Quotable Quotes: Gerald W. Johnson
by Miki SaxonI’d never heard of Gerald W. Johnson when I came across this excellent quote, “The closed mind, if closed long enough, can be opened by nothing short of dynamite.”
It was so perfectly aimed, so true and so applicable that I went looking for what else he said.
There’s not a lot, but you’ll love what I did find. Johnson’s comments seem especially pithy and apropos for our world today.
Consider this, “No man was ever endowed with a right without being at the same time saddled with a responsibility.” These days, the higher you go the harder it is to find anyone who has been saddled.
Of course, give it a few years—the economy will recover, the jail sentences will be over, and all those leaders who wouldn’t know a responsibility if it jumped up and bit them will be back taking risks and influencing right and left. This will happen because, as Johnson said, “Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.” Or what they choose to remember.
Heroes aren’t really in style these days, so I thought I’d bring the final quote up to date.
“Heroes Leaders are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials.”
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: Eza1992 on sxc.hu
September 21st, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Miki,
Where has this guy been all my life? I love the quote about responsibility. I wish about 200 million others would take it to heart!
September 21st, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I don’t know, Jim, I’ve been wondering the same thing since I ran into the first one.
I’ve heard various things similar to the one on responsibility, most recently a bumper sticker that had a ranting teen on it and said, “I want all of my rights and none of my responsibilities and I want them RIGHT NOW!”
But my favorite is the last one, especially since the materials keep getting scantier.
Thanks for taking time to add to the conversation and enjoy GWJ, he is one of a kind.