Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt
Yeah, well lately I've been thinking I'm living in a Philip K Dick novel that's been heavily edited by HP Lovecraft.
ReplyDeleteFun! Except, well, not. But I know how you feel, Johnny. Succinetly summed.
ReplyDeleteWas that conventional wisdom at the time? Spout that today and you'd be branded a Nietzschean or something.
ReplyDelete"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life."
ReplyDeleteRan into this one in my history text last week; stuck with me something fierce.
Word verification: stamlful. ?
Nietzschean? Aw, geez, you're probably right, and a sad reflection on the state of education it is, too. T.R.'s way too positive to run with Nietzsche.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own moment or moments when you take a deep breath and leap out, trusting to your training, your talent...and your parachute. Or you don't, and spend forever after wondering What If.
Roberta x, I know as a matter of fact that parachute thing, while fine in theory, doesn't always work out when empirically tested. I've been to the funerals. I go with the, `Come on you apes! You wanna live forever?' school. Maybe it's just me but I see it as more intellectually honest. `Fuggit, I give in to the testosterone-fueled madness' gets men thru a lot of stuff...
ReplyDeleteThe key to my posting this quote (one of my favorites) is that Coldplay song...
ReplyDelete"I sweep the streets I used to own..."
Who can lament the loss of rulership unless they've ruled?
Cower if you want, kids, but nobody lives forever. There's the brass ring; why not take a grab? ;)
I like TR's hypenated Americans quote......
ReplyDelete"The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American. "
ver-word: suprashn
Yeah, it's comin'......
BTW, contrary to popular misconception, women have testosterone too and can from time to time be seen in testosterone-fueled rages. Actually, if anything, quite a few women tend to manage their testosterone poorly not having to deal with so much of it all the time as men customarily do.
ReplyDelete