[F.U.C.K. is an e-zine that I started on January 24, 1993 and ended on January 24, 2000. One concept is that articles should be timeless if possible, so they were not released with dates. As such, the date on this blog is not exact but I will try to use a date as close as possible.]
Intro…
Just a few words that seem to be lost or burried in today’s society. Take the time to read them and THINK about what they mean. Do any of these seem familiar to you? After reading these definitions, take time to read a few select quotes about various aspects of life. With these two steps, put 2 and 2 together and see what you get out of the file.
Definitions…
comrade (n) 1a. an intimate friend or associate
courage (n) 1. mental or moral strength to venture, perservere, and
withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
duty (n) 2a. obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions
that arise from one’s position (as in life or in a group)
3a. a moral or legal obligation
esteem 3. the regard in which one is held
ethic (n) 1. the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and
with moral duty and obligation
fidelity (n) 1a. the quality or state of being faithful
friend (n) 1a. one attached to another by affection or esteem
1b. one that is of the same nation, party, or group
honesty (n) 2a. fairness and straightforwardness of conduct
2b. adherence to the facts
honor (n) 1. good name or public esteem
4. one whose worth brings respect or fame
8a. a keen sense of ethical conduct
8b. one’s word given as a guarantee of performance
integrity (n) 2. firm adherence to a code of esp. moral or artistic values
loyal (adj) 1. unswerving in allegiance
1b. faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due
moral (adj) 1a. of or relating to principles of right and wrong
behavior
1d. sanctioned by or operative on one’s conscience or
ethical judgment
1e. capable of right and wrong action
noble (adj) 1a. possessing outstanding qualities
5. possessing, characterized by, or arising from
superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals
obligation (n) 1a. something (as a formal contract, a promise, or the
demands of conscience or custom) that obligates one
to a course of action
respect (n) 3a. high or special regard : ESTEEM
righteous (adj) 1a. acting in accord with divine or moral law
2b. arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality
virtue (n) 1a. conformity to a standard of right
1b. a particular moral excellence
On friendship…
“Friends are born, not made.” – Henry Brooks Adams
“My sone, keep wel thy tongue, and keep thy freend.” – The Manciple’s Tale
“A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.” – St. Jerome
“My friend, judge not me, Thou seest I judge not thee. Betwixt the stirrup and the ground Mercy I asked, and mercy found.” – William Camden
“Why should good words ne’er be said Of a friend till he is dead?” – Daniel Webster Hoyt
“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” – Aristotle
On courage…
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. you are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horro. I can take the next thing that comes along’ … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin
“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” – Amelia Earhart Putnam
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absense of fear.” – Samuel Longhorne Clemens
“The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully.” – Thomas Carlyle
On duty…
“The path of duty lies in what is near, and man seeks for it in what is remote.” – Mencius
“The business of the samurai consists in reflecting on his own station in life, in discharging loyal service to his master if he has one, in deepening his fidelity in assoications with friends, and, with due consideration of his own position, in devoting himself to duty above all.” – Yamaga Soku (The Way of the Samurai)
“When I’m not thanked at all, I’m thanked enough; I’ve done my duty, and I’ve done no more.” – Henry Fielding
“A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed or duty violated is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness
shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us.” – Daniel Webster
“Not once or twice in our rough island story the path of duty was the way to glory.” – Lord Tennyson
“I have another duty equally sacred.. My duty to myself.” – Henrik Ibsen
On esteem…
“So much is a man worth as he esteems himself.” – Francois Rabelais
On honor…
“Of men who have a sense of honor, more come through alive than are slain, but from those who flee comes neither glory nor any help.” – Homer
“Truly, to tell lies is not honorable; But when the truth entails tremendous ruin, To speak dishonorably is pardonable.” – Sophocles
“What is left when honor is lost?” – Publilius Syrus
“Count it the greatest sin to prefer life to honor, and for the sake of living to lose what makes life worth having.” – Decimus Junius Juvenalis
“All is lost save honor.” – Francis I
“My honor is dearer to me than my life.” – Miguel de Cervantes
“Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done.” – William Shakespeare
“As he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.” – William Shakespeare
“And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” – Thomas Jefferson
“To die with honor when one can no longer live with honor.” – John Luther Long
On integrity…
“In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity.” – Meister Eckhart
“If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-night useless, since their chief purpose is to make us bear with patience the injustice of our fellows.” – Moliere (Jean Baptiste Poquelin)
On moral…
“True eloquence takes no heed of eloquence, true morality takes no heed of morality.” – Blaise Pascal
“Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and of life.” – Henri-Frederic Amiel
“If ignorance and passion are the foes of popular morality, it must be confessed that moral indifference is the malady of the cultivated classes.” – Henri-Frederic Amiel
“What is beautiful is moral, that is all there is to it.” – Gustave Flaubert
“‘Tut, tut, child,’ said the Duchess. ‘Everything’s got a moral if only you can find it.’” – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.” – Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
“The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.” – Henry Louis Mencken
“He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.” – Kahlil Gibran
On nobility…
“For kindness begets kindness evermore, but he from whose mind fades the memory of benefits, noble is he no more.” – Sophocles
“Nobly to live, or else nobly to die, befits proud birth.” – Sophocles
“Nobility is the one and only virtue.” – Decimus Junius Juvenalis (Juvenal)
“They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.” – Sir Philip Sidney
“True nobility is exempt from fear.” – William Shakespeare
“A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“For words divide and rend; But silence is most noble till the end.” – Algernon Charles Swinburne
“Every one of these hundreds of millions of human beings is in some form seeking happiness… Not one is altogether noble nor altogether trustworthy nor altogether consistent; and not one is altogether vile.. Not a single one but has at some time wept.” – Herbert George Wells
On respect…
“There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
“We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.” – Thomas Jefferson
On righteousness…
“The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of Error.” – William Jennings Bryan
“The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.” – Euripides
On virtue…
“Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.” – Confucius
“Friendship with a manis friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority.” – Mencius
“There is no vice so simple but assumes Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.” – William Shakespeare
“Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.” – William Shakespeare
“Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.” – John Locke
“The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Final thoughts…
As I write this file, I can’t help but wonder to myself if anyone will get the point. I find myself doubting that people will actually read through and consider the definitions and quotes. I have been sitting here for over ten hours researching quotes that I feel help reflect my point. But that just leads me to wonder what my point is. I mean, I know what my point is, but I don’t think I can adequately reflect it through my own words. Furthermore, I know that it is possible to get a double meaning out of some of these quotes. So I am trusting you to make the right choice in trying to decipher my meaning.
I think the best bet is for you the reader to think about things yourself. Draw your own conclusions based on the text above. After all, your own thoughts are the most powerful message I can deliver.