If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .
If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine yound intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an athiest to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.” With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise enough to control them.
If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.
(Speech was broadcast by ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965)
Stichwörter: past future present devil powerful speeches
You don’t rewrite it, censor it, or edit it, to suit some warped view you have of the past and your own present.
V.T. DavyStichwörter: past present history crime detective censor shaw nazi islands channel arty edit rewrite stasi
Sometimes, I think one should only live in the present. The past is only a heavy burden to carry with you. And yet… it’s so hard to let them go… to forget… to move ahead…
Danielle SteelStichwörter: inspirational past present moving-on-and-letting-go
One of the schools of Tlön goes so far as to negate time; it reasons that the present is indefinite, that the future has no reality other than as a present hope, that the past has no reality other than as a present memory. Another school declares that all time has already transpired and that our life is only the crepuscular and no doubt falsified an mutilated memory or reflection of an irrecoverable process. Another, that the history of the universe — and in it our lives and the most tenuous detail of our lives — is the scripture produced by a subordinate god in order to communicate with a demon. Another, that the universe is comparable to those cryptographs in which not all the symbols are valid and that only what happens every three hundred nights is true. Another, that while we sleep here, we are awake elsewhere and that in this way every man is two men.
Jorge Luis BorgesStichwörter: past future present time labyrinths
One must divide one's time between politics and equations. But our equations are much more important to me, because politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity.
Albert EinsteinStichwörter: science politics future present eternity equations physics mathematics
Je suis vivant. Et pendant que je mange, je ne fais rien d'autre que manger. Quand je marcherai, je marcherai, c'est tout. Et s'il faut un jour me battre, n'importe quel jour en vaut un autre pour mourir. Parce que je ne vis ni dans mon passé ni dans mon avenir. Je n'ai que le présent, et c'est lui seul qui m'intéresse. Si tu peux demeurer toujours dans le présent, alors tu seras un homme heureux.
Paulo CoelhoStichwörter: life present happiness
We are told we must choose — the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the old and the new?"
[Speech upon being awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (Peace Prize of the German Book Trade), Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12, 2003]
Stichwörter: life past future present time understanding attitude choices
The past is set down in a thousand thousand indelible scrolls. But the future is a blank parchment forever in wait of a present.
Andrew LevkoffStichwörter: past future present the-past present-moment
Our past is the forge upon which we are hardened and tempered, to prepare us for the present. We are like a fine blade that must be hammered into shape before it can be ready to make its finest cuts.
Larry Atchley Jr.Stichwörter: life past present experience preparation blade
She didn't want to be reminded of her past or how different her present was from the future she'd taken for granted.
Freya NorthStichwörter: past future present heartache broken-dreams
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