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The mind forever turns on the lathe of its own contradictions.

James Lileks

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James Lileks
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: August 9
Journalist
Mind
Lathe
Contradictions
Contradiction
Forever
Turns

More quotes by James Lileks

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I don't believe in the very concept of first thing in the morning. I'm a third thing in the afternoon fellow.
James Lileks
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What unnerves so many liberals about talk radio? Simple: It's the unapologetic nature of the conversation, the unwavering sense of certainty. Where's the nuance? The shades of gray? We all know truth is a fragile butterfly dancing in and out of shadow and light, and these guys act as though truth is a rhino charging across a sunlit veldt.
James Lileks
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Contempt for the things people choose of their own free will is, at its heart, contempt for free will.
James Lileks
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Genius flames and dies, but amiable competence can live forever.
James Lileks
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Quietly scuttling Columbus Day sales doesn't mean they are opposed to 15th century Iberian seafarers it just means They don't want protestors on the sales floor throwing blood on the Calvin Klein hosiery in the name of the anti-imperialistic cause.
James Lileks
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If Mother had to be told not to shove the entire brick of Ivory up Junior's hindquarters, constipation is the least of his problems.
James Lileks
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We always ask where the time went. We never ask where it's coming from.
James Lileks
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The same people who accuse America of coddling dictators are sputtering with bilious fury because we actually deposed one.
James Lileks
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If you think the ’80s were dumber than the ’70s, either you weren’t there or you weren’t paying attention.
James Lileks
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And I don't want posture lessons from a country that spent the last 20 years flopping on its back and grabbing its ankles when Saddam showed up waving stacks of Francs in exchange for bang-sticks.
James Lileks
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I've always wondered if there was a Hezbollah version of minesweeper where you get points for blowing up on your first move.
James Lileks
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I’ll feel that horrible feeling in my stomach you get when you’ve gone over to the Dark Side. But I’ll be fine. That’s the good thing about the Dark Side. Eventually, your eyes adjust.
James Lileks
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There are three stages to a man's life. 1. He laughs at Clark Griswold. 2. He sympathizes deeply with Clark Griswold. 3. He laughs at Clark Griswold.
James Lileks
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It takes a particularly rarified variety of idiot to look at a Jew-hating fascist with a small mustache - and decide that his opponent is the Nazi.
James Lileks
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The popular Arab imagination is a pliant and inventive thing it can explain any defeat. It is a compass that always points toward the Jew.
James Lileks
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All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.
James Lileks
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When your opponent sets up a straw man, set it on fire and kick the cinders around the stage. Don't worry about losing the Strawperson- American community vote.
James Lileks
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So now we're after a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a guy-and-gal thing. To the founders, this would have been like an amendment requiring the sun to rise in the east it would fall under the category of obvious truths that the Constitution need not address.
James Lileks
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From Day One the very existence of [Camp Bravo] has been a popcorn hull in the tender gums of the hard left.
James Lileks
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Calculus destroys self-esteem on contact.
James Lileks