All Quotes

"And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house."

"The Sidonians are said by historians to excel in various kinds of art, as the words of Homer also imply. Besides, they cultivate science and study astronomy and arithmetic, to which they were led by the application of numbers (in accounts) and night sailing, each of which (branches of knowledge) concerns the merchant and seaman; in the same manner the Egyptians were led to the invention of geometry by the mensuration of ground, which was required in consequence of the Nile confounding, by its overflow, the respective boundaries of the country. It is thought that geometry was introduced into Greece from Egypt, and astronomy and arithmetic from Phœnicia. At present the best opportunities are afforded in these cities of acquiring a knowledge of these, and of all other branches of philosophy.If we are to believe Poseidonius, the ancient opinion about atoms originated with Mochus, a native of Sidon, who lived before the Trojan times. Let us, however, dismiss subjects relating to antiquity. In my time there were distinguished philosophers, natives of Sidon, as Boethus, with whom I studied the philosophy of Aristotle, and Diodotus his brother. Antipater was of Tyre, and a little before my time Apollonius, who published a table of the philosophers of the school of Zeno, and of their writings."

"The Phoenicians, inhabiting an arid coast, made themselves the agents of exchange between peoples. Their vessels spread throughout the Mediterranean. They began to reveal nation to nation, astronomy, navigation and geography perfected each other. The coasts of Greece and Asia Minor were filled with colonies ... From the mixtures of these independent colonies with the ancient peoples of Greece and with the remains of successive barbarian invasions the Greek nation was formed ... by these multiple mixtures this rich language was formed, expressive and sonorous, the language for all the arts."

"Thou madest self-sufficiency thy rule, Eschewing haughty wealth, O godlike Zeno, With aspect grave and hoary brow serene. A manly doctrine thine: and by thy prudence With much toil thou didst found a great new school, Chaste parent of unfearing liberty, And if thy native country was Phoenicia, What need to slight thee? Came not Kadmos thence, Who gave to Greece her books and art of writing?"

"I can still recall my astonishment when I discovered in 1972 some women's entries in the old directories, and when I read biographies of several scientists in the then-new '. Here were people who had been present at many of the familiar places and events, but were totally unknown even to those well versed in the history of American science. I felt like a modern Alice who had fallen down a rabbit hole into a wonderland of the history of science that was familiar in some respects but distorted and alien in many others. Learning more about these women and bringing their stories into closer connection with the rest of history of this period became a compelling and absorbing intellectual task. The initial stumbling block was locating material, since most of the women scientists bordered, for a variety of reasons, on the "invisible.""

"Although by all accounts the period 1940–72 was a golden age for science in America, it has generally been considered a very dark age for women in the professions. ... How could this have been? Were not women an integral part of American science by 1940? Why, then, in a period of record growth in almost every aspect of American science that one could count—money spent, persons trained, jobs created, articles published, even s won—were women so invisible?"

"We live in historic times. This is especially trued for American women in science and engineering. Opportunities have greatly expanded since the early 1970s because of a variety of factors, starting with but extending beyond —new expectations, new energy, a growing economy, new technical industries and opportunities, battles won and programs instituted. The women's liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s inspired many women scientists and their supporters to new levels of activism, and legislators passed and President Richard M. Nixon signed significant legislation that greatly affected traditional patterns in academia."

"“People were killed,” Galvanix said wonderingly. “That doesn’t bother anyone,” said Rajee bluntly. “Among twelve billion, international relations are too important to be threatened by skirmishes.”"

"Margaret W. Rossiter, a historian whose trilogy, “Women Scientists in America,” documented in sharp detail the ways women were excised from the annals of science — and who coined the term “,” named for the 19th-century suffragist , to describe the age-old practice of attributing scientific achievements of women to their male colleagues — died on Aug. 3 in ... Among the scientists Dr. Rossiter wrote about was , who with the German chemist developed the theory of . He won the for that discovery; she did not. The “Matilda effect” was but one of the many career blows that were queasily familiar to female scientists. So was the “harem effect,” a term Dr. Rossiter coined to describe male scientists’ habit of surrounding themselves with, as she put it, a “bevy of competent female subordinates who would not be as threatening as an equal number of bright young men.” (And who would presumably stay put, because their opportunities were so limited.)"

"The of would have been a very different story had advances and applications in chemistry matched progress in . As it was, there wre no "green revolutions," and chemical knowledge played a minor role until almost the end of the nineteenth century. Margaret W. Rossiter's interesting monograph on the influence of shows that the indifference of s to the blandishments of science was as much a consequence of the meager fare offered by the scientists as of any ingrained anti-intellectualism on the part of cultivators."

"The systematic study of social numbers in the spirit of natural philosophy was pioneered during the 1660s, and was known for about a century and a half as political arithmetic. Its purpose, when not confined to the calculation of insurance or rates, was the promotion of sound, well-informed state policy. ... , who invented the phrase "political arithmetic" and is thought by many to have had a hand in the composition of 's work, was in full accord with his friend as to the purpose of these studies. Political arithmetic was, in his view, the application of Baconian principles to the art of government."

