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 . . . Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865) American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865]. see: "THE CIVIL WAR" see: "SLAVERY" see "POLITICS" for related links see "PEOPLE" for related links see "FREEDOM" for related links - Abraham Lincoln and his law partner, William Herndon, were arguing the question of whether or not any person ever performs a completely unselfish act. They were riding together through the country and came upon a pig caught in a rail fence. Herndon pretended not to see the animal and passed on by. But Lincoln stopped, got down and waded through a muddy ditch, pulled the rails apart and released the pig. Herndon pointed triumphantly to Lincoln's muddy shoes and spattered trousers, saying, "You see now I am right. Men are capable of performing unselfish deeds." "Oh no," replied Lincoln, "if I had left that pig in the fence, I would have worried about him all night. I would have been so busy wondering if someone had rescued him, or if he was still held between those rails, that I would have lost my sleep. For my own peace of mind, I had to rescue the animal. So, you see, I was merely being selfish." --Charles Livingston Allen (1913—2005) American minister. _The Greatest of These is Love_ [1986], "Love Overcomes Destructive Emotions" - Like all strong Presidents he enraged the Congress by sweeping and arbitrary acts that went, much of the time, beyond the Constitution—or in any case beyond the balance of presidential and Congressional authority that is inevitably tipped in the President's favor in time of war. Indeed, until he was dead, Lincoln was never wildly popular. --Alistair Cooke [Alfred Cooke] (1908—2004) British-born American broadcater and journalist. _America_ [1973] I think of a family who started a farm on rocky soil in Kentucky: a dim, shiftless, rolling stone of a husband married to an illegitimate girl from the Virginia mountains. He tried five or six farms and kept moving on, a man afflicted, we'd say today, with a character neurosis who thought that by picking a new place, like a movie actress who keeps picking a new husband, he would somehow change the plot. He didn't, of course. They plodded into Indiana and did a little better. In time, they had a barn and a few animals, a little corral, a rail fence, and they planted corn and flax and beans. But then the neighbors went down with "the milk sickness," picked up from cows that chewed on snakeroot. Our farmer's wife died. So the vagabond father and his dour son moved on to a new state and new ground. the son passing from an almost animal boyhood into a bleak manhood. Yet, out of that frail women and her listless husband and the poorest ground, there came something strange and wholly admirable: the slow-moving son who seized the Republic and held it through its first cataclysm—Abraham Lincoln. --Alistair Cooke [Alfred Cooke] (1908—2004) British-born American broadcater and journalist. _America_ [1973] - In Washington the most striking thing is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters, none to bet on his head. If a Republican convention were to be held tomorrow, he would not get the vote of a state. --Richard Henry Dana (1815—1882) American lawyer and author. In a letter to Charles Francis Adams [March 1863]. His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) American philosopher and poet. _Letters and Social Aims_ "Greatness" [1876] (Said about Abraham Lincoln.) I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. --Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865) American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865]. In a letter to A.G. Hodges [4 April 1864]. The President is nothing more than a well-meaning baboon. . . . I went to the White House directly after tea where I found the original Gorilla about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the head of our affairs now! --George B. McClellan (1826—1885) American Union general during the Civil War. (On President Abraham Lincoln.) When Abraham Lincoln was murdered The one thing that interested Matthew Arnold Was that the assassin shouted in Latin As he lept on the stage. This convinced Matthew That there was still hope for America. --Christopher Morley (1890—1957) American journalist, novelist, and poet. _Points of View_ I will make a prophecy that may now sound peculiar. In fifty years, perhaps much sooner, Lincoln's name will be inscribed close to Washington's on this Republic's roll of honor. --Carl Schurz (1829—1906) German-born American politician, journalist, and reformer. In a letter to Theodor Petrasch [12 October 1864]. O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. --Walt Whitman (1819—1892) American poet. "O Captain! My Captain!" [1865-1866] - GETTYSBURG ADDRESS [19 November 1863] Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who stuggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note or long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they, who fought here, have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. & note: A government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people. --Theodore Parker, at the Anti-Slavery Convention [29 September 1850].   