Quotations on Life from Famous Freemasons
“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.” – Bro. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), US humorist and author (1835-1910), Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.& A.M., Missouri, USA
“History is more or less bunk. It´s tradition. We don´t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker´s damn is the history we made today.” – Bro. Henry Ford, US automobile industrialist (1863-1947), Palestine Lodge No. 357 F.& A.M., Michigan, USA
“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Bro. Benjamin Franklin, US author, diplomat, inventor, politician, & printer (1706-1790), St. John´s Lodge of Philadelphia, USA
“Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.” – Bro. Rudyard Kipling, British (Indian-born) author (1865-1936), Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782. E.C., Lahore, India
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” – Bro. Will Rogers, US humorist and showman (1879-1935), Claremore Lodge No. 53 A.F.& A.M., Oklahoma, USA
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails Daring Greatly so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” – Bro. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Matinecock Lodge No. 806 F.& A.M., Oyster Bay, NY, USA (entitled, “Daring Greatly”)
“I´ve always followed my father´s advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be damn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.” – Bro. John Wayne, US movie actor and director (1907-1979), Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56 F.& A.M., Arizona, USA
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” – Bro. Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, novelist and poet (1854-1900), Apollo University Lodge No. 357, Oxford, UK
“The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He’s got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won’t be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That’s all there is to it.”
– Bro. Clark Gable, US movie actor (1901-1960) Beverly Hills Lodge No.528, Beverly Hills, CA
Quotations Regarding Business from Famous Freemasons
“Serve the classes, live with the masses. Serve the masses, live with the classes.”
– Bro. John Jacob Astor, American Capitalist, Holland Lodge No. 8 F.& A.M., NY, USA
“I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can´t be done.”
“The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
“There is one rule for industrialists and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” – Bro. Henry Ford, Pioneer Automobile Manufacturer, Palestine Lodge No. 357 F.& A.M., Detroit, MI, USA
“I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt.”
– Bro. & Dr. Charles Mayo, Cofounder, the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Lodge No. 21 A.F.& A.M., Rochester, MN, USA
“I will have no man work for me who has not the capacity to become a partner.”
“The surest way for an executive to kill himself is to refuse to learn how, and when, and to whom delegate work.” – Bro. James C. Penney, JC Penney Founder, Wasatch Lodge No. 1 F.& A.M., Salt Lake City, UT, USA
“It all comes back to the basics. Serve customers the best-tasting food at a good value in a clean, comfortable restaurant, and they´ll keep coming back.” – Bro. Dave Thomas, Wendys Restaurants, Sol. D. Bayless Lodge No 359 F.& A.M., Ft. Wayne, IN, USA
“Don´t be misled into believing that somehow the world owes you a living. The boy who believes that his parents, or the government, or any one else owes him his livelihood and that he can collect it without labor will wake up one day and find himself working for another boy who did not have that belief and, therefore, earned the right to have others work for him.”
“Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.” – Bro. David Sarnoff, Father of television, Strict Observance Lodge No. 94 F.& A.M., New York City, USA
“Never trust a computer you can´t throw out a window.” – Bro. Steve Wozniak, Cofounder Apple Computer, Charity Lodge No. 362 F.& A.M., Campbell, CA, USA
Quotations from Famous Freemasons on Sports
“Sport must be amateur or it is not sport. Sports played professionally are entertainment.” – Bro. Avery Brundage, President, International Olympic Committee, North Shore Lodge No. 937 A.F.& A.M., Chicago, IL, USA
“The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that´s it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it.” – Bro. Ty Cobb, Baseball Great, Royston Lodge No. 426 F.& A.M., Detroit, MI, USA
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can´t.” – Bro. Jack Dempsey, Boxing Champion, Kenwood Lodge No. 800 A.F.& A.M., Chicago, IL, USA
“I don´t like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn´t help but feel sorry for the pitcher.” – Bro. Rogers Hornsby, Baseball Great, Beacon Lodge No. 3 A.F.& A.M., St. Louis, MO, USA
“Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.” – Bro. & Dr. James Naismith, Inventor of Basketball, Roswell Lee Lodge A.F.& A.M., Springfield, MA, USA
“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone´s golf game: it´s called an eraser.”
– Bro. Arnold Palmer, Golf Legend, Loyalhanna Lodge No. 275 F.& A.M., Latrobe, PA, USA
“I don´t like the subtle infiltration of `something for nothing´ philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that `Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face´ was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.” – Bro. Branch Rickey, Baseball Legend, Tuscan Lodge No. 360 A.F.& A.M., St. Louis, MO, USA
“I´ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.” – Bro. Sugar Ray Robinson, Boxing Champion, Joppa Lodge No. 55 PHA, New York, NY, USA
Quotations from Famous Freemasons on Politics and Government
“I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.”
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” – Bro. Winston S. Churchill, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Rosemary Lodge 2851 and Studholme Lodge No. 1591, UK
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself…”
“No man´s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.” – Bro. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Writer, Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.& A.M., St. Louis, MO, USA
“As long as there are only three to four people on the floor, the country is in good hands. It´s only when you have 50 to 60 in the Senate that you want to be concerned.”
“If you´re hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed, come over to the Senate. You´ll get the same kind of feeling and you won´t have to pay.” – Bro. Bob Dole, Former U.S. Senator & Presidential Candidate, Russell Lodge No. 177 A.F.& A.M., Kansas, USA
“If the government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.” – Bro. Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States, Malta Lodge No. 465 F.& A.M., Grand Rapids, MI, USA
“History has to judge every man who served. I don´t know how they´re going to treat me. I may be the worst S.O.B. that ever came down the pike. But I won´t lose any sleep over it. I just like to be remembered as an honest person who tried.” – Bro. Barry Goldwater, Former U.S. Senator & Presidential Candidate, Arizona Lodge No. 2 F.& A.M., Phoenix, AZ, USA
“I will not deny that there are men in the district better qualified than I to go to Congress, but gentlemen, these men are not in the race.” – Bro. Sam Rayburn, Former Speaker of the House, Constantine Lodge No. 13 A.F.& A.M., Bonham, TX, USA
“I don´t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”– Bro. Will Rogers, Humorist, Claremore Lodge No. 53 A.F.& A.M, Oklahoma, USA, (renamed Will Rogers Lodge No. 53 in 1979)
“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” – Bro. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, Holland Lodge No. 8 F.& A.M., New York, NY, USA
“When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer `Present´ or `Not guilty´.” – Bro. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Matinecock Lodge No. 806 F.& A.M., Oyster Bay, NY, USA
“A politician is a man who understands government and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who´s been dead ten or fifteen years.”
– Bro. Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, Belton Lodge No. 450 A.F.& A.M., MO, USA
“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.” – Bro. Voltaire, Writer – Lodge of the Nine Sisters (Lodge Les Neuf Soeurs), Paris, France
Quotation About the Craft
Freemasonry has no dogma or theology. It offers no sacraments. It teaches that it is important for every man to have a religion of his own choice and to be faithful to it in thought and action. As a result, men of different religions meet in fellowship and brotherhood under the fatherhood of God. I think that a good Mason is made even more faithful to the tenets of his faith by his membership in the Lodge.”
– Bro & Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale