david strasser

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Post #3021

Every reply is an answer, though every answer is not a reply.

—G.F. Graham

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Post #3020

A man in his own opinion, deserves more than he receives; in the opinion of others, he receives more than he deserves.
—Anonymous

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Post #3019

Politeness is an easy virtue, costs little, and has great purchasing power.
—Amos Bronson Alcott

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Post #3018

Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill.
—Owen Feltham

Sunday, May 03, 2020

Post #3017

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
—Malcolm S. Forbes

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Post #3016

Avoid the friendship of him who, from mere curiosity, asks three questions running about a thing that cannot interest him.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Post #3015

Never does a man portray his own character more vividly than in his manner of portraying another.
—Jean Paul Richter

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Post #3014

Riches without charity are worth nothing. They are a blessing only to him who makes them a blessing to others.
—Henry Fielding

Sunday, April 05, 2020

Post #3013

The education of circumstances is superior to that of tuition.
—William Wordsworth

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Post #3012

When Fate summons, monarchs must obey.
—John Dryden

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Post #3011

Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences.
—Pliny

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Sunday, March 08, 2020

Post #3009

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
—Theophrastus

Sunday, March 01, 2020

Post #3008

He who can suppress a moment's anger may prevent a day of sorrow.
—Tryon Edwards

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Post #3007

If you would be loved, be lovable.
—Ovid

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