Motivating Category Archives :: Consider This

Mr. Rogers and Success

The thing I remember best about successful people I've met through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing...and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what their doing and they love it in front of others.
—Fred Rogers

Source: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes 2008 Calendar by Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-6680-0
See also:
> The World According to Mr. Rogers by Fred Rogers 2003 ISBN 1-4013-0106-1
> Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Your Wild and Precious Lfe

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver from her poem, The Summer Day

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Monday, June 30, 2008.

Do You Keep the Channel Open?

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
—Martha Graham

Source: Garr Reynold's blog: Presentation Zen, April 12, 2008 entry Ichi-nichi issho: Each day is a lifetime
See also:
> The incredibly inspiring The Last Lecture | Randy Pausch and the lecture itself :
(about 76 minutes you can't miss!)

Update: July 25, 2008
Randy Pausch, 47, Dies; His ‘Last Lecture’ Inspired Many to Live With Wonder
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: July 26, 2008 (NY Times Online)
Dr. Pausch was the Carnegie Mellon University professor whose “last lecture” made him a Lou-Gehrig-like symbol of the beauty and briefness of life.

Pursue a dream

What do you pack to pursue a dream, and what do you leave behind?
—Sandra Sharpe

Source: Reach for the Stars window card series, by Compendium, Inc.

Do What You Can

Do what
You can,
Where
You are,
With what
You have!
—Theodore Roosevelt

Source: quotablecards: A card I gave myself on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008 in Portland, Oregon.

Finish Each Day

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Thursday, February 7, 2008 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN-13: 9780-7407-6680-0

Are You a Leader?

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.
—John Quincy Adams

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Monday, January 28, 2008 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN-13: 9780-7407-6680-0

Giving Credit

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
—Sir Isaac Newton

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Friday, January 4, 2008
It is the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton who was born in Woolsthorpe, England in 1643. He died on 31 March 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
See also:
> The BBC's Historic figures: Isaac Newton

Let's Dance

It may be that we are doomed, that there is no hope for us, any of us, but if that is so then let us set up a last agonizing, bloodcurdling howl, a screech of defiance, a war whoop! Away with lamentation! Away with elegies and dirges! Away with biographies and histories, and libraries and museums! Let the dead eat the dead. Let us living ones dance about the rim of the crater, a last expiring dance. But a dance!
—Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, December 26, 2007
It is the birthday of Henry Miller who was born in New York City in 1891. He died June 7, 1980 in Pacific Palisades.
See also:
> Valentine Miller's Henry Miller: A Personal Collection
> Wikipedia's Henry Miller

THE Something I Can Do

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
—Helen Keller

Source: Because of You series window card by Compendium, Inc.

Who said, "Lost!"?

I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.
—Daniel Boone

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Friday, November 1, 2007
⇒ Today is the birthday of Daniel Boone, born near Reading, Pennsylvania in 1734. He died in 1819.

No Mistakes; No Discoveries

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.
We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do;
and probably he who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
—Samuel Smiles

Source: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Herter Studio. Running Press. 2006 ISBN 13: 978-0-7624-2514-3

Change My Mind?

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
—John Kenneth Galbraith

Source: The Portable Life 101: 179 essential lessons from the New York Times bestseller Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned in Life In School—But Didn't by Peter McWilliams 1995 ISBN: 0-931580-41-2

Horse Leaps

Half the failures of life arise from pulling one's horse as he is leaping.
—August Hare

Source: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Herter Studio. Running Press. 2006 ISBN 13: 978-0-7624-2514-3

Gather Rosebuds While You May

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
—Robert Herrick

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Friday, August 24, 2007
⇒ Today is the birthday of Robert Herrick, born in London in 1591. He was buried at Devon on October 15, 1674.

Okay to Make Mistakes?

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
—George Bernard Shaw

Source: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Herter Studio. Running Press. 2006 ISBN 13: 978-0-7624-2514-3
⇒ See also: George Bernard Shaw

Is There Good Judment in Politics?

Good judgment in politics, it turns out, depends on being a critical judge of yourself. It was not merely that the president did not take the care to understand Iraq. He also did not take the care to understand himself. The sense of reality that might have saved him from catastrophe would have taken the form of some warning bell sounding inside, alerting him that he did not know what he was doing. But then, it is doubtful that warning bells had ever sounded in him before. He had led a charmed life, and in charmed lives warning bells do not sound.

