While I am recovering from my first marathon (!) please allow me to share a quote that keeps me tender

Walter Scott (pen name of Lloyd Shearer) for Parade Magazine, 1973

Oct 08, 2025

Mmerikani’s Substack consists of sourced, edifying quotes in a dual-language format (Swahili & English). I am a Quaker, runner, and was formally trained in Swahili.

[Scroll down for the English]

KISWAHILI

“Umbali utakaotembelea maishani unategemea kuwa kwako mwororo pamoja na vijana, kuwa na huruma pamoja na wazee, kuwa na upole pamoja na wale wanaojitahidi kupata mafanikio, na kuwa na usubiri pamoja na wanyonge na wale wanafanya makosa. [Maana] siku moja maishani, utakuwa umekuwa haya yote.”

- Walter Scott, aliyefahamika kwa jina la Lloyd Shearer, gazeti la Parade (1973)*

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. [Because] someday in life, you will have been all of these.”

- Walter Scott, pen name of Lloyd Shearer, Parade magazine (1973)*

Chanzo (source): Shearer, Lloyd. “Resolutions” was printed on the cover of Parade magazine (a Sunday newspaper supplement from Parade Publications, Inc., New York); the copyright notice at bottom names “Walter Scott,” the pen name of Lloyd Shearer. This Parade magazine was included inside of the December 30, 1973 The Sun-Telegram: Serving the Inland Empire (The San Bernardino County Sun). The following website held the image of this original source, but this translator is having trouble confirming this website due to internet while traveling, but perhaps it may work for the reader: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19731230.1.71. If able to view, it is available by the Courtesy of the California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Also investigated, and concluded to be Lloyd Shearer, at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/12/22/tender/#f+10311+1+6.

*Nukuu hii, katika miongo ya karibuni, imehusishwa kwa George Washington Carver; hata hivyo, mtafsiri huyu ameshindwa kupata chanzo chenye asili kinachoweza kutoa sifa hiyo.

*This quote has, in recent decades, been attributed to George Washington Carver; however, this translator has been unable to find a source granting that attribution and has settled on the Source listed.