"Although ' seems to work as a memorable , it can mislead. The book is not about implicit trust, but reluctance and hesitation. Numbers that appear sufficiently routine may pass under the radar, but when conflicting interests are at stake, they are readily challenged. They often require . This typically involves putting aside deep meanings and convictions in favor of compromise and convention. The title came to me in reaction to my editor's suggestion of "Truth in Numbers," which I rejected at once."

"Beginning in 1892, when he took up statistics as his scientific vocation, Karl Pearson devoted himself relentlessly to a project of almost universal quantification. This work, the invention of a , defined one of the landmark transitions in the history of the sciences, or indeed of public rationality."

"A bitter debate in the early twentieth century between "biometricians" and "Mendelians" about how best to study seemed to end in a victory for genetics, defined by a focus on discrete nuggets of hereditary causation for which in 1909 coined the term "." The new genetics emphasized , , and s. Despite geneticists' intense engagement with eugenics and medicine, Homo sapiens was not their preferred organism. It was too resistant to laboratory manipulation and had too long a generation time in comparison to , s, and viruses."

"Our scientific culture, and much of our public life, is based on trust in numbers. They are commonly accepted as the means to achieving objectivity in analysis, certainty in conclusions, and truth. Numbers tell us about the health of our society (as in the rates of occurrence of unwanted behavior), and they provide a demarcation between what is accepted as safe and what is believed to be dangerous. In Trust in Numbers, Theodore Porter ... unpacks this assumption and uses history to show how such a trust may sometimes be based less on the solidity of the numbers themselves than on the needs of expert and client communities. ... Porter is to be congratulated for showing how intimate can be the mixture of , real and pseudo-quantification, awareness and self-deception, and vision and fantasy, in the invocation of trust in numbers. His historical insights can provide the materials we need for a debate on quality in quantities, a debate which is long overdue."

"At the Paris Exhibition, the Soviet pavilion and the Italian Futurist section represented the cutting edge of artistic avant-garde. It featured the architectural concepts and theater decoration and set designs of Enrico Prampolini and Giacomo Balla, and the panels of Fortunato Depero, with their vivid colors, embroidered figures, and cloth superimposed on cloth, perfectly executed and of the finest taste, with a stylized composition that was schematic and sometimes caricatural. Some of his painted wooden puppets also attest to his inventiveness, with their summary volumes and search for curious and effective rhythms, often with happy results."

"Humans are deceitful, enthralled to the sexual strategies that drove their animal ancestors and drive them just as blindly. They jostle and kick for social supremacy and mating opportunities, fitfully aware of how this appears yet unable to transcend it. They injure their societies in the interest of those few with whom they share genes, and will injure them in pursuit of opportunities to breed further. They are suspicious, irrational, and destructive, eventually to all but most immediately to those unlike themselves."

"Data security was a proprietary concern, the obsession of those who saw knowledge as commodity, or who had something to hide."

"You may regard this as an outrage of the spirit, but it is that or die, and I decline to offer you the choice."

"Yasuhiro had studied and thought long about combat, which he knew always deteriorated into chaos whatever the battle plan."

"The universe comprised strife between forces, and there was no use seeking a benign still center to mirror the unfolding peace of a mother’s love."

"“You are enjoying the present disruptions a good deal less than I. That is because I recently restructured my cerebral architecture—that skill is my raison d’être, I should explain—and have adopted an egocentric consciousness, which certainly changes one’s view of the world!” The creature laughed, a shocking sound. “I’m presently as selfish as any human; probably worse, since I am not used to this heady wine. As any infant.”"

"But such indifference to doctrine accompanies a lassitude toward all progress. The commonfolk still tolerate appalling injustices, because to them social evils are merely steps on the pathway to moksha. How can you help people who think the wretchedness of their poor is divinely appointed?"

"The undersigned was among the first to denounce the inadequacy of the Pope's comments on terrorist violence and to gently suggest that he reread Benedict XVI's lecture in Regensburg, when Ratzinger, with foresight, confronted Islam with the problem that this religion has with the use of the sword, that is, force and coercion."

"Today we have a reigning pontiff who uses the same language as the world and proposes the same theses as dominant secularist thought. On more than one public occasion the pope has avoided giving a blessing using the Trinitarian formula in order not to offend the sensibilities of non-believers and those of other faiths."

"We Christians know this, or should know it: our faith is characterised by et et, not aut aut. We are not exclusivists. God is one and triune. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God and man, true God and true man. For Christians, man is flesh and spirit, body and soul. Christians like to integrate and include, not erect barriers. Through the Incarnation, God became man. The Church itself lives by the principle of et et. It is a Church of prayer and action, of great ascetics and great workers, of contemplation and mission. Ora et labora, not ora aut labora. The Church has preachers and confessors, cloistered monks and nuns, and street priests. The Church welcomes everyone: poor and rich, educated and uneducated, young and old."

