Quotations Weblog

Tan Chin Tuan donated $29 million to the National University of Singapore. He started out as a bank clerk at age 17. By 1942, he was the managing director of OCBC. He was a banking pioneer that never forgot his humble roots.

He was called the Quiet Achiever and helped educate the populus of Singapore.

• Bank pioneer Tan Chin Tuan dies

• Knowledge Enterprise 2004 – Tan Foundation helps set up key initiatives for quality education and research

CNN has the story about Nick Hartigan, a Brown University running back, who is also in the process of interviewing for a Rhodes Scholarship.

• CNN.com – Star running back has chance at Rhodes glory – Nov 11, 2005

He going to fly to Pittsburgh for his interview, fly back to New York for his football game against Columbia University and that afternoon, fly back to Pittsburgh for the second phase of interviews. It’s that kind of dedication that separates winners from losers. I hope this guy gets the chance he wants.

Of course, shooting for the NFL is probably a little more profitable…

I think this inmate took this quotation a little too seriously. After making an incredible escape from prison, Charles Victor Thompson was captured outside a liquor store.

• CNN.com – Escaped killer captured — drunk – Nov 7, 2005

To escape from prison, he told the guards he was going to meet with his lawyer in a booth. There, he changed into civilian clothes and convinced prison officials that he was an investigator for the Attorney General’s office and was escorted out of the prison. After making such a dramatic escape, I’m a little disappointed that he was arrested at Daiquiris Unlimited.

Had he read the greats, he would have stayed away from the liquor store and kept hiding.

Before I was born, a young woman stood up for herself and the rest of the oppressed by refusing to give up her seat on a bus. I remember seeing a dramatization of her defiant act on television. I remember thinking how tired she must have been to defy all the customs of the South. I remember thinking how absurd the customs had been.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a “First Come, First Served” world. It doesn’t matter whether the color of your skin or whom you love or what language you speak. If you are on the bus and get a seat first in Salt Lake City, no one is going to ask you to give up your seat. Instead of bigotry, I’ve grown up with kindness. I’ve seen people give up their seats to the elderly, to pregnant women and to people who just look tired.

Thank you, Rosa, for your part in making my world a better place to grow up.

Rosa Park’s funeral was today. She was eulogized by the most powerful in the nation. Here’s what they said about her:

Rosa Parks Quotations – The Quotations Page

Instead of dressing up for a party or to scare the kiddies, she dressed up to rob a bank.

• CNN.com – Witch suspect in Halloween holdups takes flight – Nov 1, 2005

Ironically, if she had worked a little harder on the costume and hit all the bars on Halloween night, she would have won more in prize money than she got from the bank heists.