My Favorite Quotations

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason. ——Unknown

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ——Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. ——Mahatma Ghandi

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. ——P.J. O'Rourke

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ——Douglas Adams

She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say 'when'. ——P. G. Wodehouse

I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. ——Dave Barry

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. ——Edmund Burke

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. ——Milton Friedman

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. ——Thomas Jefferson

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. ——Mark Twain

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. ——George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. ——G. Gordon Liddy

The One-Term Limit: a seventh advantage

I have added a seventh advantage to the post on The One-Term Limit. In my opinion, the voters will give more weight to a candidate's ideas and proposals than they will to his party affiliation. I believe this because candidates will be relatively unknown, and will usually have only a minor former association with their party--hence they'll be treated more as independents. Once again, this is as the founders would have it.

Romantic Period 1

A Thought Woke Me Early This Morning            1967

You're the air I breathe, the ground that
Bears me up, everything beautiful I see.
You're the song I hear, the food I eat,
Every thought that comes to me.

You're the fire that warms,
The cooling breeze,
The bed that holds me--
All of these.

You're the dream I dream,
The hope I keep
In those cherished moments
Before I sleep.


Sounds of Wisdom                      circa 1968

Listen to the sound of your star,
Breathing down from afar.
Climb up its beam;
Aspire to that dream
Of your quest.

Harken to the wisdom of your heart;
Believe it not only in part.
For he that so lives
And lovingly gives
Is most blest.


Game of Life                      circa 1969

Oh, Great Jacks Player for the World,
I saw Your great red ball through morning haze
Bounce from the horizon, and wondered
If this could be the game of life:
Are little lives cast down upon this plane
And later picked, 'neath orbits of Your sun,
By some mysterious rule of choice?


Time to Hope                       circa 1969

Autumn's red-orange dress has disappeared
   Around Time's season-circle.
Schizophrenic Winter--graybeard, cherub--
   Cries and laughs around us.
Foggy, melancholy days are come again
   And time for thinking hope thoughts.


Click!                             circa 1969

Since yesterday I have the yen,
When clicks my mind, to click my pen.
But, sad to say, it does not work
The other way--I cannot ken!

Romantic Period 2

I Remember a Mountain              December, 1977

Brown winding road that jarred us
Halfway to the top,
To the stone house where stayed
My Grandmother's love:
Laughter, hugs, and baby loaves of bread
Baked specially for me.

Every window, I recall, could see the lake,
Whose coolness beckoned far below
And lapped the mountain's feet.

No path led down from house to lake.
Erratic gorges through dense woods
Tumbled us, instead of water,
'Round boulders, over fallen logs.
Crashing through brush and winter's store of leaves,
We reached--the sky?--Surprise!
Our lake so well displayed her distant brother.

But my fondest thoughts are of the top,
When I would go alone.
See the groundhog and his mate?
Above the pasture there, the coldest spring
Escapes from deep inside the mountain
And hurries away.
Beside an ancient piece of road,
Two scarabs toil with their ball of manure
As though it were a treasure.
Farther up, an old sheep pen,
Long deserted, whose sagging walls
Still hold the sounds.
There, at the very top, the field
Of gently flowing, blowing grass.

Sit down against this tree and listen--
Meadowlarks, and gentle wind, and peace.


Spectrum of Loving                 1978

I love you
As the quiet softness of candlelight,
As the recurring faith in sunrise,
As the busy up and down of daily experience,
As the eagerness of a child's Christmas morning;
And sometimes--
As an overwhelming, dizzying, symphonic crescendo.


Two Equals Three                   1979

We are actually three people: you, I, and we--each equally
important.  Lose respect for one and the other two suffer; but
respecting all will ensure that each is given time to develop
independently, at his own rate.  The development of any one
should improve the quality of life for all three.


My Love                            1979

You're the warming sun,
The soothing breeze,
The sound of gentle rain;
A perfect rose,
A rainbow,
A midnight hurricane.


Dawn                               11 January 1979

I see a new day dawning;
Old Pete is back again!
Controlling emotions,
Not drowning in oceans
Of self inflicted pain.

Peteisms

These "quaint" observations were attributed to me by my good buddy at MicroStrategy, Randy Hechinger.

Don't throw me in that briar patch!
I'd jump on that like a duck on a junebug!
This is a job for Superman!
Barf!
I hate Bill Gates, everything he stands for, and the horse he rode in on!
Its better than a sharp stick in the eye!
My head is like the permafrost: it takes a while for things to penetrate.
What a mountain of horse hockey!
I've been immortalized!
Seven A.M.? Even the chickens aren't up!
If I see a nit, I have to pick it.
Frog strangler (of rain)
Oh my ears and whiskers! It's lunch time!
It makes my jaws tight!
Well hot cinders and whoopie-doo!
That's been around since Methuselah was a pup!
He's an asshole! Ooooh, the Alka-Seltzer works!
What's so good about sliced bread?
Shazaam!
Get thee behind me, Satan!
If I had dynamite for brains, I couldn't blow my nose!
Ain't that a boot in the boodingy! (spelling unknown)
He's comin' outa shoot number 3, ridin' Cyclone!
Tell them to go butt a stump!
That really jacks my jaws!
Confusing as dropping your gum in the chicken yard
I'll be there, if it hairlips the governor!

A Few of My Thoughts

To become the great nation we once were, we must reward excellence and self-reliance, not subsidize mediocrity and dependence.

As we get older, we spend much time reliving the memories we have made. It therefore behooves us always to live so as to make those memories good.

The great danger in human communication is the false perception that it has been accomplished.

A one-term limit would ensure that no incumbent would ever waste time in office working for his reelection. The corruption-prone career politician would pass away.

Trying to change others' behavior is frustrating. Focus, rather, on improving your own behavior.

Banalities

Cliché
-----------------------
24/7
at this point in time
been there, done that
big time
on the table
don’t go there
due diligence
going forward
hang, hang outhaving said that
any way, shape, or form
level playing field
leverage (verb)
paradigm
proactive
quote unquote
seamless
separation of church and state
step up to the plate
timeline
transition (verb)