“A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.”
“Silence is sometimes the best answer.”
“On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked: Who would prefer Saddam’s torture chambers still be open? Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.”
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul, then the way it treats its children.”
“When Janine Haines was elected Leader of the Democrats in 1986, she became the first woman to lead a national political party. The Democrats have had 5 female leaders. When Janine Haines, became the first Australian Democrat to enter the Senate in 1977, she joined seven other women. At that time, of the 177 Members of the House of Representatives, there was not one female member. A higher proportion of women has consistently been elected to the Upper House compared to the Lower house, which begs the question, “Which House is more representative? It is also worth noting that in 101 years there have only been two Indigenous members of the federal parliament and both were elected to the Senate: Senators Neville Bonner and Aden Ridgeway.”
“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centred: Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives: Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies: Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous: Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow: Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough: Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God: It was never between you and them anyway.”
“I have been struck again and again by how important measuring is to improving the human condition.”
“Let us realize that engagement and detachment aren’t opposite—the more engaged we become, the more detached we will have to be..”
“War is not women’s history.”
“There is no such thing as being non-political. Just by making a decision to stay out of politics you are making the decision to allow others to shape politics and exert power over you. And if you are alienated from the current political system, then just by staying out of it you do nothing to change it, you simply entrench it.”
