ALL ABOUT AMBITION

 

          ALL ABOUT AMBITION

            “Ambition” is life’s zest and seal. It is literally defined as “something  that you want to do or achieve very much. An ambitious person is determined to be successful by using all his physical, mental, material and moral resources.

            Ambitions can be small as well as big, short-term as well as long-term.

            Most of the ambitions require suitable talents and appropriate resources like money, time, knowledge, techniques, co-operation, supporters ,  guides, etc.

            Ambitions can be of various types like becoming an educationist, a writer, an army  officer, a political leader, a government official, a great businessman, a discoverer, an inventor, a pilot, a manufacturer, a religious leader, etc.

            A meaningful ambition is not confined to one’s own desire or dream but also  related to the needs of other people.

            Ambitions are legitimate. To try to fulfill one’s dreams is not undesirable provided  they should be achievable as a proverb says: Cut your coat according to your cloth. William Shakespeare (English poet-playwright 1564-1616)  refers to it as “Vaulting ambition , which overleaps itself.”

            Look at the following quotes of similar type:

*It is by attempting to reach the top at a single leap, that so much misery is caused in the world. ---- Anglo –American political writer William Cobbett (1766-1835).

**It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it. ------Italian philosopher Loucius Annaeus Seneca (Died Rome 65 AD).

***Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied,---Niccolo Machiaveli, Italian diplomat, author, historian and philosopher (1469-1527).

****Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.---Sir John Denham, English poet (1615-69).

*****Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals ; they storm heaven itself in their folly,-----The Roman poet Horace  (65-BC---8 B.C.)

 

                                                **********

G.R.Kanwal

6^th February 2026   

 

MORE QUOTES ON WAR

 

                MORE QUOTES ON WAR

1/As a child King Ashoka (died 232 BC), most commonly known as Ashoka the Great, entreated his tutors to relate to him the stories of horrible  wars. He shunned cultural stories which lacked the terrible events of war. But as a king after winning the War of Kalinga which started in 261 BC and he won it, his mind changed, he abandoned his interest in war and he adopted Buddhism as his religion because he had then realized the heavy cost of  winning the victory. Thousands of men were killed and thousands of them were gripped by several types of suffering including widowhood, orphanage and physical damages. Instead of taking interest in military conquests, he now undertook an introspective journey not only human welfare but also about that of  birds and beasts.

 

2. In our times Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi (1869-1948 ) who became known as apostle of non-violence said in Haijan : September 2, 1939: I personally would not purchase my own country’s freedom by violence, even  if such a thing were a possibility. My faith in the wise saying, that what is gained by the sword will also be lost by the sword, is imperishable.

 

3. According to Mahatma Gandhi (as he is now popularly known  :When two nations are fighting, the duty of a votary of Ahimsa (non-violence) is to stop the war. He who is not equal to that duty, he who has no power of resisting war, he who is not qualified to resist war , may take part in war, and yet whole-heartedly try to free himself, his nation and world from war. I make no distinction , from the point of view of Ahimsa, between combatants and non-combatants. ----Wit and Wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi.    

 

4. Militarism and warfare are childish things, if they are not more horrible than anything childish can be.  They must become things of the past. ------English writer H.G.Wells (1866-1946).     

 

5.A great war leaves the country with three armies ---an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.----German Proverb

                                                ________

G.R.Kanwal

5^th February 2026

 

 

QUOTES ON WAR

 

QUOTES ON WAR            

            War is defined as a situation in which two or more countries or groups of people fight against each other over a period of time.

             There are no humanitatian or civilisational gains in war. The overall results are death and destruction, the ill effects of which last for decades and become a valid ground for future wars as a matter of revenge or retaliation.  

            Before as also after war Scientists are encouraged to invent deadliest weapons at heaviest costs. The invention and utilization of Atom Bomb and Hydrogen bomb even today are not very old. Along with bombs other war material of ruinous nature is also discovered, invented or and manufactured. War material is now a fashionable business item.

            There are many factors which make war deadly and devilish. It will not take months, at most a few days, to convert this world into a horrible hell by using modern weapons and other combative devices.

            Here are some famous war quotes, both old and recent, reflecting the brutality and other costs of warfare.

1.If we don’t end war, war will end us. Scientist, novelist and historian H. G. Wells (1866=1946).

2. Only the dead have seen the end of war. ---Greek philosopher Plato.

3. It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. ----EX-President of America John. F. Kennedy.

4. War does not determine who is right --- only who is left. (A Brainy Quote)----Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970).

5. The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.----- United States General George Smith  Patton (1885-!945).

6. Living in war is a co-existence with death.----Zainab Salbi, Iraqi-American activist and writer. She was born at Baghdad in Iraq , on 24 September 1969. She is women’s rights activist.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

February 3, 2026

LIVING

 

                LIVING           

                        What follows is a ten-line anonymous poem titled ‘Living”. Its purpose is to give useful hints to the readers about spending their life time joyfully in this world.

            We shall have a look at each line separately and try to learn from it whatever we can about the art of living.

1.To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, and drain.

The cup here means the cup of life. Let us hold it eagerly and decently and drink its contents gradually. There should be no haste, no hurry.

2. To woo and tempt and court a bliss---and not attain it’

      Try to win over a sort of life’s bliss but not succeed in attaining it as much as you try.

3. To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly.

       Do long and embrace a joy of life but not hold it tightly. Do it gently.

4.  Lest it become necessity and cling too tightly.

      We should not make any joy an addiction, a habit, or a necessity.

5. To watch the sun set in the west without regretting.

     We should not feel sad when the sun which rises in the east in the morning sets in the west in the evening.

6. To hail its advent in the east-the night forgetting.  

      We should welcome the arrival of the  sun in the in the morning but should not forget that it will disappear at night.

7. To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter.

       We should keep a touch of care or worry in happiness and grief in laughter.

8. To hold the present close ---not questioning hereafter.

       It is fine to focus ourselves closely on the present time but should not forget that it will be over and the future will follow.

9. To have enough to share ---to know the joy of giving.

     We must not spend all our assets immediately; on the other hand making savings and share them with other needy people because there is a joy of giving.

10. To thrill with all the sweets of life ---is living.

In this final line the anonymous poet gives his central message and that is sharing our sweet joys of life with other people.  

                                                *****

G.R.Kanwal

2^nd February 2026                                                

PUNCTUALITY

 

          PUNCTUALITY

            Punctuality is timeliness. It may also be called promptness. It is doing things at pre-arranged, pre-fixed, pre-appointed time. It is a virtue. To be unprompt and late is a vice.

            Unpunctuality has many disadvantages.The saying better late than never is not admirable. Untimeliness,  even by the fraction of a second , can be dangerous.

            Here are some famous quotes on punctuality.

1.     I could never think well of a man’s intellectual or moral character , if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

2.     Habitual late comers are unreliable.

3.     Want of punctuality is a want of virtue.

4.     The English divine Richard Cecil (1748=1777) said: Appointments once made, become debts. If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality; I have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own.

5.     According to the English essayist J. F. Boyes (1811-79) Strict punctuality is, perhaps, the cheapest virtue which can give force to an otherwise utterly insignificant character.

6.     The English novelist Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) believed : Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.

7.     An interesting quote on punctuality is by the French Gastronomer Brilliant-Savarin (1755-1826) . He says: The most indispensable qualification of a cook is punctuality. The same may be said of guests.

8.     Arriving late is a way of saying that your own time is more valuable than the time of the person who is waiting.

9.     Punctuality is the soul of business.

10.                        The while we keep a man waiting, he reflects on our shortcomings.---French Proverb.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

1^st February 2026

 

 

 

TALKING ABOUT HOME

 

TALKING ABOUT HOME

1.     East or west, home is the best

2.     To Adam paradise was home.

3.     Without hearts there is no home.

4.     It takes a woman to make a home.

5.     The first sure symptom of a mind in health, is rest of heart, and pleasure felt at home.

6.     Be it ever so humble, there is no place like a home.

7.     Every house where love abides and friendship is a guest, is surely home.

8.     The most essential element in any home is God.

9.      A good home implies good living, which is also a means and a token of true culture, since without good living there can be no good thinking.

10.                        To be happy at home is the ultimate aim of all ambition; the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

11.                        Don’t scruple freedom in brightening home.

12.                        Home is the seminary of all other institutions.

13.                        Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, a dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.

14.                        Home is where our story begins.

15.                        Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams.

16.                        The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave and it feels even better to come back.

17.                         Good food and a warm kitchen are what makes a house a home.

18.                        Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong and laughter never ends.

19.                        In a happy home, hearts are full, and smiles are contagious.

20.                        Home is where the heart is and one’s heart is always happy where he is surrounded by the ones he loves.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

30^th January 2026               

 

 

WHERE S HOME?

 

                WHERE S HOME?             

            There is no simple definition of home. According to one of them  it is where you live, your house, apartment, also the place where you feel most comfortable, loved and protected. Another definition says it is the house or flat that you live in, especially with your family.

            The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household is also called home.

            Your hometown is that where you lived in a family you were born in even if you are not living there today.   

            A house is a building designed for human habitation, providing shelter, security, and comforts like bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and space for the benefit of  other family activities.

            An English poet and engraver Charles Swain (1801-1874) who was also an honorary professor of poetry at the Manchester Royal Institution wrote a poem with the title: HOME IS WHERE THERE IS ONE TO LOVE US.

            Here he is what he said in that famous poem:

“Home’s not merely four square walls,
Though with pictures hung and gilded:
Home is where affection calls,
Filled with shrines the heart hath builded!

Home! go watch the faithful dove,
Sailing ‘neath the heaven above us;
Home is where there’s one to love!
Home is where there’s one to love us!

Home’s not merely roof and room,
It needs something to endear it;
Home is where the heart can bloom,
Where there’s some kind lip to cheer it!
What is home with none to meet,
None to welcome, none to greet us?
Home is sweet, -and only sweet-
Where there’s one we love to meet us!

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

29 January 2026