People with good judgment listen to warning bells within. Prudent leaders force themselves to listen equally to advocates and opponents of the course of action they are thinking of pursuing. They do not suppose that their own good intentions will guarantee good results. They do not suppose they know all they need to know. If power corrupts, it corrupts this sixth sense of personal limitation on which prudence relies.

A prudent leader will save democracies from the worst, but prudent leaders will not inspire a democracy to give its best. Democratic peoples should always be looking for something more than prudence in a leader: daring, vision and — what goes with both — a willingness to risk failure. Daring leaders can be trusted as long as they give some inkling of knowing what it is to fail. They must be men of sorrow acquainted with grief, as the prophet Isaiah says, men and women who have not led charmed lives, who understand us as we really are, who have never given up hope and who know they are in politics to make their country better. These are the leaders whose judgment, even if sometimes wrong, will still prove worthy of trust.
—Michael Ignatieff

Source: Getting Iraq Wrong [requires paid subscription] by Michael Ignatieff published August 5, 2007 in the New York Times Magazine.

Three "Rs" Enough?

The three Rs — reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic — are no longer enough. We must add the three C's — computing, critical thinking, and capacity for change.
—Fred Gluck, former manager director, McKinsey & Co.

Source: Number 164: The Pursuit of WOW!: Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times by Tom Peters Vintage 1994. ISBN: 0-679-75555-1

Sleep, Perchance to Dream

All our dreams are going to come true,
so we better have some good dreams.
—Joe Davis, biotech artist associated with MIT

Source: Java House counter on July 3, 2007.
Java House
210 W Evergreen Blvd # 400
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-2925
See also:
⇒ Viweing Space's Joe Davis: Genetics and Culture

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: By age: 36-year-olds
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

To Attempt Tetrameter

Why, asks a friend, attempt tetrameter?
Because it once was noble, yet
Capers before the proud pentameter,
Tyrant of English. I regret
To see this marvelous swift meter
Deamean its heritage, and peter
Into mere Hudibrastic tricks,
Unapostolic knacks and knicks.
But why take all this quite so badly?
I would not, had I world and time
To wait for reason, rhythm, rhyme,
To reassert themselves, but sadly,
The time is not remote when I
Will not be here to wait. That's why.
—Vikram Seth in his The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse

Source: Rice University's Minstrels Why, Asks a Friend, Attempt Tetrameter?
⇒ British Council: Arts, ComtemporaryWriters Vikram Seth Biography
⇒ Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Nature of Courage

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.
—Eddie Rickenbacker

Source: The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John C. Maxwell 1999. Thomas Nelson, Inc. ISBN: 0-7852-7440-5, page 39.
See also:
⇒ Auburn University's biographical sketch, Edward Vernon "Eddie" Rickenbacker.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
—Eleanor Roosevelt

Source: The Quotations Page on Eleanor Roosevelt.
See also:
⇒ Biography of Eleanor Roosevelt at WhiteHouse.gov.

Is This the Best Part of Your Life?

We hear that youth is wasted on the young. People who say this are accepting the myth that only the young can enjoy life to the fullest. The truth is that older people do not consider their young days to be their best days; most enjoy their senior years more than any other part of their life.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in You have not finished the best part of your life.: Number 98 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

Researchers conducted a long-term study of Northern Californians, interviewing subjects multiple times over three decades. When asked when they had been the happiest in their lives, each time eight out of ten answered "right now."
—Field D. 1997. "Looking Back, What Period of Your Life Brought You the Most Satisfaction?." International Journal of Aging and Human Development 45: 169.

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: By age: 33-year-olds
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

My daughter, Jennifer, celebrates her thirty-third birthday this month.

Even Better

Just when you think you know exactly how it's going — it gets even better.
—Unknown

Source: Java House counter on May 29, 2007.
Java House
210 W Evergreen Blvd # 400
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-2925

We the People

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
—Preamble to the United States Constitution

Source: The National Archives US Constitution Transcript.
⇒ It was on this day in 1781 that the Constitutional Convention convened in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time, Independence Hall was the Pennsylvania State House.
See also:
⇒ The National Archives Constitution of the United States: A History.

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: By Age / 24-year-olds
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

You Count

When you become part of something, in some way you count. It could be a march; it could be a rally, even a brief one. You're part of something, and you suddenly realize you count. To count is very important.
—Studs Terkel

Source: BrainyQuote.com's Studs Terkel Quotes.
It is the birthday of StudsTerkel, born Louis Terkel in the Bronx, New York City in 1912.
See also:
⇒ Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, May 16, 2007.
⇒ Wikipedia.org's Studs Terkel

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: By Age / 21-year-olds
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

Hijacking of Morality

The greatest tragedy in mankind's history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
—Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer (1917–

Source: Java House counter on May 1, 2007.
Java House
210 W Evergreen Blvd # 400
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-2925

The experiment entrusted to American People

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
—President George Washington, New York City, April 30, 1789

Source: Yale Law School's, The Avalon Project First Inaugural Address of George Washington.
See also:
⇒ Library of Congress Presidential Inaugurations George Washington, First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.
⇒ White House's Biography of George Washington.

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: Marines
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

Keep Reading

Those who read books benefit from what they learn and the entertainment they receive. But, in addition, they get to exercise their brain, and when we do that, we feel satisfied that we are spending our time wisely.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in Keep Reading: Number 94 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

Reading engages the mind. Reading materials, by exercising our memory and imagination, can contribute to happiness in ways similar to active positive thinking. Regular readers are about 8 percent more likely to express daily satisfaction.
—Scope E. 1999. "A Meta-Analysis of Research on Creativity." Ph.D. diss., Fordham University, New York, NY.

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: Army National Guard
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

Getting Even

You never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.
—Unknown

Source: Java House counter on March 26, 2007.
Java House
210 W Evergreen Blvd # 400
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-2925

Nothing Constant

There's nothing constant in the world,
All ebb and flow, and every shape that's born
Bears in its womb the seeds of change.
—Ovid

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, March 19, 2007.
⇒ Ovid was born on this dayin 43 B.C. in the village of Sulmo, just east of Rome. He died in Tomis, now Constanţa AD 17.
See also:
⇒ Ovid's Metamorphosis.
⇒ On WikiPedia: Ovid's biography.

Run for It

What I admire is her optimism. Rationally considered, she could not have packed all her stuff into the house in one trip. But there are times when people will not accept rational limitations. Go for it. Because you just might pull it off. And she did. Mostly.

What's this about?
In such moments as these I see the pilot light of reckless courage fire reserves of fuel to meet the small challenges of daily life. A stubborn refusal to accept obvious limitations. A delight in taking risks and defying odds. She didn't notice me across the street. It wasn't a performance, but an innate personal response to a challenge. It's a miniscule example of what's brought to bear in far more heroic situations. People run into burning buildings to save a life out of the same inclination. It's just a matter of scale.

That's a good thing about us. Something to like. What seems improbable just might be possible. More often than not, given the options, we don't play it safe and dry. We run for it.
—Robert Fulghum

Source: RUN FOR IT published March 05, 2007, Written Sunday, March 4, 2007 Seattle, Washington by Robert Fulghum.

Protecting Free Thought We Hate

If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Source: BrainyQuote's Oliver Wendell Holmes Quotes
⇒ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was born on this day in 1841, in Boston, Massachusetts. He died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 1935.
⇒ See his New York Times Obituary, Washington Holds Bright Memories of Justice Holmes's Long and Useful Life.
⇒ Also, Arlington National Cemetery's biography, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Captain and Brevet Colonel, U.S. Army, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court.

150 Years Since the Horrid Dred Scott Decision

The words 'people of the United States' and 'citizens' are synonymous terms, and mean the same thing. They both describe the political body who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the Government through their representatives. They are what we familiarly call the 'sovereign people,' and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. The question before us is, whether the class of persons described in the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty? We think they are not, and that they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subordinate [60 U.S. 393, 405] and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the Government might choose to grant them.
—Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, March 6, 1857

Source: U.S. Supreme Court DRED SCOTT v. SANDFORD, 60 U.S. 393 (1856) on FindLaw.com
⇒ Dred Scott Decision on the US National Archives and Records Administration Web site.
⇒ "The decision of Scott v. Sandford, considered by legal scholars to be the worst ever rendered by the Supreme Court, was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens of the United States."—US National Archives and Records Administration
⇒ Dred Scott Case Collection of the Washington University in Saint Louis.

Good Idea Source

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
—Linus Pauling

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, February 28, 2007.
⇒ Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901. He died on August 19, 1994 on his ranch near Big Sur in California.
See also:
⇒ Linus Pauling biography on the Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute.

Living Peacefully With the Past

In order to live more peacefully with the past, it helps to remember that once we know better, we tend to do better. Prior to knowing, we generally do our best, and while it's true that from the perspective of the present, our best doesn't always seem good enough, we can at least give our past selves the benefit of the doubt. We did our best with what knowledge we had. Beyond this, we serve the greater good most effectively by not dwelling on the past, instead reigning our energy and knowledge into our present actions. It is here, in this moment, that we create our reality and ourselves anew, with our current knowledge and information.
—extract from the DailyOM for Thursday, February 22, 2007

Source: For the entire contemplation visit: DailyOM The Past In Light Of The Present: Knowing Better Now published Thursday, February 22, 2007.

Humble Reasoning

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.
—Galileo Galilei

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, February 15, 2007.
⇒ It is the birthday of Galileo Galilei born in Pisa, Italy in 1564. He died in 1642 at his home outside Florence, Italy.
See also:
⇒ Rice University's The Galileo Project

Not Always Easy

Some of our goals and dreams come to fruition so easily that it is as if an unseen hand has done much of the work for us. When this happens, we say it must have been meant to be. On the other hand, when dreams and goals require a tremendous amount of effort, we may interpret this to mean that our dream is not meant to be. However, difficulty is not necessarily a sign that our hopes and plans are ill-fated. On the contrary, difficulties and challenges along the path can be important parts of the project's overall meaning.
—extract from the DailyOM for Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Source: For the entire contemplation visit: DailyOM Not Always Easy: Meant To Be published Wednesday, February 7, 2007.

Foolish with Enthusiasm

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm!
—Unknown

Source: The counter at:
Java House
210 W Evergreen Blvd # 400
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-2925

Happy Birthday, FDR

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want--which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source: Annual Message to Congress, January 6, 1941 [commonly referred to as the Four Freedoms Speech] by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thirty-Second President 1933-1945.
President Roosevelt was born on this day in 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He died: April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia.
See WhiteHouse.gov's very short biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Be Happy: Listen to Music

Music communicates to us on many different levels, and our favorite music tends to transport our mind to its favorite place.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in Listen to Music: Number 75 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

A positive effect on mood was foumd for 92 percent of individuals when they listened to the music of their choice. Excitment and happiness were typical reactions to the music.
—Hakanen, R. 1995. Emotional Use of Music by African American Adolescents" Howard Journal of Communications 5:124.

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

Forgiveness and Understanding

When we truly forgive, we reach an understanding that allows us to forgo anger or grief. We become ready to let go of the past, despite its painful memories—but not the memories themselves. these remain though we do not dwell on them.The emotional undertow lessens and is brought under control; most of the time, at any rate. We accept, however reluctantly, that we cannot change the past, and become willing to move forward. Through forgiveness of the wrongdoer, and ourselves, we can learn to love and laugh again. We choose to embrace the present, to move on to whatever new experiences life has in store for us, and to face them strengthened by our survival.
—Gillian Stokes

Source: Forgiveness: Wisdom from Around the World by Gillian Stokes Red Wheel 2002 ISBN: 1-59003-036-2.

Have One Hell of a Time

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.
—Art Buchwald

Source: thinkexist.com's Art Buchwald quotes.
See also:
Art Buchwald passed away on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 in Washington, DC. He was born on Oct. 20, 1925, in Mount Vernon, N.Y.
Wikipedia's Art Buchwald.
NY Times Art Buchwald obituary. [May require free registration]
NY Times The Last Word: Art Buchwald. [May require free registration]

Victory at Trenton, 1776

In justice to the Officers and Men, I must add, that their Behaviour upon this Occasion, reflects the highest honor upon them. The difficulty of passing the River in a very severe Night, and their march thro' a violent Storm of Snow and Hail, did not in the least abate their Ardour. But when they came to the Charge, each seemed to vie with the other in pressing forward, and were I to give a preference to any particular Corps, I should do great injustice to the others.
—General George Washington, 1776

Source: The Library of Congress' The Learning Page, Washington Describes Victory at Trenton, New Jersey, December 27, 1776
On this day, December 26, 1776, the American Continental Army defeated the Hessian soldiers garrisoned in support of the British Army at Trenton, New Jersey, after crossing the Delaware River in the late evening of Christmas Day.

Only Art

Only Art held [me] back; for it seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce.
—Ludwig van Beethoven

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, December 17, 2006
It was on this day that Beethoven was baptized in 1770 in the city of Bonn, which would eventually become part of Germany. No one knows for sure when he was born. He died on March 26th 1827 in Vienna, Austria.
See also: Beethoven's Website's Biography: Ludwig von Beethoven

Challenges - Purpose?

Challenges make you discover things about yourself you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch–what make you go beyond the norm.
—Cicely Tyson

Source: December 1^st entry: Office Perpetual Calendar by Judy Johannesen, Haymarket, Virginia

Edison and Mary Had A Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day, which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out, but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?" the eager children cry;
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know" the teacher did reply.
—Sarah Hale, of Boston, Massachusetts, USA 1830

It was on this day (Nov. 21^st) in 1877 that Thomas Edison announced that he had invented a new device for recording and playing back sound, which he called the phonograph. He had been working on a device to record telephone communication when he stumbled upon the right design, using a stylus and a tinfoil cylinder. The first thing he recorded was himself reciting the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
—Garrison Keillor

Source: Rhymes.org.uk's Mary Had a Little Lamb
Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006

Want to Improve the World?

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart amd head and hands, and then work outward from there.
—Robert M. Pirsig

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Thursday, January 12, 2006 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 0-7407-5200-6

Get to Sea as Soon as I Can

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
—Herman Melville

On this day in 1851, Harper & Brothers published Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville (books by this author). The British publisher accidentally left out the ending of the book, the epilogue. This confused a lot of British readers, because without the epilogue there was no explanation of how Ishmael, the narrator, lived to tell the tale. It seemed like he died in the end with everyone else on the ship. The reviews from Britain were harsh, and costly to Melville. At the time, Americans deferred to British critical opinion, and a lot of American newspaper editors reprinted reviews from Britain without actually reading the American version with the proper ending. Melville had just bought a farm in Massachusetts, his debts were piling up, he was hiding them from his wife, and he was counting on Moby-Dick to bring in enough money to pay off his creditors. The book flopped, partly because of those British reviews. As a writer, Melville never recovered from the disappointment.
—Garrions Keillor

Source: online Moby Dick by Herman Melville online by Princeton University
See also: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Dissent vs Disloyalty

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.
—Edward R. Murrow

Source: The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left is Right by Wlliam Martin. Sourcebooks, Inc. 2004 ISBN: 1-4022-0309-8

Now What?

For years now, the Democrats have been not only the minority party, but a particularly powerless minority, elbowed out of virtually any role other than that of critic. The House Democrats will have to shift from the role of tactical opposition to shadow government. They will have to pass bills � bills that might not make it into law, but that would provide a clear idea of what their party would do if it were really in control.

And while they are trying to build a new majority, the Democrats need to remember what happens when a party in power loses its way.
—New York Times editorial staff

Source: The Democratic House New York Times editorial page, November 8, 2006. [requires registration]

Had a Good Life?

There is no objective way to tell if you have had good life, a good day, or a good hour. Your life is a success based only upon your judgment.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in Number 34 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

Knowing whether someone has recently suffered a personal set-back or personal triumph is not as good a predictor of how satisfied they are with their lives as is knowing how they perceive the causes and consequences of those events.
—Staats, S., M. Armstrong-Stassen, and C. Partillo. 1957. "Student Well-Being: Are They Better Off Now?" Social Indicators Research 34:93

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

Contracting Before Expanding

Sometimes our lives contract before they expand. We may be working hard on ourselves spiritually, doing good in the world, following our dreams, and wondering why we are still facing constrictions of all kinds-financial, emotional, physical. Perhaps we even feel as if we've lost our spirituality and are stuck in a dark room with no windows. We may be confused and discouraged by what appears to be a lack of progress. But sometimes this is the way things work. Like a caterpillar that confines itself to a tiny cocoon before it grows wings and flies, we are experiencing the darkness before the dawn.
—extract from the DailyOM for Monday, October 30, 2006

Source: For the entire contemplation visit: DailyOM Going Through The Opening: Contracting Before Expanding published October 30, 2006

You Have Not Finished the Best Part of Your Life

We hear that youth is wasted on the young. People who say this are accepting the myth that only the young can enjoy life to the fullest. The truth is that older people do not consider their young days to be the best days; most enjoy their senior years more than any other part of their life.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in Number 98 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

Researchers conducted a long-term study of northern Californians, interviewing subjects multiple times over three decades. When asked when they had the happiest in their lives, each time eight out of ten answered "right now."
—Field, D. 1997. "Looking Back, What Period of Your Life Brought You the Most Satisfaction?" International Journal of Aging and Human Development 45:99

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

Feeling Inferior?

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
—Eleanor Roosevelt, born this day in 1884 in New York City

Source: The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left is Right by Wlliam Martin. Sourcebooks, Inc. 2004 ISBN: 1-4022-0309-8
See also: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, October 11, 2006
and Biography of Eleanor Roosevelt at WhiteHouse.gov

Life Does Not Hinge on One Element

Don't let your life hinge on one element.

Your life is made up of many different facets. Don't focus on one aspect of your life so much that you can't experience pleasure if one area is unsettled. It can become all you think about, and it can deaden your enjoyment of everything else—things you would otherwise love.
—David Niven, Ph.D.

Source: Number 37, The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It by David Niven, Ph.D. HarperCollins 2000 ISBN 0-06-251650-7 (pbk.)

On Being Flexible

Flexibility is the capacity to bend without breaking, as well as a continual willingness to change or be changed in order to accommodate new circumstances. People with flexible minds are open to shifting their course when necessary or useful; they are not overly attached to things going the way they had planned. This enables them to take advantage of opportunities that a more rigid person would miss out on. It can also make life a lot more fun. When we are flexible, we allow for situations we could not have planned, and so the world continues to surprise and delight us.
—Daily Om, excerpt

Source: Daily OM for Wednesday, September 20, 2006, for the complete meditation.

Walking Through: When Doors Open

When a door opens, walk through it. Trust that the door has opened for a reason and you have been guided to it. Sometimes we have a tendency to overanalyze or agonize over the decision, but it is quicker to simply go through the door and discover what's there as that's the only way to know. Even if it doesn't seem right at first, opening this door may lead to another door that will take us where we need to go.
—Daily Om, excerpt

Source: Daily OM for September 15, 2006, for the complete meditation.

The Old Australian Ways

US Navy photo by PH1 Bruce McVicar

PREBLE and JOHN PAUL JONES visit Portland, Oregon (Jun 10, 2006)

AEGIS Arleigh Burke class Guided missile destroyers USS John Paul Jones (DG 53) and USS Preble (DDG 88) moored in Portland for the 99th Rose Festival.

I am proud to say thatI helped build these ships when I worked at the AEGIS Program Office in the 1990's.

The London lights are far abeam
Behind a bank of cloud,
Along the shore the gaslights gleam,
The gale is piping loud;
And down the Channel, groping blind,
We drive her through the haze
Towards the land we left behind --
The good old land of `never mind',
And old Australian ways.

The narrow ways of English folk
Are not for such as we;
They bear the long-accustomed yoke
Of staid conservancy:
But all our roads are new and strange,
And through our blood there runs
The vagabonding love of change
That drove us westward of the range
And westward of the suns.
 .......
So throw the weary pen aside
And let the papers rest,
For we must saddle up and ride
Towards the blue hill's breast;
And we must travel far and fast
Across their rugged maze,
To find the Spring of Youth at last,
And call back from the buried past
The old Australian ways.

When Clancy took the drover's track
In years of long ago,
He drifted to the outer back
Beyond the Overflow;
By rolling plain and rocky shelf,
With stockwhip in his hand,
He reached at last, oh lucky elf,
The Town of Come-and-help-yourself
In Rough-and-ready Land.

And if it be that you would know
The tracks he used to ride,
Then you must saddle up and go
Beyond the Queensland side --
Beyond the reach of rule or law,
To ride the long day through,
In Nature's homestead -- filled with awe
You then might see what Clancy saw
And know what Clancy knew.
—A.B. "Banjo" Paterson, excerpted from THE OLD AUSTRALIAN WAYS

Source: A.B. Paterson: Selected Poems published 1992 by Angus & Robertson Book ISBN 0-207-1726-4
See the online version at THE OLD AUSTRALIAN WAYS

Hear a Little Song, Every Day

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Monday, August 28, 2006
It is the birthday of Goethe, born this day in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1749. Goethe died in Weimar on March 22, 1832.
Read a short biographical sketch of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stevenson's Resolution

I have resolved from this day on,
I will do all the business I can honestly,
have all the fun I can reasonably,
do all the good I can do willingly,
and save my digestion by thinking pleasantly.
—Robert Louis Stevenson

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Saturday/Sunday, July 1/2, 2006 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 0-7407-5200-6
See also: The Literature Network's Robert Louis Stevenson - Biography and Works

Battle of Midway: June 4, 1942

U.S. Navy photo by PHAN James R. Evans

Flightdeck CVN-72: Pacific Ocean (March 30, 2006)

Flight deck personnel work to ready an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the �Fighting Vigilantes� of Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One (VFA-151) for take-off from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) during a snow storm. Lincoln and Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) are currently underway in the Western Pacific conducting a scheduled deployment.

It was on this day in 1942 that the Battle of Midway took place over the Pacific Ocean. It was one of the first battles fought almost entirely in the air, and it's considered one of the major turning points of the Pacific half of World War II. At the time, the Japanese had a far superior naval and air fleet, and they had scored a series of victories over the Allies since bombing Pearl Harbor. They hoped to seize Midway Island because it was the last American outpost in the central Pacific. They could have use it to stage an invasion of Hawaii, which would have given them complete strategic control over the Pacific Ocean.

The Japanese had one of the largest and most heavily armed navel fleets ever assembled up to that time. They launched their first attack early in the morning on this day in 1942. The Japanese pilots dropped their bombs on the Midway airfield, and then flew back to their carriers to refuel and reload with bombs.

The U.S. knew that the Japanese would be attacking that day, because they had cracked the Japanese codes, but they didn't know where the Japanese fleet was located. While the Japanese were refueling, a squadron of American bombers noticed the wake of a small Japanese ship and decided to follow it. When they descended from the clouds, they realized that they had accidentally stumbled upon the Japanese fleet, caught almost defenseless, with all their planes docked and refueling. The American bombers dove down from 12,000 feet, dropped their bombs on the Japanese aircraft carriers, and took off again.

In just five minutes, the U.S. bombers had delivered a devastating blow to the Japanese fleet. The battle raged for three more days, but the Japanese never recovered from that first attack. Their navy was shattered, and from that battle onward, they were on the defensive. The Japanese never won another decisive naval battle for the rest of the war.
—Garrison Keillor

Source: Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac for Sunday, June 4, 2006
See also US. Navy's Navy Historical Center Midway FAQs

Meek Young Men: Think!

Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote those books.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, May 25, 2006
It is the birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in 1803.
Books by Emerson

No Calling More Demanding

No calling in our society is more demanding than teaching; no calling in our society is more selfless than teaching; and no calling is more central to the vitality of a democracy than teaching.
—Roger Mudd

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Thursday, May 18, 2006 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 0-7407-5200-6

One Single Good Action

A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows and rows of natural objects, classified with name and form.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Saturday/Sunday, May 13/14, 2006 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 0-7407-5200-6

Test a Man's Character

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
—Abraham Lincoln

Source: March 22^rd entry: Office Perpetual Calendar by Judy Johannesen, Haymarket, Virginia

Unsolvable Problems

We are continually faced with great opportunities, which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.
—Margaret Mead

Source: Teachers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes Daily calendar Tuesday, March 30, 2006 Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 0-7407-5200-6