The night is freezing fast,
To-morrow comes December;
And winterfalls of old
Are with me from the past;
And chiefly I remember
How Dick would hate the cold.
Fall, winter, fall; for he,
Prompt hand and headpiece clever,
Has woven a winter robe,
And made of earth and sea
His overcoat for ever,
And wears the turning globe.
A.E. Housman
Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice,
An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice;
An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they
Are growin’ more beautiful day after day;
Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men,
Buildin’ the old family circle again;
Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer,
Just for awhile at the end of the year.
Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door
And under the old roof we gather once more
Just as we did when the youngsters were small;
Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all.
Father’s a little bit older, but still
Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will.
Here we are back at the table again
Tellin’ our stories as women an’ men.
Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;
Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.
Home from the east land an’ home from the west,
Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.
Out of the sham of the cities afar
We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.
Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,
Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.
Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.
Edgar Albert Guest
Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.
Samuel Pepys, Diary
It was founded by the Puritans to give thanks
for being preserved from the Indians, and …
we keep it to give thanks we are preserved from the Puritans.
Finley Peter Dunn, Mr. Dooley’s Opinions
Nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.
Julia Child, Julia Child: The Last Interview
I believe that appreciation is a holy thing,
that when we look for what’s best in the person
we happen to be with at the moment,
we’re doing what God does;
so in appreciating our neighbor,
we’re participating in something truly sacred.
Fred Rogers, Commencement Address
Let me cook you some dinner.
Sit down and take off your shoes
and socks and in fact the rest
of your clothes, have a daquiri,
turn on some music and dance
around the house, inside and out,
it’s night and the neighbors
are sleeping, those dolts, and
the stars are shining bright,
and I’ve got the burners lit
for you, you hungry thing.
Ron Padgett
In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway.
So it would be a crime against nature for any generation
to take the world crisis so solemnly that it put off enjoying
those things for which we were designed in the first place:
the opportunity to do good work, to enjoy friends,
to fall in love, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby.
Alistair Cooke, One Man's America
We take our bearings, daily, from others.
To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.
John Updike, Christian Science Monitor
It’s like the saying among airline pilots
that the best flying team has three components:
a pilot, a computer and a dog.
The computer is there to fly the plane,
the pilot is there to feed the dog.
And the dog is there to bite the human
if it tries to touch the computer.
Hannah Fry, Hello World
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.
Peter Drucker, interview, Bill Moyers A World of Ideas
Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!
W. S. Gilbert, Bab Ballads And Savoy Songs
I am more than dust and ashes:
I am my best part,
I am my soul.
John Donne, Expostulation I
Many of us go through life feeling as an actor might feel
who does not like his part, and does not believe in the play.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook
We don't need any more heroes;
we just need someone to take out the recycling.
Banksy, Banksy: wall and piece
What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?
Alfred Hitchcock, Newsweek magazine
Man does not exist prior to language,
either as a species or as an individual.
Roland Barthes, The Rustle of Language
History can predict nothing
except that great changes in human relationships
will never come about in the form in which they have been anticipated.
Johan Huizinga, In the Shadow of Tomorrow
I’ll tell you a secret about prayer.
If you complete your prayer
and you are a better person than when you began,
your prayer was answered.
Rabbi Davie Wolpe, Facebook post
When someone asked Abraham Lincoln, after he was elected president,
what he was going to do about his enemies, he replied,
"I am going to destroy them. I am going to make them my friends."
Attributed to Abraham Lincoln, Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations
When trouble arises and things look bad,
there is always one individual who perceives a solution
and is willing to take command.
Very often, that individual is crazy.
Dave Barry, 25 Things I Have Learned In 50 Years, #23
Difficult though integrity may be to achieve,
the test for it is deceptively simple.
If you wish to discern either the presence or absence of integrity,
you need to ask only one question.
What is missing?
Has anything been left out?
M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace
It is not decided by votes what is true; otherwise we could never come to any truth, ever. People will vote for what is comfortable — and lies are very comfortable because you don't have to do anything about them, you just have to believe. Truth needs great effort, discovery, risk, and it needs you to walk alone on a path that nobody has traveled before.
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), Your Answers Questioned
Despair is deadly sin,
but worse, it is mortal folly.
Edith Pargeter, The Devil's Novice
Maggie Dietz
We are not saints,
but we have kept our appointment.
How many people can boast as much?
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot