“History is ever changed by those who accept the adventure right in front of them.” - Anonymous

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

30 October

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember: amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.

“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed. “ – Woodrow Wilson

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

29 October

“Remember how your child used to be? ‘Now, Johnny, take my hand while we cross the street.’ And 4-year old Johnny would dutifully take your hand and say, happily, ‘Ok, daddy!’ Ten, twelve years down the line that compliance thing will go into what you might call an extended eclipse. That very same Johnny, now a teenager, one day is going to say to you, ‘I don’t care whatever else you do, just don’t play any of that dorkey music of yours when my friends are around.’ Only he may use a far less PG word than ‘dorky.’ That’s just the way they’re wired. Be ready for it.” – Arnold Kunst

“If God created shadows it was to better emphasize the light.” - Pope John XXIII

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

October 30

“The Lincolns enjoyed a relatively stable marriage…. Lincoln, for his part, understood Mary better than anyone, loved her in spite of her flaws, shielded her from criticism, and remained thoroughly loyal to her as a husband. In turn, Mary could be tender to him, extremely tender. And no matter how lonely she was with him gone so much of the time, she shared his love of politics, wanted him to succeed, and was fiercely proud of him.” - Stephen Oates

 

“One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” - Anonymous

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

October 29

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend” it.’” - Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address

"The trouble is, you think you have time." - The Buddha

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

28 October

This life you’re leading is a real life – it’s not a dress rehearsal for life. When you turn 37 remember this: you’ll never, ever be 36 again. In addition, there’s no guarantee that you’ll make it not only to 38 but to tomorrow!

“The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.” - Marcus Aurelius

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

October 28

“The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.” - Abraham Lincoln

 

“I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” - Thomas Carlyle

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

27 October

“Lincoln was not doctrinaire - and that at a time when being doctrinaire was automatically taken to mean being a man of convictions. His contemporaries had the answers, all the answers, and had them surprisingly easily. At the very outset of Lincoln’s term, when South Carolina actually passed what was called an Ordinance of Secession, Northern editorial writers in the winter-spring of 1860-61 saw the situation in simple terms: they wrote [pontificated?] that if South Carolina wanted to leave the Union, we should just let ‘em go - good riddance to bad rubbish; they’ve been nothing but trouble from the beginning anyway. Simple! Similariy South Carolinians manning artillery aimed at Fort Sumter saw the situation in equally simple terms: we gonna kill us some Yankees! Simple! The examples go on and on. And against all that was this new man in the White House who said, more than once, ‘My policy is to have no policy.’” – Arnold Kunst

“Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.” - Confucius

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

October 27

You can take the country boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the country boy, and Lincoln was a country boy through and through. Thus, you might have been surprised, if you had knocked on the Lincoln White House door, to have the door answered by the President himself - in his shirtsleeves and/or slippers. You might have been non-plussed seeing him use his own spoon in the White House sugar bowl. And there's no telling how you'd react to the following story that may not be true but certainly has the ring of authenticity about it. One evening, they say, before going to the theater, Lincoln was standing at the foot of the stairs in the White House with some friends and explained in his own distinctively breezy manner, “Mary's still upstairs puttin' on her trottin' harness.'’

“Lift up those around you; chances are your success got a crucial boost when someone gave you a helping hand, right?” – Anonymous

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

26 October

“Would you believe it? They get divorced and the two of them go their separate ways as enemies, not as friends. That’s because they’re either poor judges of character and married the wrong person in the first place, or they didn’t do the divorce right, or both. In any case they were friends once, so if divorce has to happen they should part as friends, blessing one another as, now, their two ships part in the night.” - Arnold Kunst

"God told me to do it." - Anonymous

From "Lincoln 365," by Arnold Kunst
October 26
“We have as all will agree a free Government where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed.” - Abraham Lincoln

“Slavery was established by decree of Almighty God… it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation… it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.” - Jefferson Davis