Friday, December 12, 2014

Post #1705

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.
—Benjamin Franklin

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Post #1704

The Guy in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.
Dale Wimbrow

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Post #1703

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.

Trouble no one about their religion: respect others in their view,
and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect
your life, beautify all things in your life.

Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of
your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you
go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute
when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a
lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for
the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the
fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to
fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose
hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time
comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their
lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and
die like a hero going home.
—Chief Tecumseh

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Post #1702

You ask credit
I no give
You get mad
I give credit
You no pay
I get mad
Better you get mad.

Monday, December 08, 2014

Post #1701 Perseverance (grit)

Though my resources they be scant
The word I most reject is "can't"
And with the whole of my spirit
Determined! I refuse to quit

Ever aware that I may fail
On my steam and grit yet I sail

—holden klass

NOTE 
This is an example of  a sestain AABBCC. A sestain is a six line poem or repetitive unit of a poem of this format (musaddas), comparable to quatrain (Ruba'i in Persian and Arabic) which is a four line poem or a unit of a poem. There are many types of sestain with different rhyme schemes, for example AABBCC, ABABCC, AABCCB or AAABAB. I try to stick with the 8 syllables per line out of discipline. But I've seen a lot of  sestains with more or less than 8 syllables. I don't think it matters.

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.

My photo
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...

CONTACT DAVE

Name

Email *

Message *