“Cyrus: He can talk all he wants about a regular life. Some men aren’t meant to be happy. They’re meant to be great.” – Scandal

“If you want to change this party, lead it. If you want to change the country, lead it.” – The Iron Lady

“I’m not a Christian. I’m not an Atheist. I’m not Jewish. I’m not Muslim. My religion, what I believe in is called the Constitution of United States of America.” – The Ides of March

“For the moment all you have to know is that two fundamentally different stories have been enacted here during the lifetime of man. One began to be enacted here some two or three million years ago by the people we’ve agreed to cal Leavers and is still being enacted here some ten or twelve thousand years ago by the people we’ve agreed to call Takers, and is apparently about to end in catastrophe.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Quotes

“The problem is that man’s conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we’ve attained, we don’t have enough mastery to stop devastating the world—or to repair the devastation we’ve already wrought.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Quotes

“They’ve been told an explaining story. They’ve been given an explanation of how things came to be this way, and this stills their alarm. This explanation covers everything, including the deterioration of the ozone layer, the pollution of the oceans, the destruction of the rain forests, and even human extinction—and it satisfied them. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it pacifies them. They put their shoulders to the wheel during the day, stupefy themselves with drugs or television at night, and try not to think too searchingly about the world they’re leaving their children to cope with.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

“We don’t need prophets to tell us how to live; we can find out for ourselves by consulting what’s actually there.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

“We’re destroying the world because we are, in a very literal and deliberate way, at war with it.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

“Certain knowledge is knowledge of the one right way. That’s what we want. That’s what Takers want. We don’t want to know a way to live that works well. We want to know the one right way. And that’s what our prophets give us. And that’s what our lawgivers give us.” – Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

“Lies built on deceptions. A nation’s history cloaked in murder. The idea of a ruling class is still very much with us. Ninety percent of all wealth is inherited wealth. We may have lost the titles, but an aristocracy still flourishes.” – Boy Sets Fire, “prologue”

“We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget that we create them.” – Bernbach

“‘do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that’s what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it — and have it repeated to us — over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what’s really important anymore.’” – Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

“All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.” – Milk

“on the face of every american worker is the constant fear that their job won’t remain.” – Boy Sets Fire, “when rhetoric dies”

“Punishment is not prevention. History offers cold comfort to those who think grievance and despair can be subdued by force.” – Robert F. Kennedy

“The real American is not a gold chaser or money lover, as the legend classes him, but an idealist and a mystic. Not that I mean for a moment to say that the American is without senses. On the contrary, the Anglo-Saxon in general, or the American with some Celtic blood is, when it comes to the crucial moment, more fiery than the Italian, more sensuous than the French, more capable of desperate excesses than are the Russians. But the habit of early training has enclosed his temperament in a wall of iron, frosted over, and these things only come to pass when some extraordinary incident of life breaks through his reserve. Then one might say that the Anglo-Saxon or Celt is of all the nations the most fiery lover.” – My Life by Isadora Duncan

“I ask this… If there should be an assassination, I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out – - If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door… And that’s all. I ask for the movement to continue. Because it’s not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power… it’s about the ‘us’s’ out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the ‘us’s.’ Without hope, the ‘us’s’ give up – I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you… You gotta give ‘em hope… you gotta give ‘em hope.” – Milk

“If you love this country, take it back, from those who will destroy it. Protest is patriotism.” – Boy Sets Fire, “eviction article”

“And both sides say they’re winning, and both sides know they’re losing, and neither one knows what they’re fighting for.” – Martina McBride, “the uncivil war”

“Have you taken a look around you?!? It’s always like this! Might makes right! Only the strong survive! Have you learned nothing from the natural world in which you love so much? ” – Smallville

“The story of America is a story best seen through the eyes of its people. It is a story built on the idea of freedom, through the common efforts of a nation united. America, now over 200 years old, is a country that is different from all others, in that it offers equal opportunity to anyone, regardless of gender, sexuality or race. It is on this creed that the story of America was founded. Unfortunately, that is all it is. A story.” – Boy Sets Fire, “prologue”

“Everyone understands the nature of war. We also understand that victory depends on the cards that we have been dealt. Some, when faced with a bloody battle, simply give in. But for some, surrender is unacceptable. Even though they know it will be a fight to the death.” – Desperate Housewives

“I’ve been around long enough to know the best way to win a war is to strike first. ” – Smallville

“We all come from the same place and we all have something in common; we have seen society and we don’t like it.” – Boy Sets Fire, “holiday in Cambodia”

“No, being the poster girl for censorship is not a little funny. The only videos not behind that curtain are Bambi and Dumbo. I mean, they actually had a meeting earlier about whether or not Babe should be behind the curtain so as not to offend people who keep kosher! ” – Gilmore Girls

“He always uses cliches. He is a politician after all.” – Greek

“Blacks fear whites, whites fear anyone different, and we all fear that which we do not know, even though, according to many studies, violent crime statistics are down. We keep adding more police and giving those police more and more power.” – Boy Sets Fire, “voiceover”

“Nothing destroys spirit like poverty. ” – Becoming Jane

“That’s the one thing that trumps religion… capitalism.” – Easy A

“We are taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America. From the American Revolution to the Civil War, history is written from the biased perspective of the power elite. From our birth we are told lies and myths and expected not to only believe them, but to worship them at America’s false altar of progress. We must learn to question history and measure each ‘fact’ on its own merits.” – Boy Sets Fire, “the tyranny of what everyone knows”