The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence.

Necessity does the work of courage.

Nicholas M. Butler

I have a rendezvous with DeathAt some disputed barricade,When Spring comes back with rustling shadeAnd apple-blossoms fill the airI have a rendezvous with DeathWhen Spring brings back blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my handAnd lead me into his dark landAnd close my eyes and quench my breathIt may be I shall pass him still. I have a rendezvous with DeathOn some scarred slope of battered hill,When Spring comes round again this yearAnd the first meadow-flowers appear. God knows twere better to be deepPillowed in silk and scented down,Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,Where hushed awakenings are dear But I've a rendezvous with DeathAt midnight in some flaming town,When Spring trips north again this year,And I to my pledged word am true,I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

C.S. Lewis

Always do more than is required of you.

General George Patton

Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.

Thomas Jefferson

Another key element of human ecology is the inviolability of human life, especially at its beginning and its end. The Holy See insistently proclaims that the first and most fundamental of all human rights is the right to life, and that when this right is denied all other rights are threatened. The assumption that abortion and euthanasia are human rights deserving legislative sanction is seen by the Holy See as a contradiction which amounts to a denial of the human dignity and freedom which the law is supposed to protect. A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying.http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2000/index.htm

Pope John Paul II, May 25, 2000

Why, ever since Adam, who has got to the meaning of this great allegory -- the world? Then we pygmies must be content to have out paper allegories but ill comprehended.

Herman Melville

I believe the visionaries and true reflections of society will be rewarded after their lives. Those being rewarded now are giving the public what it needs now, usually applauding its current state and clearing consciences.

Hollace M. Metzger

It became obvious in 1957 that I was endangering my health by carrying so much weight.

Kate Smith

Astronomy is not the apex of science or of invention. But it is a test of the cast of temperament and mind that underlies a culture.

Jacob Bronowski

He was the most ordinary man in all the world, and yet in her memory he'd become luminous, like the prince in a fairy tale.

Cheryl Strayed

There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.

Jane Austen