Quotations

The theoreticians of religion know that it is impossible to prohibit thought. They do not expect the ban on sexual thoughts to be obeyed. Their purpose is not to abolish such thoughts, but to induce guilt -- and to undercut man's self-esteem.
-- Ayn Rand, "Thought Control"

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.
-- Sam Rayburn

Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.
-- F. J. Raymond

Boy, after seeing Rambo last night, I know what to do the next time this happens.
-- Ronald Reagan

Nuclear war would be the greatest tragedy, I think, ever experienced by mankind in the history of mankind.
-- Ronald Reagan

If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
-- Ronald Reagan

Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
-- Ronald Reagan

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where Government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves
-- Ronald Reagan

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.
-- Ronald Reagan

The test of pleasure is the memory it leaves behind.
-- Jean-Paul Richter

Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do.
-- Edgar F. Roberts

Does the government have any idea how long it will take to get the Virgins back on their feet?
-- John Roberts, about Hurricane Marilyn and the Virgin Islands

The net of law is spread so wide,
No sinner from its sweep may hide.
Its meshes are so fine and strong,
They take in every child of wrong.
O wondrous web of mystery!
Big fish alone escape from thee!
-- James Jeffrey Roche

Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
-- Frangois de La Rochefoucauld

I guess the only way to stop divorce is to stop marriage.
-- Will Rogers

There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.
-- Will Rogers

Liberty doesn't work as well in practice as it does in speeches.
-- Will Rogers

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
-- Will Rogers

There's no trick to being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.
-- Will Rogers

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

I have seen war... I hate war.
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936.

War is a contagion.
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937.

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 11, 1941.

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941.

More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars.
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 13, 1945.

Our society has embraced the bloodthirstiness of trial law like no other. In a courtroom, one can reap the benefits of total war without the bloodshed. You can destroy another's freedom, their ability to earn money, retain property, or keep their families. A Court Order to have one's fields sown with salt doesn't seem that far fetched to me.
-- Scott Ruggels

When powerful men abuse it, the law becomes an offensive weapon for them and a shield against the weak, and the pretext of public security is always the most dangerous scourge of the people.
-- Rousseau

War, the needy bankrupt's last resort.
-- Rowe, 'Pharsalia,' Bk. I. 343.

Husband: what is left of the lover after the nerve has been extracted.
-- Helen Rowland

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
-- Bertrand Russell

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
-- Bertrand Russell

Most people would rather die than think: many do.
-- Bertrand Russell

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible.
-- Bertrand Russell "Marriage and Morals" (1929)

What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with the belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer.
-- Bertrand Russell

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