""I freed thousands of slaves, and could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.""
— Harriet Tubman

"When we are born, when we enter this world, it is as if we signed a pact for the rest of our life, but a day may come when we will ask ourselves Who signed this on my behalf?"
— Jose Saramago

"Occasionally the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants."
— Thomas Jefferson

"Yet for all the depression no one ever quit. When someone quit, we couldn't believe it. 'I'm becoming a rafting instructor on the Colorado River,' they said. 'I'm touring college towns with my garage band.' We were dumbfounded. It was like they were from another planet. Where had they found the derring-do? What would they do about car payments? We got together for going away drinks on their final day and tried to hide our envy while reminding ourselves that we still had the freedom and luxury to shop indiscriminately."
— Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to the End)

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."
— Henry Ford

"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle."
— George Orwell

""Perhaps you'd care for a synonym bun," suggested the duke."
— Norton Juster

"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
— G.K. Chesterton (Alarms and Discursions)

"But my lord, when we addressed this issue a few years ago, didn't you argue the other side?" He said, "That's true, but when I get more evidence I sometimes change my mind. What do you do?"
— John Maynard Keynes