Conflict: competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action. Pornography: (3): the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction. What else could it be, other than conflict pornography, when a major media source unnecessarily frames a story in such…
Did you ever notice how evocative moments of silence are? I’m always emotionally moved when the PA announcer asks for a moment. The silence of tens of thousands of people is powerful, indeed. American culture is usually out-of-control cacophonous. If we aren’t yapping with each other, there’s a TV or radio blaring. We are pummeled with noise everywhere we go, including waiting rooms, stores and airports. We even bring our yapping and music to “quiet” places, such as national parks. We just can’t help ourselves. It is getting much too hard to find quiet places anymore. That’s why it’s such a joy to be reminded to shut up, even for a moment, even if once in a while. I also appreciated this simple attempt to remind the crowd to be quiet out of respect for Abraham Lincoln’s accomplishments. Not that this sign worked very well. People still talked, almost as much as ever. Children ran around unrestrained by their parents. People shouted things like, “Hey Bill! Isn’t it about time to go get some hot dogs?”
I collect my favorites from various sources, though I was reminded of many of these quotes by The Quotations Page (which offers quotes of the day). There is a condensed book in every good quote:
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg (1933 – ), quoted in The New York Times, April 20, 1999
I’ve always found paranoia to be a perfectly defensible position.
Pat Conroy (1945 – )
It’s not a matter of whether or not someone’s watching over you. It’s just a question of their intentions.
Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive, 03-24-07
In mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them.
Johann von Neumann (1903 – 1957)
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 – 1799)
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)
Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Einstein
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.…
