Symbols Quotes

A moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole, It does not look likely to stir a man's soul. 'Tis the deeds that were done 'neath the moth-eaten rag, When the pole was a staff, and the rag was a flag.

Jerusalem is ours as much as yours; indeed, it is even more sacred to us than to you.... Do not imagine that we can to you or compromise on this. The land belongs to us from the beginning, while you have only just arrived and have taken it over only because of the weakness of the Moslems living there at the time. God will not allow a single stone to be rebuilt as long as the war lasts. As for the cross, its ownership is a high card in our hands and it cannot be surrendered except in exchange for something of priceless benefit to all Islam.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

When I was in advertising we used to pull them in with naked women. Now I do it with swastikas and uniforms.

The time has come to stop this [war]. The points at issue are Jerusalem, the cross and the land. Jerusalem is for us an object of worship that we could not give up even if there were only one left. The cross, which for you is only a piece of wood with no value is for us of enormous importance. If the Sultan will deign to return it to us, we shall be able to make peace and rest from this endless labor.

Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious.

The mercenaries devoted all their professional skill to eliminating hardship and anxiety for themselves and their own troops; they did not kill one another in battle, but rather took each other prisoner.

The earliest maps were 'story' maps. Cartographers were artists who mingled knowledge with supposition, memory and fears. Their maps described both landscape and the events, which had taken place within it, enabling travellers to plot a route as well as to experience a story.

Patriotism, love of country, and pride in the flag which symbolizes country may be feelings which the race will at some period outgrow, but at present they are very real and strong, and the man who lacks them is a useless creature, a mere encumbrance to the land.

Islam alone of all the great religions of the human race was born sword in hand. Islam has always relied on the sword, and for thirteen hundred years the Mullah who reads the Friday prayers in the Mosques wears a sword, even if only made of wood, as a symbol of his creed.

I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.

Members associated with some of the Posse groups [Posse Comitatus] wear tiny gold hangmen's nooses on their lapels.

It was necessary to abolish the fez, which sat on the heads of our nation as an emblem of ignorance, negligence, fanaticism, and hatred of progress and civilization …

There is a lot of contradictions of mermaids as a symbol. I'm always interested in contradictions.

A crown is no more than a hat that lets in the rain.

Language is froth on the surface of thought.

I've always felt strongly that the Confederate flag and other symbols like that are not representative of Nascar, even though I respect anyone's right, because it does mean different things to different people.

Mathematics has no symbols for confused ideas.

The liberal use of Christian symbols at community celebrations was an affront to the non-Christian residents, who felt that they could not participate equally and felt less favored.

Once you touch the trappings of monarchy, like opening an Egyptian tomb, the inside is liable to crumble

Words are things, but things which mean. We cannot do away with meaning without doing away with signs, that is, with language itself. Moreover, we would have to do away with the universe. All the things man touches are impregnated with meaning.

Water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hid and show what's hidden.

[Visual images are] the surest way of conveying an idea. A leader or an interest can make itself master of current symbols to master the current situation.