It’s my favorite time of year, when the calendar turns over, we leave differences behind and bury the hatchet with those we may have offended the year before.
In that spirit, I start the new year with inspirational quotations from great minds to carry our leaders into 2019:
>> For President Donald Trump: “The only thing that ever consoles a man for the stupid things he does is the praise he always gives himself for doing them.”
— Oscar Wilde
>> For Gov. David Ige: “The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.” — Robert Bloch
>> For Lt. Gov. Josh Green: “Everyone is dispensable, but some are more dispensable than others.”
— Miles Anthony Smith
>> For U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz: “I worry that no matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
>> For U.S. Sen. Mazie
Hirono: “The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.”
— Hubert H. Humphrey
>> For U.S. Rep. Ed Case: “There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” — Will Rogers
>> For U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: “Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” — T.S. Eliot
>> For Senate President Ron Kouchi: “Surrounding yourself with dwarfs does not make you a giant.”
— Yiddish proverb
>> For House Speaker Scott Saiki: “Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well.”
— Robert Fulghum
>> For House Republican Leader Gene Ward: “There really is something irresistible about a lost cause.”
— Stephenie Meyer
>> For Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell: “It’s when you walk with your head held high that you fail to see the potholes.”
— Anthony T. Hincks
>> For presumptive City Council Chairman Trevor Ozawa and his cohorts: “None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.” — Benjamin Whichcote
>> For Honolulu rail CEO Andrew Robbins: “An expert is a man who tells you a simple thing in a confused way in such a fashion as to make you think the confusion is your own fault.”
— William Castle
>> For city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro:
“Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”
— George Bernard Shaw
>> For Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard:
“Patience is the ability to
let your light shine after your fuse has blown.”
— Bob Levey
>> For schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto: “We spend the first 12 months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next 12 years telling them to sit down and shut up.”
— Phyllis Diller
>> For University of Hawaii President David Lassner: “I know at last what distinguishes man from animals: financial worries.”
— Romain Rolland
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
