COPING
A man had become so rundown and depressed that he felt he could no longer face life. He supposed something was physically wrong, so he went to see his doctor. The physician gave him a complete examination including X-rays, blood tests, and an EKG.
When the man went back later for the report, he noticed that the doctor had written one word on the diagnosis sheet: “Incopability.” When he inquired about it, the physician explained, “I have coined this word to describe patients with your symptoms.
Nothing is wrong with you physically, but you can’t seem to cope with life anymore. I call this ‘incopability.’ ”
COUNTERFEITS
There is a difference between imitating and counterfeiting someone.
—Benjamin Franklin
A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentleman put a piece of the precious stone into his hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun, and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for several weeks. The boy became frustrated. When would he be told about the jade? He was too polite, however, to question the wisdom of his venerable teacher. Then one day, when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instinctively, “That’s not jade.” He had become so familiar with the genuine that he could immediately detect a counterfeit.
—Haddon W. Robinson
COURAGE
James Lewis Petigru’s life was so exemplary that after his death the citizens of the community erected a tombstone in his honor inscribed with these words:
Unawed by opinion
Unseduced by flattery
Undismayed by disaster
He confronted life with courage
And death with Christian hope.
An English naval officer told how he was saved from dishonor in his first experience in battle. He was a midshipman, still in his teens. The enemy gunfire was so terrifying that he felt as if he would faint. Just then an officer came over to him, placed his hand over the boy’s, and said with a quieting confidence, “Courage, my boy. You’ll be all right. I felt the same way in my first battle.” Reflecting on those words, the young man later said, “It felt as though an angel had come and given me new strength.” From that moment on, his fear was gone and he was as brave as the most seasoned officer. That encouragement was exactly what he needed.
—Our Daily Bread
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide on, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
It takes courage …
To refrain from gossip when others about you delight in it.
To stand up for an absent person who is being abused.
To live honestly within your means and not dishonestly on the means of others.
To be talked about and yet remain silent when a word would justify you in the eyes of others, but which you cannot speak without injury to another.
To be a real man, a true woman, by holding fast to your ideas when it causes you to be looked upon as strange and peculiar.
To refuse to do a thing which is wrong, though others desire it.
To live always according to your convictions.
—The Trumpeter
Luther Burbank, the great naturalist, was always studying nature with his microscope. Someone asked him, “Why are you out of step with the world?”
He answered, “I’m not out of step. I’m walking to the beat of another drum.”
When you are so devoted to doing what is right that you press straight on and disregard what men are saying about you, there is the triumph of moral courage.
—Phillips Brooks
A soldier of Napoleon boasted to a British soldier of his bravery. The British soldier answered, “Yes, but the British are braver one hour longer.”
Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts.
—Winston Churchill
They can conquer who believe they can.… He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill cites the counsel of Benjamin Jowett, provost of Balliol College, to the future proconsuls of the empire: “Never explain; never retreat; get it done, and let them howl.”
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
—General Omar Bradley
It takes courage to stand up and be counted, but it takes more courage to keep standing up after you have been counted.
He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his courage loses all.
—Miguel Cervantes
Courage is grace under pressure.
—Ernest Hemingway
Robert Spear used to tell about a young man who was going to the mission field. A friend said to the young man, “You know where you’re going, don’t you? In the shade it’s 110°.” The young man replied, “I don’t have to stay in the shade all the time.”
The great need for anyone in authority is courage.
—Alistair Cooke
Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.
—John Wayne
Courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to push on in the face of it.
In the spring of 1940 France had fallen to the onrushing columns of the German war machine. The 350,000-man British army in France had made a harrowing evacuation from Dunkirk. Winston Churchill rose to speak before the House of Commons and, among other things, to introduce a new and striking phrase to the English language.
Churchill said, “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’ ”
—James M. Boice
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory or defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt
Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
—Eddie Rickenbacker
One man with courage makes a majority.
—Andrew Jackson
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
When the great Chrysostom was arrested by the Roman emperor, the latter sought to make the Greek Christian recant, but without success. So the emperor discussed with his advisers what could be done to the prisoner. “Shall I put him in a dungeon?” the emperor asked.
“No,” one of his counselors replied, “for he will be glad to go. He longs for the quietness wherein he can delight in the mercies of his God.”
“Then he shall be executed!” said the emperor.
“No,” was the answer, “for he will also be glad to die. He declares that in the event of death he will be in the presence of his Lord.”
“What shall we do then?” the ruler asked.
