The 16 December Door in the Sky

Man oh man oh man, ponder, just look at the souls 

who came into the world through the door marked 16 December, the anniversary, 

by the way of the Boston Tea Party, on the bitter cold December night in 1773.

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life...Only the pure in heart can make a good soup."
          magnificent, splendid, tormented  
        Ludwig van Beethoven, b. 16 Dec. 1770

"In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels..."There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort..."A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of."      adorable novelist, Jane Austen, b. 16 Dec. 1775

"My importance to the world is relatively small.  On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous. I am all I have to work with, to play with, to suffer and to enjoy.  It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but of my own. I do not intend to let myself down more than I can possibly help."  
             composer, playwright, song & dance man, bon vivant,              
             Noel Coward, b. 16 Dec. 1899

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; it's the only thing that ever has..."We have nowhere else to go...this is all we have."
         anthropologist, author, 
          Margaret Mead, b. 16 Dec. 1901

"The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment.  No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give..."Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night."    Amen to that.
       author, Philip K. Dick, b. 16 Dec. 1928

"Depression is rage spread thin [oh my gosh, I love that and how, how true]..."A child educated only at school is an uneducated child..."Only the dead have seen the end of war..."To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman."  [I'm thinking of you, cannot help but think of you, GWB, your VP, and the thousands who departed this world by way of Iraq. CH]

  "Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine that lights the pathway but one step ahead."
            poet, professor, philosopher, George Santayana, b. 16 Dec. 1863, the day the Confederacy named Gen. Joe Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee.