#dent

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste. ↗

— Voltaire

#books #fame #independent-thought #judgment #opinions

It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..." "You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?" "No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people." "Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy." "I did," said Ford. "It is." "So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?" "It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want." "You mean they actually vote for the lizards?" "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course." "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?" "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?" "What?" "I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?" "I'll look. Tell me about the lizards." Ford shrugged again. "Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it." "But that's terrible," said Arthur. "Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#democracy #ford-prefect #h #humor

The American President resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek. ↗

— Henry Adams

#american president #commander #course #grasp #helm

Definition of an independent film is torture with less money and time. ↗

— Joey Lauren Adams

#film #independent #independent film #less #money

I have witnessed how education opens doors, and I know that when sound instruction takes place, students experience the joys of new-found knowledge and the ability to excel. ↗

— Daniel Akaka

#doors #education #excel #experience #how

A true teacher defends his students against his own personal influences. ↗

— Amos Bronson Alcott

#against #defends #his #influences #own

I am a writer and always was; being a writer is an integral part of my identity. Being published, being well regarded, is a component of that identity. ↗

— Brian Aldiss

#am #being #component #i #i am

Our spirit is not dependent on the brain or body. It is eternal, and no one has one sentence worth of hard evidence that it isn't. ↗

— Eben Alexander

#brain #dependent #eternal #evidence #hard

I think back a little bit when President Bush was elected President and what kind of economy he inherited from the Clinton administration. The economy was going down. It was not doing well. ↗

— Wayne Allard

#back #bit #bush #clinton #clinton administration

The vice-president of an advertising agency is a bit of executive fungus that forms on a desk that has been exposed to conference. ↗

— Fred Allen

#advertising agency #agency #been #bit #conference