Quotations for Daily Use

Speaking Up, Standing Up for Self & Others, Being Assertive

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." G. K. Chesterton, (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist

"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." Edward R. Murrow, April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist.

"Alas, for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932, and as Acting Chief Justice of the United States January–February 1930.

"Always have confidence in yourself." Sarah Pietruszka, Nestucca Valley Middle School 6th grader 2001

"Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races." October 26, 1936 - Franklin Roosevelt, (1882–1945), 32nd president of the U.S. 1933–45; This quote is built into the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.

"Do you think, Madame, that in heaven we will really get to see God face-to-face?"
"We might."
"What if you’re blind?"
"I’d expect that if God wants us to see something, we’ll see it.""
Monsieur LeBlanc and his daughter, Marie-Laure LeBlanc (characters) in All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"Either we are with the poor, or we are not. God teaches us to most help the poor. Any other interpretation is unacceptable." Padre Leo of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, from Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

"First and Foremost, I beseech you to remember that it is our bounden duty to work for peace, yet it is even more our duty to work for righteousness and justice." President Theodore Roosevelt

"I will not." (Said when he was ordered to throw cold water on a tattered and skeletal man who is cuffed at the ankles and whose arms are bound from wrists to forearms.) Stated by character named Frederick in All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"If not me, then who?" Motto of the Travis Manion Foundation

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito." Democratic Republic of the Congo/African Proverb

"Just as time-lapse photography makes visible, in an ever more compressed and penetrating form, movements that would otherwise not be thus grasped by our vision, so the war makes manifest in particularly drastic and unshrouded form that which for years has become ever more dreadfully clear to us as the essence of the 'world.' It is not war that first brings death, not war that first invents the pains and torments of human bodies and souls, not war that first unleashes lies, injustice, and violence. It is not war that first makes our existence so utterly precarious and renders human beings powerless, forcing them to watch their desires and plans being thwarted and destroyed by more 'exalted powers.' But war makes all of this, which existed already apart from it and before it, vast and unavoidable to us who would gladly prefer to overlook it all." Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

"Only he who cries out for the Jews may sing Gregorian chants." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. (Note that the Roman Catholic Church officially considers Gregorian chants the music most suitable for worship. Listen to the chants online on YouTube.)

"Part of understanding the notion of Justice is to recognize the disproportions among which we live...it takes an awful lot of living with the powerless to really understand what it is like to be powerless, to have your voice, thoughts, ideas and concerns count for very little. We, who have been given much, whose voices can be heard, have a great duty and responsibility to make our voices heard with absolute integrity for those who are powerless." John O'Donohue (1 January 1956 – 4 January 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher. This poem is from "To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O'Donohue

"Retain the power of speech no matter what other power you may lose . . . Do what you will, but speak out always, Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time." John Jay Chapman, (1862 - 1933); American critic, essayist, translator and individualist (Thank you, friend Goody, for sending this quote to me.)

" 'Send for stretchers at once for these two men.' As the aidmen came up, Grant remounted, only to notice the stretcher bearers ignored the Southern soldier. 'Take the Confederate too,' he ordered, "'he war is over between them.' " This is an excerpt from Grant by Jean Edward Smith. This entire entry was written by the author who was quoting Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) who was an American soldier, politician, and international statesman who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. During the American Civil War, General Grant, with President Abraham Lincoln, led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy.

"She feels like a circus clown who wakes up one morning and no longer wants to glue on the red rubber nose." Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

"The nation had the lion's heart. I had the luck to give the roar." Winston Churchill, (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.

"3:1 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: 3:7 a time to be silent and a time to speak . . . " Ecclesiastes, New International Version

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world." Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) - Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American television personality, musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was known as the creator, composer, producer, head writer, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001). The program was marked by its slow pace and its host's calm manner.

"You Christians are glad when someone else does what you know must be done, but it seems that somehow you are unwilling to get your own hands dirty and do it." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church.

Return to Quotations for Daily Use Menu!
Return to SouthTillamookCounty Home Page!