Argument or Discussion?

Argument is to find out who is right,

Discussion is to find out what is right. - Unknown

Perhaps this is why there are so many arguments and so few real discussions. In a discussion you do not defend yourself just your perspective. In an argument you try to prove the other wrong.

(Other post on Ideas)

Pound of Pluck

A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. - James A. Garfield


Considering the circumstances of his demise perhaps he should have qualified it as "good" luck.


(Other posts on Success)

No Begging

Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn. - Miguel de Cervantes


There is joy in earning. Life should be about joy, not misery.


(Other posts on Life)

Joy In Work

There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something. - Henry Ford


If you do not find joy in your work there is no amount of money which can compensate you enough.


(Other posts on Work)

Fired With Enthusiasm

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. - Vince Lombardi


Or, how to build a winning team.


(Other posts on Work)

People Create

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


Why do designers design?
Why do artists do art?
Why do entrepreneurs start businesses?
etc.


Why do people create? Because it gives life.


(Other posts on Life)

Chin Up

May I never miss a sunset or a rainbow because I am looking down. - Sara June Parker


Or an opportunity.


(Other posts on Opportunity)

Blind Ruin

The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither fine clothes, fine houses, nor fine furniture. – Benjamin Franklin


Benji, if you were a woman you wouldn't be saying things like that.


(Other posts on Women)

Worth of a Garden

A hundred objective measurements didn't sum the worth of a garden; only the delight of its users did that. Only the use made it mean something. - Lois McMaster Bujold


That it was made by a thinking rational person from the chaos of nature is what made it worth something.


(Other post on Value)

Route to Happiness

Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route. - Charles Caleb Colton 


Beware of prescriptions for happiness - the route will probably be wrong.


(Other posts on Advice)

One Picture

You know, I've but one picture on my wall

That of my Grandmother

Who I never met at all

You don't see people like her today

No hunch of shoulder

No looking away

Original Sin she didn't know

No sign of guilt or shame

Even remotely show

She has unabashed open pride
Confidence in life
She doesn't hide

Determination is in her eyes
She could do anything

That's no surprise

Cause I've but one picture on my wall

That of my Grandmother

Who I never met at all

Yet I know her better than those

Who have bent my ear

With verse and prose

I've spent a lot of time under her gaze
She's kept me going

Throughout these days

None of which were as tough I'm sure

As those she met boldly
And did endure

I can see she is ready to laugh
The joke being on her

Or on her behalf

Gaiety is there ready to appear
Waiting to burst forth
With hearty cheer

She could dance with the best I'm told

Waltz or polka,

Slow or bold

I wish I could ask the next dance
(That I could keep up 

I'd have to chance)

And at the end I'd say thank you
For more than the turn

But for all you do

For all you've done by being there

To show me the way

That I might dare

For I've but one picture on my wall

That of my Grandmother
Who I'll never meet at all


- Lyle

Human Nature

Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed. - Abraham Lincoln


Since your philosophy of life should be based on human nature it is extremely critical your analysis of human nature be correct.


(Other posts on Life)

Educator's Task

To aid life, leaving it free, however, that is the basic task of the educator. - Maria Montessori 


No matter if you are teaching an animal, a child, or an adult it is not the push or pull which teaches; it is that well placed moment of release which gives a glimpse of Liberty that all beings seek.


(Other posts on Education)

Toothpaste Once Again

There should be no yelling in the home unless there is a fire. - David Oman McKay


In the end it really doesn't matter which end of the toothpaste tube is squeezed.


(Other posts on Marriage)

Grand Image

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery


A committee cannot envision a cathedral. It can only approve or deny the contemplation. They are particularly good at the latter.


(Other posts on Imagination)

The Devil is Fine

Uninvite the devil's advocate, since the devil doesn't need one, he's doing fine. - Seth Godin


Don't let the devil crash your best ideas.


(Other posts on Ideas)

Quit?

In order to exist, every part of an organism must function; if it doesn’t, it atrophies. This applies to a man’s mind more than to any other faculty. In order actually to be alive properly, a man must use his mind constantly and productively. Every achievement is an incentive for the next achievement. What for? The creative happiness of achieving greater and more ambitious values in whatever field a man is using his mind. For a man to conclude, “I have enough, so I don’t have to think,” would be the same as deciding, “I am rich now and can get around in a wheelchair, so why use my legs?” - Ayn Rand


Add this to your retirement plan.


