Nixon Extempore

"That's what I love about Illusions; they're right up there in front of you but somehow you don't see them... until suddenly you do."

 " And as I advise parents to think nothing more important than The Education of their children, so I maintain that it must be a sound and healthy education, and that 

Our Sons must be kept as far 

as possible from vulgar twaddle. 

For what pleases The Vulgar 

displeases The Wise. 

I am borne out by the lines of Euripides, 

"Unskilled am I in the oratory that pleases The Mob; but amongst the few that are my equals I am reckoned rather wise. 

For those who are little thought of by The Wise, seem to hit the taste of The Vulgar."

And I have myself noticed that those who practise to Speak Acceptably and to the gratification of The Masses promiscuously, for the most part become also profligate and lovers of pleasure in their lives.

Naturally enough.

For if in giving pleasure to others they neglect The Noble, they would be hardly likely to put the lofty and sound above a life of luxury and pleasure, and to prefer moderation to delights. 

Yet what better advice could we give our sons than to follow this? or to what could we better exhort them to accustom themselves? 

For Perfection is only attained by neither speaking nor acting at random—as the proverb says, 

Perfection is only attained by practice.

Whereas extempore oratory is easy and facile, mere windbag, having neither beginning nor end. 

And besides their other shortcomings extempore speakers fall into great disproportion and repetition, whereas a well considered speech preserves its due proportions. 

It is recorded by Tradition that Pericles, when called on by the people for A Speech, frequently refused on the plea that he was unprepared. 

Similarly Demosthenes, his state-rival, when the Athenians called upon him for his advice, refused to give it, saying, 

"I am not prepared." 

But this you will say, perhaps, is mere Tradition without Authority. 

But in his speech against Midias he plainly sets forth the utility of preparation, for he says, 

"I do not deny, men of Athens, that I have prepared this speech to the best of my ability: for I should have been a poor creature if, after suffering so much at his hands, and even still suffering, I had neglected how to plead my case."

Not that I would altogether reject extempore oratory, or its use in critical cases, but it should be used only as one would take medicine.

Up, indeed, to Man's Estate 

I would have no extempore speaking, 

but when anyone's Powers of Speech are rooted and grounded, then, as emergencies call for it, I would allow his words to flow freely. 

For as those who have been for a long time in fetters stumble if unloosed, not being able to walk from being long used to their fetters, so those who for a long time have used compression in their words, if they are suddenly called upon to Speak off-hand, retain the same character of expression. 

But to let mere lads speak extempore is to give rise to the acme of Foolish Talk. 

A wretched painter once showed Apelles, they say, A Picture, and said, 

"I have just done it." 

Apelles replied, 

"Without your telling me, I should know it was painted quickly; I only wonder you haven't painted more such in the time." 

As then (for I now return from my digression), I advise to avoid stilted and bombastic language, so again do I urge to avoid a finical and petty style of speech; for tall talk is unpopular, and petty language makes no impression. 

And as The Body ought to be not only sound but in good condition, so Speech ought to be not only not feeble but vigorous. 

For a safe mediocrity is indeed praised, but a bold venturesomeness is also admired. 

I am also of the same opinion with regard to the disposition of the soul, which ought to be neither audacious nor timid and easily dejected: for the one ends in impudence and the other in servility; but to keep in all things the mean between extremes is artistic and proper. 

And, while I am still on this topic, I wish to give my opinion, that I regard a monotonous speech first as no small proof of want of taste, next as likely to generate disdain, and certain not to please long. 

For to harp on one string is always tiresome and brings satiety; whereas variety is pleasant always whether to the ear or eye. "

-- Plutarch, 

Moralia, On Education

Richard Nixon Delivers His Farewell Address to Administration Staffers

Members of the Cabinet, members of the White House staff, all of our friends here. I think the record should show that this is one of those spontaneous things that we always arrange whenever the President comes in to speak. And it will be so reported in the press and we don't mind because they've got to call it as they see it.

But in our part, believe me, it spontaneous. 

You are here to say goodbye to us. 

And we don't have a good word for it in English. 

The best is au revoir. 

We'll see you again.

I just met with the members of the White House staff, you know, those that serve here in the White House, day in and day out, and I asked them to do what I asked all of you to do to the extent that you can and are, of course, are requested to do so, to serve our next President as you have served me and previous Presidents because many of you have been here for many years with devotion and dedication because this office—as great as it is—can only be as great as the men and women who work for and with The President.

This House, for example, I was thinking of it as we walked down this hall and I was comparing it to some of The Great Houses of The World that I've been in.

This isn't The Biggest House. 

Many and most in even smaller countries are much bigger.

This isn't the Finest House. 

Many in Europe, particularly in China, Asia, have paintings of great, great value, things that we just don't have here and probably will never have until we are a thousand years old or older.

But this is The Best House. 

It's The Best House because it has something more important than numbers of people who serve, far more important than numbers of rooms or how big it is, far more important than numbers of magnificent pieces of art.

I was rather sorry they didn't come down. We said good‐by to them upstairs. But they're really great. And I recall after so many times I've made speeches — some of them pretty tough — you'll always come back or after hard day — and my days usually have run rather long — I'd always get a lift from them because I might be a little down, but they always smiled.

