The reputations of the nineteenth century will one day be quoted to prove its barbarism. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Uses of Great Men” (lecture)

When you can’t do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing. – Lois McMaster Bujold

A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the way to totalitarianism and death. – Robert Maynard Hutchins

When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization. – Daniel Webster, Remarks on Agriculture