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Reminder:  this is not an argument thread.  These are quotes you have found personally inspirational, not a continuation of arguments from other threads.

Thank you.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
- Dwight Eisenhower 1953 speech

WAR! - Huuuh - What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
--Edwin Starr

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
- Yossarian from Catch-22

(This is paraphrased, since I can't find the exact quote)

"When I went back to Germany [after the war], I was stunned at how the Nazis had been able to take control of the country when nobody seemed to have supported them.  Everyone I met there had opposed the Nazis, everyone there had fought in the resistance."
-- Director Billy Wilder

"I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips, that's fucked up. That ain't my fault. It would seem to me that waitresses are one of the many groups the government fucks in the ass on a regular basis. Look, if you ask me to sign something that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it, put it to a vote, I'll vote for it, but what I won't do is play ball. And as for this non-college bullshit I got two words for that: learn to fuckin' type, 'cause if you're expecting me to help out with the rent you're in for a big fuckin' surprise."
-- Mr. Pink, Reservoir Dogs

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
-- Harry Lime, The Third Man

Goines: Take germs for example.
Cole (Bruce Willis): Germs?
Goines: Uh-huh. Eighteenth century, no such thing. Notta. Nothing. No one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person. Ah-uh-huh. Along comes this doctor ah-ah-ah Simulice, Simulice. Simulice comes along. He's trying to convince people, well doctors mainly, that's there's teen, tiny invisible bad things called "germs" that get into your body and make you sick. He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny, tiny, invisible? What do they call it? Uh-uh, germs? Huh? What? Now, up to the 20th century, last week, as a matter of fact (before I got dragged into this hellhole). I go in to order a burger at this fast food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. James, he picks it up, wipes it off. He hands it to me like it's all okay. "What about the germs?" I say. He says, "I don't believe in germs. Germs is a plot made up so they could sell disinfectants and soaps." Now he's crazy, right?
Cole captures and eats a spider.
See. There's no right. There's no wrong. There's only popular opinion. You, you believe in germs right?
Cole: I'm not crazy.
Goines: Of course not. You want to escape, right? That's very sane, very sane. I can help you. You want me to don't ya? Get you out?
Cole: You know how to escape?
Goines: Yes my son! Then why don't I escape, that's what you were going to ask right? Good question, very good question, intelligent. Because I would be crazy to escape. I have sent out word. I am all taken care of. I've managed to contact certain underlings, evil spirits, secretaries and other assorted minions, who will contact my father, and when my father finds out I'm in this kind of place he'll have them transfer me to one of those classy joints where they treat you properly, like a person, like a guest! With sheets and towels, like a big hotel. With great drugs for all us nut cased lunatic devils ha ha!
Sorry, uh, sorry. I got a little agitated, the thought of escape crossed my mindr. And suddenly, suddenly I felt like bending the bars back and ripping out the goddamn window frames and eating them, yes eating them. And leaping, leaping leaping! Colonics for everyone! Ah, all right. You dumb assholes. I'm a mental patient, I'm supposed to act out. Wait'll you morons find out who I am. My father's going to be really upset. And when my father gets upset the ground shakes. My father is God! I worship my father!
-- Jeffrey Goines and James Cole, Twelve Monkeys

A coward believes he will ever live
if he keep him safe from strife:
but old age leaves him not long in peace
though spears may spare his life.

-Havamal (an old Icelandic text)

The unwise man is awake all night,
and ponders everything over;
when morning comes he is weary in mind,
and all is a burden as ever.

-Havamal

Theoretical discussion of an ancient problem:
Can an elephant die of a cigarette?

-Vladimir Mayakovsky

'You can imagine what kind of homes they come from, of course,' said my dad.
'The mother's on benefits,' guessed the old policeman. 'The father probably buggered off years ago. If he was ever there. So the state has to pay to bring up these little charmers. Which means you and me.'
'Too true. And don't think they're grateful for being supported by the taxpayer. It's all rights these days, isn't it? All rights and no responsibilities.'
'You see them all over these estates. Women with a bunch of screaming kids and no ring on their fingers.'
'Amazing, isn't it? You need a license to drive a car. You need a license to own a dog. But anyone can bring a child into the world.'
I went into the kitchen with my mum and Pat, wondering why all the decent citizens in the world have it in for single mothers. After all, I thought, the single mother is the parent who stayed.

-Man and Boy, by Tony Parsons.

THE 213 THINGS SKIPPY IS NO LONGER ALLOWED TO DO IN THE U.S. ARMY

SGT Shawn Stanford
Once upon a time, there was a SPC Schwarz stationed with the Army in the Balkans. SPC Schwarz was either very clever or very bored; but probably both, since he managed to attempt or be warned about 213 things he wasn't allowed to do. He collected those things into a hillarious list and posted them to the web. The site hadn't been updated in a couple of years and has since gone away; but the list is classic, so I saved it. A couple favorites: 2. My proper military title is 'Specialist Schwarz' not 'Princess Anastasia'. and 191. Our Humvees cannot be assembled into a giant battle-robot.

