Tuesday quotes for yu'al

The more he talked of his honor the faster we counted our spoons. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers

You are no bigger than the things that annoy you. - Jerry Bundsen

Thoughts on government

The less government we have the better—the fewer laws and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal government is the influence of private character, the growth of the individual. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. - Thomas Jefferson

A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves. - Grover Cleveland

Regarding equality

We are all born equal—equally helpless and equally indebted to others for whatever our survival turns out to be worth. - Cullen Hightower

Some will always be above others. Destroy the inequality today, and it will appear again tomorrow. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity. - Irving Kristol

What we turn out

The true test of civilization is, not the census nor the size of cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of man the country turns out. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In a living civilization there is always an element of unrest, for sensitiveness to ideas means curiosity, adventure, change. Civilized order survives on its merits and is transformed by its power of recognizing its imperfections.-  Alfred North Whitehead

Forgetful Wandering

I have wandered all my life, and I have also traveled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. - Hilaire Belloc


Yesterday's Forgotten Quote:
Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Treat them greatly

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mother of effort

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The festival & cruise

Life is a festival only to the wise. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I would add that it is a festival to those who have faith and believe in something greater than themselves or the given moment. Rather than worry about the existential "meaning of life", just accept that life does have meaning and we are privileged to contribute our small part to its overall mystery.

Old and young, we are all on our last cruise. - Robert Louis Stevenson

OUCH!  A bit grim given the previous quote, but his point is no less true.  SO, enjoy the cruise for as long as it goes.

This weeks quotes come to you from The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time .  A bit pretentious in title, but a good collection of quotes.