#rests

I was astonished, bewildered. This was America, a country where, whatever its faults, people could speak, write, assemble, demonstrate without fear. It was in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. We were a democracy... But I knew it wasn't a dream; there was a painful lump on the side of my head... The state and its police were not neutral referees in a society of contending interests. They were on the side of the rich and powerful. Free speech? Try it and the police will be there with their horses, their clubs, their guns, to stop you. From that moment on, I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy. I was a radical, believing that something fundamental was wrong in this country--not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of black people, but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society--cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian. ↗

— Howard Zinn

#authoritarianism #bill-of-rights #constitution #democracy #egalitarianism

Sam loved to listen to music and make his own songs, to wear soft velvets, to play in the castle kitchen beside the cooks, drinking in the rich smells as he snitched lemon cakes and blueberry tarts. His passions were books and kittens and dancing, clumsy as he was. ↗

— George R.R. Martin

#interests #passions #love

It came as a great shock to me when I heard that England and Soviet Russia had become allies. So much so that I thought that the people responsible in London were acting in a manner that no longer coincided with British imperial interests. ↗

— John Amery

#allies #become #british #came #england

Millions of Americans each year use our national forests to go hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, swimming, horseback riding, and canoeing. ↗

— Ric Keller

#each #fishing #forests #go #hiking

They thought we were going to hurt the game, but we just wanted to help ourselves, because the players needed to get together to protect their interests. ↗

— Ted Lindsay

#game #get #get together #going #help

I'm convinced that unless you have some public financing of elections, you are never going to remove the power of wealthy interests over elected officials. ↗

— Dick Murphy

#elected #elected officials #elections #financing #going

I'm not going to rule out running for a second term. But, I think you have to be psychologically prepared to walk away from the job after four years. It's the only way that you cannot be influenced by those special interests. ↗

— Dick Murphy

#away #cannot #four #going #i

I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States. ↗

— Vladimir Putin

#believe #genuine #i #i believe #i believe the

Strength of mind rests in sobriety; for this keeps your reason unclouded by passion. ↗

— Pythagoras

#mind #passion #reason #rests #sobriety

My fundamental interests are to preserve the good name and standing of this Australian Labor Party and to act in the national interest on behalf of the Australian Government. ↗

— Kevin Rudd

#australian #behalf #fundamental #good #government