Alan > Alan's Quotes

“For Jesus, compassion was more than a quality of God and an individual virtue: it was a social paradigm, the core value for life in community. To put it boldly: compassion for Jesus was political.”
― Marcus J. Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith

“Close to-night—     Ten to make and the match to win— A bumping pitch and a blinding light,     An hour to play and the last man in. And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,     Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame, But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote—     “Play up! play up! and play the game!”   The sand of the desert is sodden red,—     Red with the wreck of a square that broke;— The Gatling’s jammed and the Colonel dead,     And the regiment blind with dust and smoke. The river of death has brimmed his banks,     And England’s far, and Honour a name, But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:     “Play up! play up! and play the game!”
― Adam Hochschild, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918

“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.”
― Emma Goldman

“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
― Adam Smith