"Suppose, gentlemen, that man is not stupid. (Really, it is quite impossible to say he is, for the sole reason that if he is stupid, who then is intelligent?) But even if he isn’t stupid, all the same he’s monstrously ungrateful! Phenomenally ungrateful. I even think the best definition of man is: a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful."
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (via deaths-and-entrances)
(via dostoyevsky)
"The world says: “You have needs - satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don’t hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.” This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom."
The Elder Zosima, The Brothers Karamazov (via prufrocksobservatory)
(via dostoyevsky)
http://laphamsquarterly.tumblr.com/post/33653452025/i-believe-that-banking-institutions-are-more
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
Thomas Jefferson, The Debate Over The Recharter Of The Bank Bill, 1809.
Presidential pets, bonus edition:
In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge received a raccoon from the town of Peru, Mississippi. Meant to be eaten as part of the White House Thanksgiving feast, the president and his wife, Grace, took a liking to the animal and decided to keep it as a pet. Coolidge named the raccoon Rebecca and was often seen sitting in the Oval Office with his unusual pet draped around his neck.
Worried about her safety after an escape, the President and Mrs. Coolidge sent Rebecca to live at the National Zoo, where they successfully petitioned zookeepers to acquire a mate for her.
Pictured: First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca the raccoon.
I admire that a man of his importance takes the time each morning to write me a personal email, asking for small amounts of money. David, even ten or fifteen dollars will do. One morning he says, “David. I want to thank you for your support, and here is what I’ve decided. Michelle and I have set aside two tickets to the White House Correspondents Dinner with your name on them. It is a small token of our gratitude. I have reserved them in your name.” I was overwhelmed by the gesture. But by the end of the email he revealed the tickets to be the prize of some vast, un-winnable raffle. A great man is allowed strange behavior.
"There is another world but it is in this one."
Paul Éluard or W. B. Yeats (attribution unknown)
(Source: proustitute)
good:
Download an awesome new track by singer-songwriter Niilo Smeds and support the Fresno Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Service.
"Time and memory merge into each other; they are like the two sides of a medal."
Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time (via proustitute)
