Blowin’ in the Wind
Bob Dylan
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
Continue Reading March 15th, 2006
“He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of- country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
- Albert Einstein
Continue Reading March 17th, 2006
Don’t Quit
By Alice Enzie Zimmerman
Written 1948 - See letter and article below
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When 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 with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When we might have won had we stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the winner’s cup.
And he learned too late when the night slipped down
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver lining of the clouds of doubt
And you can never tell how close you are –
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
For we know the Father above looks down,
He sees our struggles and holds the crown.
He knows the way though it’s rough and drear,
He will give strength so we need not fear.
He offers to you the refreshing cup
Of the water of life; then in faith look up.
Continue on ‘til the crown is won
Which he will give when our work is done!
Continue Reading March 20th, 2006
I do not choose to be a common man
-Dean Alfange
I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon.
I seek opportunity, not security.
I do not be wish to be a kept citizen.
humble, and deluded by having the state to look after me.
I want to take claculated risk.
To dream, and to build.
To fail, and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a doll.
I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existance.
The thrill of fulfilment, instead stale utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence,
nor my dignity for a handout.
I will never cower before any master, nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid;
to think, and to act for myself; to enjoy the benefits of my creation.
And to face the world, boldly, and to say,
this I have done.
This is what it means to be a man
Continue Reading March 20th, 2006
Impossible is Nothing
[adidas]
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men
who find it easier to live in a world they’ve been given
rather than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. Its an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration. Its a dare.
Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary.
IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING
Continue Reading March 20th, 2006
Look To this Day
[Sanskrit proverb]
Look to this day
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement
Are but experiences of time.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!
Continue Reading March 20th, 2006
The Man Who Thinks He Can
If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t
It’s almost a cinch you won’t
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will;
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
Continue Reading March 23rd, 2006
The sufferers parade their miseries, tear lint from their bruises, reveal their indictable crimes, that you may pity them. They like sickness, because physical pain will extort some show of interest from bystanders, as we have seen children, who, finding themselves of no account when grown people come in, will cough till they choke, to draw attention.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Continue Reading March 25th, 2006
I shall not pass this way again
“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing,
therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human
being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not
pass this way again.”
Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855
French-born Quaker Minister
April 11th, 2006
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time–a tremendous whack.
- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
April 11th, 2006
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