p. 104

 * Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.
 * "Water", p. 113; this is often quoted as simply: Without courage, all other virtues are useless.

 * Growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness.
 * "Water", p. 114

 * We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may not ever need to go there.
 * "The Heart of Noon", p. 116

 * But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need — if only we had the eyes to see. Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us — if only we were worthy of it.
 * "Down the River", p. 147

 * When I write "paradise" I mean not only apple trees and golden women but also scorpions and tarantulas and flies, rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, sandstorms, volcanoes and earthquakes, bacteria and bear, cactus, yucca, bladderweed, ocotillo and mesquite, flash floods and quicksand, and yes — disease and death and the rotting of flesh.
 * "Down the River", p. 147

 * Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.
 * "Down the River", p. 148

 * I am not an atheist but an earthiest.
 * "Down the River", p. 163

 * To die alone, on rock under sun at the brink of the unknown, like a wolf, like a great bird, seems to me very good fortune indeed.
 * "The Dead Man at Grandview Point", p. 186

 * Balance, that's the secret. Moderate extremism.
 * "Bedrock and Paradox", p. 233

 * To make the distinction unmistakably clear: Civilization is the vital force in human history; culture is that inert mass of institutions and organizations which accumulate around and tend to drag down the advance of life; Civilization is Giordano Bruno facing death by fire; culture is the Cardinal Bellarmino, after ten years of inquisition, sending Bruno to the stake in the Campo di Fiori; Civilization is Sartre; culture Cocteau; Civilization is mutual aid and self-defense; culture is the judge, the lawbook and the forces of Law & Ordure (sic); Civilization is uprising, insurrection, revolution; culture is the war of state against state, or of machines against people, as in Hungary and Vietnam; Civilization is tolerance, detachment and humor, or passion, anger, revenge; culture is the entrance examination, the gas chamber, the doctoral dissertation and the electric chair; Civilization is the Ukrainian peasant Nestor Makhno fighting the Germans, then the Reds, then the Whites, then the Reds again; culture is Stalin and the Fatherland; Civilization is Jesus turning water into wine; culture is Christ walking on the waves; Civilization is a youth with a Molotov cocktail in his hand; culture is the Soviet tank or the L.A. cop that guns him down; Civilization is the wild river; culture, 592,000 tons of cement; Civilization flows; culture thickens and coagulates, like tired, sick, stifled blood.
 * "Episodes and Visions", p. 308

The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)

 * The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) ISBN 0060956445

 * “Somewhere in the depths of solitude, beyond wilderness and freedom, lay the trap of madness.”

 * Poor Hayduke: won all his arguments but lost his immortal soul.

 * What's more American than violence?" Hayduke wanted to know. "Violence, it's as American as pizza pie.

 * My job is to save the fucking wilderness. I don't know anything else worth saving.
 * George Hayduke, page 229

 * He recalled Dr. Sarvis' favorite apothegm: When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.
 * page 294

 * “What do we know? What do we really know? He licks his dried cracked lips. We know this apodictic rock beneath our feet. That dogmatic sun above our heads. The world of dreams, the agony of love and the foreknowledge of death. That is all we know. And all we need to know? Challenge that statement. I challenge that statement. With what? I don't know.”
 * page 312

 * One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork.
 * Seldom Seen Smith, page 313

The Journey Home (1977)

 * The Journey Home : Some Words in Defense of the American West (1977) ISBN 0452265622

 * All we have, it seems to me, is the beauty of art and nature and life, and the love which that beauty inspires.
 * “Fire Lookout: Numa Ridge”, p. 57

 * Come on in. The earth, like the sun, like the air, belongs to everyone — and to no one.
 * “Come On In”, p. 88

 * "The city itself swung slowly toward us silent as a dream. No sign of life but puffs of steam from skyscraper chimneys, the motion of the traffic. The mighty towers stood like tombstones in a graveyard, leaning against the sky and waiting for -- for what? Someday we'll know."
 * "Manhattan Twilight, Hoboken Night", p. 98

 * Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
 * "The Second Rape of the West", p. 183

 * Of course I litter the public highway. Every chance I get. After all, it's not the beer cans that are ugly; it's the highway that is ugly.
 * "The Second Rape of the West," The Journey Home, 1977

 * As for the "solitary confinement of the mind," my theory is that solipsism, like other absurdities of the professional philosopher, is a product of too much time wasted in library stacks between the covers of a book, in smoke-filled coffeehouses (bad for brains) and conversation-clogged seminars. To refute the solipsist or the metaphysical idealist all that you have to do is take him out and throw a rock at his head: if he ducks he's a liar. His logic may be airtight but his argument, far from revealing the delusions of living experience, only exposes the limitations of logic.
 * p. 121

 * One wishes to go on. On this great river one could glide forever — and here we discover the definition of bliss, salvation, Heaven, all the old Mediterranean dreams: a journey from wonder to wonder, drifting through eternity into ever-deeper, always changing grandeur, through beauty continually surpassing itself: the ultimate Homeric voyage.
 * On the Colorado River, in “Down the River with Major Powell”, p. 201

 * The longest journey begins with a single step, not with the turn of an ignition key. That’s the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn’t much matter whether you get where you’re going or not. You’ll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home. Right where you started.
 * “Walking” p. 205

 * There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many, but some. Walking takes longer, for example, than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists foresee a future for us in which distance is annihilated and anyone can transport himself anywhere, instantly. Big deal, Buckminster. To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me.
 * "Walking", p. 205

 * Knowing now what we have learned, unless the need were urgent, I could no more sink the blade of an ax into the tissues of a living tree than I could drive it into the flesh of a fellow human.
 * "The Crooked Wood", p. 208

 * I understand and sympathize with the reasonable needs of a reasonable number of people on a finite continent. All life depends upon other life. But what is happening today, in North America, is not rational use but irrational massacre. Man the Pest, multiplied to the swarming stage, is attacking the remaining forests like a plague of locusts on a field of grain.
 * “The Crooked Wood” p. 208

 * The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs more defenders.
 * "Shadows from the Big Woods", p. 223

 * The earth is not a mechanism but an organism, a being with its own life and its own reasons, where the support and sustenance of the human animal is incidental. If man in his newfound power and vanity persists in the attempt to remake the planet in his own image, he will succeed only in destroying himself — not the planet. The earth will survive our most ingenious folly.
 * “Shadows from the Big Woods”, p. 225

Down the River (1982)

 * Down the River (1982) ISBN 0525484086

 * Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second.

 * [Concerning river runners:] If we were going into war again I can't think of any I'd rather have on our side. I mean, all of these good men and women.  And if they were on the other side I'd join the other side.

 * Love can defeat that nameless terror. Loving one another, we take the sting from death. Loving our mysterious blue planet, we resolve riddles and dissolve all enigmas in contingent bliss.

 * I would give ten years off the beginning of my life to see, only once, Tyrannosaurus rex come rearing up from the elms of Central Park, a Morgan police horse screaming in its jaws. We can never have enough of nature.

Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside (1984)

 * Beyond the wall of the unreal city … there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains. Go there. Be there. Walk gently and quietly deep within it. And then —  May your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and only slightly uphill. May the wind bring rain for the slickrock potholes fourteen miles on the other side of yonder blue ridge. May God's dog serenade your campfire, may the rattlesnake and the screech owl amuse your reverie, may the Great Sun dazzle your eyes by day and the Great Bear watch over you by night.
 * "Preface" (dated October 1983), pages xvi-xvii

 * If the life of natural things, millions of years old, does not seem sacred to us, then what can be sacred? Human vanity alone? Contempt for the natural world implies contempt for life. The domination of nature leads to the domination of human nature.
 * "A Walk in the Desert Hills", page 44

 * I once sat on the rim of a mesa above the Rio Grande for three days and nights, trying to have a vision. I got hungry and saw God in the form of a beef pie.
 * "How It Was", page 55

 * There's beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere.
 * "The Ancient Dust", page 153

 * I am delighted, one more time, by the daring of my species and the audacity of our flying machines. There is poetry and music in our technology, a beauty as touching as that of eagle, moss campion, raven or yonder limestone boulder shining under the Arctic sun.
 * "Gather at the River", page 164

Hayduke Lives (1990)

 * Hayduke Lives (1990) ISBN 0-316-00411-1

 * 'There is no situation so bad that the cops can't make it worse.'