And so it is with you. I look around here and I see so many of this staff that, you know, I should have been by your offices and shaking hands and I'd love to have talked to you and found out how to run the world. Everybody wants to tell The President What To Do.

And boy he needs to be told many times. 

But I just haven't had the time.

But I want to know—I want you to know that each and every one of you, I know, is indispensable to this Government.

I'm proud of this Cabinet. I'm proud of our — all the members who have served in our Cabinet. I'm proud of our sub‐Cabinet, I'm proud of our White House staff.

As I pointed out last night, I'm sure we've done some things wrong in this Administration. And the top man always takes the responsibility and I've never ducked it. But I want to say one thing. We can be proud of you—five and a half years. No man or no woman came into this Administration and left it with more of this world's goods than when he came in. No man or no woman ever profited at the public expense or the public till.

That tells something about you. 

Mistakes yes, but for personal gain, never. 

You did what you believed in, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and I only wish that I were a wealthy man. 

At the present time I've got to find a way to pay my taxes. 

(laughter)

And if I were, I'd like to recompense you for the sacrifices that all of you have made to serve in Government.

But you are getting something in government. And I want you to tell this to your children and I hope the nation's children will hear it too. Something in government service that is far more important than money.

It's a cause bigger than yourself. It's the cause of making this the greatest nation in the world, the leader of the world, because without our leadership the world will know nothing but war, possibly starvation or worse in the years ahead.

Strength From Sacrifice

With our leadership, it will know peace, it will know plenty. We have been generous and we will be more generous in the future as were able to. But most important, we must be strong here, strong in our hearts, strong in our souls, strong in our belief and strong in our willingness to sacrifice as you have been willing to sacrifice in a pecuniary way, to serve in government.

There's something else I'd like for you to tell your young people. You know, people often come in and say, what'll I tell my kids. You know, they look at government. It's sort of a rugged life and they see the mistakes that are made. They get the impression that everybody is here for the purpose of feathering his nest. That's why I made this earlier point. Not in this Administration. Not one single man or woman.

And I say to them there are many fine careers. This country needs good farmers, good businessmen, good plumbers, good carpenters. I remember My Old Man. I think that they would have called him sort of a — sort of a little man, common man. He didn't consider himself that way. You know what he was?

He was streetcar motorman first and then he was a farmer and then he had a lemon ranch — it was the poorest lemon ranch in California, I can assure you —he sold it before they found oil on it. 

And then he was a grocer. 

But He was a Great Man because he Did His Job and every job counts up to the hilt regardless of What Happens.

Nobody will ever write a book probably about My Mother. 

Well, I guess all of you would say this about Your Mother. 

My Mother was A Saint. 

And I think of her — two boys dying of tuberculosis — nursing four others in order that she could take care of my older brother for three years in Arizona and seeing each of them die and when they died it was like one of her own.

Yes, she will have no books written about her. 

But She Was A Saint.

On Looking Ahead

Now, however, we look to The Future.

Had a little quote in the speech last night from T.R. 

As you know, I kind of like to read books. 

I'm not educated, but I do read books. 

And the T.R. quote was a pretty good one.

There's another one I found as I was reading my last night in the White House. And this quote is about a Young Man. He was a young lawyer in New York. He'd married a beautiful girl. And they had a lovely daughter. And then suddenly she died and this is what he wrote. This was in his diary. He said:

She was beautiful in face and form and lovelier still in spirit. As a flower she grew and as a fair young flower she died. Her life had been always in the sunshine. There had never come to her a single great sorrow. None ever knew her who did not love and revere her for her bright and sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness.

“Fair, pure and joyous to the maiden. Loving, tender and happy as a young wife when she had just become a mother, when her life seemed to be just begun and then the years seemed so bright before her. Then by a strange and terrible, fate, death came to her.

“And when my heart's dearest died, the light went from my life forever.”

That was T.R. in his twenties. He thought The Light had gone from his life forever but he went on. And he not only became President but as an ex‐President, he served his country always in the arena, tempestuous, strong, sometimes wrong, sometimes right. But he was A Man. And as I leave let me say that's an example I think all of us should remember.

We think sometimes when things happen that don't go the right way, we think that when you don't pass the bar exam the first time—I happened to but I was lucky. I mean my writing was so poor the bar examiner said we just gotta let the guy through.

We think that when someone dear to us dies, we think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer a defeat that all has ended. We think, as T.R. said, that The Light had left his forever. Not True. It's only A Beginning always.

The Young must know it. The Old must know it. It must always sustain us because The Greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but The Greatness comes and you're really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness conies because only if you've been in The Deepest Valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on The Highest Mountain.

And so I say to you on this occasion we leave, we leave proud of the people who have stood by us and worked for us and served this country.

We want you to be proud of what you've done. We want you to continue to serve in government if that is your wish. Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

And so we leave with high hopes, in good spirits and with deep humility and with very much gratefulness in our hearts.

I can only say to each and every one of you, we come from many faiths. We pray, perhaps, to different gods, but really the same God in a sense. But I'll have to say for each and every one of you, not only will we always remember you, not only will we always be grateful to you, but always you will be in our hearts and you will be in our prayers.

Thank you very much.