Noble, Perfect and Beautiful

Lin Yutang (1895-1976) Chinese writer


Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

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If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.

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No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

Listen to your (fore)father!

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) US patriot

Win Against Yourself

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

William Faulkner (1897-1962) US writer

Opportunistic Carpentry

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.

Milton Berle (1908-2002) American comedian

Good Produces Evil

Every political good carried to the extreme must be productive of evil.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) English writer

Grafting Hatred

In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul.

Mary Renault (1905-1983) English writer

A Few Things to Ponder

What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power.

He who sees the truth, let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or who is against it.

That which is unjust can really profit no one; that which is just can really harm no one.

Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.

How can a man be said to have a country when he has not right of a square inch of it.

Compare society to a boat. Her progress through the water will not depend upon the exertion of her crew, but upon the exertion devoted to propelling her. This will be lessened by any expenditure of force in fighting among themselves, or in pulling in different directions.

Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.

How vainly shall we endeavor to repress crime by our barbarous punishment of the poorer class of criminals so long as children are reared in the brutalizing influences of poverty, so long as the bite of want drives men to crime.

Henry George (1839-1897) US economist

War and Beauty

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.

Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community.

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.

Advertising is legalized lying.

Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise.

Beauty is in the heart of the beholder.

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) English writer

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out

Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may; but, in the end, truth will out.

Launcelot Gobbo
The Merchant of Venice
Act II, scene ii

The Pursuit of Happiness

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) French writer

Presidential Wisdom (A Day Late)

I left the last post up for a while to allow for lots of clicks...and because I forgot to post this week's Thus Saith Thursday yesterday...well, here it is a day late (but not a dollar short):

Last week's quotes were so astute, many of us would do well to take heed to what was said. Did you realize that Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), 23rd US President said them?

Here's another great presidential quote:

Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) US President (36) Vice President (37)

A Woman Scolding

Despite the positively Biblical sexism in last week's quote, it was said by none other than Katharina in Act V, scene ii of The Taming of the Shrew.

How 'bout this one?

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
and the scorners delight in their scorning,
and fools hate knowledge?

Turn you at my reproof:
behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.

Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

But ye have set at naught all my counsel,
and would none of my reproof:

I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your fear cometh;

When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

Books and Wisdom

Did you guess that last week's quote was said by some contemporary? Some lonely inner-city child? An Iranian to a US soldier? Nope. It was Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Isn't it amazing how something written 55 years ago can still ring so true today based on who might have said it?

For this week, I found so many fantastic statements from this astute person, that I couldn't decide on just one to post for you.

On the quality of clothing:

I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.

On foreign affairs:

We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.

More on foreign affairs:

Will it not be wise to allow the friendship between nations to rest upon deep and permanent things? Irritations of the cuticle must not be confounded with heart failure.

On the prejudices of the classes against each other:

The indiscriminate denunciation of the rich is mischievous.... No poor man was ever made richer or happier by it. It is quite as illogical to despise a man because he is rich as because he is poor. Not what a man has, but what he is, settles his class. We can not right matters by taking from one what he has honestly acquired to bestow upon another what he has not earned.

Who is this wise person??

Shakespeare or Scripture

Last week's quote was Shakespeare! Duke Senior utters this seemingly Biblical observance in Act II, scene i of As You Like It.

On to this week. Will it be Shakespeare or Scripture...you tell me.

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee..."

Cocktails and Fundamental Truths

Did you guess last week's quote origin? It was T.S. Eliot, in The Cocktail Party. Makes marriage sound a wonderful thing, doesn't it?

Now on to this week:

You're not like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me. No one has time any more for anyone else. You're one of the few who put up with me.

Thus Saith....whom??? Leave your guess in the comments!

Sweet Adversity

Welcome to the first Shakespeare or Scripture Sunday, in which I post a quote and you relate in the comments if it is from Shakespeare or Scripture.

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

Good luck!

Thus Saith Thursday

Leave a comment with your guess as to the origin of this quote. The answer will be posted on the next Thus Saith Thursday.

Two people who know they do not understand each other,
Breeding children whom they do not understand
And who will never understand them.

Ethics, Honesty and Cheating - Striking Blows For or Against?

Recently, Dear Abby received a letter from a student that was surrounded by valedictorian candidates that routinely cheated. The response has been overwhelming. Well, what do you know, there are honest people that believe in ethics and honesty in America. I just wish I could find them or evidence of them somewhere other than a Dear Abby column.

Too often, we pontificate on the virtues of ethics and honesty; of exposing wrongdoing when it is encountered; of standing up for what Superman called "truth, justice, and the American Way," then turn our heads or close our eyes when we see the very things we so eloquently rail against in the safe harbor of conversation. As I mentioned here, just once in every person's life, we need to find that one thing that makes our blood boil, that thing to which we stand and seethe, "No more! This shall not pass!"

A great quote was shared in today's column in response to this issue. It's something we should all consider posting in our homes, classrooms, churches, and anywhere else we can manage to get it up as a reminder.

"Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice." - Robert F. Kennedy

Solomon's Beloved

From Vonda Skelton, funny lady extraordinaire, comes Solomon's Beloved - a look at Biblical beauty. WARNING:
Go use the restroom beforehand and make sure
you're not drinking anything when you watch this.

I Love You More Than Words Can Say

"I love You so much that I can't tell You how much I love You, because I would never be able to finish my sentence."

-Marcela*, 7, during bedtime prayers
*thanks for quote permission from her mom, Mayra