"Let him learn to learn" by Abraham Lincoln

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.

But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader...

Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.

It will take time, I know, but teach him, if you can, that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found...

Teach him to learn to lose...and also to enjoy winning, steer him away from envy, if you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick...

Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books...but also give him quiet time to ponder...the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hillside!

In school, teach him it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat...

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas...

Teach him to be gentle with with gentle people; and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the bandwagon.

Teach him to listen to all men...but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad...

Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness...

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob...and to stand and fight if he thinks he's right.

Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage to be impatient...let him have the patience to brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have  

sublime faith in mankind. 

Shakespeare in Julius Caesar

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I have come to help in Caesar's burial, not to praise him.

The evil deeds that men do, live after their deaths. Their good acts are often forgotten.

Let it be so with Caesar.

The noble Brutus has told you that Caesar was ambitious. If that was true, it was a severe fault and Caesar has paid a heavy penalty for it. Here, by permission of Brutus and the others - for Brutus is an honourable man - as the others are also honourable men - have I come to speak at Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and true to me.   

But Brutus says he was ambitious, and we must remember that Brutus is an honourable manprisoners of war back to Rome and the money paid for their liberation went into the public treasury. Did this seem ambitious on Caesar's part? - Caesar has brought many 

When poor suffered, Caesar wept for them. Ambition should show a harder nature than that.

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man.

You all saw how on the festival of Lupercal I had offered him the Royal Crown which he refused thrice. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and certainly he is an honourable man. I am not trying to contradict what Brutus has said. I am only telling you what I know for myself.

You all loved him once, and not without good reason. What reason is there now that should prevent you from mourning him?

Oh, common intelligence has become the property of animals, for men have lost their reason! Be patient with me. My heart is full of grief for Caesar there in his coffin, and I  must wait wait till I am calm again.     

Concluding.....with....

If I were Brutus and he were Antony then he would be able to stir you spirits and make a fluent tongue of every wound of Caesar's that would make even the stones of the road in Rome rise up in rebellion.

Nehru’s Message to the Nation on the Independence Day

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. "

On the occasion of Gandhiji’s assassination on 30th January 1948.

Friends and Comrades,

The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Nevertheless, we will never see him again as we have seen him for these many years. We will not run to him for advice and seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not to me only, but to millions and millions in this country. And it is a little difficult to soften the blow by any other advice that I or anyone else can give you.

The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented something more than the immediate past, it represented the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom.

All this has happened when there was so much more for him to do. We could never think that he was unnecessary or that he had done his task. But now, particularly, when we are faced with so many difficulties, his not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear.

A madman has put an end to his life, for I can only call him mad who did it, and yet there has been enough of poison spread in this country during the past years and months, and this poison has had an effect on people’s minds. We must face this poison, we must root out this poison, and we must face all the perils that encompass us, and face them not madly or badly, but rather in the way that our beloved teacher taught us to face them.

The first thing to remember now is that none of us dare misbehave because he is angry. We have to behave like strong and determined people, determined to face all the perils that surround us, determined to carry out the mandate that our great teacher and our great leader has given us, remembering always that if, as I believe, his spirit looks upon us and sees us, nothing would displease his soul so much as to see that we have indulged in any small behaviour or any violence.

So, we must not do that. But that does not mean that we should be weak, but rather that we should, in strength and in unity, face all the troubles that are in front of us. We must hold together, and all our petty troubles and difficulties and conflicts must be ended in the face of this great disaster. A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things of which we have thought too much. In his death he has reminded us of the big things of life, the living truth, and if we remember that, then it will be well with India…

It was proposed by some friends that Mahatmaji’s body should be embalmed for a few days to enable millions of people to pay their last homage to him. But it was his wish, repeatedly expressed, that no such thing should happen, that this should not be done, that he was entirely opposed to any embalming of his body, and so we decided that we must follow his wishes in this matter, however much others might have wished otherwise.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Charlie Chaplin's Speech in the 1940 movie "The Great Dictator"

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....

 The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

THOUGHTS IN WORDS

A philosophy....

Defining education...

The driving force

Soul vs Self

SAT CHIT ANAND : The truth that you seek and experience using your mind or consciousness leads you to happiness of the purest form. 

TO BE CONTINUED...