#ensure

No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however flagrant, and the easiness with which they pardon them, however frequently repeated. ↗

— Samuel Johnson

#character-flaws #criticism #double-standards #faults #men

It follows that the one thing we should not do to the men and women of past time, and particularly if they ghost through to us as larger than life, is to take them out of their historical contexts. To do so is to run the risk of turning them into monsters, whom we can denounce for our (frequently political) motives—an insidious game, because we are condemning in their make-up that which is likely to belong to a whole social world, the world that helped to fashion them and that is deviously reflected or distorted in them. Censure of this sort is the work of petty moralists and propagandists, not historians (p. 5). ↗

— Lauro Martines

#context #historians #history #memory #moralists

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution. ↗

— Joseph Addison

#age #antiquity #censure #eminent #escaping

I'll continue to work to ensure that safety and I am honored to have earned the endorsement of the men and women who provide public safety in our city. ↗

— Alan Autry

#city #continue #earned #endorsement #ensure

I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure. ↗

— Mikhail Bakunin

#censure #character #criticism #freely #i

There is a requirement to ensure the withdrawal takes place in a civilized manner. We will be able to show the world we deserve independence and freedom. ↗

— Mahmoud Abbas

#civilized #deserve #ensure #freedom #independence

Neophyte writers tend to believe that there is something magical about ideas and that if they can just get a hold of a good one, then their futures are ensured. ↗

— Lynn Abbey

#believe #ensured #futures #get #good

Clearly the Secretary of Defense, my boss, would like nothing better than to get Osama bin Laden and to get... to ensure the complete defeat of al-Qaida, because we know that al-Qaida is planning operations against the United States even as we speak here. ↗

— John Abizaid

#because #better #bin #boss #clearly

We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government. ↗

— John Abizaid

#challenges #enough #ensure #forces #good

Whether people care enough about local news to pay for it is, sadly, an entirely different question than whether our democracy requires a strong watchdog function at the local level to ensure safeguards against abuse, chicanery, and outright dishonesty. ↗

— Eric Alterman

#abuse #against #care #chicanery #democracy