Title: Wisdom, understanding, greatness… ‘Memorable Quotes’
Author: Adam Babatunde Akande
Year of Publication: 2014
Publishers: Deepfont Limited, Lagos.
Reviewer: Wole Balogun
When in search of sagely sayings, enriched with wýsdom, sound knowledge, edifying truths and instructive messages, among others which could make life more meaningful and challenging, the book, Memorable Quotes by Mr. Adam Babatunde Akande, retired diplomat and elder statesman, becomes one among others.
Akande’s Memorable Quotes is a compilation of over 5,000 witty sayings from philosophers, social crusaders, clerics, sages, great politicians, professionals, academics, leaders, saints, and great teachers among others.
Painstakingly put together by the author to provide sound moral teachings and instructions to readers, Akande’s ‘quotes’ are probing and challenging.
The author, being an elder himself, has found the quotes quite useful, essential and highly instructive for many who wish to love a life well guided by sound moral and spiritual teachings.
According to him, the desire to hand out enduring and edifying values made him to compile the quotes. “I want to recommend this book to serious minded people and also religious people. There are a number of factors that has made me compile the memorable quotes. First, morality has been eroded in our way of life these days; this has led to a lot of social ills, insecurity, perversion, armed robbery, unhealthy craze for materialism among our youths, lack of zeal for hard work and widespread corruption among others. Also, there is no longer zeal for reading, the new generation has been kept in the dark because they don’t have a virile reading culture and this is sadly contributing to our backwardness as a nation,” he said.
Akande’s book of memorable quotes has been segmented into phases, based on the issues of life they illuminate. The segments include: God and Religion, Life and death, Ambition and Enthusiasm, appreciation, character, charity and kindness, family, courage, freedom, justice judgment, friendship, growth, growing youth, happiness, knowledge and education, among others.
The segments are presented in chapters and in each of these chapters, there are at least hundred memorable quotes to illuminate the idea or ideas chosen.
In Chapter one for instance, God and Religion are gýven significant illumination with quotes that are quite enlightening, enlivening and pondering.
To grasp a deeper understanding of the nature of God, His relationship with humans and how humans could relate better with Him among others, quotes are drawn from many great books of religion, leadership, philosophy, politics as written by poets, sages such as Plato, Aristotle, great leaders and philosophers, scientists, writers, clerics, and academics among others. So also are probing quotes presented to explain the concept of religion to mankind.
Here is a taste of some of them; “ They, who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys, such brim-full delights, such overflowing blessedness do the saints discover in their Lord-C.H Spurgeon “
And another: “We should speak to God from our own hearts and talk to Him as a child talks to his father-C.H Spurgeon
And yet another: “If you serve others for reward of gaining their admiration and gratitude, then your reward will be fleeting and ultimately dissatisfying. If you serve others for the reward of bringing pleasure to your Father God’s heart as you work side by side with Him, then you will gain eternal reward-Anonymous.
“Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence-St Augustine”.
In Chapter two, Akande exposes as well as unearth the concept of life and death so deeply that the reader would be awed on discovering the purposes of life and the significance of the inevitability of death. A few of the quotes would help throw light into this assertion:
“Your life is like a book, the title is your name, the preface your introduction to the world. The pages are a daily record of your efforts, trials, pleasures, discouragement and achievements, day by day, your thoughts and acts are being inscribed in your book of life. Hour by hour, the record is being made that must stand for all time. Once the word FINIS must be written, let it be said of your book that is a record of noble purpose, generous service and work wel-done-Greeville Kleiser.”
“A Great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men-Albert Einstein
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty-Mohanda Gandhi”
“My husband often told the children that if a man had nothing that was worth dying for, he was not fit to live-Coretta Scott King.”
From chapters one to twelve, Akande makes his reader to get a grasp of such concepts as appreciation, courage, happiness, truth, family, justice, judgement, charity, kindness, and friendship and such like. His quotes here make the reader fully understand these virtues as part of what make life meaningful, joyous and challenging. With the quotes presented to explain the concepts, the reader is encouraged to cherish his life and make it more beautiful, eventful and enjoyable by observing the moral and spiritual instructions passed across through the quotes. Hence: “ A truth that is told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent-William Blake.”
“Where there is marriage without love, there will be love without marriage-Benjamin Franklin.”
“A wife is the joy of a man’s heart-Talmud
“Well-married, a man is winged, ill-matched, he is shackled-Henry Ward Beecher.”
“One man’s justice is anotheraks injustice, one man’s beauty another ugliness, one man’s wisdom, another’s folly-Ralph W Emerson.”
“You have seen how a man was made a slave, you shall see how a slave was made a man-Federick Douglas.”