Words of Wisdom from Tuck and Yeats

Two thoughts for those TWS readers who—for some reason!—may be a bit down in the dumps, and especially for those who may have spent considerable time and effort trying to secure a better outcome on Election Day 2012.

"The people have spoken, the bastards."

— Democratic prankster Dick Tuck, following his loss in a 1966 California State Senate primary election.

To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Nothing

Now all the truth is out,
Be secret and take defeat
From any brazen throat,
For how can you compete,
Being honor bred, with one
Who were it proved he lies
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbors' eyes;
Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away
And like a laughing string
Whereon mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,
Because of all things known
That is most difficult.

—W. B. Yeats, 1914.