Monday, March 31, 2008

Art, Democracy, Excuses, Conversation

ART

Gustave Flaubert
Of all lies, art is the least untrue.

DEMOCRACY

Henry O. Dorman
Democracy means not “I am equal to you” but “you are equal to me”.

EXCUSES

Doug Hall and David Wecker
Excuses are apologies for not having courage.

CONVERSATION

Anatole France
We reproach people for talking about themselves; but it is the subject they treat best.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Zen, Communism, Exceptional, Children

Zen

Michael E. Angier
The only thing that has to be done today is to breathe.

Communism

Anonymous
Whatever their faults, the Communists did not invent canned laughter.

Exceptional

William Cather
In this world people have to pay an extortionate price for any exceptional gift whatever.

Children

Maya Angelou
Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Philosophy, Academia, Stagnation, Love

Philosophy

Anonymous
For the good man to realize that it is better to be whole than good is to enter on a straight and narrow path compared to which his previous rectitude was flowery license.

Academia

Leo Botstein
At most, college presidents are running something that is somewhere between a faltering corporation and a hotel.

Stagnation

Robert Allen
... the vast bulk of humanity isn’t nice. They aren’t even really nasty, they’re just a heap of disorganized appetites that are struggling to be satisfied. It’s not hard to see why some of our writers and philosophers have found humanity a pretty dismal prospect.

Love

Jean Anouilh
Oh, love is real enough, you will find it some day, but it has one arch-enemy – and that is life.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Perception, Work, Results, Life Style

Perception

Henri-Louis Bergson
The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

Work

Anonymous
One who works with his hands is a laborer; one who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; one who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is a master.

Results

Robert Anthony
You can only have two things in life, Reasons or Results. Reasons don’t count.

Life Style

Michael E. Angier
It’s expensive to be a maverick.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Nature, Wealth, Regret, Leisure

Nature

David Gulpilil [Australian Aboriginal]
I’m just glad that now the sun does rise and the days are warm, so that I can listen to the birds signing happily, and the animals munching away at their food.

Wealth

Scott Alexander
The best way to make happy money is to make money your hobby and not your god. Making money is a hobby that will complement any other hobbies you have, beautifully.

Regret

Andre Agassi
I can live with disappointments better than with regrets.

Leisure

William J. Bogan
Leisure may prove to be a curse rather than a blessing, unless education teaches a flippant world that leisure is not a synonym for entertainment.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Metaphysics, War, Receiving, Interactions

Metaphysics

Wilton Robert Abbott
To understand the place of humans in the universe is to solve a complex problem. Therefore I find it impossible to believe that an understanding based entirely on science or one based entirely on religion can be correct.

War

August Bebel
In time of war the loudest patriots are the greatest profiteers.

Receiving

Robert Anthony
The reason it is harder to be a receiver than a giver is because a giver is always in control.

Interactions

Cleveland Amory
I can't take a well-tanned person seriously.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Knowledge, Tribal, Problems, Honor

Knowledge

Thurman Arnold
The principles of Washington's farewell address are still sources of wisdom when cures for social ills are sought. The methods of Washington's physicians, however, are no longer studied.

Tribal

Witi Ihimaera [Maori]
For me, there was always a sense of contentment in feeling a rhythm beneath my feet. The heartbeat of the land. That season would follow season and that the rhythm would never alter. Knowing this brought me peace like no other I had known.

Problems

Scott Alexander
Understand that most problems are a good sign. Problems indicate that progress is being made, wheels are turning, you are moving toward your goals. Beware when you have no problems. Then you’ve really got a problem ... Problems are like landmarks of progress.

Honor

Samuel Butler
The nearest way to honour is to have none at all.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Ideas, The System, Opportunity, Friends


Ideas

Alain [Emile Auguste Chartier]
Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when a man has only one idea.

The System

Dean Acheson
A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer.

Opportunity

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Friends

Hada Bedar
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Humor, Society, Leadership, Forgiveness


Humor

Jack Benny
I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.

