Sunday, February 24, 2008

Triads

From the Toastmasters International’s Competent Communication manual: (Triads are)
Ideas, adjectives and points are grouped in threes. Expressed in threes, thoughts have pleasant rhythms, are dramatic, and become more memorable. For example, “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
I am trying to collect examples of triads.

If you stumble upon this posting and wanted to contribute an example or two—whether you get it from somewhere or you created it yourself—I’ll be thrilled.

  • I come. I see. I conquer.
  • I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
  • Its five year mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
  • Garrison Kellor: Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
  • Isaac Asimov: A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
  • Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
  • Gettysburg Address:
… But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground.
… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
  • William Shakespeare: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
  • Charles Darwin: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
  • Harry Given, Golf Legend of Seattle: Don’t take it too seriously. Play it squarely and fairly with good manners, and everything will be all right.
  • JFK, Inauguration:
… that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage —and unwilling to witness …
… Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
… And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

America's oldest documents are just littered with these things (which I am more inclined to call triplets than triads).

Another one from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

And perhaps the most quotable from the Declaration:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."