1.   Not allowed to watch Southpark when I'm supposed to be working.
2.   My proper military title is 'Specialist Schwarz' not 'Princess Anastasia'.
3.   Not allowed to threaten anyone with black magic.
4.   Not allowed to challenge anyone's disbelief of black magic by asking for hair.
5.   Not allowed to get silicone breast implants.
6.   Not allowed to play 'Pulp Fiction' with a suction-cup dart pistol and any officer.
7.   Not allowed to add 'In accordance with the prophesy' to the end of answers I give to a question an officer asks me.
8.   Not allowed to add pictures of officers I don't like to War Criminal posters.
9.   Not allowed to title any product 'Get Over it'.
10.   Not allowed to purchase anyone's soul on Government time.
11.   Not allowed to join the communist party.
12.   Not allowed to join any militia.
13.   Not allowed to form any militia.
14.   Not allowed out of my office when the president visited Sarajevo.
15.   Not allowed to train adopted stray dogs to 'Sic Brass!'
16.   Must get a haircut even if it tampers with my 'Sampson like powers'.
17.   God may not contradict any of my orders.
18.   May no longer perform my now (in)famous 'Barbie Girl Dance' while on duty.
19.   May not call any officers immoral, untrustworthy, lying, slime, even if I'm right.
20.   Must not taunt the French any more.
21.   Must attempt to not antagonize SAS.
22.   Must never call an SAS a 'Wanker'.
23.   Must never ask anyone who outranks me if they've been smoking crack.
24.   Must not tell any officer that I am smarter than they are, especially if it's true.
25.   Never confuse a Dutch soldier for a French one.
26.   Never tell a German soldier that 'We kicked your ass in World War 2!'
27.   Don't tell Princess Di jokes in front of the paras (British Airborne).
28.   Don't take the batteries out of the other soldiers alarm clocks (Even if they do hit snooze about forty times).
29.   The Irish MPs are not after 'Me frosted lucky charms'.
30.   Not allowed to wake an Non-Commissioned Officer by repeatedly banging on the head with a bag of trash.
31.   Not allowed to let sock puppets take responsibility for any of my actions.
32.   Not allowed to let sock puppets take command of my post.
33.   Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody.
34.   (Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I *did* bring enough for everybody.
35.   Not allowed to sing 'High Speed Dirt' by Megadeth during airborne operations. ('See the earth below/Soon to make a crater/Blue sky, black death, I'm off to meet my maker')
36.   Can't have flashbacks to wars I was not in. (The Spanish-American War isn't over).
37.   Our medic is called 'Sgt Larwasa', not 'Dr. Feelgood'.
38.   Our supply Sgt is 'Sgt Watkins' not 'Sugar Daddy'.
39.   Not allowed to ask for the day off due to religious purposes, on the basis that the world is going to end, more than once.
40.   I do not have super-powers.
41.   'Keep on Trucking' is *not* a psychological warfare message.
42.   Not allowed to attempt to appeal to mankind's baser instincts in recruitment posters.
43.   Camouflage body paint is not a uniform.
44.   I am not the atheist chaplain.
45.   I am not allowed to 'Go to Bragg boulevard and shake daddies little money maker for twenties stuffed into my undies'.
46.   I am not authorized to fire officers.
47.   I am not a citizen of Texas, and those other, forty-nine, lesser states.
48.   I may not use public masturbation as a tool to demonstrate a flaw in a command decision.
49.   Not allowed to trade military equipment for 'magic beans'.
50.   Not allowed to sell magic beans during duty hours.
51.   Not allowed to quote 'Dr Seuss' on military operations.
52.   Not allowed to yell 'Take that Cobra' at the rifle range.
53.   Not allowed to quote 'Full Metal Jacket ' at the rifle range.
54.   'Napalm sticks to kids' is *not* a motivational phrase.
55.   An order to 'Put Kiwi on my boots' does *not* involve fruit.
56.   An order to 'Make my Boots black and shiny' does not involve electrical tape.
57.   The proper response to a lawful order is not 'Why?'
58.   The following words and phrases may not be used in a cadence- Budding sexuality, necrophilia, I hate everyone in this formation and wish they were dead, sexual lubrication, black earth mother, all Marines are latent homosexuals, Tantric yoga, Gotterdammerung, Korean hooker, Eskimo Nell, we've all got jackboots now, slut puppy, or any references to squid.
59.   May not make posters depicting the leadership failings of my chain of command.
60.   ‘The Giant Space Ants' are not at the top of my chain of command.
61.   If one soldier has a 2nd Lt bar on his uniform, and I have an E-4 on mine It means he outranks me. It does not mean ‘I have been promoted three more times than you'.
62.   It is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, no longer applies to Specialist Schwarz.
63.   Command decisions do *not* need to be ratified by a 2/3 majority.
64.   Inflatable novelties do *not* entitle me to BAQ or Separation pay.
65.   There are no evil clowns living under my bed.
66.   There is no ‘Anti-Mime' campaign in Bosnia.
67.   I am not the Psychological Warfare Mascot.
68.   I may not line my helmet with tin foil to ‘Block out the space mind control lasers'.
69.   May not pretend to be a facist stormtrooper, while on duty.
70.   I am not authorized to prescribe any form of medication.
71.   I must not flaunt my deviances in front of my chain of command.
72.   May not wear gimp mask while on duty.
73.   No military functions are to be performed ‘Skyclad'.
74.   Woad is not camouflage makeup.
