All Quotes

"Der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen."

"Victor Alli - Soldier"

"However great this addition to the number of facts serving to elucidate the natural history of these most interesting organisms may have been, the same cannot, unfortunately, be said regarding our knowledge of their organic development and general economy. This lamentable condition of things must be attributed to the too natural desire which observers entertain to associate their name with the discovery of a new form, to which end, consequently, the majority devote themselves. And an additional reason may be found in the difficulties which are met with in the investigation of the mode of development of organisms of such astonishing minuteness, which renders it almost a matter of chance when we are able to observe the various phases of the organic life of the Diatomacae. Whence arises the necessity of examining with the utmost attention everything that is presented in the field of the microscope, and especially in the case of living diatoms, which should be daily observed at all seasons to enable us to watch all the epochs of their development."

"The apparent function of the Diatomacae in the economy nature, viz. to vivify, as it were, the immensity of the ocean, as well as all fresh and brackish waters, decomposing, as they do, carbonic acid under the influence of light, and consequently giving off oxygen, is sufficient to show that organisms of such excessive minuteness must be endowed with an extraordinary reproductive capacity in order to supply, by their number, the vast scope of the office they are destined to fulfil."

"Castracane was a devout priest as well as an enthusiastic investigator."

"But if the vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet; for such things are of the spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost."

"A long time ago my father told me what his father told him, that there was once a Lakota holy man, called Drinks Water, who dreamed what was to be; and this was long before the coming of the Wasichus. He dreamed that the four-leggeds were going back into the earth and that a strange race had woven a spider's web all around the Lakotas. And he said: "When this happens, you shall live in square gray houses, in a barren land, and beside those square gray houses you shall starve." They say he went back to Mother Earth soon after he saw this vision, and it was sorrow that killed him. You can look about you now and see that he meant these dirt-roofed houses we are living in, and that all the rest was true. Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking."

"Then the bay horse spoke to me again and said: "See how your horses all come dancing!" I looked, and there were horses, horses everywhere — a whole skyful of horses dancing around me."

"Behold," he said, "all the wings of the air shall come to you, and they and the winds and the stars shall be like relatives."

"Flames were rising from the waters and in the flames a blue man lived."

"Then a song of power came to me and I sang it there in the midst of that terrible place where I was. It went like this:"

"Then a Voice said: "Behold this day, for it is yours to make. Now you shall stand upon the center of the earth to see, for there they are taking you.""

"Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy."

"My bay had lightning stripes all over him and his mane was cloud. And when I breathed, my breath was lightning."

"Then I saw ahead the rainbow flaming above the tepee of the Six Grandfathers, built and roofed with cloud and sewed with thongs of lightning; and underneath it were all the wings of the air and under them the animals and men. All these were rejoicing, and thunder was like happy laughter. As I rode in through the rainbow door, there were cheering voices from all over the universe, and I saw the Six Grandfathers sitting in a row, with their arms held toward me and their hands, palms out; and behind them in the cloud were faces thronging, without number, of the people yet to be."

"They told me I had been sick twelve days, lying like dead all the while, and that Whirlwind Chaser, who was Standing Bear's uncle and a medicine man, had brought me back to life. I knew it was the Grandfathers in the Flaming Rainbow Tepee who had cured me; but I felt afraid to say so."

"Everybody was glad that I was living; but as I lay there thinking about the wonderful place where I had been and all that I had seen, I was very sad; for it seemed to me that everybody ought to know about it, but I was afraid to tell, because I knew that nobody would believe me, little as I was, for I was only nine years old. Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body, but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me. I am sure now that I was then too young to understand it all, and that I only felt it. It was the pictures I remembered and the words that went with them; for nothing I have ever seen with my eyes was so clear and bright as what my vision showed me; and no words that I have ever heard with my ears were like the words I heard. I did not have to remember these things; they have remembered themselves all these years. It was as I grew older that the meanings came clearer and clearer out of the pictures and the words; and even now I know that more was shown to me than I can tell."

