The Rooted Man

an anthology of lessons learned by men var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24058279-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[therootedman]

“Some lose all mind and become soul, insane. Some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual. Some lose both and become accepted.”

Charles Bukowski (August 1920 - March 1994)

[therootedman]

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race."

H.G. Wells (September 1886 - August 1946)

[therootedman]

“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self-respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn’t all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (September 1896- December 1940)

[therootedman]

“Let me tell you something kid, everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people never take the chance, either ‘cause they’re too scared, or because they don’t recognize it when it spits on their shoes. This is your big chance, and you shouldn’t let it go by…”

Excerpt and picture from The Sandlot, 1993

[therootedman]

“Aristocratic gentlemen in Europe, and sometimes in this country, go out with a couple of friends and try to kill each other with swords or revolvers at twenty paces. Why don’t they settle the question with their fists? There would be no loss of life and it would be equally effective in determining who is the better man.”

John L. Sullivan (October 1858 - February 1918)

(note: John Sullivan was a bare knuckle boxer and the first American athlete to earn over 1 million dollars)

[therootedman]

"Dress like you've made something of yourself in the world, even if you haven't."

 Style Rule #24 (courtesy of Men's Health)

(pic: Humphrey Bogart)

[therootedman]

"There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good."

Edwin Denby (February 1903 - July 1983)

(pic: Fred Astaire dancing with his son Fred)

[therootedman]

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

 General James N. Mattis (Born: September 8, 1950)

(note: one of the rules Mattis gave his Marines to live by in Iraq, quoted in Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, source: http://mostexerent.tumblr.com/)

[therootedman]

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

Pancho Villa (June 1878 - July 1923)

(note: reportedly Villa's last words quoted in Famous Last Words : The Ultimate Collection of Finales and Farewells)

[therootedman]

"A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 1937 - February 2005)

[therootedman]

“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself.”

José Ortega y Gasset (May 1883 - October 1955)

(excerpt from The Revolt of the Masses, 1930)

[therootedman]

"We are such spendthrifts with our lives, the trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out."

                      Paul Newman (January 1925 - September 2008)

[therootedman]

"Because you're mine, I walk the line."

Johnny Cash (February 1932 - September 2003)

(photo: Johnny & June, Folsom State Prison, 1968)

[therootedman]

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 1807 - March 1882)

(excerpt from Driftwood, 1857)

[therootedman]

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."

                          Mark Twain (November 1835 - April 1910)

[therootedman]

"For decades, in show business, the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host The Tonight Show. It was the Holy Grail, and like many people I thought that achieving that goal would define me as successful. But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you. In 2000 —I told graduates to not be afraid to fail, and I still believe that. But today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality."

Conan O'Brien (excerpt from Commencement speech at Dartmouth, 2011)

[therootedman]

"Search others for their virtue, and yourself for your vices."

Buckminster Fuller (July 1895 - July 1983)