#sit

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#peace #tolerance #diversity

Never judge someone By the way he looks Or a book by the way it's covered; For inside those tattered pages, There's a lot to be discovered ↗

— Stephen Cosgrove

#lesson #tolerance #diversity

I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land--every color, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike--all snored in the same language. ↗

— Malcolm X

#humanity #language #snoring #tolerance #diversity

Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me. ↗

— Carlos Fuentes

#immigration #refugees #diversity

Who was it who said, "I hold the buying of more books than one can peradventure read, as nothing less than the soul's reaching towards infinity; which is the only thing that raises us above the beasts that perish?" Whoever it was, I agree with him. ↗

— A. Edward Newton

#buying-books #infinity #reading #soul #diversity

And then a scholar said, "Speak of talking." And he answered, saying: "And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime. ↗

— Kahlil Gibran

#diversity

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use. ↗

— Emily Post

#feelings #fork #good #good manners #manners

I am often described to my irritation as a 'contrarian' and even had the title inflicted on me by the publisher of one of my early books. (At least on that occasion I lived up to the title by ridiculing the word in my introduction to the book's first chapter.) It is actually a pity that our culture doesn't have a good vernacular word for an oppositionist or even for someone who tries to do his own thinking: the word 'dissident' can't be self-conferred because it is really a title of honor that has to be won or earned, while terms like 'gadfly' or 'maverick' are somehow trivial and condescending as well as over-full of self-regard. And I've lost count of the number of memoirs by old comrades or ex-comrades that have titles like 'Against the Stream,' 'Against the Current,' 'Minority of One,' 'Breaking Ranks' and so forth—all of them lending point to Harold Rosenberg's withering remark about 'the herd of independent minds.' Even when I was quite young I disliked being called a 'rebel': it seemed to make the patronizing suggestion that 'questioning authority' was part of a 'phase' through which I would naturally go. On the contrary, I was a relatively well-behaved and well-mannered boy, and chose my battles with some deliberation rather than just thinking with my hormones. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#contrarianism #dissent #dissidents #free-thought #harold-rosenberg

(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution. ↗

— J.M. Coetzee

#guilt #kindness #retribution #guilt

It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that. ↗

— Tove Jansson

#curiosity