Life is a near-death experience.
George CarlinRead
I don't get all choked up about yellow ribbons and American flags. I see them as symbols, and I leave them to the symbol-minded.
Interpretation
The quote expresses skepticism towards symbols and the emotional responses they evoke, suggesting a more critical perspective on patriotism.
George Carlin's statement reflects his ambivalence towards symbols like yellow ribbons and American flags, indicating that he believes such symbols are superficial representations of deeper issues. He distinguishes between those who are emotionally invested in these symbols and his own perspective, which prioritizes critical thinking over emotional attachment to patriotic imagery.
In practice
In a discussion about blind nationalism at a community forum.
Life is a near-death experience.
Here’s a bumper sticker I’d like to see: “We are the proud parents of a child who’s self-esteem is sufficient that he doesn’t need us promoting his minor scholastic achievements on the back of our car."
If you've got a cat and a leg, you've got a happy cat. If you've got a cat and two legs, you've got a party.
This is a lttle prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen.
Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don't have to lie. Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you'd make a terrific juror because you can spot guilty people.
Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.
War is not the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you.
Returning to the source is serenity.
There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.
What was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights.
England! awake! awake! awake! Jerusalem thy sister calls! Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death And close her from thy ancient walls?
Any newspaper, from the first line to the last, is nothing but a web of horrors, I cannot understand how an innocent hand can touch a newspaper without convulsing in disgust.
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