"Crass Materialism" wouldn't have the same ring

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on this day in 1886.

"You have put up in New York Harbor a monstrous idol which you call 'Liberty'." -- George Bernard Shaw.

America, love it or lump it

September 25 is American Indian Day.

"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization." -- Georges Clemenceau.

September 26: Poet T. S. Eliot was born Sept. 26, 1880. He wrote:

"Human kind cannot bear very much reality."




September 27: American Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Adams was born Sep. 27, 1722.

"The 100-percent American is 99 percent an idiot." -- George Bernard Shaw.

On September 28, 1841, Georges Clemenceau himself (see above) was born. He was a French statesman. Another French statesman, Charles DeGaulle, had this to say a century later, though not apropos of Clemenceau:

"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him."

LIfe, freedom and lies

Catching up some more:

July 25: Today is Constitution Day in Puerto Rico.

"When people are free to do as they choose, they usually imitate each other." -- Eric Hoffer.



July 26: George Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856. He wrote:

"Life is a disease; and the only difference between one man and another is the stage of the disease at which he lives."



Today: English author Hilaire Belloc (pictured above) was born on July 27, 1870. He wrote:

"The moment a man talks to his fellows he begins to lie."

Bless the beasts, the children

July 17: Art Linkletter, TV host of Kids Say the Darndest Things, was born July 17, 1912.

"I must have been an insufferable child; all children are." -- George Bernard Shaw.



July 18: English author William Makepeace Thackeray was born July 18, 1811.

"Thackeray," said fellow writer John Ruskin, "settled like a meat-fly on whatever one had got for dinner, and made one sick of it."

Happy Fourth of July!

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” – George Bernard Shaw.

We'll see to it that Elvis lives

Charlemagne was born on this day in 743.

"Kings are not born: they are made by universal hallucination." -- George Bernard Shaw.

We'll drink to that

Prohibition was repealed on this date in 1933.

"Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life." -- George Bernard Shaw.