“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”
The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898), Chapter VIII.
Early career years (1898–1929)
“It is better to take over and build upon an existing business than to start a new one.”
Managing, Chapter Ten (Acquisitions and Growth), p. 158.
The Cornerstone Speech (1861)
Context: This new constitution. or form of government, constitutes the subject to which your attention will be partly invited. In reference to it, I make this first general remark: it amply secures all our ancient rights, franchises, and liberties. All the great principles of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is deprived of life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers under the laws of the land. The great principle of religious liberty, which was the honor and pride of the old constitution, is still maintained and secured. All the essentials of the old constitution, which have endeared it to the hearts of the American people, have been preserved and perpetuated. Some changes have been made. Some of these I should have preferred not to have seen made; but other important changes do meet my cordial approbation. They form great improvements upon the old constitution. So, taking the whole new constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment that it is decidedly better than the old.
Source: Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life
“Better a citizen in hell than a slave in New Jersey.”
Source: Only Begotten Daughter (1990), Chapter 9 (p. 162)
“Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better.”
"Hey Jude" (1968)
Lyrics, The Beatles
Context: Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better.
