Work or Reflection
Now, I always have preserved a certain attitude
Quite definite in reference to Work
('Tis futility concealing
That I have the Weary Feeling
And tendency perennial to shirk)
Still, I always strive to recognise the principle
That earnest, steady toil is ever best;
So that, having recognised it,
Not to say idealised it,
I would fain lay down my pen and take a rest.
For, you understand, to recognise a principle
Is patently a virtue in itself.
After that you have the option,
Of its strenuous adoption,'
Or the placing of it gently on a shelf.
For myself, I'm forced to own that though my theory's
A thing of beauty, even in the rough,
Dearth of cash supplies good reasons,
With the Passing of the seasons,
That this simple recognition's not enough.
For it's Work - Toil - Graft
It's accomplishment that matters in the end;
And the act of recognition,
Even by a politician,
Has not ever yet been known to make or mend.
And the man who holds a lamp-post up without much fret or fuss,
He may 'recognise a principle', and feel quite virtuous.
We have read about the lives, in ancient history,
Of the Doers back in ev'ry age and clime;
And their method of reforming
Was reflecting and performing,
More especially the latter, every time.
But the man who sat and recognised the principles,
And calmly left accomplishment to Fate,
May have won a reputation,
As a saviour of the nation,
But his name has been suppressed, at any rate.
This has clearly been the rule since far antiquity:
Before a thing is done a man must act;
And all progress lay in knowing
What to do, and straightway going
And just working till reform became a fact.
But to stand on distant nodding terms with principle
Has been a most unprofitable trick.
You may scan historic pages,
And right down throughout the ages
Mere reflection never laid a single brick.
For it's Graft - Toil - Work,
It's performance that is needed in the land.
Recognition, by the student,
Of the principle is prudent,
But it never yet has shifted any sand.
And Hell is full of futile folk who scorned the verb 'to do,'
Who 'recognised the principle' but failed to see it through.
poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

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Related quotes
God, great principle of all minor principles, God, who is Himself without a principle, could not conceive Himself, if, in order to do it, He required to know His own principle.
quote by Giacomo Casanova

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There are three principles in a man's being and life, the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don't do what I say.
quote by Martin Buber

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My principle
Give me a chance
To work.
Give me a chance
To work as per
My principle.
And what is
My principle
How far it apply
How many people
Get benefit
Out of this principle
All are the questions
Yet to answer.
All answer
You can get only
When you allow me
To work freely
As per my principle.
Give me a chance
To work.
poem by Gajanan Mishra

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Pleasure Principle
THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
Janet Jackson
Album: Control
You might think I'm crazy but I'm serious
It's better you know now
What I thought was happiness
Was only part-time bliss
You can take a bow
It was all just one big night out on the town
Riding in your limousine
We turned right, then I said wrong
Which brings us to a stop
As the light is changing
Oh my meter's running so I got to go, now
CHORUS:
It's the pleasure principle, oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh
It's the principle of pleasure, oh-oh
It's the pleasure principle, oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh
It's true you want to build your life on guarantees
Hey take a ride in a big yellow taxi
I'm not here to feed your insecurities
I wanted you to love me
This has become an all too familiar scene
It's not the first time I've paid the fare
Where'd you get the idea of material possession?
Thank you for the ride nowhere
And oh my meter's running, so I really have to go
CHORUS
I know what you mean to me
Baby this is nowhere
You what became between you and me
Human differential
It's the principle of pleasure oh-oh oh oh oh
It's the pleasure principle, principle
oh ohhhh ohhhh oh
You might say that I'm no good
I wouldn't trust your looks, baby if I could
I got too many things I wanna do before I'm through
It's the pleasure principle, it's the pleasure principle
It's the pleasure principle
Baby you can hold me down, baby you can hold me down
After all the love that we've been through
After all you put me through
Love me, love me
It's the pleasure principle
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
song performed by by Janet Jackson

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Philosophers should consider the fact that the greatest happiness principle can easily be made an excuse for a benevolent dictatorship. We should replace it by a more modest and more realistic principle - the principle that the fight against avoidable misery should be a recognized aim of public policy, while the increase of happiness should be left, in the main, to private initiative.
quote by Karl Popper

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The Pleasure Principle
You might think I'm crazy but I'm serious
it's better you know now
what I thought was happiness was only part-time bliss
you can take a bow
it was all just one big night out on the town
riding in your limousine
we turned right and I say wrong which brings us to a stop
as the light is changing
Oh my meters running so I got to go now
Its the pleasure principle oh oh ohhhhh
Its the principle of pleasure
Oh ohhh
its the pleasure principle oh oh -oh oh
Its true you want to build your life of guarantees
hey take a ride in a big yellow taxi
I'm not here to feed your insecurities
I wanted you to love me
this has become an all too familiar scene
its not the first time I paid the fare
where'd you get the idea of material possession?
thank you for the ride nowhere
And oh my meters running so I've really got to go
Its the pleasure principle oh ohhh
I know- what you mean to me
baby this is nowhere
you know- what became between you and me human differential
sa dat dit dit baby
It's the principle of pleasure
oh ohhh
its the pleasure principle oh ohhh
You might say that I'm no good
I wouldn't trust your looks baby if I could
I got so many things I wanna do
song performed by by Janet Jackson from Control

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CBS fought very hard on this because it believed and believes that there's a principle at stake here. The principle is that Dan Rather doesn't work for the police, and that people that speak to Dan Rather understand that he's a journalist and not a police agent.
quote by Floyd Abrams

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The Principle
The Principle stood up;
He's grown in stature over time
It's not like he wanted to, you know, but
his forced tribulations have caused this
Strife
The Principle strode through the door
Ready to take on the World
He's grown-up, matured, overnight, yet
He already feels withered and
Old
The Principle stares into the belly of
The Monster looming large
He shouts and screams and kicks until
He's the one in
Charge
Now what good has all of this resolved?
Life brings many troubles
Yet He is all but a metaphor, for
My very own
God Damned Morals.
poem by J.I. Stuart

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It is never to be expected in a revolution that every man is to change his opinion at the same moment. There never yet was any truth or any principle so irresistibly obvious that all men believed it at once. Time and reason must cooperate with each other to the final establishment of any principle; and therefore those who may happen to be first convinced have not a right to persecute others, on whom conviction operates more slowly. The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to destroy.
quote by Thomas Paine

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The principle of liberty and equality, if coupled with mere selfishness, will make men only devils, each trying to be independent that he may fight only for his own interest. And here is the need of religion and its power, to bring in the principle of benevolence and love to men.
quote by John Randolph

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A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
quote by George William Curtis

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Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
quote by Maximilien Robespierre

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The principle though remains the same, and the important thing is CBS fought hard, very hard, to protect that principle and will fight again.
quote by Floyd Abrams

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Man Of Principle
One day hell walk from out of this place.
Youll see a quiet determination on his face.
Hell toe no lines. suffer no fools.
But hell raise three cheers to the losing team
From the other school.
A little dedication. a little pair of daddys shoes to fill.
Compleat education. one day hell be a man of principle.
And the battles on. and hell play to win.
Feel the blue blood rushing quick beneath his skin.
And grim they stand. and hard they fall.
Harder still, when their backs are up against the wall.
Gonna get your attention. but hes carrying his cross
To the other hill.
With divine intervention, he can be a man of principle.
In the evening light, with a fair-ground girl--
He stops himself as his head begins to whirl.
And he walks her home. and theres a kiss goodbye.
She feels a chill as she looks him in the eye.
Well, theres a time and a place now
And its not tonight shell bend his will.
Slow realization--shes looking at a man of principle.
Hung from the highest station by his old school tie--
Undressed to kill
He could be a real sensation. but hes a man of principle
song performed by by Jethro Tull

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Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt

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We could not, for example, arrive at a principle like that of entropy without introducing some additional principle, such as randomness, to this topography.
quote by Michael Polanyi

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Three Principles for Success
In the old days
when I was a nobody
I needed a mentor
in order to groom me into success
into self-actualisation and to bring
all my dreams into reality
and so I found a mentor
and I learned of him the 3 principles
to success and complete achievement
And yes, since you ask,
I shall pass on to you the 3 principles
that my mentor had learned from someone before:
PRINCIPLE 1
Know what you want
PRINCIPLE 2
Never tell them all that you know
poem by Raj Arumugam

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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.
quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

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In a way then, the Divine Principle, this new revelation, is the documentary of my life. It is my own life experience. The Divine Principle is in me, and I am in the Divine Principle.
quote by Sun Myung Moon

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The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government - the principle of civilian ascendency over the military.
quote by William Orville Douglas

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