The Present Forever Faces the Future January 1, 1961
“The town clock is striking midnight. The cold of the night wind is urging its way in at the door and window-crevice; the fire has sunk almost to the third bar of the grate. Still my dream...
The Time That Is Yet Thine… January 15, 1961
We are, all of us, a reflection of what we do with time, of what we want⎯or at least what we want enough to be willing to work for. This, said William Penn⎯”this is . . . said, that it might...
The Person-to-Person Equation January 22, 1961
Because human judgement is so variable, and because human problems are so complex, organized effort has to come somewhat within definable categories, within certain procedures. All this, in a...
Other Things Being Equal… January 29, 1961
To the ever recurring question of judging others, of the power to appraise the motives, the actions, the intent of other people, we sometimes hear applied the phrase “other things being...
Tied With Red Tape… February 5, 1961
Let us turn a moment or two to what is called red tape⎯by which we mean, essentially, getting lost in procedures, procedures which may be altogether arbitrary, which may be quite apart from...
Book of Beginnings, Story Without End… February 12, 1961
“How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of Beginnings, Story without End, Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!” Longfellow...
The Challenge of Aging… February 19, 1961
“Whatever poet, orator, or sage May say of it, old age is still old age. It is the waning, not the crescent moon; The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon: It is no strength, but weakness;...
Some Attitudes and Opportunities of Age February 26, 1961
Among the most wasteful of all the wastes of the world is the waste of time, of thought, of human effort and energy, of talents and creative gifts and productive powers. The world needs more of most...
Lengthening the Productive Period… March 5, 1961
When we talk of the attitudes and opportunities of age, we are talking also to youth⎯for the years move swiftly from the younger to the later years of life⎯and it is, as Cicero said: “the...
The Courage to Start--and to Stop March 12, 1961
Three kinds of courage are required in all the shifting scenes⎯in all the trial and error, in all the learning and living of life: the courage to start, the courage to stop, and the courage to...
The Pace… the Purpose… the Principles March 19, 1961
Two essentials for a good and effective life are flexibility and firmness⎯flexibility in some things and an adamant and absolute immovability in others. Frequently we hear it said that times have...
As to Ultimate Answers April 2, 1961
These are days when men are earnestly searching for answers, and superficial answers will not satisfy for it is more than a matter of temporal or surface considerations. It all comes down to a...
It's Life That Matters April 9, 1961
From Dostoevsky comes the poignant comment of a young man who knew he had little left of mortal life. “It’s natural to believe,” he says, “that everyone else thinks too...
To Have Health… April 16, 1961
In facing a fatal illness, one of Dostoevsky’s characters has some searching things to say about health: “Oh, now I don’t care, now I’ve no time to be angry, but . . . how I...
Innocence of Intent April 23, 1961
Some two centuries ago, Jean Baptiste Massillon wrote on The Curse of a Malignant Tongue and asked some questions concerning innocence of intent: “What matters it to the brother whom you stab...
The Curse of a Malignant Tongue April 30, 1961
“What is the cruel pleasure which carries sorrow and bitterness to the heart of your brother? . . . Whence comes it that your sarcasms are always pointed to . . . recalling his faults . . . ?...
A Man Unconscious of His Faults May 7, 1961
It was said of a well-known person of the past, “Her vanity was too fundamental for her to profit by the stern lessons of experience. She could not face the fact that she was wrong, so she was...
Oh, Why Do We Delay So Much…? May 14, 1961
After the loss of his cherished companion, Carlyle wrote in his reminiscences: “Alas! her love was never completely known to me . . . till I had lost her. Oh, for five minutes more . . ....
A Foolish Kind of "Fearlessness" May 21, 1961
“Without fear there are no heroes, only fools. Never stop being afraid.” This was said by one young man to another in a hazardous and dramatic scene. The word “fear” has some...
Work a Little Longer… Then Follow May 28, 1961
From Thomas Carlyle we cite these lines on the loss of the most beloved companion of his life—the wife of whom he wrote in remembrance: “Strange how she made the desert blossom for herself and...