Updated 05/05/2011
What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now. Buddha
What is a rebel? A man who says no. Albert Camus
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. to change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller
Dare to be naïve. Buckminster Fuller
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Theodore Roosevelt
If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present. If you are me, you are living in a van down by the river. Unknown
You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. John Wooden
I don’t think there’s any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings; I don’t know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement. Christopher Hitchens
Life is just a card game. You have no control over the cards you are dealt, but it is you who plays the hand. Me and my brother
The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
We tell our children they’re trapped like rats on a doomed, bankrupt, gangster-haunted planet with dwindling resources, with nothing to look forward to but rising sea levels and imminent mass extinctions, then raise a disapproving eyebrow when, in response, they dress in black, cut themselves with razors, starve themselves, gorge themselves, or kill one another. Grant Morrison, Supergod
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?’ Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand. Kurt Vonnegut, in Cat’s Cradle
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. Conan O’Brien
Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. Aristotle
Life is measured not in time spent but in heartbeats lived. unknown
It is a decisive moment for civilization when man lays aside his arrows and devotes himself to plucking bowstrings for music. He can be very vulnerable at that point, as David discovered, in the Book of Kings, when he found himself suddenly the target of a tossed spear. But this very vulnerability is a precondition to all art, which reposes in fragile guitars rather than swords. And thus the history of the guitar is essentially the story of some of man’s best moments. Frederic V. Grunfeld
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows. Winston Smith, 1984
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” Unknown
Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for. Bob Marley
If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor. Joseph Campbell
The established order has too many self-protecting economic entities, and not enough people who yet understand what it takes to change. Bill Clinton
I think in order to do one or two big things, you have to know many little things. I think it’s also important in a complex time with a lot of dynamism to be able to relate to all different kinds of people, because, in the end, most political power depends more on persuasion rather than coercion. And then I think you have to be able to reconcile the complexities and order them in a pattern. For a lot of people who just follow the evening news or read the morning paper, it’s like the political equivalent of chaos theory in physics. But your job, if you’re a leader, is to take superficially random events and organize them into patterns that tell you what you should do to maximize an opportunity or head off the problem. Being decisive in the face of complexity and ambiguity is important. Being able to make a call, to decide to act, and then figuring out how to act to support that decision. Yes, be curious; yes, appreciate the complexity and ambiguity; but then organize into patterns and decide what you’re going to do and execute. I think that’s extremely important. Bill Clinton
People who don’t care about anything will never understand people who do. Angel
All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you. Gandalf (thanks Dante)
He does not possess Wealth, it possesses him. Benjamin Franklin
Read widely, read deeply, read tomes you wouldn’t necessarily pick up. It’s the only way to stay above the fray. Garret P. Vreeland 2004
After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser. Benjamin Franklin
No better relation than a prudent & faithful Friend. Benjamin Franklin
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power. Benjamin Franklin
Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones. Benjamin Franklin
Love, and be lov’d. Benjamin Franklin
If you want to be forgiven, you have to extend forgiveness, even to people who aren’t smart enough to ask for it. Bill Clinton 2004
Nobody on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office’. Paul Tsongas
We will either find a way, or make one. Hannibal in response to the claimed impossibility of crossing the Alps with elephants.
Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood, and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. F. Scott Fitzgerald
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Gandhi
A vision without a task is but a dream, a task without a vision is drudgery, a vision and a task is the hope of the world. a church in Sussex, England, 1730
Once you believe you have the absolute truth, then it’s not possible for everyone to count or for everyone to have a role…There is a truth, life is a search for it, religion is a pathway to it, but we’re all imperfect and nobody has it. President Clinton – 2003
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. William Shakespeare
There are only two problems in life: (1) you know what you want, and you don’t know how to get it; and/or (2) you don’t know what you want. Steven Snyder
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. Aristotle
Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
An old young man, will be a young old man. Benjamin Franklin
He that sows thorns, should not go barefoot. Benjamin Franklin
Many have quarrel’d about Religion, that never practis’d it. Benjamin Franklin
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
Only the educated are free. Epictetus
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. Franklin D. Roosevelt
He who chases around after many rabbits ends hungry. Okinawan Proverb
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Samuel Johnson
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. Japanese Proverb
To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill. Sun Tsu – The Art of War
Nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice. Thomas Paine
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Stephen Covey
Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand. Confucius
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln
Management is nothing more than motivating other people. Lee Iacocca
I am an idiot. That has profoundly affected the way I code. Everything must be simple enough for a child to understand, and even then I struggle. Being an idiot has forced me to refactor mercilessly. If I don’t, there’s no chance of me understanding my code. And if I don’t understand my code, there’s no chance of me getting it to work.