(Other posts on Work)

Persons & Their Merit

Contemporaries appreciate the person rather than their merit, posterity will regard the merit rather than the person. - Charles Caleb Colton


Seems backwards from the way it should be, doesn't it?


(Other posts on Life)

Coming to Your Lifetime.............

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. - Albert Einstein

Be sure and include a person of imagination on your team if you are to have future attractions.

(Other posts on Imagination)

Selling a Good Idea

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman. - David M. Ogilvy


Seldom do these qualities exist within the same person. That is why you should choose your people to compliment you, not mirror you.


(Other posts on Persuasion)

Final Post in Series: Change

There is only one you... Don't you dare change just because you're outnumbered! - Charles Swindoll


I've been trying to find an example of where change required for progress would not require change in people as well. My father told of those who opposed bathrooms in the house (indoor plumbing) when outhouses were the norm because it was not civilized to do that sort of thing in the house.


(Other posts on Change)

Change Has Its Enemies

Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator and change has its enemies. - Robert F. Kennedy

You (and the world) will never make any progress if you wait for unanimous approval.


(Other posts on Change)

Change for Progress

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. - Charles Kettering


The problem lies in how to get people to see a change as progress (not all change is progress).


(Other posts on Change)

Capacity for Change

Man has a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwelmed, the capacity is in future shock. - Alvin Toffler


For my purposes here I would paraphrase; Most men have a limited mental capacity for change.


(Other posts on Change)

Don't Get the New Idea Vaccine

The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it. - P. B. Medawar


A mind may be inclined to do so but perhaps the difference between an innovator and not is just that.


(Other posts on Ideas)

Shine on Brightly

An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly. - Edwin P. Whipple


Hopefully the epigram will cause reason to shine more brightly.


(Other posts on Reason)

Purpose and Aggression

My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose. - Bette Davis


Strive to recognize the difference between purpose and aggression.


(Other posts on Success)

My Dreams

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

- William Butler Yeats

We all enter marriage poor.

(Other posts on Marriage)

Which Comes First: Data or Theory?

I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


If you have an already observed result then he is right. You can theorize a result before you have data (or the result) though. 


(Other posts on Information)

Swindle or Solution

A proposal that requires you to ignore both the past and the future is a swindle, not a solution. - John Hayward


Or history and prediction based on faith rather than fact.


(Other posts on Honesty)

Trade Etiquette

In order to protect rights or trade, we need a way to do so, and etiquette provides us with such a means. Etiquette is a form of communication which, like language, requires both parties to understand and abide by certain conventions. You could not have morality or trade without language. And all social interactions also require additional commonly-understood protocols. - Gus Van Horn


You have every reason to expect being treated respectfully, honestly and morally even from those who have differing opinions. 


(Other posts on Respect)

Step Toward Freedom

Free people do not accept restrictions from which their government is exempt. This is one of the differences between leaders and rulers. - John Hayward


Interesting thought - putting government workers and Congressmen on Social Security as a step toward greater freedom.


(Other posts on Government)

Educational Fine Print

Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't. - Pete Seeger


Never get in such a hurry that you fail to educate yourself.


(Other posts on Education)

Guarantee of Performance

A demand for commitment without a guarantee of performance is domination, not service. - John Hayward


Most laws written by most governments fall under this statement.


(Other posts on Government)

Newborn Education

The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth. From this almost mystic affirmation there comes what may seem a strange conclusion: that education must start from birth. - Maria Montessori


And don't be fooled into thinking a newborn can't learn!


(Other posts on Education)

Plan with Attitude

Successful people rarely confuse a can-do attitude with a smart plan. But they realize that one without the other is unlikely to get you very far. - Seth Godin


One with the other will likely get far.


(Other posts on Success)

Imaginative Science

We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry. - Maria Montessori 


Remember Computer Science is indeed a science.


(Other posts on Imagination)

Force and Violence

Violence is wrong precisely because it is a species of force. Since the principle of individual rights is the principle which banishes force from human relations — let’s reestablish it. - Amit Ghate


Note that laws are enforced by threat of violence.


(Other posts on Government)

Train of Thought

Real, constructive mental power lies in the creative thought that shapes your destiny, and your hour-by-hour mental conduct produces power for change in your life. Develop a train of thought on which to ride. The nobility of your life as well as your happiness depends upon the direction in which that train of thought is going. - Laurence J. Peter


And keep that train a-rollin'......