“There is only one thing that will give Chrysostom pain,” the counselor said. “To cause Chrysostom to suffer, make him sin. He is afraid of nothing except sin.”
A sign in the Grossmunster church in Zurich, where Zwingli preached, reads, “By God’s grace do something courageous.”
COURTESY
A rude passenger was on the train Bishop Manning was riding. This fellow made a great disturbance as he was about to get off, accusing others in a most discourteous way.
As he finally got his possessions together and started for the exit, the bishop called after him, “Pardon me, sir, but you have left something here.” “What?” the fellow called back. The bishop answered, “A very bad impression.”
One day a man gave up his seat on a bus to a lady. She fainted. On recovering, she thanked him. Then he fainted.
—Michael A. Guido
“My boy,” said a father to his son, “treat everybody with politeness, even those who may be rude to you; for remember, you show courtesy to others, not because they are gentlemen, but because you are a gentleman.”
—American Opinion
Henry IV, king of France, was visiting a village one day with some members of his court when they approached a very poor man who bowed himself completely to the ground. The monarch responded by doing the same thing. Those with him were astonished. When one of them asked why he condescended to return the salutation in the same manner, Henry IV quickly replied, “Would your king be excelled in politeness by one of the most lowly of his subjects?”
Knowledge, ability, and experience are of little avail in reaching high success if courtesy is lacking. Courtesy is the one passport that will be accepted without question in every land, in every office, in every home, in every heart in the world. For nothing commends itself so well as kindness; and courtesy is kindness.
—George D. Powers
Life is not so short but there is always time enough for courtesy.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
COURTSHIP
A parrot said, “Let’s cuddle.” Hearing the parrot, a pastor commented, “That’s interesting. I have a parrot and he says, ‘Let’s pray.’ I wonder what would happen if we got the two parrots together.”
So he did. The one parrot said, “Let’s cuddle.” And the pastor’s parrot said, “My prayers have been answered.”
CREATION
Some years ago a South American company purchased a fine printing press from a firm in the United States.
After it had been shipped and completely assembled, the workmen could not get it to operate properly. The most knowledgeable personnel tried to remedy the difficulty and bring it into proper adjustment, but to no avail. Finally the company wired a message to the manufacturer, asking that they send a representative immediately to fix it. Sensing the urgency of the request, the U.S. firm chose the person who had designed the press. When he arrived on the scene, the South American officials were skeptical because he was a young man. After some discussion, they sent this cable to the manufacturer: “Your man is too young; send more experienced person.” The reply came back, “He made the machine. Let him fix it!”
The tiny hummingbird, weighing only about a tenth of an ounce, can perform complicated twists and turns and can fly backward and upside down.
The flexibility of its shoulder joints allows it to move its wings forward and backward in a horizontal figure eight, beating them as many as seventy-five times per second, a maneuver that enables the hummingbird to hover near a flower while it drinks nectar from it. But the hummingbird doesn’t soar or glide as some birds can, and its legs are so weak that it can’t hop. It has to fly even to change positions on a twig.
On the other hand, the ostrich, at three hundred pounds, the largest of birds, can’t fly. But its legs are so strong that it can sprint up to forty miles an hour, taking strides of twelve to fifteen feet.
The peregrine falcon, or duck hawk, is about the size of a crow, but it is the fastest creature on earth. It can dive after prey at more than 175 miles per hour.
—Three Minutes a Day
What’s inconceivable about the universe is that it should be at all conceivable.
—Albert Einstein
The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.
—James Jean
All of nature is God’s art.
—Dante
One of the great names of British science, mathematics, and philosophy is Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727). He had someone make for him a miniature model of the solar system. A large golden ball representing the sun was at its center and around it revolved smaller spheres, representing the planets. They were each kept in an orbit relatively the same as in the real solar system. By means of rods, cogwheels, and belts they all moved around the center gold ball in exact precision. A friend called on the noted man one day while he was studying the model. The friend was not a believer in the biblical doctrine of creation.
Their conversation went as follows:
Friend: “My, Newton, what an exquisite thing. Who made it for you?”
Newton: “Nobody.”
Friend: “Nobody?”
Newton: “That’s right. I said nobody. All of these balls and cogs and belts and gears just happened to come together, and wonder of wonders, by chance they began revolving in their set orbits with perfect timing.”
CREATIVITY
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.
—George Bernard Shaw
When George Frederick Handel’s health and finances were at a low point, he rose to the greatest heights of his creative experience. His creditors were threatening him with imprisonment, and he was suffering from partial paralysis. He then went into seclusion and there fellowshiped with God as never before. During that time, God enabled him to write the grandest of all his oratorios, Messiah.
