Mistaking Words For Thoughts

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts. - Samuel Johnson


Make sure you are better able to discern the difference than those you are with, no matter the intoxicant.

Multiple Truths

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' - Kahlil Gibran


Each subject may have multiple truths, though they are never contradictory. 

Educating Your Kids

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time. - Rabbinical Saying


However it is your job as parent to make sure your children are educated about what has happened  during your time.

Kindness

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. - Samuel Johnson


There is seldom a reason not to be kind to people, animals and things.

Treading

When you tread water, you lift yourself up by pushing water down. Likewise, in any social hierarchy, people unsure of their own position will try to emphasize it by maltreating those they think rank below. I've read that this is why poor whites in the United States are the group most hostile to blacks. - Paul Graham


I've always felt people put others down in order to improve their status. Mr. Graham seems to think it is to maintain their position. Perhaps he is right.

Progress Profit

Progress depends on people knowing they'll be able to profit from their ideas. - Deborah Neville


That's why socialist and communist countries make no progress.

Makin' It

The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. - Edward J. Phelps


Don't dwell on mistakes other than to minimize their impact.

Mediocre Gratitude

It's a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation. - Roberto Benigni


Don't be mediocre in anything you do.

Flawed

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt


If you consent to feel inferior only you can remedy the flaw.

Want to Enjoyment

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment. - Samuel Johnson 


Get enjoyment from satisfying your wants.

Educational Guidance

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around. - Jim Rohn


Beware; So much "education' is really disguised propaganda. Education should teach you to research, rationally integrate ideas, and think. (i.e. reading, writing and mathematics).

Searching for Happiness

The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person. I would describe this method of searching for happiness as immature. Development of character consists solely in moving toward self-sufficiency. - Quentin Crisp 


Immature? He was so much gentler with words than I'll ever be!

Idea's Worth

An idea isn't worth that much. It's the execution of the idea that has value. If you can't convince one other person that this is something to devote your life to, then it's not worth it. - Joel Spolsky


I agree with the second sentence but would ague with the rest.

Power Unbalanced

Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted. Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it. - Hugh Macleod


The easiest one to convince is the one who will most benefit from the shift of power. 

Acting on Impulse

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied. - Pearl S. Buck


Mistakes are what happens when you act on impulse.

"Get to" Work

The best work, at least for me, is the stuff you get to do. If you are really good at that, you're lucky enough to have very little of the have to stuff left. - Seth Godin


Never give up seeking "get to" work though you may have to do "have to" work in order to get to where you want to be.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say:


This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


When times are tough figure out how to make lemonade.




A few years after the USA pull-out of South Vietnam I was invited to dinner at a Vietnamese family's home for dinner. The patriarch of the family told the story of the family's history and how they had made it to American soil. They were Chinese actually who had left China after the change to communist rule. They had moved to North Vietnam and lived there until it too became communist. They then moved to South Vietnam. When the United States left and the country was under communist rule he wanted to emigrate to the the USA but he said that for each family member it cost a bar of gold (a kilogram, if I remember correctly). They were not a rich family so he started looking for something he could do which would make a lot of money in as short a period of time as possible. He noticed that since the Americans had left there was a shortage of cigarettes. There was no shortage of tobacco because it was grown locally but there was no cigarette paper supply so he learned how to make it. There was a great demand for his product and he made enough money to buy their way out of the country.


Once in America they began doing well because each family member had at least one job, the children were encouraged to do well in school and they celebrated their freedom.


That is making lemonade when handed lemons.

Love What You Do

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. - Steve Jobs 


Your first job will probably not be what you love to do but it will be a step to where you can.

Contentment With Mediocrity

Show me someone content with mediocrity and I'll show you someone destined for failure. - Johnetta Cole


Contentment means you have given up improving.

Lemonade Time

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


When times are tough figure out how to make lemonade.

Full Measure of Liberty

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other. - Carl Schurz


That is why central planning has no place in a free society.

Tough Truth

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening. - Oliver Wendell Holmes


Tough but precious.

Delightful Progress

I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. - Paul Graham


Look for the "delight" in every project you undertake.

Questioned Intelligence

No man likes to have his intelligence or good faith questioned, especially if he has doubts about it himself. - Henry B. Adams


You'll never convince someone of your perspective or sell them your product if you make them think they are stupid.

Internal Struggle

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. - Kin Hubbard 


Note all are forces from within.

Quality Jobs

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. - Steve Jobs

Buying Time

There is ultimately no substitute for cultural change. Checks and balances can only buy us time to achieve it. - Gus Van Horn


Whether company or country, I believe this to be true.