“Twenty years ago I wanted to move to a nice place so our Charley would grow up a nice boy and learn a profession. But instead we live in a jungle, so he can only be a wild animal. D'you think I picked the East Side like Columbus picked America?” ThinkingYearsChildrenWantedAmericaMovingGrowsSidesAnimalBoysGrowing UpNiceYears AgoTwentiesEastProfessionJungleColumbusWild AnimalEast Side Author:Abraham Polonsky
“History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their fears and openly confront dictators such as in East Germany and Eastern Europe about 22 years ago... The yearning for freedom cannot be contained by walls for long. It was this yearning that brought down the Iron Curtain that divided Germany and Europe, and indeed the world, into two blocs.” PeopleWorldYearsLongTwoForceWallEuropeYears AgoOvercomingMovedEastGermanyIronDividedYearningDictatorEasternCurtainsUnleashedEastern EuropeEast GermanyIron Curtain Author:Angela Merkel
“The daily disappearance and the subsequent rise of the sun appeared to many of the ancients as a true resurrection; thus, while the east came to be regarded as the source of light and warmth, happiness and glory, the west was associated with darkness and chill, decay and death. This led to the custom of burying the dead so as to face the east when they rose again, and of building temples and shrines with an opening toward the east. To effect this, Vitruvius, two thousand years ago, gave precise rules, which are still followed by Christian architects.” YearsStillsTwoLightChristianFacesDarknessSunAtheismEffectsBuildingSourceThousandGloryYears AgoRoseWestPositive AtheismEastOpeningTemplesCustomsWarmthArchitectResurrectionDecayThousand YearsPreciseChillDisappearanceShrinesBurying Author:Isaac Newton
“As a scientist, my attention became totally focused on global warming some 15 years ago by the elegant and powerful measurements of carbon dioxide trapped in ice cores taken as much as 2 miles deep from the great East Antarctica ice sheet.” YearsPowerfulAttentionTakenYears AgoScientistFocusedEastCoreMilesIceGlobal WarmingTrappedCarbonSheetsElegantMeasurementCarbon DioxideAntarctica Author:John Olver
“I travel to the Middle East, I travel to China, I travel to Europe. It's all very rewarding - the only problem is the travel is getting more and more difficult for me now. Ten years ago I would have enjoyed it a lot more.” YearsProblemDifficultMiddleTenEuropeYears AgoChinaEastEnjoyedMiddle East Author:I. M. Pei
“A few years ago, they [Neandertals] were thought to be ancestral to anatomically modern humans, but now we know that modern humans appeared at least 100,000 years ago, much before the disappearance of the Neandertals. Moreover, in caves in the Middle East, fossils of modern humans have been found dated 120,000-100,000 years ago, as well as Neandertals dated at 60,000 and 70,000 years ago, followed again by modern humans dated at 40,000 years ago. It is unclear whether the two forms repeatedly replaced one another by migration from other regions, or whether they coexisted in some areas” KnowsYearsHumansWellsHas BeensTwoFormFoundModernMiddleAreasYears AgoEastRegionsMiddle EastReplacedCavesFossilsMigrationDisappearanceUnclear Author:Francisco J. Ayala
“Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all other ... a mighty ocean, resting uneasily to the east of the largest continent, a restless ever-changing, gigantic body of water that would later be described as Pacific.” WorldYearsBodyEarthWaterMillionsOceanAspectYears AgoDecidedEastFeaturesContinentsPrincipalRestlessPacificBodies Of Water Book:Hawaii: A Novel Source: Hawaii: A Novel
“I have noticed that most men when they enter a barber shop and must wait their turn, drop into a chair and pick up a magazine. I simply sit down and pick up the thread of my sea wanderings, which began more than fifty years ago and is not quite ended. There is hardly a waiting room in the east that has not served as my cockpit, whether I was waiting to board a train or to see a dentist. And I am usually still trimming sheets when the train starts or drill begins to whine.” MenYearsStillsTurnsWaitingRoomsSeaPicksYears AgoDown AndTrainEastMagazinesWanderBoardsFiftyShopsChairsThreadSheetsDentistDrillsBarbersWaiting RoomsTrimmingCockpitBarber Shop Author:E. B. White
