Current Thoughts

The difficult will be done immediately, the impossible will take a little more time . .

The words of such an act as the Income Tax *** merely dance before my eyes in a meaningless procession: cross-reference to cross-reference, exception upon exception - couched in abstract terms that offer no handle to seize hold of - leave in my mind only a confused sense of some vitally important, but successfully concealed, purport, which it is my duty to extract, but which is within my power, if at all, only after the most inordinate expenditure of time.  I know that these monsters are the result of fabulous industry and ingenuity, plugging up this hole and casting out that net, against all possible evasion; yet at times I cannot help but recalling a saying of William James about certain passages of Hegel: that they were, no doubt, written with a passion of rationality; but that one cannot help wondering whether to the reader they have any significance save that the words are strung together with syntactical correctness. *** [Hand, “Thomas Walter Swan,” 57 Yale L. J. 167, 169(1947).

. . . this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never- in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.

May the best day or your past be the worst day of your future.

The only easy day was yesterday.

The whale only gets harpooned when it comes up for air.

Take no action until you have a clear objective.

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them . . .

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.

The power of tax is not the power to destroy while this court sits . . .

We must strengthen the integrity of our Nation’s tax system through enhanced enforcement activities. The IRS must deter those who might be inclined to evade their legal tax obligations and appropriately pursue those who actually do. I want to be clear that enforcement will be a principal responsibility of the IRS and we must bring a laser-like focus to it.

There are clear indications that professional standards have eroded in some corners of the practitioner community. Attorneys and accountants should be the pillars of our system of taxation, not the architects of its circumvention.

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right.

If you get up early, work late, and pay your taxes, you will get ahead - if you strike oil.

I am proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is — I could be just as proud for half of the money.

The taxpayer — that’s someone who works for the government but doesn’t have to take a civil service examination.

Trust, but verify

When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

This [preparing my tax return] is too difficult for a mathematician.  It takes a philosopher.

People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women.

There is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible.

Everyone does so, rich and poor, and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don’t know when it’s through if you are a crook or a martyr.

The taxpayer — that’s someone who works for the government but doesn’t have to take a civil service examination.

There is nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead amardillos

Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more. If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. Better to fight for something than live for nothing. Always do everything you ask of those you command. The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
Spies are the most important element in war, because upon them depends an army's ability to move.
All warfare is based on deception.
The general who wins a battle makes many calculations before the battle is fought.
There is no instance of a country having benefited from a prolonged war.
The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.
In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. (So they can retreat).
Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained, fight not unless the position is critical.

A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.
Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.
He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious.
How can you think and hit at the same time?
I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.
I never said most of the things I said.
I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.
I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.
I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.
If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.
If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.
If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
It ain't over till it's over.
It ain't the heat, it's the humility.
It gets late early out there.
It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.
It's like deja-vu, all over again.
It's pretty far, but it doesn't seem like it.
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.
Slump? I ain't in no slump... I just ain't hitting.
So I'm ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face.
The future ain't what it used to be.
The only color I don't have is navy brown.
The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.
The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
There are some people who, if they don't already know, you can't tell 'em.
You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.
You can observe a lot by just watching.
You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours.
You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you.
You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidenceand due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.