A Few Quotes A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance There are always two parties; the establishment and the movement. A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson The essence of humor is the sudden recognition of noncongruity. from http://www.tvwiki.tv/wiki/Humour
CHARACTER: One should not despair over difficulty defining the concept of "character." Those who need an explanation probably would not understand, anyway. "Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) "A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents." Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799). When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." Japanese Proverb The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we bhave when we don't know what to do." John Holt GREATNESS: Great crises in human affairs call out the great in men. They call for great men. This greatness is of quality rather than quantity. It is not intensified selfhood, nor multiplied possessions. It implies extraordinary powers to cope with difficult situations; but it implies still more, high purpose -- the intent to turn these powers to the service of man. Its essence is of magnanimity. Some have indeed thought it great to seize occasion in troubled times to aggrandize themselves. And something slavish in the lower instincts of human nature seems to grant their claim. Kings and conquerors have been named "great" because of the magnificence of the servitude they have been able to command, or the vastness of their conquests, or even of the ruin they have wrought. But true greatness is not in nor of the single self; it is of that larger personality that shared and sharing life with others, in which, each giving of his best for their betterment, we are greater than ourselves; and self-surrender for the sake of that great belonging, is the true nobility. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Bayonet! Forward To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Tao Te Ching - LXXI "Study as if you were never to master it; as if in fear of losing it." Never, never, never, never, give up. Winston Churchill He who knows he has enough is rich. The inspiration of a noble cause involving human interests wide and far, enables men to do things they did not dream themselves capable of before, and which they were not capable of alone. The consciousness of belonging, vitally, to something beyond individuality; of being part of a personality that reaches we know not where, in space and in time, greatens the heart to the limits of the soul's ideal. Joshua L. Chamberlain COURAGE [OF. corage, curage, fr. cuer, fr. L. cor heart] That quality of mind which enables one to meet danger and difficulties with firmness; valor. Syn. Courage, mettle, spirit, resolution, tenacity mean a human quality which keeps one going in the face of opposition or danger.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. John F. Kennedy on Theodore Roosevelt Last night my child was born -- a very strong boy, with large black eyes. If you ever become a father, I think the strangest and strongest sensation of your life will be hearing for the first time the thin cry of your own child. For a moment you have the strange feeling of being double; but there is something more, quite impossible to analyze -- perhaps the echo in a man's heart of all the sensations felt by all the fathers and mothers of his race at a similar instant in the past. It is very tender, but also a very ghostly feeling. No man can possibly know what life means, what the world means, what anything means, until he has a child and loves it. Then the whole universe changes and nothing will ever seem exactly as it seemed before. The Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, 1906 _________________________ I have found that the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. Harry Truman You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. If you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. Walter Schirra, Sr. The Sayings of Confucious "Do not worry about not holding high position; rather about playing your proper role. Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing." "When strict with oneself one rarely fails." "Great Man seeks to be slow of speech but quick of action." Quotes of Ghandi A 'no' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'yes' merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. FRIENDSHIP: Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they be. REPENTENCE: A clean confession, combined with a promise never to commit the sin again, when offered before one who has the right to receive it, is the purest type of repentance. GIVING ONE' BEST: A true soldier does not argue as he marches, how success is going to be ultimately achieved. But he is confident that if he only plays his humble part well, somehow or other the battle will be won. I t is in that spirit that every one of us should act. It is not given to us to know the future. But it is given to everyone of us to know how to do our own part well. MEN: Manliness consists not in buff, bravado, or lordliness. It consists in daring to do the right and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds, not in words. Intellect takes us along in the battle of life to a certain limit, but at the crucial moment it fails us. Faith transcends reason. It is when the horizon is the darkest and human reason is beaten down to the ground that faith shines brightest and comes to our rescue. GREATNESS: Man becomes great exactly in the
degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men. A certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help. Therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them seems to be a delusion and a snare. The ingredients of what we call community all come at a price. The price is rules, and people who can enforce them; limits on the choices we can make as individuals; and a willingness to accept the fact that there are bad people in the world, and sin even in the best of us. The price is not low, but the life it makes possible is no small achievement. Alan Ehrenhalt Never confess until you're sure you're caught. Forgiveness is easier to get than permission. Respect is not a quality conferred by title or by position. Rather it is a quality which must be earned, and which requires ongoing effort if it is to be retained. Most rules are made BY controlling spirits, and made FOR those too simple-minded
or too lazy to figure out a more efficient method of achieving the relevant goal.
Those who make the rules rarely expect to follow them personally. This is not to say
that rules are necessarily bad-- certainly they are required for communal, inter-dependent
living. Rather, it is to say that ALL rules should be critically examined,
challenged when necessary, and NEVER followed blindly. |
| A meeting is being scheduled, a committee is being formed, and a memo will be forthcoming. |
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