The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion ... and the price demanded for the most precious of all things … - Robert A. Heinlein

The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion

Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness.

I am not much interested in killing strangers. I am not opposed to the death penalty—I voted for it every time the matter came to a vote, which was frequently during the decline and fall of the United States—but in killing pour le sport I need to be emotionally involved. Oh, forced to a choice I would rather shoot a man than a deer; I can’t see the “sport” and shooting a gentle vegetarian that can’t shoot back.
But, given full choice, I would rather watch television than kill a stranger. Some, at least.

“So you say ‘Politics!’ as if it were a nasty word—and you think that settles it.”
He sighed. “But you don’t understand. Politics is not evil; politics is the human race’s most magnificent achievement. When politics is good, it’s wonderful…and when politics is bad—well, it’s still pretty good.”
“I guess I don’t understand,” I said slowly.
“Think about it. Politics is just a name for the way we get things done...without fighting. We dicker and compromise and everybody thinks he has received a raw deal, but somehow after a tedious amount of talk we come up with some jury-rigged way to do it without getting anybody’s head bashed in. That’s politics. The only other way to settle a dispute is by bashing a few heads in...and that is what happens when one or both sides is no longer willing to dicker. That’s why I say politics is good even when it is bad…because the only alternative is force—and somebody gets hurt.”