"Attitudes are the forerunners of conditions."
-- Eric Butterworth

"My age is none of my business."
-- Eric Butterworth, who died last Thursday at age 86.

"It's time for Mr. Pataki to stop acting like a politician running for office. He won already. Now he needs to buckle down and start helping a very troubled state and a very needy city. Hard times have landed on his watch, and he will be remembered by how he copes with them... This budget year is as crucial to Mr. Pataki's reputation as it is to the communities and city that depend on him. This is his moment, for better or for worse. He will be remembered either as the man who led the state through one of its toughest times or as the blank slate who preferred his photo ops while New York crumbled."
-- Editorial, New York's Lost Leader, in The New York Times.

"Mr. Bush's willingness to take big gambles, to push for what he wants no matter the consequences, are likely to leave an imprint on America far beyond his tenure in office. We hope that he's successful in the fight against terrorism, and that he brings about a more stable Mideast and a democratic Iraq. But on the domestic front, almost every success cripples the nation's ability to move toward a happy, prosperous future. This is one war we hope he loses."
-- Editorial titled The War at Home in The New York Times.

"Violence towards women is unapproachable... It is the most disgusting act, to me."
-- Scott Peterson, recently arrested for the murder of his wife and their unborn child.

"War on Iraq was optional for George W. Bush... He could have easily chosen not to have it, in which case it wouldn't have happened, but when he decided to have it, that was it: we had it. The President's ability to decide when and where to use America's military power is now absolute. Congress cannot stop him. That's not what the Constitution says, and it's not what the War Powers Act says, but that's how it works in practice. The U.N. cannot stop him. That's not what the U.N. Charter says, but who cares? And who cares what America's allies think either?... Even more amazing than the President's pragmatic power over military resources is his apparent spiritual power over so many minds. Bush is not the only one who decided rather suddenly that disempowering Saddam had to be the world's top priority. When Bush decided this, so did almost every congressional Republican, conservative TV pundit and British Prime Minister. In polls, a large majority of Americans agreed with Bush that Saddam was a terrible threat and had to go, even though there had been no popular passion for this idea before Bush brought it up. You could call this many things, but one of them is leadership. If real leadership means leading people where they don't want to go, George W. Bush has shown himself to be a real leader. And he now owns a bit of history to prove it."
-- Michael Kinsley, in The Power of One in Time, this week.

"New York City is the glittering jewel of American municipalities. It was attacked by a foreign enemy on Sept. 11, 2001, and it has suffered since then, as have other cities and states, from the effects of a bad economy and dreadful fiscal policies in Washington.

Eventually some help will come from Albany, but it won't be nearly enough and the deterioration of this splendid city will continue. Mr. Pataki's intransigence in the face of a genuine crisis is symptomatic of the reluctance of conservative officeholders to invest in the crucial services that help individuals, and thus a nation, to thrive.

Next year the Republican Party will hold its national convention in New York City, and it will go out of its way to exploit the powerful emotions evoked by ground zero and the memories of Sept. 11. The mayor of New York City, the governor of New York State and the president of the United States are all Republicans.

With that lineup you'd think this city, after all it's been through, could get a break."

-- Bob Herbert, in A City on the Ropes in The New York Times today.

"The best time I ever had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stairs in 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'"
-- Bette Davis

"The situation of Iraqis is as if one eye is crying and one eye is laughing."
-- Sayid Hashem al-Shamaa, a Shiite leader, at the Kadhimiya shrine in Baghdad; as quoted by The New York Times.

"You've got to give credit to the humanity of those Iraqi soldiers for returning the P.O.W.'s... Given all the atrocities we've seen, we feared the worst. Our hearts were lifted today."
-- Capt. Neil. S. Murphy Jr., a Marine spokesman, as quoted in The New York Times.

"A country's identity, its value and civilization resides in its history...If a country's civilization is looted, as ours has been here, its history ends. Please tell this to President Bush. Please remind him that he promised to liberate the Iraqi people, but that this is not a liberation, this is a humiliation."
-- Raid Abdul Ridhar Muhammad, an Iraqi Archeologist on the looting of The National Museum of Iraq, as quoted in The New York Times.

"It's untidy. And freedom's untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."
-- Donald H. Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense, on lawlessness and rampant looting in Iraq, as quoted in The New York Times.

"There is no question the regime has lost control, and that represents a great turning point for the people of Iraq as the regime is gone..."
-- Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary

"The game is over."
-- Mohammed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, in The New York Times.

"It's hard to smile when there's no water. It's hard to applaud when you're frightened. It's hard to say, "Thank you for liberating me," when liberation has meant that looters have ransacked everything from the grain silos to the local school, where they even took away the blackboard."
-- Thomas L. Friedman, in an editorial titled Hold Your Applause in The New York Times.

"I don't know if he survived... The only thing I know is he's losing power."
-- George W. Bush, in reference to dropping four "Bunker-Buster" bombs on a restaurant in Bagdad where Saddam and his two sons were reported to be in attendance. As quoted on Today.

"President Bush flew into Belfast tonight for a war council with his principal ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, as allied advances on the ground in Iraq underlined the urgency of settling trans-Atlantic differences over the conflict's aftermath."
-- Warren Hoge, reporting for The New York Times.

"The message... is to in a way put a bit of an exclamation point on the fact that coalition troops are in the vicinity of Baghdad... and demonstrate to the Iraqi leadership that they do not have control... It was very clear to the people of Baghdad that coalition forces were in the city. That image is important."
-- US Major-General Victor Renuart, as quoted by the BBC.

"The problem with the urban fight is not the good guy or the bad guy, it is the noncombatant... If all the noncombatants are out of the city, it is just a fight. With noncombatants inside, it can be an absolute mess."
-- Retired US Army Col. Johnny Brooks, an expert in infantry tactics, as quoted in The Washington Post.

"Having traveled hundreds of miles, we will now go the last 200 yards."
-- George W. Bush

"We are just real proud that they risked their lives to go in and save our daughter and we hope all the rest of the troops come home safely too."
-- Greg Lynch, father of Rescued POW Jessica Lynch in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America.

‘‘In 11 days, coalition forces have taken control of most of western and southern Iraq... In 11 days, we’ve seized key bridges, opened a northern front, achieved — nearly achieved complete air superiority and are delivering tons of humanitarian aid... Many dangers lie ahead. But day by day, we are moving closer to Baghdad. Day by day, we are moving closer to victory.’’
-- George W. Bush
.

"We'll be patient. We'll just continue to draw the noose tighter and tighter."
-- General Richard Myers, head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted in The Washington Post.

"To me, this is not an act of war. It is terrorism: a man in a civilian vehicle killing himself at a checkpoint."
-- Capt. Andrew J. Valles, on the suicide bombing yesterday that killed four American soldiers, as quoted in The New York Times.

"One measure of the importance of those American PoW pictures and the images of the dead British soldiers is surely the sustained 'shock-and-awe' hacking campaign directed at aljazeera.net since the start of the war... As I write, the Al-Jazeera Web site has been down for three days and few here doubt that the provenance of the attack is the Pentagon."
-- Faisal Bodi, a senior editor for aljazeera.net, wrote in The Guardian.

"The enemy we're fighting is different from the one we'd war-gamed against."
-- Lieutenant General William Wallace, commander of the Army's 5th Corps, told The Washington Post.

"The closer we get to Baghdad, the crazier it gets."
-- Sgt. Robert Gardner, a marine at a base 110 miles south of Baghdad, as quoted by The New York Times.

"Now that the war is on, New Yorkers are also more scared than anyone else. With random checkpoints at 96th Street and soldiers in the subway, there's a sense that the period of false alerts, of which there have been so may since 9/11, is over..."
-- Carl Swanson, Island Nation, in New York Magazine.

"Hold against them. Hit them hard."
-- Saddam Hussein

"A war is a war... It's a brutal thing."
-- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, on Meet the Press.

