“Where the sick soul’s desire for solitude turns into misanthropy”

I find this passage from Arianna Huffington’s old article “Bernard Levin remembered” rather poignant for several  reasons. The italics are mine.
We started a relationship which was to last until the end of 1980, when I left London to move to New York. And he was, in many ways, the reason I left London. I was [...]

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“That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.”
– P.C. Hodgell

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Laws which cannot be enforced

“The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law; for nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”
– Albert Einstein, on prohibition in the US.

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The right to be wrong

“A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.”
– Thomas Szasz.

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Neutrality in crisis

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality”
- Dante Alighieri
[Edit: A reader points out that this quote is actually due to JFK, who (incorrectly) attributed it to Dante]

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The world is connected

“Many philosophers of the present day are convinced that every existing thing and event is logically unconnected with any other and could disappear from the world without necessarily affecting anything else. Such a rubbish-heap view of the world I cannot accept.”
– Brand Blanshard.

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Kudos, Sarko

“The financial crisis is not the crisis of capitalism. It is the crisis of a system that has distanced itself from the most fundamental values of capitalism, which betrayed the spirit of capitalism.”
-Nicolas Sarkozy

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Blunting the inherent badness of governments

“India’s redemption lies in the inherent anarchy and factiousness of its people, and in the legendary inefficiency of the Indian state…”
-Arundhati Roy.

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We are entering interesting times

“May you find what you are looking for;
May you come to the attention of those in authority;
May you live in interesting times.”
– Ancient Chinese curses.

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Foxholes, the financial crisis and atheism

“There are not atheists in foxholes and no idealogues in financial crises.”
– Ben Bernanke
“There are no atheists in foxholes isn’t an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against foxholes.”
– James Morrow

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A rational examination

“The fact that we can become accustomed to anything, however disgusting at first, makes it necessary to examine carefully everything we have become accustomed to.”
– George Bernard Shaw

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Frenchmen and math

“Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them, they translate it into their own language, and forthwith it means something entirely different.“
– Goethe

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The great idea

“Once upon a time, there was a man who was convinced that he possessed a Great Idea.  Indeed, as the man thought upon the Great Idea more and more, he realized that it was not just a great idea, but the most wonderful idea ever. The Great Idea would unravel the mysteries of the universe, [...]

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The limits of liberty

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
-Thomas Jefferson.
(Hat Tip: Aristotle The Geek)

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Where reason fails

“It’s impossible to reason people out of something they have never been reasoned into.”
–Jonathan Swift

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