Edith Songer - The Quotable Scouter: Moral Inspiration for Scouts of All Ages

Introduction I f I begin the sentence A Scout is... and my husband is within hearing, he will rattle off the Scout Law at such high speed that I will miss half of the things a Scout is supposed to be and will have to ask him to repeat it. Im not even sure he can recite it at regular speed. These words have been in his head since he was a Boy Scout; how many other people across the world have these same words learned by heart? And who can tell how many times these words have influenced their behavior? Words are funnythey are just sound waves, just lines on a pagebut they can move us to anger, to joy, or to rally behind a cause; they can change our lives. Well-chosen words can shape historythink of the Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, or the Emancipation Proclamation. Words can change our beliefs and actionsfrom the sacred writings of the worlds oldest religions to modern day sound bites that flood over us in all forms of media.

We come to value best those words that help us to clearly define what we believe or who we want to become. It doesnt seem to matter whether those words are hundreds or even thousands of years oldthey were preserved and handed down precisely because they meant something important then and still do today. We quote them. We fall back on them in times when we need to mentally reset our goals or motivate someone else. The quotes in this book reflect the values that have been upheld by the Scouting movement ever since Robert Baden-Powell published Scouting for Boys in 1908. These values can serve anyone well and have served countless Scoutsboys, girls, and leadersfor generations.

I hope these quotes serve to reinforce your belief that these values are still worth learning by heart. Trust Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly. George MacDonald, 18241905 Y ouve seen this scene on-screen so often its a clich: two people poised on the edge of a tall building (or a cliff, or an open airplane door). One turns to the other and says Do you trust me? After a brief pause to consider, the other answers, Yes. And then they jump. It looks like suicide to the second person, but they trust the other one enough to risk their life on it.

At least in the movies they do. If you were asked this question on the edge of a real cliff, you might be more likely to say I trust you to recommend a good book or to get your homework in on time, but whats your knowledge of aerodynamics? You may never have to trust another person enough to jump over an actual cliff, but we all face situations where we have to trust other people and some of these situations are very scary. Can you trust the clerk at the store not to steal your credit card number? Can you trust the person turning left at the light to wait until youve cleared the intersection? Can you trust your teacher to give you a fair grade even though you dont get along personally? We value those we trust because we can relax around them; they make us feel safe. It is a matter of honor for a Scout to learn to be responsible and honest so that others can trust him no matter what the situation. The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way you can make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him. Henry L.

Stimson, 18671950 You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough. Frank Crane, 18611928 Above all, dont lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 18211881 I dont need a certain number of friends, just a number of friends I can be certain of. Alice Walker, 1944 Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 18031882 Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 18031882 The glue that holds all relationships togetherincluding the relationship be-tween the leader and the ledis trust, and trust is based on integrity. Brian Tracy, 1944 The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say I. And thats not because they have trained themselves not to say I. They dont think I. They think we; they think team.

They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and dont sidestep it, but we gets the credit... This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. Peter Drucker, 19092005 Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police. Albert Einstein, 18791955 It is more shameful to distrust ones friends than to be deceived by them. Franois Duc De de La Rochefoucauld, 16131680 No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.

George Eliot, 18191880 Were never so vulnerable than when we trust someonebut paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy. Walter Anderson, 18851962 Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interests of others. Peter Farquharson A good reputation is something you must pay for, but you can never buy. African proverb Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gong. With trust, words become life itself. E. M. M.

Forster, 18791970 It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself. Graham Greene, 19041991 It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust nobody. English proverb Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware. David Armistead It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust. Samuel Johnson, 17091784 What you dont see with your eyes, dont witness with your mouth.

Jewish proverb I doubt that we can ever successfully impose values or attitudes or behaviors on our childrencertainly not by threat, guilt, or punishment. But I do believe they can be induced through relationships where parents and children are growing together. Such relationships are, I believe, built on trust, example, talk, and caring. Fred Rogers, 19282003 It is so rare in this world to meet a trustworthy person who truly wants to help you, and finding such a person can make you feel warm and safe, even if you are in the middle of a windy valley high up in the mountains. Lemony Snicket, 1970 It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong. Donald T. Donald T.

Regan, 19182003 Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly. George MacDonald, 18241905 Whatever else may be shaken, there are some facts established beyond warring: virtue is better than vice, truth is better than falsehood, kindness than brutality. Quintin Hogg, 18451903 The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give every man his due. Justinian I, Byzantine emperor, 482565 Avoid suspicion: when youre walking through your neighbors melon patch, dont tie your shoe. Chinese proverb Time, whose tooth gnaws away at ev-erything else, is powerless against truth. Thomas Henry Huxley, 18251895 The liars punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.