By Dave Eden, Eden Political Cartoons
“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous minds are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised & animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life & form the character of the hero & the statesman.
“The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties.
“Posterity, who are to reap the blessings, will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.
“You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator….We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
“A people fired … with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events.
“But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible.”
― Abigail Adams
