Category Archives: Words from the wise

Sage sayings, maxims and quotable quotes

Jordan Peterson bons mots

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Don’t compare yourself with other people; compare yourself with who you were yesterday.

Power is competence.

If you fulfill your obligations every day you don’t need to worry about the future.

It’s better to do something badly than to not do it at all.

Work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens.

You’re not everything you could be, and you know it.

The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear and bearing it.

Face the demands of life voluntarily. Respond to a challenge, instead of bracing for catastrophe.

The way that you make people resilient is by voluntarily exposing them to things that they are afraid of and that makes them uncomfortable.

Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being. As the great nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so brilliantly noted, ‘He whose life has a why can bear almost any how.‘

If you’re going to be successful you need to be smart, conscientious, and tough.

The successful among us delay gratification and bargain with the future.

Humility is recognition of personal insufficiency and the willingness to learn.

Be grateful in spite of your suffering.

The truth is something that burns, it burns off deadwood and people don’t like having their deadwood burnt off often because they’re 95% deadwood.

You’re going to pay a price for every bloody thing you do and everything you don’t do. You don’t get to choose to not pay a price. You get to choose which poison you’re going to take. That’s it.

It took untold generations to get you where you are. A little gratitude might be in order. If you’re going to insist on bending the world to your way, you better have your reasons.

To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com.

Favourite Irish Toasts

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To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we all should know a few suitable toasts…. Here is a famous Irish saying to start:

“May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the palm of his hand.”

To add to the spirit of the occasion, here are ten of our favourite toasts:

May you always have a clean shirt, a clear conscience, and enough coins in your pocket to buy a pint!

May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most,
May the most you wish for be the least you get,
May the Lord keep you in His Hand and never close His fist too tight.

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

May you always be blessed with walls for the wind,
a roof for the rain, a warm cup of tea by the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all that your heart might desire.

May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven
half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

I drink to your health when I’m with you,
I drink to your health when I’m alone,
I drink to your health so often,
I’m starting to worry about my own

A toast to your coffin. May it be made of 100 year old oak. And may we plant the tree together, tomorrow.

Here’s to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold pint– and another one!

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Rush Limbaugh Bons Mots

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Character matters; leadership descends from character.

The truth does not require a majority to prevail, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is its own power. The truth will out. Never forget that.

There’s nobody who cares more about you than you, and there’s nobody better equipped to take care of you than you.

The American dream has now morphed into an expectation. And if it isn’t provided, or if it doesn’t happen, then people feel cheated.

There’s such cultural rot taking place, such a disintegration throughout our culture. Values, morality, you name it. Standards have been relaxed, and people are not being held to them. People’s intentions, if they’re said to be good and honorable, that’s all that matters.

The future is not Big Government. Self-serving politicians. Powerful bureaucrats. This has been tried, tested throughout history. The result has always been disaster. President Obama, your agenda is not new. It’s not change, and it’s not hope.

Real prosperity comes from everybody in the country working together in a growth mode. Real prosperity comes as a result of people’s own initiative and efforts and so forth. Prosperity, if it comes from the government, is not prosperity. It’s an existence or a subsistence or whatever, but it isn’t prosperity.

Everything about the left is perception, manipulation, and lies. Everything. Everything is ‘Wag the Dog.’ Everything is a structured deception.

The truth of anything doesn’t matter anymore. What’s right doesn’t matter. What makes economic common sense doesn’t matter. I’m blue in the face over it.

Liberals are some of the most arrogant, condescending smart alecks, but they’re just pure ignorant, and they fit the bill of people who have no love and no respect for the founding of this country.

Journalists are simply leftists disguised as reporters. They’re political activists disguised as reporters.

I live in Realville, and my problem is that I’m governed by logic. And some of the claims that are made by people on the left just don’t hold up.

No nation ever taxed itself into prosperity.

Racist — a person who wins an argument with a liberal.

If you commit a crime, you’re guilty.

Compassion is no substitute for justice.

Poverty is not the root cause of crime.

Charity is willingly given from the heart.

End results that work that don’t involve government threaten liberals.

Liberals get credit for good intentions, and that’s about it, because everything they do fails.

Liberal Democrats are inexorably opposed to tax cuts, because tax cuts give people more power, and take away from the role of government.

I used to have a phrase: Liberalism is spreading misery equally. And now the ruling class throughout Washington seems to have adopted this.

That’s what liberalism is all about, is promoting incompetence on the basis it’s fair, because people would be the best if they weren’t discriminated against.

Liberalism is a scourge. It destroys the human spirit. It destroys prosperity. It assigns sameness to everybody. And wherever I find it, I oppose it.

R.I.P. Rush

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

The Incomparable Howard Cosell

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Here are a dozen favourite quotes from the incomparable, unflappable, peerless Howard Cosell.

Bons Mots

What’s right isn’t always popular. What’s popular isn’t always right.

Stand for something. Don’t quest for popularity at the expense of morality and ethics and honesty.

Unlike any other sport, the objective in boxing is chillingly simple. One man purposefully endeavours to inflict bodily harm on another man.

Boxing is drama on its grandest scale.

Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!

Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these. Of course, I am.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Sir Anthony Hopkins on life and love

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Let go of people who aren’t ready to love you yet! This is the hardest thing you’ll have to do in your life and it will also be the most important thing: stop giving your love to those who aren’t ready to love you yet.

Stop hard conversations with people who don’t want to change. Stop showing up for people who are indifferent to your presence. Stop loving people who aren’t ready to love you.

I know your instincts do everything to win the good mercy of everyone around you, but it’s also the impulse that will steal your time, energy and mental, physical and spiritual health. When you start manifesting yourself in your life, completely, with joy, interest and commitment, not everyone will be ready to find you in this place of pure sincerity. That doesn’t mean that you have to change who you are. That means you have to stop loving people who don’t want to love you yet. When you are excluded, subtly offended, forgotten or easily ignored by people you give time to, you don’t do yourself any favour by allowing them your energy and your life.

The truth is that you’re not for everyone… And that not everyone is for you… That makes this world so special, when you find the few people you have friendship, love or a true relationship with…

You will know how valuable that is… Because you have experienced what isn’t…

But the more time you spend trying to make you loved by someone who can’t… The more time you waste depriving the same connection…

There are billions of people on this planet, and many of them will end up with you, on their level, with their vibration, from where they stand… But…The smaller you stay, involved in the privacy of people who use you as a pillow, background option, a therapist and a strategy for their emotional healing… More time you stay out of the community you wish for. If you stop showing up, you might be less wanted…

If you stop trying, the relationship might stop… If you stop texting, your phone stays dark for days and weeks… Maybe if you stop loving someone, the love between you will dissolve…

That doesn’t mean you ruined a relationship! That means all this relationship had was the energy that only you and you hire to keep it in the air. It’s not love. That’s attachment. That’s wanting to give a chance to those who don’t want it!

The most valuable and most important thing you have in your life is your energy. It’s not just your time because it’s limited… It’s your energy! What you give every day is what will become more and more in your life.

It’s the ones you give time and energy that will define your existence. When you realize this, you start to understand why you are so impatient when you spend your time with people that don’t suit you, and in activities, places, situations that don’t suit you. You’re starting to realize that the most important thing you can do for your life, for yourself and for everyone you know, protect your energy stronger than anything.

Turn your life into a safe sanctuary where only “compatible” people with you are allowed.

