The toughest part of being on a diet is shutting up about it—Gerald Nachman

He who has learned to love an art or science has wisely laid up riches against the day of riches—Robert Louis Stevenson  

I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to—Elvis Presley

Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought—G.K. Chesterton

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that three of his fingers are pointing at himself—Anonymous

Initiative consists of doing the right thing without being told—Irving Mack

While we ponder when to begin it comes too late to do so—Quintilian

* * * * *

• This month in History: January

New Year’s Day in 45 B.C. is celebrated in Italy at the beginning of January for the first-time in history, with the adoption of the Julian calendar.  

On January 1, 1501, Portuguese explorer, Cabral, stops at Cochin, India, to trade for spices.
Read more . . . On his way to the southern tip of Africa, he brought a more significant item back to his King and Sponsor, Manuel I of Portugal. He had taken a wide swing westward and had seen the coast of what is now Brazil. He landed, staying ten days, and claimed the land for Portugal, calling it “Island of the True Cross.”

On January 1, 1764, eight-year-old Austrian music prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performs for the French Royal Family at the palace in Versailles.

On January 1, 1808, the U.S. Congress officially prohibited African slave trade.

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

On January 1, 1942, Twenty-six nations signed the United Nations Declaration