Public Posts

Carl Edward Sagan (1934 – 1996) ~ American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. He was one of the most well-known scientist of the 1970's and 1980's . He was controversial in scientific, political, and religious circles for his views on extraterrestrial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and religion. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. He was an advocate for nuclear disarmament and co-wrote and hosted 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.'  He was widely regarded as a freethinker and one of his most famous quotations, in Cosmos, was, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.  He died at the age of 62 from complications of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS). More
 
Quote source: From the book "Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan (1995) 

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher, theologian, religious author, poet and social critic and religious. More

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) -  Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. and served as consul in 63 BC. His influence on the Latin language was immense. It is generally believed that he wrote wrote more than three-quarters of the Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime. 

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (1917 – 1977) was an American poet born into a Boston influential family that could trace its origins back to the Mayflower. His family, past and present, were important subjects in his poetry. Growing up in Boston also informed his poems, which were frequently set in Boston and the New England region. The literary scholar Paula Hayes believes that Lowell mythologized New England, particularly in his early work.

Ursula K. Le Guin ( 1929 – 2018) was an American author born in Berkley, California. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction.  Her work was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. She is frequently described as an author of science fiction and has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le  Guin said that she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist". More 

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American writer, poet, singer, and civil rights activist.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) - Born Thomas Pain; was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. He authored Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783), the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and helped inspire the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.

Quote Source: ― Thomas Paine, A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal on the Affairs of North America

George Washington (1732 - 1799) He is known as the Father of the Nation for his role in bringing about American independence. He was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797 and had served as commander of the Continental Army,  leading the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. The quote appears in a letter he wrote to Major General Robert Howe on August 17, 1779. The context of the quote is about the importance of integrity and the challenge of maintaining it when faced with financial incentives that might compromise it. View letter

Avram Noam Chomsky, born in 1928 is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s. More Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media. More

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) British philosopher, writer, mathematician, logician, historian, social critic, political activist, and Nobel Laureate. More

Eugène Ionesco (1909 - 1994) Romanian-born French dramatist. Wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost dramatists of the 20th century. 

Hannah Arendt ( 1906 - 1975 ) German-American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names, and schools, amongst other things. More