Neurotic or Psychotic?

Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions. - Thomas Szasz


I think I would rather be psychotic.


(Other posts on Thinking)

Absurd Atrocities

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire


And don't believe they wouldn't! History is full of examples.


(Other posts on History)

The Right Size of Hammer

The best way to find the right tool for the job is to learn to be good at switching hammers. - Seth Godin


My dad used to say if a hammer didn't fix it then get a bigger hammer. I don't believe he was being literal.


(Other posts on Problems)

Offensive Duty

A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation. - Bertrand Russell


In fact it tends to really piss people off!


(Other posts on People)

Troubled Mind

A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. - Arthur Golden


Don't trouble your mind with doubt.


(Other posts on Success)

Make Room for Creative Thoughts

The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it. - Dee Hock


A well functioning mind abhors a vacuum.


(Other posts on Ideas)

Exchanging Gifts

What a pity human beings can't exchange problems. Everyone knows exactly how to solve the other fellow's. – Olin Miller 


An interesting concept but would it be in the true sense of Christmas giving?


(Other posts on Christmas)

True Gift Giving

True giving is when you find an individual or a family that is not able to give back to you. - Rev. Runney Patterson Sr.


This is what we have grown up with. This is the altruistic ideal stated succinctly. To give a gift to ones equal, and they to you, is only a trade - not true giving. Lord knows trade is sinful because it presupposes profit which is downright evil because it assumes selfishness. In order to practice true giving this season you need to find an individual or family which has nothing to give back to you. That leaves out your family or spouse - one would assume even though they may lack financial means they probably have other values to give in return. Your co-workers could probably benefit you in some way so scratch them off of your list. Business associates (customers, suppliers, etc.) are likewise eliminated. Your friends are off the list because since they are friends they may very well help you out if you needed them. The same could probably be said of your neighbors even if you don't know them - they are potential friends at a minimum. Your minister should be eliminated because he is indeed the one who freely gives you the moral imperative you are acting on. That brings into question the church - but we probably shouldn't go there; besides they are just the conduit to the really deserving, not the end itself (right?). Charities fall in the same category. Your dog and cat!.....no, they return love and obedience.


This is getting tough.....Let's see if we can define who would be a worthy recipient of our largess:
This individual must have nothing of value which they might relinquish in return for your gift.
This individual must have no ability to work since they might just mow your lawn as an act of appreciation for your gift.
This individual must have no sense of humor or story telling ability which might enhance your life.
This individual must have no exceptional knowledge which might be of value to you.


So far all I have been able to come up with is a low level government worker.....but I'll keep looking and let you know.


(Since you are probably of value I didn't get you a gift - trying to stay with the true sense of the season, you know.)

Know When to Hold 'em and When to Fold 'em

You must stick to your conviction, but be ready to abandon your assumptions. - Denis Waitley


Always check your premises.


(Other posts on Truth)

Moral Distinctions

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. - Thomas Szasz


A society without moral distinctions is amoral at best; immoral at worst.


(Other posts on Morals)

Fool-ish

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do. - Dale Carnegie


And most that criticize, condemn and complain are fools.


(Other posts on Criticism)

Hurling Insults

A gentleman of Miss Manners's acquaintance was once subjected to a barrage of unwarranted insults. Outraged on his behalf, she asked why he did not trouble to defend himself. His reply (and please forgive the inelegance for the sake of vividness) was: "If someone is throwing up on you, you get out of the way. You do not stay around to examine what is coming up." There is nothing you can say to people who, whatever they may think, see fit to hurl crude insults at you. - Miss Manners

One can fight fire with fire and risk getting burned or you can deprive the fire of air.

(Other posts on Manners)

Learn Like a Kid

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily. - Thomas Szasz 


There is a place for masochism after all!


(Other posts on Learning)

Reflections

Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


And it is easy to tell which ones get the best care.