"Crazy Horse's father was my father's cousin, and there were no chiefs in our family before Crazy Horse; but there were holy men; and he became a chief because of the power he got in a vision when he was a boy. When I was a man, my father told me something about that vision. Of course he did not know all of it; but he said that Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world. He was on his horse in that world, and the horse and himself on it and the trees and the grass and the stones and everything were made of spirit, and nothing was hard, and everything seemed to float. His horse was standing still there, and yet it danced around like a horse made only of shadow, and that is how he got his name, which does not mean that his horse was crazy or wild, but that in his vision it danced around in that queer way."

"Only those who have had visions of the thunder beings in the west can act as heyokas. They have sacred power and they share some of this with all the people, but they do it through funny actions. When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the west, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm."

"You have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing face is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better for them to see."

"Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished."

"Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."

"I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to whom so great a vision was given in my youth,—you see me now a pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead."

"Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you — the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, the wings of the air and all green things that live. You have set the powers of the four quarters to cross each other. The good road and the road of difficulties you have made to cross; and where they cross, the place is holy."

"To the center of the world you have taken me and showed the goodness and the beauty and the strangeness of the greening earth, the only mother—and there the spirit shapes of things, as they should be, you have shown to me and I have seen. At the center of this sacred hoop you have said that I should make the tree to bloom. With tears running, O Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather — with running tears I must say now that the tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, and I have fallen away and have done nothing. Here at the center of the world, where you took me when I was young and taught me; here, old, I stand, and the tree is withered, Grandfather, my Grandfather. Again, and maybe the last time on this earth, I recall the great vision you sent me. It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds. Hear me, not for myself, but for my people; I am old. Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop and find the good red road, the shielding tree!"

"In sorrow I am sending a feeble voice, O Six Powers of the World. Hear me in my sorrow, for I may never call again. O make my people live!"

"Only frustrated people smoke too much and only lonely people are frustrated."

"I can never get a zipper to close."

"I didn't think I'd be true to a man again as long as I lived..."

"The circular economy should not be a slogan; it should be something that is sustainable for industry and the market. I can tell you one thing: I have never seen regeneration and vitality in an area where industries have abandoned the site, so we need to regenerate the area; we need to make it compatible with the industries that continue to operate there."

"For the sake of intellectual honesty, we must recall who, in Italy, prior to 2012, negotiated, agreed upon and then approved the ESM, which was subsequently reformed. All the European preparatory work prior to the establishment of the ESM took place between 2010 and 2011; in office at the time was the Fourth Berluscon Government, supported by the Lega, the then Popolo delle Libertà party, and that section of Popolo delle Libertà which would later become Fratelli d'Italia."

"Corruption has always been a constant companion of humankind. After all, Catholic culture itself teaches us: without money, there are no Masses. Think of the Peter's Pence collection. The challenge for us politicians, and for all those who administer public affairs in general, is to navigate our own path towards God by seeking mediation."

"The truth is that when Christian Democrats die, everyone applauds them and some even wanted to canonise them, yet when they are alive, everyone wants to claim the lion's share for themselves. Some time ago, Berlusconi chose Scajola to reorganise himself politically, and now he has chosen Angelino Alfano. Similarly, when the Democratic Party was formed, it elected Rosy Bindi as its president. This shows that political Catholicism is a breeding ground for the ruling class."

"The European cultures that govern the member states are the environmentalist, liberal, socialist and Christian democratic cultures. In Italy, these cultures are currently absent, due to a form of bipolarity that is not political but rather linked to electoral technicalities. We are the only Western country where there is a majority bonus. There is only one precedent in the country's history: the Acerbo Law. Indeed, Mussolini did not even make use of it, as he received 65 per cent of the vote and the majority bonus was not triggered."

"Consent is won by promising a great deal and always delivering, but in dribs and drabs."

"This scoundrel (Antonio Di Pietro) said that the growth of the 1980s was linked to the world of bribes."

