Back when I frequented the echoes on FIDONet, it was a common practice to place a
short quip or quote at the end of a post, after one's signature block. These are called taglines.
Here are some taglines from my once extensive collection, that I like and generally
agree with.
I have added to this eclectic mix of things seen elsewhere some of my own
statements. I hope you enjoy them.
If you would like to see my views on a particular subject, send me an
email.
So, here are my thoughts on...
On People:
"Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good."
—A. Lincoln.
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
-- Mark Twain
"Some people are so busy being Individuals they forget to be themselves."
— Neven
"There is no soulless human life; all human life has a sense of right and wrong, and has emotions, however masked or suppressed."
— Colin Bondy
"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
-Mark Twain
"When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?" --Henry David Thoreau
"You're no bigger than what it takes to upset you."
— Ron Willingham
"I contend that none of us are qualitively equal but that our differences are inconsequential to the fact that each and every last one of us needs grace."
—Neven
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
-Mark Twain
On Voting:
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
You don't vote? Don't criticize the government, then!
On Taxes:
If 10% is good enough for God, it oughta be enough for Uncle Sam
—Unknown
On Character:
"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." - Phillip Brooks
Power does not corrupt; it reveals corruption.
--anonymous
Sports do not build character; they reveal it.
--Haywood Hale Broun
On Government:
"Fiat iustitia ruat cælum". Let justice be done though the heavens fall! — Ancient Roman maxim.
"I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."
—A. Lincoln
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
—Samuel Adams
"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" --Dosteovsky's Grand Inquisitor
"It isn't polls or public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership--men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world." --Harry S. Truman
"No government ever created can protect a gullible citizen; the one that is legitimate has not the power; the one that has the power has not the inclination."
-- Skreyola
"Nothing should ever be implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences."
—A. Lincoln
"One person's feelings must never be protected at the expense of another person's rights."
—anon.
"The mob is traitor to the people."
—Victor Hugo
"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
—Ayn Rand
"What is a Communist? One who has yearnings / For equal division of unequal earnings."
—Ebenezer Elliot (1781-1849)
Government must be constantly monitored if it is to remain the servant of the people. Otherwise, the people will quickly become slaves of the government.
Government can only give money which it takes away.
—Unknown
Government cannot give freedom. It can only take it away.
—Unknown
Government should spend our money as though it were their own.
—Unknown
On Freedom:
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
--Benjamin Franklin
"Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither."
—Benjamin Franklin
"Tyranny and injustice thrive when people make economic decisions rather than stand on principle." — Jon Roland, 1983
Freedom of Speech means letting those who are wrong speak anyway.
—Unknown
Censorship is something XXXXXX XXXX I do XXX like!
—Unknown
"You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and liberty." -- Henrik Ibsen
"How is it that your right to say foul words is protected by the First Amendment, but my right to ask that you show the courtesy of not polluting my ears with foul language is not?"
—M.Christian
"Those who find it convenient to accept the taking of trivial freedoms may find it compulsory to accept the taking of cardinal freedoms."
--Skreyola
On War:
"Violence never solves anything."
-Genghis Khan
"Don't discount the value of violence intelligently applied. A rusted bolt was never loosened with soft words."
--Skreyola
"We make war that we may live in peace."
--Aristotle
'There is no foreign war and civil war, for we are all brothers. There is only just war and unjust war.'
—Victor Hugo
On America:
Too few Americans know the difference between "right" and "privilege".
—Unknown
The American flag is not as important as what it symbolizes.
—Unknown
Politicians and diapers need changing; often for similar reasons.
—Unknown
Politicians are like ships - noisiest when lost in a fog.
—Unknown
On God:
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
—G. K. Chesterton
"God is more patient with us than we are with ourselves."
-- Dick Ryley
"God is subtle, but He is not malicious." --Albert Einstein
"God, I feel unworthy."
--Me "You are not worthy; you are loved."
--God
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
-Jim Elliot
"I have found that as I listen and yield myself to God in my daily activities, doors open, opportunities to witness for God appear, and problems are solved with less stress. When I move away from God, I find myself feeling alone, troubled, and frustrated with life."
—Paul McAfee
"I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence." - Doug MacLeo
"Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal."
--Tolstoy
You will give up on yourself before God does. Long before. God doesn't give up until it's not giving up.
—anonymous
Don't tell God how big your mountains are. Tell your mountains how big your God is!
—Unknown
Contrary to popular opinion, God's last name isn't Damn!
—Unknown
"Even the smartest mind can make a mistake, the wisest man could make a foolish mistake, A man of God's own heart can fall into sin; we are all fallen, imperfect, but our Lord loves us even through our faults. And above all, He forgives without exception"
— Colin Bondy
God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!
—Unknown
"[J]ustice rests with God, and ... I am called to be his
witness, not his defense attorney. I don't have to prove God to anyone." --
dirtbird
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." --Unknown
On Cats:
"As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind."
