WIST Quotations

Kolbert, Elizabeth -- “The Things People Say,” The New Yorker (2009-11-02)

Dave — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:13:10 +0000

There is virtually no opinion an individual can hold that is so outlandish that he will not find other believers on the Web.

Elizabeth Kolbert (b. 1961) American journalist and author
“The Things People Say,” The New Yorker (2009-11-02)
(Source)

Bell, Daniel -- The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, ch. 4 (1976)

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 12:44:41 +0000

Where religions fail, cults appear.

Daniel Bell (1919-2011) American sociologist, writer, editor, academic
The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, ch. 4 (1976)

Kennedy, Robert F. -- Speech, University of Pennsylvania (6 May 1964)

Dave — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 12:45:26 +0000

About one-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.

Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) American politician
Speech, University of Pennsylvania (6 May 1964)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Note (Nov 1963)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Note (Nov 1963)
(Source)

The earliest reference I could find was second-hand, in William Safire, The New Language of Politics, "middle of the road" (1968) (later published as Safire's Political Dictionary, and including the entry through the 2008 edition).