Society

Henry Brooks Adams
Society is immoral and immortal; it can afford to commit any kind of folly, and indulge in any kind of vice; it cannot be killed, and the fragments that survive can always laugh at the dead.

Leadership

Scott Raymond
I am slowly being converted to the principle that you can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.

Forgiveness

Russell Banks
We forgive once we give up attachment to our wounds.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Health, Socialism, Ignorance, Fools

Health

David Brenner
A vegetarian is a person who won’t eat anything that can have children.

Socialism

Kenneth Baker
Socialists make the mistake of confusing individual worth with success. They believe you cannot allow people to succeed in case those who fail feel worthless.

Ignorance

Amos Bronson Alcott
To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.

Fools

Anonymous
A wise man laughs at a fool; a fool does the same by a wise man; both are equally diverted.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Happiness, Religion, Goals, Family

Happiness

Joseph Addison
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants, and how much more unhappy he might be than he really is.

Religion

F.E. Abbot
Agnosticism is the philosophical, ethical and religious dry-rot of the modern world.

Goals

Apocrypha [Ecclesiasticus]
Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss.

Family

Thomas Fuller
He that hath no fools, knaves or beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightening.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Gratitude, Media, Go For It, Enemies

Gratitude

Roy Campanella
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, and I was given life, so I could enjoy all things.

Media

Thomas Bailey Aldrich
There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite.

Go For It

James Allen
To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.

Enemies

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
For every man there is something in the vocabulary that would stick to him like a second skin. His enemies have only to find it.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Death, Government, Fear, Drink

Death

Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg]
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

Government

Henry Brooks Adams
The work of internal government has become the task of controlling the thousands of fifth-rate men.

Fear

Rick Beneteau
Fear is the imaginary mountain that hides the horizon.

Drink

Alben W. Barkley
The best audience is intelligent, well-educated and a little drunk.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Cognition, Freedom, Failure, Crabs

Cognition

Douglas Noel Adams
Assumptions are the things you don't know you're making.

Freedom

James Truslow Adams
The freedom now desired by many is not freedom to do and dare but freedom from care and worry.

Failure

Samuel Beckett
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Crabs

Ezra Taft Benson
Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and learned, looking down at the rest us. There is, however, a far more common ailment among us – and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as fault-finding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Belief, Education, Expectations, Conversation

Belief

Alfred Adler
It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

Education

James Truslow Adams
There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living. The other should teach us how to live.

Expectations

Anonymous
The Universe tends to treat you pretty much like you treat yourself.

Conversation

Anthony
The English language has so few cuss words that, much like the flag, they should not be displayed day after day, but kept inside, lovingly rolled up and stored away, to bring forth proudly, unfaded, and effective upon special occasions.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Art, Democracy, Excuses, Competition

Art

Anonymous
The successful artist is someone who continues to make art and isn't more than 50 percent bitter about the rest of life.

Democracy

Al Alvarez
Mass democracy, mass morality and the mass media thrive independently of the individual, who joins them at a cost of at least a partial perversion of his instinct and insights. He pays for his social ease with what used to be called his soul, his discriminations, his uniqueness, his psychic energy, his self.

Excuses

Robert Anthony
Excuses are your lack of faith in your own power.

Competition

Baltasar Gracian
Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Writing, Capitalism, Dreams, Argument

Writing

Franklin Pierce Adams
The best part of the fiction of many novels is the notice that the characters are purely imaginary.

Capitalism

Henry Hazlitt
The system of capitalism, of the market economy, is a system of freedom, of justice, of productivity. But these three virtues cannot be separated. Each flows out of the other.

Dreams

Mark Albion
I don’t know that if you follow your dreams, the money will follow. I do know that if you follow your dreams, the money won’t matter as much.

Argument

Gilbert Keith Chesterton
People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Travel, Business, Destiny, Anger

Travel

James Allen
As you think, you travel ... You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

Business

Peter Ferdinand Drucker
Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.

