Quote of the Day: 31 December 2022 #QotD

“It’s not enough to change a few little habits! Everybody I know needs a complete personality overhaul!” -Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
[Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you're able to set some appropriate goals. I know I need to figure a few out.]

Quote of the Day: 30 December 2022 #QotD

“[I]f we don’t allow our kids to contribute to the family, we erode their feelings of belonging. How can you belong to a group if your most meaningful role is that of couch warmer?” -Amy McCready
[The pup seems to resent my efforts to provide him opportunities to contribute to the family. But he likes it when there are extra opportunities that allow him to earn a bit of cash. I guess I shall have to persist.]

Quote of the Day: 29 December 2022 #QotD

“But most of the terrible things that happen in this land don’t happen because of evil men, not really. They happen because of people who just don’t know any better.” -Falcio val Mond, Traitor’s Blade
[It would be so much easier if we could just point to the evil people causing all the problems. But real life doesn't work that way. Too many of our problems arise, not because of some nefarious plot, but because too many people are unwilling to engage in doing good around them.]

Quote of the Day: 28 December 2022 #QotD

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” -Granny Weatherwax (attributed), I Shall Wear Midnight

[Treating a person as a thing leads you to very dangerous places. Dangerous to others, and to your own humanity.]

Quote of the Day: 27 December 2022 #QotD

“Evil is not something superhuman, it’s something less than human.” -Inspector Lejeune, The Pale Horse
[Or, rather, it is all too human, but something we strive to overcome, and therefore, less worthy of our consideration than so many other things.]

Quote of the Day: 26 December 2022 #QotD

“I don’t know about you, but I would rather fail at doing the right thing than succeed at doing the wrong thing.” -Lawrence W. Reed
[Character matters. Even more than success or worldly gain.]

Quote of the Day: 25 December 2022 #QotD

“[T]here is nothing more important we can do this Christmas than to rivet our focus on the Savior and on the gift of what His life really means to each of us.” -Russell M. Nelson
[Merry Christmas!]

Quote of the Day: 24 December 2022 #QotD

“[F]rom Dickens to Die Hard, running through and making possible all these charming and uplifting stories that have become part of American Christmas, is the original Christmas story, which most Americans from the earliest days would have read in the King James Version[.]” -Christopher Flannery
[Happy Christmas Eve! May your celebrations bring you joy and peace.]

Quote of the Day: 23 December 2022 #QotD

“I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest licence of a child, and yet to have been man enough to know its value.” -Ebenezer Scrooge, _A Christmas Carol
[Isn't that how it always is? We don't recognize the value of the time we are in until we have passed it.]

Quote of the Day: 22 December 2022 #QotD

“Ultimately, any attempt to limit what individuals can think or say weakens the defining ethos of the West, namely the unfettered commitment to the pursuit of truth unencumbered by the shackles of the thought police.” -Gad Saad
[Which seems to be some people's goal.]

Quote of the Day: 21 December 2022 #QotD

“Both the assets and the liabilities of our educational system need to be assessed, to see what can be salvaged from the debacle and reorganized into a viable enterprise.” -Thomas Sowell
[And quickly, before all the assets have depreciated to nothing.]

Quote of the Day: 20 December 2022 #QotD

“We’re all snatching precious moments from the peaceful jaws of time.” -The Green Death, How to Train Your Dragon
[Sometimes, the villain gets the best line.]

Quote of the Day: 19 December 2022 #QotD

“You never know ahead of time what something’s really going to be like.” -Leslie Burke, Bridge to Terabithia
[I have had reality fail to meet my expectations, in both good and bad ways, so many times throughout my life, that I don't know why I still get surprised when it happens.]

Quote of the Day: 18 December 2022 #QotD

“The Lord always provides us with help when we face adversity, temptation, incomprehension, infirmities, and even death. … He will never abandon us!” -Jorge F. Zeballos

Quote of the Day: 17 December 2022 #QotD

“The trend in our culture is to devalue—even bypass—the family as a basic unit of socialization. But it’s within the family that children learn to love by seeing love demonstrated; learn unselfishness both through teaching and through example (choosing to teach a child at home is unselfishness at work); learn conflict resolution by figuring out how to get along with parents and with each other.” -Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
[Don't let society tear apart your family. Impart your values to your children. Learn from your parents what things they hold dear. Even if you don't continue all of your family traditions, learn about them, and teach your children about them. Society is built out of families. And strong ones are needed to perpetuate a society worth living in.]

Quote of the Day: 16 December 2022 #QotD

“[G]iving kids too much help with things they can and should do for themselves not only robs them of opportunities, it also erodes their self-confidence.” -Amy McCready
[I probably do a terrible job of helping my children appropriately. It's a daily struggle for me.]

Quote of the Day: 15 December 2022 #QotD

“We don’t always get to be who we want to be, do we?” -Aline, Knight’s Shadow
[Sometimes we have to be who we must be rather than who we want to be. It can be frustrating.]

Quote of the Day: 14 December 2022 #QotD

“To define is to limit.” -Lord Henry Wotton, The Picture of Dorian Gray
[Certainly apropos given the recent definitional changes by a certain dictionary.]

Quote of the Day: 13 December 2022 #QotD

“It’s far better to admit ignorance than to pretend you know something when you really just heard it on TV.” -Patrick Carroll
[Or read it out of a book, or picked it up from a friend, or accepted from any of a number of sources without checking any supporting evidence.]

Quote of the Day: 12 December 2022 #QotD

“All life is dangerous. We forget that, we who have been reared in one of the small pockets of civilisation.” -Mr. Venables, The Pale Horse
[It quickly becomes apparent as you step out of those pockets of civilization, however. Whether that be into the wilderness, or into an urban jungle.]

Quote of the Day: 11 December 2022 #QotD

“Although each possesses specific attributes and divinely appointed responsibilities, woman and man fill equally relevant and essential roles in God’s plan of happiness for His children.” -Ulisses Soares

Quote of the Day: 10 December 2022 #QotD

“Public education is as old as our nation—but only lately has it adopted the purpose of supplanting the family and controlling parents.” -Larry P. Arnn
[I didn't feel like the school system was trying to supplant my parents as the primary authority figure in my life when I was young. I can't say the same thing about them now. I don't know how my parents felt about it at the time though.]

Quote of the Day: 9 December 2022 #QotD

“I already know more than I want to! I liked things better when I didn’t understand them!” -Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
[Me too. Ignorance truly can be bliss. It can also be deadly. But at least you feel good.]

Quote of the Day: 8 December 2022 #QotD

“In all my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the tooth-brush, and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching.” -Booker T. Washington
[There are many small things that add up to significant differences. Sometimes compounding upon one another.]

Quote of the Day: 7 December 2022 #QotD

“Sometimes the truth is arrived at by adding all the little lies together and deducting them from the totality of what is known.” -Terry Pratchett
[Especially when lies fly fast and thick, as they do in our increasingly contentious society.]

Quote of the Day: 6 December 2022 #QotD

“Anyone who is willing to end a relationship because of a reasoned difference of opinion is not worthy of your friendship.” -Gad Saad
[I may be guilty of having done this once or twice; however, I hope that I have matured to the point that any further instances will be the result of the other party terminating the relationship rather than myself.]

Quote of the Day: 5 December 2022 #QotD

“So clumsy of thought and pen were the Founders that even today, seven generations later, we can tell what they were talking about.” -P. J. O’Rourke
[Well, some of us can anyway. There are plenty of folks who have been failed by the educational establishment that cannot. And more who choose not to be able to.]

Quote of the Day: 4 December 2022 #QotD

“On the path of forgiveness, Jesus Christ’s atoning power can flow into our lives and begin to heal the deep crevasses of the heart and soul.” -Kristin M. Yee

Quote of the Day: 3 December 2022 #QotD

“Written language is very unlike spoken language; it has different rules and conventions.” -Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
[Neither is superior to the other, only different. And it is a mistake to treat one as the other.]

Quote of the Day: 2 December 2022 #QotD

“You don’t have to be superparent to make a difference in your kids’ lives.” -Amy McCready
[This is a very comforting reminder to receive, and I expect that many parents need it from time to time.]

Quote of the Day: 1 December 2022 #QotD

“Disappointingly – and I really hated to admit it, but this kept happening to me – life failed to live up to my expectations.” -Falcio val Mond, Knight’s Shadow
[A lesson life has clobbered me with repeatedly.]