John Silber famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

The lawyers' contribution to the civilizing of humanity is evidenced in the capacity of lawyers to argue furiously in the courtroom, then sit down as friends over a drink or dinner. This habit is often interpreted by the layman as a mark of their ultimate corruption. In my opinion, it is their greatest moral achievement: It is a characteristic of humane tolerance that is most desperately needed at the present time.
-- John Silber

#Law #Achievement #Tolerance
Survival is not possible if the best of us lack all conviction, while the worst of us are full of passionate intensity.
-- John Silber

#Carpe Diem #Survival #Passionate
I don't believe anybody has a right to own any kind of a firearm. I believe in order to obtain a permit to own a firearm, that person should undergo an exhaustive criminal background check. In addition, an applicant should give up his right to privacy and submit his medical records for review to see if the person has ever had a problem with alcohol, drugs or mental illness... The Constitution doesn't count!
-- John Silber

#Giving Up #Believe #Gun
One can forget the meaninglessness of his own existence by occupying himself with scientific experiments of dubious import. Countless scientists and scholars spend their lives in the search of truths that are irrelevant to them.
-- John Silber

#Life #Dubious #Forget
Many Americans celebrate both Christmas and Xmas. Others celebrate one or the other. And some of us celebrate holidays that, although unconnected with the [winter] solstice, occur near it: Ramadan, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
-- John Silber

#Xmas #Holiday #Winter
The reduction of political discourse to sound bites is one of the worst things that's happened in American political life.
-- John Silber

#Political #Sound #Propaganda
The gospel preached during every television show is 'You only go around once in life, so get all the gusto you can.' It is a statement about theology; it is a statement about beer. It's lousy beer and even worse theology.
-- John Silber

#Beer #Gusto #Television

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of so-called objective principles of taste, judgement, deduction.
Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained.
There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.
Superior technical achievements - used correctly both strategically and tactically - can beat any quantity numerically many times stronger yet technically inferior.
Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
I don't know all the reasons for these achievements, but I know that I love what I do and I have never wanted to rest on my laurels.
The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement.
The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.
Nothing is more logical than persecution. Religious tolerance is a kind of infidelity.
I'm suggesting that, ironically, the secret to becoming a world 'hyperpower' is tolerance. If you look at history, you see great powers being very tolerant in their rise to global dominance.

John Silber famous quotes

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