Illustrative Anecdotes

The power of illustrative anecdotes often lies not in how well they present reality, but in how well they reflect the core beliefs of their audience. - David P. Mikkelson 


Depending on the audience, it may be more the hopes and dreams.


(Other posts on Persuasion) 

Exceptional Cases

General principles should not be based on exceptional cases. - Robert J. Sawyer 


The trap in inductive logic.

(Other posts on Logic) 

Stand up and Lead

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. - Thomas J. Watson  


You can't lead sitting down.


(Other posts on Leadership) 

The Eagle, Ben Franklin, and the Turkey

Franklin’s Letter to His Daughter (excerpt)

“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

“With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .

“I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

The Future

People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better. - Ray Bradbury 


To change the future people have to change their thinking; that is the problem.


(Other posts on Thinking) 

The Way to Succeed

The way to succeed is to double your error rate. - Thomas J. Watson 


One learns by doing not fretting.


(Other posts on Success) 

Programmers

Computer programmers tend to write programs for programmers. They should first get a job managing people where they can learn to deal with people who are dyslexic, or color blind, or dogmatic, or contrary, or resistant to change, or any of the other variations of the human personality. People use computers; not the other way around. - Lyle


(Other posts on Computers)

Knowledge Value

Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns. - John Maurice Clark 


Maintain your worth - educate yourself.


(Other posts on Learning) 

Real Security

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. - Henry Ford 


Having those things will probably make you as well.


(Other posts on Money) 

Content as Enemy

Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content. - Paul Valery 


The same could be said for blogs, e-books, You Tube videos and movies - just the content part though.


(Other posts on Achievement) 

Stolen Liberty

They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that dislike it, heresy; and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion. - Thomas Hobbes 


If those in authority find some opinions dangerous they have already stolen your Liberty.


(Other posts on Liberty) 

Animal Rights and Wrongs

Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog. Nobody ever saw one animal by its gestures and natural cries signify to another, this is mine, that yours; I am willing to give this for that. - Adam Smith 


The next time someone assumes that animals should have the same rights as a human - think of this.


(Other posts on Rights) 

Planning for Posterity

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. - Thomas Paine 


Our Constitution was written with this perspective though our current bureaucracy assumes the opposite.


(Other posts on the Constitution) 

Thunderous Applause

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause. - George Lucas 


Beware of thunderous applause because it is surely based on emotion rather than sound judgment. But, by then it is too late.


(Other posts on Liberty) 

When to Teach

Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld 


Mediocre minds may need education prior to presentation - excellent minds probably will have questions.


(Other posts on Learning) 

Lovely Balance

If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.- Richard Hamming 


He may have been talking about a scientific investigation but the same applies for a business plan or a relationship.

Rejecting Acceptance

Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it. - Kathleen Casey Theisen


There are those who do not understand this - they reject in order to maintain their perceived self esteem.


(More posts on Superiority) 

Imaginary Evils

Imaginary evils are incurable. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 


And people who see 'em are incorrigible.


(Other posts on Fear) 

Grave Wisdom

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave. - Sydney Smith 


Life should be fun.


(Other posts on Life) 

What is Wisdom?

In youth we learn; in age we understand. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 

Wisdom is understanding what has been learned.

(Other posts on Wisdom) 

Daily Learning

We learn something every day, and lots of times it's that what we learned the day before was wrong. - Bill Vaughan 


Oh oh, the old farts' secret is out.


(Other posts on Learning) 

Don't Put Garbage In

Beware of the "Black Swan" fallacy. Deductive logic is tautological; there is no way to get a new truth out of it, and it manipulates false statements as readily as true ones. If you fail to remember this, it can trip you - with perfect logic. The designers of the earliest computers called this the "Gigo Law." i.e., "Garbage in, garbage out." Inductive logic is much more difficult - but can produce new truths. - Robert Heinlein 


For everyday living this is like picking the nits off a gnats nuts but for life you aught to know what he is talking about. (By the way - he's got it wrong.)


(Other posts on Logic) 

Reject Objections

An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information. - Bo Bennet



At least it should be taken that way.


(Other posts on Persuasion) 

Unusual Risk

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. - Jim Rohn 


No pain, no gain.


(Other posts on Achievement) 

Redistribution of Honesty

Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne. - Robert Green Ingersoll 


Consider the implications of this in the redistributing of wealth by the government.


(Other posts on Government) 

Voting Results

 We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. - Aesop

 Very often the majority are those who hope to be the recipient of the spoils.


(Other posts on Politicians)

Trying On Faces

Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find his own. - Logan Pearsall Smith 


(This does not apply if they are running for office.)


(Other posts on Politicians) 

No Statues

Pay no attention to what the critics say... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic! - Jean Sibelius 


Why has putting up statues of great people gone out of style?


(Other posts on Art) 

Taken Money

Remember that government doesn't earn one single dollar it spends. In order for you to get money from the government, that money must first be taken from somebody else. - Jesse Ventura 


Remember, especially when you vote. Remember as well that the dollar may be coming from you some day.


(Other posts on Government) 

Incremental Loss

What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man. - Robert Green Ingersoll 

My greatest fear is that through the incremental loss of liberty mankind will end up living in a blurred, gasping, depressed state without fulfillment or joy. Individuals need to know the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

(Other posts on Liberty)