Orts #975
The nature of things is to have no nature; it is their non-nature that is their nature. For they have only one nature: no-nature.
-- Nagarjuna (Buddhist philosopher, second century)
Anyone who denies the law of non-contradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten, and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned.
-- Avicenna (“the father of Medieval Aristotelianism”, 980-1037)
There are four possibilities regarding any statement: it might be true, or false, both true and false, or neither true nor false.
As the Buddha may or may not have said (or both, or neither): ‘There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting.’
Graham Priest, Beyond True and False, Aeon, May 5, 2014
https://aeon.co/essays/the-logic-of-buddhist-philosophy-goes-beyond-simple-truth
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Some nations are governed by the sword—in other words, by central force commanding obedience. Our president governs by offices—in other words, by the appointing power, being a central force by which he coerces obedience to his personal will. Let a senator or representative hesitate in the support of his autocracy, or doubt if he merits a second term, and forthwith some distant consul or postmaster, appointed by his influence, begins to tremble. . . .
In adopting him as a candidate for reelection, we undertake to vindicate his presidency and adopt in all things the insulting, incapable, aide-de-campish dictatorship which he has inaugurated. Presenting his name, we vouch for his fitness, not only in original nature but in experience of civil life, in aptitude for civil duties, in knowledge of republican institutions, and elevation of purpose; and we must be ready to defend openly what he has openly done. Can Republicans honestly do this thing? Let it be said that he is not only the greatest nepotist among presidents but greater than all others together, and what Republican can reply? Let it be said that he is not only the greatest gift taker among presidents but the only one who repaid his patrons at the public expense, and what Republican can reply? Let it be said that he has openly violated the Constitution and international law . . . and what Republican can reply? . . . . And let it be added, that unconscious of all this misrule, he quarrels without cause even with political supporters, and on such a scale as to become the greatest presidential quarreler of our history, quarreling more than all other presidents together, and what Republican can reply?
-- from a speech delivered in the US Senate by Charles Sumner, abolitionist Republican senator from Massachusetts, in 1872, quoted in Lapham's Quarterly, Spring 2020
The president he's speaking of is Ulysses S Grant, who went on to win a second term in the 1872 election.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/scandal/first-war-first-nepotism