Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote."
-- Senator John Kerry, on Meet the Press, today.

"I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.

"Forced upon me, can't refuse it.
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it.
But it's up to me
to use it.

"I must suffer if I lose it.
Give account if I abuse it.

"Just a tiny little minute,
but eternity is in it."

-- Anonymous

“I graduated from a special school. Auschwitz was the name. Four years I spent there... All my days were nights. Everything that was near and dear to me they took. There is only one thing worse than Auschwitz itself, and that is if the world forgets there was such a place.”
-- Henry Appel, Holocaust survivor, as quoted by Echt Emmy.

"Let me put this as bluntly as I can: There is nothing that the Europeans want to hear from George Bush, there is nothing that they will listen to from George Bush that will change their minds about him or the Iraq war or U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Bush is more widely and deeply disliked in Europe than any U.S. president in history. Some people here must have a good thing to say about him, but I haven't met them yet."
-- Thomas L. Friedman, Op-ed piece titled Read My Ears, The New York Times

"Anytime we lose lives, it is a sad moment."
-- President George W. Bush, on the topic of a Marine Corps transport helicopter crashing in Iraq earlier today, and killing all 31 US marines aboard, marking the biggest single day loss of US troops since the 2003 invasion.


Image from MSNBC.

"To be yourself in a world that tries night and day, to make you just like everybody else, is to fight the greatest battle there ever is to fight and never stop fighting."
-- e. e. cummings

“I’ll be right back.”
-- Johnny Carson, 1925-2004, with the line he once said should be his epitaph, as quoted by Richard Severo in The New York Times.


(Image from TV Rundown).

"Either they believe in me, trust me, and are willing to take the risk that I will deliver success, or they don't. It's that simple. There's no haggling. I don't negotiate."
-- Michael Bloomberg, in his autobiography Bloomberg by Bloomberg.


Image from The City Review.

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water".
-- Carl Reiner

"You are what you eat, what you think and what you read."
-- Anonymous

"Traditionally the president's inaugural committee pays for these expenses; this time around it's stiffing the District of Columbia with a 12 million dollar security bill -- just their way of saying 'thank you' to the community that went nine-to-one for the president's opponent."
-- Jon Stewart, regarding security expenses for Bush's second inauguration, today.


Image from MTR.

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
-- Joseph Campbell

"You grab hold of one of those jobs, you don't want to let go."
-- Ruth Warrick, 1916-2005, in an obituary in the The New York Times by David Carr.


(Image from Gone Movies).

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.


Image from CNN.

"As a personal fitness trainer, I have to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. to make my early-morning appointments. To get out the door more quickly, I have dedicated certain parts of my shelves to specific days of the week. When I remove things from my backpack at night, I place each item on the appropriate shelf (shown). If I won’t be seeing Monday’s client again until Thursday, her chart and equipment are placed in Thursday’s section. My wallet, transit card, and cell phone have a designated spot. I even have a “take care of me” bag, which contains sample-size cosmetics like hand lotion that I can apply during downtime or on the morning train."
--­ Michelle Adams, 46, Rahway, New Jersey in Real Simple.

"My husband, Steve, sets up his breakfast cereal before he goes to bed. He measures out water and kasha next to the stove so when he wakes up, all he has to do is dump the ingredients into the pot and light the flame. Even though it doesn’t take long to set up, it’s still one less thing he has to think about at 5:30, when he’s getting ready to leave the house".
­Erika Bleiberg, 44, Glen Ridge, New Jersey in Real Simple.

"Each night I write down no more than five things I want to accomplish the next day. This takes discipline, because it seems like I should be able to do so much more, but I know myself and how I work. And I know that I’ll be fielding phone calls and e-mails all day long. It’s psychological: If I get five out of 10 things done, I just get frustrated. But if I get five out of five, I’m batting a thousand."
— Tera Leigh, 39, Wrightwood, California in Real Simple.

"I am very sorry if I have caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize"
-- Prince Harry, in a statement.

"Tonight eat only half the dessert. And then go out and walk around the block. And if you are going to watch television get down and do 10 push-ups and five sit-ups."
-- Tommy Thompson, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, on new diet guidelines released yesterday.

"I have been here through good times and not so good times. I have seen us overcome adversity before... I am convinced we can do so again. That must be our focus and priority... Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report, I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind."
-- Dan Rather


Image from PBS.

"The Social Security scare is a standard Bush administration tactic: invent a fake crisis to get what you want."
-- Paul Krugman, The New York Times.

"I love you all. It's been the best year of my life. Thank you."
-- Idina Menzel


Image from BroadwayToVegas.com

"Religion is for people who are afraid of hell and spirituality is for people who have already been through hell."
— Anonymous

"We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate... For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media... This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another."
-- Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, in a joint statement released by Pitt's publicist.

"No question, New Yorkers have opened their hearts and their wallets for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. That much would be obvious even without the 'aren't we wonderful?' chest thumping that some politicians and newspapers find irresistable... But what happens once the crisis fades and public attention, ever fickle, drifts to the next big thing? Will donor fatigue set in? If so, will inevitable losers be the luckless of New York: the poor and the sick, the old and the forgotten, whose suffering is real but not nearly as graphic as southern Asia's heartbreak?"
-- Clyde Haberman, The New York Times, today.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".
-- Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen, As quoted on Echt.

"I have been in war and I have been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this....I cannot begin to imagine the horror that went through families and all of the people who heard this noise coming and then had their lives snuffed out by this wave."
-- Colin Powell, Secretary of State, upon witnessing the devastation following the recent sunami in Southeast Asia, as reported by Reuters.


Image from Suaramerdeka.com.

"If you are going through hell, keep on going"
-- Sir Winston Churchill

"Apparently all they know here in Washington about Brooklyn is that a tree grew there..."
--Shirley Chisholm, 1924-2005.


Image from PBS.

"A guy is driving to work one morning. He turns on the radio and the announcer says, 'Be careful out there. Somebody's on the freeway driving the wrong way.'... 'Somebody!?' the guy says. 'They're all driving the wrong way.'"
-- Unknown

"By custom, we think of New Year's Day as a personal time, a moment for thinking about the course our lives are taking. It's a private matter, we somehow feel, whether you choose to try to make any changes for the better. After all, you can't force hope on a person. But looking at the world around us, we see the need for all the hopefulness and resolution that each of us can muster. We need all the commitment to change we can stir up for the year ahead."
-- Editorial, Rising to the New Year, The New York Times.