30th Wedding Anniversary

Hil & me on our wedding day at City Hall in San Francisco, CA (3 Dec 1984)
An unsatisfied woman requires luxury, but a woman who is in love with a man will lie on a board.
—    André Maurois
[Happy 30th Anniversary, Hil
Thirty years ago we would watch TV together lying on a rug with flattened cardboard boxes for an underfelt, huddled under a blanket, you leaning against me and me leaning on a single stuffed cushion.  We were on our own, just getting started, in love and with nothing but hope for the future.  See how far our voyage has come…  And hopefully, how far we’ve still to go…
Love Always,
Your Kev
XXX
00
X
—    kmab]
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2018	Happy 34th Anniversary, Hil!!
2017	Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil!!
2016	Happy 32nd Anniversary, Hil!!
2015	Happy Anniversary Hil!!
2014	30th Wedding Anniversary
2013	Number 29 (And Counting)
2012	Hammer ‘N Roses
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Faith In Men

It was said of President Wilson that he had faith in humanity but distrusted all men.  The true leader distrusts humanity but has faith in a few men.
—   André Maurois
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Neglected Horror

Nothing in our daily life will last if neglected;  houses, stuffs, friendships, pleasures.  Roofs fall in, love comes to an end.  A tile needs re-fastening, a joint must be  repaired, a misunderstanding cleared up.  Otherwise bitterness is created;  feelings deep down in the soul become centers of infection, and one day, during a quarrel, the abscess breaks, and each is horrified by the picture of himself or herself discovered in the other’s mind.
—    André Maurois
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2013	The Price Of Illusions
2012	Once Again
2011	And The “Market” Isn’t Always Right

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Do I Have To Fall In Love?

Women apparently achieve happiness more easily with energetic and virile men, men achieve it more easily with women who are affectionate and willing to be led.  Very young women declare that they want to marry men whom they can dominate, but I have never discovered a woman who was truly happy with a man she did not admire for his strength and courage, nor a normal man who was perfectly happy with an Amazon.  The fact is that the element of chance in these matters rarely allows a man or a woman to choose a life companion by an act of pure volition, and it is better so;  instinct, despite its mistakes, is surer here than intelligence.  The question, “Do I have to fall in love?” should not be asked;  one must feel the answer to it within oneself.  The birth of love, like all other births, is the work of nature.
—    André Maurois
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On This Day In:
2013	More Democracy, Please
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In God’s Eyes

So, human beings complain that the world is ill-made, do they?  But ill-made for whom?  For Man, who, in the immense design of the Universe is no more than an unimportant mould!  The probability is that everything in this world which we think is botched or erroneous has its reasons at a totally different level of existence.  The mould endures, no doubt, a small amount of suffering, but somewhere there are giants who, huge in stature as in mind, live in a state of semi-divinity.  This is Voltaire’s answer to the problem of evil.  It is not very satisfactory because the mould need never have been created, and, in the eyes of God, it may well be that mere size is of no importance.
—    André Maurois
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2013	We Root For Ourselves
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Turning Pages

The cinema may have a specific beauty of its own, but it does not permit that constant re-reading, that meditative brooding, those turning-back to passages heavily charged with meaning, which form the special pleasure of the novel-reader.
—    André Maurois
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2013	We Are All Accountable
2012	American Sign Language
2011	Happy Disproof
2010	Book Review – Managing Your Government Career

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That Marvelous Feeling

Almost all of our fellow-beings deceive us, but a few of us have known the joy of meeting a woman or a man whose sincerity and frankness were genuine, who in almost every situation has behaved according to our wishes, and who in our most difficult moments has not forsaken us.  Those few are familiar with that marvelous feeling:  confidence.  With at least one person they are able for a little while each day to lift the heavy visor of their helmets, breathe freely, and show their faces and their hearts without fear.
—    André Maurois
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2012	A Wild And Crazy Believer
2011	A Lack Of Scarcity
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Like Shells On The Shore