75.   May not conduct psychological experiments on my chain of command.
76.   "Teddy Bear, Teddy bear, turn around" is *not* a cadence.
77.   The MP checkpoint is not an Imperial Stormtrooper roadblock, so I should not tell them "You don't need to see my identification, these are not the droids you are looking for."
78.   I may not call block my chain of command.
79.   I am neither the king nor queen of cheese.
80.   Not allowed to wear a dress to any army functions.
81.   May not bring a drag queen to the battalion formal dance.
82.   May not form any press gangs.
83.   Must not start any SITREP (Situation Report) with "I recently had an experience I just had to write you about...."
84.   Must not use military vehicles to ‘Squish' things.
85.   Not allowed to make any Psychological Warfare products depicting the infamous Ft. Bragg sniper incident.
86.   May not challenge anyone in my chain of command to the ‘field of honor'.
87.   If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.
88.   Must not refer to 1st Sgt as ‘Mom'.
89.   Must not refer to the Commander as ‘Dad'.
90.   Inflatable sheep do *not* need to be displayed during a room inspection.
91.   I am not authorized to initiate Jihad.
92.   When asked to give a few words at a military ceremony ‘Romper Bomper Stomper Boo' is probably not appropriate.
93.   Nerve gas is not funny.
94.   Crucifixes do not ward off officers, and I should not test that.
95.   I am not in need of a more suitable host body.
96.   ‘Redneck Zombies' is not a military training aid.
97.   Gozer does not dwell in my refrigerator.
98.   The proper response to a chemical weapon attack is not ‘Tell my chain of command what I really think about them, and then poke holes in their masks.'
99.   A smiley face is not used to mark a minefield.
100.   Claymore mines are not filled with yummy candy, and it is wrong to tell new soldiers that they are.
101.   I am not allowed to mount a bayonet on a crew-served weapon.
102.   Rodents are not entitled to burial with full military honors, even if they are "casualties of war".
103.   My commander is not old enough to have fought in the civil war, and I should stop implying that he did.
104.   Vodka, green food coloring, and a ‘Cool Mint’ Listerine® bottle is not a good combination.
105.   I am not allowed to bum cigarettes off of anyone under twelve.
106.   I may not trade my rifle for any of the following: Cigarettes, booze, sexual favors, Kalishnikovs, Soviet Armored vehicles, small children, or bootleg CD’s.
107.   Must not mock command decisions in front of the press.
108.   Should not taunt members of the press, even if they are really fat, exceptionally stupid, and working for UPI.
109.   I am not authorized to change national policy in Eastern Europe.
110.   Never, ever, attempt to correct a Green Beret officer about anything.
111.   I am not qualified to operate any US, German, Polish, or Russian Armored vehicles.
112.   When saluting a ‘leg’ officer, an appropriate greeting is not "Airborne leads the wa- oh...sorry sir".
113.   There is absolutely no need to emulate the people from ‘Full Monty’ every time I hear the song "Hot Stuff".
114.   I cannot trade my CO to the Russians.
115.   I should not speculate on the penis size of anyone who outranks me.
116.   Crucifying mice - bad idea.
117.   Must not use government equipment to bootleg pornography.
118.   Burn pits for classified material are not revel fires - therefore it is wrong to dance naked around them.
119.   I cannot arrest children for being rude.
120.   An EO briefing is probably not the best place to unveil my newest off color joke.
121.   I should not use government resources to ‘waterproof’ dirty magazines.
122.   Radioactive material should not be stored in the barracks.
123.   I should not teach other soldiers to say offensive and crude things in Albanian, under the guise of teaching them how to say potentially useful phrases.
124.   Two drink limit does not mean first and last.
125.   Two drink limit does not mean two kinds of drinks.
126.   Two drink limit does not mean the drinks can be as large as I like.
127.   ‘No Drinking Of Alcoholic Beverages’ does not imply that a Jack Daniel’s ® IV is acceptable.
128.   "Shpadoinkle" is not a real word.
129.   The Microsoft ® ‘Dancing Paperclip’ is not authorized to countermand any orders.
130.   ‘I’m drunk’ is a bad answer to any question posed by my commander.
131.   No dancing in the turret. This especially applies in conjunction with rule #113.
132.   The loudspeaker system is not a forum to voice my ideas.
133.   The loudspeaker system is not to be used to replace the radio.
134.   The loudspeaker system is not to be used to broadcast the soundtrack to a porno movie.
135.   An order to put polish on my boots means the whole boot.
136.   Shouting ‘Let’s do the village! Let’s do the whole fucking village!’ while out on a mission is bad.
137.   Should not show up at the front gate wearing part of a Russian uniform, messily drunk.
138.   Even if my commander did it.
139.   Must not teach interpreters how to make "MRE" bombs.
140.   I am not authorized to sell mineral rights.
141.   Not allowed to use a broadsword to disprove ‘The Pen is Mightier than the sword’.
142.   'Calvin-Ball' is not authorized PT.
143.   I do not need to keep a 'range card' by my window.
144.   'K-Pot, LBE, and a thin coat of Break-free' is not an authorized uniform.
145.   I should not drink three quarts of blue food coloring before a urine test.
146.   Nor should I drink three quarts of red food coloring, and scream during the same.
147.   I should not threaten suicide with pop rocks and Coke ®.