"When Bergoglio was elected, and I saw him take the name Francis for expressly ideological reasons and appear at the balcony of St Peter's, bowing to ask for the blessing of the people, after saying “good evening” instead of “Praised be Jesus Christ” (“good evening” which, of course, was very much appreciated by the enemies of the Church), I said to myself: “Here we go!" The prediction had come true. After that, it was a succession of painful confirmations, especially for me after Amoris laetitia."

"Interviewer: ‘Is Italy still a Catholic country? Aldo Maria Valli: If we look at the figures for baptisms and children receiving their first communion, it would seem so. But very often it is a superficial Catholicism, linked to family tradition. Participation in the sacrament is more of an occasion for celebration and serves to strengthen family ties. As soon as confirmation comes around, there is a great exodus. In any case, compared to other countries with an ancient Christian tradition, two signs indicate that Catholic values are still alive in Italy: the stability of the family based on marriage (which, despite everything, remains a goal for many young people) and widespread solidarity, which manifests itself in voluntary work."

"By great application joined to an unusually brilliant mind and an extraordinarily retentive memory he accumulated such a vast store of knowledge that his contemporaries styled him the wonder of the world."

"Mike Judge—Beavis"

"Mike Judge—Butt-head"

"Mike Judge—Mr. Anderson"

"The ways of destroying a ship are developing far faster than the methods of protection."

"Air operations, like naval operations, are conditioned by the bases available."

"The campaign is primarily a battle for aerodromes."

"To be alive in such an age! With every year a lightning page Turned in the world's great wonder-book Whereon the leaning nations look. When men speak strong for brotherhood, For peace and universal good; When miracles are everywhere, And every inch of common air Throbs a tremendous prophecy Of greater marvels yet to be."

"I will hew great windows, wonderful windows, measureless windows, for my soul."

"Work! Thank God for the swing of it, For the clamoring, hammering ring of it, Passion of labor daily hurled On the mighty anvils of the world."

"I'd rather have the hope of you, Ah, Love, I'd rather grope for you Within the great abyss Than claim another's kiss."

"As to the doctrine of slavery and the right of Christians to hold Africans in perpetual servitude, and sell and treat them as we do our horses and cattle, that (it is true) has been heretofore countenanced by the Province Laws formerly, but nowhere is it expressly enacted or established. It has been a usage — a usage which took its origin from some European nations and the regulations of the British government respecting the then Colonies, for the benefit of trade and wealth. But whatever sentiments have formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by the example of others, a different idea has taken place with the people of America, more favorable to the natural right of mankind, and to that natural, innate desire of Liberty, with which Heaven, (without regard to color, complexion or shape of noses, features) has inspired all the human race. And upon this ground our Constitution of Government, by which the people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, sets out with declaring all men are born free and equal — and that every subject is entitled to liberty, — and to have it guarded by the laws, as well as life and property — and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This being the case I think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution; and there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature, unless his liberty is forfeited by criminal conduct or given up by personal consent or contract."

"Influence follows close upon the heels of character; and whatever we are, that we shall in the end be acknowledged to be."

"There is, between the sexes, a law of incessant reciprocal action, of which God avails himself in the constitution of the family, when He permits brothers and sisters to nestle about the same hearthstone. Its ministration is essential to the best educational results. Our own educational institutions should rest upon this divine basis."

"I have seen no Hindu who seemed to me prepared intellectually and morally for the freedom he would find in American society; nor are Americans prepared for the air of innocence and exaltation worn by very undeserving Orientals."

"Let us candidly confess our indebtedness to the needle. How many hours of sorrow has it softened, how many bitter irritations calmed, how many confused thoughts reduced to order, how many life-plans sketched in purple!"

"Let woman once reject the absurd notion that she was created for happiness, let her constitute herself instead a creator of it, let her accept with joy the fact that this is a working-day world; then she will no longer strive to escape from labor, discipline, or sorrow, but will gladly hail each in its turn as part of God's appointed teaching, a shadow crossing the sunshine to show that it is bright."

"I cannot help directing your attention to the significant fact that while the word "mistress," applied to a woman, serves at once to mark her out for reprobation, there is no corresponding term which, applied to man, produces the same effect; and this because the interests of the state are still paramount to the interests of the soul itself."

"We claim for women a share of the educational opportunities offered to man, because we believe that they will never be thoroughly taught until they are taught at the same time and in the same classes."

"Woman is quick to recognize genius, to listen when wisdom speaks. She chatters, to be sure, in the presence of fools; but when earnest men come to know the value of her enthusiasm, they will never be willing to lose it."

"I thought I knew how corrupt modem society could be; but I did not know how unsoundness had darted to its very core till I began to read law, and to understand the estimate which that puts upon women and chastity."

"Let a neatness as exquisite as womanly, and as polished as that of Charlotte Brontë, pervade not only our homes, but consecrate our own personal appearance; then may we safely wear the livery of the schools."