Mike Klepper
43 quotes
"Religious faith is by nature the most fundamental set of beliefs that one can have. It is how a believer views the world, and is how the believer judges himself as well as the other people, things, and events in that world. It colors everything about them. It is for this reason that people who adopt a faith out of convenience appear so phony, and why it is simply not possible for an individual to have a "religion d'jour."
"People too often tolerate uncertainty prior to taking action; worse, some people believe that omniscience or infallibility are prerequisites for being certain, so they conclude that certainty (and therefore knowledge) is never possible. To any person who proclaims that "you can never be certain of anything", ask them: "are you sure?" and watch what happens."
"Any success against a false target is a false victory."
"If you can see something, and it is wrong, you can fight it with a reasonable chance of success. Fighting the nonexistent is worse than pointless: Don Quixote tilted at windmills, but at least windmills are real."
"For any reputable person or organization to be successful, that person's or organization's actions must be based on solid information, not conspiracy theories, not hearsay, not rumors, and certainly not fear mongering."
"Justice can be achieved only if one has the pertinent facts, and excusing evil requires that those facts be obscured; justice is thus precluded."
"It is much easier to make an Active Patriot into a friend rather than the other way around."
"There is a word we should be using towards government officials whenever they deny our individual rights: "No". Being just a word, it isn't a strong weapon. But it is the intellectual wellspring from which all other weapons flow."
"You're a free man, act like it."
"You've been taught to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's". Unlearn that lesson. Free men would not permit Caesar to exist."
"The fire and passion in a militiaman’s eyes has not been extinguished; the brightness and eagerness remain. I want to be around such men, for they are the only ones worth knowing."
"Appearance is irrelevant, perception is irrelevant; what matters is that reality exists and that we are capable of understanding it. This is the absolute key to survival. A man who lives by his mind, lives; a man who ignores his mind, thereby ignoring reality, dies. Simple."
"Of everything we must first ask: is it real or not?"
"The real acts of a real devil you know have been made acceptable by the fictitious actions of a nonexistent devil that you do not know."
"Public-sector employment — another way to be shielded from reality."
"If we don’t make our own future, it will be made for us."
"If you stay true to your principles, you have confidence, conviction, purpose, values - in other words, you have a future."
"Sometimes, the lessons that are learned by accident, or in the process of failing, are the most lasting."
"Never, ever, trust a man who is willing to die in glory but is unable to live with pride."
"People sell their soul in such small quantities - a seemingly trivial compromise here, a rationalization of a minor evil there - that they don't realize what they're doing until it is too late."
"Monsters that live under children's beds have power only because of the child's ignorance. Thus the nonexistent becomes efficacious."
"Difference in opinion does not imply difference in principle."
"By sabotaging logic, the common frame of reference, and the common language, we have removed a "safety valve" that allows cultural divides to be resolved."
"The only legitimate purpose of government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens."
"For the evil our government does, tinfoil hats are simply not required, and are indeed a detriment."