148.   Putting red 'Mike and Ike's' ® into a prescription medicine bottle, and then eating them all in a formation is not funny.
149.   Must not create new DOD forms, then insist they be filled out.
150.   On Sports Day PT, a wedgie is not considered a legal tackle.
151.   The proper way to report to my Commander is 'Specialist Schwarz, reporting as ordered, Sir' not 'You can't prove a thing!'
152.   The following items do not exist: Keys to the Drop Zone, A box of grid squares, blinker fluid, winter air for tires, canopy lights, or Chem-Light ® batteries.
153.   I should not assign new privates to 'guard the flight line'.
154.   Shouldn't treat 'piss-bottles' with extra-strength icy hot.
155.   Teaching Albanian children to taunt other soldiers is not nice.
156.   I will no longer perform 'lap-dances' while in uniform.
157.   If I take the uniform off, in the course of the lap-dance, it still counts.
158.   The revolution is not now.
159.   When detained by MP's, I do not have a right to a strip search.
160.   No part of the military uniform is edible.
161.   Bodychecking General officers is not a good idea.
162.   Past lives have absolutely no effect on the chain of command.
163.   Take that hat off.
164.   There is no such thing as a were-virgin.
165.   I do not get 'that time of month'.
166.   No, the pants are not optional.
167.   Not allowed to operate a business out of the barracks.
168.   Especially not a pornographic movie studio.
169.   Not even if they *are* 'especially patriotic films'
170.   Not allowed to 'defect' to OPFOR during training missions.
171.   On training missions, try not to shoot down the General's helicopter.
172.   'A full magazine and some privacy' is not the way to help a potential suicide.
173.   I am not allowed to create new levels of security clearance.
174.   Furby ® is not allowed into classified areas. (I swear to the gods, I did not make that up, it's actually DOD policy).
175.   We do not 'charge into battle, naked, like the Celts'.
176.   Any device that can crawl across the table on medium, does not need to be brought into the office.
177.   I am not to refer to a formation as 'the boxy rectangle thingie'.
178.   I am not 'A lesbian trapped in a man's body'.
179.   On Army documents, my race is not 'Other'.
180.   Nor is it 'Secretariat, in the third'.
181.   Pokémon® trainer is not an MOS.
182.   There is no FM for 'wall-to-wall counseling'.
183.   My chain of command has neither the time, nor the inclination to hear about what I did with six boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups. ®
184.   When operating a military vehicle I may *not* attempt something 'I saw in a cartoon'.
185.   My name is not a killing word.
186.   I am not the Emperor of anything.
187.   Must not taunt officers in the throes of nicotine withdrawal, with cigarettes.
188.   May not challenge officers to 'Meet me on the field of honor, at dawn'.
189.   Do not dare SERE graduates to eat bugs. They will always do it.
190.   Must not make s'mores while on guard duty.
191.   Our Humvees cannot be assembled into a giant battle-robot.
192.   The proper response to a briefing is not 'That's what you think'.
193.   The Masons, and Gray Aliens are not in our chain of command.
194.   Shouldn't take incriminating photos of my chain of command.
195.   Shouldn't use Photoshop ® to create incriminating photos of my chain of command.
196.   I am not allowed to give tattoos.
197.   I am not allowed to sing 'Henry the VIII I am' until verse 68 ever again.
198.   Not allowed to lead a 'Coup' during training missions.
199.   I should not confess to crimes that took place before I was born.
200.   My chain of command is not interested in why I 'just happen' to have a kilt, an inflatable sheep, and a box of rubber bands in the back of my car.
201.   Must not valiantly push officers onto hand grenades to save the squad.
202.   Despite the confusing similarity in the names, the "Safety Dance" and the "Safety Briefing" are never to be combined.
203.   'To conquer the earth with an army of flying monkeys" is a bad long term goal to give the re-enlistment NCO.
204.   NEVER nail a stuffed bunny to a cross and put it up in front of the Battalion Headquarters sign as an "Easter Desecration."
205.   Don't write up false gigs on a HMMWV PMCS. ("Broken clutch pedal", "Number three turbine has frequent flame-outs", "flux capacitor emits loud whine when engaged")
206.   Not allowed to get shot.
207.   The Chicken and Rice MRE is *not* a personal lubricant. (Skippy wanted this noted for the record that this is not something he has ever attempted or considered! It was something we heard at dinner on 22 September 2001 and it was just so obscene it had to go here.)
208.   Not allowed to play into the deluded fantasies of the civlians who are "hearing conversations" from the NSA, FBI, CIA and KGB due to the microchip the aliens implanted in their brain.
209.   An airsickness bag is to be used for airsickness *only*. (Also not a Skippy-ism...this was the same dinner.)
210.   Must not make T-shirts up depciting a pig with the writing "Eat Pork or Die" in Arabic to bring as civilian attire when preparing to deploy to a primarily Muslim country.
211.   Don't ask LTC Steele to sign my copy of Blackhawk Down.
212.   Must not go on nine deployments in six years that require a security clearance that I don't have, even if the Army tells me repeatedly that I have one and I have no reason to question them.
213.   Do not convince NCO's that their razorbumps are the result of microscopic parasites.
Posted by SGT Shawn Stanford at April 16, 2003 01:13 PM

