Grade 8 Journals – Quarter 4
Any quotes without an author given are either unknown or anonymous.
Writing is an essential skill to develop in order to be successful in school. Sometimes we have to
write about easy and fun topics and other times we have to write about ideas that are difficult to
comprehend. For your journal entries this year, you are going to need to respond to the following
quotes or stories. You need to have three journal entries each week. Journals will be checked
every two – three weeks. You will be given advance notice. Each journal entry should be five
– six lines long. You should try to discover the following information: 1. What does the quote
mean? and 2. How can a junior high student apply it to life today? If you have difficulty with a
quote, ask for help from a teacher or parent.
1. Some minds are liked finished concrete – thoroughly mixed and permanently set.
2. Ideas are like wandering sons. They show up when you least expect them.
3. He who loses money, loses much; he who loses a friend, loses much more; he who loses
faith, loses all.
4. The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition and not on our
circumstances. -Martha Washington
5. Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
-Henry David Thoreau
6. Character is more important than intelligence for success. -Gilbert Beaux
7. Honor isn’t about making the right choices. It is about dealing with the consequences.
-Midori Koto
8. Be just and fear not. -William Shakespeare in King Henry VIII
9. The art of life is knowing how to enjoy little and to endure much. -William Hazlitt
10. It takes a wise man to handle a lie; a fool had better remain honest. -Norman Douglas
11. It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be slave to them. Epictetus
12. The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of the wise man is in his heart. Benjamin Franklin
13. Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove that they are not
idiots. - Karl Kraus
14. Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say
something.
-Plato
15. Your fate is half god-given: the other half is yours to write and erase.
16. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
-William Shakespeare
17. Most people are willing to pay more to be amused than to be educated.
-Robert
Savage
18. Great men cultivate love… only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.
19. Where there is hope there is life; where there is life there is possibility; and where there is
possibility change can occur. -Jesse Jackson
20. Commitment is a line you must cross. It is the difference between dreaming and doing.
21. You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. -Oliver Goldsmith
22. Enthusiasm is the spark which makes the difference between leaders in every activity and
the laggards who put in just enough to get by.
-Johann Schiller
23. It is important that people know what you stand for. I t is equally important that they
know what you won’t stand for.
Mary Waltrip
24. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that airplanes take off against
the wind not with it. -Henry Ford
25. Pride is a personal commitment; it is an attitude which separates excellence from
mediocrity.
26. Tell a man he is brave and you help him become so. -Thomas Carlyle
27. If you are ashamed of your colors, you had better seek another flag.
28. If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
-Erica Jong
29. You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader. -Anthony J. D’Angelo
30. A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.
31. There are two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle the other is as
though everything is a miracle.
-Albert Einstein
32. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That is why it is called
the present.
33. Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to
him. - Aldous Huxley
34. No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.
35. Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
-John Wooden
36. The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital. -Joe Paterno
37. If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.
38. Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. - Samuel Johnson
39. To persevere is always a reflection of the state of one’s inner life, one’s philosophy, and
one’s perspective.
40. Story: “Moonlight Ride”
Jenny was so happy about the house they had found.
For once in her life twas on the right side of town.
She unpacked her things with such great ease
As she watched her new curtains blow in the breeze.
How wonderful it was to have her own room.
School would be starting; she’d have friends over soon.
There’d be sleepovers and parties; she was so happy.
It’s just the way she wanted her life to be.
On the first day of school, everything went great.
She made new friends and even got a date.
She thought, “I want to be popular and I’m going to be,
Because I just got a date with the star of the team!”
To be known in this school you had to have clout,
And dating this guy would sure help her out.
There was only one problem stopping her fate,
Her parents said she was too young to date.
“Well, I just won’t tell them the entire truth.
They won’t know the difference; what’s there to lose?”
Jenny asked to stay with her friends that night.
Her parents frowned but said, “All right.”
Excited, she got ready for the big event
But as she rushed around like she had no sense,
She began to feel guilty about all the lies,
But what’s a pizza, a party and a moonlight ride?
Well the pizza was good, and the party was great,
But the moonlight ride would have to wait.
For Jeff was half-drunk by this time.
But he kissed her and said that he was just fine.
Then the room filled with smoke and Jeff took a puff.
Jenny couldn’t believe he was smoking that stuff.
Now Jeff was ready to ride to the point
But only after he’d smoked another joint.
They jumped in the car for the moonlight ride,
Not thinking that he was too drunk to drive.
They finally made it to the point at last,
And Jeff started trying to make a pass.
A pass is not what Jenny wanted at all
(and by a pass, I don’t mean playing football).
“Perhaps my parents were right… maybe I am too young.
Boy, how could I ever be so dumb?”
With all of her might, she pushed Jeff away:
“Please take me home, I don’t want to stay!”
Jeff cranked up the engine and floored the gas.
In a matter of seconds they were going to fast.
As Jeff drove on in a fit of wild anger,
Jenny knew that her life was in danger.
She begged and she pleaded for him to slow down,
But he just got faster as they neared the town.
“Just let me get home! I’ll confess that I lied.
I really went out for a moonlight ride.”
Then all of a sudden, she saw a big flash.
“Oh God, Please help us! We’re going to crash!”
She doesn’t remember the force of impact.
Just that everything all of a sudden went black.
She felt someone remove her from the twisted rubble,
And heard, “Call an ambulance! These kids are in trouble!”
Voices she heard…a few words at best.
But she knew two cars were involved in the wreck.
Then wondered to herself if Jeff were all right,
And if the people in the other car were alive.
She awoke in the hospital to faces so sad.
“You’ve been in a wreck and it looks pretty bad.”
These voices echoed inside her head,
As they gently told her that Jeff was dead.
They said, “Jenny, we’ve done all that we can do.
But it looks as if we will lose you too.”
“But the people in the other car?” Jenny cried.
“We’re sorry, Jenny, they also died.”
Jenny prayed, “God forgive me for what I’ve done
I only wanted to have just one night of fun.”
“Tell those people’s family, I’ve made their life dim,
And I wish I could return their families to them.”
“Tell Mom and Dad I’m sorry I lied,
And that it’s my fault so many have died.
Oh, nurse, won’t you please tell them for me?”
The nurse just stood there – she never agreed.
But took Jenny’s hand with tears in her eyes
And a few moments later Jenny died.
A man asked the nurse, “Why didn’t you do your best
To bid that girl her one last request?”
She looked at the man with eyes oh so sad.
“Because the people in the other car were her mom and dad.”
This story is sad and unpleasant but true,
So young people take heed, it could have been you.