Kevin Stilley

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July 3, 2013 by kevinstilley

Liberty – select quotes

Liberty & FreedomThere is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
~ John Adams

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue.
~ Samuel Adams

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
~ Samuel Adams

The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants.
~ Bertrand Berere

Liberty: One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.
~ Ambrose Bierce, in The Devil’s Dictionary

The difference between Liberty and liberties is as great as between God and gods.
~ Ludwig Boerne

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
~ Louis D. Brandeis

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
~ Edmund Burke

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
~ Dick Cheney

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
~ John Philpot Curran

A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
~ Baron de Montesquieu

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~ Benjamin Franklin,

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased a the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
~ Patrick Henry

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
~ Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Patriotism does not oblige us to acquiesce in the destruction of liberty. Patriotism obliges us to question it, at least.
~ Wendy Kaminer

Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain.
~ John F. Kennedy

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.
~ D.H. Lawrence, in Classical American Literature

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.
~ Robert J. McCracken

Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
~ H.L. Mencken, Minority Report, 1956

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.
~ H. L. Mencken

Nations grown corrupt
Love bondage more than liberty;
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty.
~John Milton

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.
~ Thomas Paine

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
~ Wendell Phillips

Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches.
~ Will Rogers

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.
~ Theodore Roosevelt

When the People contend for their liberty, they seldom get anything for their Victory but new Masters.
~ George Savile

When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.
~ Dorothy Thompson

It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives.
~ Dorothy Thompson

The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.
~ Daniel Webster

Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose.
~ Simone Weil

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
~ Woodrow Wilson

No nation ancient or modern ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.
~ John P. Zenger

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: America, Blog, democracy, Freedom, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, government, liberty, Politics, Quotes

February 10, 2012 by kevinstilley

Oedipus the King – discussion questions

What were your initial thoughts about the character of Oedipus?  Did your thoughts about him change as you read through the drama?

“Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between a character’s limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant, understands the character’s situation actually to be.” Where do we see dramatic irony in this drama?

Why was Teiresias hesitant to share what he knew about the death of King Laius?

Did Teiresias really believe that it would be better for everyone if truth were to remain undisclosed?  Jocasta also asks Oedipus to stop investigating his lineage (line 1063).  Is truth always best known.  Always best shared?  Is it always best for guilt to be made public?  In government?   In marriage?  In the church?  Is ignorance bliss?  Is bliss the greatest good? 

Oedipus says, “Indeed I am so angry I shall not hold back a jot of what I think.”    Can kings afford to get angry?  Other leaders?  Pastors?  What should leaders do with their anger? [Anger – select quotes]

The Chorus advises Oedipus that “those who are qick of temper are not safe.”  Oedipus responds that plots must be dealt with quickly.  (lines 615-620)  Which one is right?

Teiresias is blind but sees.  Oedipus has eyes but is blind. (line 413)  Why is Oedipus, the man who solved the riddle of the Sphinx, so slow to solve the riddle of his own identity?

At what point does steadfastness and perseverence become mere obstinancy? (line 550)

Creon says to Oedipus, “But do not charge me on obscure opinion without some proof to back it.  It’s not just lightly to count your knaves as honest men, nor honest men as knaves.  To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away, which a man loves the best.”  Have you ever been accused falsely?  Betrayed?  Have you ever accused a friend or family member on the basis of “obscure opinion without some proof to back it?  do you think that this is a major problem in the church?  In politics?  What does the Bible say about this?

What does Creon mean when he says “time in the only test of honest men, one day is space enough to know a rogue”?

Oedipus asks, “Was I not born evil?  Am I not utterly unclean?”  What is the Christian response to these questions?

The Chorus contrasts insolence with eager ambition. (lines 874-884)  Are they opposites? 

Jocasta declares, “Now when we look to him [Oedipus] we are all afraid; he’s pilot of our ship and he is frightened.” (lines 921-922)  Can leaders show fear?

Freud was fascinated with this drama, particularly that element of it described by Jocasta, “As to your mother’s marriage bed, –dont fear it.  Before this, in dreams too, as well as oracles, many a man has lain with his own mother.  But he to whom such tings are nothing bears his life most easily.”  Should we just gag and go on, or is there something  in this that should be considered by us?

Why did Oedipus blind himself?  Do you believe his explanation for why he blinded himself? 

