He was a man of immensely strong faith. A faith that balanced well with his reason.
Malcolm Guite on Dr. Johnson
Category: amreading
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That one had to keep a “good heart,” come what may, was Abigail’s lifelong creed. “A merry heart doeth good like medicine,” she loved to say, quoting Proverbs. “I hate to complain,” she now wrote. “No one is without difficulties, whether in high or low life, and every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.
With all of the Richmond Hill house sick, Abigail Adam’s “good heart” endured.
The most formidable first lady of all time?
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 423
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“The easiest way to catch the knuckleball is to wait for it to stop rolling and then pick it up.”
– Bob Uecker
Further proof magic exists.
Posnanski, Joe. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2023. pg 17, 18
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“There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works.”
– Charley Lau
More proof magic exists.
Posnanski, Joe. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2023. pg 17
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Ah, the knuckleball. Nothing in the whole world like it. Willie Stargell called the knuckleball a butterfly with hiccups. Bobby Mercer said hitting one is like eating Jell-O with chopsticks. Tim McCarver said catching one is like trying to seize a moth with tweezers.
– Joe Posnanski
The knuckleball is proof magic exists.
Posnanski, Joe. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2023. pg 17
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At loose ends once again in Europe, and with no word from Congress, Adams was nonetheless determined to make himself useful. If nothing else, he could write—Adams would always write. Another man might have relaxed and bided his time, just as another man might have waited at El Ferrol for his ship to be repaired, rather than striking out over the mountains of Spain.
Always choose to make yourself useful, regardless of circumstance.
You too, can always write.
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 234
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What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life by him who interests his heart in everything.
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 287
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“Popularity was never my mistress, nor was I ever, or shall I ever be a popular man,”
– John Adams to James Warren
It’s almost as if Adams knew his contributions to the formation of the United States would go overlooked. However, he always behaved with conviction.
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 373
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Thanks to Madame Lafayette, they were seated in a gallery overlooking the choir, “as good a place as any in the church,” thought John Quincy, who in a long description of the spectacle in his diary demonstrated that besides being precociously erudite, he had learned, as his father urged, to observe the world around him and was well started on becoming an accomplished writer. He described the Parliament lined up to the right side of the choir, robed in scarlet and black, the Chambre des Comptes on the left, in robes of black and white; the bishops arriving two by two, “a purple kind of mantle over their shoulders,” the Archbishop of Paris, “a mitre upon his head,” and finally the arrival of the King.
John Quincy Adams heeding his father’s advice to observe the world around him.
Or as Teju Cole begs: observe, observe, observe.
McCullough, David. John Adams. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001. pg 327
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True genius does what it takes to succeed, which is why Michelangelo, old, tired, irritated at not being able to go home to Florence, went to a building site in Rome every day and talked to people who hated him about hauling stone and carving pillars. As well as everything else, Michelangelo turned out to be a late bloomer in the art of running a construction site. Everyone who loves architecture can still feel glad about that today.
– Henry Oliver
Even Michelangelo took on projects that he wanted to pass on. But when the Pope asks you to become the architect for the St Peter’s basilica “yes” is your only response.
Also, maybe architecture isn’t as glamorous a profession as depicted?
Read the article in it’s entirety here. It will reveal to you new sides of Michelangelo.
Oliver, Henry. “It Is Never Too Late for Greatness.” CapX, July 4, 2024. https://capx.co/it-is-never-too-late-for-greatness/.
Floodlights and Goalposts 