Alfred Tennyson

“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.” ― Alfred Tennyson

(Art by Mitch Breitweiser)

Geometry Existed Before the Creation

Three Things Can Not Long Be Hidden

The Hero of My Tale...

Ayn Rand Quote

From the American Adventure at Epcot Center in Walt Disney World.

Great Freemasons: Walter Chrysler (1875 - 1940)

To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.
Walter Chrysler

Nikola Tesla

Great Freemasons: Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

"In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for h...imself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country — hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of.

Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time."

(Polar Star Lodge No. 79, A.F.& A.M., St. Louis, Missouri.)

(Suspended for non-payment of dues and later reinstated April 24, 1867. Demitted October 1867, but recorded as having visited Carson City Lodge U.D. in February and March 1868.)

Great Freemasons: Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Affliction's sons are brothers in distress; A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss!
Robert Burns

The Master's Apron

Ther's mony a badge that's unco braw;
Wi' ribbon, lace and tape on;
Let kings an' princes wear them a' —
Gie me the Master's apron!

The honest craftsman's apron,
The jolly Freemason's apron,
Be he at hame, or roam afar,
Before his touch fa's bolt and bar,
The gates of fortune fly ajar,
`Gin he but wears the apron!

For wealth and honor, pride and power
Are crumbling stanes to base on;
Eternity suld rule the hour,
And ilka worthy Mason!
Each Free Accepted Mason,
Each Ancient Crafted Mason.

Then, brithers, let a halesome sang
Arise your friendly ranks alang!
Guidwives and bairnies blithely sing
To the ancient badge wi' the apron string
That is worn by the Master Mason!

(St. David's Lodge No. 174, Tarbolton)

Great Freemasons: William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846 – 1917)

"Frontiersmen good and bad, gunmen as well as inspired prophets of the future, have been my camp companions. Thus, I know the country of which I am about to write as few men now living have known it."
Buffalo Bill

(Raised in Platte Valley Lodge No. 15, Nebraska)

Great Freemasons: Roy Rogers (1911 - 1998)

"I did pretty good for a guy who never finished high school and used to yodel at square dances."

(Hollywood Lodge No. 355, California)

Great Freemasons: Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (1757 - 1834)

"An irresistible passion that would induce me to believe in innate ideas, and the truth of prophecy, has decided my career. I have always loved liberty with the enthusiasm which actuates the religious man with the passion of a lover, and with the conviction of a geometrician. On leaving college, where nothing had displeased me more than a state of dependance, I viewed the greatness and the littleness of the court with contempt, the frivolities of society with pity, the minute pedantry of the army with disgust, and oppression of every sort with indignation. The attraction of the American revolution transported me suddenly to my place. I felt myself tranquil only when sailing between the continent whose powers I had braved, and that where, although our arrival and our ultimate success were problematical, I could, at the age of nineteen, take refuge in the alternative of conquering or perishing in the cause to which I had devoted myself.
o Letter to the Bailli de Ploën, as quoted in Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette (1836) by Jules Germain Cloquet, Vol. I, p. 24

Great Freemasons: Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

"This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."

(Claremore Lodge No. 53, OK)

Great Freemasons: John Glenn

I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.
John Glenn

(Concord Lodge No. 688, New Concord, Ohio)

Great Freemasons: Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989)

"Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force."
Irving Berlin

(Munn Lodge No. 190, New York)

Great Freemasons: Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723)

"Architecture aims at eternity" Christopher Wren

(Master of Lodge Original, No. 1, now the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2)

Great Freemasons: Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959)

"Creation is a drug I can't do without." Cecil B. DeMille

(Prince of Orange Lodge No. 16, New York City)

Great Freemasons: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

"Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free. Such things did not need as much emphasis a generation ago, but when the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries, by exiling scientists, artists, musicians, writers and teachers; by disbursing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art; an added burden, an added burden is placed on those countries where the courts of free thought and free learning still burn bright. If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation."

(Holland Lodge No. 8, New York)

Great Freemasons: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

"A Mason’s ways are
A type of existence,
And his persistence
... Is as the days are
Of men of the world.
The future hides in it
Good hap or sorrow,
We pass through it-
Naught there abides in it
Daunting us- onward.
And silent, before us,
Veiled the dark portal,
Goal of all mortal;
Stars silent rest over us,
Graves under us silent.
But heard are the voices-
Voices of the sages
Of the world and the ages-
Choose well, your choice is
Brief, but yet endless.
Here eyes do regard you
In eternity’s stillness,
Here is all fullness,
Ye brave, to reward you,
Work and despair not."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(Lodge Amelie, Weimar)

Great Freemasons: W.C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

"I never voted for anybody. I always voted against." W.C. Fields

(E. Coppee Mitchell Lodge No. 605, Philadelphia)