Creon refuses to banish Oedipus until he has consulted the gods.  How does this compare with the manner in which Oedipus governed?  Do you think Creon will prove to be a great leader as he takes over the reigns of government?

The last line of the drama is “Count no mortal happy till he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain.”  Huh?  How does this compare with what Aristotle says about happiness in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics?  With what Solon says about happiness when discoursing with King Croesus?

Who (or what)  is to blame for this great big mess? The gods?  Oedipus?  Jocasta? Fate?  (MSNBC reported that it was George Bush’s fault.)

Where do we see hubris in these lines of text?  Where do we see the conflict between the forces of nomos and physis?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Some notes on Oedipus from Aristotle’s Poetics:

“Reversal of the Situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity. Thus in the Oedipus, the messenger comes to cheer Oedipus and free him from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing who he is, he produces the opposite effect.”

“Recognition, as the name indicates, is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad fortune. The best form of recognition is coincident with a Reversal of the Situation, as in the Oedipus.”

“A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not on the simple but on the complex plan. It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation. It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us. Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy; it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear. Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. A plot of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear; for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune
of a man like ourselves. Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful nor terrible. There remains, then, the character between these two extremes- that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous- a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families.”

“A well-constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue, rather than double as some maintain. The change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad. It should come about as the result not of vice, but of some great error or frailty, in a character either such as we have described, or better rather than worse. The practice of the stage bears out our view. At first the poets recounted any legend that came in their way. Now, the best tragedies are founded on the story of a few houses- on the fortunes of Alcmaeon, Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus, and those others who have done or suffered something terrible. A tragedy, then, to be perfect according to the rules of art should be of this construction.”

“Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes Place. This is the impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is a less artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And since the pleasure which the poet should afford is that which comes from pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality must be impressed upon the incidents.”

Filed Under: Blog, Books, History, Philosophy Tagged With: Family, Freud, government, Oedipus, secrets, Sophocles, truth

May 15, 2011 by kevinstilley

Benjamin Disraeli – select quotes

Every woman should marry, and no man.
~ in Lothair

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?

Little things affect little minds.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

Never complain and never explain.

Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.

We all of us live too much in a circle.

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.

When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Quotes Tagged With: author, Blog, Britain, British History, dandy, England, English, government, leader, Prime Minister, Quotes

December 13, 2009 by kevinstilley

Bureaucracy – select quotes

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.
~ Honore de Balzac

Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element.
~ Rosa Luxemburg

A teacher’s day is half bureaucracy, half crisis, half monotony and one-eighth epiphany. Never mind the arithmetic.
~ Susan Ohanian

My Lord, If I attempted to answer the mass of futile correspondence that surrounds me, I should be debarred from all serious business of campaigning. I must remind your Lordship—for the last time—that so long a I retain and independent position, I shall see that no officer under my command is debarred, by attending to the futile driveling of mere quill-driving in your Lordship’s office, from attending to his first duty—which is, and always has been, so to train the private men under his command that they may, without question, beat any force opposed to them in the field.
~ Duke of Wellington

The growth and prosperity of evangelical institutions during the 1970s and 1980s have brought with them much bureaucracy, and bureaucracy invariably smothers vision, creativity, and even theology. Leadership is now substantially in the hands of the managers, and as a consequence the evangelical capital is not being renewed
~ David Wells

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Filed Under: Blog, Quotes Tagged With: administration, bureaucracy, government, management

November 29, 2009 by kevinstilley

Politics – select quotes

Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.
~ Frank Dane

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~ Charles De Gaulle

He brings disaster upon is nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation.
~ Kahlil Gibran

Sooner or later politics will be faced with the task of finding a new postmodern face. A politician must become a person again, someone who trusts not only scientific representation and analysis of the world, but also the world itself. He must believe not only in sociological statistics but also in real people. He must trust not only an objective interpretation of reality, but also his own soul; no only an adopted ideology, but also his own thoughts; not only the summary reports he receives each morning, but also his own feelings.
~ Vaclav Havel, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in 1995

Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody’s politics – not now, not ever.
~ Mike Huckabee

If you truly wished to find out what is best for the country you would listen more to those who oppose you than those who try to please you.
~ Isocrates

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
~ Abraham Lincoln

We learned once and for all that compromise makes a good umbrella but a por roof; that it is a temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship.
~ James Russell Lowell

