Quotes From Around the World

* Diantha Livius

Quotes From Around the World

Quotes from leading citizens around the world.

September 17 , 2004

Winston Churchill

Posted at 15:30 EST

British politician (1874 - 1965)

- Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

- To be conservative at 20 is heartless and to be a liberal at 60 is plain idiocy.

- One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.

- History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

- Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

August 7 , 2004

Thomas Jefferson

Posted at 12:00 EST

The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814

August 6 , 2004

John Quincy Adams

Posted at 13:00 EST

The pretence of an absolute, irresistible, despotic power, existing in every government somewhere, is incompatible with the first principle of natural right. Take for example the right to life. The moment an infant is born, it has a right to the life which it has received from the Creator . . . no human being, no combination of human beings, has the power, I say not the physical, but the moral power, to take a life not so forfeited [by commission of a crime], unless in self-defense or by the laws of war .

August 5 , 2004

James Madison

Posted at 23:00 EST

The highest number to which a standing army can be carried in any country does not exceed one hundredth part of the souls, or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This portion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Besides the advantage of being armed, it forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would surely shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did. Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors.

I am for doing good to the poor...

Posted at 16:00 EST

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766

November 26 , 2003

*New Topic*

Posted at 12:21 EST

We have an exciting new topic at Ancient Mysteries. LuciusFlaccus Valerius suggested a thread on secret societies. There seemed to be much initial interest, so I have created the thread. It can be found at the "Shady Side of History", Secret Societies.

October 29 , 2003

*Featured Topic*

Posted at 12:18 EST

I'll try to keep up on featuring topics for Ancient Mysteries. I tried to do an announcement at the "Group News", but of course the gremlins still have their clutches in that feature of the groups. So, I'll fall back to here and post the featured topic. I know not all of the members read this, but some of you may. *S*

The featured topic of discussion this time around is a new one. Not all the topics will be new, or even active, but to start off I'll feature the newest hot spot at the group. The Truth Behind the Myth - The Great Flood and Paradise has had many interesting and intriguing posts of late. It is a thread dedicated to discussion, just as the title suggests, the truth behind our ancient ancestor's mythologies.

Ancient myths show us all about the wild imagination of our ancestors...or so we think. Some would say there is truth behind the myth. Under this topic we will explore these aspects of the tales of our ancestors and try to find the truth behind the myth.

And with the help of many knowledgeable members, we are exploring the truth behind the myth. This topic features only the Flood and Paradise stories, but there is a lot of discussion as to where Paradise may have existed in ancient Mesopotamia. Also, there have been interesting posts done on the Great Flood. It seems to be a wide-spread phenomena, one that stretched from the Aztecs of Mexico to the Aborigines of Australia.

I encourage you all to read this thread! I've enjoyed the discussion immensely. Also, I've learned a lot from posts done by others.

October 28 , 2003

Ancient Mythos

Posted at 22:22 EST

There is a new board at Ancient Mysteries that I'm excited about. It's called Ancient Mythos and has only just started:

Throughout the ancient world we have recorded evidence of people’s beliefs through their myths. In modern times, while reading these myths, they look fanciful at best. Beasts we have never seen with our own eyes are commonplace. Gods and goddesses filled with human traits, walked the earth with mankind. We can read about a variety of bizarre occurrences taking place in different areas of the world.

Under this topic we will explore the different quirks in these myths. Who knows, we may uncover some ancient common root to it all. ...

The current threads under this board are: