I was searching the past for some possible wisdom about New Years Resolutions.  One was about keeping your resolution for your own self-respect.  So if you’ve lapsed in yours, go back to it now! This quote is from Unity, Volume 11 (1883).  Unity seems to have been an American publication for teaching kids how to live...

Kishan emailed me requesting a poem about cleanliness. Here are some rhymes and poems I found that are generally about cleanliness, keeping clean or washing up… First, here’s a traditional nursery rhyme that mentions having a clean face: The Clock There’s a neat little clock, In the schoolroom it stands, And it points to the time With its two little...

The Ides of March is on March 15th every year. The expression Beware the Ides of March can mean beware of impending danger. If someone says Beware the Ides of March referring to March 15th itself, it can have the sense of March 15th being a bad luck day, just like Friday the 13th. The word...

Here are two old nursery rhymes related to the New Year… He who is born on New Year’s morn Will have his own way as sure as you were born. *** Married when the year is new, He’ll be loving, kind and true. *** Here’s a quote from Ben Franklin about the New Year… Be at war with your vices, at peace with...

Helen wrote me, Hi, Do you know the name of the one that includes “early to bed and early to rise”? I think the the word wise is also included. I have searched every where I can think of on the internet but this is still keeping me awake at night. Thanks, Helen Benjamin Franklin wrote it. The whole saying is… Early to...

“Songs remain. They last. The right song can turn an emperor into a laughingstock, can bring down dynasties. A song can last long after the events and the people in it are dust and dreams and gone. That’s the power of songs.” -From Neil Gaiman’s new book Anansi Boys (Which btw I...

My husband and I just began watching an excellent Martin Scorsese documentary film about Bob Dylan, No Direction Home. Dylan told a fascinating story. When he was ten, he first heard a song called Drifting Too Far from the Shore. “The sound of the record made me feel like I was somebody else,” Dylan...

“Coffee was only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your slightly older self.” I don’t know if it’s true. But it sounds good. So, perhaps, as a coffee drinker, it’s something to ponder!