"We are not cowards, but what is the point? I've got a rifle from World War II. What can I do against American airplanes?"
-- Ahmed Ghobashi, an Iraqi colonel, after surrendering to a platoon of marines. As quoted by The New York Times.

"This was not your son or daughter. That chair he sat in at Thanksgving will be empty forever."
-- Michael Waters-Bey, father, on what he would tell President Bush about the current war, after the death of his only son, 29-year-old Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey. As quoted by WJZ.

"What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before."
-- Donald H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense

''We will prevail.''
-- George W. Bush, President, on the start of the Iraqi war.

"Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by the constant daily application of the best you have within you."
-- Og Mandino, The Greatest Miracle In the World

"May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck, brightened by a song in your heart, and warmed by the smiles of the people you love."
-- Anonymous, Irish prayer

"You just wait, I'll sin till I blow up!"
-- Dylan Thomas

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do."
-- Walt Disney

"Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them."
-- Marlene Dietrich

"Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal.

It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer.

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security.

The sacrifice of global interests to domestic politics and to bureaucratic self-interest is nothing new, and it is certainly not a uniquely American problem. Still, we have not seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of American opinion, since the war in Vietnam. The September 11 tragedy left us stronger than before, rallying around us a vast international coalition to cooperate for the first time in a systematic way against the threat of terrorism. But rather than take credit for those successes and build on them, this Administration has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally. We spread disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq. The result, and perhaps the motive, is to justify a vast misallocation of shrinking public wealth to the military and to weaken the safeguards that protect American citizens from the heavy hand of government. September 11 did not do as much damage to the fabric of American society as we seem determined to so to ourselves. Is the Russia of the late Romanovs really our model, a selfish, superstitious empire thrashing toward self-destruction in the name of a doomed status quo?

We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners. Even where our aims were not in question, our consistency is at issue.

The model of Afghanistan is little comfort to allies wondering on what basis we plan to rebuild the Middle East, and in whose image and interests. Have we indeed become blind, as Russia is blind in Chechnya, as Israel is blind in the Occupied Territories, to our own advice, that overwhelming military power is not the answer to terrorism? After the shambles of post-war Iraq joins the shambles in Grozny and Ramallah, it will be a brave foreigner who forms ranks with Micronesia to follow where we lead.

We have a coalition still, a good one. The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has oderint dum metuant really become our motto?

I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-Americanism, we have more and closer friends than the American newspaper reader can possibly imagine. Even when they complain about American arrogance, Greeks know that the world is a difficult and dangerous place, and they want a strong international system, with the U.S. and EU in close partnership. When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us, it is time to worry. And now they are afraid. Who will tell them convincingly that the United States is as it was, a beacon of liberty, security, and justice for the planet?

Mr. Secretary, I have enormous respect for your character and ability. You have preserved more international credibility for us than our policy deserves, and salvaged something positive from the excesses of an ideological and self-serving Administration. But your loyalty to the President goes too far. We are straining beyond its limits an international system we built with such toil and treasure, a web of laws, treaties, organizations, and shared values that sets limits on our foes far more effectively than it ever constrained America's ability to defend its interests.

I am resigning because I have tried and failed to reconcile my conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S. Administration. I have confidence that our democratic process is ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share."

-- John Brady Kiesling, in a letter to the United States' Secretary of State, February 24, 2003.

"If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism."
-- Oscar Wilde

"Walk in peace. Be undisturbed and unperturbed: all is in God's plan. Never doubt this. Bring God into your life, and you will see miracles."
-- White Eagle, The Quiet Mind

"If you spend a lot of time thinking about your problems, they'll grow bigger and stronger. Is that what you want? Of course not! Instead, focus on your goals. Start your day with them at the front of your mind, and use notes to recall them strategically throughout your day."
-- Les Brown, Up Thoughts for Down Times

"I feel the greatest gift we can give to anybody is the gift of our honest self."
-- Fred Rogers

"Our members made it clear that they do not wish to perform to virtual orchestras...Our members also believe that live music is essential on Broadway and that minimums are appropriate and necessary."
-- Patrick Quinn, president of Actor's Equity union

"I've always liked men better than women."
-- Bette Davis

"There are those who are trying to set fire to the world
We are in danger.
There is time only to work slowly.
There is no time not to love."
-- Deena Metzger, Song

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending."
-- Kermit the Frog

"We're all busy little bees, full of stings, making honey day and night, aren't we honey?"
-- Bette Davis

"All things are difficult before they are easy."
-- Thomas Fuller

"It's important to live life with the experience, and therefore the knowledge, of its mystery and of your own mystery. This gives life a new radiance, a new harmony, a new splendor. Thinking in mythological terms helps to put you in accord with the inevitables of this vale of tears. You learn to recognize the positive values in what appear to be the negative moments and aspects of your life. The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure."
-- Joseph Campbell, The Power Of Myth

"If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."
-- Fred Rogers, creator Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, who died this morning at age 74.

"We have ancient habits to deal with, vast structures of power, indescribably complicated problems to solve. But unless we abdicate our humanity altogether and succumb to fear and impotence in the presence of the weapons we have ourselves created, it is as possible and as urgent to put an end to war and violence between nations as it is to put an end to poverty and racial injustice."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?

"Love makes the world go 'round,
Love makes the world go 'round,
Somebody soon will love you,
If no one loves you now,
High in some silent sky,
Love sings a silver song,
Making the earth whirl softly,
Love makes the world go 'round"
-- Bob Merrill, Broadway composer/lyricist,Carnival, 1961.

"Why is it so hard for people to believe that white people are poor?! I wouldn't say I lived in a ghetto, I'd say I lived in the 'hood. The same friends I had back then are the same people on tour with me now ."
-- Eminem

"Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life."
-- John Updike

"'You been screwin' the milkman,'
he says. He was crazy
and he kept screamin',
'you been screwin the milkman.'"
-- Fred Ebb, Lyricist, Chicago

"Walk in peace. Be undisturbed and unperturbed: all is in God's plan. Never doubt this. Bring God into your life, and you will see miracles."
-- White Eagle, The Quiet Mind

"Stash away the duct tape. Don't use it. Stash it away,"
-- Tom Ridge, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security

"I drink too much. Last time I gave a urine sample there was an olive in it."
-- Rodney Dangerfield

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything."
-- Katherine Hepburn

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always remain different."
-- Unknown

"I drink too much. Last time I gave a urine sample there was an olive in it."
-- Rodney Dangerfield

People living deeply have no fear of death.
-- Anais Nin

"We are not valuable because we are a member of a certain group or because we call God by a certain name. We are not valuable because we follow a guru or observe a certain diet. We are valuable because we are a spark of the divine. And the only thing Gurus, priests, rabbis and elders can do for us is point us back in the direction of home, and home is, of course, within."
-- Darren John Main, Spiritual Journeys along the Yellow Brick Road

"People don't touch anymore. They're on the phone, the fax. They don't touch themselves."
Celine Dion, as quoted by Michael Musto in this week's Village Voice.

"You should've seen her face. It was the exact same look my father gave me when I told him I wanted to be a ventriloquist."
-- George Costanza, Seinfeld

"Be mindful of each moment in your day. SLOW DOWN! Your journey is not only about arriving at your destination. The journey is the
journey. The end is not the journey. The destination will be what it will be, but did you enjoy the way?
-- Ron Rathbun, The Way Is Within

“Every survival kit should include a sense of humor.”
-- Anonymous

"The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues."
-- Elizabeth Taylor

If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
George Clooney

"I am Peter Pan... He represents youth, childhood, never growing up, magic, flying."
-- Michael Jackson

"Or is that too much work, to think before you speak? For some people, it is. It's a lot of work. For all of you who want to walk a spiritual path, I suggest you stop and take a look at all the things you think and all the assumptions that you make... before you speak. Try some discipline and see if you can, for a whole week, just watch your thoughts."
-- Hinono, For The Land Of The Lost: How to Get Ready for God.

"All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like
me so let's just do this and I'll get back to killing
you with beer."
-- Homer Simpson

"The world looks marvelous from up here, so peaceful, so wonderful and so fragile."
-- Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli to fly in space.

"The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth, yet we can pray that all are safely home."
-- George W. Bush

"What's the meaning of life? We're all dying to know."
-- Gord Lowe

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To an extent that we could not at first imagine, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 200l, have transformed the politics and policy of the United States. A president of dubious legitimacy, put in office by ballot confusion in Florida and a lawless majority of the Supreme Court, has become a charismatic leader admired by a large majority of Americans. He has used his wartime aura to silence critics, greatly enlarge presidential power, and suppress civil liberties. His administration, once cautious about foreign entanglements, now promises to use its military power aggressively in the world. Without a clear casus belli, the president is using the support he has for a war on terrorism to prepare for war on a different enemy, Saddam Hussein's Iraq. All this raises profound questions about our country and ourselves ... have we been so frightened by Sept. 11 that for the moment we want leadership without qualms?"
-- Anthony Lewis, New York Review of Books.

"The problem with the designated driver program is, it's not a desirable job. But if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."
-- Jeff Bridges, actor.

"...our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short-lived... When America works, America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs."
-- George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, last year.

" There must be more to life than having everything."
-- Maurice Sendak

"When you are on a journey, it is certainly helpful to know where you are going or at least the general direction in which you are moving, but don't forget: the only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That's all there ever is."
-- Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

"When you live long enough, everything happens."
-- Al Hirschfeld, artist

"I wouldn't know what to do. That's a special talent - to retire. I'm no good at that."
-- Al Hirschfeld, artist, one week before his death at age 99 in an interview with Sixty Minutes.

capitonym (KAP-i-toh-NIM), noun. A word that changes pronunciation and meaning when it is capitalized. As in the following poems:

Job's Job
In August, an august patriarch
Was reading an ad in Reading, Mass.
Long-suffering Job secured a job
To polish piles of Polish brass.

Herb's Herbs
An herb store owner, name of Herb,
Moved to a rainier Mount Rainier.
It would have been so nice in Nice,
And even tangier in Tangier.

-- AWAD, website

"Teachers who are cookie cutters are not what we need. We need teachers who are creative and empowered."
-- Joel I Klein, NYC schools chancellor, on implementing a new systemwide curriculum, in today's New York Times.

"Oh, I don't drink these days, I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs."
-- Robert Downey, Jr., actor.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Address at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963.

“Be happy. It is a way of being wise.”
-- Colette

"If Jesus Christ had lived in Chicago, and he had $5,000, and he'd come to me, things would've turned out different.''
-- Richard Gere as defense attorney Billy Flynn in Chicago, motion picture.

"What a nightmare it must be to have a real family."
-- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine, on Seinfeld.

"You should've seen her face. It was the exact same look my father gave me when I told him I wanted to be a ventriloquist."
-- Jason Alexander as George, on Seinfeld.

"I trust Bush with my daughter, but I trust Clinton with my job."
-- Craig Patterson, Ironworker, in USA Today.

"Shut the door. Not that it lets in the cold but that it lets out the cozyness."
-- Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Notebook

"When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong."
-- Oscar Wilde

"New York is a prison, and we are all our own jailers."
-- David Carman, My Dinner with Andre

"He who says it cannot be done should get out of the way of the one who is doing it."
-- Chinese Proverb

"What do you mean you don't do e-mail? Who doesn't have e-mail today? How can you work without e-mail? Get with it. Stop living in the 1800s. What do you write letters with, a quill pen? I'm ashamed of you."
-- Cari Rivera, wife of Matthew Modine, as quoted by Cindy Adams in yesterday's New York Post.

'Let's have some new clichés!"
-- Samuel Goldwyn, producer.