In lieu of my writing about a single topic for today’s blog, I decided to share a baker’s dozen (i.e., thirteen, for some people who might not be aware of the meaning of that adage) assorted quotations that have made me think over the past several months. I hope you enjoy at least one or two of them. If you do, please let me know. Maybe share one of your favorite quotations with me, and I’ll, in turn, share it with your fellow blog readers.
Books and Reading
“Reading is the great prerequisite for everything else, not only in school but also in life itself. The teacher who gets her pupils to read has done the biggest job a teacher can ever do.” (Max Rafferty)
“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” (Barbara Tuchman, left)
“Read, not to contradict or confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” (Sir Francis Bacon)
“[T]oo often what we read and profess becomes a part of our libraries and our vocabularies, instead of becoming a part of our lives.” (E.E. Bauermeister)
Perseverance and Work
“The man who wins is the man who hangs on just five minutes longer after everyone else has quit.” (Douglas Southall Freeman, left)
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” (Thomas Edison)
“However boring work may be, the lack of it is worse.” (Roland Bainton)
Exemplars and Heroes
“Many a man looking death, or simply compromise, in the face has been spared the label coward because his faith was bolstered by the memory of heroes who walked before him.” (Doug Phillips)
“[A] good copy can
not be made from a bad model.” (Johan Amos Comenius, left)
“The hero acts alone, without encouragement, relying solely on conviction and his own inner resources. Shame does not discourage him; neither does obloquy. Indifferent to approval, reputation, wealth, or love, he cherishes only his personal sense of honor, which he permits no one else to judge.” (William Manchester)
“I found my heroes in books. I observed how it was that they were able to overcome adversity, stand fast in trials, and persist in their convictions heedless of the cost. Thus over time, I came to comprehend the vast difference between being a politician and being a statesman.” (Calvin Coolidge)
Honor
“[Chivalry is] a romantic idealism closely related to Christianity, which makes honor the guiding principle of conduct.” (Richard M. Weaver, left)
“[T]he first quest of the hero is triumph over himself.” (Andrew Nelson Lytle)