—Our Daily Bread
Alton McEachern says the only original thing about us is original sin.
If you have done something the same way for a year, look at it critically; if you have done it for two years, modify it; if you have done it for five years, throw it away and start over.
—Alfred Perlman
Success, many times, can be found only in the creative imagination of a man’s mind. Perhaps no other factor of success contributes more to personal achievement than does creativity.
—Dick Tooker
CRIME
The American people are the worst criminals in the world. Astounding as that assertion is, it is true. Cleveland, Ohio, has six times as many murders as London. It has 170 times as many robberies, according to its population, as has London. More people are robbed every year, or assaulted with intent to rob, in Cleveland than in all England, Scotland, and Wales combined. More people are murdered every year in St. Louis than in all England and Wales. There are more murders in New York City than in all France or Germany or Italy or the British Isles. The sad truth of the matter is that the criminal is not punished. If you commit a murder, there is less than one chance in a hundred that you will ever be executed for it. You, as a peaceful citizen, are ten times as liable to die from cancer as you would be to be hanged if you shot a man.
—Paul Gibbons
CRISIS
The Chinese character for crisis consists of two characters. The top character means danger, and the bottom character means opportunity.
CRITICISM
The best rule of thumb is to remember, if you can’t be big, don’t belittle.
—Teen Esteem
Think of your own faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and of the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep.
—Chinese proverb
Make no judgments where you have no compassion.
—Anne McCaffrey
Joseph Parker, a Congregationalist pastor, was approached after a church service by a man who criticized a minor point in the sermon.
Parker listened patiently and then asked, “And what else did you get from the message?” The critic was silenced.
If you feel constrained to look for faults, use a mirror, not a telescope.
There’s so much good in the worst of us
And so much bad in the best of us
That it ill behooves the best of us
To criticize the rest of us.
Running down our friends is the quickest way to run them off.
—William Arthur Ward
I hate the guys
Who minimize and criticize
The other guys
Whose enterprise
Has made them rise
Above the guys who criticize.
—Leslie B. Flynn
Most people don’t object to criticism if it’s favorable.
A Quaker had a mean cow. One time when he was milking her, she swished her tail right in his face. Then she stepped on his toe. Then when he had the pail almost filled with milk, she stepped right in the pail. Then when he finished milking her, she kicked him several yards away.
He said to the cow, “Thou knowest I am a Quaker. And thou knowest I cannot hit thee. But I can sell thee to a Baptist.”
I am …
You are …
He is …
slender
thin
skinny
a perfectionist
neat
fussy
frank
candid
blunt
concerned
innovative
full of new ideas
conservative
old-fashioned
out-of-date
philosophical
daydreamer
an escapist
flexible
easygoing
missing a backbone
humble
modest
suffering from an inferiority complex
well filled out
pleasingly plump
fat
a spectator of life
not involved
out in left field
aware of my worth
proud
conceited
relaxed
feeling no pain
drunk
firm
obstinate
pigheaded
a collector of rare art
interested in antiques
crazy about old junk
—Georgia Ramay
Linus had his security blanket in place and his thumb resting safely in his mouth, but he was troubled. Turning to Lucy, who was sitting next to him, he asked, “Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?”
Her response was typical: “I just think I have a knack for seeing other people’s faults.”
Exasperated, Linus threw his hands up and asked, “What about your own faults?”
Without hesitation, Lucy explained, “I have a knack for overlooking them.”
I do not resent criticism, even when, for the sake of emphasis, it parts for a time with reality.
—Winston Churchill
When he moved to London, Spurgeon had an unknown critic who sent him a weekly postcard listing the grammatical errors and other mistakes in each week’s sermons. Spurgeon considered the service a kindness.
But grammatical errors and vicious criticism are two different things. A stab in the back is a far cry from a note on a postcard.
I stopped criticizing my wife’s cooking after her very first meal. I said, “How come you don’t make the kind of pie filling my mother used to make?” And she said, “How come you don’t make the kind of dough my father used to make?”
—Bob Orben
In the early days of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was severely criticized by General Whiting. It might have been expected that Lee would seize any opportunity to get even with Whiting. The opportunity presented itself when Jefferson Davis called Lee in for consultation.
Davis wanted to know what Lee thought of General Whiting. Without hesitation Lee commended him in high terms and called him one of the ablest men in the army. Afterwards, a fellow officer took Lee aside and wanted to know why he had not told Davis the things Whiting had said about him.