You are not responsible for saving people. You are not responsible to convince them to be saved. It’s not your job to exist for people and give them your life, little by little, moment after the moment! Because if you feel bad or if you feel obliged; you are the root of all of this by your insisting, afraid they promise you the favours you won’t give them…

It’s your only fact to realize that you are the loved one of your destiny and to accept the love you think you deserve. Decide you deserve a true friendship. Wait then… just a minute… And look how everything is starting to change…

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Photo Credit: From Wikimedia Commons, Anthony Hopkins – Tuscan Sun Festival (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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10 Awesome Love Quotes

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Love is the poetry of the senses. – Honoré de Balzac
When love is not madness, it is not love. – Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. – Jean Anouilh
Love one another and you will be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. – Michael Leunig
You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. – Dr. Seuss
Take away love and our earth is a tomb. – Robert Browning
Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat. – Ben Hecht
There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God’s finger on man’s shoulder. – Charles Morgan
Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods. – Plato
Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. – Eric Fromm

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a trusted executive assistant, a communications can-do guy, or a go-to-scribe? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Quips on Love

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egg Here are a dozen quips on the subject of love that are sure to liven up your conversations and toasts throughout this weekend. Enjoy!

“Love reasons without reason”. – William Shakespeare
“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.” – James Baldwin
“Caution in love? No! That’s like eating a hard-boiled egg with the shell still on it.” – Richard Needham
“Respect is love in plain clothes.” – Frankie Byrne
“The greatest love is a mother’s; then a dog’s; then a sweetheart’s.” – Polish proverb
“He gave her a look you could have poured on a waffle.” – Ring Lardner
“Love teaches even asses to dance.” – French Proverb
“Love, and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Only little boys and old men sneer at love.” – Louis Auchincloss
“All mankind love a lover.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Let there be spaces in your Togetherness.” – Kahlil Gibran
“If there is anything better than to be loved, it is loving.” – Anonymous
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Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Return to the menu for the By George St Valentine’s Wish

Happy Birthday Dolly Parton! (Remarkable quotes and smiles)

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Today, American country music icon Dolly Parton turns 75 years young. To honour her birthday, USA Today celebrated with some very special quotes from the lady herself…

On having big dreams growing up in a small town: “I imagined it, I dreamed it, I worked for it, and God was good enough to let me have it.”

On her iconic look: “The whole magic about me is that I look artificial but I’m totally real. People can see that. They forgive me for being gaudy. They forgive me for not being stylish. They forgive me for not being as smart as some educated people might be. People see me. I want them to know me. I’m not bashful.”

On performing: “I love the fans. I love that energy. It just really is restoring. You know when you’re first in love, how it energizes you? I get that from the fans. That’s a great empowering, restoring kind of energy. I think entertainers are addicted to that feeling. It’s … just knowing that you can do something to change somebody’s life or make somebody happy, even if it’s just for an evening.”

On her classmates laughing at her big dreams to be a music star: “You can’t dream at someone else’s expense. You’ve got to get out there, make those dreams come true. You’ve got to be the one to sacrifice what you need, to lean on who all will help you. You’ve got to get out there and put legs on them, wings on them, feet on them, hands on them, fingers. You’ve got to get out there and work it.”

On the secret to her success: “We grew up knowing Jesus loved us and through God all things are possible, so I’ve carried that all the way through my life and gathered a lot of strength from that as well. I just always felt like I knew who I was, and I just try to stay anchored within myself and my beliefs.”

On gaining a newer generation of fans: “I’m so happy to be an inspiration to women and to young girls because I did it back in a time when it was even harder. I kind of understand men, and I was never intimidated by them. I’m just redneck enough that if things ain’t exactly how I want them to be, I’ll find a way to get it that way. I always say I can tell you where to put it if I don’t like where you got it, and I’m kind of like that.”

On facing adversity: “You cannot live in this world and be successful and not have heartaches, troubles, disappointments. It’s how you deal with it. I’ve had a lot of dreams, and most of them have come true, but a lot of them have not.”

On her unwavering good mood: “People say, ‘You always look so happy.’ I say, ‘That’s because of the Botox.”

On changes she would like to see in the world: “If we could just be peaceful, if we could just try to work through things with a little more peace, a little more love, a little more harmony, a little more understanding. I pray about it every day.”

On what drove her to create new things during the coronavirus quarantine: “Even with as bad as things have been during the COVID, I’ve been very productive. I feel like I’m doing things to try to uplift people, things to bring a little light into the darkness. That’s kind of my purpose in life. Hopefully, I’m getting it done.”

On her inspiration as a storyteller: “When I was back home and we didn’t get to go to the movies or have stories, I would perform them and, really, it was like my family was getting’ to go to the movies. I would sing these songs, and I would create all these stories and pictures in my songs.”

On how long she’ll continue to perform: “As long as I feel good. I had a little problem in 2015… got stumped up with kidney stones, but it didn’t slow me down. I was even working on the phone every day getting that TV movie together, even when I was in the hospital for a week or so. I’m amazed at this point of all the interest in my life. I’m never going to retire. I just want to do greater work. As mom would say, I’m letting the spirit lead me.”

On advice for people who feel hopeless right now: “You just have to pray, if you’re a faith-based person, for strength. If not, you just have to keep your wits about you and lean on your higher wisdom to know that things happen, and most things we get through, and usually, we come out better on the other side.”

As the USA Today article recounts, “She would stand on the porch of her Locust Ridge house in the Great Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee, put a tobacco stick in the cracks of the porch and place a tin can on the stick for a microphone. Then she would sing to the chickens and the pigs and the dogs and the kids and picture a bigger world.…”

Read Nicole Carroll’s interview with the legendary Dolly Parton here.

On her Twitter account Dolly tweeted this morning: “This year my birthday wish is a call for kindness. We can’t just hope for a brighter day, we have to work for a brighter day. Love too often gets buried in a world of hurt and fear. So today, January 19th, let’s get to unearthing love.”

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Ronald Reagan on politics, government and life

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We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
There seems to be an increasing awareness of something we Americans have known for some time: That the ten most dangerous words in the English language are, ‘Hi, I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.’
We in government should learn to look at our country with the eyes of the entrepreneur, seeing possibilities where others see only problems.
My friends, history is clear: Lower tax rates means greater freedom, and wherever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off.
No one has yet found a way to repeal the law of supply and demand.
Status quo, you know, that is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.
A broader reading of history shows that appeasement, no matter how it is labeled, never fulfills the hopes of the appeasers.
There are worse things to be called than a dreamer.
The challenge of statesmanship is to have the vision to dream of a better, safer world and the courage, persistence and patience to turn that dream into reality.
May each of you have heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will leave the world a little better for you having been here.
Life and the preservation of freedom to live it in dignity is what we are on this earth to do.
Progress is not foreordained. The key to freedom: Freedom of thought, freedom of information, freedom of communication.
Individual freedom and the profit motive were the engines of progress which transformed an American wilderness into an economic dynamo that provided the American people with a standard of living that is still the envy of the world.
I am no longer young. You might have suspected that. The house we hope to build is one that is not for my generation, but for your. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you’re my age, you’ll be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom, we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology.
I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Mark Twain on New Year’s Day

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“New Year’s Day–Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.

Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.

We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community.

New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.”

– Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Christmas (in words)

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It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. – W.T. Ellis

Our elf-wordsmiths at By George enjoy contemplating words that best frame the spirit of a moment or an event. We have our favourite words for just about every occasion… including Christmas. So today, we are offering our favourite inscriptions, verse and quotes. Here are links to past posts that have captured in words the poignant thoughts about this magical time of year. Enjoy.

Thoughts to infuse the spirit of Christmas

Christmas Toasts

Christmas Quotes

Humourous Holiday Quotes

We hope and trust you like all the Christmas-y content posted this year in the Journal.

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Insights of Thomas Sowell

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Here are a dozen of By George Journal’s favourite insights of the erudite Thomas Sowell, learned American economist and social theorist.

You can share these images by right-clicking on the image and saving – then reposting on the social media platform(s) of your choice. Enjoy!

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Charles Bukowski on drinking

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in the cupboard sits my bottle
like a dwarf waiting to scratch out my prayers.
I drink and cough like some idiot at a symphony,
sunlight and maddened birds are everywhere,
the phone rings gamboling its sound
against the odds of the crooked sea;
I drink deeply and evenly now,
I drink to paradise
and death
and the lie of love.

My beerdrunk soul is sadder than all the dead christmas trees of the world.

Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn’t become obvious yourself.

Drinking is another way of thinking, another way of living. It gives you two lives instead of one.

I hid in bars, because I didn’t want to hide in factories.

I went to the worst of bars hoping to get killed but all I could do was to get drunk again.

stay with the beer.

beer is continuous blood.

a continuous lover.

I still have a little whiskey left and therefore a chance.

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Poetry for the day; sentiments for the ages

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Here are three remarkable poems that capture the solemn and significant essence of Remembrance Day. These poems express sentiments for the ages.

Timberline Remembrance Day Ceremony

For the Fallen – Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

poppies-2

In Flanders Fields – John McRae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

poppies

Dulce et decorum est – Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent(14) for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

(ed. – DULCE ET DECORUM EST are the first words of a Latin saying taken from an ode by Horace. These words were often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean “It is sweet and right.” The full saying ends the poem: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” which is “It is sweet and right to die for your country.”)

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

12 quotes in the name of peace

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Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. – Baruch Spinoza
A people free to choose will always choose peace. – Ronald Reagan
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Peace begins with a smile. – Mother Teresa
Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. – George Bernard Shaw
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. – Ronald Reagan
I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one’s own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace. – Dalai Lama
I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility, with or without religion. – Dalai Lama
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. – Indira Gandhi
Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other. – Elie Wiesel

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Mary Anne Radmacher bons mots

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The boldness of endurance is the underline to almost every success.

At first glance it may appear too hard. Look again. Always look again.

Live boldly. Laugh Loudly. Love Truly. Play as often as you can Work as smart as you are able. Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.

Find your balance and stand with it. Find your song and sing it out. Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance. Find the questions that only you know how to ask and The answers that you are content to not know.

It takes courage to reinvent joys, to reinvent opportunities, to reinvent dreams, to reinvent connections, to reinvent hopes that you have set aside.

There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.

Lean forward into your life…catch the best bits and the finest wind. Just tip your feathers in flight a wee bit and see how dramatically that small lean can change your life.

May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.

Speak quietly to yourself and promise there will be better days. Whisper gently to yourself and provide assurance that you really are extending your best effort. Console your bruised and tender spirit with reminders of many other successes. Offer comfort in practical and tangible ways – as if you were encouraging your dearest friend. Recognize that on certain days the greatest grace is that the day is over and you get to close your eyes. Tomorrow comes more brightly.

Mary Anne Radmacher is an American writer and an artist. She conducts workshops on living a full, creative, balanced life, teaches Internet writing seminars, and works with individual clients. She has been writing since she was a child, and she uses her writing to explore symbols and find meaning. She is the author of Lean Forward into Your Life (Conari Press, 2007), and Live Boldly (Conari Press, 2008).

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

20 Remarkable Quotes Reflecting On “Gratitude”

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“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” – G.K. Chesterton

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

“Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices.” – Robert Braathe

“I truly believe we can either see the connections, celebrate them, and express gratitude for our blessings, or we can see life as a string of coincidences that have no meaning or connection. For me, I’m going to believe in miracles, celebrate life, rejoice in the views of eternity, and hope my choices will create a positive ripple effect in the lives of others. This is my choice.” – Mike Ericksen

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” – A.A. Milne

“Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” – Albert Schweitzer

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” – Ralph H. Blum

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” – Rabbi Harold Kushner

“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – Melody Beattie

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionel Hampton

“The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. It has enough lush forests, flowered fields, and sandy beaches. It has plenty of stars and the promise of a new sunrise and sunset every day. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it.” – Michael Josephson

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

The Charlie Schulz Philosophy

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The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip. (You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read the piece straight through, and you’ll get the point.)

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five World Cup trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of Miss World .
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of FA Cup winners.

How did you do?

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and
special!!
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Is this second quiz easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. None of us remember the headliners of yesterday, even though these are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. However, when applause dies, achievements are forgotten and accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Simply put, the people who make a difference is your life are the ones who care the most.

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.