The Ides of March
Fear grandeurs, O soul.
And if you cannot overcome
your ambitions, pursue them with hesitation
and caution. And the more you advance,
the more inquisitive, careful you must be.
And when you reach your peak, Caesar at last;
when you assume the form of a famous man,
then above all beware when you go out in the street,
a conspicuous ruler with followers,
if by chance from the mob approaches
some Artemidorus, bringing a letter
and says hastily 'Read this immediately,
these are grave matters that concern you,'
do not fail to stop; do not fail to push aside
all those who salute and kneel
(you can see them later); let even the Senate
itself wait, and immediately recognise
the grave writings of Artemidorus.
Greek Original:
Μάρτι&# 945;ι Ειδοί
Τα μεγαλεία να φοβάσαι, ω ψυχή.
Και τες φιλοδοξί& #949;ς σου να υπερνική& #963;εις
αν δεν μπορείς, με δισταγμό και προφυλάξ& #949;ις
να τες ακολουθε& #943;ς. Κι όσο εμπροστά προβαίνε& #953;ς,
τόσο εξεταστι& #954;ή, προσεκτι& #954;ή να είσαι.
Κ_ 3; όταν θα φθάσεις στην ακμή σου, Καίσαρ πια·
έτσι περιωνύμ& #959;υ ανθρώπου σχήμα όταν λάβεις,
τ&# 972;τε κυρίως πρόσεξε σαν βγεις στον δρόμον έξω,
εξου&# 963;ιαστής περίβλεπ& #964;ος με συνοδεία,
αν τύχει και πλησιάσε& #953; από τον όχλο
καν 41;νας Αρτεμίδω& #961;ος, που φέρνει γράμμα,
κ&# 945;ι λέγει βιαστικά «Διάβασε αμέσως τούτα,
εί&# 957;αι μεγάλα πράγματα που σ' ενδιαφέρ& #959;υν»,
μη λείψεις να σταθείς· μη λείψεις τους διαφόρου& #962;
που χαιρετού& #957; και προσκυνο& #973;ν να τους παραμερί& #963;εις
(του 62; βλέπεις πιο αργά· ας περιμένε& #953; ακόμη
κ' η Σύγκλητο& #962; αυτή, κ' ευθύς να τα γνωρίσει& #962;
τα σοβαρά γραφόμεν& #945; του Αρτεμιδώ& #961;ου.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Related quotes
Initiative - Paradox
Though siren songs of progress spur Man higher,
like Icarus, beware ambitions' fire!
Conservatives of every hue
advance that common caveat -
whenever faced with something new
they seldom fail to smell a rat.
They therefore counsel caution due
before attempting this or that,
implying that inventions new, -
to wit: all that is not old-hat, -
are heresy, could threaten too.
You want a turn? Go out and bat!
Youth to youth true, what you must... do!
Don't wait too late, when old and fat, -
their attitude appears askew,
could be ignored, accepting that...
Sure, though to safety's shore returned his sire,
Daedalus' fate, forgot by most, was dire.
(9 September 1981)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Love Brewed
The phase of my love to you and,
The phase two of my act towards your muse;
Obsessed by my wealth and the elegance of your joy!
But, it is natural to express the feelings of jealousy at times.
Natural breasts,
To look attractive ans to smell sweet;
The natural act,
To look lovely and to look smart;
But, why should someone hurt you my love?
For, i will cry in my grave if i fail to fulfil my dreams for you.
Love brewed in the African pot,
With youthful acts to overcome the ageing nature of things;
And like the muse of poverty as seen around us,
But, i will cry in my grave if i fail to fulfil my dreams for you.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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I Could Have You
'My princess
Far out of reach
As you kiss
I lose my speech
I kneel down
Could fill your bed
Then you frown
I lost my head'
'You? Be mine?
Never a chance
Don’t have time
For this romance
Can’t stop now
Too much to do
Don’t ask how
Won’t be true'
Overcome by this funny feeling
Just cant stop my head from reeling
If I could have you
For just one day
I’d never be blue
Could make us stay
Overcome by this funny feeling
Can’t understand how we dealing
'Come closer
I know its there
I’ve chosen
I know you care
Why back down
Why run away
I’m your clown
Want you to stay'
'No questions
I can’t give you
Explanations
You I want too
This cant be
I feel for you
This aint me
I feel untrue'
Overcome by this funny feeling
Just cant stop my head from reeling
If I could have you
For just one day
I’d never be blue
Could make us stay
Overcome by this funny feeling
Can’t understand how I’m dealing
'My princess
So close to reach
As you kiss
I lose my speech
I kneel down
I fill your bed
Stop that frown
Your feelings are not dead'
'You are mine
There is a chance
Now’s the time
For this romance
Must stop now
No more to do
I know now
I cant live without you'
Overcome by this funny feeling
Just cant stop my head from reeling
If I could have you
For just one day
I’d never be blue
Could make us stay
Overcome by this funny feeling
Can’t understand how I’m dealing
poem by Serena Constance Grobler
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You And Me
Theres a leafless tree in asia
Under the sun theres a homeless man
Theres a forest fire in the valley
Where the story all began
What will be our last thought?
Do you think its coming soon?
Will it be a comfort
Or the pain of a burning wound?
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
Youre an ocean full of faces
And you know that we believe
Were just a wave that drifts around you
Singing all our hopes and dreams
We look around in wonder
At the work that has been done
By the visions of our father
Touched by his loving son
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, ever, never, ever stop...
song performed by by Moody Blues
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You & Me
Theres a leafless tree in asia
Under the sun theres a homeless man
Theres a forest fire in the valley
Where the story all began
What will be our last thought?
Do you think its coming soon?
Will it be a comfort
Or the pain of a burning wound?
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
Youre an ocean full of faces
And you know that we believe
Were just a wave that drifts around you
Singing all our hopes and dreams
We look around in wonder
At the work that has been done
By the visions of our father
Touched by his loving son
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
All we are trying to say
Is we are all weve got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never stop
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, ever, never, ever stop...
song performed by by Moody Blues
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In the long run you only hit what you aim at. Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.
quote by Henry David Thoreau
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Take a Chance
Contrite, contained, controlled;
Now it’s too late. I’m old.
I dared not fail,
But dared to be stale.
What a sad story told.
The only real way to advance
Is to tear down those walls…take a chance.
If you fail, the worst that you’ll do
Is learn something else about you.
Whether it’s money, power or romance,
Take a look and then take a chance.
Failure, like success, has a dual rendition;
A sad subtraction or awesome addition!
Try something new that will enhance,
And feel your mind and heart dance.
poem by Gregory Huyette
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Demos
I
All you that are enamored of my name
And least intent on what most I require,
Beware; for my design and your desire,
Deplorably, are not as yet the same.
Beware, I say, the failure and the shame
Of losing that for which you now aspire
So blindly, and of hazarding entire
The gift that I was bringing when I came.
Give as I will, I cannot give you sight
Whereby to see that with you there are some
To lead you, and be led. But they are dumb
Before the wrangling and the shrill delight
Of your deliverance that has not come,
And shall not, if I fail you—as I might.
II
So little have you seen of what awaits
Your fevered glimpse of a democracy
Confused and foiled with an equality
Not equal to the envy it creates,
That you see not how near you are the gates
Of an old king who listens fearfully
To you that are outside and are to be
The noisy lords of imminent estates.
Rather be then your prayer that you shall have
Your kingdom undishonored. Having all,
See not the great among you for the small,
But hear their silence; for the few shall save
The many, or the many are to fall—
Still to be wrangling in a noisy grave.
poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
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I don't mean that if you're a Christian, walking close to God, you will immediately gain celebrity. you may fail as an artist, because you may not have what the public want at that time, and you have to be prepared for that.
quote by Cliff Richard
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Murrow Turning Over In His Grave
All the sainted sinners
They pay handsomely
And eventually?
They make the weapons
And they run the prisons
And they sell the justice
Cause being guilty is
Just good business
And well be standing on
The borderline
Aint no one there gonna
Stop it now
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Better watch out
Murrow turning over in his grave
Hes gonna turn wild
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Better watch out
Murrow turning over in his grave
Hes gonna run wild
Half-closed eyes
And the countrys deadly
Do you feel the ooze as your brain drains out
From your pneumatic drills and sharpening knives
Blood in the sky
Are you dead or alive?
All the restless people and the bitter green
Well it fakes this gold, makes the spirit mean
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Better watch out
Murrow turning over in his grave
Hes gonna turn wild
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Better watch out
Murrow turning over in his grave
Hes gonna run wild
song performed by by Fleetwood Mac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Try, believing luck
With out sail you can reach.
With sail you perhaps fail.
You may swim and fail.
You may float and reach.
Sometimes efforts fail.
Sometimes fortune strikes.
An effect is from bundles of causes.
Your effort is an added cause.
When other forces are enough,
Without your effort, you succeed.
When other forces are far short,
With your effort, you fail.
So to rely on fate is futile.
To rely on your efforts is too.
02.06.2001, Pmdi
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Skies The Limit
Written by christine mcvie
If Ive been acting just a little strange
And you have noticed it too
Its cos my life has been rearranged
With the presence of you
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
Can you give me one reason why
Youd ever let me down
I wont believe it baby, but Ill try
The truths goin to come around
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
Sooner or later
Ill keep the promise
I made to you
Sooner or later
It will be greater
Then we ever knew
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
song performed by by Fleetwood Mac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Wont Be the 'Chief of Relief
Did you get my letter in the mail,
Saying I wont bail out your failure.
Did you get my letter in the mail?
You shoulda got it without fail.
Did you get my letter in the mail,
Saying I wont bail out your failure.
Did you get my letter in the mail?
You shoulda got it without fail.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
For your reach outs when your grieving.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
To be there only when you need me!
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
For your reach outs when your grieving.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
To be there only when you need me!
Did you get my letter in the mail,
Saying I wont bail out your failure.
Did you get my letter in the mail?
You shoulda got it without fail.
Did you get my letter in the mail,
Saying I wont bail out your failure.
Did you get my letter in the mail?
You shoulda got it without fail.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
For your reach outs when your grieving.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
To be there only when you need me!
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
For your reach outs when your grieving.
No I wont be the 'chief of relief'.
To be there only when you need me!
The time has gone,
To sing that same old song!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Lost One
COME to the grave--the silent grave! and dream
Of a light, happy voice--so full of joy,
That those who heard her laugh, would laugh again,
Echoing the mirth of such an innocent spirit;
And pause in their own converse, to look round,
Won by the witchery of that gleesome tone.
Come to the grave--the lone dark grave! and dream
Of eyes whose brilliancy was of the soul,
Eyes which, with one bright flash from their dark lids,
Seemed at a glance to read the thoughts of others;
Or, with a full entire tenderness,
The pure expression of all-perfect love,
(Of woman's love, which is for you alone,
While your's is for yourself)--gave in that look
The promise of a life of meek affection.
Come to the grave--the mouldering grave! and dream
Of a fair form that glided over earth
One of its happiest creatures:--to her cheek
The lightest word might bring the blushing blood
In pure carnation;--down her graceful neck,
The long rich curls of jet hung carelessly,
Untortured by the cunning hand of art:
And on her brow, bright purity and joy,
Twin sisters, sate,--as on a holy throne.
Come yet unto the grave--the still, damp grave!
And dream of a young heart that beat with life,
And all life's best affections; of a heart
Where sorrow never came, nor fear, nor sin--
Nor aught save innocence, and perfect love:
And, having dreamed of such a lovely being--
So gay, so bright, so pure, so fond, so meek--
Having thus conjured up a form of love
In thine own pausing and regretful mind;--
A vision will be present to thy soul,
A faint, but faithful portraiture, of one
Most dearly loved, and now for ever lost!
poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
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Life's Railway To Heaven
Life is like a mountain railway, with an engineer that's brave
We must make the run successful, from the cradle to the grave,
Heed the curves and hills and tunnels, never falter never fail,
Keep your hand upon the throttle, and your eye upon the rail.
Blessed Savior, thou will guide us,
Till we reach that blissful shore,
Where the angels wait to join us,
In God's praise for evermore.
As we roll along the mainline, they'll be storms and they'll be night,
They'll be sidetracks unexpected, on the left and on the right,
But with the straight always before us, and our hearts upon the prize,
They'll be no disembarkation until we reach paradise.
Blessed Savior, thou will guide us,
Till we reach that blissful shore,
Where the angels wait to join us,
In God's praise forevermore.
song performed by by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Roles They Play To Rehearse
It is easy for anyone,
Not sitting in a hot seat...
To accuse someone for not doing something,
Believed that should be done overnight.
Or someone else could do it better immediately.
Especially if that one has received accolades,
To assume qualifies them with beliefs...
That certain roles they play to rehearse,
And re-enact to fantasize...
Turns their delusions into realities.
'Be careful on the scene.
They are actually using live ammo.
Nothing used are 'props'.
If you should get shot,
You will drop...for real! '
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Gift of Failure
To travel a road and never fail
Is to follow a lesser trail.
The real path is narrow and steep
With jagged rock and fissure deep.
Passage gained is passage earned,
Bought with failure and now learned.
But to fail and not learn
Or fail with no concern
Is to spurn a chance to know
Which direction now is so.
Oh, to find the way unveiled
After having failed
Is to sip the sweetest wine.
The fork in the road is now thine!
The gift of failure is dear indeed,
For in each it sparks the need
To think and labor and then know
That from failure success can grow.
For the greatest gain from a loss
Involved a man and his cross.
poem by Gregory Huyette
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The Gift Of Failure
To travel a road and never fail
Is to follow a lesser trail.
The real path is narrow and steep
With jagged rock and fissure deep.
Passage gained is passage earned,
Bought with failure and now learned.
But to fail and not learn
Or fail with no concern
Is to spurn a chance to know
Which direction now is so.
Oh, to find the way unveiled
After having failed
Is to sip the sweetest wine.
The fork in the road is now thine!
The gift of failure is dear indeed,
For in each it sparks the need
To think and labor and then know
That from failure success can grow.
For the greatest gain from a loss
Involved a man and his cross.
poem by Gregory Huyette
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Always Beware
Whenever someone says caution,
we should always beware,
unless they tell us of the danger
we must always take care.
Sometimes it is used for people
whom someone think are a bad lot.
There we must make our own judgement,
and in doing so,
we might leave caution behind.
Therefore, whenever we hear caution,
we should always beware
and take care
until we know
the path we take is clear.
19 May 2008
poem by David Harris
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When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, I need more out of my life and I need to push myself harder. And if at the end of the day I don't have it, then I don't have it, but at least I'm going to put myself out there. If I fail, I'm going to fail terrifically.
quote by Ali Larter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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