Lee answered, “It was my understanding that the President wanted to know my opinion of Whiting, not Whiting’s opinion of me.”
—Bits & Pieces
The quickest way to get in water over your head is to tell someone he’s all wet.
—William Arthur Ward
Whatever you dislike in another person, be sure to correct in yourself.
Don’t give anyone a piece of your mind; you need it all yourself.
Some people will slap you on the back behind your face and then slap you in the face behind your back.
Twice I did good,
and heard it never;
Once I did evil,
and heard it ever.
The wife of a hard-to-please husband was determined to try her best to satisfy him for just one day. “Darling,” she asked, “what would you like for breakfast this morning?” He growled, “Coffee and toast, grits and sausage, and two eggs—one scrambled and one fried.” She soon had the food on the table and waited for a word of praise. After a quick glance, he exclaimed, “Well, if you didn’t scramble the wrong egg!”
—Maranatha Magazine
It is often our own imperfection which makes us reprove the imperfection of others—a sharp-sighted self-love of our own which cannot pardon the self-love of others.
—François Fénelon
A woman was highly critical of her neighbor’s windows. She claimed that they were always dirty. One day, after complaining about them to a friend, the visitor encouraged her to wash her own windows. She followed the advice, and the next time her friend came to see her, she exclaimed, “I can’t believe it. As soon as I washed my windows, my neighbor must have cleaned hers too. Look at them shine.”
Criticism is something we can avoid easily—by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
—Aristotle
God uses critics in our lives
To help us see our pride,
To teach us true humility,
To change us from inside.
A man once approached Charles M. Alexander, R. A. Torrey’s song leader, and said, “I believe in trying to win men to Christ, but I don’t like your methods.”
“I don’t like them very well either,” Mr. Alexander replied. “Tell me, how do you do it?”
The man hesitated, his face got red, and he finally stammered, “Well—I’m not sure that I do it at all.”
“In that case,” Mr. Alexander replied, “I like my way better than yours.”
To be ridiculed may give us communion with the Lord Jesus, but to ridicule others will place us in fellowship with His persecutors.
—Charles H. Spurgeon
Confess your own sins, not your neighbors’. The greatest fault is to be conscious of none but other peoples’.
—Thomas Carlyle
A man was constantly complaining about the members of his church. Finally one of them, who was his friend, said, “Wait a minute. You have faults too, don’t you?” “I guess so,” came the reply. “Nobody’s perfect.” “Well, don’t we have a right to make a few mistakes too?” “Yes,” was the response. The other man continued, “Let’s say you have three faults. There are six hundred members in our church, and suppose each of them has three—that’s eighteen hundred faults. Do you think our church would be any better if everyone were just like you?” “I see what you mean,” said the complainer. “I realize now that I’ve been much too critical.”
The rule of carving holds good as to criticism; never cut with a knife what you can cut with a spoon.
—Charles Buxton
He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
—Abraham Lincoln
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone who is tempted to point a finger would instead hold out a helping hand?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find wealth as easily as we find fault? We would all be rich.
—Apples of Gold
A father and his son took a donkey to the market. The man sat on the beast and the boy walked. People along the way said, “What a terrible thing, a big strong fellow sitting on the donkey’s back while the youngster has to walk.” So the father dismounted and the son took his place. Soon onlookers remarked, “How terrible, this man walking and the little boy sitting.” At that, they both got on the donkey’s back—only to hear others say, “How cruel, two people sitting on one donkey.” Off they came. But other bystanders commented, “How crazy, the donkey has nothing on his back and two people are walking.” Finally they were both carrying the donkey. They never did make it to the market.
People who try to whittle you down are only trying to reduce you to their size.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, had a good method for handling all criticisms directed at himself. No matter how unfair the criticism might seem to be, he would always take it into his prayer closet and in effect spread it before the Lord. Then he would say, “Lord, please show me the kernel of truth hidden in this criticism.”
It is easy to be critical. The real test is to come up with constructive alternatives.
I praise loudly; I blame softly.
—Catherine II
The goal of criticism is to leave the person with the feeling that he’s been helped.
Wanted—Christians who overlook their brothers’ and sisters’ faults as easily as they do their own.
Thank not those faithful who praise all your words and actions, but those who kindly reprove your faults.
—Plato
The only way to live happily with people is to overlook their faults and admire their virtues.
