Ideology and Fanaticism

Dogmatism and Scepticism

Freedom is obedience to leaders
Virtue is violence
Manhood is domination

— A Woman's Liberation, 1995.


Love of god and country is like fire:

• a wonderful friend,
• a terrible enemy.

Only children play with fire.

— Ursula Le Guin (1929 – 2018), Forgiveness Day, Asimov's Science Fiction, 1994.


Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.

— William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), Timon of Athens, Act 3, Scene 5, 1605-6.


[One] cannot accomplish a great work without doing some evil.

— Leopold Victor (1835 – 1909), King of the Belgians (1865 – 1909)


War … proves

• some to be gods, and
• others to be mere men,

by turning

• the latter into slaves, and
• the former into masters …

— Heraclitus (c535 – c475 BCE)


The power of Marxist-Leninist theory lies in the fact that it enables the Party

• to find the right orientation in any situation,
• to understand the inner connection of current events,
• to foresee their course, and
• to perceive not only
  • how and in what direction they are developing in the present, but
  • how and in what direction they are bound to develop in the future.

— History of the Communist Party, Moscow, 1945.

Stage and Screen

Peace and Long Life

The world is an amazing place.

— SBS Television


Fiery the angels fell
Deep thunder rolled around their shores
Burning with the fires of Orc

— Ridley Scott (1937), Bladerunner, 1982.


Fiery the angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll'd
Around their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc.

— William Blake (1757 – 1827), America a Prophecy, 1793.


Life is pain …
Anyone who says differently is selling something.

— Rob Reiner (1947), The Princess Bride, 1987.


Shoot straight you bastards:
Don't make a mess of it!

— Bruce Beresford (1940), Breaker Morant, 1980.


Come on you apes!
You wanna live forever?

— Unknown Platoon Sergeant, 1918.


Can anyone be truly free, who only serves himself?

— The Elixir, Episode 11, Season 2, 1973.


If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present.
But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future.
The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.

— Blood of the Dragon, Episode 1.


[A man] does the only thing he can do.
He lives each day from its start to its end.
And hopes there may be another to follow.

— Jerry Thorpe (1926), The Vanishing Image, Episode 13, Season 3, Kung Fu, 1974.

Love is a Word

[Love is just] a word
What matters is the connection the word implies …

Karma is a word
Like "love"
A way of saying:

What I am here to do

I do not resent my karma — I'm grateful for it …

Everything that has a beginning
Has an end

(The Matrix Revolutions, 2003)


You've had your time
The future is our world …
The future is our time …

Free your mind!

(Lilly & Lana Wachowski, The Matrix, 1999)

The Good Earth

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck,
a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you.
All of you, on the good earth.

— Frank Boorman (1928), Commander, Apollo 8, December 1968.

(David Fairhead, Mission Control, 2018)