I’ve seen people who can solve complex problems, and I admire them. Alas, I’m not one of them. So whenever I have to solve a complex problem, I make it simple first.
If I can’t make a problem simple, it’s usually because someone else insists that it remain complex. In that case, I have to wait for someone smart to fix it (thank you, smart person), or for someone to change their mind and allow me to make the problem simple. Wayne Conrad
“No state, no group has the right to control either directly or indirectly a person’s religious convictions… or the respectful appeal of a particular religion to people’s free conscience,” John Paul said to a meeting of Indian religious leaders. Pope John Paul II – India, November 1999
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing. Benjamin Franklin (1706-90)
A culture can not survive if it attempts to be exclusive. Pope John Paul II – Quoting Gandhi in India, November 1999
One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anyone. Mother Teresa – The Ladies Home Journal, April 1996
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. Vernor Sanders Law
Only those who dare to fail greatly, can achieve greatly. John F. Kennedy
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 1963
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. From the movie: Braveheart
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Les Brown
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)
I was expecting to be free, but God has His own plans. Mother Teresa – Calcutta, 1990, when the sisters of her order persuaded her to withdraw her resignation.
The most powerful programmers are the ones who came to the computer with a problem to solve. The least powerful are the ones with something to prove, about themselves or the unique rightness of their way of thinking. That’s arrogance. A curious and motivated user with the right tools is unstoppable, except when it comes time to work together. Then a single stinker, a person who wants to stop progress, has a lot of power, if we give it to them. Dave Winer, 2001
Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that
it will include everything and so popular that itwill include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel, for fear of being called different. Martin Luther King
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to percieve with our frail and feeble minds. Albert Einstein
Young people don’t have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did. All they’ve got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. There’s all these kids running around wanting to be killer cops. George Lucas – NYTimes – September 12, 1976
The underlying issues, the psychological motives, in all my movies have been the same, he said. Personal responsibility and friendship, the importance of a compassionate life as opposed to a passionate life. George Lucas – NYTimes – May 21, 1987
Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build on the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all. Thus a man supported by faith, hope, and charity, with an unshaken hold upon them does not need the scriptures. . . And many live by these three things in solitude without books. St. Augustine, Book One, On Christian Doctrine.
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…” Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. Jean Anouilh
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use? Dale Carnegie
Imagination is more important thatn knowlege. Albert Einstein
Good behavior is the last refuge of mediocrity. Henry S. Haskins
Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. Erica Jong
Who’s more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him? Star Wars (Obi Wan)
I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Martin Luther King Jr. – The night before his death.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on. Robert Frost
Love is not blind – it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. Rabbi Julius Gordon
Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real. Iris Murdoch
I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me. Hunter S. Thompson.
To be yourself, in a world that tries, night and day, to make you just like everybody else – is to fight the greatest battle there ever is to fight… e.e. cummings
Only the shallow know themselves. Oscar Wilde
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. Krishnamurti
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness. Nietzsche
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. Nietzsche
The danger of our culture.- We belong to a period of which the culture is in danger of being destroyed by the appliances of culture. Nietzsche
I want, one and for all, not to know many things. Wisdom sets limits to knowledge too.
Nietzsche
Under peaceful conditions a warlike man sets upon himself. Nietzsche
I had seen chicken passing the street and I believed. How many chickens must pass the street before you believe? Agent Fox Moulder
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein
The more you know, the less you understand. Tao Te Ching
A fall into a ditch makes you wiser. Chinese Proverb
Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. Yoda
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe. Albert Einstien
A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest–a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. Albert Einstien
The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them. Mark Twain
We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we choose to put into it is ours. Dag Hammarskjold
The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you…
Not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don’t meet somewhere,
They’re in each other all along. Rumi