Something To Think About Archive

Ethicist Michael Josephson says that “An ethical person ought to do more than he’s required to do and less than he’s allowed to do.”

A Chinese Proverb warns us to “Never be boastful; someone may come along who knew you as a child.”

Kafka wrote: “In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

Heraclitus said: “A man’s character is his fate.”

One way that Washington could save $175 billion a year would be to eliminate the Department of Education. We did pretty well without it until 1979 when Jimmy Carter helped to create it as a payoff to the teacher’s union for their support at the Democratic Convention. Even while signing the bill into law, President Carter admitted that “Primary responsibility for education should rest with those States, localities, and private institutions that have made our Nation's educational system the best in the world.”

It’s been noted that “Nothing worthwhile comes easy. Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results.”

It’s been suggested that we make three lists: the things you have to do, the things you want to do, and the things you neither have to do nor want to do. Then forget everything in the third category.

Mark Twain once observed that “Not all horses were born equal. A few were born to win.”

Doctor William Menninger believed that there are “Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity. Personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom and charity.”

Author John Steinbeck believed that “It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.”

The extraordinary use of Executive Orders by the last several Administrations, each creating laws as they see fit, often cancelling those of their predecessors, rather than going through the legislative process brings to mind statesman philosopher Seneca who said: “He who has great power should use it lightly.”

“This is the day we pay homage to all those who didn’t come home;” notes writer Tamra Bolton. “This is not Veterans Day, it’s not a celebration, it is a day of solemn contemplation over the cost of freedom.”

According to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, “Anyone can keep going when the going is good, but some extra ingredient is needed to keep you fighting when it seems that everything is against you.”

It’s been said that “No two people are alike, and both are glad of it.”

Thomas Edison believed that “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the one thing that he can’t afford to lose.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt might as well have been talking about the mess at the border when he said: “One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment. If it doesn’t turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.”

Every President since Ronald Reagan has proposed some form of immigration reform. The last four to do so, Presidents George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, failed to pass legislation despite controlling both houses of Congress at some point in the term. To now blame the current Congress as the reason for failures at the border is disingenuous, although their performance is It’s been noted that “Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results.” certainly less than stellar, but NO Congress has acted responsibly on the issue since Bill Clinton, no matter which party was in control.

Author Alan Patton once noted that “Life has not taught me to expect nothing, but she has taught me not to expect success to be the inevitable result of my endeavors.”

According to a Chinese Proverb: If you are old, give advice; if you are young, take it.

It’s been said that “There are only two kinds of people who fail: Those who listen to nobody, and those who listen to everybody.”