(Other posts on Thinking)

Thinking Civilized

Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses. - Georges Bernanos


"Acting civilized"  is as much a thinking activity as it is a physical activity.


(Other posts on Thinking)

Good vs. Evil

The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil. - Maria Montessori


Instead, public schools teach tolerance, which comes from the philosophy that you should not judge.


(Other posts on Education)

The Power of Self-Respect

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. - Joan Didion 


If you are not free from the expectations of others you are a slave.


(Other posts on Respect)

Humanitarian Hypocrisy

A humanitarian is always a hypocrite. - George Orwell


...or worse. I will be doing an augmented post on this subject.


(Other posts on Honesty)

Discipline Must Come Through Liberty

Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined. - Maria Montessori


Though she was thinking about the education of children, I think that the same is worth considering about employees.


(Other posts on Management)

Walking With The Days

And in today already walks tomorrow. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge


And the shadow of the past walks with you every day.


(Other posts on Time)

Chatter Is Not Conversation

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech. - George Bernard Shaw


And never lacks companionship.


(Other posts on Words)

Opinion?

When I ask you for your opinion I'm not asking you for the right answer. I'm asking you for your opinion. - Seth Godin


Don't count on everyone to feel this way. Too often people ask for an opinion but what they really want is what they think is the right answer.


(Other posts on Words)

Men Go Mad In Herds

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. - Charles Mackay


This is why it is easier for the huckster to lead them astray than the rational to set them right.


(Other posts on Ideas)

Watch What You Say, Or Not

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence. - Charles Austin Beard


I know.


(Other posts on Government)

Hiring Criterea

It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing or Harvard. We hire a man, not his history. - Henry Ford

So much for capitalism being bigoted.

(Other posts on Prejudice)

Wind It Up, Don't Wind Down

You can't turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again. - Bonnie Prudden

Remember this when you are of an age when you start to lose your memory.

(Other posts on Time)

Lessons of History

All the lessons of history in four sentences: Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small. The bee fertilizes the flower it robs. When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. - Charles A. Beard


Charley: The bee is not a thief - it is a trader.


(Other posts on History)

50-50 Deals

There are some men who, in a fifty-fifty proposition, insist on getting the hyphen, too. - Dr. Laurence J. Peter


For that reason, among others, avoid 50-50 deals.


(Other posts on Business)

Keep Your Head Up

It is hard to look up to a leader who keeps his ear to the ground. - James H. Boren


....and not possible to see your vision of the future from there either.


(Other posts on Leadership)

The Prize

Great sex is the prize, not the substance of a good marriage. - Dr. Laura Schlessinger


Forest Gump would have been more precise had he said "Life is like a box of "Cracker Jacks."


(Other posts on Marriage)

The Times, They are a'Changin

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. - Andy Warhol


Sometimes it is not that things change, it's that your perspective changes.


(Other posts on Change)

Establish a Reputation

There are two ways of establishing a reputation, one to be praised by honest people and the other to be accused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the first one, because it will always be accompanied by the latter. - Charles Caleb Colton


......whether you want it to or not.


(Other posts on Respect)

Weakness of Superstition

When the mind has once begun to yield to the weakness of superstition, trifles impress it with the force of conviction. - Ann Radcliffe


Learn that line between superstition and a simple lack of knowledge.


(Other posts on Information)

Not For Sale

Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty. - Leo Rosten


There are a few things which cannot be bought, sold, traded, borrowed, lent, stolen or given away. List them and I think you will find they are the most important things in life.


(Other posts on Life)

Good Partners

A good horse and a good rider are only so in mutual trust. - H.M.E


Same with an employer and employee, marriage, or any other partnership.


(Other posts on Management)

100% Informed

We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. - Thomas A. Edison


But then again, Tom, we know more than anything else which is 100% of what is known.


(Other post on Information)

Getting Rid of the Squeak

The squeaking wheel doesn't always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced. - Vic Gold


Be careful how annoying your squeak is.


(Other posts on Negativity)

Pay Attention!

We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing. - Ronnie D. Laing


Hey, who wants to get bored with the same old thing? It is exciting!


