0. "For neither good nor evil can last for ever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand." - - Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) (Don Quixote)
1. "The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water." - Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) (Don Quixote)
2. "Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
3. "The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.” William Shakespeare (1564-1616) (Brutus in Julius Caesar)
4. "The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development." - Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1819-1902)
5. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) (Gettysburg Address)
6. “(Fascism) grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus (it) is racist by definition… Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside…For (Fascism) there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. because life is permanent warfare…Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic… the Leader, knowing that his power was not delegated to him democratically but was conquered by force, also knows that his force is based upon the weakness of the masses; they are so weak as to need and deserve a ruler… Every subordinate leader despises his own underlings, and each of them despises his inferiors… In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero… The (Fascist) hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. (He) is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death…For (Fascism), however, individuals as individuals have no rights… The leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus “The People” is only a theatrical fiction… All the (Fascist) schoolbooks (make) use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.” - Umberto Eco (1932-2016)
7. On the bridge’s parapet
The heads of the hanged
In the flowing rivulet
The spittle of the hanged.
On the cobbles in the market- places
The fingernails of those lined up and shot
On the dry grass in the open spaces
The broken teeth of those lined up and shot.
Biting the air, biting the stones
Our flesh is no longer human
Biting the air, biting the stones
Our hearts are no longer human.
But we have read into the eyes of the dead
And shall bring freedom on the earth
But clenched tight in the fists of the dead
Lies the justice to be served.
Franco Fortini (1917 –1994) trans. Stephen Sartarelli
8. "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief...The day is short, the labor vast, the toilers idle, the reward great, and the Master of the house is insistent... It is not up to you to finish the work, but you are not free to abandon it." Rabbi Tarfon (Livewd in the range of 70 CE-135 CE) - Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) (part of the Talmud)
9. "Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet." - Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
10. "That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it." - Rabbi Hillel (110 BCE-10 CE) Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
11. "Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence," - George Washington (1732-1799)
12."If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness." - Victor Hugo (1802-1885) (Les Misérables)
13. "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind... As a citizen of Germany, I saw how excessive nationalism can spread like a disease, bringing tragedy to millions.” - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
14. "The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized... But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself... The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves." - Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
15. "Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility." Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976)
16. "Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. " J. R. R. Tolkein (1892-1973) (Gandolf- The Hobbit)
17. "The greatest way to defend democracy is to make it work." – Tommy Douglas (born October 20, 1904-1986)
18. "I don’t think people realize how the establishment became established. They simply stole the land and property of the poor, surrounded themselves with weak-minded sycophants for protection, gave themselves titles and have been wielding power ever since." – Tony Benn (1925-2014)
19. "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Weisel (1928-2016)
20. "When the world is ruled according to the Way, the ghosts lose their power. The ghosts do not really lose their power, but it is not used to harm people." - Lau Tsu (6th Century BCE) [Tao Te Ching chapter 60]
21. "Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and chance the future." Saul Alinsky (1909-1972)
22. The ones who have a voice must speak for those who are voiceless. - Saint Archbisop Oscar Romero (1917-1989)
23. "I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. All this is what constitutes the primal cause, from which the rest flows naturally." - Saint Archbisop Oscar Romero (1917-1989)
24. "If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food. It's a plus for everybody." - Anthony Bourdain (1956 – June 8, 2018)
25. “You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 - January 22, 2018)
26. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority." - John Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902)
27. "A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding the disciple of life." - Lao Tzu (5th century BCE)
28. "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
29. “Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.” - Tommy Douglas (1904-1986)
30. “I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation” - Abigail Adams (1744-1818)
31. "If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it." - Chief Joseph (1840 - 1904)
32. "Money is property; it is not speech. Speech has the power to inspire volunteers to perform a multitude of tasks on a campaign trail, on a battleground, or even on a football field. Money, meanwhile, has the power to pay hired laborers to perform the same tasks. It does not follow, however, that the First Amendment provides the same measure of protection to the use of money to accomplish such goals as it provides to the use of ideas to achieve the same results." Justice John Paul Stevens (1920 - )
33. "You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." - Abbey Hoffman (1936-1989)
35. "I get weary of people who use pessimism to avoid being responsible for all the problems in our culture. A man who says, 'were on the road to disaster' is seldom trying to wrench the wheel away from the driver. I prefer the trouble maker." - Ken Kesey (1956 - 2001)
36. "People often say, with pride, 'I'm not interested in politics.' They might as well say, 'I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future.' ... If we mean to keep any control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics." - Martha Gellhorn (1908 - 1998)
37. "In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics." - Earl Warren (1891 - 1974)
38. "If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable." - Louis D. Brandeis (1856 - 1941)
39. "Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on." - Thurgood Marshall (1908 - 1993)
40. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.” - Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895)
41. "Cultivate a sympathetic heart, humility in dealings, and selflessness in action. If these are practiced with earnestness and sincerity, then you will win the race of life."-- Baba Hari Dass (1923 - September 25, 2018)
42. "I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree with my little hatchet." - George Washington (1732-1799)
43. "I do not hesitate one second to state clearly and unmistakably: I belong to the American resistance movement which fights against American imperialism, just as the resistance movement fought against Hitler." - Paul Robeson (1898 - 1976)
44. "Perhaps the most important thing I learned was about democracy, that democracy is not our government, our constitution, our legal structure. Too often they are enemies of democracy... If democracy were to be given any meaning, if it were to go beyond the limits of capitalism and nationalism, this would not come, if history were any guide, from the top. It would come through citizen's movements, educating, organizing, agitating, striking, boycotting, demonstrating, threatening those in power with disruption of the stability they needed." - Howard Zinn (1922-2010)
45. "We've never had our injustices rectified from the top, from the president or Congress, or the Supreme Court, no matter what we learned in junior high school about how we have three branches of government, and we have checks and balances, and what a lovely system. No. The changes, important changes that we've had in history, have not come from those three branches of government. They have reacted to social movements." - Howard Zinn (1922-2010)
46. “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” - Theodore Roosevelt
47. "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." - Jacques Abbadie (1654-1727)
48. "I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road." - Stephen Hawking (1914-2018)
49. “We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity.” ...In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are... In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly." - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
50. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
51. "Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." - Haile Selassie (1890-1975)
52. “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” ― Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
53. “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” - Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
54. “I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” ― Malcolm X (1925-1965)
55. "The field is the sole governing agency of the particle." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
56. "Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife." - John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
57. “Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.” - Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)
58. "We cannot avoid using power, cannot escape the compulsion to afflict the world, so let us, cautious in diction and mighty in contradiction, love powerfully." - Martin Buber (1878 – 1965)
59. “A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.” - Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)
60. "Change has it's enemies... There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks. They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of a comfortable past which, in fact, never existed." - Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)
61. "My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." -John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
62. "Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff." - Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)
63. “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others... What counts is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” - Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)
64. "In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function. Its deliberative powers are paralyzed." - John Rawls (1921-2002)
65. "Just because you do not take an interest in politics...does not mean that politics won't take an interest in you." - Pericles (494 BC - 429 BC)
66. "When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right." - Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885)
67. “As soon as we start putting our thoughts into words and sentences everything gets distorted, language is just no damn good—I use it because I have to, but I don’t put any trust in it. We never understand each other.” ― Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
68. “Those that never change their mind never change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
69. “The most dangerous revolutions are not those which tear everything down, and cause the streets to run with blood, but those which leave everything standing, while cunningly emptying it of any significance.” - Søren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)
70. “You can no longer save your family, tribe, or nation. You can only save the whole world.” -Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
71. "Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by traveling." -Miguel de Unamuno (1864 - 1936)
72. "We were born to love, and we were born to have the courage for it, so be brave, the rest is easy." -John McCain (1936 - August 25, 2018)
73. "It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a ‘higher standard of living than any have ever known.’ It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary and henceforth unrationalizable as mandated by survival." - Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
74. "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." -Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
75. "The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. … How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!” - Mark Twain (1835-1910)
76. "Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles." Proverbs 24:17 (Derived from 2nd millennium BC Egyptian wisdom)
77. "Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people." - Socrates (Died 399 BC)
78. “Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.” ― Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
79. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
80. "Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development." -Kofi Annan (1938-August 18, 2018)
81. "I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world." -Diogenes (412 BC-323 BC)-
82. “We all require and want respect, man or women, black or white. It’s our basic human right.” - Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)
83. “Yoga believes in transforming the individual before transforming the world. Whatever change we want to happen outside should happen within. If you walk in peace and express that peace in your very life, others will see you and learn something.” -Swami Satchidananda- (1914-2002)
84. "The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual." -Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
85. “If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
86. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -Martin Luther King Jr. (1939-1968)
87. “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
88. “High thoughts must have high language.” -Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC)
89. “Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People. Now our minds are one.” -Iroquois Prayer - From Thankgiving Address that the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) recite whenever they gather. (1722- )
90. “I know not all that will be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.“ -Herman Melville - Moby Dick (1819-1881)
91. "Where there is no vision the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18 (wisdom collected by King Hezekiah- 7th Century BCE)
92. “Unless we love the truth we cannot know it.” - Blaise Pascal - 1623-1662
93. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr. - 1929 - 1968
94. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr. - 1929 - 1968
95. “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis - 1182–1226
96. “The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” - Frederick Douglass - 1818 – 1895
97. “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” ― Fred Rogers
98. "Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All." -Ralph Waldo Emerson- 1803 – 1882 (Similar expressions by Socrates, Plato, Rudolf Steiner, Einstein, etc.)
99. "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
Compiled by Jordan Michels
Suggestions for upcoming days are welcome. Positive messages are preferred. Dead authors and speakers are quoted exclusively. Evoking the ancestors has great power and the old pirate adage that “dead people tell no lies” is true to the degree that they generally have nothing to lose by speaking authentically. Any quotes or comments that are reasonably respectful are welcome in the comments, however. Place suggestions and comments in the comments under the daily quote or in the comments of this page.