Free 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said by Ross Petras Page A

horns.
    Jeremiah MacVeagh, Member of Parliament
On Metaphors, Strange:
    When shall the lion of autocracy walk hand in hand with the floodgates of democracy?
    James Sexton, Member of Parliament, in a speech
On Metaphors, Strange:
    The apple of discord is now fairly in our midst, and if not nipped in the bud it will burst forth in a conflagration which will deluge society in an earthquake of bloody apprehension.
    a Nebraska newspaper editorial, circa 1870, reporting on legislative turmoil
On Metaphors, Strange:
    The gutless, no-good 100th Congress … will write off freedom in Nicaragua, throw them to the alligators, and hope the alligators will eat someone else and eat us last and they can peel off a slice of that salami and they will not bother us for now. Do not rock the boat.
    Senator Steve Symms (R-Idaho)
On Metaphors, Strange:
    It is no use for the honorable member to shake his head in the teeth of his own words.
    William E. Gladstone, leader of the Liberal Party of England and Prime Minister, in a speech
On Metaphors, Strange:
    As we debate this bill, that sword of Damocles is hanging over Pandora’s box.
    from New York City Council debates, quoted by Molly Ivins,
New York Times Magazine
On Metaphors, Strange:
    [This item is] a mere fleabite in the ocean of our expenditure.
    Lord Randolph Churchill, father of Winston, during a Parliament debate
On Method Acting, Overdoing:
    … the greatest villain that ever lived, a man worse than Hitler or Stalin. I am speaking of Sigmund Freud.
    Telly Savalas, actor, discussing a role he was going to play
On the Mideast Crisis:
    Why can’t the Jews and the Arabs just sit down together and settle this like good Christians?
    overheard during a congressional debate; also attributed to Arthur Balfour, British statesman, Prime Minister, and Foreign Secretary
On the Mid-Term, Necessity for:
    As a compensating measure, the focus of shorter-and longer-term analyses would be extended to include the mid-term. Although this approach will in some measure reduce the comprehensive nature of the intended analysis, the compromise will provide adequate data for meaningful progress toward integrative policy development.
    Department of Energy’s revolutionary decision to include all the stuff in the middle, from the 1981 Budget Revision Report
On Military Intelligence, Our British Allies and:
    It is necessary for technical reasons that these warheads should be stored with the top at the bottom, and the bottom at the top. In order that there may be no doubt as to which is the top and which is the bottom, for storage purposes, it will be seen that the bottom of each head has been labeled with the word TOP.
    British Admiralty instruction dealing with the storage of warheads and torpedoes (quoted in Outrageous Quotations)
On Military Preparedness:
    We have permitted our naval capability to deteriorate. At the same time we are better than we were a few years ago.
    Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, on the ups and downs of the U. S. Navy in 1982
On Military Spending and Procurement, Utter Lack of Any Use of Influence in:
    I think there are very few indeed who try to take advantage of their former positions in the military to sell us defense products…. Most officers are not salesmen. A friend of mine who retired told me, “The idea of going back and trying to peddle products on the basis of my military friendships is so repulsive that I would rather starve to death.”
    U. S. Army General Earle Wheeler, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1969
On Minds, the Importance of:
    What a waste it is to lose one’s mind—or not to have a mind. How true that is.
    Vice-President Dan Quayle addressing a United Negro College Fund affair and garbling their slogan—“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
On Mobil Oil, Durability of:
    At this point, I would like to emphasize that our emergency planning [for a nuclear attack by the Soviets] is predicated on the idea that it is possible for our nation