JOSEPH A. SADONY
Printed and Published
at The Valley Press
MCMXXIV
From:
THE COLLECTED MINIATURE WORKS OF JOSEPH SADONY
Valley of the Pines
Montague, Michigan.
First Edition of the Second
“PINE TREE BOOKLET”
COPYRIGHT 1924
BY THE VALLEY PRESS
VALLEY OF THE PINES
MONTAGUE, MICHIGAN
“….Then the master of the house said to his servants, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city. and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and the halt and the blind.
“And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.”
LUKE XIV.
Remember, there are no miracles, unless a leap from one point to another — and the gap that we have leaped is a law of Nature which we have omitted.
Often we absorb knowledge or food not meant for us, and of which, like a stain, we must rid ourselves in order to start anew.
Show me a man who has not made mistakes, and I will how you one who will soon make them.
Joy and pleasure is the law of gravitation that evolves unto spiritual perfection: if not amalgamated with sensuality and the animal propensities.
A fault once denied is twice committed.
In swatting a fly, you know, we often hit ourselves with more vigor than we intended.
Thoughts are wreathes of evaporating intelligence.
No matter how strong we may think we are, a few grains of sand thrown in the eyes will make us helpless.
He who thinks himself great, is that much more a coward; and to the extend of his greatness does he fear Death.
God places in our make-up future realities which can often be interpreted by our imagination or visualized pictures.
The past is the memory of the body or mind. The future is the memory of the soul.
Never measure what you are going to do by seconds, nor what you have done by minutes, but what you will do by centuries.
It often pays a man to protect his individuality by burning all bridges behind him.
Death is more natural than birth: Birth can be prevented, but Death never.
Do not allow anything to appear out of your reach. The fact that you can anticipate the possibilities, is evidence that you are entitled to them, and can realize them. A beginning appears hard because the end seems so far off — but who wants the end?
The greatest virtue of achievement is appreciation.
Be careful not to allow the weather-vane to stick, or it will lie.
Admiration is an unconsciousness confession of dormant accomplishments in the admirer.
When a masterpiece is in the making one must expect broken tools, dirt, and labor. But later comes the polishing, where only the dust remains to be swept away.
We often try short-cuts in life, trying to run a wide guage car on a narrow guage rail, and wonder why there are so many bumps. King or fool, act — live the part.
If you wish to become a butterfly, become a worm: for it is as essential to understand the stratas of God’s footstool, with its darkest hour, as the air-currents in the brightest sunshine of joy.
A loyal friend despises secrets. A pretended one welcomes them.
The man who can blind himself to sorrow and pain, has all the joy of the Universe, and knows not the darkness in his blindness.
The really dangerous person is one who is impulsive in action. He explodes his imaginary grievances into action without reflection; while one who hesitates, and gloats in the thought of revenge, unconsciously uses a lightning rod and becomes harmless.
Let the man among us who is most efficient and capable lead the way, and let the rest of us thank God that we can serve.
The man who is sincere seldom advertises his intentions.
Our infirmities are only as we form them mentally, and allow them to escape unconsciously. Later they return with a large family. Loose impulses cause genius to turn to insanity, and the victim to lose the power of his compass.
Clothe an absolute necessity in beauty and charm, and not only will it be fashionable, but it will give birth to a greater beauty and loveliness: for a necessity is the shell of protection, God’s gift, a chrysalis: a butterfly from a worm; from a man to a God.
When calamity comes, dilute it with past joys.
When a man complains to you, ask him what he demands, what he receives, and what he is worth. Nothing more need be said.
A great man will not trample on a worm; nor will he sneak to a king. The man who labors in silence and darkness possesses more power then the one who holds his hand above his head in broad daylight and proclaims his intentions.
What you have had will never buy you a good meal.
Do not get into the habit of believing, and making others believe that you have reached the height of your ambition. Remember that it is only the foundation whereupon your future edifice shall stand.
Everything has its price — which is a necessity. Beyond that it is luxury; beyond that, a curse.
Immortality always seeks the shade of Respectability.
Love has hope where reason dies of starvation.
One with beauty and charm is a child of luxury — the coat of the leopard. But the one who is the leopard’s hide when shorn of its fur, but with the tough leather as protection, is a child of necessity to support the child of luxury.
Fortunate is the man who carries all the prismatic colors of life, so that he may adapt himself, or apply his judgments.
Thoughts are composed of what one’s vitality consists of.
The ladder of a social climber leans against a cloud that has no silver lining.
The man who is insane has stepped on one end of his teeter-totter and stayed there.
The stolen toy is the symbol of the hangman’s noose.
If you wish to be happy and successful, adopt a girl and a boy: Apprehension and Comprehension.
If a student does not make himself a part of everything, he is not a part of the Whole.
He that seeketh hath a house to build to live therein. But he that seeketh not, has not been born.
We can measure the value of a thing by the time it required to complete it.
The man that counts, is the one who will swallow things, say nothing, and await his chance. An empty barrel makes the most noise, and thunder, with all its racket, is harmless, because the silent flash of lightning has already destroyed. — Let it thunder.
Realization of your wants brings death closer.
A fly woke me, irritated me — I killed it. It sought food. It forced me to end its life by its desire for food, and my irritation. Desire but hastens consummation, with irritation the medium. A nation desires greater territory. An irritation brings war!
I saw a picture of the masses on a treadmill — grinding, grinding, grinding. Grinding what? — Only their bearings, for the want of unselfish oil.
Labor, discipline and self-control still the fire of impulsiveness, so the hand of virtue may lead on to fill the void created by environments contrary to the growth of enlightenment.
Education is the musical instrument upon which the Spirit of God plays music of truths.
The more noise one can endure, the less sensitive his intellectual ability. His mental faculties are tuned to coarse slow vibrations. His endurance is a scale of acquirements.
He who is convinced against his will, will soon forget.
An uncontrollable imagination indicates that there is no wall between the spiritual and the material.
The crucial test comes when you wash your hands: then if no stain remains, your conscience may be clear.
He who is penitent of sin is half forgiven; but he who confesses his sin in penitence is entirely forgiven because a penitent possesses a truthful conscience which bears witness and passes sentence, but one who also confesses sin, destroys his alter of false pride, and expiates his penance to become a pure child of righteousness.
A genius is but an opening through the Wall that upholds truth and wisdom.
When a man condemns you, tell him to buy a new set of rules and implements, and you won’t have to tell him he lies.
Man will doubt immortality as long as his objective memory is a part of his judgment.
Ignorant faith is Instinct.
The person worth while is the one who can accomplish things out of his sphere, not flying just because he has wings.
The man who lives within the chamber of licentious thoughts, must expect to pay its rent.
Courage makes a good man better, a bad man worse, because it is the powder behind the bullet.
Why be burdened with tools if no use is made of them? If no timber, then lay them aside for a time and gather timber.
An envious man is made gloomy not only by his own cloud, but by another’s sunshine.
A poor man should acquire the dignity of a rich man, and a rich man should live the life of a poor man.
Any environment feeding upon itself, brings deterioration and annihilation thru fermentation.
It is impossible to see one’s own reflection in those who do not possess its likeness. No one is perfect. But the man who excels, flies his own colors.
Consider the hypocrite who constantly raises the flag of truce in times of peace, and cries aloud, “I am an honest, virtuous man.” I would like to know who taught such a man that there ever existed dishonesty or vice, if he has not already dipped his hand in slime and suspicion. Or who told him he was naked when there were no clothes? And why try to blot out a sin that has not been committed? — But thus the world is. Where there is flexibility of motion there is life.
The more one binds himself to society, the more of a slave he become to slaves.
A curse, name or criticism has only the value that the victim places upon it.
Many minds are pregnant. Few give birth. Still fewer live to mature.
I believe in laboring hard to offset the mental, so that I may stand on the see-saw of life, just above the fulcrum, the spot where good judgment and common sense are born.
From Birth we journey to Death: Death is our reward to Life.
Do not rush anything. Simply let each little cell burst as a bubble, deposit its sentiment, and, like the minutest bit of life in the coral, form a structure that is indestructible in all its beauty.
He receives the most reward who is expecting none.
The man that conquers himself, conquers his enemies.
He is safer to think what we intend to say, than to say what we intend to think.
One can often win by silence, where aggressiveness loses the battle.
What you create, that you are.
One may obtain mental clothing in blood stained Europe, but the clean, virgin soil of the West is the best place on earth either to interpret past history or solve future mysteries. If one will learn what the appetites of the human mind consist of, then he can feed food that will continuously call for more. And as the Baker is as glad to get rid of the bread as the hungry man is to eat and pay for it, there is no denying that knowledge was created to be applied and passed on, the circulating coin of the mind. For if we hold it, it becomes musty, and fanaticism is born. But if we pass it on, our ears hear more keenly, our eyes discern more clearly, and the tongue is more clever at repartee. It is only the clever man who can make a mistake and in the same breath use it as a comedy to cover the defect.
If you let Pride build a wall about you, Habit will build a trench.
Always bear in mind that the bravest and strongest warrior becomes helpless at the point of his own sword.
The spirit of serving is becoming to the high as well as the lowly, but dignity belongs to him who is able to uphold it.
We but grasp at the thing we would be, and fall back on the lap of false destiny.
In the name of Love and Charity give your surplus profits at your youth, so that they may be returned to you in old age as necessities.
If a piano is not tuned, you cannot play correctly. This does not prove that the player is wrong. The fault is with the instrument. God is good, but we are poor instruments, out of tune. When our thoughts embody divine
Ideals, we throw off the shackles of death.
Ask, and ye shall receive that which must be paid for. Ask not your desires, and the fulfillment shall be your wages.
Success: To create your own wants to meet unavoidable circumstances that will form a bond of love and happiness.
Enthusiasm is an outburst of a new discovery realized.
Just get into the game of being boys and girls. It is the most wonderful game in the world. Even the Master played it when He said “Suffer little children to come unto me. Forbid them not.” As little children we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven — but not as old men and women: for they are left behind to clean the cobwebs of old Mother Earth.
As we think and act, so are we. Our thoughts leave an indelible mark upon our features, while our actions leave monuments in the graveyards of the memories of others.
He who used Truth as a weapon, makes many enemies, but creates one Friend.
Money cannot always cover sin, for tho the barrel and hoops may be made of the strongest wood and iron, the acid of immortality may burn its way through, rot the wood, and rust the iron.
You go upon the mountain top, calling a name you do not mean, expecting the echo to repeat the name you do — and are despondent when you hear the result.
If through my charity I give thee a coin, and it fails to give birth to another by its Gift, then thou art not worthy to have received it, and it will but make thee lose another, having lost its seed. We need go to no one for proof of life and death. We can see and realize, so that, to us, it will be absolute knowledge, without assumption, without theory, without mysticism — simply the truth. And as for modern Christianity, ninety-nine percent of the workers do not believe entirely in their views which they can only assume to be true. The one percent feel the spirit of the Master, and are sincere thru the spirit of faith. If we should place all creeds and sects in a wine-press, we would obtain one drop of pure water, transparent, crystal-clear, the living diamond of truth, which is the one perfection, the creation and why we are.
When a man has something new, or claims a power above the ordinary, such as Prophecy, the mass flock to him and say, “Let us see. Let us see.” The wiser people say, “I will wait until he has been established for five years. If he lasts that long he must have something, and then I will go to see him.”
The still wiser men say, “We will wait ten years.”
The students of philosophy say, “We will wait twenty years, or perhaps thirty years; and then, if he is still alive, we can be certain that he has something worth investigating.”
But the Philosopher says, “I will wait until the day of his death, and go to see him at the side of his death-bed to receive his message.”