Who said that?

Who doesn’t love a good quote? Ever since the Bible was first published words have often defined a man, a woman, a movement or a life.

These days we humans have been programmed to be nose-down in a smartphone. We now have the intellectual agility of a small soap dish with the attention span of a baby in a room full of puppies. So quotes are perfect. They are all we can handle at this time.

The fact that you started reading this column and are still going probably sets you above many others when it comes to intellectual capacity. I don’t want to push it, so simply enjoy a quote or two and go about your day. If you have the wherewithal to consume them all, enjoy the feast.

Since I am writing this column on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our first quote is from MLK.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

– Martin Luther King, Jr., Montgomery, Ala., 1957

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern … it’s going to be only America first, America first.”

– Donald Trump at his inauguration, Jan. 20, 2017

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

– Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

– The word of God, Romans 16:17-18

“I love the poorly educated. [and] “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, right? We get greedy, right? Now we’re going to get greedy for the United States. We’re going to grab and grab and grab. We’re going to bring in so much money and so much everything. We’re going to make America great again, folks, I’m telling you, folks, we’re going to make America great again.”
– Donald Trump, Feb. 23, 2016

“Generosity is the most natural outward expression of an inner attitude of compassion and loving-kindness.”

– Dalai Lama XIV

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
– U.S. President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on Friday, June 12, 1987

“I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me — and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
– Donald Trump, June 2015, candidacy announcement speech

“My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
– U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Aug. 11, 1984
(Reagan was joking around with NPR engineers as they were setting up for a broadcast.)

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Presidential candidate Donald Trump joking on July 27, 2016

“Real men are advocates for women’s rights.”
– Author Basia Christ from her book, “Ash to Flame: Women Rising,” published 2004

“That depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
– President Bill Clinton to a grand jury, Aug, 17, 1998

“I did try and f— her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look. I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the p—-. You can do anything.”
– Donald Trump to Billy Bush in 2005; “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women,” The New York Times (Oct. 8, 2016)

“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.”
– President Barack Obama, Sept. 23, 2014

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
– Donald Trump, 2012

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
– Adolf Hitler

Hitler also wrote the headline to this column. Steve Skinner thinks humans are sometimes wonderful and sometimes savage. Reach him at nigel@sopris.net.