“Some men look at Constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them, like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in Government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead.” MenYearsHumansWellsLooksBookCountryGovernmentAgeReadingCenturyHe ManConstitutionSacredTouchedFortyReverenceAmendmentsBook ReadingCovenantArkYears Of ExperienceSanctimonious Author:Thomas Jefferson
“Evaluating countries is senseless and I would never put things in those terms, but that some of America's advances, particularly in the area of free speech, that have been achieved by centuries of popular struggle, are to be admired.” Has BeensCountryAmericaTermStruggleCenturySpeechAreasFree Speech Author:Noam Chomsky
“The legacy of Mandela is to have brought the country together... South Africa can be one of the success stories of the 21st century.” CountryStoriesTogetherCenturySouthLegacySouth Africa21st CenturySuccess Stories Author:David Cameron
“The British left intermittently erupts like a pustule upon the buttock of a rather good country. Seventy years ago it opposed mobilisation against Adolf Hitler and worshipped the other genocide, Josef Stalin. It has marched for Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov. It has slobbered over Ceausescu and Mugabe. It has demonstrated against everything and everyone American for a century.” YearsCountryLeftCenturyYears AgoBritishGenocideSeventiesMaoButtocksBrezhnevMugabeGood CountryJosef Stalin Author:Frederick Forsyth
“Millennium Trails will be very tangible gifts to the future. We will walk on them and hike on them and bike on them. They will be accessible to people of all ages and abilities. But in a very important way they represent more than the tangible effect of the trail. They represent a commitment and an investment in what kind of country we want in the next century.” PeopleWayWantKindImportantCountryAgeNextAbilityWalksEffectsCenturyCommitmentInvestmentBikeTrailsTangibleMillennium Author:Hillary Clinton
“Reformist kings can save their dynasties now by helping their countries move smoothly into democracy, or they will end their years in exile like the Russian aristocrats of a century earlier.” YearsEndsCountryHelpingMovingDemocracyCenturyKingsExileDynasty Author:Elliott Abrams
“The first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness." Each one's is different. Somebody is sex-obsessed. In a country like India, where for centuries sex has been repressed, that has become almost a universal characteristic; everybody is obsessed with sex. Somebody is obsessed with anger, and somebody else is obsessed with greed. You have to watch which is your basic obsession.” FirstsHas BeensDifferentCountrySexWatchesCenturyUniversalIndiaGreedObsessionObsessedCharacteristicsRepressedUnconsciousnessUndoing Author:G. I. Gurdjieff
“It was only toward the middle of the twentieth century that the inhabitants of many European countries came, in general unpleasantly, to the realization that their fate could be influenced directly by intricate and abstruse books of philosophy.” BookCountryPhilosophyFateMiddleCenturyRealizationTwentieth CenturyIntricateEuropean Countries Author:Czeslaw Milosz
“Until the Left took over American public education in the second half of the 20th century, it was generally excellent - look at the high level of eighth-grade exams from early in the 20th century and you will weep. The more money the Left has gotten for education - America now spends more per student than any country in the world - the worse the academic results. And the Left has removed God and dress codes from schools - with socially disastrous results.” WorldLooksCountrySchoolAmericaLeftLevelsResultsHalfCenturyStudentsDressesCodeExcellentGradesAcademicMore Money20th CenturyHigh LevelExamPublic EducationEighth GradeDress Code Author:Dennis Prager
“The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers. Think about the things that have improved our lives the most over the past century - medical advances, the transportation revolution, huge increases in consumer goods, dramatic improvements in housing, the computer. The people who created these things - the doers - are not popular heroes. Our heroes are the talkers who complain about the doers.” PeopleThinkingMenCountryBigsPastOur LivesCenturyHugeRevolutionHeroRepublicanComputerMen And WomenIncreaseDemocratMedicalComplainingImprovementConsumersDramaticGoodsDividesHousingTransportationOver The PastDoersTalkersMedical Advances Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Source: Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
“The political structure in different countries has different origins, different developments. Something which suits one country extremely well would perhaps fail completely in another. Germany, through the long centuries of monarchy, has always had a leadership principle. ... The position of the Catholic Church rests now, as before, on the clear leadership principle of its hierarchy. And I think I can also say that of Russia, too.” ThinkingWellsLongI CanDifferentCountryPoliticalChurchPrinciplesClearFailingCenturyPositionDevelopmentCatholicStructureRussiaSuitsGermanyHierarchyMonarchyCatholic ChurchDifferent Countries Author:Hermann Goring
