Imagi-Natives: ...for an imaginative life!

[Quote No.52808] Need Area: Body > General
"[Poem:]

'The Story of Life'

Say, what is life? 'T is to be born;
A helpless Babe, to greet the light
With a sharp wail, as if the morn
Foretold a cloudy noon and night;
To weep, to sleep, and weep again,
With sunny smiles between; and then?

And then apace the infant grows
To be a laughing, puling boy,
Happy, despite his little woes,
Were he but conscious of his joy;
To be, in short, from two to ten,
A merry, moody Child; and then?

And then, in coat and trousers clad,
To learn to say the Decalogue,
And break it; an unthinking Lad,
With mirth and mischief all agog;
A truant oft by field and fen
To capture butterflies; and then?

And then, increased in strength and size,
To be, anon, a Youth full-grown;
A hero in his mother's eyes,
A young Apollo in his own;
To imitate the ways of men
In fashionable sins; and then?

And then, at last, to be a Man;
To fall in love; to woo and wed;
With seething brain to scheme and plan;
To gather gold, or toil for bread;
To sue for fame with tongue or pen,
And gain or lose the prize; and then?

And then in gray and wrinkled Eld
To mourn the speed of life's decline;
To praise the scenes his youth beheld,
And dwell in memory of Lang-Syne;
To dream awhile with darkened ken,
Then drop into his grave; and then?

" - John Godfrey Saxe
(1816-1887) [This is similar to William Shakespeare's 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players, They have their exits and entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages...' ]
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[Quote No.53495] Need Area: Money > Invest
"[Poem: about the need in life to think and act for oneself, to avoid the dangers of groupthink and herd behaviour. This is particularly important in investing when the crowd has gone 'mad' in being either irrationally-excessively greedy as the market booms or irrationally-excessively fearful as the market busts!]

'The Game Of Life; A Homily'

There's a game much in fashion, -- I think it's called Euchre
(Though I never have played it, for pleasure or lucre),
In which, when the cards are in certain conditions,
The players appear to have changed their positions,
And one of them cries, in a confident tone,
'I think I may venture to go it alone!'

While watching the game, 't is a whim of the bard's
A moral to draw from that skirmish of cards,
And to fancy he finds in the trivial strife
Some excellent hints for the battle of Life;
Where -- whether the prize be a ribbon or throne --
The winner is he who can go it alone!

When great Galileo proclaimed that the world
In a regular orbit was ceaselessly whirled,
And got -- not a convert -- for all of his pains,
But only derision and prison and chains,
'It moves, for all that!; was his answering tone,
For he knew, like the Earth, he could go it alone!

When Kepler, with intellect piercing afar,
Discovered the laws of each planet and star,
And doctors, who ought to have lauded his name,
Derided his learning, and blackened his fame,
'I can wait!' he replied, 'till the truth you shall own';
For he felt in his heart he could go it alone!

Alas! for the player who idly depends,
In the struggle of life, upon kindred or friends;
Whatever the value of blessings like these,
They can never atone for inglorious ease,
Nor comfort the coward who finds, with a groan,
That his crutches have left him to go it alone!

There's something, no doubt, in the hand you may hold,
Health, family, culture, wit, beauty, and gold
The fortunate owner may fairly regard
As, each in its way, a most excellent card;
Yet the game may be lost, with all these for your own,
Unless you've the courage to go it alone'

In battle or business, whatever the game
In law or in love, it is ever the same;
In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf,
Let this be your motto, -- Rely on yourself!
For, whether the prize be a ribbon or throne,
The victor is he who can go it alone!

" - John Godfrey Saxe
(1816 – 1887) American poet.
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[Quote No.41343] Need Area: Friends > General
"In battle or business, whatever the game, In law or in love, it is ever the same; In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf, Let this be your motto — rely on yourself!" - John Godfrey Saxe

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[Quote No.52762] Need Area: Friends > General
"[Poem:]

'The Blind Men And The Elephant'

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
And, happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl,
‘God bless me! but the elephant
Is very like a wall’

The second feeling of the tusk
Cried: ‘Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!’

The third approached the animal,
And, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:
‘I see,’ quoth he, ‘the elephant,
Is very like a snake!’

The fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee;
‘What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,’ quoth he;
‘'Tis clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree.’

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: ‘E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most.
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!’

The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
‘I see,’ quoth he, ‘the elephant
Is very like a rope!’

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

So, oft in the theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an elephant
Not one of them has seen!

" - John Godfrey Saxe

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