I’m tired of the crap in the news, how about some more quotes…
Liberals claim not to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views. [William F. Buckley]
A Saxon can die without a murmur. A French man can die laughing. But only a Norseman can laugh as he kills. [George S. Patton Jr]
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. [John F. Kennedy]
George Orwell’s 1984 was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not and instruction manual. [Unknown]
If you spend time to teach kids right and wrong when they’re little, it’s much easier for them to grow up. And it shows you love ’em. [Roy Rogers]
The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down. [T.S. Elliot]
You spend 90 percent of your adult life hoping for a long rest and the last 10 percent trying to convince the Lord that you’re actually not that tired. [Robert Brault]
Lady Astor said ‘Winston, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee.’ Churchill replied, ‘Nancy, if I were your husband I would drink it.’ [Famous quotes]
In war, opportunity waits for no man. [Pericles, c 495-429 BC]
Middle age is when you’re sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn’t for you. [Ogden Nash]
You could say that the paparazzi and the tabloids are sort of the `assault weapons’ of the First Amendment. They’re ugly, a lot of people don’t like them, but they’re protected by the First Amendment – just as ‘assault weapons’ are protected by the Second Amendment. [Charlton Heston]
The only problem with capitalism is that it works so well that people think they don’t need it.” – Dan Held
An infected mind is a far more dangerous pestilence than any plague – one only threatens your life, the other destroys your character. [Marcus Aurelius]
When I was young, I was called a rugged individualist. When I was in my fifties, I was considered eccentric. Here I am doing and saying the same things I did then, and I’m labeled senile. [GB]
The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental. [John Steinbeck]
If you are willing to abandon your principles for convenience or social acceptability, they are not your principles. They are your costume. [Nitya Prakash]
The reliability of any system is inversely proportional to the square of its complexity. [Murphy’s Laws of Combat, Marion F. Sturkey]
You’ll have to pass it to find out what’s in it. [Nancy Pelosi]
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. [Voltaire]
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. [D.H. Lawrence]
Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion. [General Norman Schwarzkopf]
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. [Douglas Adams]
The fatal fallacy of gun control laws in general is the assumption that such laws actually control guns. Criminals who disobey other laws are not likely to be stopped by gun-control laws. What such laws actually do is increase the number of disarmed and defenseless victims. [Thomas Sowell]
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. [Douglas Adams]
Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity. [Nelson Mandela. Fighter, Prisoner, President, Revolutionary]
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. [Mark Twain]
Eleven teens die each day because of texting while driving. Maybe it’s time to raise the age of Smart Phone ownership to 21. [unknown]
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the establishment authorities are wrong. Voltaire]
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But the I repeat myself. [Mark Twain]
Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are right now, and we will never be here again. [Homer, The Iliad]
After a 25-cent breakfast of canned bacon and powdered eggs in a tar-paper shack on the field at Dahar, . . . [Omar Bradley, Feb 1943]
In my youth I was often called lazy. In rather successful adulthood I was called efficient. Same behavior, different times. [Bob Fiegel]
Man is the only creature disposed to kill huge numbers of members of his own species, and his instrument is usually the state. [Joseph Sobran]
I’m not afraid of the media. Why should anyone listen to the media? Who are these people? What makes them experts? What have they accomplished? [Dana White]
There’s one thing worse than change and that’s the status quo. [John Le Carre]
The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens… Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere. [Leo Tolstoy]
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. [Mark Twain]
To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth. [Teddy Roosevelt]
You have vanishingly little political influence and every thought you spend on politics will probably come to nothing. Consider building things instead, or at least going for a walk. [Conor Barnes]
A sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer. [Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher, 4 B.C. – A.D. 65]
If gun control laws actually worked, Chicago would be Mayberry, USA. [unknown]
If enough data is collected, a Board of Inquiry can prove anything. [Unknown]
All middle-class citizens of education have a common belief that the tendencies towards centralization and paternalism must be halted and reversed. [Dwight Eisenhower July 1949]
No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. [Franklin Delano Rosevelt]
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. [Ronald Reagan 1986]
It’s amazing how prescient some of these are, considering what is going on today… sigh
It is possible to make a system too safe. If it is too safe it will be unreliable. The operators will “fix” the unreliability problem, making the system unsafe. [My probabilistic risk assessment instructor]
“The safety feature makes the equipment non-functional.” Out come the wire-cutters et al.
(Not that I have ever done anything like that, nor have I ever disabled a valuable safeguard in order to deal with a situation the software people didn’t imagine. Pinkie swear.)
One correction on Liberals claim not to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views. [William F. Buckley]. It looks like a ‘not’ was put in there as I always heard it as this, and it makes a lot more sense without the ‘not’.
Some really good ones in there . Thank You .
Sailorproof.
The very best you can get to is moderately sailor resistant.
Years and years ago I heard it described this way, “Take your lower grade enlisted sailor, strip him naked and lock him in a compartment with a bowling ball. A short time later check on him and you will find the bowling ball is now broken, or pregnant.”
(But I wasn’t finished!!)
And at the same time, the young enlisted sailor can accomplish amazing things when properly led.
Another reputed exchange between Lady Astor and Churchill:
Lady A: Winston, you’re DRUNK!
W: And you, Madame, are Ugly! But in the morning, I shall be sober!
All- Thanks, and Steve, I think you are correct.
“In my youth I was often called lazy. In rather successful adulthood I was called efficient. Same behavior, different times. [Bob Fiegel]”
My dad used to complain that I would spend 20 minutes to figure out how to do a 10 minute job in 5 minutes.
And now that’s what I do for a living.
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. [Douglas Adams]”
I’ve often said something similar.
Foolproofing is part of my job.
I believe in evolution.
Make it idiot proof and a smarter idiot will evolve.
“Foolproof I can manage. Flaming idiot proof cannot be done.” Anon English engineer.
For Lent I resolved to NOT post anything or any comments political in nature, I now have an appreciation for Jesus 40 days of temptation!
🙂
Be careful when quoting novelists.
They are professionals at saying things that sound true, but aren’t.
Sailor over here… Those bowling ball stories are TRUE…just sayin…
If you enjoy reading fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
What is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.