Eric > Eric's Quotes

“There is a way of beholding nature that is itself a form of prayer.”
― Diane Ackerman, The Moon by Whale Light and Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians and Whales

“When economic interest is seen behind the political clauses of the Constitution, then the document becomes not simply the work of wise men trying to establish a decent and orderly society, but the work of certain groups trying to maintain their privileges, while giving just enough rights and liberties to enough of the people to ensure popular support.”
― Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present

“The Constitution, then, illustrates the complexity of the American system: that it serves the interests of a wealthy elite, but also does enough for small property owners, for middle-income mechanics and farmers, to build a broad base of support. The slightly prosperous people who make up this base of support are buffers against the blacks, the Indians, the very poor whites. They enable the elite to keep control with a minimum of coercion, a maximum of law—all made palatable by the fanfare of patriotism and unity.”
― Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States

“The two-party system came into its own in this time. To give people a choice between two different parties and allow them, in a period of rebellion, to choose the slightly more democratic one was an ingenious mode of control.”
― Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States

“The Roman scrutinizes his faults with severity but without the self-contempt that makes the Christian 'vile in his own sight.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: Modern English Edition