“Saudia Arabia takes in half a trillion dollars every year in oil revenue, and the country has a population smaller than New York state, but when your system of government is an eleventh century monarchy, someone's going to end up poor, and it's not gonna be the guy whose first name is King.” YearsFirstsEndsCountryStatesGovernmentGuyNamesPoorHalfCenturyNew YorkKingsDollarsPopulationOilRevenueMonarchyArabiaSystems Of GovernmentNew York State Author:Craig Ferguson
“. . I think the Adam Smith role was played in this cycle i.e. the late twentieth century collapse of socialism in which the idea of free-markets succeeded first, and then special events catalyzed a complete change of socio-political policy in countries around the world by Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.” ThinkingWorldFirstsIdeasCountryPoliticalRolesSpecialCenturyEventsPolicyLateSocialismAround The WorldCyclesAdamCollapseFree MarketTwentieth CenturyHayekRoad To SerfdomFriedrich HayekSpecial Events Author:Milton Friedman
“Alas, Islam turned against science in the twelfth century. The most influential figure was the philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali, who argued in The Incoherence of the Philosophers against the very idea of laws of nature, on the ground that any such laws would put God's hands in chains. According to al-Ghazzali, a piece of cotton placed in a flame does not darken and smoulder because of the heat, but because God wants it to darken and smoulder. After al-Ghazzali, there was no more science worth mentioning in Islamic countries.” WantDoeIdeasCountryHandsLawPiecesCenturyFiguresIslamPhilosopherChainsFlamesHeatIslamicAlsAlasLaws Of NatureInfluentialCottonIncoherence Author:Steven Weinberg
“It will be enough to recall in th is sense that almost all the Countries arose, centuries ago, through cruel conquests. With exception, men have been squandering servants th at at the moment of adjustment did not appear to be worthy of the benefits received.” MenHas BeensCountryEnoughMomentsCenturyBenefitsWorthyServantExceptionRecallsConquestAdjustmentSquandering Author:Chico Xavier
“Between 2001 and 2011, Brazil lifted 20 million people out of poverty and into its growing middle class, and in the last quarter of the twentieth century Botswana's gross domestic product per capita grew faster than that of any other country on the planet. The once-labeled 'Third World' is edging its way into the 'First World.'” PeopleWorldWayFirstsCountryLastsClassPovertyMillionsGrowingMiddleCenturyPlanetsProductsGrewThirdsFasterMiddle ClassQuartersOther CountriesGrossTwentieth CenturyThird WorldBrazilGross Domestic Product Book:Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth Source: Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth
“Living in Montgomery, I've been antagonized by the emergence of a narrative about our history that I believe is quite false and misleading, and actually dangerous. And the narrative that emerges when you spend time in the South - places likes Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana - is that we have always been a noble, wonderful, glorious region of the country, with wonderful, noble, glorious people doing wonderful, noble, glorious things. And there's great pride in the Alabamians of the nineteenth century.” PeopleBelieveCountryI BelieveWonderfulCenturyDangerousPrideSouthNobleLikesNarrativeGloriousRegionsEnd TimesSpend TimeMisleadGeorgiaNineteenth CenturyMississippiEmergenceLouisianaAlabamaMontgomery Author:Bryan Stevenson
“When you have the countries like Germany, China, and Russia decline, and be replaced by others, that's when systemic wars start. That's when it gets dangerous, because they haven't yet reached a balance. So Germany united in 1871 and all hell broke loose. Japan rose in the early 20th century, and then you had chaos. So we're looking at a systemic shift. Be ready for war.” WarCountryUnitedHellCenturyDangerousHavensReadyBalanceRoseChaosChinaRussiaBrokeGermanyJapanDeclineReplaced20th Century Author:George Friedman
“By 18th century standards, they [Great Britain] were the freest, most dynamic, most willing to challenge tradition and authority. They had the highest wages and highest living standard, and probably the most engagement between the populace and the government of any country. Then the United States took those same qualities to the nth degree, and the British were suddenly appeared stodgy and tradition-bound.” CountryStatesGovernmentChallengesUnitedQualityUnited StatesCenturyWillingDegreesAuthorityHighestStandardsTraditionBoundsBritishBritainEngagementWagesGreat Britain18th Century Author:Charles R. Morris