John

“The great majority of habitual drinkers are born not only without desire for alcohol, but with actual repugnance toward it. Not the first, nor the twentieth, nor the hundredth drink, succeeded in giving them the liking. But they learned, just as men learn to smoke; though it is far easier to learn to smoke than to learn to drink. They learned because alcohol was so accessible.”
― Jack London, John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs

“Each American generation neglects to pass on its experience to the next...our talent is for living in the present: that elation is beguiling during spells of relative calm, but each new crisis sends us reeling - because it seems unprecedented, and because what's past has become suspect.”
― Nora Sayre, Running Time: Films of the Cold War

“We cannot conceive of God bringing into existence a universe without a plan which would extend to all that would be done in that universe. As the Scriptures teach that God's providential control extends to all events, even the most minute, they thereby teach that His plan is equally comprehensive. It is one of His perfections that He has the best possible plan, and that He conducts the course of history to its appointed end. And to admit that He has a plan which He carries out is to admit Predestination.”
― Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination

“If you consulted your business experience instead of your ugly individualistic philosophy, you would know that believing in himself is one of the commonest signs of a rotter. Actors who can't act believe in themselves; and debtors who won't pay. It would be much truer to say that a man will certainly fail, because he believes in himself. Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy