You must protest /
It is your diamond duty /
Ah but in such an ugly time /
The true protest is beauty.
-Phil Ochs, folksinger (1940-1976)
must be right...
Habit with him was all the test of truth,
/ It must be right: I've done it from my youth.
-George Crabbe, poet and naturalist (1754-1832)
Rob the time
Every noon as the clock hands arrive at twelve,
/ I want to tie the two arms together,
/And walk out of the bank carrying time in bags.
-Robert Bly, poet (1926-2021)
..I don't think
If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to him.
-Rebecca West, author and journalist (1892-1983)
...docorations
Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.
-Jean-Michel Basquiat, artist (1960-1988)
...do a little
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."
~ Edmund Burke
....is the mind of
The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
-Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (1946-1977)
...on those who stand
The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
-Chinua Achebe, writer and professor (1930-2013)
-Chinua Achebe, writer and professor (1930-2013)
...shares the crime
He who allows oppression, shares the crime.
-Erasmus Darwin, physician, scientist, reformer, and poet; grandfather of Charles Darwin (1731-1802)
-Erasmus Darwin, physician, scientist, reformer, and poet; grandfather of Charles Darwin (1731-1802)
..truth must dazzle gradually
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-- /
...The Truth must dazzle gradually /
Or every man be blind.
-Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)
...The Truth must dazzle gradually /
Or every man be blind.
-Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)
Basic principles: The right to....
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.
-Margaret Chase Smith, US senator (1897-1995)
-Margaret Chase Smith, US senator (1897-1995)
greater vanity
Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of greater vanity in others; it makes us vain, in fact, of our modesty.
-Louis Kronenberger, writer (1904-1980)
...influence never stops
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
~ Henry Adams
...country all the time
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and the government when it deserves it.
-Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
Beyond your... number of years
One trouble with living beyond your deserved number of years is that there's always some reason to live another year. And I'd like to live another year so that Nixon won't be President. If he's re-elected I'll have to live another four years.
-Rex Stout, novelist (1886-1975) [Nixon resigned in 1974.]
-Rex Stout, novelist (1886-1975) [Nixon resigned in 1974.]
...frightfulness is temporary
Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life.
-Walt Disney, entrepreneur and animator (1901-1966)
-Walt Disney, entrepreneur and animator (1901-1966)
you choose to...
The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.
-Ann Patchett, writer (b. 2 Dec 1963)
Landscape of ...
We are a landscape of all we have seen.
-Isamu Noguchi, sculptor and architect (1904-1988)
-Isamu Noguchi, sculptor and architect (1904-1988)
...best men of all religions
Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions.
-Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902)
-Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902)
...out of an unread book
Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live.
-Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy
...don't burn
If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag, wash it.
- Norman Thomas, minister and social reformer
- Norman Thomas, minister and social reformer
...and commerce settles
When nations grow old, the arts grow cold and commerce settles on every tree.
-William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)
-William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)
...take it from any
Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it.
-Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor
-Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor
...bring us together
Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
-Eugene Ionesco, playwright
-Eugene Ionesco, playwright
it's the meaning...
"The moment that changes your life isn't what happens—it's the meaning you give it."
-Tony Robbins
-Tony Robbins
...power to change
"Things spoken can be forgotten and forgiven, but the written word has the power to change the course of history, to alter our lives."
~ Teresa Mummert
..not allowed to criticize
To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize.
-Voltaire, philosopher (21 Nov 1694-1778)
...giving more
"Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more."
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Pain and the strength
"The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow."
~ Ritu Ghatourey
...both is a blessing
"Having a place to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing."
~ Donna Hedges
give room...
If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.
-William L. McKnight, businessman and philanthropist (1887-1978)
-William L. McKnight, businessman and philanthropist (1887-1978)
do not dare
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
courage to change
"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it."
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
,,,turn ON the light
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
~ Albus Dumbledore
...terms of human reference
I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become.
-James Jones, novelist (1921-1977)
...chose the/ desired a consequences
His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.
-Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (b. 2 Nov 1949)
-Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (b. 2 Nov 1949)
it's habits...
