Mansfield, MO…Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder, February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957. “So they all went away from the little log house. The shutters were over the windows, so the little house could not see them go. It stayed there inside the log fence, behind the two big oak trees that in the summertime had […]
London, UK…Charles John Huffam Dickens, 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870. He created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is […]
Los Angeles, CA…Ronald Reagan February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004. A Bit of Wisdom from the 40th President. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” ~ […]
Los Angeles, CA…William Clark Gable, February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960. The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He’s got to have some inner standards worth […]
Philadelphia, PA…A Bit of Wisdom for today from my favorite founding father. Considered the first American by many. He also through his writings and Poor Richard’s Almanac created the uniquely American identity. “He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.” ~ Benjamin Franklin […]
London, UK…George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, 22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824. British poet. Major figures of the Romantic movement. Regarded as being among the greatest British poets. There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and […]
San Juan, Puerto Rico…Karl Wallenda January 21, 1905 – March 22, 1978. High wire artist, founder of The Flying Wallendas. “Life is on the wire, and everything else is just waiting”
Beverly Hills, CA…George Burns January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996. American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair. If you live […]
Arnold, CA…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine […]
London, UK…John Bunyan, November 28 1628 – 31 August 1688. English writer and nonconformist preacher. Best remembered as the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ― John Bunyan “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words […]
Philadelphia, PA…A Bit of Wisdom for today from my favorite founding father. Considered the first American by many. He also through his writings and Poor Richard’s Almanac created the uniquely American identity. “A little House well fill’d, a little Field well till’d, and a little Wife well will’d, are great Riches.”
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” ~ Henry David Thoreau A Happy Fall Morning to You from Hewn Hill
William Howard Taft, September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930. 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. “Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever”. “Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing […]
Limestone, TN…Davy Crockett, August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836. “We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.” ~ David Crockett August 17, 1786 – March […]
Philadelphia, PA…Our Favorite Founding Father is Ben Franklin. He didn’t just help found our country during the 1776 era. For two generations before he helped sell concepts of Freedom, Self-Determination & Inalienable rights. From 1733 to 1758 Poor Richards Almanac helped create the unique American identity in a homey, common sense, aspirational way. A few […]
Concord, MA…Henry David Thoreau. July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” […]
Hyannis Port, MA…Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995 “Sometimes I wonder if there is something about my family which invites violence. ‘Is it envy,’ you ask? I don’t know… I’ve had so much, a son as president, two as senators, a son-in-law who’s an ambassador… perhaps God doesn’t permit that […]
Southampton, Hampshire, England…Isaac Watts 17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748 “Do not hover always on the surface of things, nor take up suddenly with mere appearances; but penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as your time and circumstances allow, especially in those things which relate to your profession.” “‘Tis the voice of […]
Arnold, CA…A Customer from Utah stopped by the Hewn Farmstand on Hwy 4 last week. She purchased two quote signs that are now on their way to a school room wall in Utah. They were the quote from Washington that…”If the freedom of Speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, […]
Arnold, CA…We originally posted this for Father’s Day in 2006. My father would turn 109 this year if he were here today. This poem was my father’s favorite. This one is dedicated to my Father…Jay S. Hamilton. Dad was born in November 22, 1916 and died in May 1, 1991 of a Glioblastoma brain tumor. […]
Hollywood, CA…A Bit of Wisdom from Star Wars “Your focus determines your reality” “Fear is the path to the dark side” “The Force is strong with this one” “Do or do not. There is no try” “May the Force be with you” “Never tell me the odds”
Florence, Italy…Niccolò Machiavelli 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527 Author of The Prince. This widely read treatise on power offers an amoral look at power. Advice hopefully not always followed but recognised nonetheless. “It is much safer to be feared than loved because …love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to […]
Washington, DC…James Monroe April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831. American Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. “The right of self defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals, and whether the attack be made by […]
Pawling, NY…Edward R. Murrow, April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965 “To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” “Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices – just recognize them.” “Most truths are so naked that people feel […]
Warwickshire, England…William Shakespeare, 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616 “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt” “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once” “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in […]
Kaliningrad, Russia…Immanuel Kant 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804 “Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity; and is independence on the will and co-action of every other in so far as this consists with every other person’s freedom.” “Experience without theory is blind, but […]
Auvers-sur-Oise, France…Vincent van Gogh 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890 “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” “The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, […]
Boston, MA…Robert Lee Frost, March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963. Here are some well-known and thought-provoking quotes by the American poet Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by” “The best way out is always through” “Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length” […]
Mount Vernon, VA…Since today is actually Washington’s birthday we thought it was fitting to publish his farewell address that has become one of our founding documents and is as relevant today as when it was published. To the People of the United States September 19, 1796. Friends and Fellow-Citizens: The period for a new election […]
Yosemite, CA…Ansel Easton Adams, February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984. Famed Photographer who’s images helped show the world the grandeur of Yosemite & many other places as well. “Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” “The only things […]
