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James Whitcomb Riley: Persistence
“The most essential factor is persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come. ” ~James Whitcomb Riley.
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Russell Lynes: Insults
“If you can’t ignore an insult, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh it off; and if you can’t laugh it off, it’s probably deserved. ” Russell Lynes
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John F Kennedy: Crisis
“The Chinese use two brushstrokes to write the word ‘crisis‘. One brushstroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.” ~John F Kennedy.
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Italian Proverb: King and pawn
“After the game, the king and pawn go into the same box.” ~Italian Proverb
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Benjamin Franklin: Tricks and treachery
“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.” ~Benjamin Franklin.
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Barack Obama: Patriotism
“We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who…
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Samuel Johnson: Grief
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.” ~Samuel Johnson
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Pierre Corneille: Treachery
“Treachery is noble when aimed at tyranny.” ~Pierre Corneille
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Ian Fleming: Marriage
“Most marriages don’t add two people together. They subtract one from the other.” ~Ian Fleming.
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Pete Seeger: Disagreeable talk
“It’s a very important thing to learn to talk to people you disagree with.” ~Pete Seeger
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James Bryce: Patriotism
“Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.” ~James Bryce.
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George Eliot: The dead
“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” ~George Eliot.
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Gary Busey: Fear
“Fear is the dark room where the Devil develops his negatives.” ~Gary Busey
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Leonardo da Vinci: Natural experience
“ Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience. ” — Leonardo da Vinci
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H L Mencken: Love and war
“Love is like war:easy to begin, but hard to stop.” ~H L Mencken.
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William Shakespeare: Fond records
“Yea, from the table of my memory I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records.” ~William Shakespeare in Hamlet (Act I, Scene 5, Line 98)
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Gertrude Stein: Careful
“If you are too careful, you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.” ~Gertrude Stein.
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Winston Churchill: No comment
“I think ‘no comment‘ is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again. ” ~Winston Churchill
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E B White: Corporate Earth
“I have one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management. “ -E.B. White, writer (1899-1985)
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What we do for the Dead
Originally posted on PIGSPITTLE OHIO: Written for this week’s Writing Challenge at the Daily Post. Prompt: Leftovers. Thanks for reading. Visit the Writing Challenge for more wonderfully bloggy posts–fact and fiction–in response to the prompt. At my mother’s funeral, an older man, goateed and wearing a beret (the sight of which made me…
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Aung San Suu Kyi: Value systems
“The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged. ” ~Aung San Suu Kyi
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Phyllis McGinley: Praise
“Praise is warming and desirable. But it is an earned thing. It has to be deserved, like a hug from a child. ” ~Phyllis McGinley
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Thomas Carlyle: Books and life
“Books are a triviality. Life alone is great.” ~Thomas Carlyle
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William Shakespeare: Answers
“I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” ~Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (Act IV, Scene I, Line 65)
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Benjamin Whichcote: Full and empty
“None are so empty as those who are full of themselves. ” ~Benjamin Whichcote.
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Emile Zola: Truth
“If you shut up truth, and bury it underground, it will but grow. ” ~Emile Zola
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Jawaharlal Nehru: Cautious
“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” ~Jawaharlal Nehru
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Stephanie Rowe: Roses in hand
“He remembered lesson #76.5 from Man Decorum 101: Never tell a smart, pissed-off female what to do. Ask her. Nicely. Preferably with roses in hand.” ― Stephanie Rowe, Kiss at Your Own Risk
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William Shakespeare: What we may be
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.” ~William Shakespeare.
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George Bernard Shaw: Gentleman
“Make money and the whole nation will conspire to call you a gentleman.” ~George Bernard Shaw.
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Margaret Sanger: Diplomacy
“Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts. ” ~Margaret Sanger
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Samuel Johnson: New acquaintances
“If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair. ” Samuel Johnson
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Paul Fussell: War
Wars damage the civilian society as much as they damage the enemy. Soldiers never get over it. -Paul Fussell, historian, author, and professor (1924-2012)
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Dario Argento: Of horror, terror and revulsion
Horror by definition is the emotion of pure revulsion. Terror of the same standard, is that of fearful anticipation. ~Dario Argento
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Debbi Fields: Superman
“You do not have to be superhuman to do what you believe in. ” ~Debbi Fields
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John Lennon: Behind every idiot
“As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. ” ~John Lennon
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George Eliot: Never too late
“It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” ~George Eliot.
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Confucius: Wealth and rank
“Wealth and rank are what people desire, but unless they be obtained in the right way they may not be possessed.” ~Confucius
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Noam Chomsky: Comforting illusion
“If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion. ”~Noam Chomsky
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Margaret George: Defeat and betrayal
“Defeat I can endure with cheerfulness, my lady. But betrayal is like taking the wind from my sails, or the earth from beneath my feet. It chills my spirits like a rainy day, and all I can do is draw the curtains and cry into my pillow.” ― Margaret George, Mary Queen of Scotland & The Isles
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Demosthenes: Man, his own dupe
“A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true. ” ~Demosthenes.
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Carolyn Coats: More models, less critics
“Children have more need of models than of critics.” ~Carolyn Coats
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Benjamin Franklin: Half truths
“Half a truth is often a great lie. ” ~Benjamin Franklin
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George Iles: Superstition
“A superstition is a premature explanation that overstays its time.” ~George Iles
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Kenneth G. Wilson: Usage
“Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, ‘It depends.’ And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is. “—Kenneth G. Wilson, author and professor (1923-2003)
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John Landis: Typecast
“Directors, like actors, get typecast. ” ~John Landis