Renton's voice-over monologue, which plays during the introductory scene from Trainspotting:

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.  Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends.  Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.

But why would I want to do a thing like that?

I chose not to choose life: I chose something else.

And the reasons?

There are no reasons.

Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

People think it's all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not fucking stupid. At least, we're not that fucking stupid.

Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you're still nowhere near it. When you're on junk you have only one worry: scoring. When you're off it you are suddenly obliged to worry about all sorts of other shite. Got no money: can't get pissed. Got money: drinking too much. Can't get a bird: no chance of a ride. Got a bird: too much hassle. You have to worry about bills, about food, about some football team that never fucking wins, about human relationships and all the things that really don't matter when you've got a sincere and truthful junk habit.

(Monty walks into bathroom, looks in the mirror. Sees "Fuck You!" written in corner of mirror.)

Monty: Yeah, fuck you, too.

Monty's Reflection: Fuck me? Fuck you! Fuck you and this whole city and everyone in it.
Fuck the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back.
Fuck squeegee men dirtying up the clean windshield of my car. Get a fucking job!
Fuck the Sikhs and the Pakistanis bombing down the avenues in decrepit cabs, curry steaming out their pores and stinking up my day. Terrorists in fucking training. Slow the fuck down!
Fuck the Chelsea boys with their waxed chests and pumped up biceps. Going down on each other in my parks and on my piers, jingling their dicks on my Channel 35.
Fuck the Korean grocers with their pyramids of overpriced fruit and their tulips and roses wrapped in plastic. Ten years in the country, still no speaky English?
Fuck the Russians in Brighton Beach. Mobster thugs sitting in cafés, sipping tea in little glasses, sugar cubes between their teeth. Wheelin' and dealin' and schemin'. Go back where you fucking came from!
Fuck the black-hatted Chassidim, strolling up and down 47th street in their dirty gabardine with their dandruff. Selling South African apartheid diamonds!
Fuck the Wall Street brokers. Self-styled masters of the universe. Michael Douglas, Gordon Gecko wannabe mother fuckers, figuring out new ways to rob hard working people blind. Send those Enron assholes to jail for fucking life! You think Bush and Cheney didn't know about that shit? Give me a fucking break! Tyco! Imclone! Adelphia! Worldcom!
Fuck the Puerto Ricans. 20 to a car, swelling up the welfare rolls, worst fuckin' parade in the city. And don't even get me started on the Dom-in-i-cans, because they make the Puerto Ricans look good.
Fuck the Bensonhurst Italians with their pomaded hair, their nylon warm-up suits, and their St. Anthony medallions. Swinging their, Jason Giambi, Louisville slugger, baseball bats, trying to audition for the Sopranos.
Fuck the Upper East Side wives with their Hermés scarves and their fifty-dollar Balducci artichokes. Overfed faces getting pulled and lifted and stretched, all taut and shiny. You're not fooling anybody, sweetheart!
Fuck the uptown brothers. They never pass the ball, they don't want to play defense, they take fives steps on every lay-up to the hoop. And then they want to turn around and blame everything on the white man. Slavery ended one hundred and thirty seven years ago. Move the fuck on!
Fuck the corrupt cops with their anus violating plungers and their 41 shots, standing behind a blue wall of silence. You betray our trust!
Fuck the priests who put their hands down some innocent child's pants. Fuck the church that protects them, delivering us into evil. And while you're at it, fuck JC! He got off easy! A day on the cross, a weekend in hell, and all the hallelujahs of the legioned angels for eternity! Try seven years in fuckin Otisville, Jay!
Fuck Osama Bin Laden, Alqueda, and backward-ass, cave-dwelling, fundamentalist assholes everywhere. On the names of innocent thousands murdered, I pray you spend the rest of eternity with your seventy-two whores roasting in a jet-fueled fire in hell. You towel headed camel jockeys can kiss my royal, Irish ass!
Fuck Jacob Elinski, whining malcontent.
Fuck Francis Xavier Slaughtery, my best friend, judging me while he stares at my girlfriend's ass.
Fuck Naturel Rivera. I gave her my trust and she stabbed me in the back. Sold me up the river. Fucking bitch.
Fuck my father with his endless grief, standing behind that bar. Sipping on club soda, selling whiskey to firemen and cheering the Bronx Bombers.
Fuck this whole city and everyone in it. From the row houses of Astoria to the penthouses on Park Avenue. From the projects in the Bronx to the lofts in Soho. From the tenements in Alphabet City to the brownstones in Park slope to the split levels in Staten Island. Let an earthquake crumble it. Let the fires rage. Let it burn to fuckin ash then let the waters rise and submerge this whole, rat-infested place.

Monty: No. No, fuck you, Montgomery Brogan. You had it all and then you threw it away, you dumb fuck!

(takes a breath and tries to rub away words)

-Edward Norton-The 25th Hour

'Consider for example the proceedings we call 'games'. I mean board-games, card-games, ball-games, Olympic games, and so on. What is common to them all? Don't say, 'There must be something common, or else they would not be all called "games"', but look and see whether there is anything common to all. For if you look at them you will not see something that is common to them all, but similarities, relationships, and a whole series of them at that. To repeat: don't think, but look! Look, for example, at board-games, with their multifarious relationships. Now pass to card games, here you will find many correspondences with the first group, but many common features drop out, and others appear. When we pass next to ball games, much that is common is retained, but much is lost. Are they all 'amusing'? Compare chess with tic-tac-toe. Or is there always winning and losing, or competition between players? Think of solitaire. In ball games there is winning and losing, but when a child throws his ball against the wall and catches it again, this feature has disappeared. Look now at the parts played by skill and luck, and at the difference between skill in chess and skill in tennis. Think now of games like ring-around-the-roses; here is the element of amusement, but how many other characteristic features have disappeared. And we can go through the many, many other groups of games in the same way, and we can see how similarities crop up and disappear.'

'What we cannot speak of, we must pass over in silence

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh'

'You must always be puzzled by mental illness. The thing I would dread most, if I became mentally ill, would be your adopting a common sense attitude; that you could take it for granted that I was deluded.'

'Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open.'

'Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.'

- Wittgenstein

'Das nicht nichtet'
('The Nothing nihilates')

- Heidegger

It's long, but this speech gets me every time:

This is a week of remembrance for our country. On Saturday we dedicated the World War II Memorial in Washington, in the company of veterans who fought and flew at places like Midway, and Iwo Jima and Normandy. This weekend I will go to France for the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day, at a place where the fate of millions turned on the courage of thousands. In these events we recall a time of peril, and national unity, and individual courage. We honor a generation of Americans who served this country and saved the liberty of the world. (Applause.)

