“Good manners, Madam, are had these days not For your asking, nor mine, nor what-we-used-to-be's. The day is a loud grenade that bursts a smile Of serious weeds in a comic lily plot.” UsedMinesSeriousAskingUsed To BeComicMannersThese DaysLoudPlotGood ManWeedLiliesGood MannersGrenade Book:Collected Poems, 1919-1976 Source: Collected Poems, 1919-1976
“For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.” BookThreeReadingLiteratureNamesHalfPrinciplesCenturySeriousAskingTitlesSunsetRecallsLove Literature Author:Thomas Steinbeck
“People who watch Transporter are maybe asking a little less about reality, being serious, and so on.” PeopleLittlesRealityWatchesSeriousAsking Author:Olivier Megaton
“The DOJ has employed these investigations in communities across our nation to reform serious patterns and practices of force, biased policing and other unconstitutional practices by law enforcement. I'm asking the Department of Justice to investigate if our police department has engaged in a pattern or practice of stops, searches or arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment.” IfsLawForceNationsCommunityJusticePracticeSeriousAskingPolicePatternsReformEngagedDepartmentAmendmentsFourthInvestigationLaw EnforcementEnforcementEmployedBiasedUnconstitutionalPolice DepartmentFourth Amendment Author:Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
“All we are asking for is balance. I would like to think that I could walk into a public library and find not only works by Gloria Steinem but also those of Phyllis Schlafly. I would like to think a teenager could be taught in sex education that a serious alternative to abortion is teenage abstinence, or should pregnancy occur, that adoption might be preferable. I am not trying, as the ad says, to shove religion down anyone's throat. But I do think everyone has a right, and that the Christian voice is being chocked off.” ThinkingShouldTryingMightChristianSexVoiceWalksTaughtSeriousBalanceAskingLibraryAlternativesTeenagerAbortionPregnancyThroatAdsAdoptionTeenageAbstinencePublic LibrarySex EducationGloria Author:Cal Thomas
“The obvious one, in a market system, in a really functioning one, whoever's making the decisions doesn't pay attention to what are called externalities, effects on others. I sell you a car, if our eyes are open we'll make a good deal for ourselves but we're not asking how it's going to affect her [over there.] It will, there'll be more congestion, gas prices will go up, there will be environmental effects and that multiplies over the whole population. Well, that's very serious.” IfsWellsWholeEyeDecisionDealsPayAttentionEffectsCarSeriousAskingSellsEnvironmentalPopulationObviousPay AttentionGasGas PricesCongestionExternalities Author:Noam Chomsky
“We need to engage with the Arab world.It is not a serious proposal to say that - to the people that you're asking for their support that they can't even come to the country to even engage in a dialogue with us.” PeopleWorldNeedsCountrySupportSeriousAskingDialogueProposalArab World Author:Jeb Bush
“Of course, no one should be trapped in bad schools or bad neighborhoods. No one. But I think we need to be asking a larger question: How do we change the norm, the larger context that people seem to accept as a given? Are we so thoroughly resigned to what "is" that we cannot even begin a serious conversation about how to create what ought to be?” PeopleThinkingNeedsShouldSeemsSchoolCoursesGivenAcceptingSeriousOughtConversationAskingNeighborhoodTrappedNormResigned Author:Michelle Alexander
“The problem with Antigone is that she stood up to the despot Creon, but in such a way that she ended up dying. So she bought her defiance with her death. The real question I ended up asking was, "What would it mean for Antigone to have stood up to Creon and lived?" And the only way she could have lived is if she had had a serious social movement with her. If she arrived with a social movement to take down the despot, maybe it would have taken 18 days only, like in Egypt. It's really important to be able to re-situate one's rage and destitution in the context of a social movement.” IfsWayMeanImportantRealProblemAbleSocialTakenDyingMovementSeriousAskingRageEgyptDefianceStood UpSocial MovementsDespotsReal QuestionsAntigone Author:Judith Butler