Rule for Life
Always to right. This will gratify most people, and astonish the rest. –Mark Twain
Doing Right Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
Varieties of Poverty
Rudyard Kipling once advised a group of students not to make money, power, or fame their goals. For one day they would meet a man who did not care for any of these things. “Then you will know how poor you are.”
Close Scrutiny
A prosperous young Wall Street broker met and fell in love with a rising young actress of gentility and dignity. He frequently escorted her about town and wanted to marry her. But being a cautious man, he decided that before proposing marriage, he should have a private investigating agency check her background and present activities. After all, he reminded himself, I have both a growing fortune and my reputation to protect against a marital misadventure.
The young man requested that the agency was not to reveal his identity to the investigator making the report on the actress. In due time, the investigator’s report came back. It said the actress had an unblemished past, a spotless reputation, and her friends and associates were of the best repute. The report concluded, “The only shadow is that she is seen around town in the company of a young broker of dubious business practices and principles.”
Humility and Gentleness
I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others, and you can become a leader among men. –Lao-Tse
The Rich Variety of People
Some people are like wheels—they don’t work unless they’re pushed.
Some people are like trailers—they have to be pulled.
Some people are like kites—always up in the air, and if you don’t keep a string on them, they fly away!
Some people are like canoes—they have to be paddled.
Some people are like footballs—you never know which way they are going to bounce next!
Some people are like balloons—always puffed up, and you never know when they are going to blow up!
Some people are like flat tires—they have to be jacked up!
Some people are like good watches—pure gold, open faced, always on time, dependable, quietly busy and just full of good works!
The Daily Push
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble . . . . For the world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker. –Helen Keller
Revealing Character
It is not true, as some writers assume in their treaties on rhetoric, that the personal goodness revealed by the speaker contributes nothing to his power of persuasion; on the contrary, his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses. –Aristotle
The Right Man
They were burying a rather unsavory character who had never been near a place of worship in his life. The services were being conducted by a minister who had never heard of him. Carried away by the occasion, he poured on praise for the departed man. After ten minutes of describing the late lamented as a father, husband, and boss, the widow, whose expression had grown more and more puzzled, nudged her son and whispered: “Go up there and make sure it’s Papa.”
Jefferson’s Plan
Thomas Jefferson’s ten rules for the good life:
- Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
- Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
- Never spend your money before you have it.
- Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
- Pride costs us most than hunger, thirst, and cold.
- Never repent of having eaten too little.
- Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
- Don’t let the evils which have never happened cost you pain.
- Always take things by their smooth handle.
- When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, count to one hundred.
Self-Made?
He who says, “I’m a self-made man,” simply demonstrates the horror of unskilled labor.
The Bottom Line
I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all night, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, then angels swearing I was right would make no difference. –Abraham Lincoln
Adding Virtues
It is easier to enrich ourselves with a thousand virtues than to correct ourselves of a single fault. –Jean De La Bruyere
The Acid Test
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. –Will Rogers
Loss of an Empire
Our whole Roman world had gone dead in its heart because it feared tragedy, took flight from suffering, and abhorred failure. In fear of tragedy, we worshiped power. In fear of suffering, we worshiped security. During the rising splendor of our thousand years, we had grown cruel, practical, and sterile. We did win the whole world, but in the process, we lost our souls. –St. Ambrose
Taking Stock
When I went to jail, nearly two years after the cover-up trial, I had a big self-esteem problem. I was a felon, shorn and scorned, clumping around in a ragged old army uniform, doing pick and shovel work out on the desert. I wondered if anyone thought I was worth anything . . . . For years, I had been able to sweep most of my shortcomings and failures under the rug and not face them, but during the two long criminal trials, I spent my days listening to prosecutors tell juries what a bad fellow I was. Then at night I’d go back to a hotel room and sit alone thinking about what was happening to me. During that time, I began to take stock . . . .
I stayed about two weeks. Every day I read the Bible, walked on the beach, and sat in front of my fireplace thinking and sketching, with no outline or agenda. I had no idea where all this was leading or what answers I’d find. Most of the time I didn’t even know what the questions were. I just watched and listened. I was wiped out. I had nothing left that had been of value to me—honor, credibility, virtue, recognition, profession—nor did I have the allegiance of my family. I had managed to lose that too.
Since about 1975, I have begun to learn to see myself. I care what I perceive about my integrity, my capacity to love and be loved, and my essential worth. I don’t miss Richard Nixon very much, and Richard Nixon probably doesn’t miss me much either. I can understand that. I’ve made no effort to be in touch. We had a professional relationship that went as sour as a relationship can, and no one likes to be reminded of bad times. Those interludes, the Nixon episodes in my life, have ended. In a paradoxical way, I’m grateful for them. Somehow I had to see all of that and grow to understand it in order to arrive at the place where I find myself now. –John Ehrlichman
Keeping a Secret
The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, when the secret is finally out, to refrain from disclosing that you know it all along. –Sydney J. Harris
Revelation of Character
People seem not to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
An Emperor’s Rules of Life
Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher, identified the following traits of a successful person:
Consciousness of an honest purpose in life. A just estimate of himself and everyone one else. Frequent self-examinations. Steady obedience to what he knows to be right. Indifference to what others may think or say.
Blemishes and Character
Someone took the time to analyze the faces of 90 famous people who had been photographed by Yousoff Karsh and included in his book, The Faces of Greatness. According to the study, 70 of the men who posed for Karsh were physically unattractive—35 had moles, wens, and warts; 13 had noticeable freckles or liver spots; 20 had obvious traces of acne or other pimples; 2 had highly visible scars.
These blemishes did not deter them. Picasso, the renowned painter, Thornton Wilder, the great playwright, Richard Rogers, the composer of many popular and other musicals, Christian Dior, the honored designer—all had imperfections that were obvious to the world. What might have embarrassed lesser men just added character when they posed before the ever-truthful lens of the portraitist.
The Plague of Mediocrity
Miss Jones, an elderly spinster, lived in a small Midwestern community. She had the distinction of being the oldest resident of the town. One day she died, and the editor of the local newspaper wanted to print a little caption commemorating Miss Jones’ death. However, the more he thought about it, the more he became aware that while Miss Jones had never done anything terribly wrong (she had never spent a night in jail or been drunk), yet she had never actually done anything noteworthy. While musing over this, the editor went down to have his morning coffee and met the owner of the tombstone establishment in the little community. The tombstone proprietor state that he had been having the same problem. He wanted to put something on Miss Jones’s tombstone besides just her birthday and death date, but he couldn’t think of anything of significance that she had ever done.
The editor decided to go back to his office and assign to the first reporter he came across the task of writing up a small article suitable for both the paper and the tombstone. Upon returning to the office, the only fellow around was the sports editor, so he gave him the assignment.
They tell me if you pass through that little community, you will find the following statement on her tombstone:
Here lies the bones of Nancy Jones,
For her life held no terrors.
She lived an old maid.
She died an old maid.
No hits, no runs, no errors.
The Nine Tests of Confucius
“Man’s mind,” says Confucius, “is more treacherous than mounts and rivers, and more difficult to know than the sky. For with the sky you know what to expect in respect of the coming spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the alternation of day and night. But man hides his character behind an inscrutable appearance. There are those who have some special ability but appear to be stupid. There are those who are compliant and yielding but always get their objective. Some are hard outside but soft inside, and some are slow without but impatient within. Therefore those who rush forward to do the righteous thing as if they were craving for it, drop it like something hot.
“Therefore (in the judgment of men) a gentleman sends a man to a distant mission in order to test his loyalty. He employs him nearby in order to observe his manners. He gives him a lot to do in order to judge his ability. He suddenly puts a question to him in order to test his knowledge and makes a commitment with him under difficult circumstances to test hi ability to live up to his word. He trusts him with money in order to test his heart, and announces to him the coming of a crisis to test his integrity. He makes him drunk in order to see the inside of his character, and puts him in female company to see his attitude toward women. Submitted to these nine tests, a fool will always reveal himself.” –The Wisdom of Lao-tse
Disproving the Rumor
When men speak ill of you, so live that nobody will believe them. –Plato
Making the Most of Life
If I can throw a single ray of light across the darkened pathway of another; if I can aid some soul to clearer sight of life and duty, and thus bless my brother; if I can wipe from any human cheek a tear, I shall not have lived my life in vain while here.
If I can guide some erring one to truth, inspire within his heart a sense of duty; if I can plant within my soul of rosy youth a sense of right, a love of truth and beauty; if I can teach one man that God and heaven are near, I shall not then have lived in vain while here.
If from my mind I banish doubt and fear, and keep my life attuned to love and kindness; if I can scatter light and hope and cheer, and help remove the curse of mental blindness; if I can make more joy, more hope, less pain, I shall not have lived and loved in vain.
If by life’s roadside I can plant a tree, beneath whose shade some wearied head may rest, though I may never share its beauty, I shall yet be truly blest—though no one knows my name, nor drops a flower upon my grave, I shall not have lived in vain while here. –Author Unknown
A Real Christian
A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for One Whom he has never seen; talks familiarly everyday to Someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisble, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passeth knowledge. –A. W. Tozer
A Real Grind
Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends upon what you are made of.
Mental Health
Do you realize that one in every four Americans is unbalanced? Think of your three closest friends. If they seem OK, you’re the one! –Ann Landers
Direction
It is more important to know where you are going than to see how fast you can get there. –Martin Vanbee
Your Lot
Whatever your lot in life, build something on it.
Doing Right Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for some underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.