Thought for Today

"In life there is nothing more unexpected and surprising than the arrivals and departures of pleasure. If we find it in one place today, it is vain to seek it there tomorrow. You can not lay a trap for it."

~~~~~ Alexander Smith

Thought for Today

"There are two things in ordinary conversation which ordinary people dislike – information and wit."

~~~~~ Stephen Leacock

Thought for Today

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

~~~~~ Albert Pike

Thought for Today

"Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men."

~~~~~ Mortimer Adler

Thought for Today

"Fortune favors the prepared mind."

~~~~~ Louis Pasteur

Thought for Today

"The public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of discussion, and his fitness or unfitness for office may be fairly canvassed by any person."

~~~~~ Charles Babbage

Thought for Today

"Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit."

~~~~~ Helena Rubinstein

Thought for Today

"Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us."

~~~~~ Dr. Benjamin Rush

Thought for Today

"Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it."

~~~~~ Samuel Smiles

Thought for Today

"When we are afraid we ought not to occupy ourselves with endeavoring to prove that there is no danger, but in strengthening ourselves to go on in spite of the danger."

~~~~~ Hale White

The Comedian Harmonists

[Originally published 7/8/08. Updated 12/21/13.]

Here's a treat for those who enjoy close harmony. If you've never heard The Comedian Harmonists before, prepare to be amazed.

The group was formed in Germany in 1927, and quickly became enormously popular throughout Europe and the rest of the Western world. Unfortunately, though, their meteoric rise coincided with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Since three of the group's six members happened to be Jewish and another had a Jewish wife, they were forced to stop performing in 1934.

For a brief summary of their sad history, take a look at this Wikipedia article, Comedian Harmonists, and click on its associated links.

Meanwhile, though, listen to this brilliant 1932 Electrola recording of a German song, "In einem kühlen Grunde" ("In a Cool Valley"). It will give you goose bumps (and will be a special treat for those of my readers who understand German – which I, unfortunately, do not).

Comedian Harmonists – In einem kühlen Grunde [take 1]

(Sorry, but embedding has been disabled on this video.)

The lyrics are the first, second, and fifth verses of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff:

In einem kühlen Grunde
In einem kühlen Grunde,
da geht ein Mühlenrad.
Mein Liebchen ist verschwunden,
das dort gewohnet hat.

Sie hat mir Treu versprochen,
gab mir ein'n Ring dabei.
Sie hat die Treu gebrochen,
das Ringlein sprang entzwei.

Ich möcht als Spielmann reisen
wohl in die Welt hinaus
und singen meine Weisen
und gehn von Haus zu Haus.

Ich möcht als Reiter fliegen
wohl in die blut'ge Schlacht,
um ferne Feuer liegen
im Feld bei dunkler Nacht.

Hör ich das Mühlrad gehen,
ich weiß nicht, was ich will.
Ich möcht am liebsten sterben,
da wär's auf einmal still.

The Comedian Harmonists (from left: Robert Biberti, Erich Collin, Erwin Bootz, Roman Cycowski, Harry Frommermann, Ari Leschnikoff)

MEMBERS:

• Harry Frommermann (1906 - 1975), buffo-tenor
• Ari Leschnikoff (1897 - 1978), first tenor
• Erich Collin (1899 - 1961), second tenor
• Roman Cycowski (1901 - 1998), baritone
• Robert Biberti (1902 - 1985), bass
• Erwin Bootz (1907 - 1982), pianist

Thought for Today

"He who overcomes himself is divine. Most see their ruin before their eyes; but they go on into it."

~~~~~ Leopold Von Ranke

Thought for Today

"When evil acts in the world it always manages to find instruments who believe that what they do is not evil but honorable."

~~~~~ Max Lerner

Thought for Today

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions."

~~~~~ Carter G. Woodson

Thought for Today

"If you elect a matinee idol mayor, you're going to have a musical comedy administration."

~~~~~ Robert Moses

Thought for Today

John Greenleaf Whittier on Barack Hussein Obama:

"When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead."

Thought for Today

"Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief."

~~~~~ Jane Austen

Thought for Today

"The public knows that human beings are fallible. Only people blinded by ideology fall into the trap of believing in their own infallibility."

~~~~~ Freeman Dyson
[Arguably the smartest living human. MAG]

Thought for Today

"When people conclude that all is futile, then the absurd becomes the norm."

~~~~~ Stanley Crouch

Thought for Today

"When the heroes go off the stage, the clowns come on."

~~~~~ Heinrich Heine

Thought for Today

"The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead."

~~~~~ William Lloyd Garrison

Thought for Today

"A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings."

~~~~~ George Mason

Thought for Today

"It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellow men."

~~~~~ George MacDonald

Thought for Today

"One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame we have killed off so much real shame as well."

~~~~~ Louis Kronenberger

Thought for Today

"Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more."

~~~~~ James Thurber

Thought for Today

"A technical objection is the first refuge of a scoundrel."

~~~~~ Heywood Broun

Thought for Today

"While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river; only the landscape on either bank seems to change."

~~~~~ Max Muller

Thought for Today

"Repression will provoke rebellion."

~~~~~ Hugh Williamson

Thought for Today

"There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon."

~~~~~ Samuel Butler

Thought for Today

"The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat oneself."

~~~~~ Gamaliel Bailey

Thought for Today

"Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air."

~~~~~ Henry Anatole Grunwald

Thought for Today

"The whole country is one vast insane asylum and they're letting the worst patients run the place."

~~~~~ Robert W. Welch, Jr.