“An artist discovers his genius the day he dares not to please.” – Andre Malraux, novelist, adventurer, art historian, and statesman (3 Nov 1901-1976)
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Thought For the Day: An Artist Discovers His Genius the Day He Dares Not To Please
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Tagged Andre Malraux, Artist, Dare, Day, Genius, Please, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: The Time To Guard Against Corruption and Tyranny, Is Before They Have Gotten Hold On Us
“The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.” – Thomas Jefferson (1781)
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Tagged Corruption, Enter, First Principles, Fold, Guard, Hold, Talons, Teeth, Thomas Jefferson, Time, Tyranny, Wolf
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Thought For the Day: The Very Word ‘Secrecy’ Is Repugnant In A Free and Open Society
“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.” – John F. Kennedy
Thought For the Day: Ten Million Ignorances Do Not Constitute One Knowledge
“Ten million ignorances do not constitute one knowledge.” – Clemens von Metternich (1773-1859)
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Tagged Clemens von Metternich, Constitute, Ignorance, Knowledge, One, Ten Million, Thought For the Day
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A Quiet Reflection On This November Day
A Quiet Reflection On This November Day
by Michael Doyle
What is a poem really but to say
That love, joy and sorrow come to play
In the heart and then inside the mind
Until the words burst out to find
The light of day in all that we seek
Sometimes quietly as if to only peek
And other times just a bit loudly
As a poet shouts out strong and proudly
Eureka, I have found my best intention
And given it quite the very attention
That it deserved to have shaping it
With ease and them in a startled fit
Until I found the confidence so needed
And then carefully tended and heeded
Until at last I harvest these words to all
To sit back, with swirled taste and recall
That the best of poetry comes with ease
And in the sequence waiting to please
The discerning ear until it finds the heart
And there it will stay, never to depart
But like love and smile to be shared
With all past and present who have cared
To tell the truths as we have all have seen
In living the lives of us as human beings
(c) November 1, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Attention, Cared, Confidence, Deserve, Discern, Ease, Eureka, Find, Fit, Harvest, Heart, Heed, Human Beings, Intention, Joy, Light of Day, Lives, Loud, Love, Mind, November, Past, Peek, Play, Please, Poem, Poetry and Poems, Present, Proud, Quiet Reflection, Recall, Say, Seen, Shape, Shared, Smile, Sorrow, Truths, Week, Words
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First Principles: Let Each Citizen Remember At the Moment He Is Offering His Vote That…He Is Executing One of the Most Solemn Trusts In Human Society
“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.” – Samuel Adams (1781)
Remember this reference to he and his is in the context of a historical period of time from which humanity in its freedom and liberty has advanced. This should now be seen as applying, of course, to women as well. It is not proper to judge a time out of the context of its contemporary manners or mores. But is entirely proper to know that this principle applies to all in the pending elections.
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Tagged Accountable, Citizen, Compliment, Country, First Principles, God, Human Society, Individual, Moment, Present, Remember, Samuel Adams, Solemn Trust, Vote
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Currents of the Riptide
Currents of the Riptide
by Michael Doyle
On the tip of the continent's ledge
I stand and touch the water's edge
In the memory of those who came before
And will never surf any more
The rides that they once sought
All of the battles that they have fought
Against the currents of the riptide
Across the face of waves they would slide
Standing confident in their reveries
They remain content in their memories
The others that have come and gone
Yet, their legacy will forever live on
In the eyes and hearts of every child
Who as the discipline to tame the wild
If only for moments under their feet
As the hands of Neptune, they rise to meet
The powers held with the ocean
They bring currency to this emotion
Charged with the adrenaline kick into tomorrow
That takes away every still-born sorrow
(c) October 31, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Adrenaline, Battles, Child, Confident, Content, Continent, Currency, Currents, Emotion, Face of Waves, Feet, Fought, Ledge, Legacy, Memories, Memory, Neptune, Ocean, Poetry and Poems, Powers, Reveries, Rides, Riptide, Sorrow, Sought, Surf, Tame, Tomorrow, Water's Edge, Wild
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Thought For the Day: The Short Memories of the American Voters Is What Keeps Our Politicians In Office
“The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” – Will Rogers (1879-1935)
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Tagged American, Keeps, Office, Politicians, Short Memories, Thought For the Day, Voters, Will Rogers
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First Principles: Nothing Is More Certain Than That A General Profligacy and Corruption of Manners Make A People Ripe For Destruction
“Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction.” – John Witherspoon (1776
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Tagged Certain, Corruption of Manners, Destruction, First Principles, General Profligacy, John Witherspoon, People, Ripe
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Imaginary Friend
Imaginary Friend
by Michael Doyle
In the eternal sense of voice
That I believed was a choice
A deviance disguised as free will
Is but an illusion and was never real
I made up my imaginary friend
That one on whom I could depend
Telling myself faith was clever
And could take through every endeavor
Now as the waves lap on the shore
I've come to see clearer for evermore
Chased by waves that conspire
To return as if remembered desires
There lies the the place we'll meet again
Me, that is, and my imaginary friend
Laying down to rest and sleep
Mine is the soul that will not keep
Frightened by who I might become
Judged as I am for what I've done
It is in this secret place of regret
That blurred lines are the passage we'll forget
Is this the now, back to the beginning
To that place we thought we were winning
It's exactly where we might need to be
Remembered as we are in wished for possibility
Somewhere in the place of the fighting chance
Where the way out gets its second glance
Too many paths lead to found extinction
This brutality is one without distinction
This cannot be let to happen ever again
This is the duality of me and my imaginary friend
There is work yet that must be done
And the path forward has only just begun
(c) October 30, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Believe, Blurred Lines, Choice, Clever, Conspire, Depend, Desire, Distinction, Duality, Endeavor, Eternal, Extinction, Faith, Fighting Chance, Free Will, Happen, Illusion, Imaginary Friend, Keep, Passage, Place, Poetry and Poems, Regret, Second Glance, Shore, Sleep, Soul, Voice, Waves
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