LIQUOR . . see "ALCOHOL" for related links Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning; Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genius a better discerning. --Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774) Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist. _She Stoops to Conquer_ [1773] Take that liquor away; I never touch strong drink. I like it too well to fool with it. --Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824—1863) Confederate general in the American Civil War; nickname asssigned at the first battle of Bull Run [1861]. Responding to an offer of a mint julep, quoted by George E. Pickett, in a letter to his wife [3 June 1864]. I must entreat you to be scrupulous in the use of strong liquors. One night's drunkenness may defeat the labors of forty days well employed. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. _Letter to Boswell_ I used to work in Chicago, At a convenience store. I used to work in Chicago, I did but I don't anymore. A lady walked in With some porcelain skin And I asked her what she came in for. "Liquor," she said, And lick her I did, And I don't work there anymore. --"I Used to Work in Chicago" Music by Garrison Keillor, Lyrics, Traditional Performed by Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly from the motion picture "A Prairie Home Companion." Candy is dandy But liquor is quicker. --Ogden Nash (1902—1971) American writer of humorous poetry. "Reflection on Ice-Breaking" [1931] ----- besot (verb) [bi-'saht] To muddle or stupefy, as with liquor— or love; to infatuate, to make a sot of.  LISTENING . . see "COMMUNICATION" for related links see "KNOWLEDGE" for related links When we are in the company of sensible men, we ought to be doubly cautious of talking too much, lest we lose two good things, their good opinion and our own improvement; for what we have to say we know, but what they have to say we know not. --C.C. Colton (1780—1832) English clergyman and writer. We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. --Epictetus (55—135) Greek philosopher. Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. --Andre Gide (1869—1951) French novelist and critic who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947. _Le traite du Narcisse_ [1891] The older I grow, the more I listen to people who don't talk much. --Germain G. Glidden (1913—1999) National squash racquets champion in the 1930's and 1950's; founder of the National Art Museum of Sport, based in Indianapolis. ^ A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day...30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?" ^ I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. --Ernest Hemingway (1889—1961) American novelist. The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. --Hubert H. Humphrey (1911—1978) 38th vice-president of the United States [1965-1969] and liberal senator [1949—1965 & 1971—1978]. [1968 speech to the National Student Association.] It is a way of calling a man a fool when no attention is given to what he says. --Sir Roger L'Estrange (1616—1704) English journalist and pamphleteer. To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation. --François de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680) French classical author. If you want to talk, first ask a question, then listen. --Antonio Machado (1875—1939) Spanish poet. In Joseph Goldstein _One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism_, p. 66 [2002]. No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you will see why. --Mignon McLaughlin (1913—1983) American journalist and author. Cultivate the habit of attention and try to gain opportunities to hear wise men and women talk. Indifference and inattention are the two most dangerous monsters that you ever meet. Interest and attention will insure to you an education. --Robert A. Millikan (1868—1953) American physicist - winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize for physics. A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something. --Wilson Mizner (1876—1933) American playwright. - A Wise Old Owl by Edward Hersey Richards (1874—1957) Amercan poet A Wise Old Owl lived in an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard: Why can't we all be like that bird? - Before marriage a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you said; after marriage he'll fall asleep before you have finished saying it. --Helen Rowland (1875—1950) American writer. I am just a poor boy Though my story's seldom told I have squandered my resistance For a pocketful of mumbles Such are promises All lies and jest Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. --Simon and Garfunkel _The Boxer_ (song) [1969] [Lyrics by Paul Simon (1941- ) American singer and songwriter] The best rules to form a young man are to talk little, to hear much, to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one's own opinions, and value others that deserve it. --Sir William Temple (1628—1699) English statesman and diplomat. The true male never yet walked Who liked to listen when his mate talked. --Anna Wickham [Edith Alice Mary Harper] (1884—1947) British poet. -- Children should never listen to Muzak -- too much sax and violins. --anon. --- "How did the accident happen?" the doctor asked the patient. "The sign said 'Stop, Look, Listen', and while I was doing that a train ran over me." . . see "KNOWLEDGE" for related links The dream of the American male is for a female who has an essential languor which is not laziness, who is unaccompanied except by himself, and who does not let him down. He desires a beautiful, but comprehensible, creature who does not destroy a perfect situation by forming a complete sentence. --E.B. White (1899-1985) "Notes of our Times," [1954] _The Second Tree from the Corner_ . . see "KNOWLEDGE" for related links ^ Christie, Dame Agatha (1891-1976) British writer of detective fiction. In 1977, a young Arab girl was flown to England in a semiconscious state and admitted to a London hospital. The doctors were baffled by her condition, which continued to deteriorate over the next five days. On the sixth day, the child began to lose her hair. The nurse watching over her was suddenly struck by the similarity of her symptoms to those of a series of murder victims in Agatha Christie's 'The Pale Horse,' which she was reading at the time. The fictional characters had been killed by thallium poisoning; subsequent tests on the Arab girl revealed that she had high levels of thallium in her urine. Three weeks later, the child was fit enough to return home, and the case was written up in the 'British Journal of Hospital Medicine,' with a note of thanks to the observant nurse and the late Dame Agatha Christie. --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ Why are not more gems from our great authors scattered over the country? Let every bookworm, when in any fragrant, scarce, old tome he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it. --Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet, critic, and philosopher Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once. --Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English writer, _Enemies of Promise_ [1938] It seems that the analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. And literature does it, unlike gossip, without mentioning real names. --Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) Polish-American novelist who won the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature. Interview with Richard Burgin in _The New York Times Magazine_ [26 November 1978] Shakespeare, Madam, is obscene, and thank God, we are sufficiently advanced to have found it out! --Frances Trollope (1780-1863) English author [mother of Anthony Trollope] quoting a remark made to her by an American in: _Domestic Manners of the Americans_ [1832], Classic: A book which people praise and don't read. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" _Following the Equator_ [1897] ERNEST: What is the difference between literature and journalism? GILBERT: Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read. --Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet, _Intentions_ [1891] "The Critic as Artist" Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. --attributed to Herman Wouk (1915- ) American novelist - A FEW GOOD SITES: http://www.online-literature.com/ http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/indeksi.htm#a http://www.gutenberg.org/ http://www.litencyc.com/news/intro.php http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ http://www.bartleby.com/ http://literarytraveler.com/ http://www.bibliomania.com/ ----- agon AH-gahn; ah-GOHN, noun: A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work. protagonist (noun) 1. The main character in a novel, play, story, or other literary work. 2. The main character in ancient Greek drama; the first actor who interacted with the chorus. . . see "KNOWLEDGE" for related links Nothing I wrote in the thirties saved one Jew from Auschwitz. --attributed to W.H. [Wystan Hugh] Auden (1907-1973) English author The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. . . . If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies. --William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist, in "Paris Review" [Spring 1956] ;void(0)) LITTERING . . see: "ENVIRONMENT" see: "PIGS" see: "POLLUTION" The early rising cow-boys were off again to their work; and those to whom their night's holiday had left any dollars were spending these for tobacco, or cartridges, or canned provisions for the journey to their distant camps. Sardines were called for, and potted chicken, and devilled ham: a sophisticated nourishment, at first sight, for these sons of the sage-brush. But portable ready-made food plays of necessity a great part in the opening of a new country. These picnic pots and cans were the first of her trophies that Civilization dropped upon Wyoming's virgin soil. The cow-boy is now gone to worlds invisible; the wind has blown away the white ashes of his camp-fires; but the empty sardine box lies rusting over the face of the Western earth. --Owen Wister (1860-1938) American writer of western novels. _The Virginian_ [1902] ----- detritus dih-TRY-tuhs, noun; plural detritus: 1. Loose material that is worn away from rocks. 2. Hence, any fragments separated from the body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration; debris. Ex.: "If they [flying cars] were easy to produce, we'd be walking around wearing helmets to protect us from the detritus of flying car crashes." --Gail Collins, "Grounded for 2000," _New York Times_, [7 December 1999] graffito (noun - pl., singular is graffiti) Something written, scratched, or drawn on a wall or the like, esp. in a public place by a private individual not hired or authorized to do so. end page | KARMA - KENTUCKY | KINDNESS | KILL - KU KLUX KLAN | KNOWLEDGE | LABELS - LAS VEGAS | LANGUAGE | LATIN - LAUGHTER | LAW (THE) - LAWYERS | LAZINESS - LEGACIES | LEISURE - LIBERALS | LIBERTY - LIES | LIFE | LIFESTYLE - LIMITATIONS | LINCOLN (ABRAHAM) - LITTERING | LIVE - LONDON | LONELINESS - LOUISIANA | LOVE - PAGE 1 (A-L) | LOVE - PAGE 2 (M-Z) | LOVE & MARRIAGE - LYNCHING | | H | I - J | K - L | M | N - O | P - Q | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The End | The Reviews | Photos | |
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