Category Archives: Pith

Quotation of the Day

From the opinion page of today’s Miami Herald:

There’s a reason that English is the most widely spoken language on the planet: It’s the most highly adaptable, capable of evolving to meet new needs in the blink of an eye. For example: Just last year, offering mortgages at a cheaper-than-market teaser interest rate with little or no money down was known as “predatory lending.” But conditions changed—specifically, the party occupying the White House—and now we call that style of lending “national policy.”

Hat tip to Reason’s Nick Gillespie.

Putting Religious Intolerance in Proper Context

“It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but not at all important whether or not you believe in God.”

Diderot, in a letter to Voltaire (June 11, 1749).

Legislative Hubris

“Usually a custom refuses to be changed by a law.”

-Will and Ariel Durant, The Age of Voltaire, p.351.

Right Headline, Wrong Reasons

Bush says Congress putting US in danger

He’s right, but not for the reason he thinks:

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
-Mark Twain

Lessons from History

“Adjustment to a changing environment is the essence of life, and its price.”

-Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. 7: The Age of Reason Begins, p. 332

Happy 60th Birthday, P.J. O’Rourke!

A few of his pithier quotations:

“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”

“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.”

“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

“Term limits aren’t enough. We need jail.”

I’m No Anarchist, But…

“The State is said by some to be a ‘necessary evil;’ it must be made unnecessary.”

-Benjamin Tucker

Partisanship

“The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.”

-Plato, Phaedo.