What is Ambition?

Moderation is the feebleness and sloth of the soul, whereas ambition is the warmth and activity of it. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Ambition is the pursuit of achievement. Whether that ambition is moral or not depends on the goal of the achievement. The ambition of the rebel whose goal is the domination of other people, is immoral; the parents goal to improve their home is moral.

What is Trust?

Trust everybody, but cut the cards. - Finley Peter Dunne

Trust allows you to recognize your mistakes. Faith leaves you blind.

What is Friendship?

What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

One need not be enamored with all of a friends values - it really is a mutual trade. One may have a secret love but one couldn't have a secret friend.

What is Virtue?

Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues. - Abigail Adams

Virtue is the action which is used to gain something of value. Ill-gotten gains may be accounted as wealth but not as value.

What is Passion?

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. - Benjamin Franklin

A passion is a powerful emotion and if your values are in order will require only guidance, not control.

What is Fear?

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. - Marie Curie

Just as nerves tell you if you are injured or well, emotions like fear and love tell you about your well-being - though the evaluation is instantaneous and therefore subject to error. 

What are Emotions?

The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts - the less you know the hotter you get. - Bertrand Russell

Emotions are a response to the outside world guided by your inner premises. So, just as you must always check your premises, you must also check your emotions.

What is Love?

"Love" is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. - Robert A. Heinlein

Love is an emotional response of a person to the virtues of another.

What is Truth?

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same. - Albert Einstein

Truth is the recognition of reality.

What is Happiness?

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. - Aeschylus 

Happiness is the result of the consistent application of your values. It is a result, so it requires effort.

What is Courage?

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. - Sir Winston Churchill

Courage is knowing the truth, being confident in that knowledge, and being true to that truth.

What is Beauty?

People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves. - Salma Hayek

Beauty is harmony - to have things inside yourself orderly, indispensable and truthful is truly beautiful.

What is Liberty?

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. - Lord Acton

Do not equate freedom and liberty. Liberty applies to a political setting - lack of coercion from the State. No one would describe liberty as another name for nothing left to lose.

What is Duty?

The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. - Lord Acton

"Duty" is someone else's concept of what is right for you to do. If you are a child you have a duty to do as your parents say because you lack knowledge. If you are an educated adult, do what you know to be right, not what someone else decided.

What is Pride?

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction. - Margaret Thatcher

Pride is the sum of all virtues. False pride is better called conceit - there is little to sum.

What is Valuable?

If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. - Andrew V. Mason

If gold was easy to find it would not be a precious metal. "Value" is a measure of human effort.

Perspective

If you are going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now. - Marie Osmond

Perspective.

Enduring Reputation

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour. - Japanese proverb

With the increasing ease of spreading information also comes the need to be ever more vigilant. Microphones and cameras are everywhere - you can use it to your advantage or not.

Loose Words

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out. - Winston Churchill

...and always assume the microphone is on.

Keeping a Level Head

Always hold your head up, but be careful to keep your nose at a friendly level. - Max L. Forman

Especially if you are a Presidential candidate.

Useful Solitude

By all means sometimes be alone; salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; dare to look in thy chest, and tumble up and down what thou findest there. - Charles Wadsworth

Introspection is like studying history; it helps to chart a future course.

Founding Principles

The challenge is always before us. Whenever we lose sight of the principles that mattered to our founders we run into trouble. - Jesse Helms

Don't be afraid to remind people about the principles that mattered to our founders.

Institutional Organization

No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings. - Peter Drucker 

First, let's recognize that the government is an institution. Ours was originally organized as advised above - but it evolved to the contrary.

Government Deficits

The government deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government spends and the amount it has the nerve to collect. - Sam Ewing

If politicians really cared about the people of this country they would attempt to extract as little as possible out of them.

Separating the State

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. - George Carlin  

The same could be said about separation of the Economy and State - too bad the framers didn't go there.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. Here is a previous post - expanded. 

A constitutional guarantee subject to future Judges assessments of its usefulness is no constitutional guarantee at all. - Justice Anthony Scalia (June 26, 2008)

It's about time somebody said this.


I find it odd, when viewed from a historical perspective, that this decision is so momentous. The framers of the Constitution saw no need to enumerate the rights of individuals, which is what the Bill of Rights did (essentially the first amendments to the Constitution). The Bill of Rights were adopted because there was, in the countryside, a fear of government in general. In all governments which preceded this one rights were granted (or taken away) by the government. The Constitution of the United States takes a wholly different perspective - individuals have rights prior to there being government, so the purpose of government is to protect those rights. The framers felt that an individual's rights could only be denied by: 1) A criminal - hence the need for a police force. 2) An invasion by another government - hence the need for an army. 3) The US government itself - which did not get any such authority from the Constitution. Well that wasn't good enough for the States so the Bill of Rights enumerated what was already taken for granted by the framers.


Let's put this in real simple language: Individuals have the right to do anything which does not harm other individuals - period. Having a gun in your house doesn't harm anyone but; using that gun to shoot down your neighbor takes away his right to life; using that gun to rob your neighbor takes away his right to property; using that gun to hold your neighbor against his will takes away his right to freedom. If you take away someone else's rights you are a criminal and should be removed from society and punished.


Note that all rights are actions. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
-The right to life is an action - living takes action.
-The right to liberty is the freedom to act according to your judgment.
-The right to the pursuit of happiness - property falls in this category.


There is no such thing as a right to a good life. If you want to make it good then go ahead. You have a right to a life, however you make it.


There is no right to happiness, just to the pursuit.


There is no right to education - though it probably is a good idea to get a good one.


There is no right to a job - though you might want to be a good employee in order to keep the one you have.


There is no right to a standard of living set by bureaucrats.

There is no right to a vacation. 


On and on and on. Note that those items which are not rights are results, not actions. This is the test - the next time someone says they have a right to such and such - ask yourself if it is a result or an action. If it is a result, then someone else's right has been trampled on to get it.


So back to the Supreme Court's Second amendment decision. I find it odd that they even felt compelled to consider it in detail. Of course you have a right to keep a gun in your house - and only the government can take that right away - and the Constitution does not give that authority.


I guess those doubters of the federal government were right - we need to be afraid.

Strong Management

Strong managers who make tough decisions to cut jobs provide the only true job security in today's world. Weak managers are the problem. Weak managers destroy jobs. - Jack Welch

In all of life, being strong and acting on your strength generally does not make you popular at the moment - it's a long term investment. 

Fourth of July

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. - Ronald Reagan

Let's celebrate the Fourth!

Choose

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. - Peter Drucker

Choose your weapon.

Wasted Gifts

Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy. Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money. - Michael Porter

Is this because the profit motive is abandoned? I think so; but how come?

May the Best Team Win!

The team with the best players wins. - Jack Welch

So it is with sports; so it is in business. But don't forget the role of the coach.