Quotes of Merit

"In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King." -- H.G. Wells

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain -- and most do." -- Dale Carnegie

"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness." -- Leo Tolstoy

"Growth is the only evidence of life." -- John Henry Newman

"Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth." -- Julie Andrews

"We must always have old memories and young hopes."-- Ariane Houssaye

"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us...light and life no long flow into our souls." -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"The little things?  The little moments?  They aren't little." -- Jon Kabat-Zinn

"My songs will pass and be forgotten.  What counts, however, is that I sang them." -- Fr. Andrew Greeley

"If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise." -- Robert Fritz

 “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

“It is a wise man who endeavors to help a struggling elephant to its feet.  It is a foolish man who doesn’t run from beneath a falling one.”
-- A Vietnamese saying

"Everyone has talent.  What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads."     -- Erica Jong

“There are three rules for writing a novel.  Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
-- W. Somerset Maugham
 

Featured Song Lyric of the Month

[in honor of Edie and my other 80+ year-old friends]

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" by Sandy Denny (1967)

Across the morning sky,

 all the birds are leaving, 

Ah, how can they know it's time for them to go? 

Before the winter fire,

We'll still be dreaming

I do not count the time

Who knows where the time goes?

Who knows where the time goes?

Sad deserted shore,

Your fickle friends are leaving,

Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go,

But I will still be here

I have no thought of leaving

I do not count the time

Who knows where the time goes?

Who knows where the time goes?

And I'm not alone,

While my love is near me,

And I know, it will be so,

till it's time to go

So come the storms of winter

and then the birds in spring again

I do not fear the time

Who knows how my love grows?

Who knows where the time goes?

[Note: The most well-known version of this song is a haunting rendition by Judy Collins, recorded about a year after Sandy's.  Judy Collins has a beautiful website, www.judycollins.com 

  See http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/songs/whoknowswherethetimegoes.html for more info on Sandy Denny and this song]

Previous Featured Song Lyrics:

“Cops of the World,” by Phil Ochs (1966)

…We’ve rammed in your harbor and tied to your port
And our pistols are hungry and our tempers are short
So bring your daughters around to the port 

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

Our boots are needing a shine, boys
Boots are needing a shine
But our Coca-cola is fine, boys
Coca-cola is fine
We’ve got to protect all our citizens fair
So we’ll send a battalion for everyone there
And maybe we’ll leave in a couple of years

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

Dump the reds in a pile, boys
Dump the reds in a pile
You’d better wipe off that smile, boys
Better wipe off that smile
We’ll spit through the streets of the cities we wreck
We’ll find you a leader that you can’t elect
Those treaties we signed were a pain in the neck

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

Clean the johns with a rag, boys
Clean the johns with a rag
If you like you can use your flag, boys
If you like you can use your flag
We’ve got too much money
We’re looking for toys
And guns will be guns and
Boys will be boys
But we’ll gladly pay for all we destroy

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the world

…We’ll smash down your doors, we don’t bother to knock
We’ve done it before, so why all the shock?
We’re the biggest and toughest kid on the block

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

 When we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of gum, boys
Have a stick of our bubble-gum
We own half the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free

‘Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

To learn more about Phil Ochs, visit www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/