(Other posts on Change)

Bureaucratic BS

Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy. - Charles Peters


Be sure your people are not acting like bureaucrats.


(Other posts on Government)

Winds of Change

Politicians are a timid lot, and their backbones are no stiffer than the wind of public opinion. - Gus Van Horn

So, if you want to change the political situation don't work on the politicians, work on changing the wind of public opinion.

(Other posts on Politicians)

Love Your Neighbor?

If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor. - Sebastien-Roch Nicolas


If your neighbor is a wretch ignore the whole concept of neighbor-love.


(Other posts on People)

Change Amid Chaos

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. - Alfred North Whitehead

Easier said than done - that is why change usually occurs amid chaos.

(Other posts on Progress)

Perspective

We see past time in a telescope and present time in a microscope. Hence the apparent enormities of the present. - Victor Hugo


Your view depends on your lens.


(Other posts on Time)

Others Mistakes

You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself. - Sam Levenson


A good reason to let people be free to make their own mistakes.


(Other posts on Mistakes)

You Ain't No Wretch

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. - Anonymous


And don't be caught singing "a wretch like me...".


(Other posts on Value)

Contagious Company

No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health. - Charles Caleb Colton


Does this explain the popularity of villainous heroes?


(Other posts on Negativity)

All or Nothing

In religion as in politics it so happens that we have less charity for those who believe half our creed, than for those who deny the whole of it. - Charles Caleb Colton


It is hard to be charitable to someone who's half of a crackpot.


(Other posts on Religion)

Game Changers

About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends. - Herbert Hoover


That's the way it is with governments - they change the rules in the middle of the game.


(Other posts on Government)

Travelers Change

If an ass goes travelling he will not come home a horse. - Thomas Fuller 


Some things never change.


(Other posts on Change)

Beauty of Mathematics

The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence. - Charles Caleb Colton


Sorry Chuck, but the study of mathematics never ends....but is full of magnificence all along the way none the less.


(Other posts on Seeing)

Do It Yourself Winning

One characteristic of winners is they always look upon themselves as a do it yourself project. - Denis Waitley


If you don't do it yourself you are not a winner.


(Other posts on Success)

Beauty Within

What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 


And the unknown.


(Other posts on Women)

Social Change

The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being. - Emma Goldman 


Oh! If were only so, Emma!


(Other posts on Change)

Moments of Victory

The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. - Martina Navratilova


Because women are process oriented (men being more goal oriented) this applies especially to the ladies.


(Other posts on Achievement)

Living Presently

To me, living in the present means being aware of your conscious choice to focus on the past, present or future - it is not necessarily having to focus on the present. - Bo Bennett


Always be aware of your conscious choice.


(Other posts on Thinking)

Precocious?

There is a difference between precocious and obnoxious. If every one else but you thinks a kid is obnoxious then you must be the parent. - Lyle


(Other posts on Manners)

The Source of Happiness

To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread. - Charles Caleb Colton


Happiness must come from within, not from outside.


(Other posts on Emotions)

Magnificent Spacecraft

The winners in life treat their body as if it were a magnificent spacecraft that gives them the finest transportation and endurance for their lives. - Denis Waitley 


I think the same could be said for your mind.


(Other posts on Success)

Super Frauds

There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them. - Charles Caleb Colton


I'm going to remember this fancy sounding excuse the next time I'm duped!


(Other posts on Mistakes)

Light Your Fire

Get excited and enthusiastic about you own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire - you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away. - Denis Waitley 


Others get excited to see excitement.


(Other posts on Motivation)

Resolution

I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy. - Og Mandino


Be sure your mountain has lots of facets


(Other posts on Achievement)

Fiscal Suicide

I have said, with respect to authorization bills, that I do not want the Congress or the country to commit fiscal suicide on the installment plan. - Everett Dirksen


Sorry Everett.


(Other posts on Government)

It's Not Just the Cards

Success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well. - Denis Waitley


To play any hand well you have to learn the rules. Remember you do not make the rules; you follow the rules.


(Other posts on Success)

Boxing Match

In the battle of existence, Talent is the punch; Tact is the clever footwork. - Wilson Mizner


Without the fancy footwork you're just a klutz throwing punches.


(Other posts on Talent)

Zombies Exist!

If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic. - Thomas Szasz


Now I'm totally confused..........Zombies are more real than God?


(Other posts on Religion)