Wednesday, February 03, 2010

A Word in your Ear.


Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.

WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD


Never, never, never give up.

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL


The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and simple.

OSCAR WILDE


The fashion wears out more apparel than the man.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE


Nothing is as frustrating as arguing with someone who knows what he’s talking about.

SAM EWIG


By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.

ROBERT FROST


The best mirror is an old friend.

PETER NIVIO ZARLENGA


It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

HERMAN MELVILLE


The deeper interior you have the more you have in your library.

JACQUELINE BISSET


Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON


Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

MAHATMA GANDHI


Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

THOMAS JEFFERSON


Terry Prachett

I last wrote about Terry on February 6th 2009 soon after he had been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease and discovered that many of you were fans of his. In case you missed it below is the link to Terry giving the Richard Dimbleby lecture


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qmfgn/Richard_Dimbleby_Lecture_Shaking_Hands_with_Death/


I was relieved to see that Terry seemed well with his usual sense of humour. He explained that Richard Dimbleby – father to brothers Jonathan and David had inspired him when - on discovering he had cancer- told the world, when previously it had been the disease that dare not speak its name. As a result Terry made the programmes about his battle with Alzheimers and did great work bringing it to people’s attention. Now he is doing the same for assisted death – he refuses to call it assisted suicide.


The lecture is 45 minutes long approx and Terry had arranged after his initial introduction to hand over to Tony Robinson to read the excellent speech for him. This worked perfectly with Terry sitting on the stage and Tony becoming his mouthpiece. The main gist is that we need to redefine how we deal with terminal illness and in spite of the seriousness of the content there was much laughter. Incidentally the two books he had published recently are best sellers.

23 comments:

Queenie said...

We've recorded that, and will be watching it eventually, I expect. Love those quotes.

Pat said...

Queenie: good! I've never been a fan of Tony Robinson - until now. He did an excellent job and does much work for Alzheimsr's. I think his mother had it.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Laughter is one of the best medicines, it really is.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

And music too...a wonderful healer.

I like this: 'Never, never, never give up.'

Charlie said...

I agree with Guyana-Gyal: it's a damn good thing Winnie said and believed that during WWII.

And it fits well with Sir Terry, too.

Pat said...

GG: yes he was a great hero in WW2. It seemed so churlish when he was voted out after the war.

Charlie: oops I forgot his knighthood. Sorry Sir Terry.

kenju said...

I love the Frost quote, and it is so true!

Pat said...

Judy: yeah - remembering running a business I think 12 hours a conservative estimate.

Eryl said...

I'll watch it now, and come back.

Kevin 'In Salford' said...

Your quotes reminded me of a few of the many an old workmate of mine often used to say:

"We fought in the face of adversity, unfortunately adversity won!"

"As one door opens, another door slams in yer face!"

"Like crazy paving, it's not all it's cracked-up to be."

"The only good thing about modern technology is that it almost works!"

(Origins unknown).

Pat said...

Eryl: good girl!

Kevin: let me guess - your workmate was a bit of a pessimist?

Eryl said...

A brilliant, impassioned yet logical argument. I totally agree, anyway, that there are circumstances that call for assisted death. I do hope he succeeds in his aim. You're right about the laughter, too, I nearly fell off my chair at one point!

Pat said...

Eryl: the audience were interesting too. I spotted Brian Rix, Jeremy Irons and Joan Bakewell that I can remember. Sir Terry is one of those people I'd love to have a bite and a chat with. Whether he succeeds or not he'll certainly push the argument further and progress will be made. I'm constantly amazed at the changes that have been made in my lifetime.

Kim Ayres said...

I watched it last night and felt it ought to be compulsory viewing for all medical practioners, politicians and law makers.

Gadjo Dilo said...

I never took Terry Pratchet very seriously, but I see he's a Sir now so maybe I should revisit him. Yes, perhaps terminal illnesss is one occasion when one can employ - as my father did - a different motto from the one's quoted: "enough's enough".

Pat said...

Kim: that would be an excellent idea.

Pat said...

Gadjo: I have to admit that I haven't yet read one of his books. The reason I became interested in him in the first place was that my dear younger brother developed Alzheimer's which eventually killed him after many awful lost years. Sit Terry did two wonderful TV programmes about his illness last year and it helped a lot of sufferers and also helped people to understand more about the disease. I admire him for boldly going into the world and trying to help other sufferers.

mapstew said...

Myself and Annette watched this the other night. And we had to agree with all he said.

Tony's delivery was moving. If one didn't know, one would think it came from his own heart.

Wonderful.

xxx

Pat said...

Mapstew: I'm fairly sure Tony's mother had Alzheimer's so I think it would be heartfelt - he certainly is an ambassador for them. I was totally won over by him.

Anonymous said...

Late to the party, but I always love your quote collections. Invariably, I find something to use during the day, which makes me seem infinitely smarter than I really am.

Cheers.

Pat said...

Randall: happy to oblige:)

DILLIGAF said...

Pratchett is THE MAN.

Pat said...

Four.D: and so say all of us!