Thursday, December 31, 2009

Post #91

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer
—Albert Camus

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Post #90

An old dog does not bark for nothing.
—"Outlandish Proverbs" selected by Mr. George Herbert

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Post #89

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
—Alain

Monday, December 28, 2009

Post #88

By trust I lost money, and by distrust I saved it.
—Theognis

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Post #87

Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine languages; So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.
—Benjamin Franklin

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Post #86

Minds are like parachutes: they only function when open.
—Thomas Robert Dewar

Friday, December 25, 2009

Post #85

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.
—Ignatius Loyola

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Post #84

Men trip not on mountains, they stumble on stones.
—Chinese Proverb

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Post #83

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
—GK Chesterton

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Post #82

The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary.
—Vidal Sassoon

Monday, December 21, 2009

Post #81

Success is that old ABC - ability, breaks and courage.
—Charles Luckman

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Post #80

Though I love my country, I do not love my countrymen.
—Lord Byron

Friday, December 18, 2009

Post #79

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Post #78

The saddest life is that of the political aspirant under democracy.  His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful.
—H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Post #77

I am ready to meet my Maker; whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
—Sir Winston Churchill

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Post #76

Knowledge is of two kinds.  We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
—Samuel Johnson

Monday, December 14, 2009

Post #75

The end we aim at must be known before the way.
—Jean Paul

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Post #74

Who won't be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.
—Nautical saying

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Post #73

God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.
—Publilius Syrus

Friday, December 11, 2009

Post #72

Since life is but a dream, why toil to no avail?
—Li Po

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Post #71

Ocean sailing does not cease at sunset, or when a motel is reached, or when one is tired of it. It goes on and on, day and night, hour after hour, seasickness, discomfort not withstanding, hammering seas be damned.
—Tom Wicker from 'Rough Passage'

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Post #70

Our secret weapon is no alternative
—Golda Meir

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Post #69

There is no luck except where there is discipline.
—Irish Proverb

Monday, December 07, 2009

Post #68

I wish to have no connection with any Ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way.
—John Paul Jones

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Post #67

None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault or acknowledge himself in error.
—Benjamin Franklin

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Post #66

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
—Mark Twain

Friday, December 04, 2009

Post #65

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
—Carl Sagan

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Post #64

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.
—Andrew Carnegie

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Post #63

Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.
—Harry S Truman

The Penalty of Leadership

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone – if he achieve a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a -wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live — lives.
written by Theodore F. MacManus

A deadly viper once bit a hole snipe's hide; But 'twas the viper, not the snipe, that died.

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El Paso, Texas, United States
Native Texan · Navy Veteran · Various Scars and Tattoos · No Talent yet a Character

One From the Archives

Post #1234

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied...

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