Nations it may be have fashioned their Governments — Joseph Conrad

There are men here and there to whom the whole of life is like an after-dinner hour with a cigar; easy, pleasant, empty, perhaps enlivened by some fable of strife to be forgotten before the end is told. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it. Heart of Darkness (… Read more → The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. These, if ever, are the brave free days of destroyed landmarks, while the ingenious minds are busy inventing the forms of the new beacons which, it is consoling to think, will be set up presently in the old places.

All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one. Voltaire To refrain from imitation is the best revenge. "Meditations", book 6. Marco Aurélio Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. Henry Kissinger