Build up your life like the temple of old" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
With stones that are polished and true;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Cement it with love, and adorn it with gold" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
As all Master builders should do:" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Upon a foundation, well chosen and strong," ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Build now for the ages to come:" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Make use of the good, while rejecting the wrong—" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
And test all your work with the plumb.
Neal A. McAulay
(Source: A Treasury of Masonic Thought
Edited by Carl Glick)
There is a destiny that makes us brothers;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
None goes his way alone:" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
All that we send into the lives of others" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Comes back into our own." ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
I care not what his temples or his creeds," ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
One thing holds firm and fast—" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
That into his fateful leap of days and deeds" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
The soul of man is cast.
Edwin Markham
(Source: A Treasury of Masonic Thought
Edited by Carl Glick)
The blood of our Fraternity has indelibly colored every thread and fiber of the warp and woof of our national fabric.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "That sacred cloth, so boldly framed and emblazoned in the Constitution’s design, strength and beauty was, as Benjamin Franklin so impressed upon his fellow delegates at Philadelphia, already recorded in the Holy Bible, wherein is light.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Look closely.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is light that begs your individual discovery.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Even more, it entreats you, the discoverer, to take action, to get off the fence, to personally mold and fashion your character more closely as a living stone, in that building, that house not made by hands.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is for you to be all you can be - if you will but dare.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Then, and only then, is your identity assured, present and future, finally bound up within the mortar holding you to other living stones.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. William Grinnell
Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Wyoming
When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage -- which is the root of every virtue.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellowman.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins -- knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters subdue him like the thought of one muched loved and long dead.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellowman, and with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song -- glad to live, but not afraid to die!
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Rev. Joesph Fort Newton, 33rd Degree
Grand Chaplain, Grand Lodge of Iowa, 1911-1913
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Douglas MacArthur
U.S. General of the Army
Manila Lodge No. 1, Manila, Philippines
Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Eddie Rickenbacker
Captain, American Air Force Ace WWI
Kilwinning Lodge No. 297 F.& A.M., Detroit, MI, USA
The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Hugo L. Black
Birmingham Temple Lodge No. 836 F.& A.M.
Birmingham, AL, USA
The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Earl Warren
Chief Justice (1953 - 1969)
Grand Master of California (1935 - 1936)
What couldn't a million Masons do if they made a concerted effort to change the world? We could approximate brotherhood in the twinkling of an eye.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Dwight D. Eisenhower
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I say today, thank God for Masons and for all affiliated with this outstanding organization because you bring good, and the more good we bring, the closer we get to a more perfect world, so that the children of this world can indeed know peace, have freedom, and seek dreams.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Dirk Kempthorne
Governor, State of Idaho
September 16, 2004
That which causes us trials shall yield us triumph: and that which make our hearts ache shall fill us with gladness. The only true happiness is to learn, to advance, and to improve: which could not happen unless we had commence with error, ignorance, and imperfection. We must pass through the darkness, to reach the light.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; // aQuotations[idx] += "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)" ; aQuotations[idx] += "
To work with the hands or brain, according to our requirements and our capacities, to do that which lies before us to do, is more honorable than rank and title.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Almost all the noblest things that have been achieved in the world, have been achieved by poor men; poor scholars, poor professional men, poor artisans and artists, poor philosophers, poets, and men of genius.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "A war for a great principle ennobles a nation. A war for commercial supremacy, upon some shallow pretext, is despicable.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds. Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current... Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Above all things let us never forget that mankind constitutes one great brotherhood; all born to encounter suffering and sorrow, and therefore bound to sympathize with each other.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Pike (1809-1891)
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain)
US humorist and author (1835-1910)
Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.& A.M., Missouri, USA
History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we made today.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Henry Ford
US Automobile Industrialist (1863-1947)
Palestine Lodge No. 357 F.& A.M., Michigan, USA
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Benjamin Franklin
US author, diplomat, inventor, politician, & printer (1706-1790)
St. John's Lodge of Philadelphia, USA
Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Rudyard Kipling
British (Indian-born) author (1865-1936)
Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782. E.C., Lahore, India
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Bro. Will Rogers
US humorist and showman (1879-1935)
Claremore Lodge No. 53 A.F.& A.M., Oklahoma, USA
Flattering as it may be to the human mind, and truly honorable as it is to receive from our fellow citizens " ; aQuotations[idx] += "testimonies of approbation for exertions to promote the public welfare, it is not less pleasing to know that " ; aQuotations[idx] += "the milder virtues of the heart are highly respected by a Society whose liberal principles must be founded in " ; aQuotations[idx] += "the immutable laws of truth and justice.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "To enlarge the sphere of social happiness is worthy of the benevolent design of a " ; aQuotations[idx] += "Masonic institution; and it is most fervently to be wished that the conduct of every member of " ; aQuotations[idx] += "the Fraternity, as well as those publications that discover the principles which actuate them, " ; aQuotations[idx] += "may tend to convince mankind that the great object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human race.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Open your eyes and look for some man, or some work for the sake of men, which needs a little time, a little friendship, a little sympathy, a little sociability, a little human toil.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Perhaps it is a lonely person, or an embittered person, or an invalid, or some unfortunate inefficient, to whom you can be something.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It may be an old man or it may be a child. Or some good work is in want of volunteers who will devote a free evening to it or will run on errands for it.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Who can reckon up all the ways in which that priceless fund of impulse, man, is capable of exploitation! He is needed in every nook and corner.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Therefore search and see if there is not some place where you may invest your humanity. Do not be put off if you find that you have to wait and to experiment.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Be sure that you will have disappointments to endure. But do not be satisfied without some side line in which you may give yourself out as a man to men.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "There is one waiting for you if only you are willing to take it up in the right spirit.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Albert Schweitzer
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Freemasonry has tenets peculiar to itself. They serve as testmonials of character and qualifications, which are only conferred after due course of instruction and examination.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "These are of no small value; they speak a universal language, and act as a passport to the attentions and support of the initiated in all parts of the world. They cannot be lost as long as memory retains its power.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Let the possessor of them be expatriated, shipwrecked or imprisoned, let him be stripped of everything he has got in the world, still those credentials remain, and are available for use as circumstances require.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "The good effects they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of history.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
they have softened the asperities of the tyrant;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
they have mitigated the horrors of captivity;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
they have subdued the rancour of malevolence;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
and broken down the barriers of political animosity and sectarian alienation." ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
On the field of battle, in the solitudes of the uncultivated forest, or in the busy haunts of the " ; aQuotations[idx] += "crowded city, they have made men of the most hostile feelings, the most distant regions, and diversified " ; aQuotations[idx] += "conditions, rush to the aid of each other, and feel a special joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a Brother Mason.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, " ; aQuotations[idx] += "or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena," ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
who strives valiantly;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
who errs and comes up short again and again;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
who knows great enthusiasms," ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
the great devotions;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
who spends himself in a worthy cause;" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement," ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails Daring Greatly so " ;
aQuotations[idx] += "that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.\"" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
Bro. Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
Matinecock Lodge No. 806 F.& A.M., Oyster Bay, NY, USA
I am the Flag of the United States of America.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I am as old as my nation.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: \"A government of the people, by the people,for the people.\"
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I have my own law—Public Law 829, \"The Flag Code\" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: " ; aQuotations[idx] += "\"One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\"
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "God grant that I may spend eternity in my " ; aQuotations[idx] += "\"land of the free and the home of the brave\"" ; aQuotations[idx] += " and that I shall ever be known as \"Old Glory,\" the flag of the United States of America.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "by Ruth Apperson Rous
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Fortitude and faith are the words. That is what keeps a man going when he seems defeated. Believe that if you put your trust in God and keep at things with unremitting energy and intelligence you too, can build a solid foundation beneath you upon which you may mount up to victory.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Therefore, train your mind never to accept the thought of defeat about anything. That verse from the Bible makes an unbeatable inspiration in any situation: \"If God be for us, who can be against us?\" Hold it habitually in mind and it will train you to believe in yourself by constantly reminding you that you have extra power available.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "Reverend Norman Vincent Peale
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I was born in antiquity, in the ancient days when men first dreamed of God.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "I have been tried through the ages, and found true. The crossroads of the world bears the imprint of my feet. And the cathedrals of all nations mark the skill of my hands. I strive for beauty and for symmetry. In my heart are wisdom and strength and courage for those who ask. Upon my altars is the Book of Holy Writ and my prayers are to the OMNIPOTENT GOD.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "My sons work and pray together, without rank or discord, in the public mart, and the inner chamber. By signs and symbols I teach the lessons of life and death, and relationship of man with God and man with man. My arms are widespread to receive those of lawful age and of good report, who seek me of their own quest for perfection, so much desired and so difficult to attain. I lift up the fallen and shelter the sick, hark to the orphan's cry, the widow's tears, the pain of the old and destitute. I am not church, nor party, nor school, yet my sons bear a full share of responsibility to God, to country, to neighbors and themselves. They are freemen; Tenacious of their liberties and alert to lurking danger.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "At the end I commit them, as each one undertakes the journey beyond the vale into the glory of everlasting life. I ponder the sand within the glass and think: How small is a single life in the eternal Universe. Always have I taught immortality, and even as I raise men from darkness into light, I am a way of life.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "circa 1775: (Author Unknown)" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
This copy found at " ;
aQuotations[idx] += "Victoria Masonic Web Site - British Columbia, Canada" ;
aQuotations[idx] += "
It is the Veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, who salutes the Flag.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "It is the Veteran, who serves under the Flag.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "God Bless Them All !!!.
" ; aQuotations[idx] += "