Quotations for New Year’s Eve, Saturday, 31 December 2011 (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, LBJ, and Richard Nixon)

Our political creed is… the best security for the beneficence and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections…

– John Quincy Adams, Friday, 4 March 1825

As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending…

– Andrew Jackson, Wednesday, 4 March 1829

The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union.

– Andrew Jackson, Monday, 4 March 1833

For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own…. In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our heritage again…. If we succeed, it will not be because of what we have, but it will be because of what we are; not because of what we own, but, rather because of what we believe.  For we are a nation of believers…. we are believers in justice and liberty and union…

– Lyndon Baines Johnson, Wednesday, 20 January 1965

The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker…. Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope…. To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit. To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves…. The lesson of past agony is that without the people we can do nothing; with the people we can do everything…. What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man… where peace is unknown, make it welcome; where peace is fragile, make it strong; where peace is temporary, make it permanent.

– Richard Milhous Nixon, Monday, 20 January 1969

… in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and not by the force of their arms.

– Richard Milhous Nixon, Saturday, 20 January 1973

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Quotations for Friday, 30 December 2011 (James Monroe)

Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties…. We must support our rights or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties.

– James Monroe, Tuesday, 4 March 1817

With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions…. in full confidence that, injuring none, none would knowingly injure us.

– James Monroe, Monday, 5 March 1821

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Quotations for Thursday, 29 December 2011 (James Madison, Jimmy Carter)

… always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republics—that without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe…

– James Madison, Saturday, 4 March 1809

… the success of our arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of another resort to them.

– James Madison, Thursday, 4 March 1813

… a quiet strength based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.

– Jimmy Carter, Thursday, 20 January 1977

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Quotations for Tuesday, 27 December 2011 (Ronald Reagan)

We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it—now or ever…. no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

– Ronald Reagan, Tuesday, 20 January 1981

… and now I put the same question to all of you: If not us, who? And if not now, when?

– Ronald Reagan, Monday 21 January 1985

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Quotations for Monday, 26 December 2011 (John Adams, Bill Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, George H. W. Bush)

What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?

– John Adams, Saturday, 4 March 1797

Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless… Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.

– Bill Clinton, Wednesday, 21 January 1993

… all the world’s wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit.

– Bill Clinton, Monday, 20 January 1997

… though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

– Thomas Jefferson, Wednesday 4 March 1801

… truth, reason, and their own interests will at length prevail, will gather them into the fold of their country, and will complete that entire union of opinion which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its strength.

– Thomas Jefferson, Monday, 4 March 1805

We know what works: Freedom works. We know what’s right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state…. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity.

– George H. W. Bush, Friday, 20 January 1989

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Quotations for Sunday, 25 December (John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, George Washington, George W. Bush)

… we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

– John F. Kennedy, Friday, 20 January 1961

… we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

– Barack Obama, Tuesday, 20 January 2009

… and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

– George Washington, Thursday, 30 April 1789

… the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.

– George W. Bush, Saturday, 20 January 2001

It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

– George W. Bush, Thursday, 20 January 2005

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)

Items for Sale R2

As an international student ending his study in Sweden, I am presenting you the unique opportunity to acquire some well-kept garments. All are barely worn and like new.

HUGO BOSS Black Label grey check sports jacket 50R
Bought in 2011; now 1800 SEK 1700 SEK
Measurements:
Length 79, Shoulder 47, Sleeve 65, Chest 55

Buy this and get a Hugo Boss silk tie for FREE

   

SUNSET SUITS white trench coat 50R
Bought two years ago; now 500 SEK
Measurements:
Length 102, Shoulder 48, Sleeve 66, Chest 58.5

Buy this and get a Savoy Taylors Guild silk tie for FREE

   

LEE blue “Flare” jeans 31W/34L
Bought in 2011; now 150 SEK

TIGER OF SWEDEN black shirt 41; two ply
Bought in 2011; now 150 SEK

Blue pinstripe sports jacket 50R
Bought three years ago; now 500 SEK
Measurements:
Length 79, Shoulder 48, Sleeve 64, Chest 55

 

Contact jiulin.teng@stud.ki.se

Chronicles of the Coat and Suit I Let Go Thursday, 22 Dec 2011

Reluctantly yet joyfully, I negotiated the desertion of two pieces of the garments that have shared the most memories with me. Memory plays perhaps the naughtiest tricks: for some, it anesthetizes; for some, it actuates; for some it is all sugar-plated, and the rest of time is but a search for the reminiscence of an instance; for some it is all sweat and blood, and now is the time of rebirth. For me, it is reluctance – to remember, and to forget.

The first of my distinct memories with my late coat was that of rage, in the winter of 07. Someone was trying to tell me something, but I refused to listen. It’s the kind of feeling one gets when waking up and finding one’s both hands rested on the centre of one’s chest – perhaps the feeling right before the awakening. Regret often ensues: there’s no reason for rage, you’d better listened to the wisdom inside.

The second of my memories was that of loss, in the spring of 08. Yes, literally. It’s not always the most fun to find your tram routing back to the depot, is it? But no, not just literally. Illusion, disillusion, enchantment, disenchantment… things get sketchy once you look back and find everything just happened yesterday – and there’re so many yesterdays.

Interesting, sometime along the way I’ve picked up the habit of marking every road I’ve taken during the day on Google Maps if I happen to have covered some distance. There’re three cities for which I restrain myself from this practice: the whole place would’ve become big chunks of blue. Let’s however fast forward to the winter of 08, the most joyful one I’ve ever spent alone.

By the way, I wasn’t all by myself. It was just a glitch, a crush, an implosion – not really, at least not so serious. Looking back, I should say my biggest glitch or crush or implosion, whichever you prefer, is the systemic overestimation of myself in a passive aggressive way, pretty much every self-assured youngster have been and will be. The infatuation with the ideal wasn’t just a story of misled vendetta on oneself, though it happens to take the form of pointed fingers and waving fists.

Since I’ve acquainted myself with two other overcoats, one knee-length and one full-length, my old coat had been having its life burnt out in the closet, hanging on a lonely hanger. Have I fixed the glitch? God knows. Strength comes from within, and the lesson: don’t get attached to things; learn to let go. That having been said, ending is not just the end: There’re endings that end in swears, there’re endings that end in tears, and there’re endings that end in vomits. I’ve had too much of the first, tired of it, but I’m not really going to cry in despair or to celebrate for celebration’s sake – God bless, I don’t have to. At least I’ve found a tidy, behaved man as its new owner.

Then it is the black suit I’ve been wearing a lot during my stay in the north. It accompanied my through the dirty landlord, the noisy landlord, and the public landlord. It risked being burnt by the first one and survived the rains during the second one but, after the calmest of my days in years, was sacrificed upon the end.

Memory’s trick – things that had taken place just haven’t become yesterday – they just took place this morning, and perhaps I’ll need a good night’s sleep before gathering up enough courage to look back, whatever that means. One fact: the southernmost point I’ve been to in this suit was Medborgarplatsen, the easternmost Karlaplan, the westernmost Gröndal, and the northernmost home. Now it lives in Märsta.

Why was I joyful? Perhaps because they don’t have to spend the entire chunk of the rest of their lives in a dark corner. What else would have mattered?