Life and Perspective

"A man can be destroyed but not defeated" -Ernest Hemingway 

Kindness

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." -Mark Twain

Determination

"It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish." -J.R.R Tolkien

Change with time

"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then"- Lewis Carroll 

A Historian is a Prophet

The historian is a prophet looking backward. - Karl Whilhelm Freidrich Schlegel 

Faith

I see heaven's glories shine and faith shines equal -Emily Bronte 

Honesty

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. -George Orwell 

Peace In Life

You cannot find peace by avoiding life -Virginia Woolf 

Hope

The word which God has written on the brow of every man is hope. -Victor Hugo (Les Miserables)

Integrity

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. -Dwight D. Eisenhower 

Kindness

Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way. -Barbara Bush

Friendship

Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. -Muhammad Ali

Motivation

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. -Ayn Rand 

Responsibility

If anyone thinks he has no responsibilities, it is because he has not sought them out. -Mary Lyon

Confidence

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face...we must do that which we think we cannot. -Eleanor Roosevelt 

Seasons of Time

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. -Ecclesiastes 3:1

Value of Education

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. -Nelson Mandela 

Balance

It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family. -Philip Green

Being a Positive Example

Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. -Edmund Burke 

A Place For Everyone

Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be or not. -Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Love for Reading

There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all. - Jackie Kennedy 

Importance of Education

To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes. -Elizabeth Cady Stanton 

Success

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill  

Imagination and Innovation

Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to

its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. - L. Frank Baum

Effort

Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves. -Charlotte Bronte

 

Test of a Man's Character

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln 

Cheerfulness

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness. -Michel de Montaigne

Reputation

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. -Proverbs 22:1

Humility

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? First lay the foundation of humility. -Saint Augustine 

Respect

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university. -Albert Einstein

Praise

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil. -Victor Hugo 

Kindness

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. -William Arthur Ward 

True Friendship

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. -Arnold H. Glasow

Opportunity

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. -Francis Bacon

Day's Importance

“There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” -Alexander Woollcott

Music

Music has charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.-William Congreve

Love

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. -1 John 4:8

Language

The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar. -Michel De Montaigne

Knowledge

For knowledge, too, is itself power. -Francis Bacon

Imagination

All that we see or seem is but a dream inside a dream. -Edgar Allan Poe

Perspective

Most people's historical perspective begins with the day of their birth. -Rush Limbaugh

Constitutional History

University of Oklahoma lectures on Constitutional history

Ignorance

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. - Matthew 15:4

Life

Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. - Margaret Mitchell

Laughter

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. -Victor Hugo

What is humor?

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. -James Thurber

Hope

Hope is a risk that must be run -George Bernanos

Pursuit of Happiness

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing than to consume wealth without producing it. -George Bernard Shaw

Habits

Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them. -Confucius

New Pope

New Pope Chosen

Fireside Chat

Anniversary of FDR's first Fireside Chat. 

Wisdom and Time

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. - George Orwell 

Friendship

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle

Enthusiasm

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Character

Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. - Mark Twain

Certainty

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one. - Voltaire

Sincerity

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Faith

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Bible, Hebrews 11.1

Beauty and Morality

The perception of beauty is a moral test. - Henry David Thoreau

Much Ado About Nothing

When the age in in, the wit is out. - William Shakespeare

Achievement

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Bravado

Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes.  Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it's be brave or else be killed. - Margaret Mitchell

Appropriate Laws

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. - Benjamin Franklin

Future

The Future...something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. - C.S. Lewis

Welcome

Hello, my name is Abigael Stephens. This is my new blog. I'm excited to start building it.