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A new Socrates

Søren Kierkegaard

People think the world needs a new republic, and they think it needs a new social order, and a new religion, but it never occurs to anyone that what the world really needs, confused as it is by much learning, is a new Socrates.

The Sickness unto Death (1849)

Was born on: 05.05.1813
About Author: Danish philosopher, theologian, religious author, and psychologist
Author Photo Source: Royal Library of Denmark

A quote for a son

Benigno Aquino Jr.

Son, my decision is an act of conscience. It is an act of protest against the structures of injustice that have been imposed upon our hapless countrymen. Futile and puny as it will surely appear too many, it is last my act to defiance against tyranny and dictatorship.

Ninoy's letter to Noynoy (Benigno Aquino III), August 25, 1973

Was born on: 27.11.1932
About Author: Philippine politician

A sacred legacy

Benigno Aquino Jr.

The Filipino asked for nothing more, but will surely accept nothing less than all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the 1935 Constitution — the most sacred legacies from the founding fathers.

Ninoy's Last Speech, supposed to be read on Aug. 21, 1983

Was born on: 27.11.1932
About Author: Philippine politician

About religion

John F. Kennedy

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

Was born on: 29.05.1917
About Author: 35th President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Absolute victory

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Active not passive

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

First Inaugural Address, delivered 4 March 1933

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Alliance for progress

John F. Kennedy

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty.

Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1961

Was born on: 29.05.1917
About Author: 35th President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

America where people can still get rich

Ronald Reagan

We're the party that wants to see an America in which people can still get rich.

Republican congressional dinner, Washington D. C., May 4, 1982

Was born on: 06.02.1911
About Author: 40th President of the United States

American constitution

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced.

First Inaugural Address, delivered 4 March 1933

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

American Negro

Lyndon Baines Johnson

The real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform. He has called upon us to make good the promise of America. And who among us can say that we would have made the same progress were it not for his persistent bravery, and his faith in American democracy.

Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Voting Legislation
We Shall Overcome, delivered 15 March 1965, Washington, D.C.

Was born on: 27.08.1908
About Author: 36th President of the United States

American Negroes

Lyndon Baines Johnson

The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For with a country as with a person, 'What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'

Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Voting Legislation
We Shall Overcome, delivered 15 March 1965, Washington, D.C.

Was born on: 27.08.1908
About Author: 36th President of the United States

An American problem

Lyndon Baines Johnson

There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans — not as Democrats or Republicans. We are met here as Americans to solve that problem.

Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Voting Legislation
We Shall Overcome, delivered 15 March 1965, Washington, D.C.

Was born on: 27.08.1908
About Author: 36th President of the United States

An empire is like a cake

Benjamin Franklin

[A] great Empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One, The Public Advertiser, September 11, 1773

Was born on: 17.01.1706
About Author: American author, printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman and diplomat

Art of governing

Napoleon Bonaparte

The great art of governing consists in not letting men grow old in their jobs.

Letter to Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, August 9, 1796

Was born on: 15.08.1769
About Author: Military and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I

Better world

Tenzin Gyatso

I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.

Acceptance Speech, Nobel Peace Prize 1989

Was born on: 06.07.1935
About Author: 14th Dalai Lama

Black Nationalism

Malcolm X

So the political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a program, a political program, of re-education to open our people's eyes, make us become more politically conscious, politically mature, and then we will — whenever we get ready to cast our ballot, that ballot will be — will be cast for a man of the community who has the good of the community of heart.

The Ballot or the Bullet, delivered 12 April, 1964 in Detroit, MI

Was born on: 19.05.1925
About Author: African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Born in Afghanistan

Kofi Annan

Today, in Afghanistan, a girl will be born. Her mother will hold her and feed her, comfort her and care for her—just as any mother would anywhere in the world. In these most basic acts of human nature, humanity knows no divisions. But to be born a girl in today's Afghanistan is to begin life centuries away from the prosperity that one small part of humanity has achieved.

Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, December 2001, www.nobelprize.org

Was born on: 08.04.1938
About Author: Ghanaian diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations
Author Photo Source: mobilkom austria

Celebration of freedom

John F. Kennedy

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change.

Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1961

Was born on: 29.05.1917
About Author: 35th President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Chinese independence

Zedong Mao

We the Chinese nation have the spirit to fight the enemy to the last drop of our blood, the determination to recover our lost territory by our own efforts, and the ability to stand on our own feet in the family of nations.

On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism

Was born on: 26.12.1893
About Author: Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader
Author Photo Source: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh

Clean environment

Barry Morris Goldwater, Jr.

While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.

The Conscience of a Majority (1970)

Was born on: 15.07.1938
About Author: Former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California, 1969–1983

Collective responsibility

Kofi Annan

We all share responsibility for each other's security, and only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.

Final speech as United Nations Secretary General, December 2006, BBC News

Was born on: 08.04.1938
About Author: Ghanaian diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations
Author Photo Source: mobilkom austria

Communism

Karl Marx

Communism... is the genuine resolution of the antagonism between man and nature and between man and man; it is the true resolution of the conflict between existence and essence, objectification and self-affirmation, freedom and necessity, individual and species. It is the riddle of history solved and knows itself as the solution.

Economic & Philosophical Manuscipts, 1844

Was born on: 05.05.1818
About Author: German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, and revolutionary

Complete victory

Abraham Lincoln

The one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or one drunkard on the face of God's green earth.

Letter to George E. Pickett, Feb. 22, 1841

Was born on: 12.02.1809
About Author: 16th President of the United States
Author Photo Source: United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division

Conservation

Russell Kirk

Nothing is more conservative than conservation

Conservation Activism is a Healthy Sign, Baltimore Sun, May 4, 1970

Was born on: 19.10.1918
About Author: American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, and fiction author

Cows can be eaten

Indira Gandhi

There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.

Interview with Oriana Fallaci, 1975

Was born on: 19.11.1917
About Author: Prime Minister of the Republic of India from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until her assassination in 1984

Day of infamy

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Defeat terror and extremism

Barack Obama

This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it [...] If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.

Speech at the Brandenburg Gate, 24th of July 2008, Time Magazine

Was born on: 04.08.1961
About Author: 44th and current President of the United States
Author Photo Source: stern.de

Diplomacy

Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

The Devil's Dictionary, 1948

About Author: American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist

Discipline

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never realized before, our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take, but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective.

First Inaugural Address, delivered 4 March 1933

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Discussion not coercion

Zedong Mao

The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education, and not by the method of coercion or repression.

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (1957)

Was born on: 26.12.1893
About Author: Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader
Author Photo Source: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh

Don't wait for impact

Bill Clinton

You don't have to wait till your party's in power to have an impact on life at home and around the world.

Speech at Campus Progress National Student Conference, July 13, 2005

Was born on: 19.08.1946
About Author: 42nd President of the United States

Draining money

Adam Smith

There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter II

Was born on: 05.06.1723
About Author: Scottish philosopher and a pioneer of political economics

Dream

Martin Luther King

I have a dream today!

I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Was born on: 15.01.1929
About Author: American clergyman, activist and Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Duty of citizens

Albert Einstein

It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs

Treasury for the Free World, 1946

Was born on: 14.03.1879
About Author: Jewish, German-born physicist

English and America

George Bernard Shaw

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.

Reader's Digest, November 1942

Was born on: 26.07.1856
About Author: Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics

Everything for all

Nelson Mandela

Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves

Speech, May 10, 1994

Was born on: 18.07.1918
About Author: President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999

Fear

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[...] the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

First Inaugural Address, delivered 4 March 1933

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Following party law

Zedong Mao

All our officers and fighters must always bear in mind that we are the great People's Liberation Army, we are the troops led by the great Communist Party of China. Provided we constantly observe the directives of the Party, we are sure to win.

Manifesto of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (1947)

Was born on: 26.12.1893
About Author: Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader
Author Photo Source: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh

For public policy, listen to everyone

Christopher Reeve

When we're setting public policy, no one segment of society deserves the only seat at the table. That's the way it's set in the Constitution. So debate all we want, hear from everybody, and then allow our representatives to weigh the factors and make laws that are going to be ethically sound, moral, responsible, but not the result of undue pressure from any particular entity.

Reader's Digest (2004)

Was born on: 25.09.1952
About Author: American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and author

For whites only

Martin Luther King

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: 'For Whites Only.'

I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Was born on: 15.01.1929
About Author: American clergyman, activist and Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

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