"Not taking the Bible (or other texts based on 'revealed truths') literally leaves it up to the reader to cherry-pick elements for belief. There exists no guide for such cherry-picking, and zero religious sanction for it."

“I haven't gone home with anybody who tried to pick me up in a long time.”

“Not only do we cheat ourselves and those around us if we are only glum or always wary when it comes time to respond to divine stirrings. No, we are then also being simply unfaithful to the surrounding reality. The one who purges gloom has given occasions and reasons, in the midst of life's sadness, to be joyful.”

“If these hands, used to fighting, would be acceptable to His Holiness, we most thankfully dedicate them to the service of him who deserves so well of the Church and of the fatherland.”

Source : Giuseppe Garibaldi, Jessie White Mario (1971). “Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi: Supplement”

“These algorithms, which I'll call public relevance algorithms, are-by the very same mathematical procedures-producing and certifying knowledge.  The algorithmic assessment of information, then, represents a particular knowledge logic, one built on specific presumptions about what knowledge is and how one should identify its most relevant components.  That we are now turning to algorithms to identify what we need to know is as momentous as having relied on credentialed experts, the scientific method, common sense, or the word of God.”

“How could liberty ever establish itself amongst us? Apart from a few tragic scenes, the revolution has been nothing but a web of farcical scenes.”

“Life can have significance even if it appears to be a series of failures.”

Source : Joseph Cornell (1993). “Joseph Cornell's Theater of the Mind: Selected Diaries, Letters, and Files”, Thames & Hudson

“There is no time in American history in which there was more economic conflict between segments of the population than there was prior to the Civil War.”

“History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”