If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who rest assured are not dumb and are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible psychological reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV Spring Break on Primary Day. By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.
— David Foster Wallace, Rolling Stone, April 13, 2000
- Jeffery:
- Aren’t you supposed to be straight — and celibate?
- Father Dan:
- Maybe you didn’t hear me. I’m a Cath-o-lic priest. Historically, that falls somewhere between chorus boy and florist.
— Steven Weber and Nathan Lane; Jeffery
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
— Daniel Webster
Well, you could probably do my taxes with a regular expression, but the rest of us still need nested if’s
— Joe Wells
A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.
— Alfred E. Wiggam
Football combines two of the worst things about American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.
— George Will
There are two visions of America. One precedes our founding fathers and finds its roots in the harshness of our puritan past. It is very suspicious of freedom, uncomfortable with diversity, hostile to science, unfriendly to reason, contemptuous of personal autonomy. It sees America as a religious nation. It views patriotism as allegiance to God. It secretly adores coercion and conformity. Despite our Constitution, despite the legacy of the Enlightenment, it appeals to millions of Americans and threatens our freedom.
The other vision finds its roots in the spirit of our founding revolution and in the leaders of this nation who embraced the age of reason. It loves freedom, encourages diversity, embraces science and affirms the dignity and rights of every individual. It sees America as a moral nation, neither completely religious nor completely secular. It defines patriotism as love of country and of the people who make it strong. It defends all citizens against unjust coercion and irrational conformity.
This second vision is our vision. It is the vision of a free society. We must be bold enough to proclaim it and strong enough to defend it against all its enemies.
— Rabbi Sherwin Wine
… Illusions are the most valuable and necessary of all things, and she who can create one is among the world’s greatest benefactors.
— Virginia Woolf, Orlando