Ryszard Kapuscinski Nationalism cannot exist in a conflict-free condition; it cannot exist as a thing devoid of grudges and claims. Wherever the nationalism of one group rears its head, immediately, as if from beneath the ground, this group's enemies will spring up.
Edward R. Murrow Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
Mark Twain No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.
Frederic Bastiat And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty.
Peter Hain People are uniting behind Gordon whether they are Blairites, Brownites or Nothingites like me.
AA Gill But don’t for a moment imagine that the bicycle-riding, organic-hedgerow-grazing, self-denying, 40-watt miserablists are in fact selfless crusaders for the common good. Never underestimate the sustaining pleasure in a hair shirt. Just look at George Monbiot, and witness a man who couldn’t be happier about the imminent demise of life as we know it. It’s given him purpose, prestige and celebrity: without global warming he’d be a geography teacher.
John W. Gardner The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
Gary Bushell The Green Party will go from green to red faster than a frog in a blender.
Tom Paine Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.
The Tin Drummer It was a brilliantly thoughtful post on atheism which first drew Tom Paine to my attention and since then he has continued to inspire, with his well-reasoned and often furious posts on politics. His devotion to his series of testimonials has revealed a keen eye for character and a real interest in the motivations of the bloggers he writes about. A class writer and thinker.
James Higham Whilst bloggers like yours truly are rabbiting on twenty words to the dozen, Tom is taking it all in, rarely commenting and then coming out with sheer common sense, whatever the topic. You need to know what you’re talking about when you approach Mr. Paine and I strongly suspect there’s a wealth of life experience tucked away behind that moniker and it comes through in his support of good causes. Little wonder Tom is on most of the A list blogrolls and all of ours as well.
From time to time I will upload photos of Russia and in particular my "home town", Moscow. It is an amazing city, more New York than Paris, but beautiful at times in an anarchic way. You can't have so many people living in one place without interesting things happening.
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