Doubtful Acts

Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praiseworthy. - Joseph Joubert

Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do - just don't brag about it once it's done.

Imponderable

“I know nothing about horses,” said the bald man watching two flying forms. “But I’ve just seen that one,” he pointed with his cigarette at the far off bay. “I’ve just seen him run the guts out of the other two. One after the other he has broken their hearts and left them staggering along behind him. We would call him an imponderable, one who cannot be judged by normal standards.” He puffed at his cigarette before going on. “There are men like that also, imponderable.” - Wilbur Smith, Gold

In any endeavor you always must choose to lead, follow or get out of the way.

Planning for Problems

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. - Arnold Glasgow

Young folks always assume everything will go as planned. Older folks assume everything will go wrong. Failure, in both cases, is due to not anticipating problems before they happen.

Smooth Seas

Smooth seas do not make for a skillful sailor. - African Proverb



You hone your skills when the going is tough - don't waste your time complaining about tough times.

Tequila Trepidation

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. - Mitch Ratliffe

Just because it came out of a computer be wary - just like you would with a guy tanked up on tequila packing a handgun.

Beautiful Solutions

When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. - Richard Buckminster Fuller

Seeing the beautiful solution is not the last step. Put the solution out on the market and see if others find it beautiful. If not, perhaps it was only in the eye of the beholder.

The Key to Success

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. - Bill Cosby

The concept of the long tail says you can succeed by merely pleasing some of the people some of the time - you just have to find them. It's all in the marketing.

Nothing is Perfect

It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the problem. - G. K. Chesterton

Whenever you hear "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." look to see if the problem is just being ignored.

Sequel Perfection

There's just about always a sequel, so don't worry about making the first one perfect. – Seth Godin



Unfortunately, often the sequel doesn't measure up to the original because the creator misjudges (or ignores) what made the first one great.

Perfect Course

Perfectionism is simply putting a limit on your future. When you have an idea of perfect in your mind, you open the door to constantly comparing what you have now with what you want. That type of self criticism is significantly deterring. - John Eliot

Going with the flow doesn't mean you give up charting your course.

Wallowing in Regret

Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in. - Katherine Mansfield

You can learn from your mistakes. That knowledge is something you can build on.

Real Character

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character. - Calvin Coolidge

And sometimes those which practice them are real characters!

Ugly Fashion

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. - Oscar Wilde

Is it ugly or do we just constantly seek something new? Or both? Fashionable clothes fall into the "what's new" category and often, sadly, buzzwords do to. However to those who believe words should mean something, buzzwords also fall into the ugly category.

Extraordinary People

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. - Elbert Hubbard

....or woman.

Gifts

Nights bring me hindsight, days bring me doing, tomorrows bring me wishes, yesterdays bring me wisdom, the moon vanity, the sky longing, the sun fear, and the earth? It waits for me. - Chief Dan George

Spoken like a true man of the universe.

The Status Quo Police

The status quo police aren't going to go away, and in fact, they are often a big help in that most of your competition is held at bay by them. – Seth Godin

People are going to tell you to do things as they have always been done. If everyone listened to them there would be no progress.

Meeting Halfway

The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance. - Laurence J. Peter

I guess all you have to do is convince him you are not that far apart. Then halfway is closer to your side.

Strong Plough Hands

Wonders are many in the world, and the wonder of all is man.
With his bit in the teeth of the storm and his faith in a fragile prow,
Far he sails, where the waves leap white-fanged, wroth at his plan.
And he has his will of the earth by the strength of his hand on the plough. - Sophocles, Antigone

Keep your hand on the plough.

Logical and Musical

Remember this: one can be a strict logician or grammarian and at the same time full of imagination and music. - Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Beware of those who use one as an excuse to ignore the other.

Study History

I do not doubt that in the course of time this new science will be improved by further observations, and still more by true and conclusive proofs. But this need not diminish the glory of the first observer. My regard for the inventor of the harp is not made less by knowing that his instrument was very crudely constructed and still more crudely played. Rather, I admire him more than I do the hundreds of craftsmen who in ensuing centuries have brought this art to the highest perfection. To apply oneself to great inventions, starting from the smallest beginnings, is no task for ordinary minds; to divine that wonderful arts lie hid behind trivial and childish things is a conception for superhuman talents. - Galileo

If for no other reason than this; study history.

Meaningless Words

When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty. -Confucius

Not only that; when words have no meaning, people loose their liberty. Try to define: "sustainability"; "rural character"; "common good"; " Tuscon style".

Living and Learning

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Mahatma Gandhi



Live to learn.

Their Battle

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting their battle too. – Anonymous

Ain't that the truth.

Idea Sharing

It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on. - Ursula Le Guin

Share your ideas so they might grow better.

Radical Inconsistency

Are people more violently opposed to fur rather than leather because it's much easier to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs? - Anonymous

Radical groups are never consistent - if they were then we wouldn't see them as radical.

Be a Rodin

You are either the sculptor of circumstances, or the clay. - Robert James Bidinotto

Sculptors choose to create a thing of beauty and inspiration - or not. Be a Rodin.

Labor's Bread

A good government is one “which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned." - Thomas Jefferson

Remember the government does not create wealth - individuals do, through their labor. If the government is to redistribute wealth then they must take "from the mouth of labor." This is not good government. Think of that when you vote.

Finding Giants

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton

First you have to find the giant; the Internet makes this a lot easier.

Dream Car

I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself. - Dr. Ferdinand Porsche

That's why things get done in this world. People have dreams.

Results of Failure

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying. -Anonymous

Intelligence is knowing the consequences of failure. There is a difference between failing with uncomfortable results and failing with lethal results.