Tag Archives: Socrates

First Principles: Effort and Courage Are Not Enough Without Purpose and Direction

Posted on July 14, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“But effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. For, as Socrates told us, “If a man does not know to what port he is sailing, no wind is favorable.’” – John F. Kennedy

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Courage, Direction, Effort, Enough, Favor, First Principles, John F. Kennedy, Port, Purpose, Sail, Socrates, Wind | Leave a comment

First Principles: It Is Better To Make A Mistake With Full Force of Your Being Than To Carefully Avoid Mistakes With A Trembling Spirit

Posted on July 11, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“It is better to make a mistake with full force of your being than to carefully avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit.” – Socrates

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Avoid, Being, Better, First Principles, Full Force, Mistake, Socrates, Trembling Spirit | Leave a comment

First Principles: Falling Down Is Not A Failure. Failure Comes When You Stay Where You Have Fallen

Posted on November 2, 2024 by alohapromisesforever

“Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.” – Socrates I cannot help but like Socrates, who is quoted as saying that poets are the interpreters of the gods. We are not, and … Continue reading →

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Aspiration, Challenge, Come, Dust Ourselves Off, Encounters, Failure, Fallen, Falling Down, First Principles, Giving up, Gods, Grow, Growth Mindset, Humor, Interpreters, Lamp Filament, Learn, Life, Life's Journey, Mistakes, Motivation, Obstacles, Opportunity, Overcome, Perseverance, Personal Growth, Poets, React and Respond, Resilience, Rethinking, Setbacks, Significant Error, Socrates, Stay, Stepping Stones, Success, Suitable Approaches, Surrender, Think, Thomas Edison, Time To Time, Vain, Wise | Leave a comment

First Principles: Passion Never Fails to Wrest the Scepter From Reason

Posted on December 5, 2021 by alohapromisesforever

“In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason.” – James Madison (1788)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Assembly, Athenian, Avoid, Character, Citizen, Confusion, First Principles, Intemperance, James Madison, Legislative Assemblie, Limit, Mob, Multitude, Number, Passion, Reason, Scepter, Socrates, Wrest | Leave a comment

First Principles: Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob

Posted on February 5, 2021 by alohapromisesforever

“Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” – James Madison (1788)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged A Mob, Athenian Assembly, Athenian Citizen, Every, First Principles, James Madison, Socrates, Still | Leave a comment

Some Times We Can Wait No Longer

Posted on October 13, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Some Times We Can Wait No Longerby Michael DoyleSocrates and Jesus took their last breathsAs each of these were put to their deathsAccused and tried for treason and blasphemyAnd in corrupting the young by truth’s divinityThe noble search and allegiance … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Above, Allegiance, Allow Life, Appreciate, Beauty, Beyond Compare, Beyond Our Control, Blasphemy, Born, Burn, Call, Chain, Commiseration, Complication, Consolation, Corrupt, Curing, Dedication, Derive, Divine Comedy, Divinity, Document, Emperor, Enduring, Evil, Evil Intent, Explanation, Faithful, Fame and Fortune, Fate, Freed Thoughts, Freedoms, Gained Victory, Gifts, Gives and Takes, God's Instruments, Good, Happiness, Harsh, Hatred, Heaven, History, Holy and Good, Humanity, Imprisoned, Instrument, Jesus, Justice, Know, Last Breath, Laughter, Led, Library, Life, Literature, Live, Live On, Lose Charm, Loss, Love, Martin Luther King Jr, Mean, Mind, Misery, Must, No Longer, Noble, Nothing, Others, Outside Agitator, Overome, Philosophy, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Power of Belief, Providence, Put to Death, Real Form, Respond, Returning Good for Evil, Reveal, Rhapsody, Search, Second Guess, Segregation, Sermons, Shackled Will, Slander, Socrates, Some Times We Wait No Longer, Sung, Tatter, Theta, Times, Treason, Trouble, Trust, Truth, Understood, Unwise, Venerate, Wait, Wicked Consolation, World, Wrong, Young | Leave a comment

In the Providence of Seneca

Posted on August 24, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

In the Providence of Senecaby Michael DoyleIn the age of ancient tyrannyWhen Rome had lost its libertyEven a good man might compromiseFor the partial good seen in his eyesThough at times, it took its tollTo hide his better angels in … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Absolute, Age, All That Happens, Ancient, Beg For Mercy, Belong, Better Angels, Bind, Blessing, Breath of Life, Code, Complexity, Compromise, Confronted, Correspondence, Creation, Cringe, Death, Destroy, Deviation, Divinity, Done, E, Epistles, Every, Evil, Evil For Evil, Eyes, Face to Face, Facing Adversity, Fast, Felt, Fiddle, Final Analysis, For Good, Full, Garment, God, God Works, Good, Good Man, Good Person, Greater, Grow, Hide, His Creation, Hold True, Just, Kill, Knowing, Liberty, Life, Lost, Mankind, Moral Relativists, Mortal, Name of God, Nation, Natural Law, Nero, No Choice, Nobility, Order, Partial Good, Path, Perfection, Photograph, Play, Poem, Poetry, Pray, Providence, Regardless, Return, Right and Wrong, Right Way, Righteousness, Role, Rom, Rule, Satisfaction, Seam, Self, Seneca, Sense, Setting Sun, Shade, Shadows, Showing, Situational Ethics, Slavery, Socrates, Sonorous, Soul, Strains, Subjugation, Test of Evil, Testimony, Thoughts, Time, Times, Toll, Traces, Tyranny, Understood, Universe | Leave a comment

First Principles: Passion Never Fails To Wrest the Scepter From Reason

Posted on June 8, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. … Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. … Continue reading →

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Assemblies, Athens, Character, Citizen, Compose, Federalist Papers, First Principles, Mob, Never Fail, Numerous, Passion, Reason, Scepter, Socrates, Wrest | Leave a comment

First Principles: Passion Never Fails To Wrest the Sceptre From Reason

Posted on April 3, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Assembly, Athenian, Character, Citizen, Compose, Fail, Federalist Papers, First Principles, Mob, Numerous, Passion, Reason, Sceptre, Socrates, Wrest | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: True Wisdom Comes At Realizing How Little We Understand About Life, Ourselves and the World Around Us

Posted on December 7, 2019 by alohapromisesforever

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” – Socrates

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Life, Ourselves, Realize, Socrates, Thought For the Day, True Wisdom, Understand, Us, We, World | Leave a comment