#rates

Socrates: Have you noticed on our journey how often the citizens of this new land remind each other it is a free country? Plato: I have, and think it odd they do this. Socrates: How so, Plato? Plato: It is like reminding a baker he is a baker, or a sculptor he is a sculptor. Socrates: You mean to say if someone is convinced of their trade, they have no need to be reminded. Plato: That is correct. Socrates: I agree. If these citizens were convinced of their freedom, they would not need reminders. ↗

— E.A. Bucchianeri

#civil-liberty #free-country #freedom #freedom-of-thought #gadfly

She found out that having something to do prevented you from feeling seasick, and that even a job like scrubbing a deck could be satisfying, if it was done in a seamanlike way. She was very taken with this notion, and later on she folded the blankets on her bunk in a seamanlike way, and put her possessions in the closet in a seamanlike way, and used 'stow' instead of 'tidy' for the process of doing so. After two days at sea, Lyra decided that this was the life for her. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#pirates #sail #sailing #sea #seafaring

In medieval times, contrary to popular belief, most knights were bandits, mercenaries, lawless brigands, skinners, highwaymen, and thieves. The supposed chivalry of Charlemagne and Roland had as much to do with the majority of medieval knights as the historical Jesus with the temporal riches and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter. Generally accompanied by their immoral entourage or servants, priests, and whores, they went from tourney to tourney like a touring rock and roll band, sports team, or gang of South Sea pirates. Court to court, skirmish to skirmish, rape to rape. Fighting as the noble's substitution for work. ↗

— Tod Wodicka

#brigands #catholic-church #charlemagne #chivalry #highwaymen

Wisdom may begin in wonder, however, it inevitability ends in righteousness (Socrates)." ~R. Alan Woods [2013] ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#righteousness #socrates #wisdom #wonders #r-alan-woods

People desire power. I don't know why they want it so. It seems to me it implies a hugely superior intellect which separates them from most of the populace. ↗

— F. Murray Abraham

#hugely #i #implies #intellect #know

Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling. ↗

— Honore de Balzac

#feeling #paltry #separates #silences #unites

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. ↗

— Maya Angelou

#benefits #found #giver #giving #i

The flaw in the statute is that in all its applications, it operates on a fundamentally mistaken premise that high solicitation costs are an accurate measure of fraud. ↗

— Harry A. Blackmun

#applications #costs #flaw #fraud #fundamentally

No matter what's happening in the Middle East - the Arab Spring, et cetera, the economic challenges, high rates of unemployment - the emotional, critical issue is always the Israeli-Palestinian one. ↗

— King Abdullah II

#arab #cetera #challenges #critical #east

The epic poet collaborates with the spirit of his time in the composition of his work. That is, if he is successful; the time may refuse to work with him, but he may not refuse to work with his time. ↗

— Lascelles Abercrombie

#composition #epic #him #his #may