Quotes and Ramblings

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"
 — US Constitution, 2nd Amendment, 1791

“Rights are not supposed to be open to popularity contests."
 — Rachel Maddow, 2013

War is when your government decides who the enemy is. Revolution is when you figure it out for yourself.



We can often do more for other men by trying to correct our own faults than by trying to correct theirs.

-- Francois Fenelon

If the world is wrong, right your ownself.

-- "Brother" Dave Gardner



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 H. Rumsfield (attributed)



"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
--Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago

"You can be in my dream if I can be in yours."
--Bob Dylan, The Talking WWIII Blues, 1962

"You can be on my page if I can be on yours."
--The WorldWideWeb, 1995

"How much you gonna pay?."
--The WorldWideWeb, 1998




Some people do everything "by the book", even though they don't know who wrote the book or even what book!




Don't worry about what other people are thinking about you. They're too busy worrying about what you are thinking about them.




Complex problems have simple, easy-to-understand wrong answers.




You can lead a mind to knowledge, but you can't always make it think




An individual is a free citizen. An isolated individual, in contact with no other person, has unlimited and unrestricted liberty. Anything and everything is permissible, though not everything is possible and certainly not everything is profitable.

When one free individual comes in contact with another free individual, something has to be worked out between the two so that there is mutual respect for each other's rights to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness". If the two are to live together in harmony, they must mutually agree to allow their individual liberties to be restricted to some extent.

If a large number of individual are involved, the agreements and compromises may be codified and a system set up whereby the agreements may be administered fairly and justly. For example, a Constitution that establishes a constitutional government.

Since the individual is inherently free, All governmental authority derives from the authority that the individuals give to the government. The government exists and governs by the consent of the governed. Government therefore can never give anything to the people, it can only take from them, and then it can only take what it is allowed to take.

One major problem we have today is that too many people seem to think that government is the implement of an all-powerful entity known as "society" and that everything flows from the government to the individual. Many have been taught that this is the way it works, and many find it convenient to believe because such belief absolves them of any personal responsibility.

This is not the case. A society is made up of individuals, and the action of a society is the sum total of the actions of the individual members. Society can't force the individuals to comply with arbitrary rules and regulations, though society may make it easier for the individual to choose to comply rather than resist. It is still a matter of individual choice: No one ever does anything that they do not choose to do even though they may not be aware of making the choice.

As long as a significant majority of the individuals that make up a society hold the same or similar beliefs, the actions of the society will reflect those beliefs and the society will assume that the rectitude of those beliefs is obvious. However, problems arise when these beliefs are based on false premises. For example, the belief that society as a whole is inherently responsible for the welfare of individuals. Society may assume this responsibility as a result of the belief of its members, but since a society exists only because it has been formed by like-minded individuals, it is the individuals that are inherently responsible for the welfare of the society, not the other way around. The society will flourish only when the individuals that comprise it accept that responsibility.




"Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth." --Börne Ludwig, (1786-1837)

"The wise man does not discriminate; he gathers together all the shreds of light, from wherever they may come... "--Umberto Eco

"Some minds are led into error through truths; some, happier, pass through every error and come upon the great truth." --Joubert




You will save yourself a lot of needless worry if you don't burn your bridges until you come to them.




Hotels are hollow (at least most of them are). That is why they can get so many people inside.




Alcohol is a good solvent for ball-point pen ink, but don't try using it to dissolve the rest of your troubles.

That said, I still like a good single-malt scotch occasionally.




A bird in hand is safer than one overhead.