(Other posts on Marriage)

Augmented Post

There are many reasons to dance, but only one purpose. - Lyle


First some clarifications: I am referring to ballroom style of dancing where this is a man and a woman moving together in a coordinated manner. Also this statement is directed primarily to the gentleman.


People fail to differentiate between the reasons for attempting an endeavor and the purpose of the endeavor. They may very well be very different things and perhaps it is best if they are very different. Too often the reasons are all which exist and the purpose goes undefined. This may very well doom the project from the very start. In the dance example "reasons to dance" might include; you enjoy dancing; you want to meet a lady; you may want to get to know a lady better. On the other hand the "purpose" of the dance is to make the lady look good. To fail to define this purpose dooms the dance. The gentleman may show off, but few if any are impressed - especially the lady of the dance. On the other hand if the purpose is fulfilled the dance will be viewed by all to be a great success. 


Before undertaking a project take a look at the reasons for attempting it but don't fail to define a purpose; then set out to fulfill that purpose.

Mind Your Own Improvement

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


And remember: Criticizing others in no way improves your status.


(Other posts on Criticism)

Serenity

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is. - Thomas Szasz


Where does enthusiasm fall in all this?


(Other posts on Pleasure)

Think On This

There are many reasons to dance, but only one purpose. -Lyle

Getting Better

First you have to fail, then you can improve. - Seth Godin


You can't get better at something you have never done.


(Other posts on Progress)

Biting the Hand That Feeds You

The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.- Thomas Szasz


Who's hand might that be?


(Other posts on Liberty)

Rockin' The Boat

Men are afraid to rock the boat in which they hope to drift safely through life's currents, when, actually, the boat is stuck on a sandbar. They would be better off to rock the boat and try to shake it loose. - Thomas Szasz


If you are drifting you are not navigating.


(Other posts on Progress)

Never Become Obsolete

During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think. - Bernard Baruch


And as long as the individual has these they will never be without a job.


(Other posts on Work)

You Can't Buy Success

Anyone who wants to sell you overnight success or wealth is not interested in your success; they are interested in your money. - Bo Bennett


Buyer beware.


(Other posts on Success)

Escaping a Disagreeable Situation

To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence. - Friedrich Nietzsche


This explains why people refuse to use the "Help" button.


(Other posts on Problems)

Management of Great Qualities

It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld 


Perhaps there should be a special university for celebrity stars and sports figures.......


(Other posts on Education)

Learn From Experience

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams


Example: History, if taught at all, is not taught well.


(Other posts on History)

Two Educations

There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. - John Adams


Teachers are good for the former but parents are required for the latter.


(Other posts on Education)

Study and Observe

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. - Marilyn vos Savant

If you are not studying, observe.


(Other posts on Learning)

The American Culture

A wise man looks upon men as he does on horses; all their caparisons of title, wealth, and place, he considers as harness. – Richard Cecil


Thank your forefathers for not harnessing you with title, wealth and place. You are free to seek your fortune and enjoy it with others being none the wiser.


(Other posts on Money)

Be Wiser Tomorrow

He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today. – Tryon Edwards


Please show me the errors in my thinking - but show me those errors with reason and logic.


(Other post on Mistakes)

Not Grace; Thanks

Today we set aside time to thank those around us, and who have gone before us, for the luxuries we so easily take for granted. Thanks to the men who tamed fire and the wheel and those firemen and policemen who today keep them from returning to their wild state. Thanks to the men of the mind who envisioned how men could best live together in peace. To the Washingtons and Jeffersons and Franklins who risked their lives so we may be free to create and hold the elements of prosperity and pass them on to those who go after us. Thanks to those whose names we do not even know who have protected us from those who would do us harm. Thanks to all those whose shoulders we stand on; who form the pavement of the road from the primordial ooze to the stars.

Progress is Natural

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
  - Samuel Butler


Politicians understand this best.


(Other posts on Progress)

Know Your Directions

The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. - O. W. Holmes


That is where all the conflict comes from; which direction to go.


(Other posts on Progress)

Unseen Effort

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. - Abigail Adams


Not only is learning not attained by chance, it is not attained by birth. When you meet a very learned person stand in awe of the unseen effort involved.


