on Quotations
I shuffled through the quotations I’ve gradually placed on the sidebar. It occurs to me that I’m missing some obvious points of departure, ie:
“As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” — Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 12, 2002.
And a few of the more prescient Bushisms that escape my mind right now.
I used to be enamored by this quote:
“America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher of the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and
vindicator only of her own. Should the United States adventure into other lands, she might become the dictatress of the world. She would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit.” — John Quincy Adams
But I soured on it for a number of reasons. #1: In full context, the speech offered a number of qualifiers, and indeed Adams’s political counsel offers some countering opinions. #2, and more importantly: Since when do I celebrate the presidency of the supposed magnificent John Quincy Adams? Aside from this quotation, does anyone know anything about John Quincy Adams? (I know he lost the popular vote.)
And then there’s this quotation:
“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has ‘closed’, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. AND I AM CAESAR.”
Which is attributed to either Julius Caesar or William Shakespeare. If you don’t remember it from your high school reading of Julius Caesar, it’s probably because it is not from there — nor would it even properly fit the story. I have no clue where it comes from.
Other than that… I can’t come up with a clean copy of Warren Harding’s self-deprecating comments on his presidential abilities, along the lines of “I’m really not fit to be president.” A statement that probably, through acknowledgement of his own limitations, catupults himn to the Top 10 Presidents List…