“We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.” – Tobias Wolff

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

November 30

 'Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.'

- Abraham Lincoln

‘Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.’

- Mark Twain

“The things that really matter don’t mix with idle chatter.” – Anonymous

“The things that really matter don’t mix with idle chatter.” – Anonymous
From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

29 November

Like an active brain that dissipates its force in idle chatter, so also we cling overmuch to the ephemeral. We are built to cling, it’s true, but to the substantial, because we are built for heaven, and that’s as substantial as it gets!

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

November 29

The foreign press was scathing of the new Lincoln administration. The London Morning Chronicle, at the end of 1861, wrote: 'Abraham Lincoln, whose accession to power was generally welcomed on this side of the Atlantic, has proved himself a feeble, confused and small-minded mediocrity.'

‘The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.’

- Mark Twain

“The only success that comes after a little opposition is a little success.” – Arnold Kunst

“Find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.” - Anonymous

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

28 November

Be prepared to mean “NO,” not just say it. With the passage of time,for example, you may find out that the compatibility thing just isn’t there between you and your potential life’s mate and, hard though it may be, the two of you need to part company.

Going to the trouble of finding a mate of that calibre is a little like buying a car. Maybe this particular model is on sale until midnight Sunday, and it’s almost the right one for you, but you must walk away. There’ll be another sale next week. “Buy in haste and repent at leisure” is a mug’s game – whether we’re talking cars or life’s partners.

“Practice the art of patience for nature never acts in haste.” Og Mandino

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

November 28

'Still, to use a coarse, but an expressive figure, broken eggs cannot be mended. I have issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and I can not retract it.'

- Abraham Lincoln

‘The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end there it is.’

- Winston Churchill

“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.” – Robert Brault

“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.” – Robert Brault

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

27 November

I think forgiving - the jettisoning of long-prized garbage - is like pulling weeds: it isn't something you do, and then it's done. It's something you do, and then do, and then do yet again. And don't forget the Catholic sailor who confessed to the priest that he literally had a girl in every port. When the priest asked if he was sorry, the sailor, embarrassed, admitted truthfully that he wasn't but wanted to be, so the priest told him wisely, "Tell God you're as sorry as you can be, and then just assume God will understand!"