 * 'Don't let yourself become cynical. Cynicism is a cheap emotion, a craven substitute for thought and action. Cynicism corrodes the will, dulls the conscience, blunts your sense of right and wrong... Stay alert to fine distinctions: become a pessimist like me.'

 * 'A pessimist is simply an optimist in full possession of the facts.'

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

 * A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis en Deserto) : Notes from a Secret Journal (1990) ISBN 0312064888

 * As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.
 * Ch. 4 : Life and Death and All That p.43

 * When the biggest, richest, glassiest buildings in town are the banks, you know that town's in trouble.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 97

 * Most academic economists know nothing of economy. In fact, they know little of anything.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 97

 * One thing more dangerous than getting between a grizzly sow and her cub is getting between a businessman and a dollar bill.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 97

 * Capitalism: Nothing so mean could be right. Greed is the ugliest of the capital sins.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * With the neutron bomb, which destroys life but not property, capitalism has found the weapon of its dreams.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * There is no force more potent in the modern world than stupidity fueled by greed.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * Nothing could be older than the daily news, nothing deader than yesterday's newspaper.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * Among politicians and businessman, Pragmatism is the current term for "To hell with our children."
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * Business: Busyness.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * The plow has probably done more harm — in the long run — than the sword.
 * Ch. 11 : Money Et Cetera, p. 100

 * Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.

 * From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm.

 * According to the current doctrines of mysticoscientism, we human animals are really and actually nothing but "organic patterns of nodular energy composed of collocations of infinitesimal points oscillating on the multi-dimensional coordinates of the space-time continuum." I'll have to think about that. Sometime. Meantime, I'm going to gnaw on this sparerib, drink my Blatz beer, and contemplate the a posteriori coordinates of that young blonde over yonder, the one in the tennis skirt, tying her shoelaces.

 * Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart.

 * Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.

 * The distrust of wit is the beginning of tyranny.

 * No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

 * A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

 * Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners.

 * Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.

 * In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.

 * The more corrupt a society, the more numerous its laws.

 * Freedom begins between the ears.

 * The "Terror" of the French Revolution lasted for ten years. The terror that preceded and led to it lasted for a thousand years.

 * Counterpart to the knee-jerk liberal is the new knee-pad conservative, always groveling before the rich and powerful.

 * What's the difference between a whore and a congressman? A congressman makes more money.

 * When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.

 * Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.

 * An empty man is full of himself.

 * I come more and more to the conclusion that wilderness, in America or anywhere else, is the only thing left that is worth saving.

 * If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness.

 * The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.

 * God is a sound people make when they're too tired to think anymore.

 * Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers — obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.

 * If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a Juniper tree or the wings of a vulture-that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.

title: Edward Abbey


text:
William Manchester

William Raymond Manchester (1 April 1922 – 1 June 2004) was an American historian and biographer.

The Death of a President (1967)

 * For all in whose hearts he still lives- a watchman of honor who never sleeps.
 * Dedication

 * Finally, she broke her silence and spelled it out to Dr. Burkley. Kneeling, John Kennedy's personal physician indicated her ghastly skirt with a trembling hand. "Another dress?", he suggested diffidently. "No", she whispered fiercely, "Let them see the horror."

American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 (1978)

 * Back and forth the fantastic tableaux would spin, past his cruel plebe hazing, the self-discovery at the West Texas Military Academy, the patriarchal Judge MacArthur, all beard and cigar smoke, presiding over dynastic feats at Washington's 1201 N Street; the chimes of the drawing-room clock there telling off the quarters; the ceremonial changing of the guard at Leavenworth; his father's tales of Sherman's dauntless Boys in Blue; his mother's imperious commands to fight and fight and never lower his blade short of victory; the clean crack of Krag rifles and the warm prickling of desert sand as he played with his brother outside the fort stockade; the rumbling of the sunset gun and Pinky's face tilting downward, her lambent smile gilding the child's upturned features while he clutched at her cascading skirts; the yellow notes of the bugles as he stirred in his cradle; the chant of sergeants hawking cadence on the parade ground outside; and, snapping proudly in the overarching sky above him, the flag, and the flag, and the flag.
 * p. 709

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone 1932-1940 (1988)

 * Then out spake brave Horatius,
 * The Captain of the Gate:
 * "To every man upon this earth
 * Death cometh soon or late.
 * And how can man die better
 * Than facing fearful odds,
 * For the ashes of his fathers,
 * And the temples of his gods?"
 * Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, memorized by Churchill at age thirteen

 * He had come to power because he had seen through Hitler from the very beginning- but not, ironically, because his inner light, the source of that insight, was understood by Englishmen. Churchill's star was invisible to the public and even to most of his peers. But a few saw it. One of them wrote afterward that although Winston knew the world was complex and in constant flux, to him "the great things, races, and peoples, and morality were eternal." Isaiah Berlin, the Oxford philosopher, later observed that the Churchill of 1940 was neither "a sensitive lens, which absorbs and concentrates and reflects... the sentiments of others," nor a politician who played "on public opinion like an instrument." Instead Berlin saw him as a leader who imposed his "imagination and his will upon his countrymen," idealizing them "with such intensity that in the end they approached his ideal and began to see themselves as he saw them." In doing so he "transformed cowards into brave men, and so fulfilled the purpose of shining armour."
 * p. 687

 * Because their possessions were great, the appeasers had much to lose should the Red flag fly over Westminster. That was why they had felt threatened by the hunger riots of 1932. It was also the driving force behind their exorbitant fear and distrust of the new Russia. They had seen a strong Germany as a buffer against Bolshevism, had thought their security would be strengthened if they sidled up to the fierce, virile Third Reich. Nazi coarseness, anti-Semitism, the Reich's darker underside, were rationalized; time, they assured one another, would blur the jagged edges of Nazi Germany. So, with their eyes open, they sought accommodation with a criminal regime, turned a blind eye to its iniquities, ignored its frequent resort to murder and torture, submitted to extortion, humiliation, and abuse until, having sold out all who had sought to stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain and keep the bridge against the new barbarism, they led England herself into the cold damp shadow of the gallows, friendless save for the demoralized republic across the Channel. Their end came when the House of Commons, in a revolt of conscience, wrenched power from them and summoned to the colors the one man who had foretold that all had passed, who had tried, year after year, alone and mocked, to prevent the war by urging the only policy which would have done the job. And now, in the desperate spring of 1940, with the reins of power at last now firm in his grasp, he resolved to lead Britain and her fading empire in one last great struggle worthy of all they had been and meant, to arm the nation, not only with weapons but also with the mace of honor, creating in every English breast a soul beneath the ribs of death.
 * p. 688-689

title: William Manchester


text:
Talk:Who Framed Roger Rabbit

More Quotes
Shouldn't we have some more quotes from the movie on this page to make it like some of the other movie pages on this wiki? Most pages have a lot of quotes, but shouldn't we add more Roger Rabbit quotes to this page? Please reply so I can know. User:MrJoshbumstead ~ User talk:MrJoshbumstead

title: Talk:Who Framed Roger Rabbit


text:
Blind Man's Bluff

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage ISBN 006103004X is a book published in 1998 by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew.

Dialogue

 * Cut down another tree for nuclear power.
 * Note: Chanted by the crew of the USS Seawolf because there was so much paperwork involved in replacing the spent reactor core of the nuclear powered sub.

title: Blind Man's Bluff