Friday, December 31, 2010

Mark Twain: Quote for December 31, 2010

New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.
Happy New Year
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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Virginia Satir: Quote for December 30, 2010

Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.
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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Eminem: Quote for December 29, 2010

Say there's a white kid who lives in a nice home, goes to an all-white school, and is pretty much having everything handed to him on a platter - for him to pick up a rap tape is incredible to me, because what that's saying is that he's living a fantasy life of rebellion.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Colette: Quote for December 28, 2010

I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer.
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Monday, December 27, 2010

Janet Napolitano: Quote for December 27, 2010

Since I became Secretary more than a year ago, I've emphasized that the American people need to be prepared, not scared.

But rejecting the politics of fear doesn't mean the threats are any less real, or that we shouldn't consider what they mean for our families and our communities. In a world of fast-changing threats, we simply must resist the urge to become complacent or cynical about what's before us. We must not leave ourselves, our families, and our communities less than fully prepared.
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Sunday, December 26, 2010

John Greenleaf Whittier: Quote for December 26, 2010

Somehow, not only for Christmas but all the long year through, The joy that you give to others Is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart's possessing Returns to you glad.
Merry Xmas

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Susan Coolidge: Quote for December 25, 2010

Christmas

How did they keep his birthday then,
The little fair Christ, so long ago?
O, many there were to be housed and fed,
And there was no place in the inn, they said,
So into the manger the Christ must go,
To lodge with the cattle and not with men.

The ox and the ass they munched their hay
They munched and they slumbered, wondering not,
And out in the midnight cold and blue
The shepherds slept, and the sheep slept too,
Till the angels' song and the bright star ray
Guided the wise men to the spot.

rnBut only the wise men knelt and praised,
And only the shepherds came to see,
And the rest of the world cared not at all
For the little Christ in the oxen's stall;
And we are angry and amazed
That such a dull, hard thing should be!

How do we keep his birthday now?
We ring the bells and we raise the strain,
We hang up garland, everywhere
And bid the tapers, twinkle fair,
And feast and frolic--and then we go
Back to the Mine old lives again.

Are we so better, then, than they
Who failed the new-born Christ to see?
To them a helpless babe,--to us
He shines a Saviour glorious,
Our Lord, our Friend, our All--yet we
Are half asleep this Christmas day.
Merry Xmas
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Friday, December 24, 2010

Selena Fox: Quote for December 24, 2010

Saturnalia

It is the middle of December.
The nights are longer, the weather is colder, winter comes.

Celebration is at hand.
Renewing bonds of friendship.
Visiting with family and friends.
Exchanging gifts with loved ones.
Candles, Dolls, Cookies, Sweets, Holly, Wreaths of Green.
Surprises.

Courts close. Battles stop.
rnTime off from school and work.
Holiday Break.

Singing, Dancing, Games, Merry-Making.
rnFood ... Lots of Food and Drink.
Great Feasts and Parties.

To celebrate the Sun, the Land, the Ancient Ones, the great Circle of Nature.
To welcome in the Winter and the New Year.
To bring forth renewal, peace, and joy.

Solstice Present .... Solstice Past.
This is the legacy of Saturnalia,
weeklong Pagan Winter Solstice Festival of Ancient Rome.

Saturnalia, your spirit and these traditions live onrnin the world today
in Christmas feasts and New Year's parties,
in our Winter Solstice celebration tonight.

Bless our connection with the ancients.
Bless our connection with each other.
Bless our connection with future generations.

We rejoice.
Io, Saturnalia!
Io, Saturnalia!
Io, Saturnalia!
Merry Xmas
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

John Betjeman: Quote for December 23, 2010

Christmas

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
rnFrom Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
rnWhere paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
rnNo loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
Merry Xmas
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Samuel Adams: Quote for December 22, 2010

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tennessee Williams: Quote for December 21, 2010

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you - gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.
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Monday, December 20, 2010

Rabindranath Tagore: Quote for December 20, 2010

There is a moral law in this world which has its application both to individuals and organized bodies of men. You cannot go on violating these laws in the name of your nation, yet enjoy their advantage as individuals. We may forget truth for our convenience, but truth does not forget us. Prosperity cannot save itself without moral foundation. Until man can see the gaping chasm between his full storehouse and his humanity, until he can feel the unity of mankind, the kind of barbarism which you call civilization will exist.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Hypatia of Alexandria: Quote for December 19, 2010

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Theodore Roosevelt: Quote for December 18, 2010

In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
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Friday, December 17, 2010

Spider Robinson: Quote for December 17, 2010

We are all time travellers moving at the speed of exactly 60 minutes per hour.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

John Glenn: Quote for December 16, 2010

The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Quote for December 15, 2010

It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth -- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up -- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

John Donne: Quote for December 14, 2010

The Bait

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait:
That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,
Alas, is wiser far than I.
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Monday, December 13, 2010

Charles Manson: Quote for December 13, 2010

I can't judge any of you. I have no malice against you and no ribbons for you. But I think that it is high time that you all start looking at yourselves, and judging the lie that you live in.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Saadi: Quote for December 12, 2010

Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy. And bring not all mischief you are able to upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Milton Friedman: Quote for December 11, 2010

Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.
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Friday, December 10, 2010

Thomas Sowell: Quote for December 10, 2010

It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.
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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Leighann Lord: Quote for December 9, 2010

Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics.
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