Gettysburg, PA…Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865. While it was delivered 5 years before our country officially started celebrated Decoration Day which became Memorial Day. The Gettysburg Address remains one of the most eloquent of tributes to those who gave their all that we might be free. It is also as good […]
Menlo Park, NJ…Thomas Alva Edison, February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931. The Iconic American inventor of the light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera & more. “Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go […]
Amiens, France…Jules Verne, 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905. French author of Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872) & much more. “Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word ‘impossible’ is not […]
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.” ~ […]
Chicago, IL…A Bit of Wisdom from Dwight L. Moody. Dwight L. Moody February 5, 1837 – December 26, 1899 “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine.” “We can […]
New York, NY…A Bit of Wisdom from russian born Ayn Rand on Her Birthday. Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Ayn Rand) February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982. Her work and world views were shaped by spending her youth during the rise and early years of the communists in Russia. “Individual rights are not subject to a […]
New York, NY…A Bit of Wisdom from Jack Roosevelt Robinson, January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972. “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” ~ Jack Roosevelt Robinson, January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972 “A life is not important except […]
Hyde Park, NY…A Few Bits of Wisdom from FDR. In looking at FDR’s life whether you are a fan of him our not the man that was FDR after polio was a much better, tougher & wiser man than the one who had two strong legs. “The only thing we have to fear is fear […]
New York, NY…Thomas Paine was born January 29th in 1737 in Thetford, England. His most impactful work was the tract Common Sense. In many ways it codified the grievances the Colonies had with the Crown and many historians credit it as the match that lit the flame of the American Revolution. “He that would make […]
“Responsibility is a unique concept… You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you… If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the […]
“The Japanese people since the war have undergone the greatest reformation recorded in modern history. With a commendable will, eagerness to learn, and marked capacity to understand, they have from the ashes left in war’s wake erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the supremacy of individual liberty and personal dignity, and in the ensuing […]
“First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down.” ~ George Burns January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996 “You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re […]
“Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.” ~ Daniel Webster January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852 “Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the […]
“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” ~ A. A. Milne 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956 “I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each […]
“He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.” ~ Benjamin Franklin January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790 “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the Stuff Life is made of.” ~ Benjamin Franklin January 17, 1706 – April […]
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” ~ Albert Schweitzer 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965 “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness […]
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” ~ Edmund Burke 12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke 12 January 1729 – 9 […]
“If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.” ~ […]
“Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.” ~ Baltasar Gracián 8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658 “Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably […]
“A friend of mine asked why I could not invent something that everybody would use and throw away afterwards, and then come back for more. Except pins, I could think of nothing. The next day I dropped my razor and damaged the edge. Then the idea came.” ~ King Camp Gillette January 5, 1855 – […]
“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.” ~ Sir Isaac Newton 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727 “Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy” ~ Sir Isaac Newton 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727 “What we know is a drop, what we don’t […]
“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again […]
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” ~ Isaac Asimov January […]
“whatever your career may be, do not let yourselves become tainted by a deprecating and barren scepticism, do not let yourselves be discouraged by the sadness of certain hours which pass over nations. Live in the serene peace of laboratories and libraries. Say to yourselves first : ‘ What have I done for my instruction […]
“Art is the window to man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.” ~ Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007 “It’s odd that you can get so anesthetized by your own pain or your […]
“I don’t care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I’d want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I’d want to be the best at whatever I do.” ~ Wesley Branch Rickey December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965 “Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and […]
“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit. Life is queer […]
“The conformist is not born. He is made. I believe the brainwashing process begins in the schools and colleges.” ~ Jean Paul Getty Sr. December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976 “There is, however, hope for any person who wants to remain an individual. He can assert himself and refuse to conform. He’ll be on […]
“I am not a very timid type. It’s very important to some people, but not to me. I have a simple philosophy: worry about those things you can fix. It you can’t fix it, don’t worry about it; accept it and do the best you can.” ~ James Harold Doolittle December 14, 1896 – September […]