—Bits & Pieces
Whatever you have to say to people be sure to say it in words that will cause them to smile and you will be on pretty safe ground. And when you do find it necessary to criticize someone, put your criticism in the form of a question which the other fellow is practically sure to have to answer in a manner that he becomes his own critic.
—John Wanamaker
You shouldn’t criticize your wife’s judgment … look whom she married.
If the only way I can make myself look good is to criticize you, something is seriously wrong with me.
—Warren W. Wiersbe
If people speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them.
—Plato
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
—Cicero
If what they are saying about you is true, mend your ways. If it isn’t true, forget it, and go on and serve the Lord.
—H. A. Ironside
Lady Astor to Churchill, “You are drunk.” Churchill said to her, “You are ugly.” Then he added, “But tomorrow I’ll be sober.”
A woman said, “Sometimes I wake up grouchy.” And then she added, “But sometimes I let him sleep.”
Constructive criticism is when I criticize you; destructive criticism is when you criticize me.
That criticism is best which sounds like an explanation.
John was driving home late one night when he picked up a hitchhiker. As they rode along, he began to be suspicious of his passenger. John checked to see if his wallet was safe in the pocket of his coat that was on the seat between them, but it wasn’t there. So he slammed on the brakes, ordered the hitchhiker out, and said, “Hand over the wallet immediately.” The frightened hitchhiker handed over a billfold, and John drove off. When he arrived home, he started to tell his wife about the experience, but she interrupted him, saying, “Before I forget, John, do you know that you left your wallet at home this morning?”
Bishop Potter of New York was sailing for Europe in one of the great transatlantic ocean liners. When he went on board, he found another passenger was to share the cabin with him. After going to see the accommodations, he came up to the purser’s desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship’s safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other berth and, judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person. The purser accepted the responsibility for the valuables and remarked, “It’s all right, Bishop, I’ll be very glad to take care of them for you. The other man has been up here and left his for the same reason.”
—H. A. Ironside
A husband and wife were arguing about an investment the husband wanted to make. In the midst of it, he pointed out that men had better judgment than women.
“Well, I guess you’re right,” replied the wife. “You married me and I married you.”
—Bits & Pieces
College professor: “Such rawness in a student is a shame; poor high school preparation is to blame.”
High school principal: “It’s plain to see the boy’s a perfect fool. The fault lies strictly with the grammar school.”
Grammar school teacher: “I would that from such dolts I might be spared; they send them up to me so unprepared.”
Kindergarten teacher: “Ne’er such a lack of training did I see. What sort of person can that mother be?”
Mother: “You stupid child. But then, you’re not to blame; your father’s folks I know are all the same.”
—Our Daily Bread
Though sticks and stones inflict great pain,
Their hurt will fade away;
But just one sharp and biting word
Brings harm that comes to stay.
The builders of the Panama Canal faced enormous obstacles of geography, climate, and disease. Most of the construction was supervised by Colonel George Washington Goethals. He had to endure severe criticism from many back home who predicted that he would never complete the “impossible task.” But the great engineer was resolute and pressed steadily forward in his work without responding to those who opposed him. “Aren’t you going to answer your critics?” a subordinate inquired. “In time,” Goethals replied. “How?” the man asked. “With the canal.” And his answer came on August 15, 1914, when the canal opened to traffic for the first time.
If you’ve done big things in life you must expect to have excited some criticism. It’s only people who’ve done precious little who get no criticism at all.
—Margaret Thatcher
The horse one cannot have has every fault.
—Danish proverb
A husband was critical of his wife who was hard of hearing. When she was seated away from him, he stood several feet from behind her and said, “Can you hear me?” He heard no answer so he moved a few feet closer and asked again, “Can you hear me?” He heard no response so he said it a third time, and then just behind her a fourth time. She turned and said, “For the fourth time, yes.”
The Wrecking Crew
I stood on the street of a busy town
Watching men tearing a building down;
With a “ho, heave, ho,” and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and a side wall fell.
I asked the foreman of the crew,
“Are those men as skilled as those you’d
Hire if you wanted to build?”
“Ah, no,” he said, “no indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.
“I can tear down as much in a day or two
As would take skilled men a year to do.”
And then I thought as I went my way,
Just which of these two roles am I trying to play?
Have I walked life’s road with care
Measuring each deed with rule and square?
Or am I one of those who roam the town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply, “You are wrong.” This method works every time.
—Henry C. Link
If a man calls you a donkey, don’t worry about it. If two men call you a donkey, get your saddle.
—Yiddish proverb
Do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you’ll be criticized anyway.
