WORTHY OF THOUGHT PART 1

WE LIVE ADJACENT TO AN INFORMATION HIGHWAY; alas, all too often as well, it’s an Information Sewer. Yet occasionally things arise that are worthy of thought. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, in no particular order, are several together with my own thoughts pertaining thereto.

Miguel de Cervantes, 1547–1616, the greatest Spanish writer and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. Portrait via Wikipedia attributed to Juan de Jáuregui (unauthenticated). No authenticated image of Cervantes exists. 

Don Quixote on Love: “For thou ought to know, Sancho, if thou knowest it not already, that there are but two things that chiefly excite us to love a woman,—an attractive beauty, and unspotted fame.”

Beauty, after all, is subjective, in the eye of the beholder and all that. But I like the necessity of fame, and will settle for it’s being unspotted. (There’s nothing more boring than anonymity.)

Dan Rather’s Advice on Matrimony: “Always marry a woman from Texas. No matter how tough things get, she’s seen tougher.” 

Rather’s attribution, I confess, is contrary to my memory; I’d swear I’ve heard a version of this Texas woman adage that predates his adulthood. I hunted around the Internet, but got only A.I.-generated reference to the Rather quote.

But could it have been a Carl Sandburg SiriusXM “Radio Classic”?

Greg Bell to the Rescue. I emailed Greg Bell, the “Radio Classic” host, who replied in amazingly quick time, bless his heart. “Glad you’re enjoying the channel,” he wrote. “The only episode we feature with Carl Sandburg is indeed from the ‘Cavalcade of America.’ ”

And, sure enough, at 16:00 of CALV 410922245 Native Land Part 1, co-host Burgess Meredith says, “The People, Yes. They told Carl Sandburg any Texas girl is worth marrying because no matter what has happened, she’s seen worse.” The original program was broadcast December 22, 1941; Dan Rather was 10.

More Carl Sandburg. Whilst Goggling as a human, I surely did encounter other worthy Sandburg thoughts about one thing and another.

Carl August Sandburg, 1878–1967, American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. Thrice Pulitzer-Prize winner: two for poetry, one for his Abraham Lincoln bio. Image by Al Ravenna, World Telegram staff photographer, via Wikipedia. 

Carl Sandburg on Women: “A woman is like a tea bag. It’s only when she is in hot water that you realize how strong she is.” 

Carl Sandburg on Mistakes in Grammar: “I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it.”

Carl Sandburg on Happiness: “I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness. And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men. They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool with them. And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along the Desplaines river and I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with their women and children and a keg of beer and an accordion.”

Carl Sandburg on Chicago: “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”

Yet Sandburg Also Wrote: “Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years.” 

Carl Sandburg on Solitude: “One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.” 

Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll continue this theme of solitude with a Christian Existentialist Socialist. Then we’ll range from Paleolithic times to our current quandary. 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025