Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act.

Whenever you begin to conclude, "I can't win," and "What's the use?" you've set yourself up for failure. Your pessimism becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you expect the battle to be insurmountable,
you've met the enemy.
It's you.

The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured. Those special people who speak out in such a way as to shake up not only the self-assurance of their enemies, but the complacency of their friends, are precious catalysts for change.

There's still an element of the self-fulfilling prophecy here, in that you're seeing people jump into a rally just because it's the end of the year and we're supposed to have a rally. I wouldn't be surprised if we're lollygagging around here until the end of the year.

I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.