James Keller Quotes on Man (6 Quotes)

During a rehearsal of Beethovens Ninth Symphony the members of the orchestra were so overwhelmingly moved by the conducting of Arturo Toscanini that they rose as one man and applauded him. When the spontaneous cheering has subsided, Toscanini turned to his men, tears glistening in his eyes. 'Please ... please Dont do this You see, gentlemen, it isnt me you should applaud. Its Beethoven'

A young man, just beginning the study of musical composition, once went to Mozart and asked him the formula for developing the theme of a symphony. Mozart suggested that a symphony was rather an ambitious project for a beginner perhaps the young man might better try his hand at something simpler first. 'But you were writing symphonies when you were my age.' the student protested. 'Yes, but I didnt have to ask how.'

Christopher Columbus, in a letter addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain '... But these great and marvelous results are not to be attributed to any merit of mine, but to the holy Christian faith, and to the piety and religion of our Sovereigns for that which the unaided intellect of man could not compass, the spirit of God has granted to human exertions, for God is wont to hear the prayers of His servants who love His precepts even to the performance of apparent impossibilities ... 'Therefore, let the King and Queen, our princes and their most happy kingdoms, and all the other provinces of Christendom, render thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has granted us so great a victory ...'

There is an ancient tale about a king who wanted to pick the wisest man among his subjects to be his prime minister. When the search finally narrowed down to just three men, he decided to put them to the supreme test. Accordingly, he placed them together in a room in his palace, and on the room door he had installed a lock which was the last word in mechanical ingenuity. The candidates were informed that whoever was able to open the door first would be appointed to the post of honor. Setting themselves to the task, two of the men began to work out complicated mathematical formulas to discover the lock combination. The third man, however, just sat down in his chair, lost in thought. Finally, without bothering to put pen to paper, he got up, walked to the door, and turned the handle. The door opened. It had been unlocked all the time.

One of the big surprises of the 1946 opening session of the UN General Assembly in New York was a forthright statement by Abayomi Cassell, the delegate from Liberia 'Every single human creature is the object of Gods interest and care and there will be no chance for lasting peace so long as one shred of injustice exists on the globe. 'I believe that each time ... one group of people or one nation takes advantage of the other, retribution follows either from within or from without for that breach of the perfect law of God as well as those of mankind, which are products of the Divine within man'

Some time ago I took a trip on the Hudson and Manhattan Transit System. Not being familiar with the names of the various stops, I asked the man next to me the name of the station where we had just stopped. He replied, 'Ive been riding this line for fifteen years and I only know two stops where I get on and where I get off.'