quote/unquote: Slumdog, W, Denny's & Thomas Hart Benton

(Another in a series, capturing the zeitgeist, so to speak, as compiled by Wilson in St. Louis.)

"Somebody sent me a quote from Plato: 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.' That kind of approach helps you deal with everything, really, and that's how we tried to behave in Mumbai. Hopefully in the long run people will appreciate that."
------- Danny Boyle, director of "Slumdog Millionaire" in Newsweek, fw, 9, 09

"If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down."
-- G.W. Bush, #43, on Sept. 24, 2008

"My feet hurt, my back hurt and I'm extremely tired."
-- Morgan Collins, worker at Denny's on Hampton, where 750 free "Grand Slam" breakfasts were served during her 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift.

"I know of no cause for this conspiracy against me, except that I am the natural enemy of all rotten politicians...I am for the Union as it is; and for that Mr. Calhoun denounced me as a traitor to the South...and signaled to all his followers in Missouri to go to work upon me..."

--Thomas Hart Benton, Missouri Senator in the 1840s, quoted in Profiles in Courage by John Kennedy.