“The harvest-home or supper is a thing of the past. To those who feel the fascination of the past this may appear sad, but it is not so really for, even while it existed, this surface goodwill was often an empty show.”
August Chapter The Peverel Papers - A yearbook of the countryside ed Julian Shuckburgh Century Hutchinson 1986
The Peverel Papers
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Flora Thompson 35
English author and poet 1876–1947Related quotes

Source: My Share Of The Task (2013), p. 393-394
Context: All leaders are human. They get tired, angry, and jealous and carry the same range of emotions and frailties common to mankind. Most leaders periodically display them. The leaders I most admired were totally human but constantly strove to be the best humans they could be. Leaders make mistakes, and they are often costly. The first reflex is normally to deny the failure to themselves; the second is to hide it from others, because most leaders covet a reputation for infallibility. But it's a fool's dream and inherently dishonest. There are few secrets to leadership. It is mostly just hard work. More than anything else it requires self-discipline. Colorful, charismatic characters often fascinate people, even soldiers. But over time, effectiveness is what counts. Those who lead most successfully do so while looking out for their followers' welfare.

“The truth is that the past exists no more than the future, even though it feels as though it does.”
Source: 2010s, Why Marx Was Right (2011), Chapter 4, p. 70
Source: The Shape of Time, 1982, p. 33; as cited in Lee (2001, p. 58)

The Bitter Heritage: Vietnam and American Democracy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966) p. 91