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World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an international organisation designed by its founders to supervise and liberalise international capital trade.

Quotes

 * Empirical evidence tends to show that trade liberalisation may entail non-trivial adjustment costs for certain groups.
 * page 47, WTO Annual Report 1998, also quoted in Taking liberties: poor people, free trade and trade justice, Christian Aid, 23 September 2004.

Quotes about

 * I have tried to define democracy, and worked out five criteria. If you meet a powerful person, ask them five questions: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interest do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How could we get rid of you? Because if you can’t get rid of the people who have power over you they don’t have to listen to you. The reason the members of parliament and prime ministers, with all their defects, have to listen is because the Day of Judgement comes on polling day, whereas the bankers, the World Trade Organization, the IMF, the Pope, the mullahs, the rabbis, don’t have to listen — because they are there. Some of them say they’re there because God gave them power, others say they are following the inescapable conclusions of a market-related society. But whatever justification they give they aren’t accountable and can’t be removed — and I will not be governed by people I can’t get rid of. For that very reason, people who do have power don’t like democracy because it will undermine the security they think they have.
 * Tony Benn, Tony Benn interview “Hope is the key, Share International” (January 2003)

 * In closed-door meetings, nameless trade bureaucrats from 146 countries and multinational corporations were now saying, in effect, you can pass your laws in your democratically elected legislatures to protect workers or the environment. We'll just overturn them at the WTO.
 * Amy Goodman The Exception to the Rulers written with David Goodman (2004)

 * A contradiction lies at the very centre of the neoliberal project. On a theoretical level, neoliberalism promises to bring about a purer form of democracy, unsullied by the tyranny of the state. Indeed, this claim serves as the model lodestar for neoliberal ideology - a banner under which it justifies radical market deregulation. But, in practice, it becomes clear that the opposite is true: that neoliberalism tends to undermine democracy and political freedom. More than 40 years of experimentation with neoliberalism shows that it erodes the power of voters to decide the rules that govern the economic systems they inhabit. It allows for the colonization of political forums by elite interests - a process known as political capture - and sets up new political forums, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO, that preclude democratic representation from the outset. Neoliberalism also tends to undermine national sovereignty, to the point where parliaments of putatively independent nations no longer have power over their own policy decisions, but are governed instead by foreign banks, the, trade agreements, and undemocratic international institutions, all of which exercise a kind of invisible, remote-control power.
 * Jason Hickel, "Neoliberalism and the End of Democracy", taken from The Handbook of Neoliberalism (2016), p. 142

 * People commonly think of neoliberalism as an ideology that promotes totally free markets, where the state retreats from the scene and abandons all interventionist policies. But if we step back a bit, it becomes clear that the extention of neoliberalism has entailed powerful new forms of state intervention. The creation of a global 'free market' required not only violent coups and dictatorships backed by Western governments, but also the invention of a totalizing global bureaucracy – the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO and bilateral free-trade agreements – with reams of new laws, backed up by the military power of the United States. In other words, an unprecedented expansion of state power was necessary to force countries around the world to liberalize their markets against their will. As the has known ever since the  in 1842, when British gunboats invaded China in order to knock down China's trade barriers, free trade has never actually been about freedom. On the contrary, as we have seen, free trade has a tendency to gradually undermine national sovereignty and electoral democracy.
 * Jason Hickel, The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets (2018) p. 218

 * When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other Western leaders were starting to plan for the postwar world, they had the recent past very much in their minds in other ways. They wanted to build a robust world order that would prevent the world from sliding, yet again, into another deadly conflict. The interwar years had been unstable ones, partly because the League of Nations had not been strong enough. Key powers, the United States in particular, had not joined or, like Germany and Japan, had dropped out. This time, Roosevelt was determined that the United States should be a member of the new United Nations. He was also prepared to do a good deal to keep the Soviet Union in. What had been a precariously balanced international order was put under further strain in the 1930s by the Great Depression, which encouraged countries to turn inward, throwing up tariff walls to protect their own workers and their own industries. What may have made sense for individual nations was disastrous for the world as a whole. Trade and investment dropped off sharply and national rivalries were exacerbated. To avoid that happening again, the Allies, with the Soviet Union's grudging acquiescence, created the economic institutions known collectively as the Bretton Woods system. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Trade Organization (this last did not materialize as the World Trade Organization until much later) were designed to provide stability to the world's economy and to encourage free trade among nations. How much difference these all made to the international order after 1943 will always be a matter of debate, but the world did not get a repeat of the 1930s.
 * Margaret MacMillan, The Uses and Abuses of History (2008), pp. 163-164

 * Osama Bin Laden and George Bush were both terrorists. They were both building international networks that perpetrate terror and devastate people’s lives. Bush with the Pentagon, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Bin Laden with Al-Qaeda. The difference is that nobody elected Bin Laden... The United States supported Saddam Hussein and made sure that he ruled with an iron fist for all those years. Then they used the sanctions to break the back of civil society. Then they made Iraq disarm. Then they attacked Iraq. And now they’ve taken over all its assets.
 * Arundhati Roy in The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy (2008)

 * Ecofeminism was first published one year after the Earth Summit, where two important treaties were signed by the governments of the world: the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. There was no World Trade Organization. However, two years after Ecofeminism, the WTO was established, privileging corporate rights, commerce and profits, and further undermining the rights of the Earth, the rights of women and the rights of future generations. We wrote about what globalization implied for nature and women. Every crisis we mentioned is deeper; every expression of violence more brutal.
 * Vandana Shiva in Ecofeminism Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, 1993,  2014 Foreword (2014)

 * Many nations in this hall will agree that the world trading system is in dire need of change. For example, countries were admitted to the World Trade Organization that violate every single principle on which the organization is based. While the United States and many other nations play by the rules, these countries use government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises to rig the system in their favor. They engage in relentless product dumping, forced technology transfer, and the theft of intellectual property. The United States lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a quarter of all steel jobs, and 60,000 factories after China joined the WTO. And we have racked up $13 trillion in trade deficits over the last two decades. But those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse. We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. America will never apologize for protecting its citizens.
 * Donald Trump, Address at the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 25 September 2018

 * When the wealthiest economies claim developing-country status, they harm not only other developed economies but also economies that truly require special and differential treatment. Such disregard for adherence to the WTO rules, including the likely disregard of any future rules, cannot continue to go unchecked.
 * Donald Trump asks WTO to redefine developing country status, move likely to affect India,July 27, 2019

title: World Trade Organization


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A. J. Muste

A. J. Muste (January 8, 1885 – February 11, 1967) was a Dutch-born American clergyman who eventually became a Quaker, Christian pacifist, socialist and social activist involved in the U.S. labor and civil rights movements.

Quotes

 * The psychological basis for the use of nonviolent methods is the simple rule that like produces like, kindness provokes kindness, as surely as injustice produces resentment and evil. It is sometimes forgotten by those whose pacifism is a spurious, namby-pamby thing that if one Biblical statement of this rule is "Do good to them that hate you" (an exhortation presumably intended for the capitalist as well as for the laborer), another statement of the same rule is, "They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." You get from the universe what you give, with interest! What if men build a system on violence and injustice, on not doing good to those who hate them nor even to those who meekly obey and toil for them? And persist in this course through centuries of Christian history? And if, then, the oppressed raise the chant:
 * Ye who sowed the wind of sorrow, Now the whirlwind you must dare, As ye face upon the morrow, The advancing Proletaire!
 * In such a day, the pacifist is presumably not absolved from preaching to the rebels that they also shall reap what they sow; but assuredly not in such a wise as to leave the oppressors safely entrenched in their position, not at the cost of preaching to them in all sternness that "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
 * "Recent Gains in the Quest for Peace" in The World tomorrow Vol. 11, No. 1 (January 1928), p. 8; including a quote from the Communist song "The Advancing Proletaire."

 * Educational enterprises do not for any length of time remain immune from the struggle of interests for power which is the dominant feature of social life under a class system.
 * "Some Notes on Workers’ Education" in New International, Vol.2, No.7 (December 1935), p. 225.

 * We belong to the Society of Friends, a community of love, a family of persons. In so far as we are not just another “denomination,” we know also that the salvation of our age is in our keeping; that is, that it lies in the divine-human society which is "rooted and grounded in love." This is the unity which alone can make one world out of "one world", and not one nightmare, one hell, one burned-out cinder. We know also and in a way we respond to the fact that we have a mission, we are "called to be saints".
 * Saints for This Age (1962).

 * It is said that if the United States were to stop shooting and withdraw its troops from Vietnam, the Viet Cong would then stage a great purge of the people who we have been seeking to protect — have pledged to protect. First of all, so far they have been getting precious little protection from us. The Vietnamese people as human individuals have been shot at by the French, by us, by Communists, by guerrillas for years. Maybe, if only somebody would stop shooting at them that would be something to the good.
 * "Who Has the Spiritual Atom Bomb?" in Liberation (November 1965).

 * There is no way to peace; peace is the way.
 * As quoted in "Debasing Dissent" in The New York Times (16 November 1967), p. 46; later quoted as "There is no way to peace, peace is the only way." in The Peasant's Revolt : McCarthy 1968 (1969) by William P. McDonald and Jerry G. Smoke: these statements have also become widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

 * There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well. Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to 'social peace,' though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure. Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom. There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.
 * "Pacifism and Class War" in The Essays of A. J. Muste (1967) edited by Nat Hentoff p. 179-85; also quoted in American Power and the New Mandarins (2002) by Noam Chomsky, p. 160.

 * We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life. Disarmament cannot be achieved nor can the problem of war be resolved without being accompanied by profound changes in the economic order and the structure of society.
 * As quoted in Our Generation Against Nuclear War (1983) by Dimitrios I. Roussopoulos.

 * [Their foremost task] … is to denounce the violence on which the present system is based, and all the evil — material and spiritual — this entails for the masses of men throughout the world.... So long as we are not dealing honestly and adequately with this ninety percent of our problem, there is something ludicrous, and perhaps hypocritical, about our concern over the ten percent of violence employed by the rebels against oppression.
 * As quoted in Noam Chomsky American Power and the New Mandarins (1969 [The New Press 2002 edition]), p. 160.

 * Those who can bring themselves to renounce wealth, position and power accruing from a social system based on violence and putting a premium on acquisitiveness, and to identify themselves in some real fashion with the struggle of the masses toward the light, may help in a measure — more, doubtless, by life than by words — to devise a more excellent way, a technique of social progress less crude, brutal, costly and slow than mankind has yet evolved.
 * As quoted in Noam Chomsky American Power and the New Mandarins (1969 [The New Press 2002 edition]), p. 160.

 * In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist.
 * As quoted in Noam Chomsky American Power and the New Mandarins (1969 [The New Press 2002 edition]), p. 160.

Quotes about Muste

 * [He made] remarkable effort to show that pacifism was by no means passivism and that there could be such a thing as a non-violent social revolution.
 * Norman Thomas, in "On the Death of A.J. Muste" in New America Vol. 6, No. 9 (February 16, 1967), p. 2.

No authentic honor can be done to the memory of the man and his life if we select one theme and ignore the other. Few people have been so deeply committed at the same time both to peace and to social justice, so fully aware of the difficulty of reconciling these two demands, and so intent on making that effort.
 * There are two themes that ran through A.J. Muste's life so clearly and marked his own actions so decisively, that the conflict between them became a dialectic, never resolved. One theme was peace, nonviolence, profound reverence for life. The other theme was social justice. To respect life meant to struggle to achieve social justice, yet the struggle for social justice invariably disturbed the peace and risked the nonviolence so central to A.J. The life-destroying institutions of injustice which A.J. saw around him were intolerable--yet violent social change was also intolerable. It was this "dialectic" which led him into the Marxist-Leninist movement and then back into the religious pacifist movement. Those who worked most closely with him are convinced that he was never fully able to leave behind his Christian mysticism when he was a Marxist-Leninist, and that on his return to the Church he brought with him much of his Marxism.
 * Biographical profile at the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute.

title: A. J. Muste


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Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 1 January 2023) was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation.

Quotes

 * If the Church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject, ... she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice, because she would lose her independence and her moral authority, identifying herself with a single political path and with debatable partisan positions. The Church is the advocate of justice and of the poor, precisely because she does not identify with politicians nor with partisan interests. Only by remaining independent can she teach the great criteria and inalienable values, guide consciences and offer a life choice that goes beyond the political sphere. To form consciences, to be the advocate of justice and truth, to educate in individual and political virtues: that is the fundamental vocation of the Church in this area. And lay Catholics must be aware of their responsibilities in public life; they must be present in the formation of the necessary consensus and in opposition to injustice.
 * in Origins, published by National Catholic News Service, vol. 37, p. 22

1980s

 * Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.
 * It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastors wherever it occurs... The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in work, in action and in law.
 * "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," 1986, as reported by National Catholic Reporter

1990s

 * If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Holy Communion as long as this situation persists. This norm is not at all a punishment or a discrimination against the divorced and remarried, but rather expresses an objective situation that of itself renders impossible the reception of Holy Communion: '... If these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage'.
 * Letter to bishops, Sept. 14, 1994

 * I think we must reflect more on what democracy in the exercise of authority would mean. Is truth determined by a majority vote, only for a new 'truth' to be 'discovered' by a new majority tomorrow?
 * The Public Square, by Richard John Neuhaus, First Things 1996

 * We have such difficulty understanding this renunciation today because the relationship to marriage and children has clearly shifted. To have to die without children was once synonymous with a useless life: The echoes of my own life die away, and I am completely dead. If I have children, then I continue to live in them; it's a sort of immortality through posterity. ...
 * The renunciation of marriage and family is thus to be understood in terms of this vision: I renounce what, humanly speaking, is not only the most normal but also the most important thing. I forgo bringing forth further life on the tree of life, and I live in the faith that my land is really God - and so I make it easier for others, also, to believe that there is a kingdom of heaven. I bear witness to Jesus Christ, to the Gospel, not only with words, but also with this specific mode of existence, and I place my life in this form at his disposal.
 * from "Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the end of the Millennium: An interview with Peter Seewald," by Ratzinger, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997

 * Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his own accord.
 * from "Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the end of the Millennium: An interview with Peter Seewald," by Ratzinger, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997

 * Islam has a total organization of life that is completely different from ours; it embraces simply everything. There is a very marked subordination of woman to man; there is a very tightly knit criminal law, indeed, a law regulating all areas of life, that is opposed to our modern ideas about society. One has to have a clear understanding that it is not simply a denomination that can be included in the free realm of a pluralistic society.
 * 1997 interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, quoted in "Tough-talking pope has history with Muslims, refuses to give in", The Washington Times (20 September 2006)

 * Unlimited trust should only be placed in the real Word of the Revelation that we encounter in the faith transmitted by the Church.
 * During interview by Niels Christian Hvidt in 1999

2000

 * The ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.
 * Dominus Jesus declaration, 2000

 * That the Jews are connected with God in a special way and that God does not allow that bond to fail is entirely obvious. We wait for the instant in which Israel will say yes to Christ, but we know that it has a special mission in history now … which is significant for the world.
 * God and the World, published October 2000, as reported by National Catholic Reporter.

 * Our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the messiah of Israel. Certainly it is in the hands of God how and when the unification of Jews and Christians into the people of God will take place.
 * God and the World, published October 2000, as reported by National Catholic Reporter

The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000)

 * Deeper understanding of the matter is bound to recognize that the Temple, as well as the synagogue, entered into Christian liturgy.

 * "Rock" [music]... is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe.

 * When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man. That is why, in the final analysis, worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and where that right of God totally disappears, the order of law among men is dissolved, because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together.

 * After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy. It is not "manufactured" by the authorities. Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity. ... The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition... . The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently — on its unspontaneity.

 * Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly - it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation.

 * When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man. That is why, in the final analysis, worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and where that right of God totally disappears, the order of law among men is dissolved, because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together.

 * Unspontaneity is of their essence. In these rites I discover that something is approaching me here that I did not produce myself, that I am entering into something greater than myself, which ultimately derives from divine revelation. This is why the Christian East calls the liturgy the "Divine Liturgy", expressing thereby the liturgy's independence from human control.

2002

 * It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the West of Christian tradition of moral decadence and the manipulation of human life. … Islam has also had moments of great splendor and decadence in the course of its history.
 * from "Ratzinger denies Christianity 'superior' to Islam," Zenit.org via Catholic News, March 6, 2002

 * In the Church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower.
 * In the United States, there is constant news on this topic, but less than 1 percent of priests are guilty of acts of this type. The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information nor to the statistical objectivity of the facts.
 * from "Cardinal Ratzinger Sees a Media Campaign Against Church," Zenit.org, December 3, 2002

2003

 * According to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homosexual tendencies 'must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided'. They are called, like other Christians, to live the virtue of chastity. The homosexual inclination is however 'objectively disordered' and homosexual practices are 'sins gravely contrary to chastity'. In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection.
 * Doctrinal document Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, July 31, 2003

 * I think the essential point is a weakness of faith.
 * from an interview with EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo in August 2003 as reported by Zenit.org, Aug. 24, 2003

 * A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.
 * 2004 memorandum to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, D.C.

 * The obscuring of the difference or duality of the sexes has enormous consequences on a variety of levels. This theory of the human person, intended to promote prospects for equality of women through liberation from biological determinism, has in reality inspired ideologies which, for example, call into question the family, in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father, and make homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality.
 * Among the fundamental values linked to women's actual lives is what has been called a 'capacity for the other.' Although a certain type of feminist rhetoric makes demands 'for ourselves,' women preserve the deep intuition of the goodness in their lives of those actions which elicit life, and contribute to the growth and protection of the other. . . . But, in the final analysis, every human being, man or woman, is destined to be 'for the other.' . . . Therefore, the promotion of women within society must be understood and desired as a humanization accomplished through those values, rediscovered thanks to women. Every outlook which presents itself as a conflict between the sexes is only an illusion and a danger; it would end in segregation and competition between men and women, and would promote a solipsism nourished by a false conception of freedom.
 * Doctrinal document On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World, July 31, 2004

 * Men and women were created to be jointly the guarantee of the future of the humanity — not only a physical guarantee, but also a moral one.
 * Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living. On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people.
 * Because God loves us, because He wants us to grow into truth, He must necessarily make demands on us and must also correct us
 * "Cardinal Ratzinger on Laicism and Sexual Ethics," Zenit.org, Nov. 19, 2004

2005

 * I would not like to use big words to apply generic labels. It certainly contains elements that can favor peace, it also has other elements: we must always seek the best elements.
 * When asked by reporters if Islam is a religion of peace.

 * In the hour of its greatest success, Europe seems to have become empty inside, paralyzed by a life-threatening crisis to its health and dependent on transplants.
 * Values in Times of Upheaval (2005)

 * How much filth there is in the Church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely to Him. How much pride, how much self-sufficiency.
 * At a Good Friday devotion, the Stations of the Cross, in 2005, seen by many as a statement about the clergy sex abuse scandal

 * We can be sure our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the father's house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will now guide you to the glory of her son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality. Our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time (full) of joyful hope and profound gratitude.
 * Homily during the Requiem Mass of the funeral of [Pope John Paul II], on April 8, 2005

 * The fact that the church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution.
 * from Zenit.org (11 April 2005)

 * Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. … Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and "swept along by every wind of teaching," looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards. We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires... The church needs to withstand the tides of trends and the latest novelties. ... We must become mature in this adult faith, we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith.
 * In a Homily of His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, during a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica before the conclave of cardinals (18 April 2005)

 * There really is an ideological, secular aggressiveness that gives cause to worry. Recently in Sweden a Protestant parson was put into jail for one month because - referring to biblical texts - he preached about homosexuality. Laicism is not any longer that element of neutrality that opens fields of freedom for everybody. It’s now turning into an ideology, which – with the help of politics – forces itself into the public and leaves no space for the Christian and Catholic conception – thereby turning it into a merely private and essentially mutilated concern. In this sense a fight has really begun in which we have to defend the religious freedom against the pretension of an ideology, that acts as if it were the only voice of reason – whereas it is only the expression of “a certain” rationalism.... A society that is not at all concerned with God destroys itself. We saw that in the totalitarian experiments of the last century.
 * in an interview in the German newspaper Die Welt, April 20, 2005

 * Dear brothers and sisters after the great Pope, John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the resurrected Lord, we go on with his help. He is going to help us and Mary will be on our side. Thank you.
 * Full text of his first public speech as pope, upon his presentation as Pope Benedict XVI

 * As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realize that — in a manner of speaking the guillotine would fall on me — I started to feel quite dizzy. I thought that I had done my life's work and could now hope to live out my days in peace. I told the Lord with deep conviction, 'Don't do this to me. You have younger and better (candidates) who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and with different strength.' Evidently, this time he didn't listen to me.
 * Comments on his election during his first audience with German pilgrims, original comments given in German.

 * The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good.
 * Comments during his first audience with German pilgrims

 * Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.
 * Inauguration homily, April 24, 2005

2006

 * Relations between States and within States are correct to the extent that they respect the truth. When, instead, truth is violated, peace is threatened, law is endangered, then, as a logical consequence, forms of injustice are unleashed.
 * In Address to the International Diplomats Address to the International Diplomats (18 March 2006)

 * Truth draws strength from itself and not from the number of votes in its favour.
 * In Address to the International Diplomats Address to the International Diplomats (18 March 2006)

Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (2006)

 * Although the Holy Roman Empire had been in decline since the late Middle Ages, and it had faded also as a valid, undisputed interpretation of history, it was not until the French Revolution that the spiritual framework which it provided—and without which Europe could not have been formed—would shatter in a formal sense. The process had a major impact on both politics and ideals. In terms of ideals, there was a rejection of the sacred foundation both of history and of the state. History was no longer measured on the basis of an idea of God that had preceded and molded it. The state came to be understood in purely secular terms, as grounded in rationalism and the will of the citizens.
 * p. 62

 * Islam has been reborn, in part because of the new material wealth acquired by the Islamic countries, but mainly because of people's conviction that Islam can provide a valid spiritual foundation to their lives. Such a foundation seems to have eluded old Europe, which, despite its enduring political and economic power, seems to be on the road to decline and fall.
 * pp. 64-65

 * At the hour of its greatest success, Europe seems hollow, as if it were internally paralyzed by a failure of its circulatory system that is endangering its life, subjecting it to transplants that erase its identity. At the same time as its sustaining spiritual forces have collapsed, a growing decline in its ethnicity is also taking place. Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future. Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present, as if they were taking something away from our lives. Children are seen as a liability rather than as a source of hope. There is a clear comparison between today's situation and the decline of the Roman Empire.
 * p. 66

 * In our contemporary society, thank goodness, anyone who dishonors the faith of Israel, its image of God, or its great figures must pay a fine. The same holds true for anyone who dishonors the Koran and the convictions of Islam. But when it comes to Jesus Christ and that which is sacred to Christians, instead, freedom of speech becomes the supreme good... This case illustrates a peculiar Western self-hatred that is nothing short of pathological. It is commendable that the West is trying to be more open, to be more understanding of the values of outsiders, but it has lost all capacity for self-love. All that it sees in its own history is the despicable and the destructive; it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure. What Europe needs is a new self-acceptance, a self-acceptance that is critical and humble, if it truly wishes to survive.
 * pp. 78-79

 * Multiculturalism, which is so constantly and passionately promoted, can sometimes amount to an abandonment and denial, a flight from one's own heritage.
 * p. 79

 * Unless we embrace our own heritage of the sacred, we will not only deny the identity of Europe, we will also fail in providing a service to others to which they are entitled. To other cultures of the world, there is something deeply alien about the absolute secularism that is developing in the West. They are convinced that a world without God has no future. Multiculturalism itself thus demands that we return once again to ourselves.
 * pp. 79-80

 * Europe, unlike America, is on a collision course with its own history. Often it voices an almost visceral denial of any possible public dimension for Christian values.
 * p. 109

 * Being faithful to traditional values and to the knowledge that upholds them is labeled intolerance, and relativism becomes the required norm. I think it is vital that we oppose this imposition of a new pseudo-enlightenment, which threatens freedom of thought as well as freedom of religion.
 * p. 128

Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections (2006)

 * "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections" (12 September 2006)

 * The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and simply asserts being, "I am", already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am". This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria - the Septuagint - is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.

 * Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true? I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God. Modifying the first verse of the Book of Genesis, the first verse of the whole Bible, John began the prologue of his Gospel with the words: "In the beginning was the λόγος". This is the very word used by the emperor: God acts, σὺν λόγω, with logos. Logos means both reason and word - a reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. John thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God, and in this word all the often toilsome and tortuous threads of biblical faith find their culmination and synthesis. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God, says the Evangelist. The encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance.

2007

 * How many questions arise in this place! Constantly the question comes up: Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil? ... We must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature!
 * On visited the former concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland, on May 28, 2006. Quoted in The Watchtower magazine, in the article: “Why, Lord, Did You Remain Silent?”, (15 May 2007)

 * In a society, in a culture, which all too often make relativism its creed - relativism has become a sort of dogma - in such a society the light of truth is missing; indeed, it is considered dangerous and "authoritarian" to speak of truth, and the end result is doubt about the goodness of life - is it good to be a person? is it good to be alive? - and in the validity of the relationships and commitments in which it consists. Today, more than in the past, the education and formation of the person are influenced by the messages and general climate spread by the great means of communication and which are inspired by a mindset and culture marked by relativism, consumerism and a false and destructive exaltation, or rather, profanation, of the body and of sexuality.
 * In a Speech of Benedict XVI at the Inauguration of the Convention of the Diocese of Rome, at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (11 June 2007)

 * Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the United States, a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called "creationism" and evolutionism, presented as though they were mutually exclusive alternatives: those who believe in the Creator would not be able to conceive of evolution, and those who instead support evolution would have to exclude God. This antithesis is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific proofs in favour of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from? And how did everything start which ultimately led to man?
 * remarks at Auronzo di Cadore (24 July 2007)

 * Christianity is not a highly complicated collection of so many dogmas that it is impossible for anyone to know them all; it is not something exclusively for academicians who can study these things, but it is something simple: God exists and God is close in Jesus Christ.
 * remarks at Auronzo di Cadore (24 July 2007)

 * The capacity to accept suffering for the sake of goodness, truth and justice is an essential criterion of humanity, because if my own well-being and safety are ultimately more important than truth and justice, then the power of the stronger prevails, then violence and untruth reign supreme. Truth and justice must stand above my comfort and physical well-being, or else my life itself becomes a lie. In the end, even the “yes” to love is a source of suffering, because love always requires expropriations of my “I”, in which I allow myself to be pruned and wounded. Love simply cannot exist without this painful renunciation of myself, for otherwise it becomes pure selfishness and thereby ceases to be love.
 * To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves — these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself.
 * In Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi (30 November 2007)

 * The ambiguity of progress becomes evident. Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil — possibilities that formerly did not exist. We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.
 * In Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi (30 November 2007)

 * [The atheist believes] a world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God.
 * Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI to the Bishops Priests and Deacons Men and Women Religious and All the Lay Faithful On Christian Hope, 30 November 2007

 * If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth, then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.
 * Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI to the Bishops Priests and Deacons Men and Women Religious and All the Lay Faithful On Christian Hope, 30 November 2007

 * What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.
 * Accompanying letter to motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Young Pilgrims (13 July 2008)

 * Many people today lack hope. They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers. They see poverty and injustice and they long to find solutions. They are challenged by the arguments of those who deny the existence of God and they wonder how to respond... Where can we look for answers? The Spirit points us towards the way that leads to life, to love and to truth. The Spirit points us towards Jesus Christ. In him we find the answers we are seeking.

Government House Ceremony (16 July 2008)

 * Through the Spirit's action may the young people gathered here have the courage to become saints! This is what the world needs more than anything else.

Inter-religious Meeting (17 July 2008)

 * A harmonious relationship between religion and public life is all the more important at a time when some people have come to consider religion a cause of division rather than a force for unity. In a world threatened by sinister and indiscriminate forms of violence, the unified voice of religious people urges nations and communities to resolve conflicts through peaceful means and with full regard for human dignity.

 * The religious sense planted within the human heart leads us to meet the needs of others and to search for concrete ways to contribute to the common good. Religion has a special role in this regard, for it teaches people that authentic service requires sacrifice and self-discipline, which in turn must be cultivated through self-denial, temperance and a moderate use of the world's goods.

 * By reminding us of human finitude and weakness, religion also enjoins us not to place our ultimate hope in this passing world.

 * The true source of freedom is found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians believe it is he who fully discloses the human potential for virtue and goodness, and it is he who liberates us from sin and darkness.

 * You might think that in today's world people are unlikely to start worshipping other gods. But sometimes people do worship 'other gods' without realizing it. False 'gods' are nearly always associated with the worship of three things: material possessions, possessive love, or power.

Papal Welcome (17 July 2008)

 * There is something sinister that stems from the fact that freedom and tolerance are so often separated from truth. This is fuelled by the notion, widely held today, that there are no absolute truths to guide our lives. Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made 'experience' all-important.

 * Life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this - in truth, in goodness, and in beauty - that we find happiness and joy.

 * Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.

 * Christ offers more! Indeed he offers everything! Only he who is the Truth can be the Way and hence also the Life.

Disadvantaged Youth (18 July 2008)

 * Material possessions in themselves are good. We would not survive for long without money, clothing, shelter and food. Yet if we refuse to share what we have with the hungry and the poor, we make of our possessions a false god. How many voices in our materialist society tell us that happiness is to be found by acquiring as many possessions and luxuries as we can! But this is to make possessions into a false god. Instead of bringing life, they bring death.

 * Authentic love is obviously something good. When we love we become most fully human. But people often consider themselves loving when actually they are possessive or manipulative. People sometimes treat others as objects to satisfy their own needs. How easy it is to be deceived by the many voices in our society that advocate a permissive approach to sexuality, without regard for modesty, self-respect or the moral values that bring quality into human relationships! This is worship of a false god; instead of bringing life, it brings death.

 * All through the Gospels, it was those who had taken wrong turns who were particularly loved by Jesus because once they recognized their mistake, they were all the more open to his healing message. It was those who were willing to rebuild their lives who were most ready to listen to Jesus and become his disciples. You can follow in their footsteps; you too can grow particularly close to Jesus because you have chosen to return to him.

Mass with the Clergy (18 July 2008)

 * We can be tempted to make the life of faith a matter of mere sentiment, thus blunting its power to inspire a consistent vision of the world and a rigorous dialogue with the many other visions competing for the minds and hearts of our contemporaries.

 * Walk in Christ's light daily through fidelity to personal and liturgical prayer, nourished by meditation on the inspired word of God.. Make the daily celebration of the Eucharist the center of your life.

 * Celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom means embracing a life completely devoted to love, a love that enables you to commit yourselves fully to God's service and to be totally present to your brothers and sisters, especially those in need.

Youth Day Vigil (19 July 2008)

 * Society today is being fragmented by a way of thinking that is inherently short-sighted because it disregards the full horizon of truth - the truth about God and about us. By its nature, relativism fails to see the whole picture. It ignores the very principles that enable us to live and flourish in unity, order and harmony.

 * The Holy Spirit! This is the Spirit's role: to bring Christ's work to fulfillment. Enriched with the Spirit's gifts, you will have the power to move beyond the piecemeal, the hollow utopia, the fleeting, to offer the consistency and certainty of Christian witness!

 * Love has a particular trait: it has a task or purpose to fulfill - to abide. By its nature, love is enduring. The Holy Spirit offers our world love that dispels uncertainty; love that overcomes the fear of betrayal; love that carries eternity within; the true love that draws us into a unity that abides!

 * The Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? For the spring that will never run dry?

 * Dear young people, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of believers in Jesus Christ. True to his nature as giver and gift alike, he is even now working through you. Let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!

 * You are called to exercise the Spirit's gifts amidst the ups and downs of your daily life. Let your faith mature through your studies, work, sports, music and art. Let it be sustained by prayer and nurtured by the sacraments.

 * To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God's love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you can also transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!

Closing Mass (19 July 2008)

 * As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love that binds us to the Lord and to one another, and the light that opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God's grace.

 * We have to let God's love break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church.

 * Dear young people: What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations? Are you living in a way that opens a space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the 'power' that the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you?

 * A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished-not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty - a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption that deaden our souls and poison our relationships.

 * Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

 * The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading interior emptiness, unnamed fears, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns in a desperate search for meaning - the ultimate meaning that only love can give?....The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit!

 * Do not be afraid to say 'yes' to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!

 * "There is more joy in giving than in receiving." Never doubt the truth of our Lord's promise that whatever we give him of our creativity, our resources, our persons, will come back to us in abundance.

Angelus following the Closing Mass (19 July 2008)

 * For [the Virgin] Mary there were many struggles ahead as she lived out the consequences of the 'yes' she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve she experienced every parent's worst nightmare when for three days the child was missing. And after his public ministry she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was generously rewarded.

 * We too must remain faithful to the 'yes' we have given to the Lord's offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord's' proposal' in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship God has established with each one of us.

 * The time has come for me to say good-bye-or better, 'arrivederci!'. World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain. Until then, let us continue to pray for one another, and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world.

2009

 * While they are growing up, the young need adults who can suggest principles and values to them. They feel in need of people who can teach by their example, more than by their words, to expend themselves for high ideals.
 * Homily on the fourth anniversary of the death of John Paul II (2 April 2009)

 * In times like these, given the cultural and social context in which we are living, there may be a greater risk of reducing Christian hope to an ideology, to a group slogan or to outward appearances. Nothing is more contrary to Jesus' message! He does not want his disciples to "recite" a part, even that of hope. He wants them "to be" hope and they can only be hope if they remain united to him! He wishes each one of you, dear young friends, to be a small source of hope for your neighbour and, all together, to become an oasis of hope for the society in which you are integrated.
 * In Homily for Holy mass on the fourth anniversary of the death of John Paul II (2 April 2009)

 * Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?
 * "Meeting with Muslim religious leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and rectors of universities in Jordan" (9 May 2009)

 * One must not fear truth, because it is a friend of man and of his freedom
 * In General Audience, General Audience 30 September 2009 (30 September 2009)

 * Too often, though, the beauty that is thrust upon us is illusory and deceitful, superficial and blinding, leaving the onlooker dazed; instead of bringing him out of himself and opening him up to horizons of true freedom as it draws him aloft, it imprisons him within himself and further enslaves him, depriving him of hope and joy. It is a seductive but hypocritical beauty that rekindles desire, the will to power, to possess, and to dominate others, it is a beauty which soon turns into its opposite, taking on the guise of indecency, transgression or gratuitous provocation. Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
 * in Meeting with Artists (21 November 2009)

Cartias in Vertitate (29 June 2009)

 * Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009)

 * Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:32). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).

 * Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space.

 * The Church does not have technical solutions to offer and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.” She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it. Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations

 * Nature expresses a design of love and truth.

 * Reason always stands in need of being purified by faith: this also holds true for political reason, which must not consider itself omnipotent. For its part, religion always needs to be purified by reason in order to show its authentically human face. Any breach in this dialogue comes only at an enormous price to human development.
 * [R]eason and faith can come to each other's assistance. Only together will they save man. Entranced by an exclusive reliance on technology, reason without faith is doomed to flounder in an illusion of its own omnipotence. Faith without reason risks being cut off from everyday life

 * Rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere licence

 * Uncertainty over working conditions caused by mobility and deregulation, when it becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent life-plans, including that of marriage.

 * The primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity

 * In and of itself, the market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak.

 * The market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction.

 * Every economic decision has a moral consequence.

 * Projects for integral human development cannot ignore coming generations, but need to be marked by solidarity and inter-generational justice

 * One of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use — not abuse — of natural resources

Ubicumque Et Semper (21 September 2010)

 * It is the duty of the Church to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
 * Making my own the concerns of my venerable Predecessors, I consider it opportune to offer appropriate responses so that the entire Church, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, may present herself to the contemporary world with a missionary impulse in order to promote the new evangelization.

