Wednesday, September 03, 2008



"Trying to be kind and honest seems an affair too simple and too inconsequential for gentlemen of our heroic mind; we had rather set ourselves to something bold, arduous, and conclusive: we had rather found a schism or suppress a heresy, cut off a hand or mortify an appetite. But the task before us, which is to co-endure with our existence, is rather one of microscopic fineness, and the heroism required is that of patience. There is no cutting of the Gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unraveled.

To be honest, to be kind -- to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation, -- above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself -- here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy." Robert Louis Stevenson

3 comments:

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hello Fred!

Great advice and full of wisdom.

Thanks for sharing.

Best wishes!

Mel said...

Wow, such simple concepts, and yet a person could spend their entire life trying and failing to reach these standards. I'm planning to print this post and put it in a prominent place in my home. I could copy just the words "kind and honest", and if the people in our home could just do that much, home would be a much more comfortable place to be.

Yours in Christ,
Mel

FCB said...

The statement "There is no cutting of the Gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unraveled." I had to look up Gordian and found out he was a Roman Emperor in 238.
Known for dealing with very difficult matters of state. So the use of his name relating to the knots of life. Wish that there were ways to 'cut the knots' but each one needs patient, smiling attention until it becomes unraveled. Not very glamorous, but it is made of everyday heroics.
Thanks for both of your comments.
Fred