Vauvenargues, Luc de -- Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], # 31...
Our errors and our controversies, in the sphere of morality, arise sometimes from looking on men as though they could be altogether bad, or altogether good. [Nos erreurs et nos divisions dans la morale...
View ArticleGoethe, Johann von -- Sprüche in Prosa (1819)
Divide and rule, the politician cries; Unite and lead, is watchword of the wise. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientistSprüche in Prosa (1819)
View ArticleBrecht, Bertholt -- “Solidarity song [Solidaritätslied]” (1931) [tr. Willett]
All the gang of those who rule us Hope our quarrels never stop Helping them to split and fool us So they can remain on top. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director,...
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Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech, Brooklyn, New York (1 Nov 1940)
We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions — bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to...
View ArticleHeinlein, Robert A. -- Friday [Dr. Baldwin] (1982)
What are the marks of a sick culture? It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a...
View ArticleInge, William Ralph -- “Patriotism,” Outspoken Essays: First Series (1915)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . The history of the Jews also shows that oppression and persecution are far more efficacious in binding a nation together than community of...
View ArticleKennedy, Robert F. -- Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King,...
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion...
View ArticleFranklin, Benjamin -- Autobiography, Part 2 (1785)
I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho’ some of the Dogmas of that Persuasion, such as the Eternal Decrees of God, Election, Reprobation, &c. appear’d to me unintelligible,...
View ArticleMontesquieu, Baron de -- Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter 27 (1721)...
No kingdom has ever had as many civil wars as the kingdom of Christ. Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopherPersian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter...
View ArticleDurant, William James -- The Lessons of History, ch. 10 (1968) [with Ariel...
But if war continues to absorb and dominate it, or if the itch to rule the world requires large military establishment and appropriation, the freedom of democracy may one by one succumb to the...
View ArticleJefferson, Thomas -- Letter to Miles King (26 Sep 1814)
Nay, we have heard it said that there is not a quaker or a baptist, a presbyterian or an episcopalian, a catholic or a protestant in heaven: that, on entering that gate, we leave those badges of schism...
View ArticleJefferson, Thomas -- Letter to Ezra Styles Ely (25 Jun 1819)
It is the speculations of crazy theologists which have made a Babel of a religion the most moral and sublime ever preached to man, and calculated to heal, and not to create differences. These religious...
View ArticleSpinoza, Baruch -- Theological-Political Treatise [Tractatus...
I have often wondered, that persons who make a boast of professing the Christian religion, namely, love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men, should quarrel with such rancorous animosity,...
View ArticleShaw, George Bernard -- (Attributed)
England and America are two countries separated by the same language. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic(Attributed) Variants: "England and America are two peoples separated...
View ArticleBaldwin, James -- Comment (1963)
From my point of view, no label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion is more important than the human being. James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright,...
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