(Other posts on Learning)

Restricted Freedom

Absolute liberty is absence of restraint; responsibility is restraint; therefore, the ideally free individual is responsible to himself. - Henry B. Adams


Hate to see a man of letters make such a mistake. Absolute Liberty is absence of all governmental control. Freedom is seldom if ever absolute. I am free to run around to bars with loose women but I restrain that freedom because it is not right. Words do make a difference.


(Other posts on Liberty)

Criticism vs. Praise

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld


Don't let others use this against you.


(Other posts on Criticism)

No X, No Y

No pressure, no diamonds. - Thomas Carlyle 


What a much better way than saying "No pain, no gain."


(Other posts on Words)

Graceful Wrinkles

When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age. - Victor Hugo


You will also find wisdom where grace is joined with wrinkles.


(Other posts on Wisdom)

BIG Government

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. - Gerald Ford.

If and when we get socialized medicine it will be big enough to take everything you have, even your life.

(Other posts on Government)

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say.

I recently watched a "reality" series called The Colony. The setting was LA after a deadly virus had wiped out most of the population. The story was of 10 survivors who end up in a giant warehouse and scrap yard. Of course there are no utilities; no water; no electricity; no working sewers, etc. They are left on their own to survive however they can with what they've got. Occasionally they would be "attacked" by roving bands of bad-guys so security was one of their priorities. There first priority was water of course. Their only source was from the LA "river" which was pretty bad. They built a filter system and boiled the water to sterilize it. This worked well until they ran out of propane for boiling. In the meantime they had rigged up some solar cells which charged a bank of car batteries so they had plenty of electricity.One of the guys remembered that water could be sterilized with ozone so he built a Tesla coil to create a spark and then collected the ozone generated and bubbled it through the water. The only problem they had then was getting water from the river back to their warehouse without being attacked by the wandering gangs.

Occasionally, good people would come by looking for handouts. This caused dissension among the members of the colony. Some insisted that it was their moral responsibility to give these unfortunates water. Others thought that if you gave a few water, pretty soon you would be overwhelmed, and perhaps overrun, by the needy. Not one of the cast came up with the solution which is moral and will lead to peace - it has been used since the beginning of mankind*. It is trade. In a situation like the Colony one could say "Bring me 10 gallons of river water and I will trade you for one gallon of clean water." The needy can provide a valuable part - security for the Colony,  in exchange for clean water. Water could be traded for food, or fuel, or weapons, or even protection from bad guys. There is no moral dilemma as long as both parties are agreeable to the trade. The traders are free to put whatever conditions they think are needed on the trade. They could say "If you steal the river water from someone then we will no longer trade with you."  Much more effective than preaching!

Today, common thought about trade is somewhat convoluted. On the one hand it is considered somehow dirty. It is only dirty if it is not free trade. On the other hand it is somehow considered evil to put conditions on your trade. You must treat everybody equally - no matter how immoral they might be. I consider this to be evil because it is no longer free trade.

Free trade is the great peace keeper between people, tribes, cultures and nations.

* Perhaps the ability to trade defines mankind. A tiger will never offer you a trade - it will either kill you or let you go.

Talented

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


Be sure one of your talents is to recognize mediocrity.


(Other posts on Talent)

Beautiful and Thoughtful - Wow

The reason that the all-American boy prefers beauty to brains is that he can see better than he can think. - Farrah Fawcett


Need a better reason to teach your kids to think?


(Other posts on Thinking)

Go Where There Are No Signposts

There are no signposts in the sky to show a man has passed that way before. There are no channels marked. The flier breaks each second into new uncharted seas. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh


There is a difference between being a pilgrim and a pioneer.


(Other posts on Achievement)

Concentrated Energy

Goals provide the energy source that powers our lives. One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to focus it. That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy. - Denis Waitley


Choose your goals wisely but choose them. You can always change them later.