—Eleanor Roosevelt
Maturity begins when we’re content to feel we’re right about something, without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong.
—Sidney Harris
If the criticism is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, do not be irritated by it; if justified, learn by it.
Great is the man who can accept criticism. Greater yet is he who welcomes it. But greatest of all is he who knows how to administer it in a spirit of love and sensitivity, without causing pain and chagrin.
—Rabbi Norman Lamm
Criticism has never killed anything that should live, and flattery has never made anything live that must die.
—Vicomte Chateaubriand
A leader is easy to recognize. He is the one with the arrows in his back.
Booker T. Washington once said, “You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.”
Just stand aside, and watch yourself go by;
Think of yourself, as “he” instead of “I.”
Pick flaws, find fault, forget the man is you,
And strive to make your estimate ring true.
The faults of others then will dwarf and shrink.
Love’s chain grows stronger by one mighty link,
When you with “he” as substitute for “I,”
Have stood aside, and watched yourself go by.
—Strickland W. Gillilan
If I tried to answer all the criticisms of me and all the attacks leveled at me, this office would be closed to all other business. My job is not pleasing men, but doing the best I can. If in the end I am found to be wrong, ten legions of angels swearing I was right will not help me; but if the end proves me to have been right, then all that is said about me now will amount to nothing.
—Abraham Lincoln
Never insult an alligator until you’ve crossed the river.
—Cordell Hull
Don’t tell me what I do right. I know that. What I need to know is what I do wrong.
—Albert Einstein
When you point your finger accusingly at someone else, remember you have three fingers pointing at you.
It is easy to find fault but hard to find what to do with it.
A local newspaper had a small boxed-off section with these sarcastic comments from an irritated editor: “If you find errors in this publication, please consider that they are there for a purpose. We publish something for everyone, and some people are always looking for mistakes.”
He is always the severest censor of the merits of others who has the least worth of his own.
—E. L. Magoon
Two taxidermists stopped before a window in which an owl was on display. They immediately began to criticize the way it was mounted. Its eyes were not natural; its wings were not neatly arranged; and its feet could be improved. When they had finished with their criticism, the old owl turned his head … and winked at them.
—Pulpit Helps
The small man flies into a rage over the slightest criticism, but the wise man is eager to learn from those who have censured him and reproved him.
—Dale Carnegie
President Lincoln once issued orders transferring certain men, and the order should, by rights, have come from his secretary of war, Edward M. Stanton. When Stanton received the order, he refused to carry it out and told anybody who would listen what he thought of the President and ended by calling him a fool.
Then Lincoln said, “If Stanton said I am a fool, then I must be, for he is nearly always right. I’ll just go see for myself.” After he talked with secretary Stanton, Lincoln became convinced that Stanton was right and he was wrong; so he withdrew the order.
When the other fellow is despiteful, he’s ugly … when you act that way, it’s just your nerves.
When the other fellow is set in his ways, he’s obstinate … when you are, it’s just firmness.
When the other fellow spends a lot of money, he’s extravagant … but when you do, it’s just generosity.
When the other fellow picks flaws in things, he’s cranky … when you do, you’re just discriminating.
When the other fellow says what he thinks, he’s spiteful or judging … but when you do, you’re just being frank.
When the other fellow doesn’t like your friend, he’s “prejudiced” … but when you don’t like his friend, you are simply showing that you are a good judge of human nature.
The unfortunate thing about constructive criticism is that nobody really appreciates it as much as the one who’s giving it.
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain—and most fools do.
—Benjamin Franklin
If evil be said of thee and it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.
—Epictetus
CROSS
When George Nixon Briggs was governor of Massachusetts, three of his friends visited the Holy Land. While they were there, they climbed Golgotha’s slope and cut from the summit a small stick to be used as a cane. On their return they presented it to the governor, saying, “We want you to know that when we stood on Calvary, we remembered you.” He accepted the gift with gratitude and courtesy but tenderly remarked, “I appreciate your consideration of me, gentlemen, but I am still more thankful for Another who thought of me there.”
Johann von Goethe said there are four things he hates: tobacco smoke, lice, garlic, and the cross.
Some missionaries were talking about Christianity to Mahatma Gandhi. He said to them, “What hymn would you suggest to me which summarizes what you believe?” They conferred for a while and then said, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
There is a great difference between realizing, “On that cross He was crucified for me,” and “On that cross I am crucified with Him.” The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.
—John Gregory Mantle
CURIOSITY
I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious.
—Albert Einstein
CYNICISM
The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.
—Theodore Roosevelt