Hey, they actually gave me a double-sized passport. That's a good example of American customer service. Normally, this is an additional $82 fee. After all, I still had five years on this old passport so it's kind of bullshit that I had to pay for a whole new passport.

Anyway, new pages means new patriotic quotes. Each page on these American passports has a quote at the top.

Liberty is never out of bounds or off limits; it spreads wherever it can capture the imagination of men.

-- Eb White

Never heard of him. Oh. Charlotte's Web according to Wikipedia.

What a glorious morning for our country.

-- Samuel Adams

Around the independence time, I assume. But can be applied to any morning.

We are covered by the American banner; let us cling to it and if required, sacrifice our lives defending it.

-- Jose Antonio Navarro

Never heard of him either. Oh. Something to do with Texas around the time they were at war with Mexico. Not really a good quote either. I'm not dying over a flag.

...That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom

-- Abraham Lincoln

I'm sure that the Great Emancipator had better quotes than this. They couldn't even put his entire quote up.

Go west, young man, and grow up with the country

-- Horace Greeley

I've never heard of this guy but it's nice to have the full quote. Everybody knows "go west, young man" but not the rest of it. He was a newspaper editor apparently.

Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people

-- Harry Emerson Fosdick

Never heard of him either. And the quote is pretty uninspired. They really had to scrape the barrel for these dozen extra quotes, I guess. He was a pastor.

A big iron nedle stitching the country together

- Jessamyn West

Without context, makes no sense but this is cleverly put on a page with a steam locomotive on it. Let's see who this guy is. Oh, it's a woman. Wrote short stories and novels.

It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.

-- John Paul Jones

That's alright, I guess. And I actually know John Paul Jones. He was an admiral during the Revolutionary War. Picture of a big ship of the era on this page.

It is immigrants who brought to this land the skills of their hands and brains to make it a beacon of opportunity and hope for all men.

-- Herbert H Lehman

Never heard of him. Presumably a Jew. Yeah. Governor of New York during WWII and then a senator.

This nation has a banner...it is the banner of Dawn. It means Liberty... Every color means liberty; every thread means liberty

-- Henry Ward Beecher

Aw, that sucks and this is a nobody. Everything means liberty to this guy. I took a crap...the toilet was liberty, my poop was liberty, the toilet paper was liberty. Some tedious holy roller pastor that was put on trial for adultery according to Wikipedia.

We live in a world that is lit by lightening. So much is changing and will change, but so much endures and transcends time.

-- Ronald Reagan

Total nonsense that means nothing and Ronald Reagan was a one of our worst presidents. He was great in Bedtime for Bonzo, though.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Here's a good one. But it's just a variation of the theme floating around at the time that liberty is an inalienable right and denouncing the divine right of the monarchy.

And that's it. So...yeah, pretty poor crop of quotes. Was Mark Twain anywhere in here?

Oh what an outrage. They have quotes from total nobodys, quotes that barely even make sense, but not a quote from the greatest writer that America ever produced. You're telling me this wouldn't work?

We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty.

It name checks America's great history of inventors and liberty. That would be a great quote for the passport. If it's a bit longer than most of them, it's worth it. This is Mark Twain we're talking about.

Anyway, Tinder. Took a picture this morning to replace this second one that seemed to be putting off the ladies. I think it's better and I already got a new match. Some fatty. She sent a message and then unmatched me. Weird. I didn't even see what the message was. And I was going to unmatch her anyway.

And this 18 year old girl sent a message yesterday saying "I'm at sixth form, do you know what this is? " in response to a question indicating that I don't know what it is. Then she hasn't been online for the past 12 hours. I should have asked her for her phone number. These people seem to stop using Twitter regularly. I'll ask her today.