Love & Romance

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul. (Judy Garland)

So these three things remain:  Faith, Hope, and Love.  But the best one of these is Love. (1 Cor 13:13)

Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman. (Joseph Joubert)

Christ died because of Sin; He rose because of Love.

Love is more important than anything else. (Coloss 3:14)

A lot of people wonder how you know if you're really in love. Just ask yourself this one question: "Would I mind being  destroyed financially by this person?"

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties

My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce; murder, yes, but divorce, never. (Jack Benny)

It is a risk to love. 
What if it doesn't work out?
Ah, but what if it does...
(Peter McWilliams)

Our goodness derives not from our capacity to think but to love. (St. Teresa of Avila)

If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I feel it can only be explained by replying: 'Because it was he; because it was me.' (Montaigne)

My soul is so knit to yours that it is but a divided life I live without you. (George Eliot)

I learnt a long time ago that the only people who count in any marriage are the two that are in it. (Hillary Rodham Clinton)

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. That is what makes a marriage last - more than passion or even sex! (Simone Signoret)

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. (Plato)

Men who treat women as helpless and charming playthings deserve women who treat men as delightful and generous bank accounts. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. (Franklin P. Jones)

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Marriage is a lot like the army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number that reenlist. (James Garner)

A man is only as old as the woman he feels. (Groucho Marx)

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Even when there's snow on the roof, there may be a fire in the furnace.

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. (Bill Wilson)

Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. (Mark Twain)

Men of quality are not afraid of women for equality.

Don't cry for a man who's left you - the next one may fall for your smile. (Mae West)

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.

All real love stories must end with "happily ever after."

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell. (Joan Crawford  )

Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times.

A small house can hold as much love as a big one.

I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox. (Woody Allen)

A husband who thinks he's smarter than his wife is married to a very smart woman.

If you seek a model husband, be sure he's a working model.

A good marriage requires a determination to be married for good.

Romance is cooking a gourmet meal for your wife. Love is washing the dishes afterward.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. (William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Immature love says "I love you because I need you." Mature love says "I need you because I love you."

Love is being willing to say you're sorry, first.

O, 'tis love, 'tis love, that makes the world go round! (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

On any disagreement, the husband should be entitled to the last few words. And those words are "Yes, dear."

Marriage is an exercise that works every muscle in the human spirit.

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Love wasn't put into your heart to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away. (Michael W. Smith)

Love is the irresistible desire to be desired irresistibly. (Louis Ginsberg)

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other... Now you are but two persons, but there is one life before you. (Traditional Apache Wedding Blessing)

I ran up the door, closed the stairs,

said my pajamas and put on my prayers,

turned off my bed, and jumped into the light...

all because you kissed me goodnight.

We can do no great things - only small things with great love. (Mother Theresa)

The measure of love is to love without measure.

In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, grounds for marriage. (Robert Anderson)

Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without. (Dr. James C. Dobson)

More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. (Doug Larson)

The average woman would rather have beauty than brains because the average man can see better than he can think.

Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come ninety percent of all your happiness or misery. (Jackson Brown, Jr.)

Judge your success by the happiness of your wife and the respect given to you by your children.

Never forget the nine most important words of any marriage: "I love you," "You are beautiful," and "Please forgive me."

Men are like fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's our job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you'd like to have dinner with.

I think the bottom-line difference between being single and married is this: When you're single, you're happy as you are. When you're married, you can only be as happy as the least happy person in the apartment. (Tom Hertz)

Face powder may win a husband, but it takes baking powder to keep him.

This is the reason we were made

To know the love of our Creator

And to give the love He's given us away

(Steven Curtis Chapman, All About Love)

When choosing a man to date, always consider whether this is the kind of man you would like to marry. If he isn't potential marriage material, you shouldn't be dating him. (my Mom)

Some pray to marry the man they love,

My prayer will somewhat vary:

I humbly pray to Heaven above

That I love the man I marry.

(Rose Pastor Stokes, "My Prayer")

Love is friendship set on fire.

Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got, and fifty percent what people think you've got. (Sophia Loren)

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. (George Sand)

The first marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. The second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. The third marriage is the triumph of stupidity.

A poll shows women think men are sexiest playing football. And they're at their least sexy watching football. (Jay Leno)

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.... She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. (Proverbs 10, 25)

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. (Ingrid Bergman)

There is no sight on Earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves. (Thomas Wolfe)

I still have two abiding passions; one is my model railway, the other women. But at the age of 90, I find I am getting just a little too old for model railways. (Pierre Monteux, conductor, on turning 90)

I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since. (Arturuo Toscanini)

Keep thy eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards. (Benjamin Franklin)

A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you. (Francoise Sagan)

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. (Buddha)

The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for. (Sophia Loren)

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more. (Erica Jong)

The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy. (Persian Proverb)

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once.

We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, and hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value. Because we... are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives. (Unknown)

A man's greatest blessing is a sympathetic wife.

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.

The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.  (Bill Cosby)

My wife and I were comparing notes the other day. “I have a higher IQ, did better on my SATs and make more money than you,” she pointed out. “Yeah, but when you step back and look at the big picture, I’m still ahead,” I said. She looked mystified. “I married better,” I replied. (Louis Rodolico, from Reader’s Digest)

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." Jareth, from the Labyrinth

Whenever you want to marry someone, go have lunch with his ex-wife. (Shelley Winters)

To love, purely and fiercely, without agenda, is the most terrifying and rewarding thing you'll ever do. (Gala Darling)

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

The Difference Between "Men" and "Guys"

-Men know what they want to be doing five years down the road. Guys are not sure what they want to be doing later tonight.

-Men claim to be feminists but still insist on opening doors, driving, and paying for dinner. Guys claim to be feminists so they can let women open doors, drive, and pay for dinner.

-Men are afraid of becoming their fathers. Guys are afraid of becoming men.

-Men order wine based on more than the price. Guys bring their own beer.

Friendship

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

The perfect friend sees the best in you - sees it constantly - not just when you occasionally are that way, but also when you waver, when you forget yourself, act like less than you are.  In time, you become more like his vision of you - which is the person you have always wanted to be. (Nancy Friday)

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. (Dr. John Maxwell)

You cannot touch your neighbor's heart with anything less than your own.

May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends. (Irish Blessing)

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

Don't think that this is a letter. It is only a small eruption of a disease called friendship. (Jean Renoir)

Friendship multiplies our joys and divides our grief.

If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back. (Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity)

Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. (Jean Anouilh)

I set out to find a friend but couldn't find one; I set out to be a friend, and friends were everywhere.

Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience, and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration. (W. Somerset Maugham)

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. (Grace Pulpit)

Friendship is stopping to listen when you have a lot to say.

A true friend will remember your birthday but will forget how many birthdays you've had.

Friendship fills up all those little ruts in life's road.

Treat your friends like family and your family like friends.

A hug is a perfect gift - one size fits all and nobody minds if you give it back.

Be grateful for the doors of opportunity - and for friends who oil the hinges.

No one is rich enough to do without a neighbor. (Danish Proverb)

A friend is one before whom I may think aloud. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Be a friend to thyself, and others will be so too. (Thomas Fuller)

There are some people who pass through your life like a butterfly. They rarely make contact and then are quickly gone. There are those who pass through your life as fellow travelers. They sit and talk for awhile on the airplane, but upon touchdown, they drift away toward their own destinations. Then there are people who pass through your life and set up camp. They work with you, share with you, borrow from you, care about you. These are the kind that give meaning to life.

Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts. (Margaret Lee Runbeck)

A best friend is a sister that destiny forgot to give you.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry with your girlfriends. (Laurie Kuslansky)

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost. (Charles Caleb Colton)

We are friends and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you and think of you very often. (Jeanette Winterson)

Strangers are friends just waiting to happen.

Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say.

He whose hand is clasped in friendship will not throw mud.

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends (Japanese Proverb)

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. (John Dunne)

"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred." Pooh thought for a little. "How old shall I be then?" "Ninety-nine." Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said. (A. A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner")

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun. (Charles Swindoll)

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. (Oprah Winfrey)

The ornament of a house is the guest who frequents it.

A true friend is someone who is there for you when they would rather be someplace else. (Len Wein)

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:12-13)

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit. (Aristotle)

If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough. (Ann Landers)

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. (Henry Ford)

A Simple Friend vs. A Real Friend

A simple friend has never seen you cry. A real friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.

A simple friend doesn't know your parents' first names. A real friend has their phone numbers in her address book.

A simple friend brings a bottle of wine to your party. A real friend comes early to help you cook and stays late to help you clean.

A simple friend hates it when you call after he has gone to bed. A real friend asks you why you took so long to call.

A simple friend seeks to talk with you about your problems. A real friend seeks to help you with your problems.

A simple friend wonders about your romantic history. A real friend could blackmail you with it.

A simple friend, when visiting, acts like a guest. A real friend opens your refrigerator and helps herself.

A simple friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument. A real friend calls you after you have a fight.

A simple friend expects you to always be there for them. A real friend expects to always be there for you.

Money, Cash, Dollars, Wealth

A fine is a tax for doing wrong.  A tax is a fine for doing well.

It doesn't matter how much you have.  What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have. (2 Cor 8:12)

It is better to give than to lend, and it costs about the same. (Sir Philip Gibbs)

Almost any man knows how to earn money, but not one in a million knows how to spend it. (Henry David Thoreau)  --No, it takes a woman to know how to spend it!

Pay your debts as they come due.  However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love you owe one another. (Romans 13:4)

How come when something tickles your fancy, it usually beats up your pocketbook?  (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Budgeting is people telling their money where to go instead of wondering where it went. (John C. Maxwell)

God loves the one who gives gladly. (2 Cor 9:7)

Debt is something you get into when you spend as much as you claim to earn. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Before borrowing money from a friend, it's wise to decide if you need the money more than you need the friend.

Just about the time you think you can make both ends meet, someone moves the ends.

When your ship finally does come in, how come the IRS is on the dock unloading it?  (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Prov 22:7)

Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant. (P.T. Barnum)

Most of us would be happy to pay as we go if only we could catch up to where we've been. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it. (William Feather)

Cheer up - birds have bills, but they sing anyway.

Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil. (Henry Fielding)

It's not your salary that makes you rich, it's your spending habits. (Charles A. Jaffe)

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. (Prov 21:20)

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. (Jonathan Swift)

No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money. (Mat 6:24)

The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means. (Sir Henry Taylor)

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. (Bertrand Russell)

Even if you have a fifteen-bedroom house, you can only sleep in one room at a time.

Earn all you can; save all you can, give all you can.

Don't wait for your ship to come in if you haven't sent one out.

The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. (Psalms 37:21)

It's easy to make a buck, it's a lot tougher to make a difference. (Tom Brokaw)

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man! (Lana Turner)

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. (Benjamin Franklin)

Very often he that his money lends

Loses both his gold and his friends.

(C. H. Spurgeon)

Still as of old, men by themselves are priced -

For thirty pieces of silver Judas sold himself, not Christ.

(Hester H. Cholmondeley)

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket. (Will Rogers)

It's not the high cost of living, but the cost of living high.

A man who loses his money, gains, at the least, experience, and sometimes, something better. (Benjamin Disraeli)

He is rich who owes nothing. (French Proverb)

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. (Henry Ford)

If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying. (Dale Carnegie)

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people He gave it to. (Dorothy Parker)

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed. (Mohandas Gandhi)

Ere you consult your fancy, consult your purse. (Benjamin Franklin)

If you can't pay for a thing, don't buy it. If you can't get paid for it, don't sell it. Do this, and you will have calm and drowsy nights, with all of the good business you have now and none of the bad. (Benjamin Franklin)

The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any. (Katherine Whitehorn)

Ultimately there is only one way to financial peace, and that is to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. (Dave Ramsey)

Self-worth is more important than net worth. (Talmadge Johnson)

It is necessary to submit to the authorities.... This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: if you owe taxes, pay taxes. (Romans 13:5-7)

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it. (Stephen Leacock)

Resolve not to be poor; whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult. (Samuel Johnson)

Our Beasts & Critters

Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. (Ann Landers)

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. (Ben Williams)

A dog is the only thing on Earth that loves you more than he loves himself. (Josh Billings)

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. (Andy Rooney)

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare, and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. (M. Acklam)

Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. (Sigmund Freud)

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. (Rita Rudner)

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. (Robert Benchley)

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. (Franklin P. Jones)

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to Heaven, and very, very few persons. (James Thurber)

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive. (Gilda Radner)

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. (Robert A. Heinlein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on Earth! (Anne Tyler)

My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. (Phil Pastoret)

Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole. (Roger Caras)

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)

Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. (Schopenhauer)

“If you are a host to your guest, be a host to his dog also.” – Russian Proverb

“Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies.” -Gene Hill

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don't.

(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.

(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.

Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

(1) eat less,

(2) don't ask for money all the time,

(3) are easier to train,

(4) normally come when called,

(5) never ask to drive the car,

(6) don't hang out with drug-using people;

(7) don't smoke or drink,

(8) don't want to wear your clothes,

(9) don't have to buy the latest fashions,

(10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and

(11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children

Lessons Learned From My Dog:

1. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

2. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

3. When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.

4. Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

5. Take naps, and stretch before rising.

6. Run, romp, and play daily.

7. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

8. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

9. On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.

10. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

11. No matter how often or severely you're scolded, don't feel guilty and pout... run right back and make friends.

12. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.

14. Be loyal.

15. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it, wherever that leads you.

16. When a person you love is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

A Toast! ... or Several...

There are silver ships,

There are gold ships,

But there are no ships

Like friendships.

Hope for the best,

Expect the worst;

Life is a play,

And we're all unrehearsed!

May the most you hope for

Be the least you will receive.

May we kiss those we please,

And please those we kiss!

May your right hand always

Be stretched out in friendship

And never in want.

May your neighbors respect you,

Trouble neglect you,

The angels protect you,

And Heaven accept you.

Here's hoping that you live forever,

And mine is the last voice you hear.

May the clouds in your life

Form only a background for

A lovely sunset.

May the Lord make your love

Increase and Overflow

For each other and

For everyone else.

(1 Thess 3:12)

A toast to bread,

For without bread,

There could be no toast.

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as you can.

(John Wesley)

Heavenly Father, bless us

And keep us all alive.

There's ten of us to dinner,

And not enough for five.

I could wish you good health,

I could wish you great wealth;

But your health could fail tomorrow,

And great wealth could bring deep sorrow.

So, I'll simply say, may God bless you!

(Theodore Roosevelt)

May you live as long as you want,

But never want as long as you live.

(Irish Blessing)

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon you face,

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

(Irish Blessing)

Nothing is nobler or more admirable

Than when two people who see eye to eye

Live together as husband and wife,

Thereby confounding their enemies

And delighting their friends.

(Homer, from The Odyssey)

May your hands be forever clasped in friendship

And your hearts forever joined in love.

May those who love us love us,

And those that don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if He doesn't turn their hearts,

May He turn their ankles,

So we'll know them by their limping.

Here's to beefsteak when you're hungry,

Whiskey when you're dry,

Greenbacks when you're busted,

And Heaven when you die!

May you have the hindsight to know

Where you've been,

The foresight to know

Where you're going,

And the insight to know

When you've gone too far.

May the Lord love us but not call us too soon.

To Life. The first half is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.

To Mother and Dad on their wedding anniversary:

We never know the love of our parents

For us till we have become parents.

(Henry Ward Beecher)

May we always have more occasion for the cook than for the doctor.

May our house always be too small to hold all our friends. (Myrtle Reed)

Here's champagne to our real friends and real pain to our sham friends.

May you never forget what is worth remembering

or remember what is best forgotten.

Here's to your health! You make age curious, Time furious, and all of us envious.

May blessings be upon your house,

Your roof and hearth and walls;

May there be lights to welcome you

When evening's shadow falls-

The love that like a guiding star

Still signals when you roam;

A book, a friend - these be the things

That make a house a home.

(Myrtle Reed)

To our host,

An excellent man;

For is not a man

Fairly judged by the

Company he keeps?

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back,

the sun shine warm upon your face,

the rain fall soft upon your fields,

and until we meet again

may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Up wi' yer glasses, an' deil tak the hindmaist!

Here's to those who love us,

And here's to those who don't

A smile for those who are willing to,

And a tear for those who won't.

Some hae meat and cannae eat,
Some would eat that want it.
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
(Robert Burns)

Here's to Cheating, Stealing, Fighting, and Drinking.
If you Cheat, may you cheat Death;
If you Steal, may you steal a woman's heart;
If you Fight, may you fight for a brother;
If you Drink, may you drink with me.

'Cheers', translated

Prosit (Austrian, German)

L'chayim, Mazel tov (Hebrew)

A votre sante (French)

Okole maluna (Hawaiian)

Kampai, Banzai (Japanese)

Salud (Spanish)

Slante (Gaelic)

Oogy wawa (Zulu)

Patriotism, War, & Politics

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which It stands, One Nation Under God, with Liberty and Justice for All. (James B. Upham and F. M. Bellamy)

Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally, I know she is better than every other country. (Sinclair Lewis)

America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there. (Lawrence J. Peter)

The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good my religion. (Thomas Paine)

I fear that all I have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve. (Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941)

We will not give in to terrorists; we will not rest until they are found and defeated; we will win this struggle. Not for glory, nor wealth, nor power, but for justice, for freedom, and for peace; so help us God. (Tom Harkin)

We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence)

America and England: and may they never have any division but the Atlantic between them. (Charles Dickens)

As for those that carried out these attacks there are no adequate words of condemnation. Their barbarism will stand as their shame for all eternity. (British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on 9-11)

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. (John F. Kennedy)

America - half-brother of the world! - with something good and bad of every land. (Philip Bayley)

Being in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important. (Eugene McCarthy)

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. (John Fitzgerald Kennedy)

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that gets all the publicity. But then, we elected them. (Lily Tomlin)

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity. (Irving Kristol)

The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government. (Henry Ward Beecher)

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time. (Sir Winston Churchill)

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. (Abraham Lincoln)

When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves. (George Pataki)

We, therefore, here in Britain, stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world (Tony Blair)

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war. (Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit)

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

Being President is like running a cemetary; you've got a lot of people under you, and nobody's listening. (Bill Clinton)

We have a presidential election coming up. And I think the big problem, of course, it that someone will win. (Barry Crimmins)

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman. (Margaret Thatcher)

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Thomas Jefferson, US Declaration of Independence)

Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend. (Margaret Thatcher)

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. (Bishop Desmond Tutu)

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. (Adlai E. Stevenson)

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. (Gore Vidal)

The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. (William J. Clinton)

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)

Politics, it seems to me, for all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. (Richard Armour)

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. (Alexander Hamilton)

Politics, n: Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites" (Larry Hardiman)

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. (Gore Vidal)

Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues. (George F. Will)

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. (Jeannette Rankin)

The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. (Charles Luckman)

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. (Malcolm X)

One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one. (Agatha Christie)

Freedom is not the right to do as you please but the liberty to do as you ought.

The worst thing about history is that every time it repeats itself, the prices go up.

I believe God is deeply saddened by [the events of September 11], just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and protection if we demand He leave us alone? (Anne Graham, daughter of Billy Graham)

Obey the rulers who have authority over you.... People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done.... (Romans 13:1-2)

Koran (9:11) - For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. (George Washington)

One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation, evermore! (O. W. Holmes)

Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,

Out where the smile dwells a little longer,

That's where the West begins.

(Arthur Chapman, "Out Where the West Begins")

I believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies. (William Tyler Page)

Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. (Daniel Webster)

Government cannot make us equal; it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as equal before the law. (Clarence Thomas)

Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers. (John Jay, the first Supreme Court Justice)

The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve, nor will he ever receive, either. (Benjamin Franklin)

That government is best which governs least. (Henry David Thoreau)

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. (Charles de Gaulle)

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody. (Franklin P. Adams)

When a dog barks at the the moon, then it is religion; but when he barks at strangers, it is patriotism! (David Starr Jordan)

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the the home. (Confucious)

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death! (Patrick Henry)

Patriotism is in political life what faith is in religion. (John Dalberg Acton)

A visitor from the Netherlands was chatting with his American friend and was jokingly explaining about the red, white and blue in the Netherlands flag. "Our flag symbolizes our taxes," he said. "We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bill, and blue after we pay them." "That's the same with us," the American said, "only we see stars, too."

God bless America. Let's not forget that her greatness is not in her intellectualism, technology, or natural resources, but in her people. (Andy Horner, founder of Premier Designs)

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Patrick Henry)

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat. (George Carlin)

It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting. (Tom Stoppard)

If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have. (Gerald Ford)

War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading. (Thomas Hardy)

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom. (Malcolm X)

*Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.*
Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.
(Vegetius)

A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service. (Georges Pompidou)