Being human

It is human nature which does not change,
        no matter the era or situation.

                Thornton Wilder, The Ides of March

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hymn: Stand By Me

When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea,
thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.

In the midst of tribulation, stand by me.
In the midst of tribulation, stand by me.
When the hosts of hell assail, and my strength begins to fail,
thou who never lost a battle, stand by me.

In the midst of faults and failures, stand by me.
In the midst of faults and failures, stand by me.
When I do the best I can, and my friends misunderstand,
thou who knowest all about me, stand by me.

In the midst of persecution, stand by me.
In the midst of persecution, stand by me.
When my foes in battle array, undertake to stop my way,
thou who saved Paul and Silas, stand by me.

When I'm growing old and feeble, stand by me.
When I'm growing old and feeble, stand by me.
When my life becomes a burden, and I'm nearing chilly Jordan,
O thou Lily of the Valley, stand by me.

            Rev. Charles Albert Tindley

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

                William Shakespeare

Never stop

Outrun the people who quit when they feel discomfort,
outrun the people who stop because of despair,
outrun the people who are delayed because of prejudice,
outrun the people who surrender to failure,
and outrun the opponent who loses sight of the goal.
Because if you want to win, the will can never retire,
the race can never stop, and faith can never weaken. 

            Muhammad Ali, The Soul Of A Butterfly

 

 

 

 

Lengthy childhood

It is my belief, based partly on personal experience
but partly also arrived at by looking around at others,
that childhood lasts considerably longer
in the males of our species than in the females.

        Lewis Thomas, The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine Watcher

 

 

 

 

 

Remember this

The memory sometimes is so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient;
at others, so bewildered and so weak;
and at others again so tyrannic, so beyond control!
We are, to be sure, a miracle every way—
but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting
do seem peculiarly past finding out.

            Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

 

 

 

 

Play on

Life is like playing a violin solo in public
and learning the instrument as one goes on.

        Samuel Butler, Speech at the Somerville Club, 1895