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June 28, 2005
bob dylan
the times they are a a changin'
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Posted by ali at 6:59 PM | TrackBack
June 26, 2005
machiavelli
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
--niccolo machiavelli, the prince
Posted by ali at 12:30 PM | TrackBack
June 23, 2005
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Posted by ali at 11:43 PM | TrackBack
June 21, 2005
machiavelli
There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless.
--niccolo machiavelli
Posted by ali at 12:32 PM | TrackBack
June 19, 2005
walden
quotations from walden
"But lo! Men have become the tools of their tools."
"We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb."
"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end."
"In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime. It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the seat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do."
"There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted."
"A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much."
"As long as possible live free and uncommitted."
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
"There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man, but it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it."
"After the first blush of sin, comes its indifference."
"Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects and obtains them for him; and it was certainly no great virtue to obtain them."
--henry david thoreau
Posted by ali at 5:29 PM | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
gladiator
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
--russell crowe from gladiator
Posted by ali at 9:18 PM | TrackBack
June 10, 2005
values, principles, maxims
a person who chooses to die or to risk death demonstrates that there are values, principles, maxims, that are more valuable to him than is life itself. In short, he places his immortal self above his mortal self.
--henry david thoreau
Posted by ali at 5:44 PM | TrackBack
June 9, 2005
mark twain
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man
--mark twain
Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.
--mark twain
Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
--mark twain
Posted by ali at 5:42 PM | TrackBack
June 7, 2005
cookies
Cookies
At an airport one night
With several long hours
Before her flight.
She hunted for a book
In an airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies
And found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book
But happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her,
As bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two
>From the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore
To avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies
And watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
Diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated
As the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice,
I would blacken his eye."
With each cookie she took,
He took one too,
When only one was left,
She wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face,
And a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie
And broke it in half.
He offered her half,
As he ate the other,
She snatched it from him
And thought....ooh, brother!
This guy had some nerve
And he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show
Any gratitude!
She had never known
When she'd been so galled,
And sighed with relief
When her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings
And headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back
At the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane,
And sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book,
Which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage,
She gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies,
In front of her eyes.
If mine are here,
She moaned in despair,
The others were his,
And he tried to share.
Too late to apologize,
She realized with grief,
That she was the rude one,
The ingrate, the thief!
--Unknown
Posted by ali at 5:36 PM | TrackBack
June 5, 2005
prophet muhammad (PBUH)
The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.
-- prophet muhammad
All actions are judged by the motives prompting them.
-- prophet muhammad
This world is a prison for the Faithful, but a Paradise for unbelievers.
-- prophet muhammad
Posted by ali at 8:35 PM | TrackBack
June 4, 2005
ernest hemingway
A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
-- Ernest Hemingway
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
-- Ernest Hemingway
Definition of courage: 'Grace under pressure.'
-- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Posted by ali at 4:22 PM | TrackBack
June 3, 2005
malcolm x at uc berkeley (video)
malcolm x: interview with Herman Blake, sociology department, UC Berkeley, - Oct. 11, 1963 [Video]
part one
part two
part three
part four
part five
part six
part seven
Posted by ali at 12:45 PM | TrackBack
June 2, 2005
victim of americanism
"I’m one of the 22 million black victims of the democrats, one of the 22 million black victims of the republicans and one of the 22 million black victims of Americanism. And When I speak I don’t speak as a democrat or a republican, nor an American. I speak as the victim of America’s so called democracy. You and I have never seen democracy, all we’ve seen is hypocrisy. When we open our eyes and look around America we see America not through the eyes of someone who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism; we see America throughout the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don’t see any American dream; we’ve experienced only the American nightmare. We haven’t benefited from America’s democracy; we’ve only suffered from America’s hypocrisy."
-- Malcolm X
Posted by ali at 9:23 PM | TrackBack
June 1, 2005
muhammad ali
I am the greatest.
--Muhammad Ali
It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I just beat people up
--Muhammad Ali
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth
--Muhammad Ali
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
--Muhammad Ali
I always liked to chase the girls. Parkinson's stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven.
--Muhammad Ali
The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
--Muhammad Ali