In my latest Epoch Times column I praise people for observing the externals of Christmas then urge them to open their hearts, minds and ears just a little wider while singing carols.
“With your usual rapid grasp of the inessentials, you regard the mushrooms as the most important element of Mr. Hillerman’s plan.”
A character in Jack Hitt, ed., The Perfect Murder
He had many dinners alone with General George Marshall during the war, after “two stiff, bourbon old-fashioneds which the Chief liked to mix himself. There would be talk of course, but absolutely no war talk. That day he probably had had to make decisions that affected the fate of nations; tomorrow he would face problems equally crucial. But that evening he would be calm and unworried as he listened to my chatting. Once, I asked him how he stood up under the strain; he answered: ‘I’ve had to train myself never to worry about a decision once it’s made. You worry before you make it, but not after. You make the best judgement you can about a problem – then forget it. If you don’t, your mind is not fit to make the next decision.’”
Frank Capra The Name Above the Title
“As the ostrich observed, Where is everybody?”
Anthony Boucher, The Case of the Seven Sneezes (1942), quoted in “Top Ten Detective Fiction Wise Cracks” compiled by “Gramps", in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 2 #6 Issue 15 (April-May 1999)
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
Alexander Pope quoted in “Random Foolish Quotations” in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 7 # 7 (June 2004) [and yes, I know you know it, but in addition to being worthy of recall it’s interesting to know where it came from].
“‘There is no nation so atheistic that it does not attribute a sanctity to two gods, the dead man and the woman in travail.’”
G.K. Chesterton, quoted by Fr. James V. Schall. S.J. in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 8 #1 (Sept. 04) [apparently originally in “The Mystery of Patriotism” in The Commonwealth Jan. 19, 1902]
“’her reception o’ me this blessed day, whilk I excuse on account of perturbation of mind, was muckle on the north side o’ friendly…’”
Baillie Nicol Jarvie in Sir Walter Scott Rob Roy
“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
The United States Military Academy Cadet Honor Code, quoted in William H. McRaven The Wisdom of the Bullfrog. McRaven adds that “Below the honor code is the mission of the United States Military Academy. The mission of West Point is not to produce Pattonesque geniuses, four-star generals, or presidents of the United States. The mission is to produce ‘leaders of character’. And the honor code provides the foundation of that character. The code beckons young men and women who aspire ‘to live above the common level of life.’”