(Other posts on Goals)

Hitting Your Mark

It is not enough to aim; you must hit. - Italian Proverb


Do not try to do good - do good.
Do not try to be honest - be honest.
Do not try to be a good spouse - be a good spouse.
Do not try to not rob banks - just don't rob banks!
- You are in charge of your actions.

Human Limitations

There is no limit to human beings ability to harness energy in nature for its' own purpose. What there is a limit to is what man can do when bound by the shackles of government. The limitation is not mans' mind it's mans' government not performing its' proper function. - Alex Epstein


There is no limit to what good man can do given liberty.


(Other posts on Liberty)

Talking to Dolphins

It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English -- up to fifty words used in correct context -- no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese. - Carl Sagan

It just means Dolphins are not smart enough to teach. If anything, this tells us that in order to teach you need greater intelligence than to learn. Never let anyone convince you animals are better than humans.

(Other posts on Learning)

Priority Management

Don't be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal become a mini goal in itself. - Denis Waitley


This is an excellent approach when managing employees.


(Other posts on Management)

A Little Here; A Little There

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money. - Everett Dirksen


Fast forward to the reign of Obama - just replace "billion" with "trillion" (that's only a thousand billion).


(Other posts on Money)

What to Do?

Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. - Howard Thurman


What great advice for those seeking a career!


(Other posts on Work)

Security Now

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was, nor forward to what it might be, but living in the present and accepting it as it is now. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh


Remember that both are responsible for making the relationship what it is now and that each has different needs.


(Other posts on Marriage)

Passion or Pension?

Chase your passion, not your pension. - Denis Waitley


Don't ignore your pension either.


(Other posts on Life)

Rugged and Fragile Friendships

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh 


Think about this relative to male/female relationships. Obviously some tolerance is in order on both sides.


(Other posts on Marriage)

Sometimes Thank-You is Not Enough

One can never pay in gratitude: one can only pay 'in kind' somewhere else in life. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh 


That's why money was invented.


(Other posts on Gratitude)

Self Sacrafice Contradicts Capitalism

You cannot advocate the politics of self interest (which is what capitalism is) with the ethics of self sacrifice. - Craig Biddle


It is absolutely essential you understand what he is saying.


(Other posts on Thinking)

Start Your Do-It-Yourself Project Early

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project. - Napoleon Hill


Educate your kids better than that.


(Other posts on Life)

So You Want a Faster Horse......

If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse. - Henry Ford


Don't give your customers what they think they want, give them what you know they won't be able to live without.


(Other posts on Customers)

Play or Be Played

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. - Ralph Charell


The chess player can fail or win. The chess piece can do neither.


(Other posts on Achievement)

Your Plan

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire. - Napoleon Hill


It is alway better to deal with concrete reality than the ethereal.


(Other posts on Business)

Saying What You Thought

Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn't amount to much. - Peter Ustinov


If you are going to say what you think be sure you have thought about it.


(Other posts about Thinking)

Practical Politics

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - H. L. Mencken


Yup, that's practical politics. What we need is principled politics.


(Other posts on Government)

Coming Through!

The world has the habit of making room for the man whose actions show that he knows where he is going. - Napoleon Hill 


Is that why the huckster's bluff is seldom called?


(Other posts on Achievement)

Victory or Defeat

Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting. - Napoleon Hill

Defeat requires submission.

(Other posts on Losing)

Honor

Honor is self-esteem made visible in action. - Ayn Rand


I ran across this quote the other day and it started me thinking. First to define Honor in dictionary terms:

Dignity. Reputation. Dignified respect of character springing from probity (integrity, honesty),  principle, or moral rectitude (moral uprightness). 

It seems to me we don't use the concept or the word much these days. When was the last time you heard a politician use the word about themselves or a colleague? If they did I think they would be judged as "impractical" or "naive." I myself have been told many times "Oh, come on be practical" when trying to argue a point on moral grounds. The implication is we cannot know what is moral or not so we judge whether to do something on its practicability. So let's see where that takes us if we assume Miss Rand is correct.

