Antimetabole

"I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and for the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights. If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all."

"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly were wont to fish for men of riches. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men."

"After contemplation, I conclude that this award, which I receive on behalf of [the civil rights] movement, is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."

"As we've heard this morning, development, security, and human rights must go hand in hand. There can be no security without development and no development without security; and neither can be sustained in the longer term without it being rooted in the rule of law and respect for human rights."

"I don't throw darts at balloons. I throw balloons at darts."

"We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

"Intellectuals must never be given power because they want people to get down on their knees and learn to love what they really hate and hate what they really love."

"1999 and the illusion continues. In the name of freedom, many have used art as a means to destroy the human mind. As an excuse to continue we hear, "Art reflects society." In the name of recreation these people, in fact, are re-creating themselves in their own images; society then reflects art."

"What I am claiming here is not that television is entertaining but that it has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience. Our television set keeps us in constant communion with the world, but it does so with a face whose smiling countenance is unalterable. The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter, but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining—which is another issue altogether. To say it still another way: Entertainment is the supra-ideology of all discourse on television. No matter what is depicted, or from what point of view, the overarching presumption is that it is there for our amusement and pleasure."

"We were not made great as a country by indulging in or even exalting our worst impulses, turning against ourselves, glorifying in the things that divide us, and calling fake things true and true things fake. And we did not become the beacon of freedom in the darkest corners of the world by flouting our institutions and failing to understand just how hard-won and vulnerable they are."

"I have learned that we can find good answers, even to difficult questions, if we always try to view the world through the eyes of others; if we respect other people’s history, traditions, religion, and identity; and, if we don’t always act on our first impulses, even when there is pressure to make a snap decision. Above all, it calls for truthfulness in our attitude towards others, and perhaps most importantly, it calls for us to be honest with ourselves. That requires us not to describe lies as truth and truth as lies."

"All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind: Let us preach what we practice—let us practice what we preach."

"The Framers [charged the] Supreme Court...the task, not of keeping the Constitution in tune with the times but...of keeping the times in tune with the Constitution."

"Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile."

"The richer they get, the tighter they become; and the tighter they become, the richer they get."

"And memories are many and varied: memories of those who died with weapons in their hands; and those who died with prayers on their lips. And let no one say that some were heroes and others martyrs. In those times the heroes were martyrs and the martyrs were heroes. It was heroic for a friend to give his piece of bread to his friend. It was heroic to go around on Shabbat and simply say to his or her friends: 'It's Shabbat, today.' It was heroic to have faith; It was heroic to be human."

"The general fact is simple: Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion. To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits."

"But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we're armed; we're armed because we mistrust each other."

"Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger; and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done."

"I have a message for our youth. I challenge them to put hope in their brains and not dope in their veins. I told them that like Jesus, I, too, was born in the slum. But just because you're born in the slum does not mean the slum is born in you, and you can rise above it if your mind is made up."

Alexa Woods: "Seven seasons on the ice and I've never seen a gun save someone's life."

Adele Rousseau: "I don't plan on using it."

Alexa Woods: "Then why bring it?"

Adele Rousseau: "Same principle as a condom: I'd rather have one and not need it than need it and not have one."

"Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

"I do not care what your views are. It does not matter how much I disagree or how much it incenses me or how much I feel that people are dehumanizing others. I will not do that myself. And so, what I believe is that having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man."

"Regarding...your list of people who have made 'brave sacrifices', I note that to be a genius is to be misunderstood, but to be misunderstood is not to be a genius."

"It's been my privilege to go to scores of universities and colleges. And I have seen professors; I've seen students; I've seen some that I might classify as an intellectual come -- but they have to come as "children." Jesus said that. We say to our children 'Be like grownups.' But Jesus said to us grownups, 'Be like children.' Come as a little child, not as a Doctor of Philosophy, not as a Doctor of Law. But come as a simple human being -- to the Cross. And your life can be changed."