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Many languages can’t have spelling bees because their spelling systems are so logical that no one would ever get knocked out.

— Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

The same Latin-worshipping tradition was responsible for adding superfluous silent letters to words like “dete,” “samoun,” and “iland,” because “debt,” “salmon,” and “island” look more like Latin “debitum,” “salmonem,” and “insula.” Never mind that “island” doesn’t even come from Latin,

— Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

You never truly step into the same English twice.

— Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

They dined on burritos from Phillip’s magic burrito hat. Phillip had many other food choices he could produce, but a selection of specialized burritos is all the variety most men need.

— Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer (Magic 2.0)

The advantage that religion has over magic or science is that man’s inability to understand is built into the system, so if an explanation is confusing or unsatisfying, it strengthens the point.”

— Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer (Magic 2.0)

Both sides claimed to have all the answers, but couldn’t demonstrate that they were right without resorting to a lot of arm waving and suggesting that people look around them and think about it. They couldn’t prove themselves right, so they channeled their energies into proving the other side wrong.

— Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer (Magic 2.0)

there is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world—by a teacher, a writer, anyone—is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

I have heard angry rhetoric by some Americans, including many of our nation’s leaders, who advise a heavy dose of revenge and punishment. To those leaders, I would like to make clear that my family and I take no comfort in your words of rage. If you choose to respond to this incomprehensible brutality by perpetuating violence against other innocent human beings, you may not do so in the name of justice for my husband.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

One story has a girl admiring the “bloomer” costume, but her professor admonishes her that they are “only one of the many manifestations of that wild spirit of socialism and agrarian radicalism which is at present so rife in our land.”

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The glory of the victory was for the President and the generals, not the deserters, the dead, the wounded.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The enormous drain of money from the treasury for defense had once been declared by President Eisenhower to be a “theft” from human needs. But it was accepted by both parties, as Democrats competed with Republicans to show the electorate how “tough” they were.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

they offered to buy Alcatraz in glass beads and red cloth, the price paid Indians for Manhattan Island over three hundred years earlier. They said: We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable for an Indian reservation, as determined by the white man’s own standards. By this we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations in that: It is isolated from modern facilities, and without adequate means of transportation. It has no fresh running water. It has inadequate sanitation facilities. There are no oil or mineral rights. There is no industry and so unemployment is very great. There are no health care facilities. The soil is rocky and non-productive; and the land does not support game. There are no educational facilities. The population has always exceeded the land base. The population has always been held as prisoners and dependent upon others.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Tom Watson, the Populist leader of Georgia, pleaded for racial unity: You are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings. You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism which enslaves you both. You are deceived and blinded that you may not see how this race antagonism perpetuates a monetary system which beggars both.

— A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn