"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."

      Quotes are nothing more than history's soundbites. Really.
      A quote by somebody like Churchill is often remembered long after the surrounding events are forgotten. Indeed, some quotes you still see on pages of 'great quotes' make little sense because the context has been lost. Something said by Nixon in the middle of the Watergate mess may have been quite profound then and there, but outside of the time and setting, it is almost meaningless.
      Also we tend to discount the wisdom of the losers, which is as much a mistake as overemphasizing the sayings of the winners. There is much to learn in the words of the former Reichminister and his friends found below. If nothing else, they may be an astonishingly good bad example and something to avoid.

      These quotes by some of the greats (and others) of our history the Desk has found either interesting or helpful, and in some cases both. Each source was limited to one quote as some have entire books of their sayings.
      Enjoy.

Quotes By Others, with attribution.

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.
-Abraham Lincoln

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
-Benjamin Franklin

An Indian respects a brave man, but he despises a coward.
-Chief Joseph the Younger

Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember; others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
-Richard M. Nixon

Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
-Mark Twain

Education is dangerous - every educated person is a future enemy.
-Hermann Goering

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.
-Thomas Jefferson

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
-Winston Churchill

A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
-Gautama Buddha

The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
-Joseph Stalin

The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
-Calvin Coolidge

A great book is like great evil.
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
-Walt Disney

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character.
-Joseph Goebbels

Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.
-Pope John Paul II

You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.
-George Burns

They say some of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones who drink milkshakes don't win many ballgames.
-Casey Stengel

Everything I do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.
-WC Fields

Without winners, there wouldn't even be any civilization.
-Woody Hayes

There is nothing Modern about doing dumb things for dumb reasons.
-Hunter S. Thompson

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
-Mahatma Gandhi

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
-John F. Kennedy

      Yes there were coaches, politicians, statesmen, religious leaders, actors and writers and Nazis in the list. You got a problem with that?
      Moving on.

      Compared to the Great Thoughts and Deep Truths expressed by some of the Great Minds of History the following are examples of the meaningless nonsense the Desk has spouted over the years.

Quotes from The Media Desk:

• Opinions are like armpits, everybody has a couple, and some of them stink.

• Relax. Things are worse than you can possibly imagine.

• New Jersey is Proof that GOD has a fine sense of the Absurd.

• Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have one other thing in common, they weren't boring.

• I'm dumber than hell, ask anybody.

• Been there, Done that, Posted bail, Am writing book!

• One time when God wanted to get my attention- He hit me in the back of the head with a parking lot.

• I don't like dull people.

• Reasonable people can have a reasonable discussion about reasonable ideas. Most politicians are oblivious to all three.

• Elevator music or 'axe-grinder of the gods' rock-n-roll... hhmmmm.

• You were supposed to bring the fried chicken.

• Gravity still works nights and weekends.

• I know it's not politically correct, but I still like women.

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