Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh: A Tale, 1849
A man is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he by himself is powerless to do anything. – Ramakrishna
Whatever it is that the government does, sensible Americans would prefer that the government does it to somebody else. This is the idea behind foreign policy. – P. J. ORourke
Pleasure is continually disappointed, reduced, deflated, in favor of strong, noble values: Truth, Death, Progress, Struggle, Joy, etc. Its victorious rival is Desire: we are always being told about Desire, never about Pleasure. – Roland Barthes