Well fitted for friendship is he whom men have not disgusted with mankind, and who, believing and knowing that there are a few noble men, a few great minds, a few delightful souls scattered through the crowd, never tires of searching for them, and loves them even before he has found them.
—    André Maurois
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2013	More And Why
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2011	Patriot Act

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Outside Dependence

No great amount of experience is required to discover that the greedy search for money or success will almost always lead men into unhappiness.  Why?  Because that kind of life makes them depend upon things outside themselves.
—    André Maurois
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2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
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2011	I’m Working For A Living

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Three Observations

We do not completely love those at whom we cannot smile.  There is something inhuman in absolute perfection which overwhelms the mind and heart, which commands respect, but keeps friendship at a distance through discouragement and humiliation.  We are always glad when a great man reassures us of his humanity by possessing a few peculiarities.
—    André Maurois
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2018	Wondering About #45
2017	A Prayer For London
2016	Don’t Default
2015	Her Pilgrim Soul
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2012	Good Hearts
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But Sometimes Careers Choose People

A man’s power and intelligence are limited.  He who wants to do everything will never do anything.  Only too well do we know those people of uncertain ability who say:  “I could be a great musician.”  …”Business would be easy for me.”  …”I could surely make success in politics.”  We may be certain that they will always be amateur musicians, failures in business, and beaten politicians.  Napoleon held that the art of war consisted of making oneself strongest at a certain point;  in life we must choose a point of attack and concentrate our forces there.  The choice of a career must not be left to chance.
—    André Maurois
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2019	Hearts Torn In Every Way
2018	Recently Seen On A T-shirt:
2017	Rhythmical Creation
2016	In The Beginning
2015	False Gods
2014	But Sometimes Careers Choose People
2013	Pretty Sure Of Uncertainty
2012	Face Reality
2011	Intelligent Luck

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Elected Madness

All primitive people thought that a lunatic was possessed by a spirit.  When his incoherent words more or less accord with the moral prejudices of the time, the spirit is a good one, and the man is a saint.  In the opposite case, the spirit is evil and the man must be suppressed.  It is just according to the time and place and the doctors, whether a prophetess would be worshiped as a priestess or dunked as a witch.  Innumerable violent lunatics have escaped the cells, thanks to the War, and their very violence has made heroes of them.  And in every Parliament there are at least five or six undisputed idiots who got elected for their madness through the admiration of their constituents.
—    André Maurois
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2020	Which Is Which
2019	Were You Saying Something?
2018	Ethics Lesson
2017	May I Have Some More, Please?
2016	A Little Lost
2015	This High Place
2014	Elected Madness
2013	Well Written
2012	Related Parts
2011	The King Is Oscar
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Astonishing Choices

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
—    André Maurois
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2018	Praise God
2017	Necessary Gaps
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Precise Order

An order must first of all be clear.  A meditation may be vague, a scheme always has something of the vision in it, but an order must be precise.  All orders can be misunderstood; an obscure one will never be understood.  “To do a thing well,” said Napoleon, “one must do it oneself.”  This is not always true, but the prudent leader will admit that few people understand and that almost everyone forgets.  It is therefore not enough to give an order;  one must see to its execution and, when giving it, anticipate anything that may nullify its effectiveness.  The stupidity of human beings and the malevolence of chance are limitless.  The unexpected always happens.  The leader who endeavors to frustrate the onset of ill luck and who strengthens the weak points in his schemes against stupidity is more apt to impose his will than one who does not take these measures.
—    André Maurois
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2017	…And With It Civilization
2016	Just Like My Mother
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2014	Precise Order
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Difficult Learning

That which is learned without difficulty is soon forgotten, and for the same reason, oral instruction which does not require the pupil’s personal participation is almost always rather useless.
—    André Maurois
[Hence the expression of “hard won experience”.    —    kmab]
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2017	Nearer My Goal To Thee
2016	Relatively Simple Actions
2015	And Yet, You Did
2014	Difficult Learning
2013	Four Things To do
2012	When I Was Young…
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