Unos Caballos
Peludos, tristemente naturales
en inmovilidad de largas crines
desgarbadas, sumisos a confines
abalanzados por los herbazales,

unos caballos hay. No dan señales
de asombro, pero van creciendo a fines
a la hierba. Ni brida ni trajines.
Se atienen a su paz. Son vegetales.

Tanta acción de un destino acaba en alma.
Velan soñando sombras las pupilas,
y asisten, contribuyen a la calma

de los cielos --si a todo ser cercanos,
al cuadrúpedo ocultos-- las tranquilas
orejas. Ahí estan: ya sobrehumanos.
-Jorge Guillén (1936)

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The condition which high friendship demands is ability to do without it.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Masters of War
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
Bob Dylan

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Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes... known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
-James Madison Political Observations, 1795

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Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Give all to love; obey thy heart.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Daily Reminders to Democratic Candidates:
Why, in the interest of democratic discourse, free speech and common decency, have none of the candidates selected by the corporate media in this country to participate in the televised debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada not demanded that Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, and other qualified candidates be included? Are they so afraid of a profound, unfettered discourse of the important issues we all face? Is this a democracy, do we really have public airways in the United States of America? For shame Clinton, Obama, Edwards, McCain, Romney, Huckabee et al!
-Viggo Mortensen

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It would be noble and only fair if those corporate decision-makers in the entertainment industry who are spending considerable funds on their reasonably successful campaigns to put the Writers Guild in a bad light as party-poopers would spend that money on a fair contract and fair compensation to the writers, which we all know they will end up having to do eventually. It is the right thing to do. Lets hope decency wins out.
-Viggo Mortensen

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Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
-Andre Gide

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Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.
-Andre Gide

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I do not approve of asking my union, the Screen Actors Guild, to
request any waiver so that I or any other member may get around the
Writer's Guild strike in order to attend the Academy Award ceremony or
any other picketed event with a more-or-less clear conscience. Actors:
please stand your morally justified ground and do not allow your baser
instincts and shallower motivations to prevail in this matter.
-Viggo Mortensen, Screen Actors Guild member in good standing

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If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
-Jean-Paul Sartre

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One always dies too soon or too late. And yet, life is there, finished: the line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than you life.
-Jean-Paul Sartre

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Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
-Thomas Paine

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He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.
-Thomas Paine

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Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.
-Ingmar Bergman

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Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
-Seneca

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Hussein, which is Barack Obama's middle name, translates to english as meaning "beautiful child". Is this cause for concern? Is this absolutely terrifying for some reason?
-Viggo Mortensen