--Cleveland Amory
"If Darwin's theory of Evolution [were] correct, cats would be able to operate a can-opener by now."
—C.S. Lewis
"The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life."
--Carl Van Vechten
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
--Albert Schweitzer
Cats are smarter than dogs. Eight cats won't pull a sled.
—Unknown
A cat is an animal who never cries over spilled milk.
—Unknown
On the Environment:
Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
On Elegance:
"There are two ways to study butterflies: chase them around with nets then inspect their dead bodies, or sit quietly in a garden and watch them dance among the flowers."
--Nongnuch Bassham
Butterflies are not insects. They are self-propelled flowers.
—Unknown
On Effort/Ambition/Perseverance:
"I am always for the man who wishes to work."
--A. Lincoln
"I say 'try'; if we never try, we shall never succeed."
--A. Lincoln
"No one who never failed ever succeeded."
--Skreyola
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
—Henry Ford
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."
--Thoreau
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value."
--Albert Einstein
Most people don't really
fail; they just stop
trying.
—Unknown
Efficiency is a highly developed form of laziness.
—Unknown
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." -- Robert F. Kennedy
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Rivers flow downhill because they follow the easiest path. People often do the same for the same reason."
—Skreyola
On the Power of Prayer:
"The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!"
--Sam Chadwick
If the world is ever again to get on its feet, the Church will have to get on its knees.
—Unknown
On Truth:
"Being more concerned with truth than with friendship is not the best way to be popular. But being more concerned with friendship than with truth will often cause you to lose contact with both."
—M.Christian
"If only the pleasant things ring true, it isn't truth you are looking for."
—Neven
"It is better to say nothing and be thought uncaring than to say anything nice that is untrue."
—M.Christian
"It is curious how much more interest can be evoked by a mixture of gossip, romance, and mystery than by facts." --Eleanor Roosevelt
"Lying makes a problem part of the future; truth makes a problem part of the past."
--Rick Pitino
"People are more likely to believe a big lie than a small one."
-Adolf Hitler
"Sometimes, people won't accept the soft truth. At those times, load up the brutal facts and give them both barrels."
—Skreyola
"Truth is a strong tower and never requires to be buttressed with error"
—Charles Spurgeon
"Truth is generally the best vindication against slander."
—A. Lincoln
"I shall try to correct errors where shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views as fast as they appear to be true views."
--A. Lincoln
"All who wander are not lost." -JRR Tolkien
"The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose."
-- Margaret Atwood
On Life: (or, words by which to live)
"Don't try to persuade a man his position is wrong until you at least understand why he holds it." --Michael Christian
"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than to lie awake about them afterward."
—Baltasar Græcián
"A life directed chiefly toward fulfillment of personal desires sooner or later
always leads to bitter disappointment." --Albert Einstein
"Let your experiences be bricks for building instead of snares for holding; Build with them instead of wallowing in them; Make of them a foundation instead of a prison."
—Skreyola
"Live out of your imagination, not your history."
—Stephen R. Covey
"Never argue with an idiot-- folks might not be able to tell you apart." --Anon.
"Never gamble anything you are unwilling to forfeit."
--Skreyola
"Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have the obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do." --Eleanor Roosevelt
"Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
—A. Lincoln
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
— Charles de Gaulle
"You can't be yourself if you don't know who you are."
—Skreyola
"You'll learn more about a road by traveling it than by consulting all the maps in the world."
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Go the extra mile. It's never crowded.
—Unknown
In almost every life, there comes a point when one realizes one has become exactly what one despises. One can do two things at this point: engage in self-destructive behavior; or do what can be done to remedy the errors and go on with life, hopefully wise enough to avoid the same mistake again.
—Anon.
Watch for trouble whenever you say never, always, everyone, or noone. You will usually be proven wrong.
—Unknown
If the going gets easy, you may be going downhill.
—Unknown
Forget the favors given; remember those received.
—Unknown
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
—Unknown
Never undertake anything for which you wouldn't have the courage to ask the blessing of heaven.
—Unknown
A path without obstacles probably leads nowhere.
—Unknown
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never.
—Unknown
You always stand the tallest when you stoop to help someone.
—Unknown
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is." -- Yogi Berra
"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet" - Roger Miller
On Friendship:
"Friendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Significant relationships come to those who assign them enough importance to cultivate them."
--Alan Loy McGinnis
"Good friends are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and precious thing."
--Randolph Bourne
"No friendship is built on mistrust."
— Colin Bondy
On Love:
"Romance would be happy knowing its object will pine away when it is dead. Love, on the other hand, would be distressed to see its object suffer. This is the difference between romance and love. Romance says, 'look how much he loves me, that he dies for me.' Love says, 'My poor beloved, how it pains me to see you hurting.'"