“There are definitely recurring themes in humanity's relationship with our environment. The biggest is probably adaptation, because humans are incredibly good at adapting to new environments in relatively short periods of time. The ancestors of Homo sapiens started leaving Africa over one million years ago, moving from warm, tropical climates into the freezing wilderness of Europe and the desert ecosystems of the Middle East.” YearsHumansMovingHumanityMillionsEnvironmentMiddlePeriodsEuropeYears AgoClimateLeavingWarmEastDesertThemeWildernessAncestorMiddle EastAdaptationOur EnvironmentHomo SapiensEcosystemsAdaptingFreezingTropicalRecurringNew EnvironmentRecurring Themes Author:Annalee Newitz
“There's an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates and the truth of the matter is the weak and feckless policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East and all the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we're not having talks anymore.” YearsFirstsMatterMovingDiesMiddlePolicyArmsBearsYears AgoWeakClintonEastRussiaBarackMiddle EastAggressionFoldsAwakenedGeorgiaCrimeaFecklessOld Proverb Author:Mike Pence
“40, 50 years ago, Americans - the majority of Americans did not want to accept these Vietnamese refugees who they saw as completely foreign. Now there are new foreigners - Syrians and other people from the Middle East, people of Muslim backgrounds. And the sense among many Americans is, well, these people are completely different from us, and they're not like the Vietnamese who are much more assimilable. And I think that's very, very doubtful. I think that the majority of these new foreigners, if given the opportunity, will be able to assimilate and deal with American culture.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantYearsWellsDifferentAbleCultureOpportunityGivenDealsAcceptingSawsMiddleYears AgoMajorityEastBackgroundsMiddle EastRefugeeAmerican CultureForeignersDoubtfulVietnameseVietnamese Refugees Author:Nguyen Viet Thang
“Many years ago, in the late '70s, I toured colleges along the East Coast and I presented a kind of show where I got a lot of books and poetry and pieces of [William] Shakespeare and other writers that I admire, read it to the class and then afterward we would talk and I would answer questions. It was really a way of expressing and finding out about where I was at that particular time, so it was very therapeutic for me.” WayYearsKindBookShowsAnswersClassPiecesCollegeParticularFindingsLateYears AgoEastAdmireCoastTherapeuticEast Coast Author:Al Pacino
“I think East Asian countries, I think they're very fortunate to have Buddhism survive as a strong influence because right from the time when Buddha himself, 2,500 years ago, made the point about the importance of education, and the word "Buddha" also means enlighten[ed] or educated. So all the Buddhist countries, not only Japan and Korea and China and Hong Kong and Thailand but also even Burma and Sri Lanka, had a higher level of education.” ThinkingYearsMeanMadeCountryStrongLevelsInfluenceBuddhismHigherYears AgoImportanceChinaEastEducatedBuddhistFortunateJapanAsianKoreaEnlighteningHigher LevelHong KongThailandBurmaSri LankaImportance Of EducationAsian Countries Author:Amartya Sen
“Look, we have existed for 4,000 years - 2,000 years in diaspora, in exile. Nobody in the Middle East speaks their original language but Israel. When we started 64 years ago, we were 650,000 people. So, you know, we are maybe swimming a little bit against the stream, but we continue to swim.” PeopleKnowsYearsLooksLittlesSpeakLanguageBitsMiddleLittle BitYears AgoOriginalsIsraelEastStreamsSwimSwimmingMiddle EastExileDiaspora Author:Shimon Peres
“When God wanted to defeat sin, His ultimate weapon was the sacrifice of His own Son. On Christmas Day two thousand years ago, the birth of a tiny baby in an obscure village in the Middle East was God's supreme triumph of good over evil.” YearsTwoWantedEvilSinSacrificeMiddleSonBabyBirthThousandWeaponsYears AgoUltimateDefeatEastTinySupremeTriumphVillageMiddle EastThousand YearsObscureChristmas DayGood Over Evil Author:Charles Colson