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Now to Make the Best Use of Victory
When searching my mind for some suitable quotes regarding the referendum result, I first came up with “The victory fell on us” from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. However, this seemed a little crudely simplistic and lacked the nuances the situation deserved. Horatio Nelson’s “First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can” was more appropriate, for we now must work together as a nation to create the best country we can for all who call Australia home.
“Don’t gloat, dear,” my grandmother used to say. “Gloating is unladylike, unseemly and un-Christian. Just smile sweetly and move on.”
This memoir appears in the latest Quadrant.
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Now that the referendum is done and dusted, I’m having great difficulty controlling my sinful desire to gloat. Surely just a little victorious gloating wouldn’t hurt? How about a small smirk or a teensy touch of smugness? Maybe discreetly behind the closed bedroom door? Those of us who have been…
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