WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Quotes are the actual fabric with which the mind weaves: internalizing them, but also turning them inside out, quarreling with them, adding to them, wandering through their architecture as if a single sentence were an expansible labyrinthine space. -- We Are What We Quote, Geoffrey O’Brien

New York Times Editorial

The justices heard oral argument on the Shelby County case last Wednesday. This week’s events in Alabama should remind them of the enormous cost many Americans have paid to win the right to vote, and why that remains under persistent threat and must be defended. -- Bloody Sunday, Revisited

Percy Pittman

Percy Pittman, McComb, Mississippi

Asked what he thought about people’s claims that racially motivated politics were completely a thing of the past in the South, Mr. Pittman hesitated for a moment. “I think they’re full of it,” he said. -- New York Times

Peter Dreier, Author

 If we are serious about the future of our children, we must ask: why are the Waltons, a largely out-of-state family with no ties to Los Angeles’ children and little background in education, intent on turning our communities’ educational choices into a junior version of the cut-throat, profiteering corporate world? -- Bill Moyers' blog

Tom Torlakson, California, Supt. of Public Instruction

 "I do believe we should have fewer tests, and I think the pendulum may be swinging in that direction. There's a frustration I hear from teachers, parents and administrators that there is too much testing and too much time spent preparing for testing." -- L.A. Times