"The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come but which having continued through His appointed time He now wills to remove and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him. Fondly do we hope – fervently do we pray – that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said: 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'" (Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address)

You can't spell "sanity" without "insanity."

Mark Zuckerberg kills goats with laser guns.

"This is what I want in heaven... words to become notes and conversations to be symphonies." (Tina Turner)

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” (The Gospel of Thomas, a non-canonical, Coptic-language, gnostic gospel consisting of 114 sayings from [they say] Jesus; later suppressed as heresy by early church fathers, only to be rediscovered in 1940s Upper Egypt)

"Why do we feel guilty, even when we've done nothing to bring on illness or death... Suffering feels like punishment, as cultural anthropologists observe." (Elaine Pagels, Why Religion?: A Personal Story)

"I would rather marry a good man, a man of mind, with a hope and bright prospects ahead for position, fame and power than to marry all the houses, gold and bones in the world." (Mary Todd Lincoln)

"A kiss that is never tasted forever and ever is wasted." (from the 1934 song "For All We Know" with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis, music by J. Fred Coots, and sung by Billie Holiday on 1958's Lady in Satin, her penultimate record)

“All music is folk music; I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.” (Louis Armstrong)

"I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know." (Billie Holiday)

"In the place where I am now, I look back over my life. I look back at the world I’ve left behind. What message do I want to leave? I want to make sure that you all understand that each and every one of you has a role to play. You may not know it, you may not find it, but your life matters, and you are here for a reason...

"And I just hope that reason will become apparent as you live through your life. I want you to know that, whether or not you find that role that you’re supposed to play, your life does matter, and that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world. And you get to choose the difference that you make." (Jane Goodall's final message to the world, spoken six months before her death)

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it's not open." (Frank Zappa)

"Once the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place." (Philip Roth)

Velcro = Velvet and Crochet

One million seconds is fewer than twelve days; one billion seconds is over 32 years.

“This I regard as history’s highest function: to let no action be uncommunicated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.” (Tacitus)

“I don’t want anyone to challenge my right to sound completely mad.” (Duke Ellington)

After Chairman Mao’s 1950s character writing reforms for Chinese characters in the People’s Republic of China, there was a 12.5% reduction in stroke count for the 2000 most popular characters.

Swift has sailed into his rest;

Savage indignation there cannot lacerate his breast.

Imitate him if you dare, world-besotted traveler;

He served human liberty.

(Jonathan Swift’s epitaph)

​​All is not well in the old empire.