Being in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enought to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it’s important.
~ Eugene McCarthy

A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
~ H. L. Mencken

All politics is local.
~ Tip O’Neill

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.
~ Margaret Thatcher

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.
~ Fred Thompson

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself.
~ Mark Twain

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.
~ Kurt Vonnegut

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Politics, Quotes Tagged With: Blog, campain, Democrat, election, government, Politics, Quotes, Republican, statesman

November 6, 2009 by kevinstilley

Economics – select quotes

Government can’t give us anything without depriving us of something else.
~ Henry Hazlitt

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Filed Under: Blog, Politics, Quotes Tagged With: economics, government, Pulic Policy, quotations, quote

October 19, 2009 by kevinstilley

Constitution Of The United States – Quotes

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
~ John Adams

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November 1, 2008 by kevinstilley

Voting Trivia

Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote.

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Book Cover

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: American History, Blog, government, Politics, suffrage, Trivia, voting

June 6, 2008 by kevinstilley

Government – Select Quotes

Government Quotes

Click on image

The worst thing in the world next to anarchy, is government.
~ Henry Ward Beecher, in Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1867

In its reality, the state is always organized selfishness.
~ Emil Brunner, in The Divine Imperative (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1947) page 460

What can be more noble than the government of the state by virtue? For then the man who rules others is not himself a slave to any passion, but has already acquired for himself all those qualities to which he is training and summoning his fellows. such a man imposes no laws upon th epopple that he does not obey himself, but puts his own life before his fellow-citizens as their law.
~ Cicero, in Republic

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
~ Gerald R. Ford, in Time magazine November 8, 1976

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Quotes Tagged With: anarchy, Blog, bureaucracy, Christianity, civil, democracy, God, government, justice, law, limited, Quotes, republic, selfishness, taxes, tyranny

May 22, 2008 by kevinstilley

Browsing Liberal Fascism

The booksellers at Borders and Barnes & Noble probably hate to see me coming in the door. I get a cup of coffee and spend hours browsing, and reading, and browsing, and reading, and ….

… and then, as often as not, I go home and buy what I want from Amazon.

Well, the other day I was in a B&N in Lewisville and started my usual browsing, reading, browsing eternal circle. However, I didn’t get far. I picked up Jonah Goldberg’s new book Liberal Fascism and was hooked. I never got away from it. As a teacher of Western Civilization I love to see an author critically, creatively and candidly dealing with the past. This is that kind of book.

Rich Karlgaard share his thoughts about the book in his recent Forbes column. Here is an excerpt:

Liberal Fascism is a must-read in this age of creeping statism–which one worries may advance with greater speed after November. Goldberg’s book is an alternative tour through the murderous 20th century, during which 100 million people were extinguished by their own governments and billions more had their liberties curtailed.

Goldberg debunks the widely held view that communism was the opposite of fascism. In fact, the only thing that separated the two main branches of 20th-century totalitarianism was that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was born of an international movement while the National Socialist German Workers Party was explicitly nationalist.

Both cancers were inspired by Karl Marx. Both asserted the need for a “new man” torn from religion. In his youth, writes Goldberg, “Hitler often stayed up nights writing plays about pagan Bavarians bravely fighting off Christian priests trying to impose foreign beliefs on Teutonic civilization.” Hitler also hated capitalism as much as Lenin, though Hitler was better at bending it for his own purposes.

In the U.S., “fascism lite” was embraced by Teddy Roosevelt, and much more so by the Woodrow Wilson Administration. Wilson himself wrote, in a graduate school thesis called “Congressional Government,” “I cannot imagine power as a thing negative and not positive.” He wrote in another thesis, called “The State,” “Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand.”

Youthful hyperbole? Hardly. Campaigning for president in 1912, Wilson said, “While we are followers of Jefferson, there is one principle of Jefferson’s which no longer can obtain in the practical politics of America. You know that it is Jefferson who said that the best government is which does as little governing as possible … But that time is passed. America is not now and cannot in the future be a place for unrestricted individual enterprise.”

Such words, of course, cleared the ground for FDR’s expansive government policies in the 1930s and 1940s and later for Nixon’s wage and price controls.

Every good history tells you something you didn’t know….

While I read the book at B&N I found plenty that I didn’t know. In fact, I just might have to order it from Amazon.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Blog, Books, democrats, Germany, government, Politics, Republicans, Russia

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