The Almanack is prepared chronologically by month, each accessible through the index or by scrolling. We maintain the most recent four months on this page; older entries are available in the Almanack archives.

The Almanack contains individual quotations and Mr. Frank's own original thoughts (aphorisms, witticisms, sayings, precepts, observations) which appear on alternating days.

February, 2012

February 1: To wait an Hour — is long — / If Love be just beyond — / To wait Eternity — is short — / If Love reward the end —
EMILY DICKINSON (American poet), “To wait an Hour — is long” (complete poem), 1863?

February 2: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow; never put off what you can do after the day after tomorrow what you can avoid doing altogether.

February 3: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. STEVE JOBS, in ad copy for Apple Computer, Inc., 1997.  Jobs died at 56 on 5 October 2011.

February 4: People who expect the unexpected are seldom disappointed.

February 5: Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
WINSTON CHURCHILL, Harrow School talk, England, 29 October 1941.

February 6: The times call for innovation: history dares not repeat itself.

February 7: You and I have memories / Longer than the road that stretches out ahead.
PAUL McCARTNEY, “Two of Us” (song), 1969.

February 8: The love of money grows with its increase.

February 9: People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.      JOHN NEWBERN, “John Newbern's Law,” quoted in John Peers, editor, 1,001 Logical Laws, p. 117, 1979.

February 10: The touchstone of intelligence is memory.

February 11:Don't listen to what I say, listen to what I mean. RICHARD FIEDLER (Portland, Texas), quoted in Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week, www.drmardy.com, 6 October 2011.

February 12: No building without a builder; no creation without a Creator. LEONARD FRANK

February 13: Love... is the desire for good united with wisdom and fulfilled in right action. In our service to others, our love is made visible.
HELEN KELLER (American writer, 1880-1968), quoted in “Shining Soul: Helen Keller’s Spiritual Life and Legacy,” television documentary, PBS, 12 September 2007.

February 14: Better honor without success than success without honor.   

February 15: We estimate the wisdom of nations by seeing what they did with their surplus capital.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (American philosopher), “Wealth,” English Traits, 1856. 

February 16: Mystification is the tyrant’s defense against the danger of being found out.

February 17: A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.
WAYNE GRETZKY (Canadian hockey superstar), attribution by Steve Jobs, quoted in Sue Halpern, “Over the High-Tech Rainbow,” New York Review of Books, 24 November 2011.

February 18: With words, as with bricks, tearing down is easier than building up.

February 19: A nation that forgets its past can function no better than an individual with amnesia.
DAVID McCULLOUGH (American historian), quoted in Digby Diehl, “Publishing Is the Big Winner at the 29th National Book Awards,” Los Angeles Times Book Review, 23 April 1978.

February 2o: The hunger of one is the shame of all.

February 21: We might not be able to control our circumstances, but we can control our response.
CONDELEEZZA RICE (American secretary of state), Bob Schieffer television interview, Face the Nation, CBS, 27 November 2011.

February 22: The truth is paradoxical and logical by turns.

January, 2012

January 1: Imagine a sea as deep and wide as the universe; imagine God’s love filling every drop of water in that sea.  

January 2: Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.    FRANKLIN P. JONES (American humorist), quoted in Robert Byrne, editor, 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, vol. 1, no. 555, 1988.

January 3: Prepare yourself for the luck that is bound to come your way if you are prepared for it.

January 4: We're all Christ and we're all Hitler.     JOHN LENNON, 1969?, quoted in John J. Sosik, Leading with Character: Stories of Valor and Virtue and the Principles They Teach, ch. 5, 2006.

January 5: Tyranny unholy quaternity: deception, corruption, exploitation, and violence. 

January 6:  Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (French aviator and writer), Wind, Sand and Stars, ch. 3, 1939, translated by Lewis Galantière, 1940.

January 7: See each new day as the first day of the rest of your life, and live it as though it were the last.

January 8: The Golden Rule of Parenting is: Do unto your children as you wish your parents had done unto you!    LOUISE HART (American writer), The Winning Family: Increasing Self-Esteem in Your Children and Yourself, ch. 8, 1987.

January 9: Exploitation, n. Slavery-lite.

January 10: In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.
ERICH FROMM (German-American psychoanalyst), The Art of Loving, ch. 2, sect. 1, 1956.

January 11: Benefits are sooner forgotten than injuries.

January 12: Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.
DANIEL J. BOORSTIN (American historian), “A Case of Hypochondria,” Newsweek, 6 July 1970.

January 13: It’s only after hitting bottom that the real descent begins.

January 14: The folly which we might have ourselves committed is the one which we are least ready to pardon in another.     JOSEPH ROUX (French priest), Meditations of a Parish Priest, ch. 4, no. 84, translated by Isabel F. Hapgood, 1886.

January 15:  Trust is the coin of the realm.

January 16:  A Lacedaemonian was asked what had made him live healthy so long. “Ignorance of medicine,” he replied.      MONTAIGNE (French writer), “Of the Resemblance of Children to Fathers,” Essays, 1588, translated by Donald M. Frame, 1958.

January 17: The laws of ethics are as firmly fixed as the laws of physics.

January 18: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. PAUL (Christian apostle, 1st century CE), Galatians 5:22 (Revised Standard Version). 

January 19: There must be some value, beyond reason and measure, that explains and justifies the suffering all species have had to endure.

January 20: Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.
J. C. and A. W. Hare (English clergymen and writers), Guesses at Truth: Second Series, p. 502, 1848, Macmillan edition, 1867.

January 21: How much better the world would be if we judged ourselves and others by the same standard!

January 22: The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.
MAX LERNER (American journalist), “Faubus and Little Rock,” The Unfinished Country, 1959.

January 23:  Idealist, n. In politics, someone who thinks beyond the next election; in business, someone who thinks beyond the next quarterly report.

January 24: The development of the individual can be described as a succession of new births at consecutively higher levels.   MARIA MONTESSORI (Italian physician and writer, 1870-1952), as paraphrased by E. M. Standing, preface to Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, 1957.

January 25: The acid test of every act: does it or doesn't it further the common good.

January 26: Somewhere in this moment, my soul, all that I felt, all that I’ve experienced, commanded me to ask, “What do you do now?”
HARRY BELAFONTE (American entertainer and human rights activist), closing words, in Sing Your Song (television documentary profile), HBO, 17 October 2011.

January 27: In the universal scheme of things, whatever is necessary for survival is inevitable.

January 28: Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
NORMAN MACLEAN (American writer), title story, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, 1976.

January 29: Most politicians never take a small bribe or lie unnecessarily.

January 30: Tragedy is if I cut my finger. Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.
MEL BROOKS (American producer, actor and writer), quoted in Kenneth Tynan, “Profiles: Frolics and Detours of a Short Hebrew Man,” New Yorker, 30 October 1978.

January 31: Most religions begin as heresies and end as superstitions.

December, 2011

December 1: There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.    NELSON MANDELLA, quoted in Joel Bakan, “The Kids Are Not All Right,” New York Times, 22 August 2011.

December 2: Religion leads either to virtue or hypocrisy.

December 3: There is meaning beyond the mystery.     ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL (Polish-American theologian), God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 6, 1955.

December 4: Give everyone the benefit of the doubt unless you have good reason not to.

December 5: For what avail the plough or sail, / Or land, or life, if freedom fail?
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (American philosopher), “Boston,” Selected Poems, 1876.

December 6: Once a critical mass is reached, the question changes from, “War or peace?” to “Sooner or later?”

December 7: A Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a strategic impossibility. GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT (American military writer and broadcaster), “The Impossible War with Japan,” American Mercury, September 1938. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on this day 70 years ago.

December 8: The more the experts agree among themselves, the less likely they are to be right.

December 9: In our political culture if you inherit a problem and don’t fix it, you own it.
BILL KELLER (former New York Times executive editor), referring to the problems President Obama inherited upon taking office, “Fill in the Blanks,” New York Times, 19 September 2011.

December 10: Beware of flatterers, fence sitters, and fools.

December 11: The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America.... This is our summons to greatness.
RICHARD M. NIXON, First Inaugural Address, 20 January 1969.

December 12: War is temporary hell: hell is permanent war.

December 13: The wise learn from the mistakes of others; fools, not even from their own.
ENGLISH SAYING.

December 14: Their faith is small who sacrifice reason to it.

December 15: Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
STEVE JOBS (co-founder of Apple, Inc.), Stanford University commencement address, 12 June 2005.

December 16: The best measure of success is what we do with what we have.

December 17: What do you suppose [they] are in Congress for, if it ain't to split up the swag?
WILL ROGERS (American humorist and actor, 1879-1935), 1 January 1928, The Autobiography of Will Rogers, edited by Donald Day, 1949.

December 18: There are two kinds of criminals: those who get caught and the rest of us.

December 19: None so Empty as those who are Full of themselves.      BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE (English theologian, 1609-1683), Moral and Religious Aphorisms, no. 987, 1753.

December 20: Never yawn in another’s face — especially when they’re talking.

December 21: The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.
RITA MAE BROWN (American writer), Bingo, 1988.

December 22: A true friend is one who tells us the truth.

December 23: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
PAUL (Christian apostle, 1st century CE), Romans 12:21 (Revised Standard Version).

December 24: Better an ounce of generosity than a pound of compassion.

December 25: Forgive, and you will be forgiven. JESUS, Luke 6:37 (Revised Standard Version)

December 26: May your body leave your soul before your soul leaves your body.

December 27: The universe... is a machine for the making of gods.
HENRI BERGSON (French philosopher), closing words, “Final Remarks,” The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, 1932, translated by R. Ashley Audra and Cloudesley Brereton, 1935.

December 28: We are enfleshed love.

December 29: The final goal of human effort is man’s self-transformation.
LEWIS MUMFORD (American social philosopher), The Conduct of Life, ch. 9, sect. 1, 1951.

December 30: What we sow on earth we reap in heaven.

December 31: The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung.
WALT WHITMAN (American poet), closing words, “A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads,” preface to November Boughs, 1888.