On this day in 1944, General Eisenhower sat down at his headquarters in the English countryside, and wrote out a message to the troops who would soon invade Normandy. "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force," he wrote, "the eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

Each of you receiving a commission today in the United States military will also carry the hopes of free people everywhere. (Applause.) As your generation assumes its own duties during a global conflict that will define your careers, you will be called upon to take brave action and serve with honor. In some ways, this struggle we're in is unique. In other ways, it resembles the great clashes of the last century -- between those who put their trust in tyrants and those who put their trust in liberty. Our goal, the goal of this generation, is the same: We will secure our nation and defend the peace through the forward march of freedom.

Like the Second World War, our present conflict began with a ruthless, surprise attack on the United States. We will not forget that treachery, and we will accept nothing less than victory over the enemy.

Like the murderous ideologies of the 20th century, the ideology of terrorism reaches across boarders, and seeks recruits in every country. So we're fighting these enemies wherever they hide across the earth.

Like other totalitarian movements, the terrorists seek to impose a grim vision in which dissent is crushed, and every man and woman must think and live in colorless conformity. So to the oppressed peoples everywhere, we are offering the great alternative of human liberty.

Like enemies of the past, the terrorists underestimate the strength of free peoples. The terrorists believe that free societies are essentially corrupt and decadent, and with a few hard blows will collapse in weakness and in panic. The enemy has learned that America is strong and determined, because of the steady resolve of our citizens, and because of the skill and strength of the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and the United States Air Force. (Applause.)

And like the aggressive ideologies that rose up in the early 1900s, our enemies have clearly and proudly stated their intentions: Here are the words of al Qaeda's self-described military spokesman in Europe, on a tape claiming responsibility for the Madrid bombings. He said, "We choose death, while you choose life. If you do not stop your injustices, more and more blood will flow and these attacks will seem very small compared to what can occur in what you call terrorism."

Here are the words of another al Qaeda spokesman, Suleiman Abu Gheith. Last year, in an article published on an al Qaeda website, he said, "We have the right to kill four million Americans -- two million of them children -- and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons."

In all these threats, we hear the echoes of other enemies in other times --that same swagger and demented logic of the fanatic. Like their kind in the past, these murderers have left scars and suffering. And like their kind in the past, they will flame and fail and suffer defeat by free men and women. (Applause.)

The enemies of freedom are opposed by a great and growing alliance. Nations that won the Cold War, nations once behind an Iron Curtain, and nations on every continent see this threat clearly. We're cooperating at every level of our military, law enforcement and intelligence to meet the danger. The war on terror is civilization's fight. And, as in the struggles of the last century, civilized nations are waging this fight together.

The terrorists of our day are, in some ways, unlike the enemies of the past. The terrorist ideology has not yet taken control of a great power like Germany or the Soviet Union. And so the terrorists have adopted a strategy different from the gathering of vast and standing armies. They seek, instead, to demoralize free nations with dramatic acts of murder. They seek to wear down our resolve and will by killing the innocent and spreading fear and anarchy. And they seek weapons of mass destruction, so they can threaten or attack even the most powerful nations.

Fighting this kind of enemy is a complex mission that will require all your skill and resourcefulness. Our enemies have no capital or nation-state to defend. They share a vision and operate as a network of dozens of violent extremist groups around the world, striking separately and in concert. Al Qaeda is the vanguard of these loosely affiliated groups, and we estimate that over the years many thousands of recruits have passed through its training camps. Al Qaeda has been wounded by losing nearly two-thirds of its known leadership, and most of its important sanctuaries. Yet many of the terrorists it trained are still active in hidden cells or in other groups. Home-grown extremists, incited by al Qaeda's example, are at work in many nations.

And since September the 11th, we've seen terrorist violence in an arc from Morocco to Spain to Turkey to Russia to Uzbekistan to Pakistan to India to Thailand to Indonesia. Yet the center of the conflict, the platform for their global expansion, the region they seek to remake in their image, is the broader Middle East.

Just as events in Europe determined the outcome of the Cold War, events in the Middle East will set the course of our current struggle. If that region is abandoned to dictators and terrorists, it will be a constant source of violence andd alarm, exporting killers of increasing destructive power to attack America and other free nations. If that region grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorist movement will lose its sponsors, lose its recruits, and lose the festering grievances that keep terrorists in business. The stakes of this struggle are high. The security and peace of our country are at stake, and success in this struggle is our only option. (Applause.)

This is the great challenge of our time, the storm in which we fly. History is once again witnessing a great clash. This is not a clash of civilizations. The civilization of Islam, with its humane traditions of learning and tolerance, has no place for this violent sect of killers and aspiring tyrants. This is not a clash of religions. The faith of Islam teaches moral responsibility that enobles men and women, and forbids the shedding of innocent blood. Instead, this is a clash of political visions.

In the terrorists' vision of the world, the Middle East must fall under the rule of radical governments, moderate Arab states must be overthrown, nonbelievers must be expelled from Muslim lands, and the harshest practice of extremist rule must be universally enforced. In this vision, books are burned, terrorists are sheltered, women are whipped, and children are schooled in hatred and murder and suicide.

Our vision is completely different. We believe that every person has a right to think and pray and live in obedience to God and conscience, not in frightened submission to despots. (Applause.) We believe that societies find their greatness by encouraging the creative gifts of their people, not in controlling their lives and feeding their resentments. And we have confidence that people share this vision of dignity and freedom in every culture because liberty is not the invention of Western culture, liberty is the deepest need and hope of all humanity. The vast majority of men and women in Muslim societies reject the domination of extremists like Osama bin Laden. They're looking to the world's free nations to support them in their struggle against the violent minority who want to impose a future of darkness across the Middle East. We will not abandon them to the designs of evil men. We will stand with the people of that region as they seek their future in freedom. (Applause.)

We bring more than a vision to this conflict -- we bring a strategy that will lead to victory. And that strategy has four commitments:

First, we are using every available tool to dismantle, disrupt and destroy terrorists and their organizations. With all the skill of our law enforcement, all the stealth of our special forces, and all the global reach of our air power, we will strike the terrorists before they can strike our people. The best way to protect America is to stay on the offensive. (Applause.)

Secondly, we are denying terrorists places of sanctuary or support. The power of terrorists is multiplied when they have safe havens to gather and train recruits. Terrorist havens are found within states that have difficulty controlling areas of their own territory. So we're helping governments like the Philippines and Kenya to enforce anti-terrorist laws, through information sharing and joint training.

Terrorists also find support and safe haven within outlaw regimes. So I have set a clear doctrine that the sponsors of terror will be held equally accountable for the acts of terrorists. (Applause.) Regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan learned that providing support and sanctuary to terrorists carries with it enormous costs -- while Libya has discovered that abandoning the pursuit of weapons of mass murder has opened a better path to relations with the free world.

Terrorists find their ultimate support and sanctuary when they gain control of governments and countries. We saw the terrible harm that terrorists did by taking effective control over the government of Afghanistan -- a terrorist victory that led directly to the attacks of September the 11th. And terrorists have similar designs on Iraq, on Pakistan, on Saudi Arabia and many other regional governments they regard as illegitimate. We can only imagine the scale of terrorist crimes were they to gain control of states with weapons of mass murder or vast oil revenues. So we will not retreat. We will prevent the emergence of terrorist-controlled states.

Third, we are using all elements of our national power to deny terrorists the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek. Because this global threat requires a global response, we are working to strengthen international institutions charged with opposing proliferation. We are working with regional powers and international partners to confront the threats of North Korea and Iran. We have joined with 14 other nations in the Proliferation Security Initiative to interdict -- on sea, on land, or in the air -- shipments of weapons of mass destruction, components to build those weapons, and the means to deliver them. Our country must never allow mass murderers to gain hold of weapons of mass destruction. We will lead the world and keep unrelenting pressure on the enemy. (Applause.)

Fourth and finally, we are denying the terrorists the ideological victories they seek by working for freedom and reform in the broader Middle East. Fighting terror is not just a matter of killing or capturing terrorists. To stop the flow of recruits into terrorist movement, young people in the region must see a real and hopeful alternative -- a society that rewards their talent and turns their energies to constructive purpose. And here the vision of freedom has great advantages. Terrorists incite young men and women to strap bombs on their bodies and dedicate their deaths to the death of others. Free societies inspire young men and women to work, and achieve, and dedicate their lives to the life of their country. And in the long run, I have great faith that the appeal of freedom and life is stronger than the lure of hatred and death.

Freedom's advance in the Middle East will have another very practical effect. The terrorist movement feeds on the appearance of inevitability. It claims to rise on the currents of history, using past America withdrawals from Somalia and Beirut to sustain this myth and to gain new followers. The success of free and stable governments in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere will shatter the myth and discredit the radicals. (Applause.) And as the entire region sees the promise of freedom in its midst, the terrorist ideology will become more and more irrelevant, until that day when it is viewed with contempt or ignored altogether. (Applause.)

For decades, free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East for the sake of stability. In practice, this approach brought little stability, and much oppression. So I have changed this policy. In the short-term, we will work with every government in the Middle East dedicated to destroying the terrorist networks. In the longer-term, we will expect a higher standard of reform and democracy from our friends in the region. (Applause.) Democracy and reform will make those nations stronger and more stable, and make the world more secure by undermining terrorism at it source. Democratic institutions in the Middle East will not grow overnight; in America, they grew over generations. Yet the nations of the Middle East will find, as we have found, the only path to true progress is the path of freedom and justice and democracy. (Applause.)

America is pursuing our forward strategy for freedom in the broader Middle East in many ways. Voices in that region are increasingly demanding reform and democratic change. So we are working with courageous leaders like President Karzai of Afghanistan, who is ushering in a new era of freedom for the Afghan people. We're taking aside reformers, and we're standing for human rights and political freedom, often at great personal risk. We're encouraging economic opportunity and the rule of law and government reform and the expansion of liberty throughout the region.

And we're working toward the goal of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace. (Applause.) Prime Minister Sharon's plan to remove all settlements from Gaza and several from the West Bank is a courageous step toward peace. (Applause.) His decision provides an historic moment of opportunity to begin building a future Palestinian state. This initiative can stimulate progress toward peace by setting the parties back on the road map, the most reliable guide to ending the occupation that began in 1967. This success will require reform-minded Palestinians to step forward and lead and meet their road map obligations. And the United States of America stands ready to help those dedicated to peace, those willing to fight violence, find a new state so we can realize peace in the greater Middle East. (Applause.)

Some who call themselves "realists" question whether the spread of democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality. America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat. America is always more secure when freedom is on the march.

All our commitments in the Middle East -- all of the four commitments of our strategy -- are now being tested in Iraq. We have removed a state-sponsor of terror with a history of using weapons of mass destruction. And the whole world is better off with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell. (Applause.) We now face al Qaeda associates like the terrorist Zarqawi, who seek to hijack the future of that nation. We are fighting enemies who want us to retreat, and leave Iraq to tyranny, so they can claim an ideological victory over America. They would use that victory to gather new strength, and take their violence directly to America and to our friends.

Yet our coalition is determined, and the Iraqi people have made clear: Iraq will remain in the camp of free nations. (Applause.)

The Iraqi people are moving forward, in clear, steady steps, with our support, to achieve democracy. Iraq now has a designated Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, a respected Iraqi patriot once targeted by Saddam Hussein's assassins. I spoke with the Prime Minister yesterday. He recognized the sacrifice of brave Americans who have given their lives in Iraq, and he pledged that his country would be a friend and ally of America in peace. (Applause.)

Along with a president and two deputy presidents, Prime Minister Allawi will lead a government of 33 ministers, which take office immediately, and begin preparing for the transfer of full sovereignty by June the 30th. America and Great Britain are now working with the United Nations Security Council and Iraq's new leaders on a resolution that will endorse the sovereign government of Iraq, and urge other nations to actively support it.

The Iraqi people are looking to us for help, and we will provide it. Many fine civilian professionals are now working in that country, helping Iraqis to rebuild their infrastructure and build the institutions of a free country. Along with the United Nations, we will help Iraq's new government to prepare for national elections by January of 2005. This free election is what the terrorists in the country fear most. Free elections are exactly what they are going to see.

Our military is performing with skill and courage, and our nation is proud of the United States military. (Applause.) Many brave Iraqis have stepped forward to fight for their own freedom, and we are working closely with them to disband and destroy the illegal militia, to defeat the terrorists, and to secure the safe arrival of Iraqi democracy. We're stepping up our efforts to train effective Iraqi security forces that will eventually defend the liberty of their own country.

At every stage of this process, before and after the transition to Iraqi sovereignty, the enemy is likely to be active and brutal. They know the stakes as well as we do. But our coalition is prepared, our will is strong, and neither Iraq's new leadership nor the United States will be intimidated by thugs and assassins.

As we fight the war on terror in Iraq and on other fronts, we must keep in mind the nature of the enemy. No act of America explains terrorist violence, and no concession of America could appease it. The terrorists who attacked our country on September the 11th, 2001 were not protesting our policies. They were protesting our existence. Some say that by fighting the terrorists abroad since September the 11th, we only stir up a hornet's nest. But the terrorists who struck that day were stirred up already. (Applause.) If America were not fighting terrorists in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and elsewhere, what would these thousands of killers do, suddenly begin leading productive lives of service and charity? (Laughter.) Would the terrorists who beheaded an American on camera just be quiet, peaceful citizens if America had not liberated Iraq? We are dealing here with killers who have made the death of Americans the calling of their lives. And America has made a decision about these terrorists: Instead of waiting for them to strike again in our midst, we will take this fight to the enemy. (Applause.)

We are confident of our cause in Iraq, but the struggle we have entered will not end with success in Iraq. Overcoming terrorism, and bringing greater freedom to the nations of the Middle East, is the work of decades. To prevail, America will need the swift and able transformed military you will help to build and lead. America will need a generation of Arab linguists, and experts on Middle Eastern history and culture. America will need improved intelligence capabilities to track threats and expose the plans of unseen enemies.

Above all, America will need perseverance. This conflict will take many turns, with setbacks on the course to victory. Through it all, our confidence comes from one unshakable belief: We believe, in Ronald Reagan's words, that "the future belongs to the free." (Applause.) And we've seen the appeal of liberty with our own eyes. We have seen freedom firmly established in former enemies like Japan and Germany. We have seen freedom arrive, on waves of unstoppable progress, to nations in Latin America, and Asia, and Africa, and Eastern Europe. Now freedom is stirring in the Middle East, and no one should bet against it. (Applause.)

In the years immediately after World War II ended, our nation faced more adversity and danger with the rise of imperial communism. In 1947, communist forces were pressing a civil war in Greece, and threatening Turkey. More than two years after the Nazi surrender, there was still starvation in Germany, reconstruction seemed to be faltering, and the Marshall Plan had not yet begun. In 1948, Berlin was blockaded on the orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon, and communists in China won their revolution.

All of this took place in the first four years of the Cold War. If that generation of Americans had lost its nerve, there would have been no "long twilight struggle," only a long twilight. But the United States and our allies kept faith with captive peoples, and stayed true to the vision of a democratic Europe. And that perseverance gave all the world a lesson in the power of liberty. (Applause.)

We are now about three years into the war against terrorism. We have overcome great challenges, we face many today, and there are more ahead. This is no time for impatience and self-defeating pessimism. These times demand the kind of courage and confidence that Americans have shown before. Our enemy can only succeed if we lose our will and faith in our own values. And ladies and gentlemen, our will is strong. We know our duty. By keeping our word, and holding firm to our values, this generation will show the world the power of liberty once again. (Applause.)

For four years, you have trained and studied and worked for this moment. And now it has come. You are the ones who will defeat the enemies of freedom. Your country is depending on your courage and your dedication to duty. The eyes of the world are upon you. You leave this place at a historic time, and you enter this struggle ahead with the full confidence of your Commander-in-Chief. I thank each of you for accepting the hardships and high honor of service in the United States military. And I congratulate every member of the Rickenbacker Class of 2004. (Applause.)

May God bless you. (Applause.)