Scouting
"The Boy Scouts of America has something going for it that all the government welfare programs in America can't match: success. Besides families and religion, Scouting is probably this country's single best program for building character in boys, and has been for nearly a century."
—The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
"The wilderness is gone, the buckskin man is gone, the painted Indian has hit the trail over the Great Divide, the hardships and privations of pioneer life which did so much to develop sterling manhood are now but a legend in history, and we must depend upon the Boy Scout movement to produce the MEN of the future."
—ca 1915, Daniel Carter Beard (1850-1941),
Founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone & a Founder of the Boy Scouts of America
"Who hath smelt wood-smoke at twilight? Who hath heard the birch-log burning? Who is quick to read the noises of the night? Let him follow with the others, for the young men's feet are turning to the camps of proved desire and known delight!"
—"The Feet of the Young Men" (1897), Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), author/poet
and a friend of Baden-Powell (Baden-Powell used his 'Jungle Book' stories as the
basis of Cub Scouting)
"This is the trail that the Scout shall know
Where knightly qualities thrive and grow;
The trail of honor and truth and worth
And the strength that springs from the good brown earth;
The trail that Scouts, in their seeking, blaze
Through the toughest tangle, the deepest maze,
Till out of Boyhood the Scout comes straight
To Manhood's splendid and high estate!"
—"The Scout Trail" (1925), Berton Braley (1882-1966), American poet
[appeared at the bottom of Norman Rockwell's 1939 painting "The Scouting Trail"]
National Service
[Information and quote from the Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2012]
Since Eagle Scouts were first required to lead a service project in 1965, Eagles have contributed over 100 million hours of service to the nation, and they continue to add over three million more hours every year. "Those numbers likely make the Eagle Scout service project the single greatest youth service initiative in history, and one that has touched every community in America in an important way."
Inspiring
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
—Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), General & 34th President
"One man with courage makes a majority."
—Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), General & 7th President
"The highest of distinctions is service to others."
—King George VI (1895-1952; reigned 1936-52)
[subject of the 2010 movie, "The King's Speech"]
"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
—Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong (1930-2012),
first person on the Moon (July 20, 1969)
[Even the Lunar Module that landed on the moon was called 'Eagle'.]
"Whatever you are, be a good one."
—Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President
"If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage."
—Confucius (551-479 BCE), Chinese philosopher
"Excelsior" [Ever upward]
—Motto of state of New York
"Never, never, never, never give up."
—Attributed to Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British Prime Minister &
statesman, honorary American citizen [speech to boys of Harrow (his old school)
in 1941: "Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never...."]
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing you can do is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet & essayist
"It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys."
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944),
French pilot & author of The Little Prince [Le Petit Prince])
"Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone"
—Carousel, "You'll Never Walk Alone" (1945), Rogers and Hammerstein
[Richard Rogers (1902-1979) & Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960)]
"Climb every mountain, Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, Till you find your dream."
—Sound of Music, "Climb Every Mountain" (1959), Rogers and Hammerstein
[Richard Rogers (1902-1979) & Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960)]
"The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self."
—Fred McFeely Rogers (1928-2003), American educator & Presbyterian minister;
creator & host of TV show "Mr Rogers' Neighborhood" (1968-2001)
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
—"The Road Not Taken" (1920), Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet
"It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
—maxim widely attributed, author uncertain, but probably ultimately deriving
from: "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that
shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."
—The Bible (Proverbs 17:28)
"Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended."
—Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),
US author, diplomat, inventor, scientist, politician, & printer
"Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice."
—Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American Founding Father; writer, political
pamphleteer
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
—Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998),
J.K. Rowling (b.1965)
"Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."
—John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President, inaugural address (1961)
"I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. ...
Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree."
—"Trees" (1913), (Alfred) Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918, American poet;
killed by a sniper in World War I, age 31)
And for those of us lucky enough to live in Colorado:
"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!"
—Katharine Lee Bates, inspired by an 1893 visit to Colorado and the view
from Pikes Peak, while teaching a summer course at Colorado College
Amusing (and sometimes inspiring)
We have two ends with a common link,
With one we sit, and with one we think.
Success depends on which you choose,
Heads you win; tails you lose.
—Author Unknown
as quoted in the book, The Scoutmaster Minute, by Ron Wendel, 2005
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."
—Charles Schultz (1922-2000), cartoonist (Snoopy, Charlie Brown, etc)
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
—Mark Twain (1835-1910)
"When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home."
—Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), American writer
"Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."
—Plato (~429-347 BCE)
"Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,—..."
"Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire, burn; and, caldron, bubble."
—William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I
[used in a cooking-related issue]
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
—Will Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
—Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American Founding Father; writer, political
pamphleteer
"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."
—Mark Twain (1835-1910)
'Food' for thought:
"The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
—Author Unknown
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito."
—African proverb
Perhaps for a Backpacking Checklist
"Not all those who wander are lost"
—J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973),
The Lord of the Rings/The Fellowship of the Ring [the book, not the movie]
"With your equipment you will have a trowel, and when you squat outside, you shall scrape a hole with it and then turn and cover your excrement."
—The Bible (Deuteronomy 23:13)
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
—attributed to Lao-tzu (c 604-c 531 BCE), founder of Taoism
"There ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."
—Mark Twain (1835-1910)
If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
—Yogi Berra (b. 1925), famous 'wordsmith' and catcher (#8) for the NY Yankees
Perhaps for your Newsletter
"Lector intende: laetaberis." ["Reader, pay attention: you will enjoy yourself."]
—"Metamorphoses", Apuleius (d. ca 180), Roman humorist
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