Self-Esteem

Most people with low self-esteem have earned it. - Anon

...and act like they are the best.

Ladies and Gentlemen

A lady is a woman who makes it easy for a man to be a gentleman. - American Proverb

A gentleman is a man who makes it easy for a woman to be a lady.

Evil Knows No Distance

State or local tyranny is no better than Federal tyranny. Local evil is just as evil as distant evil. - Lyle

It is just as important to vote on local issues as national ones.

Targeted

When giant bureaucracies set targets for others to reach, they intend not so much to procure improvement as to impose control. - Theodore Dalrymple

An they make themselves look compassionate while butting into other people's business.

Unwise Desires

A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom. - Robert Heinlein

Bureaucracies are established to butt into other people's business.

Refusing Awards

To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than normal. - Peter Ustinov

And their point is generally lame.

Big Difference

There's a big difference between pleasure and happiness. - Lyle

Happiness is from within, pleasure is from outside.

If The Handle Fits

Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Never trust a liar in any way.

Revolution, Not Evolution

Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. - James Russell Lowel

Or making the existing thing awesome.

Flunking

The teacher pretended that algebra was a perfectly natural affair, to be taken for granted, whereas I didn't even know what numbers were. Mathematics classes became sheer terror and torture to me. I was so intimidated by my incomprehension that I did not dare to ask any questions. - Carl Jung

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. - Robert Heinlein

Lift Anchor

A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for. - John A. Shedd

The outcome of your journey depends on the one at the helm.

Reformation

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who would profit by the old order, only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new. - Machiavelli

Any time you want to institute change, spend more effort on the people affected than you did on the details of the change.

Scandalous Superiority

Scandal is great entertainment because it allows people to feel contempt, a moral emotion that gives feeling of moral superiority while asking nothing in return. - Johnathan Haidt

And scandal has become an industry where if it doesn't exist, it's invented.

Creation

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy. - Margaret Thatcher

It is easier to start from scratch than to change what is in place.

There's A Rhino In The Room

If a rhinoceros were to enter this restaurant now, there is no denying he would have great power here. But I would be the first to rise and assure him that he had no authority whatever. - G. K. Chesterton

The IRS has the power because you give them the authority.

If You Are A Dog

If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail. - Fran Lebowitz

Not only be true to your nature but be true to others nature as well.

When You're Gone

The only thing you take with you when you're gone is what you leave behind. - John Alston

And he's not talking about leaving behind a worn-out couch.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say:

Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Self-sacrifice is not a duty. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

For some act to be a "duty" it must be something which you are obligated to do. You are obligated to not harm other people, or take their property (steal), or otherwise abuse them. These are duties.

You have no duty to marry, join the military, go to church, work for nothing, or anything else. You may choose to do these things because they benefit your life but they certainly are not obligations.

Self-sacrifice is the cornerstone of biblical ethics. According to the Bible it is a "duty" to sacrifice yourself to others. It may be this is the the core reason we have continuously lost Liberty in this country. As soon as you accept self-sacrifice as a duty then you have allowed others to determine what you are required to do. If those making the decision are part of your government, you (and your fellow countrymen) have lost some of your Liberty. If that chunk of Liberty is too large folks will object to the loss. As of yet though, they have not blamed the core responsibility for the attempted action against individual liberty - the idea that self-sacrifice is a duty.

Duties

Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Self-sacrifice is not a duty. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Loss of Liberty

I see people accepting incremental loss of liberty without protest. This is death by a thousand cuts. Loss of liberty for your neighbor cuts you as well. - Lyle

Wherever

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - Earl Mac Rauch

If you have issues you might as well face them here and now; they're not going away.

Smooth Heart

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent - that is to triumph over old age. - Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Keep your heart polished.

Universal Language

There is a language in the world that everyone understands. The language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose and as a search for something believed in and desired. - Paulo Coelho

Market globally if you've got a good enough product.

Commendations

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools. - Sir Richard Steele

Like the advice but love the language.

Actions Mean Something

Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment — it is a result. - Robert Green Ingersoll


Perhaps humanity's Third Law: For every action there is an outcome.

Future Enlarged

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. - Paul Boese


....especially for the forgiver.

Paltry Perfection

The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake - you can't learn anything from being perfect - Adam Osborne


You can only learn if your attempt was sincere.

Unsatisfactory Idleness

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it. - Margaret Thatcher


Idleness does not bring satisfaction.

Adversity Breaks

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. - William Arthur Ward


And the choice is theirs.