If honor is self-esteem in action would you not assume that not acting honorably would damage your self-esteem? Note that I am using the word "self-esteem" in the "self-respect" sense not in the sense it is sometimes used where it refers to an unwarranted or undeserved self image. Isn't any damage done to your self-respect a slippery slope to personal disaster? Think about this the next time you decide to do something because it is the "practical" thing to do. Perhaps you should consider if it is the honorable thing to do.

New Ideas

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. - Henry David Thoreau


Pretty, unless you are writing about new ideas. Poor ol' Henry wasn't much into new ideas.


(Other posts on Writing)

Freedom's Importance

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Thank you, Ralph, for reminding us how important freedom is; we stand on the precipice of losing a bunch of it.


(Other posts on Freedom)

Zoom, Zoom

Cars are not for showing how far you've come, but for taking you where you want to go. - Allstate Commercial


Having a nice car (or fancy office) will not make you successful. Have them after you are.


(Other posts on Success)

Keeping Cool

I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum. - Frances Willard


Friction converts energy into heat.


(Other posts on Negativity)

Say what?

If atheism is a religion then not collecting stamps is a hobby. - Amy Alkon


If healthcare is a right then not wanting healthcare is also a right. So much for Universal coverage.
(Check your premises)


(Other posts o Logic)

Climb a Mountain or...?

Why do writers write? Because it isn't there. - Thomas Berger


The difference between creating and conquering. 

Successful Relationships

The formula for achieving a successful relationship is simple: you should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster. - Quentin Crisp


No matter what, remain calm.


(Other posts on Adversity)

Take a Walk

If you don't like the way someone is acting, understand you can't change his behavior, you can only change his circumstances. - Seth Godin


...or your circumstances. Look somewhere else and forget them.


(Other posts on Change)

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say, even if I don't have a quote to bounce it off of.

There is a small (or perhaps minuscule) effort to characterize the current debate over the need for universal health care as the attempt to institute physician slavery. This is a rather unique way of putting it but I think it comes off wrong unless what is being said is understood from a very basic level. I'd like to provide that understanding.

First we need for you to understand that health care is not a right. If you understand then skip this part.

Is Health Care a Right?: No, it most definitely is not. Like food and shelter it is a necessity, but not a right. Please do not confuse the two. To adopt the position that these are rights would mean that some other individual would have to give up their individual rights in order to provide them. You have then violated their true rightful rights. If you declare food to be a right then you just trampled the farmer's rights to do as he (or she) sees fit with their crop. If you tell the farmer, you must provide these crops to the less fortunate then you have just made him (or her) a slave. You are telling them what they have to do at the point of a gun. Now this doesn't mean that the less fortunate individual is forced into starvation. They are welcome to get a job and pay the farmer for the food. They are welcome to start a business; make a profit; spend their profit to feed their family. They are welcome to go to any number of private charities which provide food (and counseling). They can go to family or friends for assistance. If they have no family or friends then they are welcome to change their ways. The alternative is to declare food as a right, or as in the the USA, an almost right, which will lead to the downside you see everywhere here; poverty leads to obesity.

So if health care isn't really a right but we treat it as such what happens? Anytime you declare something a right that isn't then what you are doing is violating someone else's rights (legitimate rights). If you make healthcare a right then you must demand from doctors service which they perhaps would not offer otherwise.Or, you may prevent a doctor from providing a service he normally would provide.

Making healthcare a right will also necessitate compensating all doctors the same for a given service. Does it make sense to pay the best the same as the worst? So much for rewarding excellence.

But, back to the term Physician Slavery. Slavery is a loss of Liberty.  Liberty is being free of governmental restriction. Universal healthcare means loss of Liberty for doctors. The healthcare bills before Congress can all be described as Physician Slavery bills. Perhaps using this terminology will get the discussion back to where it belongs - to a discussion of morality and principles.

The Bard Speaks the Truth

This above all: to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day; Thou canst not then be false to any man. - William Shakespeare


I've heard the first part a million times but never the last part. How come?