— M. Christian
"The hardest of all is learning to be a well of affection and not a fountain, to show them that we love them, not when we feel like it, but when they do."
--Nan Fairbrother
"You can be kind without love, but you cannot express love without kindness showing through."
— Colin Bondy
"The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want."
—Mother Teresa
On Computers:
Computer - A device designed to speed and automate errors.
—Unknown
Computers cut your work in half -- and hand you back the bloody stumps.
—Unknown
It's not plug and play... It's plug and pray.
—Unknown
On Political Correctness:
"Not everything that is offensive should be modified. All satire, for example, is offensive to someone. But it should well be. Being offensive, when it has a legitimate purpose, also has a legitimate place in society."
—M. Christian
Why be Politically Correct when you can be right?
—Unknown
"Why is it that a Christian standing firm in his convictions is labelled intolerant, but anyone else calling the fellowship of selfless love hatemongers is labelled critical thinking?"
—M.Christian
On Writing:
"All writers draw from an outside source. The amateur writer imitates, the good writer borrows, and the great writer steals, but the genius writer innovates."
--Skreyola
"Good novels are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels are written by people who are not frightened."
—George Orwell (1903-50), British author.
"I before E except after C" - Grammar is a weird science.
"Nothing written for pay is worth printing. ONLY what has been written AGAINST the market."
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet, critic.
"Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything that they do no make more clear."
—Joseph Jourbert
You've only got to look around you to realize that most books that get published are NOT good.
— Nick Lowe
Every writer was once an amateur; most still are.
—Unknown
Conform, go crazy, or become a writer.
—Unknown
Life is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
—Unknown
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to stick to possibilities."
-Mark Twain
A book is a present you can open again and again.
—Unknown
On Words (and communication):
"A sharp tongue sometimes cuts its own throat."
—Jim Scancarelli
"But misunderstanding and miscommunication are not necessary evils and I try to eliminate them whenever possible."
--Liesl
"I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."
--A. Lincoln
"Saying good things does not make a person good. History is full of wicked men who said good things."
—M. Christian
"Saying something requires a thought, and a purpose, thus there is nothing you can say that is truly random."
— Colin Bondy
"There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher."
-Oliver Goldsmith
Brevity is the soul of wit.
— William Shakespeare
Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
—Unknown
On Art and the Arts:
"For a really healthy development of all the arts, you need an educated audience as well as performers." --Eleanor Roosevelt
"Everyone has music in them. Only the talented have the ability to share it with the rest of the world." --Unknown
On Ideas and Intelligence:
"A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, cannot be safely disregarded."
—A. Lincoln
"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you have."
--Roger von Oech
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." --Albert Einstein
"The genius is fascinated by the extremely simple, the extremely abstract, and very little in between."
—Skreyola
"You live and learn. Or you don't live long." - Robert Heinlein
FACTS do not ceast to exist simply because they are ignored!
—Unknown
Minds, like parachutes, work best when open.
—Unknown
Don't be so open-minded your brain falls out.
—Unknown
While the cruelty of almost everyone knows a certain limit, almost no one has a limit for thoughtlessness.
—M. Christian
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." -- Howard Aiken
"Knowledge talks, wisdom listens." -- Anon
"Only those who can see the invisible can do impossible." -- Mrs. C. E. Cowman
On Children and Child-rearing:
"Don't worry that your children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."
—Robert Fulgham
"Every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: if they don't make up their own minds, someone will do it for them." --Eleanor Roosevelt
"I believe in choice ... up until the moment of conception." --Dave Young.
On The Opposite Of Elegance (And Winner Of The Obfuscated Code Contest Ten
Years Running), Microsoft(TM) Windows(TM):
WinErr: 001 Windows loaded - System in Danger.
WinErr: 002 No Error - Yet.
WinErr: 003 Dynamic linking error - Mistake is now in every file.
WinErr: 005 Multitasking attempted - System confused.
WinErr: 00B Inadequate disk space - Free up at least 50MB.
WinErr: 00C Memory hog error - More Ram needed. More! More! More!
WinErr: 00F Unexplained error - Please tell us how this happened.
WinErr: 010 Reserved for future mistakes by our developers.
WinErr: 019 User error - Not our fault. Is Not! Is Not!
WinErr: 01D System crash - We are unable to figure out our own code.
WinErr: 01E Timing error - Please wait. And wait. And wait. And....
WinErr: 815 Insufficient Memory - Only 50,312,583 Bytes available.
Windows NT? New Technology? OS/2 has had it for years!
Windows is not a virus. A virus never needed 20MB of DLLs & INIs.....
Warning: General Protection Fault is a registered trademark of Microsoft(tm)
Corporation... (Fine. Linux doesn't need it.)
Why are you so down on us
smokers?
On Smoking:
I never spit in your drink, why do you smoke in my air?
If you smoke, we'll assume you're on fire and take appropriate steps.
On Gun Control:
Arms control should only mean slapping a fresh boyfriend.
If you plan to rob someone, would YOU pick a car with an NRA sticker?
Trust no government that wants to disarm its citizens.
The reason for the Second Amendment is becoming obvious.
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is the right to be free.
Turn in your guns and receive a free pair of leg irons!
Only the misinformed support gun control!
Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.
Peace through superior firepower!
Promote responsible firearms ownership.
Punish those who COMMIT crimes, not those who MIGHT.
Gun Control Works - Ask Schindler's Jews
To blame guns for crime is as ridiculous as blaming spray cans for graffiti or huffing.
Guns cause crime just like cars cause vehicular homicide.
Guns cause crime just like matches cause arson.
Gun control = job safety for criminals
Gun control is unilateral victim disarmament.
Gun control should mean hitting your target!
An Armed Citizenry *IS* the Militia...
Who has mail bombed more Americans? NRA members or Harvard Grads?
-Rush
And one final thought on that...
Ever notice there's no crime at a shooting range?
Here are some other thoughts under
various
categories:
Miscellaneous/Unsorted thoughts:
"Anywhere is walking distance if you've got the time." --Steven Wright
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." --Mark Twain
"I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be
for something, otherwise you will never get anywhere." --Harry S. Truman
"If they want to ask me some impudent questions, I'll try to give them some impudent answers." --Harry S. Truman
"It is nothing to die; it is horrible not to live."
--Jean Valjean (a character of Victor Hugo)
"No matter how low and unfortunate you feel, there is always some one with less than you"
— Colin Bondy
"Nuestro problema no es nuestros problemas. Nuestro problema es nuestras reacciones a nuestros problemas."
—anon.
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." --Bertrand Russell
"Whenever the press quits abusing me, I know I'm in the wrong pew." --Harry S. Truman
"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" --Steven Wright
"You won't get any doubletalk from me. I'm either for something or against it." --Harry S. Truman
Men who hold for women the highest respect are seldom popular with them.
—Anon.
Greed prospereth nought.
—Unknown
I love my country, but I'm often ashamed of my Congress.
—Unknown
If YOU are not defending the Constitution, who is?
—Unknown
Professionals built the Titanic, an amateur built the ark.
—Unknown
3. Avoid cliches like the plague--they're old hat.
—Unknown
All in favor of losing their rights, please do nothing.
—Unknown
An Elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
—Unknown
At least Congress doesn't make death worse every year.
—Unknown
Congress finds more profit in supporting tobacco than in supporting you.
—Unknown
Don't steal, the government hates competition!!
—Unknown
Wise man say: Man who walk forward while looking back run into obstacles.
—Unknown
"...we think of [Linux] as a competitor in the student and hobbyist market. But I really don't think in the commercial market, we'll see it in any significant way."
-- Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft (1999)
Under the "
Interesting Truisms" Category:
Life is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.
Under the "
Sad, But True" Category:
Diogenes is still searching.
"While memory will preserve a poisoned weed, it suffereth the Rose of Sharon to wither."
—Charles Spurgeon
Under the "
Cynical Wisdom" Category:
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever...
Blessed be the pessimist for he carries extra ammo.
Famous Last Words: "Well, I think that's the last of them."
Early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
Under the "
Great Lines" Category:
Uh-oh. This isn't good. I've seen good before, and this isn't it.
The concept is simply staggering. Pointless, but staggering.
"But we'll never survive!" "Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has." --from The Princess Bride
You wouldn't be so smug if you really knew what was going on.
I can SPELL, I just can't TYPE worth a hoot !
I'm not panicking. I'm examining all options at high speed.
Under the "
Pointless, But Staggering" Category:
On the other hand, you have different fingers.
Under the "
Assorted Silliness" Category:
Mind Like A Steel Trap -- Rusty And Illegal in 37 States.
Remember one thing in life -- Any one thing.
I believe five out of four people have trouble with fractions.
Do Lipton Tea(tm) employees take coffee breaks?
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you criticize him, you are a mile away from him, and you
have his shoes.
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a cab?
Two rules for success: 1. Don't tell everything you know
I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing.
Floggings will continue until morale improves !
"The name is Pond. FISH Pond. Bubble-oh-seven."
Flying is the second greatest thrill to man. Landing is the first.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a work station....
Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.
I came real close to seeing Elvis, but my shovel broke.
Elvis Stamps: Where will your mail be spotted next?
Related pages:
Random Thoughts -
Political Stances -
Index
The Star-spangled Banner
"O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the Rockets' red glare, the Bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled Banner yet wave,
O'er the Land of the free, and the home of the brave?
"On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, shall leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.
"O! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd home, and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land,
Praise the Power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto--"In God is our Trust;"
And the star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
O'er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave."
—Francis Scott Key
