’05-’06 Theme Quotations Table of Contents
This list of quotations is the complete version – the 2005 Pow Wow book contains a smaller subset.
Quotations contain the wisdom of the ages, and are a great source of inspiration for Cubmaster’s minutes, material for an advancement ceremony or an insightful addition to a Pack Meeting program cover. In addition to conveying wisdom they send a message that the values of scouting are timeless. Using quotations is also a way to introduce boys to literature and history.
Some of the quotes contained are above the heads of Cub Scout boys, but are included as a source of inspiration to a Cubmaster or Den Leader, and can be paraphrased for best use. Sometimes a quotation may trigger you to think of the theme in a way that you had not originally envisioned.
The quotations of Lord Robert Baden-Powell are from the book “Footsteps of the Founder, which is available from the Scout store. I hope you enjoy these quotations, and find many uses for them.
“The Scout training tends to make the boys into better men – in fact, into gentlemen, which, in the terms of the definition of Bernard Shaw, is one who does not expect to take more from the world than he gives to it.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
Mar-’05 Invention Convention
Every Cub Scout can be a genius or an inventor. Cub Scouts can learn about inventors and geniuses of the past, present, and future. Give each boy a Cub Scout Genius Kit of recycled odds and ends and tell him to invent something. Cub Scouts will learn what we recycle, what becomes of it, and how we can help. Present all the inventions at the pack meeting and award prizes to all category winners. Also have exhibits of what recycling is all about and how we can help. Let your imagination and your own genius lead the way.
March Quotations
Apr-’05 Waterways of the USA
Rivers have always been a vital part of our environment. Cub Scouts can use a map to trace a local river, then draw other waterways that connect to it. Dens can invite experts to talk about local rivers. Cub Scouts can learn how early explorers used rivers, and how important rivers are in transporting people and products. Discover how rivers are used for irrigation and to generate electricity. Investi-gate the history, folklore or legends, songs, and types of boats that are associated with rivers. Dens can help with keeping a local river clean and work on their World Conservation Award or the Conservation Good Turn Award. Hold a pack raingutter regatta.
April Quotations
May-’05 Cub Pet Pals
It's not just our parents and siblings who live with us, but our pets do as well. Learn to care for a pet and draw or take their picture to show at the pack meeting. The American Humane Society has desig-nated the first full week of May as "Be Kind to Animals Week:' Discuss responsible care of pets. Visit a local pet shop and see birds, reptiles, and other exotic pets. Visit the Humane Society, a local shelter, or a dog or cat breeder. Make something for your pet like a toy or a new home at the den meeting. Remind boys never to pet strange animals.
May Quotations
Jun-’05 Destination Parks
America is blessed with an abundance of natural parks. Point out national or state parks on a map and tell why the land became park-land. Learn the rules of safe hiking, about "hugging a tree," and the Outdoor Code. Construct your own hiking stick and pack a back-pack with a personal first aid kit, food, water, insect repellent, sun-screen, and a poncho. Cub Scouts can explore the trails at the local park or the council's camp and tell what they saw. Work on a service project to improve the local park.
June Quotations
Jul-’05 Play Ball!
The season of fun in the sun is here! This is the time of year for sports, outdoor picnics, and exploring. Dens should play games and learn about sportsmanship. Cub Scouts can work on Sports belt loops and pins as they participate with their den or pack. Put the outing in Scouting and go to a baseball game as a pack. Use the big outdoors and the time of summer to enjoy all that it offers. Get the baseball gloves, balls, and bats out and have your own baseball game between the parents and the Cub Scouts.
July Quotations
Aug-’05 Campfire Tales & Traditions
A campfire is a great way to close the summer and begin the fall. How about telling a few tall tales and having a songfest? Use the Campfire Planning Guide as dens are assigned to prepare the parts of your pack's campfire program. This will be a great opportunity to recruit, so invite potential new members. Webelos Scouts can learn about fire building and fire safety. How about marshmallows or s'mores around the campfire? Don't forget to leave the area as clean or cleaner than you found it!
August Quotations
Sep-’05 Cub Scout Roundup
Explore the wild and wooly West as you round-up new membership. This month learn about the Chisholm Trail and its hardships. Locate on a map the actual route that the cattle drive took. Find out what the cowboys wore and the safety reason for each garment. Learn about leather and rope-making crafts from each. Plan a field trip to see horses and wagons or learn about Western history. Learn to sing "Home on the Range" and other western songs. Experience trail food as everyone tries beans and jerky for dinner.
September Quotations
Oct-’05 To The Rescue
Cub Scouts will learn how to avoid accidents and be prepared for emergencies this month. Have a policeman talk about safety at home, at school, and in public. Learn how to be safe around insects, snakes, animals, and plants, or when swimming or riding a bike. Visit the local center for 9-1-1 calls so that Cub Scouts can learn how to call 9-1-1 and what information to give from the home, cell, or pay phone. Have an EMT teach basic age-appropriate Cub Scout first aid. Make first aid kits for the family automobile, for home, or for boys to carry with them. Use the buddy system during the den and pack meetings and have buddies develop a secret code or nickname. At the pack meeting, use games or mock accidents so that Cub Scouts can show they are prepared to come to the rescue.
October Quotations
Nov-’05 My Family Tree
Is your family Irish or Italian, Hispanic or Greek? Learn where your ancestors came from and trace your family's heritage. Find out what they did and what their customs were. Every family is different, and everyone has something special to offer. Bring something from your family to the pack meeting for Show and Tell. Make projects about different countries to display at the pack meeting. Read stories from other lands and find out what types of games are played in those countries. Have snacks at your den or pack meeting from different countries. Have your Cub Scouts work on the Academics belt loop for Heritages or Language and Culture.
November Quotations
Dec-’05 Faith, Hope and Charity
This time of year is packed with family faiths, hopes for the future, duty to God, and charity to all. Service projects are a way to give thanks while helping those in need in our neighborhoods and in our schools. Share family or historic traditions with your den or pack. Celebrate the holiday season with foods and crafts that are appropriate to the various faiths. Build a glove or mitten tree during a pack meeting or organize a food collection where everyone brings some-thing to share with those in need.
December Quotations
Jan-’06 Music Magic
Cub Scouts will get their vocal cords humming and their instruments strumming in a musical extravaganza! Learn to sing a variety of styles like pop, country, folk, or barbershop. Work on the Academics belt loop or pin in Music. Learn the history of a particular song or songs or learn about the various musical instruments. Why not use odds and ends to make your own instruments and accompany the choir? Den meetings can be your "rehearsals" and the pack meeting your "performance!" Best of all, everyone can join in and sing along. Take your show on the road to a local community activity or to a nursing home. Music is a universal language, so help to bring joy.
January Quotations
Feb-’06 Cubs in The Future
How will Cub Scouts celebrate the blue and gold banquet in the year 2106? What vehicle will take them? Will the stars be their guides? Make models of these new forms of transportation, and of a home or school of the future, and then use them as blue and gold banquet decorations. Create designs for future Cub Scout uniforms and awards. Build an exhibit of model campsites on a distant planet. Be creative with your futuristic menus. Top off the evening with" intergalactic" games.
February Quotations
Mar-'05 Invention Convention
“A motor car is a wonderful contraption of machinery, with its valves, cylinders, electric connections and complicated greas all assembled and neatly fitted to act on each other, but useless as a mobile agent without the addition of the right spirit.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
“Don’t give up because you do not find everything you need made to order at your hand, but take what you have, use your wits, and make the most of it..” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” – Thomas Alva Edison
“Older people ask – ‘What is it?’ the boy asks ‘What can I do with it?’” – Steve Jobs
“Throw some simple and cheap ingredients in a bag, shake it, bake it, and go to market.” – Guy Kawasaki, “Rules for Revolutionaries”
“The ultimate use of a product can be unrelated to its creator’s intentions.” – Guy
Kawasaki, “Rules for Revolutionaries”
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke
“Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” - Joseph Chilton Pearce
“Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.” - Joey Abzo Croemboza
“Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited while imagination embraces the entire world.” - Albert Einstein
“You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” - Mark Twain
“The great danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” - Michaelangelo
“I’d rather know some of the questions than all of the answers.” - James Thurber
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” – Jlal Ud-Din Rumi
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Apr-'05 Waterways of the USA
“No Scout can consider himself a full-blown Scout until he is able to swim and to save life in the water.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
“Every man ought to be able to swim. Mentally, it gives the boy a new sense of self-confidence and pluck; morally, it gives him the power of helping others in distress and puts a responsibility upon him of actually risking his life at any moment for others; and physically, it is a grand exercise for developing wind and limb.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell
“In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim at the top.” - Benjamin Franklin
“All rivers do what they can for the sea.” - Thomas Fuller: Gnomolagis, 1732
“No one has ever been twice on the same stream for different waters are constantly flowing down. It dissipates its waters & gathers them again; it approaches & recedes; overflows & fails.” - Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
"Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING-- absolutely nothing-- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. "Look here! If you've really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long day of it?" Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
The servitude of rivers is the noblest triumph of man - Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
We cannot make rivers whole unless we wholly understand them. - Rob Brown, Wheeler School, Providence, R. I.
There's no striving against the stream; and the weakest still goes to the wall. - Miguel de Cervantes, from Don Quoxite
The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it. - Chinese Philosopher
Though living near a river, do not waste water; though living near mountains, do not waste firewood. - Chinese Proverb, cited in 1875 collection
When you drink the water, remember the spring. - Chinese Proverb
Like swift water, an active mind never stagnates. - Author Unknown
If the river leaves a lot of trash, it will come back some time soon to get it. - Author Unknown
“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” - Benjamin Franklin
“To get clear water, one must go to the source.” - French Proverb
“Dirty water will quench few.” - French 16th Century Proverb
(The water commissioner in Rome) “must see that no one draws water without a written authorization from Caesar. He must exercise great vigilance against manifold forms of fraud.” Frontius (about A.D. 35-about A.D. 103), The Water Supply of Rome, c. 100
Throughout the history of literature, the guy who poisons the well
has been the worst of all villains... - Author Unknown