"An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of Heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic."

-- Edward Gibbon

#History Quotes #Heaven Quotes #Merit Quotes

“Once you realize how effortless the highest way of life is, it takes tremendous effort to assume the opposite.”
“When I am in charge of a vessel, I always command; nobody commands but me. I take all the responsibility, all the risks, all the hardships that my office would call upon me to take. I do not steer by any man's compass but my own.”
“You see, being bald and wearing that gray starship uniform, I would have looked like a boy. I wanted to look like a sexy female.”
“I don't remember going to bed, but in the morning, there I was.”
“Apparently, before we are born, each of us experiences a vision of what our life can be, complete with reflections on our parents and our tendencies to engage in particular control dramas, even how we might work through these dramas with these parents and go on to be prepared for what we want to accomplish.”
“Yes, I am very prolific.”

Source : "INTERVIEW: Man on the Bridge; Leconte Balances Classic and Contemporary with 'Widow'". Interview with Anthony Kaufman, www.indiewire.com. February 28, 2001.
“If an institution has become so large that there is no alternative except for the taxpayers to provide support, should we allow so many institutions to exceed that kind of threshold?”
“Persistent prophecy is a familiar way of assuring the event.”

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