“If we define a miracle as an effect of which the cause is unknown to us, then we make our ignorance the source of miracles! And the universe itself would be a standing miracle. A miracle might be perhaps defined more exactly as an effect which is not the consequence or effect of any known laws of nature.” IfsMightWould BeLawUniverseCausesKnownEffectsIgnoranceSourceConsequenceStandingMiracleDefinedLaws Of Nature Author:Charles Babbage
“Daily life is a comprimised blend of posturing for the sake of role-playing and of varying degrees of self-revelation. Under stressful conditions even the "true" self cannot be precisely defined, as Erving Goffman observes. ...Little wonder that the identity crisis is a major source of modern neuroticism, and that the urban middle class aches for a return to a simpler existence.” LittlesSelfLife IsExistenceWonderClassRolesModernMiddleConditionsIdentitySourceReturnDegreesMajorsCrisisSakeDefinedRevelationsMiddle ClassDaily LifeUrbanTrue SelfAcheStressfulIdentity CrisisRole PlayingSelf Revelation Author:E. O. Wilson
“We have, on the whole, more liberty and less equality than Russia has. Russia has less liberty and more equality. Whether democracy should be defined primarily in terms of liberty or equality is a source of unending debate.” ShouldWholeTermLibertyDemocracySourceDebateRussiaDefinedUnending Author:Reinhold Niebuhr
“Without precisely defined sources, methods, and concepts, it is possible to see absolutely everything and its opposite.” SourceConceptsOppositesMethodDefined Author:Thomas Piketty
“The problem of journalism is simple. Journalists are rarely in a position to establish the truth of an issue themselves, since they didn't' witness it personally. They are entirely dependent on self-interested sources to supply their facts. Every part of the news-making process is defined by this relationship; everything is colored by this reality.” SelfFactsProblemRealityProcessSimpleIssuesPositionSourceNewsDefinedJournalismWitnessJournalistDependent Author:Edward Jay Epstein