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
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:
We've recorded that, and will be watching it eventually, I expect. Love those quotes.
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.
Laughter is one of the best medicines, it really is.
And music too...a wonderful healer.
I like this: 'Never, never, never give up.'
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.
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.
I love the Frost quote, and it is so true!
Judy: yeah - remembering running a business I think 12 hours a conservative estimate.
I'll watch it now, and come back.
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).
Eryl: good girl!
Kevin: let me guess - your workmate was a bit of a pessimist?
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!
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.
I watched it last night and felt it ought to be compulsory viewing for all medical practioners, politicians and law makers.
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".
Kim: that would be an excellent idea.
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.
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
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.
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.
Randall: happy to oblige:)
Pratchett is THE MAN.
Four.D: and so say all of us!
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