2012

 * It is impossible to interpret Jesus as a violent person. Violence is contrary to the Kingdom of God, it is a tool of the Antichrist. Violence never serves humanity, but dehumanizes.
 * Sunday Angelus (11 March 2012), as quoted in "Jesus not political but prophetic, Pope says" at the Catholic News Agency (11 March 2012)

2013

 * After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. In order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary — strengths which in the last few months, have deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.
 * Statement announcing his resignation as pope, quoted in ABCNews, 'Pope Benedict to Resign, Vatican Says' (11 February 2013)

 * Charity without faith is meaningless, and faith without charity remains a dead letter.
 * Quoted in Elise Harris, "Priest Swaps Clerical Hats with 'Sharp, Healthy' Benedict XVI", National Catholic Register (11 February 2013)

Misattributed

 * Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. God is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.
 * Manuel II Palaiologos, in the 7th of the 26 Dialogues Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia (1391), this quote became the subject of controversy when it was used by Benedict XIV in his lecture "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections" (12 September 2006)

Quotes about Benedict XVI

 * Sorted alphabetically by author or source

 * You represent a large nation of believers that knows what the Bible is, and it is your duty to pass on the message that the Jewish people deserve a renaissance, and a little respect - to live in this land.
 * Shlomo Amar, (12/05/2009)

 * Pope Benedict XVI is working softly, slowly, often silently, unobtrusively, behind the scenes, mostly unseen. But he is working hard. I like the great job of reconciliation that he is doing inside the Roman Catholic Church: reconciliation between traditionalists and liberals, conservative and reform-oriented faithful, liturgical Latinists and Mass polyglots, old-time lovers and progressives, high-flying souls and pedestrian believers, thinkers and doers--Christians and Catholics. It is a hidden work of diplomacy, interactions, influences, concessions, agreements, acknowledgments. A "hard job" well done until now.
 * Leon Bertoletti, Christians and Catholics, Hic Sunt Leones, October 9, 2008

 * The pope understands this eternal truth: Societies cannot endure for long without a belief in God and a submission to His will. We are ignoring him at our peril.
 * Jeffrey T. Kuhner, real conservative vision,"Washington Times", August 9, 2009

 * He has the intelligence of 12 professors and is as pious as a child on the day of his first communion.
 * Cardinal Joachim Meisner

 * I’m gonna miss the old sith lord. He was the best pope atheists could hope for. He started out as a Hitler youth actually wearing a Nazi uniform. As a Cardinal, he famously conspired to conceal sex crimes against children for the sake of the church. As pope, he addressed an audience in an AIDS ravaged area of Africa, and told them that use of condoms actually increased risk of STDs. His objection to birth-control took precedence over human life. That is how evil he is.
 * Aron Ra, "Pope Palpatine", Patheos (February 12, 2013)

 * Pope Benedict XVI said homosexuals end up destroying themselves so the Church has a duty to speak out on moral issues that affect the very spiritual and physical lives of man. "In seeking to emancipate himself from his body [man] ends up by destroying himself," the pope told cardinals, archbishops, bishops and members of the Roman Curia last week in a traditional meeting overlooked by most of the world's press. [...] The pope also lamented low birth rates in Europe, saying couples no longer seem to want children. This fact, he said, has "penetrated my soul." "Men and women today are unsure about the future," he explained. "This fact, alongside the desire to have all of life to themselves, is perhaps the most profound reason for which the risk of having children appears to many as almost unbearable. ... If we do not relearn the basic foundations of life – if we do not rediscover the certainty of faith – it will also be ever more difficult for us to give others the gift of life and the challenges of an unknown future." The pope also referred to the controversy over same-sex marriage. "At this point, I cannot fail to mention my concern over 'de facto' couples," he said. "When new legislation is created that relativizes marriage, the rejection of the definitive bond gains, so to speak, juridical endorsement. Relativizing the difference between the sexes ... tacitly confirms those bleak theories which seek to remove all relevance from a human being's masculinity or femininity, as if this were a purely biological matter."
 * "Pope: Homosexuals destroy themselves", WND (30 December 2006)

title: Pope Benedict XVI


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Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950 film)

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a 1950 American film noir starring James Cagney, directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by William Cagney and based on the novel by Horace McCoy.

Ralph Cotter

 * And now, would one fugitive from justice care to fix another fugitive from justice... a sandwich?

Dialogue

 * Holiday Carleton: He's too smart for you!
 * Ralph Cotter: Oh no, he stopped being smart when he took my money.

 * Joe 'Jinx' Raynor: He ain't to be trusted.
 * Ralph Cotter: Why should *he* be different?

 * Ralph Cotter: Why, I thought you were the law-abiding type.
 * Holiday Carleton: I guess I'm just whatever you make me.

Cast

 * James Cagney - Ralph Cotter
 * Barbara Payton - Holiday Carleton
 * Helena Carter - Margaret Dobson
 * Ward Bond - Insp. Charles Weber
 * Luther Adler - Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon
 * Barton MacLane - Lt. John Reece
 * Steve Brodie - Joe 'Jinx' Raynor
 * Rhys Williams - Vic Mason
 * Herbert Heyes - Ezra Dobson
 * John Litel - Police Chief Tolgate
 * William Frawley - Byers

title: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950 film)


text:
Ace in the Hole (1951 film)

Ace in the Hole is a 1951 film about a frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper who exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to re-jump start his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.
 * Directed by Billy Wilder. Written by Walter Newman, Lesser Samuels, and Billy Wilder.

'''Rough, tough Chuck Tatum, who battered his way to the top ... trampling everything in his path - men, women and morals!'''

Charles Tatum

 * Bad news sells best. 'Cause good news is no news.

 * I've done a lot of lying in my time. I've lied to men who wear belts. I've lied to men who wear suspenders. But I'd never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both belt and suspenders.

 * It's a good story today. Tomorrow, it'll be yesterday's news and they'll wrap a fish in it.
 * I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.

 * When they bleached your hair, they must have bleached your brain too.

 * You know what's wrong with New Mexico, Mr. Wendel? Too much outdoors.

 * How'd you like to make a thousand dollars a day, Mr. Boot? I'm a thousand-dollar-a-day newspaperman. You can have me for nothing.

Lorraine Minosa

 * I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.

 * I've met a lot of hard-boiled eggs in my time, but you--you're twenty minutes.

Dialogue

 * Reporter: We're all in the same boat here.
 * Charles Tatum: I'm in the boat. You're in the water. Now let's see how you can swim.

 * Charles Tatum: Mr. Boot, I was passing through Albuquerque; had breakfast here. I read your paper and thought you might be interested in my reaction.
 * Jacob Q. Boot: Indeed I am.
 * Charles Tatum: Well, to be honest, it made me throw up. I don't mean to tell you I was expecting the New York Times, but even for Albuquerque, this is pretty Albuquerque.
 * Jacob Q. Boot: Alright, here's your nickel back.

 * Charles Tatum: Where's my desk?
 * Jacob Q. Boot: The one by the door. You may be out of here by Saturday.
 * Charles Tatum: Sooner the better.

 * Deputy Sheriff: Hey you! Sheriff wants to see you, down at the trading post. Don't waste any of his time 'cause he ain't staying around long. Maybe you ain't either.
 * Charles Tatum: You don't say?
 * Deputy Sheriff: You wanna know something? He don't like you.
 * Charles Tatum: And I was going to propose to him.

 * Sheriff: You're that Tatum guy that was popping off over the phone last night!
 * Charles Tatum: I wasn't popping off, Sheriff; I was threatening. "Play along with me and you'll get re-elected. Don't, and I'll crucify you," that's what I said, remember?
 * Sheriff: I think I'll have my boys take you down to the county line and throw you out!
 * Charles Tatum: Throw out your campaign manager? You need plenty of help.
 * Sheriff: And maybe before I throw you out, I'll toss you into the 'Klink' for awhile!

 * Charles Tatum: I don't belong in your office. Not with that embroidered sign on the wall; it gets in my way.
 * Jacob Q. Boot: Then it does bother you a little.
 * Charles Tatum: Not enough to stop me. I'm on my way back to the top, and if it takes a deal with a crooked sheriff, that's alright with me! And if I have to fancy it up with an Indian curse and a broken hearted wife for Leo, then that's alright too!

 * Jacob Q. Boot: Do you drink a lot?
 * Charles Tatum: Not a lot - just frequently.

 * Charles Tatum: When the history of this sunbaked Siberia is written, these shameful words will live in infamy: 'No chopped chicken liver.' No garlic pickles. No Lindy's. No Madison Square Garden. No Yogi Berra. What do you know about Yogi Berra, Miss Deverich?
 * Miss Deverich: Yogi? Why, it's a sort of religion, isn't it?
 * Charles Tatum: You bet it is - a belief in the New York Yankees. You know what's wrong with New Mexico, Mr. Wendell? Too much outdoors. Give me those eight spindly trees in front of Rockefeller Center any day. That's enough outdoors for me. No subways smelling sweet-sour. What do you use for noise around here? No beautiful roar from eight million ants - fighting, cursing, loving. No shows. No South Pacific. No chic little dames across a crowded bar. And worst of all, Herbie. No 80th floor to jump from when you feel like it....When I came here, I thought this was gonna be a 30-day stretch, maybe 60. Now it's a year. It looks like a life sentence. Where is it? Where's the loaf of bread with a file in it? Where's that big story to get me outta here? One year, and what's our hot news? A soapbox derby. A tornado - that double-crossed us and went to Texas. An old goof who said he was the real Jesse James - until they found out he was a chicken thief from Gallup by the name of, uh, Schimmelmacher. I'm stuck here, fans. Stuck for good. Unless of course, you Miss Deverich, instead of writing household hints about how to remove chili stains from blue jeans, get yourself involved in a trunk murder. How about it, Miss Deverich? I could do wonders with your dismembered body.
 * Miss Deverich: Oh, Mr. Tatum. Really.
 * Charles Tatum: Or you, Mr. Wendell. If you'd only toss that cigar out of the window - real far, all the way to Los Alamos - And boom!! [He chuckles] Now there would be a story.

 * Herbie Cook: [Looking at the unstable cliff-dwelling] I don't like the looks of it, Chuck.
 * Charles Tatum: Neither do I, fan, but I like the odds.

 * Herbie Cook: The old man sure looked bad. Did you see his face?
 * Charles Tatum: Yeah.
 * Herbie Cook: Like the faces of those folks you see outside a coal mine with maybe 84 men trapped inside.
 * Charles Tatum: One man's better than 84. Didn't they teach you that?
 * Herbie Cook: Teach me what?
 * Charles Tatum: Human interest. You pick up the paper, you read about 84 men or 284, or a million men, like in a Chinese famine. You read it, but it doesn't stay with you. One man's different, you want to know all about him. That's human interest.

Cast

 * Kirk Douglas - Charles 'Chuck' Tatum
 * Jan Sterling - Lorraine Minosa
 * Robert Arthur - Herbie Cook
 * Porter Hall - Jacob Q. Boot
 * Frank Cady - Mr. Federber
 * Richard Benedict - Leo Minosa
 * Ray Teal - Sheriff
 * Lewis Martin - McCardle
 * John Berkes - Papa Minosa
 * Frances Dominguez - Mama Minosa
 * Gene Evans - Deputy Sheriff
 * Frank Jaquet - Sam Smollett

title: Ace in the Hole (1951 film)


text:
User talk:Uncle G

Thanks
Hi, thanks! And I expect you enjoy browsing Wikiquote too ... --Aphaia 01:29, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Welcome
~ MosheZadka (Talk) 12:54, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Transwiki bots
I noticed your restructuring of Transwiki log. What bots are in use, and what standards are they using for their automation? Is any of this documented anywhere? Thank you for any info you can provide. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 16:08, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * w:User:KevinBot and w:User:McBot are currently ill, having been broken by the MediaWiki upgrade, but prior to that they had been performing transwikifications for many months. User:Uncle G's 'bot is alive and well, and the various tools that run under its aegis are documented on its user page.  I've just started to use TRANSWIKI, running under the aegis of that account, to pare down the enormous backlog that has accrued whilst the other 'bots have been ill.  (There wasn't much for Wikiquote.  There is only 1 article in the queue right now, Opium of the people, which I haven't transwikied because am unsure of whether it is appropriate.  In comparison, there are over 300 articles in the Wiktionary queue.) By the way: If the use of "semi-automatic" isn't outright obvious, TRANSWIKI does no automatic scanning of categories, unlike KevinBot and McBot.  It relies on my reading the queues every so often and firing off the tool for each article.  So if you were having Grand Ideas of having transwiki queues for stuff to be sent from here to (say) Wikisource, you'll have to let me know about them, so that I can look at them from time to time, otherwise nothing will happen.  ☺  Uncle G 19:52, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the information. Is there any documentation for the use of transwiki that moved you to create the subsections? Or is this just your own bot's convention? I don't recall seeing any such standardization in the transwiki logs that I've looked at, and I am very interested in any cross-project efforts to create such standardization (even if they're promulgated only by a single active bot!). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 20:13, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Subsections or sub-pages?
 * Subsections: The "moved to . " subsections I took from the layout of the Wikipedia transwiki log, which we broke up that way some while back. The idea actually originated on the Maori Wikipedia.  See Wikipedia:Wikipedia talk:Transwiki log.
 * Sub-pages: The sub-pages are for several reasons.
 * They are caution on my part. They isolate the 'bot from the rest of the transwiki log.  If the 'bot were to ever mess up an edit to the log (I've coded it so that the expected failure modes will cause edits to fail rather than to mess up the log page, but even so.), all that it could mess up would be one section of the log, not the entire log.  (I run the 'bot that creates each day's sub-page in Wikipedia's Votes for Deletion area.  I've used a sub-page to isolate the area that the 'bot edits from everything else there, also.)
 * They reduce the probability of edit conflicts.
 * They allow the design of the 'bot to be simple and general-purpose. All that the 'bot needs to do is to append an unordered list item to the end of a page.  It doesn't need to do anything clever, such as adding things into the middle of a page; and it doesn't have to know anything that is WikiMedia-specific about transwikification.  (In theory, the 'bot could be used for transwikification between any two GFDL wikis.)
 * The transwiki logs at Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Wikiquote (and to a lesser extent Wikibooks and Wikisource) are all now broken up into sub-pages in roughly this way. (Wikinews is not part of the transwiki system, and I haven't dealt with the transwikification of images to Commons thus far.) Uncle G 00:09, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

SMTP VfD
I see that you registered some thoughts about this, but could you tell us specifically whether you think this should be kept, deleted, or otherwise dealt with? I usually recommend making this the first word in a vote entry, since it's easy to forget that small but important detail when discussing the merits of an article. Otherwise, one's leaves one's vote up to the interpretation of the closing sysop, which is usually not a problem but has the potential to be so. Thanks. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 02:10, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I put those words at the end, because it is important that closing administrators read rationales, and not just tally votes. Moreover, these are discussions, after all.  We can do more than just pull the "keep" or "delete" levers on the voting machine each time.  Not everything need be a vote.  If a closing administrator is determined to look for a vote in this particular case, xe will read what I wrote and will find the words "It's an encyclopaedia article". ☺ Uncle G 04:38, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, Votes for deletion must be votes, by definition, for the community if not necessarily for each individual. Sysops are required to use their best judgment to determine the consensus of the community on each vote, and then act in accordance with that consensus. Many of these votes include comments (both explicitly declared as such and implicit by their content) without signalling a clear, single vote. There is nothing wrong with that, of course. I can assure you that I (and, I firmly believe, every other current sysop closing votes) read every word of these VfD entries, even though some of them evolve into tangential discussions, heated arguments, and even personal attacks. Bolding an explicit vote simply makes it easier to sum up a consensus. Of course, there are situations where someone can't express a single, simple action. That's where judgment can be critical, but it also means that it can be harder for the sysop to make clear to the community why they tallied up the votes to a particular result. I'm not suggesting that such situations be glossed over with inaccurate simplification. But clear, bolded statements make it easier for the community (which is under no obligation to read every word) to confirm for itself that the sysops aren't imposing their own opinions on vote closure. (That's why I started adding the summary lines with explicit counts of each type of vote and even adding concise summaries of ambiguous positions. Feel free to review WQ:VFDA to see how challenging some of these votes can be to close.) In the case of your current entry, I would count it as an "implicit Delete" (based on the fact that Wikiquote is not an encyclopedia), so it's clear that I consider it a Delete but am not willing to put the word of an explicit vote into your mouth. I'm very picky about such things. Other sysops may not be so analytical and just accept the apparent opinion. If you don't mean it to support a Delete position, you'll probably have to clarify your statement, as long-standing WQ practice is to delete or WP-transwiki encyclopedia articles without any real prospect of acquiring quotes. Please also bear in mind that any tallied vote not to delete or transwiki, as well as any failure to achieve consensus, results in an effective keep action. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:31, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
 * It's precisely this perennial and fallacious "It's called votes for deletion so it must be about votes." line of reasoning that is why you'll find that Wikipedia has dropped that name, and now has Articles for deletion (in parallel with its Images and media for deletion, Categories for deletion, Templates for deletion, and Redirects for deletion). To repeat an oft-used motto: It's not about the votes.  There has been plenty written, on Wikipedia, Meta, and elsewhere, on the subject of deletion discussions, and how they aren't, and shouldn't be, votes.  I recommend reading it.  Start with Don't vote on everything, Wikipedia is not a democracy, and the Wikipedia Guide to deletion.  (You might care to look up who the initial author of the Wikipedia Guide to deletion was, along the way, too.  ☺) Uncle G 17:46, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Ouch! I stand advised of my ignorance. I will spend some time reading this material, as you suggest. But I will be doing so with the current state of Wikiquote, not Wikipedia, in mind; i.e., a much smaller audience with an incredibly tiny group of people involved in deletion decisions. As I've observed elsewhere, with exceedingly rare exceptions, the only people who participate in VfDs here are 4 or 5 sysops, 1-3 relatively active editors, and on rare occasions, the article creators and their friends and sockpuppets. It can require a different perspective at times. We even advertise some VfDs on the Village pump just to drum up some additional participation, but this seems to have little effect. The majority of our contributors are anonymous users. There's just not a lot of community involvement here yet. This puts a lot of pressure on the sysops to extract a clear opinion from each and every comment in a VfD entry, because we rarely get more than 3 opinions per nomination (and often not even that). But as I said, I'll look the links over and see what we might get from them. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:31, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Wiktionary has a relatively less contentious deletion discussion area, too. That reflects the nature of the project, of course.  Wiktionary has no concept of "notability" to deal with.  Wiktionary's criteria for inclusion are based upon attestation.  Uncle G 23:38, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Help:Starting a new page
Please do not make your bot copy H:SANP from meta. We wrote our own SANP, because we didn't like meta's. There was a long discussion and hard work by four users. I note that there has been little discussion regarding your bot's activities, which troubles me. I also note that the edit above is not mentioned as one of the tools, so there was no way to anticipate it and to stop it. I suggest you ask for a bot flag, as per Bots, so that the community can review the bot's intended actions and comment on them. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 05:44, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
 * You clearly don't understand what the 'bot flag is for. It has nothing to do with reviewing actions, which can be done with or without a the flag being set. Uncle G 13:39, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Uncle G, since Moshe beat me to blocking your bot, I'll do him the favor of posting the notice. Your bot seems to be mass-transferring pages from Meta. While this has some logic, and may even correspond to the recommendations of Meta, it breaks a good bit of work Wikiquotians have been doing to make the generic WikiMedia policies and information apply to Wikiquote-specific issues and audiences. Please deactivate this particular bot task immediately. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:35, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
 * You only have yourselves to blame. You should have done your work in the correct place.  You knew that this was on the cards.  Patrick has been telling people about this since 2004.  Xe has also been explicitly and clearly telling everyone how projects can fit their own project-specific help into the system for almost as long.  I suggest that you stop mucking around blaming the messenger, and set your project-specific help up properly.  The instructions are quite clear. Uncle G 13:39, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * We do not want our project to work "properly". We are our own community, and we wrote our own help pages. Meta has no authority to dictate to wq the format of the help pages. Please do not modify pages which have consensus. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 13:45, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Furthermore, it seems the only "allowable" ways to edit the page still do not give communities the ability to really write their own page, but just to append stuff to the bottom, making their users slog through a lot of crap before getting there. Please note we looked at the meta page when writing our own and shuddered in horror. It has lots of irrelevancies, and not enough useful content. We tried to trim it down to a bare essentials manual which users can actually slog through. Meta's pages sucking is not reason enough for wq to follow form. ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 13:55, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * As far as doing the work ourselves, there are only a handful of people actively working on policies here, and we've got our hands full just doing run-of-the-mill maintenance, like RC patrol, vandalism reversion, VfD reviewing and archiving, categorizing, answering novice editors' questions, cleaning up articles, and, every once in a great while, actually adding articles and quotes. When en:Wikiquote has a staff of 20 or more editors who regularly work on policy (besides all the other things they do here), I'm sure we'll be able to flesh out most of our pages. But until that time, we must plod ahead at whatever pace we can manage. I appreciate the work that bots can accomplish to reduce some of this effort, but when they do something that doesn't make sense for the project, we will ask them to be suspended unless and until they are adjusted to fit the project's needs. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 11:37, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

xyrself
On a lighter note than my posting above, I was wondering if your use of the word "xyrself" at WQ:VFD was a typo or a deliberate and rather clever alternative to a gender-based reflexive pronoun. I can see that it could be using "xy" to represent the X and Y chromosomes that determine sex (although, unfortunately like "man" and its derivative terms like "woman", the use of "xy" together could be interpreted as a male bias). If this is indeed your usage, can you say where it originated? And how would you pronounce it — "zur-self", perhaps? ~ Jeff Q (talk) 11:44, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Wallace Floyd Nelson
I have added a "" template to the article Wallace Floyd Nelson, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but it may not satisfy Wikiquote's criteria for inclusion, for the reasons given in the deletion notice (see also "What Wikiquote is not" and Wikiquote's deletion policy). You may contest the proposed deletion by removing the  notice, but please explain why you disagree with the proposed deletion in your edit summary or on its talk page. Also, please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Even though removing the deletion notice will prevent deletion through the proposed deletion process, the article may still be deleted if it matches any of the speedy deletion criteria or it can be sent to Votes for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. Ole.Holm 11:39, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Uncle G. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Uncle G~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:37, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Help:What links here
Hi, I was looking at Help:What links here, and tried to update it, but I am having trouble.

Wold you be able to help? Ottawahitech (talk) 15:53, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

title: User talk:Uncle G


text:
User talk:Steve Eifert~enwikiquote

--Aphaia 01:30, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Steve Eifert. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Steve Eifert~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:36, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:58, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Steve Eifert~enwikiquote