This very short poem, by the 28th President of the United States (1913 - 1921) is dedicated to all those who consider themselves to be ugly.
He may have been a good President, but he wasn't a very good poet!
Perhaps that is why I can only find one example of his verse.
For beauty I am not a star,
There are others more perfect by far,
But my face I don't mind it,
For I am behind it,
It is those in front that I jar !
Woodrow Wilson
To expand this post a little and restore some seriousness, here are a few quotations from his speeches.
Many of the thoughts he expresses are just as valid today.
"A little group of wilful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States . . . contemptible."
"Once lead this people into war and they will forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance."
"It is from quiet places like this all over the world that the forces accumulate which presently will overbear any attempt to accomplish evil on a large scale. Like the rivulets gathering into the river, and the river into the seas, there come from communities like this streams that fertilize the consciences of men, and it is the conscience of the world that we are trying to place upon the throne which others would usurp."
"Today, supremely, it behoves us to remember that a nation shall be saved by the power that sleeps in its own bosom; or by none; shall be renewed in hope, in confidence, in strength by waters welling up from its own sweet, perennial springs. Not from above; not by patronage of its aristocrats. The flower does not bear the root, but the root the flower."
"Be militant! Be an organization that is going to do things! If you can find older men who will give you countenance and acceptable leadership, follow them; but if you cannot, organize separately and dispense with them. There are only two sorts of men to be associated with when something is to be done: Those are young men and men who never grow old."
"We set this nation up ... to vindicate the rights of man. We did not name any differences between one race and another. We opened our gates to all the world and said: "Let all men who want to be free come to us and they will be welcome."
And finally for my Democrat friends in the United States:
"I will not speak with disrespect of the Republican Party. I always speak with respect of the past." !













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