"If it weren't for the great comedian, now somewhat on the wane, namely Grillo, how many people would have had the opportunity to enter Parliament with the M5S?"

"Indeed, we were wrong not to speak out against the costs of politics, and none of us has become rich. We took refuge behind hypocrisy. But we paid the price for the fact that, for us Catholics in the Christian Democrats and for the Communists, money was the Devil's dung. We should have told the truth about the enormous cost of election campaigns. Besides, those who financed me were all friends; it was perfectly well known who was supporting me. Craxi also said this in his famous speech in Parliament. But, in hindsight, it can be said that many of the accusations against that ruling class were exaggerated."

"My mother was a woman of great faith. When my second brother, Mariano, died at the age of 33, and I broke the news to her, she turned to a painting of Our Lady of Pompeii and said through her tears: 'I don't understand You, but I entrust him to You.' That testimony has stayed with us through many other tragic moments."

"(Referring to Salvini) Those who wave rosaries in the streets should also remember that Hell exists."

"The best trick is to tell the truth – no one believes it anyway."

"Let's not insult the First Republic; there is absolutely nothing that resembles it. There is a political leader, Salvini, who actually demands full powers, creates a government crisis and then, however, says: We can continue working."

"That has never happened. Then there is a Prime Minister who gives full powers to one of his ministers in an emergency – in the First Republic, if anything, it was the Council of Ministers that would decide on such a measure. A precedent that does not exist."

"Interviewer: Why did you title your book on the Second Republic? Pomicino: It’s a metaphor to describe the new political situation after the Mani Pulite operation. We suddenly became a country devoid of any political culture. Indeed, we are the only European country that does not have a liberal, socialist, green or Christian democratic party. Responsibility lay with the old PCI which, by promoting the use of the judiciary to defeat the parties of the true centre-left, worked to obliterate everyone’s political culture, having lost its own."

"Interviewer: The operation Clean Hands was a consequence of the fall of the Berlin Wall? Pomicino: Not only did the Communist Party end up under its rubble, but, thanks to the 'Via Pal' team at the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, so did the parties that had won the battle of history. Mani Pulite was orchestrated by the shareholder bourgeoisie led by De Benedetti. De Benedetti believed he would be the new leader of the country’s future government, which would bring together the financial and industrial elite from the upper echelons of Italian capitalism and the PCI of Achille Occhetto and Luciano Violante, which still had a strong local presence."

"Interviewer: Little has been said about this plan in the newspapers or in historical accounts. Pomicino: In 1992, when the centre-left secured 55% of the vote, a Socialist-led parliamentary term was due to begin, with a Christian Democrat as President of the Republic. This political configuration was not to the liking of US intelligence and of the faction comprising the PCI and the shareholder bourgeoisie, which dreamed of making a fortune by selling off, or rather, selling at a loss, 25% of the publicly owned Italian economy to international financial groups. One only needs to read Giuseppe Guarino's memoirs to realize this."

"Interviewer: A sell-off that ultimately did indeed take place. Pomicino: Today, it has been completed. However, instead of consolidating public finances, the debt has tripled, rising in current terms from €839 billion in 1991 to €2,400 billion today, with the middle class suffering severe impoverishment."

"Create a world where our children can tell us without fear or shame that they have a mental ache. The same way they do when they have a tummy or [toothache]."

"A woman is never just one thing. She is strength and grace, fire and kindness, a dreamer and a fighter. Today, we celebrate every version of us. As a beauty queen, I once stood on stage with a crown. But life had other plans. I faced kidney failure, a battle that tested my spirit and self-worth. Today, I stand before you, celebrating my third year and kidney anniversary, a living testament of resilience, second chances, and the power of a woman who refuses to give up. For too long, the world has tried to define us, but we are limitless, whether we lead, nurture, create, or fight for change. Our power lies in our choices. True empowerment is lifting each other, embracing our differences, and knowing that we are enough. Always. So, let's stand together, break barriers, and own every part of who we are. Because when women rise, the world rises with us."

"She became most fervent, continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues."