It is a marvelous planet on which we ride. It is a great privilege to live thereon, to partake in the journey, and to experience its goodness. We may cooperate rather than rebel. We should try to find the meanings rather than to be satisfied only with the spectacles. My life has been a continuous fulfillment of dreams. |
My life has been a continuous fulfillment of dreams. It appears that everything I saw and did has a new, and perhaps, more significant meaning, every time I see it. The earth is good. It is a privilege to live thereon. |
No beast has ever conquered the earth; and the natural world has never been conquered by muscular force. |
One does not begin to make a garden until he wants a garden. To want a garden is to be interested in plants, in the winds and rains, in birds and insects, in the warm-smelling earth. |
One never makes the quest unless the mind is open at the start. Herein does this mind differ from the advocate who must prove a case, from that of a preacher who must support a dogma, from that of the politician who must defend a party, from that of an organization that must enforce a policy. There are no parties in science. |
One’s happiness depends less on what he knows than on what he feels. |
Science may eventually explain the world of How. The ultimate world of Why may remain for contemplation, philosophy, religion. |
The name of the subject is not fundamentally important. All subjects may be made the means of developing a man. What we call "culture" is not the result of a line of study, so much as the result of association with educated and sensitive persons. A well educated mind has a broad outlook. It develops beyond the specialist to the philosopher... We are learning that no subjects are unclean. |
The sense of conquest is in it. Not often is a collector able to obtain complete material in one assault. The plant may be at the moment sterile, or only in fruit or flower... but this lack has the advantage of stimulating the collector to go back in another season or year to complete the work. |
There are two essential epochs in any enterprise - to begin, and to get done. |
There is no excellence without labor. One cannot dream oneself into either usefulness or happiness. |
This College of Agriculture was not established to serve or to magnify Cornell University. It belongs to the people of the State. The farmers of the State have secured it. Their influence has placed it here. They will keep it close to the ground. If there is any man standing on the land, unattached, uncontrolled, who feels that he has a disadvantages and a problem, this College of Agriculture stands for that man. |
We accept it because we have seen the vision. We know that we cannot reap the harvest, but we hope that we may so well prepare the land and so diligently sow the seed that our successors may gather the ripened grain. |
We are now devoting ourselves to science. I am afraid some of us feel that science will give us final solutions - better bases for philosophy, an ideal groundwork for satisfactions, for enjoyment. But it is doubtful whether the mind of man can ever understand the universe. For every puzzle that we uncover and solve, two more appear that were hidden. |
We must tell it to the world that the higher education is necessary to the best agriculture. We must tell our friends of our enthusiasm for the generous life of the country. We must say that we believe in our ability to make good use of every lesson which the University has given us. We must say to every man that our first love is steadfast, our hopes are high, and our enthusiasm is great. Our hearts are so full that we must celebrate. |