Destiny

Marcus Aurelius
Love nothing but that which comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny. For what could more aptly fit your needs?

Anger

Marcus Antonius
Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Time, America, Degradation, Age

Time

Thomas Bailey Aldrich
All the best sands of my life are somehow getting into the wrong end of the hourglass. If I could only reverse it! Were it in my power to do so, would I?

America

David Abrahansen
The American dream is, in part, responsible for a great deal of crime and violence because people feel that the country owes them not only a living but a good living.

Degradation

Joseph Addison
Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.

Age

Tallulah Bankhead
If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Self, Academia, Decision, Support

Self

Robert Anthony
You are the only one who won’t leave you.

Academia

Anonymous
Law school is the opposite of sex. Even when it's good it's lousy.

Decision

Michael E. Angier
Our job is to decide; the Universe’s job is to provide.

Support

George Ade
Every man is the architect of his own fortunes, but the neighbors superintend the construction.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Science, Work, Courage, Service

Science

St. Augustine [Aurelius Augustinus]
There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. It is this which drives us to try and discover the secrets of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn.

Work

Karl Abraham
A considerable number of persons are able to protect themselves against the outbreak of serious neurotic phenomena only though intense work.

Courage

Edward Estlin Cummings
It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.

Service

Saul Alinsky
Once you accept your own death all of a sudden you're free to live. You no longer care about your reputation. You no longer care except so far as your life can be used tactically – to promote a cause you believe in.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Philosophy, Wealth, Cost of Success, Pets

Philosophy

David Berlinski
Seventeenth-century Jesuits wondered why dogs do not talk. Their conclusion bears repeating. They have nothing to say.

Wealth

Thomas Bailey Aldrich
The possession of gold has ruined fewer men than the lack of it. What noble enterprises have been checked and what fine souls have been blighted in the gloom of poverty the world will never know.

Cost of Success

Shana Alexander
The sad thing is that excellence makes people nervous.

Pets

Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw]
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Perception, War, Change, Men

Perception

Wayne W. Dyer
The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.

War

Robert Ardrey
Human war has been the most successful of our cultural traditions.

Change

Lisa Alther
That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along.

Men

Josephy Addison
Men who cherish for women the highest respect are seldom popular with them.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Nature, Tribal, Calling, Marriage

Nature

Anne Wilson Schaef
… nature is the classroom for learning about ourselves and our universe. Nature teaches us through all our senses simultaneously and requires that we use our whole brain and our whole being.

Tribal

Alex Pua [Hawaiian Kapuna]
The senses are contradictory and deceiving. We never look at anything with our senses. We look with our feelings. Only our feelings can be trusted.

Calling

Phil Cousineau
The long line of myths, legends, poetry, and stories throughout the world tell us that it is at that moment of darkness that the call comes. It arrives in various forms – an itch, a fever, an offer, a ringing, an inspiration, an idea, a voice, words in a book that seem to have been written just for us – or a knock.

Marriage

Edmond About
Marriage, in life, is like a duel in the midst of a battle.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Metaphysics, The System, Attitude, Manners

Metaphysics

Brian Appleyard
Thanks to Newton we cannot discover goodness in the mechanics of the heavens, thanks to Darwin we cannot find it in the phenomenon of life and thanks to Freud we cannot find it in ourselves. The struggle is to find a new basis for goodness, purpose and meaning.

The System

Anonymous
When the bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.

Attitude

Richard David Bach
The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

Manners

Oliver Wendell Holmes
Under bad manners, as under graver faults, lies very commonly an overestimate of our special individuality, as distinguished from our generic humanity.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Knowledge, Society, Advice, Lying

Knowledge

J.R. Paxton
It is too late to go back to the order of nature or the truth in history.

Society

Alain [Emile Auguste Chartier]
Found a Society of Honest Men, and all the thieves will join it.

Advice

Anonymous
The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others.

Lying

Diamos
Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.