Quotes

My favorite Quotes:

The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~Alfred Whitney Griswold

Patriotism:

Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions." Sir Leslie Stephen

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder.... the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish their corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace....They are continually talking about their patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. Eugene V. Debs

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong: James Bryce

Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive: Henry Steele Commager - (1902-1998) Historian and author

War:

first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost. : Karl Kraus (1874–1936)

Silence

All problems and conflicts have a singular root: Words. The words we choose can mess up or turn things around. The relationship between spouses, families, nations and governments hinge on Words. The words of the Pope, words of our President or words of Ahmedinejad can be revised and re-written to mitigate the conflict and emotions. – Mike Ghouse

Dialogue with Extremists

Isolation will not work, the more you corner the extremists, the stronger "you" make them. We need to give them choices and not limit them with a determination to destroy themselves and the world around them – Mike Ghouse

Cushioning the Differences

Through the years we have expressed the highest degree of maturity on handling extreme situations; the more divergent opinions we hear, the larger our heart grows, the bigger our embrace would be and we can cushion more differences – Mike Ghouse

Confidence of Monkeys
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

Vision

A VISION is not a project report or a plan target. It is an articulation of the desired end results in broader terms.- Dr.A.P.J.Kalam

Evil Silence

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph: Haile Selassie

"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country - if the people lose their confidence in themselves - and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance. - Walt Whitman

Stroking the good If you want a better society around you...just keep stroking the good in others.- Mike Ghouse

Religion
The very purpose of religion is to give a sense of balance to an individual and then create that symbiotic balance between the individual and what is around him or her. We are better off today because of religion, the evil men would be evil no matter what religion they wore - Mike Ghouse

Source of Goodwill
Each one of us needs to be the 'source' of goodwill to bring that equilibrium. You and I are not safe if the world around us isn't. All change begins with you and me. And I pledge that whatever I do, I will do it to bind people together, and will be a source of goodwill.

Level Playing Field

Peace and prosperity of our World hinges on justice and plurality, absence or deficiency of it will cause the BUS to slow down. It is in the interests of Community of the Nations to bring up the people in ditches on to a level playing field, and let them compete from that point forward. Imagine each community to be a tire of the bus, if all the tires have adequate air pressure, the smoothness of the journey is certain, assured and safe.

Spirituality
Spirituality and Arrogance are mutually exclusive.Spirituality and Humility are directly proportional to each other, greater humility = greater spirituality.The greater the humility the lesser the conflict in society.