This week I'm doing something a bit different in order to jazz up this column space and keep you interested in coming back for more.
This past weekend I did this on my You Tube video channel during a live gig and I have to admit, it was rather fun.
I'm going to put quotes in this space with a number beside each and you get to guess who said it! Isn't that super fun? You can even participate with a pen/pencil and a piece of paper. I will gently yet effectively plunk the answers somewhere either below or in some other region. (Actually the boss will be carrying out the plunking details.) You may NOT cheat during this by reaching for a computer or a cell phone. I can always spot a cheater.
I called this “Fun with Quotes” but some might think a better title is something like, “Punishment with Quotes.” I just thought this was sort of interesting because we oft' don't picture certain quotes exiting the mouths of particular people. I was surprised over some of them and my viewers were as well.
Without further blather, here we go: (Oh, I'm not going to bother with actual quotation marks so forgive me in advance for my lack of concern over this very pressing grammatical decision.)
1. Fascism is capitalism in decay.
2. If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism, we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.
3. Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex.
4. A lie told often enough become truth.
5. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.
6. If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.
7. I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. It exists when people liberate themselves.
8. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
9. Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
10. The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.
11. Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
12. The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
13. The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
14. Each person must live their life as a model for others.
15. When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.
16. I try to live my life every day in the present and try not to turn a blind eye to injustice and need.
17. Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.
18. Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the senior prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts. Some of you like pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read. Forget I mentioned it. This song has no message. Rise for the flag salute.
19. Their stupidity does not amaze me, it's when they are smart that amazes me. It's baffling whenever you find someone who's smart—incredible. Soon you will have zoos for such things.
20. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows them like a never-departing shadow.
21. What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
22. Human decency is not derived from religion, it proceeds it.
23. To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?
24. Everybody does have a book in them but in most cases, that's where it should stay.
25. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
26. Please drop your political identities and leave labels at the door.
27. Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results but that's not why we do it.
28. Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.
29. Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined irreverent and original manner possible.
30. The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.
31. A mountain has no need for people, but people need mountains. We go to them for their beauty, for the exhilaration of standing closer to mysterious skies, for the feeling of triumph that comes from having labored to reach a summit.
32. I've had a charmed life; I've known people who have been depressed, I've never had that.
33. The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm here from the government and I'm here to help.
34. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
35. When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Now wasn't that delightfully fun? Come on and just pretend like you enjoyed it. With that, I'm off and running to do something, even if it's wrong.
THE END (Interstate Crosscheck – AIPAC – geoengineeringwatch.org)
Answers: 1, 2, 4 & 5 – Vlad Lenin; 3 – Karl Marx; 6 & 7 – Che Guevara; 8 – Thomas Jefferson; 9, 10 & 11 – George Orwell; 12 – Thomas Paine; 13 & 14 – Rosa Parks; 15 & 16 – Susan Sarandon; 17, 18 & 19 – Frank Zappa; 20 – The Buddha; 21 – 24 – Christopher Hitchens; 25 – Jesus; 26 – Lisa Houserman; 27 – 29 – Richard Feynman; 30 – Laura Ingalls Wilder; 31 & 32 – Earl Hamner Jr. (By the by, my father Blaine Houserman basically said the same thing as number 32 during his fun-filled life.) 33 – Ronald Reagan; 34 & 35 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt.