#iv

When distinction of any kind, even intellectual distinction, is somehow resented as a betrayal of the American spirit of equal opportunity for all, the result must be just this terror of individualistic impulses setting us apart, either above or below our neighbours; just this determination to obey without questioning and to subscribe with passion to the conventions and traditions. The dilemma becomes a very real one: How can this sense of democratic equality be made compatible with respect for exceptional personalities or great minds? How can democracy, as we understand it today, with its iron repression of the free spirit, its monotonous standardisation of everything, learn to cherish an intellectual aristocracy without which any nation runs the risk of becoming a civilisation of the commonplace and the second-rate? ↗

— Harold Edmund Stearns

#civilization #conventions #distinction #equality #individualism

When asked what gave her the strength and commitment to refuse segregation, (Rosa) Parks credited her mother and grandfather "for giving me the spirit of freedom... that I should not feel because of my race or color, inferior to any person. That I should do my very best to be a respectable person, to respect myself, to expect respect from others. ↗

— Jeanne Theoharis

#equal-rights #equality #inspirational #rosa-parks #equality

My childhood beliefs became so much a part of me that even today I find myself automatically living by a personal standard of conduct which can only be explained as resulting from my religious training. ↗

— Robert Vaughn

#became #beliefs #childhood #conduct #even

I was never that much a focus of interest in my career. I'm aware of that now, which doesn't give me a lot of pleasure. ↗

— Harrison Ford

#career #focus #give #give me #i

It took me a long time to figure out how to act, and how to conduct myself in the business so I could get what I felt I needed to support my potential and give them what they wanted. ↗

— Harrison Ford

#business #conduct #could #felt #figure

It's better for me to play with guys because Rock 'n' Roll has such an aggressive attitude. ↗

— Lita Ford

#attitude #because #better #guys #me

The day after the prison was transferred to the military intelligence command, they had an entire battalion - 1,200, 1,500 soldiers - arrive at Abu Ghraib just for force protection alone. ↗

— Janis Karpinski

#after #alone #arrive #battalion #command

The mission statement was ordered, and it sent the 800th MP Brigade, effective the first of July, up to Baghdad. I joined my brigade to take command at the end of June. ↗

— Janis Karpinski

#brigade #command #effective #end #first

People tell me they laughed hard enough to wake their spouses, that they've given away numerous copies to friends, and that it's the one Trek book they'll give to people they wouldn't expect to like others. ↗

— John M. Ford

#book #copies #enough #expect #friends

Judaism is much more communal, and partly as a consequence of my religious switch, I am increasingly more suspicous of my previous view that what people do in the privacy of their own home is their business alone. ↗

— Luke Ford

#am #business #communal #consequence #home