by Curt Kovener
It has been a while since we visited ‘The Wisdom of the Midwest’, a collection of quotes of common sense and uncommon genius from people who grew up as middle Americans.
“Education is not preparation for life. It is life itself.” ~John Dewey
“Absorb ideas from every source.” ~Thomas Edison
“Knowledge is not power. It is potential power. What’s needed is the ability to motivate yourself to do what you know needs doing.” ~W. Clement Stone
“Time is a great teacher.” ~Carl Sandburg
“The trouble with the world is not that people know so little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.” ~Mark Twain
“A closed mind is a dying man.” ~Edna Ferber
“A good scare is worth more than good advice.” ~Edgar Watson Howe
“The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know.” ~Harry S. Truman
“I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” ~Ernest Hemingway
“Technology does not improve the quality of life; it improves the quality of things. Improving the quality of life requires the application of wisdom.” ~Neil Armstrong
“Lord, deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake, and also from the man who makes the same mistake twice.” ~William Mayo
“Excesses ultimately, inevitably, are their own undoing.” ~Paul Harvey
“The truth is more important than the facts.” ~Frank Lloyd Wright
“What I have learned growing up is that we have power over words, not the other way around.” ~Tim Allen
“You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing it takes to make him mad.” ~Adlai Stevenson
“Egotism is the anesthetic that lulls the pain of stupidity.” ~Frank Leahy
“Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.” ~ Phil Jackson
All wisdom inspired by Middle Americans, but unheard and unheeded, by our nation’s leadership.