American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Pope Benedict XV (November 21, 1854-January 22, 1922) whose given name was Giacomo Della Chiesa, was the Pontiff during World War I. On August 1, 1917, Pope Benedict XV, in his offer of mediation to the European Powers wrote from the Vatican: <Do not, then, turn a deaf ear to our prayer, accept the paternal invitation which we extend to you in the name of the Divine Redeemer, Prince of Peace. Bear in mind your very grave responsibility to God and man; on your decision depend the quiet and joy of numberless families, the lives of thousands of young men,...

Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854-November 30, 1900) was an Irish poet whose works include: Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892; A Woman of No Importance, 1893; An Ideal Husband, 1895; and The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895. He edited the journal Woman's World. In the Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1898, Pt. V, st. 14, Oscar Wilde stated: <How else but through a broken heart May the Lord Christ enter in?> 1854OW001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement. Endnotes: 1854OW001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, 1898, in...

George Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856-November 2, 1950) was an acclaimed British dramatist, novelist and critic, who became popular for his satirical attacks on the conventions of his day. He wrote more than 40 plays, and in 1925 won the Nobel prize for literature. George Bernard Shaw helped found the Fabian Society, became an active socialist, and spent many years of his life promoting socialism. In an article he wrote later in life, titled "Too True to be Good," George Bernard Shaw wrote: <The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium,...

United States Congress (May 1854) in the Thirty-Fourth Congress assembled, Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts being Speaker of the House, passed a resolution in the House which declared: <Whereas, The people of these United States, from their earliest history to the present time, have been led by the hand of a kind Providence, and are indebted for the countless blessings of the past and present, and dependent for continued prosperity in the future upon Almighty God; and whereas the great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths...

United States Congress (March 27, 1854) received the report of Mr. Meacham of the House Committee on the Judiciary: <"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Does our present practice violate that article? What is an establishment of religion? It must have a creed, defining what a man must believe; it must have rites and ordinances, which believers must observe; it must have ministers of defined qualifications, to teach the doctrines and administer the rites; it must have tests for the submissive and penalties for the non-conformist. There never was as established religion without all these. Is there...