The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword
From the desk of Jan Hommel, Director:
Words are very powerful. They can have a positive or negative effect on our thoughts, emotions and lives. They can build us up, give us hope, empower us to press on, or even persuade us to fight for a cause. But they can also destroy, diminish, cause despair and render us angry, hopeless and helpless. In Proverbs 18:21, King Solomon says that 鈥淒eath and life are in the power of the tongue.鈥�
As we can see throughout history, the right words at the right time, have encouraged and moved our nation. Our Founding Fathers, Presidents and national leaders knew how to use their pens and words to unite us and encourage us to love, support, serve and defend our country.
Let鈥檚 take a look at some powerful words and life lessons from a few of our nation鈥檚 leaders:
鈥淚f your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.鈥� 听~ John Quincy Adams
鈥淚 hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”.鈥� ~ George Washington
鈥淥n matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.鈥� ~Thomas Jefferson
鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to do a job right, than to explain why you didn鈥檛.鈥� ~ Martin Van Buren
鈥淭here is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.鈥澨�~ William Henry Harrison
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what you can miss before you try.鈥� ~ Franklin Pierce
鈥淏etter to remain silent and to be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.鈥�
~ Abraham Lincoln
鈥淚f wrinkles must be written on our brow, let them not be written on our heart. The spirit should never grow old.鈥澨� ~ James Garfield听
鈥淕reat lives never go out; they go on.鈥� ~ Benjamin Harrison
鈥淭he only man who makes no mistakes is the man who does nothing.鈥� ~ Theodore Roosevelt
鈥淚 would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.鈥澨�~ Woodrow Wilson
鈥淲ords without actions are the assassins of idealism.鈥澨�~ Herbert Hoover
鈥淭he only thing we have to fear is fear itself.鈥� ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
鈥淲hat counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight- it鈥檚 the size of the fight in the dog.鈥� ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.鈥�
听~ Harry S. Truman
鈥淒o not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.鈥� ~ John F. Kennedy
鈥淎 man who has never lost himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life鈥檚 mountaintop experiences. Only losing himself does he find himself.鈥� ~ Richard M. Nixon
鈥淭he American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.鈥�
~ Ronald Reagan
鈥淲hen we give what we can and give it with joy, we don’t just renew the American tradition of giving, we also renew ourselves. ~ Bill Clinton
鈥淎merica is a Nation with a mission – and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.鈥� ~ George W. Bush
鈥淭he best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don鈥檛 wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.鈥� ~ Barack Obama
Mrs. McHugh鈥檚 10th and 11th grade speech classes visited the American Freedom Museum this week to observe the impact of a good persuasive speech. They focused on the purpose of persuasion, whether in speech format, writing, or in daily conversation. After a lesson on the Cold War and the significance of the Berlin Wall, students listened to President Reagan鈥檚 speech challenging Premier Gorbachev to 鈥渢ear down this wall鈥�. They also listened to President Bush鈥檚 address to the nation after 9/11. Both times, students identified the effects of evocative and inclusive words and the impact on those being addressed in the speech. 听The students left the museum with a better understanding of how the power of a well-crafted statement filled with rich imagery, has moved the people of America to accomplish great things, and also how the pen has truly been mightier than the sword!
