You don't have to believe in an afterlife to believe that there are people gone from this earth you can still make proud of you.
Overheard at a town meeting: "All I want is what I rightfully deserve and my fair share of the rest."
It can be argued that civilized society is founded not on the principle of loving thy neighbor but on the "pretense" of loving thy neighbor, a less demanding practice we call "civility."
Today, as we witness the decline of civility, and the erosive impact of that decline on society, we come to a realization -- that pretense is difficult to sustain, that truly loving thy neighbor, as the gospels preach, might always have been the easier path.
"In a society that so celebrates winners, evil need not appear to be good -- it need only appear to be winning."
"Evil will have won not when we see it all around us but when it is all around us, and we don't see it."
"It there's one thing evil has done more effectively than good, it to demonstrate what one small person can do."
Woman, about late husband: "He was a man of few words, and by the time we got married, he had already said them."
Nothing reduces your need for someone's approval like getting to know them better.
I don't suggest we give up the idea that there's a little good in everyone, but, by gosh, it would certainly explain a lot of things.
I'll just say this -- that nothing makes a good first impression on me like an obvious attempt to do so.
Not only do I believe in dressing for an occasion, I believe it's the way to make it an occasion.
I've come to realize this -- that "smart casual" is not some particular style of dress; it is anything a smart casual person shows up wearing.
Sometimes it's got to be fate, as when two people meet and discover they not only share the same likes and dislikes but the same don't give a damns.
"The thing I like best about keeping my own company is that I can usually sense when it's time to leave."
"I have never pleaded temporary insanity, doubting I could prove it was temporary."
"Actually, I long ago discovered the real me -- and realized it was not someone my parents would have wanted me playing with."
"As reported in Genesis, the Creator surveyed His handiwork and saw that everything was good, not great, which confirms my own observations."
Perhaps I can't handle the truth, but it is a short list of people I would trust to make that decision for me."
"If God had wanted a better me, He would have created a better me, which leads to the daunting possibility that He did."
"I don't know a thing about heaven and hell, except that it's probably a mistake to judge them by the people who expect to go there."
Different From vs Different Than
Does a possum differ than a cow
Does that make sense to you?
Does an oboe differ than a drum?
Does that at all ring true?
No, a possum differs from a cow,
And an oboe from a drum,
So mustn't logic then conclude
They end up different from?
But why so often do we hear
That something's different than,
That Abigail's different than
Her friends Michelle and Stan?
Does Abigail differ than
Her friends? Why, no indeed!
She's differs from Michelle and Stan.
On that we're all agreed.
So please, no more this different than,
This phrase that comes from naught,
This phrase that doesn't mean at all
What people think it ought.
A possum's different from a cow
And from a kangaroo.
An oboe's different from a drum
And from my toy kazoo.
And Abigail's different from
Her friends Michelle and Stan,
So please, dear friend, do think again
Ere saying different than.
(Note: I'm aware that the British say "different to," but, as we know, the Brits have been in decline for some years now.)