"Criticism may embarrass the country’s leaders in the short run but strengthen their hand in the long run; it may destroy a consensus on policy, while expressing a consensus of values. There is, or ought to be, such a thing as being too confident to conform, too strong to be silent in the face of apparent error.
Criticism is more than a right; it is an act of patriotism, a higher form of patriotism, I believe, than the familiar rituals of national adulation.'"
J. William Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power, 1966
“Violence does not necessarily take people by the throat and strangle them. They are required merely to become accomplices in its lies.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1970
"And so I pray God grant you courage,
All of you who face Him thus,
to act so that these wars may cease,
and be forgotten, storms of the past
so you may live out your days in peace,
loyal to your sovereign King,
And may he return to you the same in kind,
A lord, gracious in everything."
Christine de Pizan, Le Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc, 1429
"Even the little children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth to power. You say that you are my judge. I do not know if you are. But you must take good care not to judge me falsely, because you will put yourself in great danger. I warn you, and if God punishes you for it, I have done my duty by telling you."
Jeanne d'Arc, Trial records, 15 March 1431
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Day of Affirmation, Capetown, South Africa, 1966
"Il n’y a qu’une tristesse, la dernière fois, c’est de n’être pas de saints."
Léon Bloy, La femme pauvre, 1897
Tomorrow we will have a precious metals options expiration on the Comex, and an interest rate decision from the Fed.
Yay.
Stocks meandered ahead of the Fed.
VIX is still nearly dormant.
The Dollar chopped its way to unchanged.
Have a pleasant evening.
