... the highest gifts are not measurable in dollars and cents. Beyond and above the class who run an account with the world and me...rely manage honestly to pay in kind for what they receive, there is a noble army--the Shakespeares and Miltons, the Newtons, Galileos and Darwins,--Watts, Morse, Howe, Lincoln, Garrison, John Brown--a part of the world's roll of honor--whose price of board and keep dwindles into nothingness when compared with what the world owes them; men who have taken of the world's bread and paid for it in immortal thoughts, invaluable inventions, new facilities, heroic deeds of loving self-sacrifice; men who dignify the world for their having lived in it and to whom the world will ever bow in grateful worship as its heroes and benefactors. It may not be ours to stamp our genius in enduring characters--but we can give what we are at its best.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even though they cannot entirely kee...p to the tracks of others or emulate the prowess of their models. So a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding. If his own prowess fails to compare with theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it. He should behave like those archers who, if they are skilful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head,... By the simplicity of Venus' doves, By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves, ... By all the vows that ever men have broke (In number more than ever women spoke).LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The Fitchburg Railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where I dwell. I usually go to the village along its causewa...y, and am, as it were, related to society by this link. The men on the freight trains, who go over the whole length of the road, bow to me as to an old acquaintance, they pass me so often, and apparently they take me for an employee; and so I am. I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
... any men who would give up the law-making power to women in order to remedy existing evils, would surely be those most ready to... enact the needful laws themselves.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Young men all of us--we've got to be. You know why? I'll give you two good reasons. We jump out of planes, and guys shoot at us.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
During the fifties, for example, the American character appeared with some consistency that became a model of manhood adopted by m...any men: the Fifties male. He got to work early, labored responsibly, supported his wife and children and admired discipline. Reagan is a sort of mummified version of this dogged type. This sort of man didn't see women's souls well, but he appreciated their bodies; and his view of culture and America's part in it was boyish and optimistic. Many of his qualities were strong and positive, but underneath the charm and bluff there was, and there remains, much isolation, deprivation, and passivity. Unless he has an enemy, he isn't sure that he is alive. The Fifties man was supposed to like football, be aggressive, stick up for the United States, never cry, and always provide.... During the sixties, another sort of man appeared. The waste and violence of the Vietnam war made men question whether they knew what an adult male really was. If manhood meant Vietnam, did they want any part of it? Meanwhile, the feminist movement encouraged men to actually look at women, forcing them to become conscious of concerns and sufferings that the Fifties male labored to avoid.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Give blue-eyed men their swivel chairs To whirl in tall buildings.... Allow them many ships at sea, And on land, soldiers And policemen.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »