Quoetry

Today's quotation has been attributed to everyone from Yogi Berra and Mark Twain to Niels Bohr and Nostradamus. Let's agree to call it simply a Danish proverb. Our poem today is "The Crystal Gazer" by Sara Teasdale.

Today's quotation is another from Sir Francis Bacon: "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." These words always put me in mind of the king in "The Little Prince" who will never give his subjects an order that they wouldn't want to obey. Our poem today is "The Tables Turned" by William Wordsworth.

I believe today's quotation was said to Madeleine Albright by Zbigniew Brzezinski: "Be careful not to define yourself out of an interesting job." Today's poem is "The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Today's quotation is from the Athenian statesman, Solon (known for his efforts in reversing literally Draconian legislation): "I grow old learning something new every day." Today's poem is A E Housman's second contribution to the Quoetry podcast, this time with "When I Was One-and-Twenty".

Our quotation today was a remark made by Thomas Murphy to Warren Buffett: "you can tell a guy to go to hell tomorrow. You don't give up the right. So just keep your mouth shut today and see if you feel the same way tomorrow." Today's poem is the first by William Shakespeare to be featured on this podcast. I dare say it will not be the last. It is Sonnet 30.

Today's quotation is from Voltaire: "Cherish those who seek the truth but beware those who find it." Today's poem is "The Lie" by Sir Walter Raleigh. By "give the lie" I take Sir Walter to mean expose the truth.

My eldest son owes his name to the originator of today's quotation, the great paleobiologist, Thomas Henry Huxley: "Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not." Today's poem is Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade".

A little late with today's episode due to a technical glitch resulting in the original recording being lost. So, I have taken this road twice now. Not to worry, I hope you'll agree it's pleasant enough to justify a redo. We start with some words from Madeleine Albright, and go on to Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken".

Today's quotation is taken from Jake the Dog: "Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sort of good at something." Dorothy Parker was said to have been rather uncharitable towards today's poet, saying: "I'd rather flunk my Wassermann test than read a poem by Edgar Guest." At least we needn't worry about my Wassermann as I read "It Couldn't Be Done" to complete the pairing.

Today's quotation is provided by one of my favorite poets, Audre Lorde. Today's poet is, once again, Christina Rossetti - this time with "Caterpillar". Podcast thumbnail credit: K. Kendall, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Our quotation today is from Rembrandt, which I believe I discovered via Joan Miró: "I find rubies and emeralds in the dung heap." Today's poem is "Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666" by Anne Bradstreet.

Today's quotation is taken from the "Essays" of Sir Francis Bacon: "The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude… Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comforts and hopes… prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue." Our poem for today is "Life" by Charlotte Brontë.

Today's quotation is itself taken from a poem - "London" by Samuel Johnson: "Slow rises worth, by poverty deprest". Today's poem is "Up-Hill" by Christina Rossetti.

Today's quotation is from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction." And today's poem is one that I wrote on the occasion of my eldest sister's wedding, "Double-You".

Today's quotation is from Thomas Sowell: "Perfect justice... means perfect tyranny." Our poem today is another from Percy Bysshe Shelley - "Ozymandias". I hope you enjoy the pairing.

Our quotation today is from Charlie Munger: "You simply can't count on your other handicaps to hold you back if you persist in being reliable." Today's poem is "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley.

Our quotation today is taken from "The Columbian Orator", edited by Caleb Bingham. I was first introduced to "The Columbian Orator" via the writings of Frederick Douglass. The quotation is: "Why, in the present day, a man's preparing himself for usefulness, is like carrying coals to Newcastle. Our country is full of useful men; ten, at least, to where one is wanted, and all of them ten times as re...

Today's quotation is from Thomas Jefferson: "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances." Our poem today is "A Poison Tree" by William Blake.

Today's quotation is from Warren Buffett: "I call investing the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You can stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! US Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you... All day you wait for the pitch you like". Today's poem continues the baseball theme with "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer.

Today's quotation is from Plato: "Virtue owns no master: he who honors her shall have more of her, and he who slights her, less." Today's poem is by Phillis Wheatley - who was herself the subject of a poem by Jupiter Hammon, a poem I fear I might find too sad to recite - this instead is one of her own, "On Virtue".

Today's quotation is from John Muir: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." Today's poem is from another John, John Donne, with "No Man is an Island" - I learned this one by heart as a boy.

Today's quotation is by Gustave Flaubert: "Just when the gods had ceased to be and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone." Our poem today is by Jupiter Hammon: "A Poem for Children with Thoughts on Death".

Today's quotation is from Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." For the second time in less than a week, today's poet is Emily Dickinson with "I'm nobody, who are you?"

Today's quotation is a little sad but perhaps a little more than a little true from Max Planck. Today's poem is "Ode" by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy. You may be more familiar with the 3 stanza version sometimes called "We are the music-makers". But there are, in fact, 9 stanzas, which I now well know. The phrase "movers and shakers" originates here.

Today's quotation is from William Durant. Today's poem is "Love's Philosophy" by Percy Bysshe Shelley.