30 April 2012

You Do What You Have To Do...

John Mason Brown, 1952

"Remember, you have been spared the unintentional cruelty of that kind of Progressive education which misleads the young into believing that they will be free to do what they want to do, at the moment and in the way they want to do it. The reality of life is quite different. Most people spend most of their days doing what they do not want to do in order to earn the right, at times, to do what they may desire. . .


John Mason Brown, Esquire, 1960

Testing has been the eternal challenge. To live, men have had to live with this challenge through the ages but undaunted by it, even as they have had to live with the knowledge that death is the ultimate challenge of life. . .


John Mason Brown, Obituary, 1969

To say that the world at present stinks is to understate its fragrance. To say that it must stink forever is a lie. . . I trust that you and your contemporaries will earn the right to be known as the unbeatable generation."

John Mason Brown, Graduation Address, Groton School, 1958

4 comments:

Main Line Sportsman said...

Sound words...

tim said...

Interesting commentary especially when taken against the backdrop of when and where it was said and to whom.

Groton is one of the elite, if somewhat lesser know classic East Coast prep schools. If I recall correctly just about all of the Roosevelts (Teddy - FDR and beyond)"prepped" there.

Virginia Country House said...

Good post. His book about Daniel Boone was one of my favorites as a kid.

He thought comic books were a terrible influence on kids in the 50's. I wonder what he would say about cable and video games today?

Anonymous said...

fantastic!!! -zamb