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LAZINESS
LEADERS / LEADERSHIP
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
LEAVING --- LEGACIES

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LAZINESS

see: "IDLENESS"
see: "INACTIVITY"
see: "REST"
see "FAILURE" for other related links


I hate to see a thing done by halves; if it be right,
do it boldly; if it be wrong, leave it undone.
--Bernard Gilpin (1517—1583)
English theologian.

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be
doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary
than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human
frame.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.
_Table Talk_ [1821—1822] "On the Pleasure of Painting"

Anonymous diplomat: How many persons work at the Vatican?
Pope John (with a wink): Oh, no more than half of them!
--Pope John XXIII (1881—1963)
261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.
--Florynce R. Kennedy (1916—2001)
American lawyer, feminist, and author.

I'm never going to be famous . . . I don't do anything.
Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I
don't even do that any more.
--Dorothy Parker (1893—1967)
American critic and humorist.

Everyone knows the story of the traveller in Naples who saw twelve
beggars lying in the sun..., and offered a lira to the laziest of
them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to
the twelfth.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.
"The Virtue of Idleness" [1932]

Sloth views the towers of fame with envious eyes,
Desirous still, still impotent to rise.
--William Shenstone (1714—1763)
English poet.
_The Judgement of Hercules_ l. 436

How beautiful it is to do nothing,
and then rest afterward.
--Spanish Proverb

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at
the end. It is not a day when you lounge around
doing nothing: it's when you've had everything to
do, and you've done it.
--Margaret Thatcher (1925— )
British conservative stateswoman and Prime Minister [1979—1990].

Madame would make her toilette at dawn, seated
in her bedroom. Her hundred serfs, young and old,
male and female, would all come to report on what
they had been doing. Madame would pick out the
laziest and have them given a flogging. For those
who had toiled diligently she would prepare a goblet
of wine with her own hand and mix in marrow to
make it ready for drinking. Those who tasted this
wine would leave flushed with happiness, and compete
with each other to work hard, unmindful of
their burdens. Those who had been beaten would
blame themselves and say, 'What point is there in
not making every effort for her ladyship, and being
rewarded with a beaker of wine?' In this way everyone
whom Madame employed proved himself
capable; her lands supported cattle by the hundred,
her streams bred fish and turtles by the picul, and
her gardeners tended fruit, melon, mustard, and
vegetables by the tens of acres.
--Wang Shizhen (16th century);
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {ed.} _History in Quotations_ [2004].
Cohan and Major note:
A not untypical estate owned by a family of the official class
in mid-Ming times (1450-1600). 'Madame' was the aunt of
Wang Shizhen, a well-known bureaucrat and the author of
these lines. He gained the highest degree in the official
examinations between 1522 and 1566. According to
the law, only official families were allowed to own serfs, but
various subterfuges (such as fictive 'adoption') were used to
get round this, and it is hard to know how widespread the
practice was. A picul was a traditional measure of capacity,
about a tenth of a cubic yard.

We hear of a silent generation, more concerned
with security than integrity, with conforming
than performing, with imitating than creating.
--Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874—1956)
American industrialist and founder of IBM.

^

Daniel Webster (1782—1852)
American lawyer and statesman.

Temporarily absent from home, Captain Webster
left Daniel and his brother Ezekiel with specific
instructions as to the work they were to do that
day. On his return he found the task still
unperformed, and questioned his sons severly
about their idleness. 'What have you been
doing, Ezekiel?' he asked.

'Nothing, sir.'

'Well Daniel, what have you been doing?'

'Helping Zeke, sir.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Hard work pays off in the future.
Laziness pays off now.
--Steven Wright (1955— )
American writer and actor.

-----

faineant [fay-nay-AWN], adj.:
Doing nothing or given to doing nothing;
idle; lazy.
noun: A do-nothing; an idle fellow; a sluggard.

flaneur [flah-NUR], noun:
One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer.

indolent [IN-duh-luhnt], adjective:
1. Avoiding labor and exertion; habitually idle; lazy;
inactive.
2. Conducive to or encouraging laziness or inactivity.

lackadaisical [lack-uh-DAY-zih-kuhl, adjective:
Lacking spirit or liveliness; showing lack of
interest; languid; listless.

lollygag (verb) ['lah-li-gζg]
(American slang) To dawdle, usually holding someone up
or delaying some other action; to neck or pet deceptively.
Someone who dawdles is a "lollygagger."

slugabed [SLUHG-uh-bed], noun:
One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.

supine [soo-PYN; SOO-pyn], adjective:
1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward.
2. Indolent; listless; inactive; mentally or morally
lethargic.

wastrel [WAY-struhl], noun:
1. A person who wastes, especially one who
squanders money; a spendthrift.
2. An idler; a loafer; a good-for-nothing.
Ex.: Was her father ... the brilliant, glamorous figure
she remembered, or the alcoholic wastrel his own
brother described?
--Jean Strouse, "Making the Facts Obey,"
_New York Times_, [24 May 1992]



LEADERS / LEADERSHIP

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see "THE HUMAN RACE" for related links
see "PEOPLE" for related links


They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind
lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
--Bible
"St. Matthew"

Decision of character is one of the most important of human
qualities, philosophically considered. Speculation, knowledge,
is not the chief end of man; it is action. ..."Give us the man,"
shout the multitude, "who will step forward and take the
responsibility." He is instantly the idol, the lord and the king
among men. He, then, who would command among his
fellows, must excel them more in energy of will than in
power of intellect.
--Jacob Burnap (1748—1821)
American clergyman.

There is no evidence that generals as a class make
wiser national security policymakers than civilians.
George C. Marshall, our greatest soldier statesman
after George Washington, opposed shipping arms to
Britain in 1940. His boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
with nary a day in uniform, thought otherwise. Whose
judgment looks better? A few soldiers become great
diplomats or great politicians; others are abject
failures. Most avoid the field altogether. Military
careers spent in hierarchical, rule-bound, tightly
controlled organizations are not necessarily the
best preparation for accurately judging the fluid
world of politics at home and abroad.
--Eliot A. Cohen,
"Hunting 'Chicken Hawks'"

It was observed of Elizabeth that she was weak herself,
but chose wise counsellors; to which it was replied, that
to choose wise counsellors was, in a prince, the highest
wisdom.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.

How can anyone govern a nation that has two
hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?
--Charles de Gaulle (1890—1970)
French soldier and statesman, President [1959—1969].
Quoted in Ernest Mignon _Les Mots du Gιnιral_ [1962].

Dictators are very popular these days and we
might want one in England before long.
--Edward VIII (1894—1972)
King [1936], afterwards, the Duke of Windsor.
(Late 1930s)

-

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably
integrity. Without it, no real success is possible,
no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football
field, in an army, or in an office.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890—1969),
American Army General, supreme Allied commander WWII,
NATO commander, American President [1953—1961].


Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do
something you want done because he wants to do
it.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890—1969),
American Army General, supreme Allied commander WWII,
NATO commander, American President [1953—1961].

-

All the great leaders have had one characteristic in common:
it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major
anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much
else, is the essence of leadership.
--John Kenneth Galbraith (1908—2006)
American economist.
_The Age of Uncertainty_, 12 [1977]

...a born leader ...I wish we had a man of his
supreme quality at the head of affairs in our
country today.
--David Lloyd George (1863—1945)
Welsh-born British Prime Minister [1916—1922].
On Hitler, quoted in Lynne Olsen,
_Troublesome Young Men_ [2007].

A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot
govern a city; he cannot govern a city if
he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern
a family unless he can govern himself; and
he cannot govern himself unless his passions
are subject to reason.
--Hugo Grotius (1583—1645)
Dutch philosopher. playwright, and poet.

It is possible to lead astray an entire generation,
to strike it blind, to drive it insane, to direct it
towards a fake goal. Napolean proves this.
--Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen [or Hertzen] (1812—1870)
Russian political thinker, activist, and writer. [c. 1855]

The art of leadership. . . consists in consolidating the
attention of the people against a single adversary and
taking care that nothing will split up that attention.
--Adolf Hitler (1889—1945)
German dictator.
_Mein Kampf_ (My Battle) [1925]

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to
discover ability in others is the true test.
--Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915)
American editor, publisher, and author who
died in the sinking of the "Lusitania."

Leadership is not about being nice. It's about
being right and being strong.
--Paul Keating (1944— )
24th Prime Minister of Australia [1993—1996].
In "Time" [9 January 1995].

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is
willing occasionally to stand alone.
--Henry Alfred Kissinger (1923— )
German-born American diplomat.
_The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy_, 7.4 [1961]

-

To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority,
dominion or empire above any realm, nation or city
is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, a thing
most contrarious to His revealed will and approved
ordinance. And finally it is the subversion of good
order, of all equity and justice ... For who can deny
but it ... repugneth to nature that the blind shall be
appointed to lead and conduct such as shall see?
That the weak, the sick and impotent persons shall
nourish and keep the whole and strong? And finally
that the foolish, mad and frenetic shall govern the
discreet and give counsel to such as be sober of
mind? And such be all women compared unto man
in bearing of authority. For their sight in civil
regiment [rule] is but blindness, their strength
weakness, their counsel foolishness, and
judgement frenzy, if it be rightly considered.

--John Knox (1505 to 1515—1572)
Scottish religious leader.
_A First Blast of the Trumpet against the
Monstrous Regiment of Women [1558],
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 351.
Cohan & Major note:
John Knox, one of the most outspoken of the Scottish
Presbyterians, wrote this tract while he was in exile
in Geneva. He had in mind a number of female rulers
who had displayed their 'unfitness' for government by
opposing the Protestant Reformation, particularly Mary
I, who died in the year of publication and was succeeded
by the Protestant Elizabeth. It is hardly surprising that
the new queen developed a strong aversion to
Presbyterianism.

-

I bend but do not break.
--Jean de La Fontaine (1621—1695)
French poet.
_Fables_,
bk. I, Fable 22 [1668]

They taught me that no man could be their leader except he
who ate the ranks' food, wore their clothes, lived level
with them, and yet appeared better in himself.
--T. E. Lawrence (1888—1935)
English soldier and writer.
_The Seven Pillars of Wisdom_ [1935]

In Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada has at last produced
a political leader worthy of assassination.
--Irving Layton (1912—2006)
Romanian-born Canadian poet.
_The Whole Bloody Bird_ "Obs II" [1969]

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind
him in other men the conviction and the will to
carry on.
--Walter Lippmann (1889—1974)
American journalist.
In New York _Herald Tribune_
"Roosevelt is Gone" [14 April 1945].


Bad rulers . . . are in constant fear less others are
conspiring to inflict upon them the punishment
which they are conscious of deserving.
--Niccolς Machiavelli (1469—1527)
Florentine statesman and political philosopher.
_The Discourses_ [1517]

Once a ruler becomes religious, it [becomes] impossible
for you to debate with him. Once someone rules in the
name of religion, your lives become hell.
--Muammar Qaddafi (1942— )
Libyan leader [1970— ].
October 1989 remark to the General People's Congress [Tripoli].

If you are a man who leads, a man who controls the
affairs of many, then seek the most perfect way of
performing your responsibility so that your conduct
will be blameless.
--Ptahhotpe
24th century B.C. philosopher.
In _The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World_
Asa G. Hilliard III, Larry Williams & Nia Damali, eds. [1987].

To grasp and hold a vision, that is the very essence
of successful leadership--not only on the movie set
where I learned it, but everywhere.
--Ronald Reagan (1911—2004)
American President [1981—1989] and former Hollywood actor.
In "Wilson Quarterly" [Winter 1994]; attributed.

Rhapsodized Hearstian British Press Tycoon Viscount Rothermere: "The
most prominent figure in the world today is Adolf Hitler. His mastermind
magnetizes the whole field of foreign politics. ... He eats no meat, and
has followed Mussolini in giving up both alcohol and tobacco—a practice
to whose benefits I myself can testify. Hitler takes practically no exercise
. . . . Music is, indeed, the only influence which can relax the Chancellor's
stern self-control. . . . His love for children and for dogs. . . .Hitler is in
the direct tradition of the great leaders of mankind who appear rarely
more often than once in two or three centuries. He is the incarnation
of the spirit of the German race. ... I am profoundly convinced that the
better he is known to the mass of the British nation the higher its
appreciation of him will be. . . . The future of this country, as the
greatest world Power, is bound up with the actions of this man
who is the uncontested ruler of the strongest Continental nation."
--'North Sea Nexus', _Time_ (magazine) [24 June 1935]

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy
and character. But if you must be without one,
be without the strategy.
--H. Norman Schwarzkopf, III (1934— )
American general who commanded the U.S. forces in the Gulf War of 1991.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Henry IV_, pt. 2 [1597], act 3, sc. 1, l. 31

-

A warrior must master three roads, four obligations,
five skills, and ten keys to security.

The three roads are knowledge of the world;
understanding of things as they are; and
wisdom toward humanity.

The four obligations are to provide national security
with minimal cost; to lead others unselfishly; to
suffer adversity without fear; to offer solutions
without laying blame.

The five skills are to be flexible without weakness;
to be strong without arrogance; to be kind without
vulnerability; to be trusting without naivete; and
to have invincible courage.

The ten keys to security are purity of purpose, sound
strategy, integrity, clarity, lack of covetousness,
lack of addiction, a reserved tongue, assertiveness
without aggression, being firm and fair, and patience.

--Yi Sun-shin (1545—1598)
Korean admiral and national hero whose
naval victories were instrumental in
repelling Japanese invasions of Korea
in the 1590s.

-

Famous American Businessmen

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bellwether (noun) ['bel-we-dhκr]
Lead sheep; leader whom others follow like sheep (contemptuous).
More recently, the term has been used positively referring to
a trend-setter or leading indicator followed by others.

demagogue [DEM-uh-gog], noun:
1. A leader who obtains power by means
of impassioned appeals to the emotions
and prejudices of the populace.
2. A leader of the common people in ancient
times.

doyen (noun) [doy-'yen]
The dominant senior member of a profession,
activity, or social arena.



LEADING BY EXAMPLE

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see "LEADERS" (above)

He preaches well that lives well, quoth Sancho;
that's all the divinity I understand.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
_Don Quixote de la Mancha_ [1605—1615]

The best way to show that a stick is crooked is
not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing
it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.
--Dwight Lyman Moody (1837—1899)
American evangelist and publisher.



Click picture to ZOOM
LEAGUE OF NATIONS

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see "THE HUMAN RACE" for related links


The draft of the constitution of a European family
within the orbit of the League of Nations ... the
beginning of a magnificent work, the renewal of
Europe.
--Aristide Briand (1862—1932)
French statesman and winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 811
Cohan & Major explain:
The [Locarno] treaties [October 1925], signed by Britain,
France, Belgium, Italy and Germany, guaranteed Germany's
frontiers with France, Belgium and Holland and were intended
to remove the potential causes of a Franco-German war. They
were followed by Germany's admittance to the League in
1926. Locarno did not address the question of Germany's
other borders, with Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

I like the League, but I do not believe in it.
--Georges Clemenceau (1841—1929)
French statesman.
On the League of Nations [c.1919],
in Lord Robert Cecil _A Great Experiment_ [1941] p.59.

The League [of Nations] exists as a foreign agency.
We hope it will be helpful. But the United States
sees no reason to limit its own freedom and
independence of action by joining it.
--Calvin Coolidge (1872—1933)
American Republican statesman and President [1923—1929].
In a message to Congress [6 December 1923].

-

It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.
--Haile Selassie I [Tafari Makonnen] (1892—1975)
Emperor of Ethiopia [1930—1974].
Address to the League of Nations, Geneva, June 1936,
in L. Mosley _Haile Selassie: The Conquering Lion_ [1964] p. 241.

& see

The League of Nations no longer condemns the
fascist acts of aggression; the League 'notes', the
League 'does this and this', the League 'deplores'
the League makes a hypocritical show of balancing
between the criminal and his victim ... Even more
intolerable are the lies concealed in these formula,
and what can be read between the lines: the League's
confession of impotence, its abject surrender, its
acceptance of the fait accompli.
--Lιon Blum (1872—1950)
The first Socialist premier of France.
_New York Times_ [2 July 1936].
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 818;
Cohan & Major point out:
Mussolini agreed, saying 'the League is a farce' Blum
is transferring the guilt: the League was effectively its
two most powerful Western members, Britain and
France, and it was they who bore the responsibility
for failing to stand up to Italy.

-

Generally it appears to me that any such scheme is
dangerous to us, because it will create a sense of
security which is wholly fictitious ... It [a league of
nations] will only result in failure and the longer that
failure is postponed the more certain it is that this
country will have been lulled to sleep ... in the course
of time it will almost certainly result in this country
being caught at a disadvantage.
--Sir Maurice Hankey (1877—1963)
British civil servant.
Memorandum to Balfour, the foreign secretary,
On the idea of a League of Nations [1 May 1916].

-

I will go as far as anyone in world service, but the first step to
world service is the maintenance of the United States. You may
call me selfish if you will, conservative or reactionary, or use any
other harsh adjective you see fit to apply, but an American I was
born, an American I have remained all my life.

I can never be anything else but an American, and I must think of
the United States first, and when I think of the United States first
in an arrangement like this I am thinking of what is best for the
world, for if the United States fails the best hopes of mankind fail
with it.

I have never had but one allegiance — I cannot divide it now. I
have loved but one flag and I cannot share that devotion and give
affection to the mongrel banner invented for a league.....National I
must remain, and in that way I, like all other Americans can render the
amplest service to the world. The United States is the world's best
hope, but if you fetter her in the interests and intrigues of Europe,
you will destroy her power for good and endanger her very
existence.....Strong, generous and confident, she has nobly served
mankind.

--Henry Cabot Lodge Sr. (1850—1924)
Republican U.S. senator [1893—1924].
Speech before the Senate on the League of Nations [12 August 1919].



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LEAVING

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see: "LOVE & MARRIAGE (OR NOT)" for related links


[Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx):]
If you can't get a taxi you can leave in a huff. If that's
too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.
--"Duck Soup" [1933 film]
Screenplay by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

I'm not going to play any longer.
Not with you.
--William Golding (1911—1993)
English novelist and winner of the
1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.
_Lord of the Flies_ [1954]

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with
the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a
relationship is over — and to let go. It means leaving
what's over without denying its validity or its past
importance in our lives. It involves a sense of future,
a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are
moving on, rather than out. The trick of retiring well
may be the trick of living well. It's hard to recognize
that life isn't a holding action, but a process. It's
hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of
ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office.
We own what we learned back there. The experiences
and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when
we exit, we can take ourselves along — quite
gracefully.
--Ellen Goodman (1941— )
American journalist.
In _Boston Globe_.

To leave is to die a little;
To die to what we love.
We leave behind a bit of ourselves
Wherever we have been.
--Edmond Haraucourt (1857—1941)
French poet,
_Choix de Poιsies_ [1891] "Rondel de l'Adieu"

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
--Garrison Keillor (1942— )
American writer and radio host.
Sign-off on his radio shows.

I wish I could care what you do or where you go
but I can't . . . My dear, I don't give a damn.
--Margaret Mitchell (1900—1949)
American novelist,
_Gone with the Wind_ [1936] {Spoken by Rhett Butler in ch. 57.}

Take me or leave me; or, as in the
usual order of things, both.
--Dorothy Parker (1893—1967)
American critic and humorist.
"New Yorker" [4 February 1928]

The bitter word which closed all, earthly friendships,
and finished every feast of love— Farewell.
--Robert Pollok (1799—1827)
Scottish poet.
"The Course of Time" [1827]

Excuse me, I must go now: a moonbeam has come
to take me away, and I can't keep it waiting!
--Edmond Rostand (1868—1918)
French dramatist.
_Cyrano de Bergerac_ [1897], Act V

A man never knows how to say goodbye;
a woman never knows when to say it.
--Helen Rowland (1875—1950)
American writer.
_Reflections of a Bachelor Girl_ [1909]

^

George Santayana (1863—1952)
Spanish-born philosopher and poet.

When Santayana came into a sizable legacy,
he was able to relinquish his post on the
Harvard faculty. The classroom was packed
for his final appearance, and Santayana did
himself proud. He was about to conclude his
remarks when he caught sight of a forythia
beginning to blossom in a patch of muddy
snow outside the window. He stopped abruptly,
picked up his hat, gloves, and walking stick,
and made for the door. "Gentlemen,' he said
softly, 'I shall not be able to finish that sentence.
I have just discoved I have an appointment with
Spring.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard

^

-

Out, damned spot! out, I say!
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Macbeth_ [1606]


Fare thee well.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Antony and Cleopatra_ [1606—1607]


Sweets to the sweet! Farewell.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_ [1601]

-

-----

absquatulate [ahb-'sqwah-chu-leyt] or absquattle (verbs)
(Humorous slang)
(1) To depart, abscond, take off; to die.
(2) To argue.

egress [EE-gress], noun:
1. The act of going out or leaving, or the right or
freedom to leave; departure.
2. A means of going out or leaving; an exit; an outlet.

ostracize [OS-truh-syz], transitive verb:
1. To banish or expel from a community or group;
to cast out from social, political, or private favor.
2. [Greek Antiquity] To exile by ostracism; to banish
by a popular vote, as at Athens.

valediction [val-uh-DIK-shuhn], noun:
the action of bidding farewell; a farewell
Ex.: Few careers have such self-appointed
endings, and his speech was a fine valediction.
--"Howard's dignified end" _Daily Telegraph_



LEGACIES

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.

see: "ACCOMPLISHMENT"
see "LIFE" for related links


Everyone must leave something behind when he dies,
my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or
a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a
garden planted. Something your hand touched some
way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die,
and when people look at that tree or that flower you
planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do,
he said, so long as you change something from the
way it was before you touched it into something that's
like you after you take your hand away. The difference
between the man who just cuts lawns and a real
gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter
might just as well not have been there at all; the
gardner will be there for a lifetime.
--Ray Bradbury (1920— )
American science fiction author.
_Fahrenheit 451_ [1953]

This world is but the vestibule of an immortal life.
Every action of our lives touches on some chord
that wild vibrate in eternity.
--Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814—1880)
American clergyman and author.

The only things in which we can be said to have any property
are our actions. Our thoughts may be bad, yet produce no
poison; they may be good, yet produce no fruit. Our riches
may be taken away by misfortune, our reputation by malice,
our spirits by calamity, our health by disease, our friends by
death. But our actions must follow us beyond the grave; with
respect to them alone, we cannot say that we shall carry
nothing with us when we die, neither that we shall go naked
out of the world.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.

Really the writer doesn't want success. . . . He knows he
has a short span of life, that the day will come when he
must pass through the wall of oblivion, and he wants to
leave a scratch on that wall — Kilroy was here — that
somebody a hundred, or a thousand years later
will see.
--William Faulkner (1897—1962)
American novelist.
[From Faulkner in the University, 1959, Session 8, quoted in Bartlett's Familiar
Quotations, 16th edition, John Bartlett, with Justin Kaplan, general editor.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1992.]

If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and
rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth
the writing.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [May 1738]

Not to be deficient in this particular, the author has
provided himself with a moral; — the truth, namely,
that the wrong-doing of one generation lives into
the successive ones.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804—1864)
American novelist and short-story writer.
_The House of the Seven Gables_, preface [1851]

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what
he has done, compared to what he might have done.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
In James Boswell _The Life of Samuel Johnson_ [1791].

[Reg, played by John Cleese, speaking:]
All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine,
public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public
health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
--"Life of Brian" [1979 movie]

-

Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime.
And, departing, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_A Psalm of Life_ [1839], Stanza 7


No action, whether foul or fair,
Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere
A record, written by fingers ghostly,
As a blessing or a curse, and mostly
In the greater weakness or greater strength
Of the acts which follow it.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Christus--The Golden Legend_, pt. II, "A Village Church"


The barbs sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"The Day is Done" st. 5 [1844]

-

The fortunate man, in my opinion, is he to whom the gods
have granted the power either to do something which is
worth recording or to write what is worth reading; and most
fortunate of all is the man who can do both.
-- letter from Pliny the Younger to Tacitus
{Pliny the Younger or Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (62—c.115)
Roman senator and author of a famous collection of letters.
Tacitus [or Publius Cornelius Tacitus or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
(c.55-c.117), Roman orator, lawyer, senator, and historian}

My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on;
Judge not the play before the play is done:
Her plot hath many changes; every day
Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play.
--Francis Quarles (1592—1644)
English poet.
_Epigram_, "Respice Finem"

I give myself four thousand years.
--Cecil Rhodes (1853—1902)
South African statesman.
When asked by Dr Leander Starr Jameson how long
he expected to be remembered. Quoted by Matthew
Sweet in "The Independent" [16 March 2002].

When the one Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks — not that you won or lost —
But how you played the game.
--Grantland Rice (1880—1954)
American sports writer.
"Alumnus Football," [1925]

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Julius Caesar_ [1599], act III, sc.2, l. 75


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