(Other posts on Honesty)

Living in Generalities

We think in generalities, but we live in detail. - Alfred North Whitehead


Most of us live in detail - those that live in generalities are regarded as the artsy type.


(Other posts on Art)

Pragmatism

Bragging you are a pragmatist is the same as bragging you are unprincipled. - Lyle


(Other posts on Morals)

Forest or Trees

Some folks can't see the forest for the trees. Other folks can't see the trees for the forest. - Lyle


They that can see the big picture as well as examine the minutia deserve to be the boss.


(Other posts on Management)

Irritating Aren't They

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. - Sir Winston Churchill


We've all seen 'em and been irritated by 'em.


(Other posts on Change)

Alliance With Evil

It is a power stronger than will. Could a stone escape from the laws of gravity? Impossible. Impossible, for evil to form an alliance with good. - Isidore Ducasse Lautreamont


Even the smallest part of evil is evil.


(Other posts on Morals)

Credulous About Credit?

A creditor is worse than a slave-owner; for the master owns only your person, but a creditor owns your dignity, and can command it. - Victor Hugo


Throw away your credit card. Save, then spend - spending to save doesn't make sense.


(Other posts on Money)

Beautiful Work

A belief in work ought to be a thing of beauty. - Malclom Gladwell (in his book Outliers)


This is not the normal time for me to do an expanded post but this simple quote struck me so hard I have to respond at length. 


He says "belief in work", rather than simply saying "work" (with the implication that work is good). What he is saying is that the individual should see work as a thing of beauty and that the observer of those who work as creating and performing meaningful work are creating a thing of beauty. I had a physics professor in college who told me once "There are no lousy jobs, just lousy people who complain about their jobs." He understood. My father told me often "If you want a job that will last forever get a job as a janitor because people will always be dirty and will need to be cleaned up after." He said this without the slightest hint that Janitor was at all a demeaning job. He understood. 


The work you do today may not reward you to your satisfaction. You may want a better paying job; a more rewarding job; but that does not mean the work you do today should not be admired. It may not be the job for you, but that has no relation to the value or beauty of the work the job entails. It should not, under any circumstances, cause you to not think of work as a thing of beauty.

Opportunity and Danger

The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity. - Winston Churchill


The well balanced weigh the opportunity and danger.


(Other posts on Opportunity)

Height and Depth

The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions. - William F. Scolavino


Seth Godin calls it getting through the dip.


(Other posts on Achievement)

Quest Quotient

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. - Eugene S. Wilson

Remember that when you go to hire someone.

(Other quotes on Management)

Demanding Freedom

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. - Martin Luther King, Jr.


Those who would take your freedom will never play Mr. Nice Guy.


(Other Posts on Freedom)

Step Up to the Plate

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. - Sydney Smith 


We need all of your talent - step up.


(Other posts on Talent) 

Weigh Your Pack

Every horse thinks its own pack heaviest. - Thomas Fuller 


Don't guess at the weight of your pack.


(Other posts on Adversity) 

Scaredy Cats

Scalded cats fear even cold water. - Thomas Fuller 


Don't count on folks ignoring your past mistakes.


(Other posts on Mistakes) 

Time in One's Life

In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one's life. - Marcel Proust 

Living in the moment leaves no time for reflection or planning.

(Other posts on Time) 

Corrupt Means

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. - Georges Bernanos 


Machiavellian thinking is lazy thinking.


(Other posts on Government) 

Bad Alternatives

Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate. - Margaret Mead 


Create a situation where the alternative to good behavior is undesirable and people will choose the good.


(Other posts on Persuasion) 

Imortallity

Live forever or die in the attempt. - Joseph Heller 


What a way to go!


(Other posts on Life) 

Ideally Beautiful

The ideal and the beautiful are identical; the ideal corresponds to the idea, and beauty to form; hence idea and substance are cognate. - Victor Hugo 


So it is with art.


(Other posts on Art)