The most successful business owners follow a set of simple but powerful habits that drive their growth year after year.
Here are 10 of them:
- They start their day with clarity, not chaos.
- They track numbers daily. Sales, cash, and team output.
- They delegate decisions, not just tasks.
- They schedule thinking time every week.
- They focus on systems, not people-dependence.
- They communicate vision consistently.
- They make data-backed decisions, not emotional ones.
- They review performance, not just effort.
- They learn relentlessly.
- They protect their energy like a precious asset.
...makes cowards
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919)
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919)
...sold the gun
When the Judgment Day comes civilization will have an alibi, "I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with."
-Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)
-Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)
How much you keep...
"Getting the most out of life isn't about how much you keep for yourself, but how much you pour into others."
~ David Stoddard
help humanity rise...
"Every single time you help somebody stand up you are helping humanity rise."
~ Steve Maraboli
Advances in counterrevolutionaries
Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counter revolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.
-Bill Mauldin, editorial cartoonist (1921-2003)
-Bill Mauldin, editorial cartoonist (1921-2003)
God's service...
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
-John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826)
-John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826)
tears... not shed
Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.
-Natalie Clifford Barney, poet, playwright, and novelist (1876-1972)
-Natalie Clifford Barney, poet, playwright, and novelist (1876-1972)
I buy books
When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.
-Desiderius Erasmus, philosopher, humanist, and theologian (1466-1536)
courage to change
"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it."
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
...that little candle
"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world."
~ William Shakespeare
...endure any how
He who has a why can endure any how.
-Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)
-Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)
...in a new way
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
-Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (1919-2013)
-Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (1919-2013)
...doing good is
"Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful."
~ Stephen King
2 things....
Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.
-Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet (1833-1870)
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.
-Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet (1833-1870)
...agent of change
"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change."
~ Bob Kerrey
opinion that survived
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.
-Oscar Wilde, writer (16 Oct 1854-1900)
..for what he gave
"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."
~ Calvin Coolidge
...small acts
Keep going. Tyranny is eroded by a sea of small acts. Everything matters.
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Congress member (b. 13 Oct 1989)
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Congress member (b. 13 Oct 1989)
...living in peace
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion, too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion, too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
-John Lennon, musician (1940-1980)
Re: ...is about to set
Good morning dear
SURINDER SINGH SAINI
On Tue, 14 Oct, 2025, 8:01 am Mukunthan Parasu, <pmukunthan@gmail.com> wrote:
When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.
-Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)
...is about to set
When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.
-Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)
-Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)
Fear is...
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
- Frank Herbert, Dune
- Frank Herbert, Dune
..follow your heart
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
- Steve Jobs, Stanford address
Neutrality....?
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
-Desmond Tutu, clergyman (1931-2021)
The power of corrupts...
It's said that "power corrupts", but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.
-David Brin, scientist and science fiction author (b. 6 Oct 1950)
..to bring the truth back
Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back.
-Gore Vidal, writer (1925-2012)
Love & Truth always won
When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.
-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)
Strong Vs Weak Nation
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.
-Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel laureate (b. 1 Oct 1924)
-Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel laureate (b. 1 Oct 1924)
...with bills of credit
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit and seldom draw to their full extent.
-Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797)
...and thought of you
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm but the harm does not interest them.
-T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)
different handicaps..
We all have handicaps. The difference is that some of us must reveal ours, while others must conceal theirs, to be treated with mercy.
-Yahia Lababidi, author (b. 25 Sep 1973)
Goodness is modest
There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.
-Evelyn Beatrice Hall, biographer (1868-1956)
offspring of....
No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind.
-Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (1547-1616)
Blind is risky
Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed.
-Bruce Springsteen, musician (b. 23 Sep 1949)
contempt never forgiven
Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.
-Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (1694-1773)
future of the human
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
-H.G. Wells, writer (21 Sep 1866-1946)
...of ignoring
This is what power really is: the privilege of ignoring anything you might find distasteful.
-Oksana Zabuzhko, writer (b. 19 Sep 1960)
Language of the city
Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
...no greatness
There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.
-Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)
Perfect union....
In a perfect union the man and woman are like a strung bow. Who is to say whether the string bends the bow, or the bow tightens the string?
-Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)
-Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)
pure... private property
The sun is pure communism everywhere except in cities, where it's private property.
-Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)
Next Generation...
If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world.
-Claude Pepper, senator and representative (1900-1989)
Control & ignore
Things you can always control:
- Your words
- Your actions
- Your atitude
- Your perspective
- Your focus
- Your effort
- Your energy
- Your mood
- Your temper
- Your breathing
- Your mentality
- Your gratitude
- Your consistency
- Your humility
- Your empathy
Ignore the rest..
lifetime of listening
"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."
~ Doug Larson
as you share it...
"Kindness to me is not a duty or responsibility; it's a unique feeling which makes you happier as you share it."
~ Aashish Jagini
bring sunshine
"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
~ James Matthew Barrie
...with fellow men
"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men."
~ Herman Melville
...made them feel
"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."
~ Maya Angelou
not readymade
"Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions."
~ The Dalai Lama
prisoners of...
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
-Ivan Illich, philosopher and priest (1926-2002)
-Ivan Illich, philosopher and priest (1926-2002)
New ideas...
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
-John Cage, composer (1912-1992)
No yesterdays on the road
When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
-William Least Heat-Moon, travel writer (b. 27 Aug 1939)
punishing the...
When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.
-Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (b. 1 Sep 1978)
-Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (b. 1 Sep 1978)
...best interpreters
The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.
-John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)
Breaking Vs. Shaping
"The very season that feels like it's breaking you is the one that's shaping you."
- Tony Robbins
- Tony Robbins
The true duty of patriots
No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
-Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (1941-2022)
...irony
Only the stupid steal from the rich.
The clever steal from the poor.
The law usually protects the rich.
-Carsten Jensen, author (b. 24 Jul 1952)
...can begin anything
We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong.
-Karl Popper, philosopher and professor (1902-1994)
....a resource
A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.
-Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)
Belief vs Fact
No amount of belief makes something a fact.
-James Randi, magician and skeptic (1928-2020)
-James Randi, magician and skeptic (1928-2020)
..different forms of intelligence
Life cannot be classified in terms of a simple neurological ladder, with human beings at the top; it is more accurate to talk of different forms of intelligence, each with its strengths and weaknesses. This point was well demonstrated in the minutes before last December's tsunami [2004], when tourists grabbed their digital cameras and ran after the ebbing surf, and all the 'dumb' animals made for the hills.
-B.R. Myers, author (b. 21 Aug 1963)
...quicksilver
Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.
-Dorothy Parker, author (1893-1967)
-Dorothy Parker, author (1893-1967)
decisions....
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.
-C. Northcote Parkinson, author and historian (1909-1993)
...unkempt
I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.
-Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)
No borders...
Dreams heed no borders, the eyes need no visas.
With eyes shut I walk across the line in time.
All the time.
With eyes shut I walk across the line in time.
All the time.
-Gulzar, poet, lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934)
..terrible things
Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
-Russell Baker, columnist and author (1925-2019)
-Russell Baker, columnist and author (1925-2019)
Received and give...
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
-P.D. James (Phyllis Dorothy James), novelist (1920-2014)
..only in the anticipation
There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
-Alfred Hitchcock, film-maker (13 A899-1980)
...becoming an educated person
It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is to be educated.
-Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)
...idealism of people
The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.
-Herbert Hoover, 31st US President (1874-1964)
...kind of religion?
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.
-Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)
Life in the eyes
When I can look Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the truth,
And taken in exchange -- my youth.
-Sara Teasdale, poet (1884-1933)
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the truth,
And taken in exchange -- my youth.
-Sara Teasdale, poet (1884-1933)
...the homeless
Give me your tired, your poor, /
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, /
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. /
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, /
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (1849-1887)
[from a poem written to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, /
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. /
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, /
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (1849-1887)
[from a poem written to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]
...brilliance continues
There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.
-Hannah Senesh, poet, playwright, and paratrooper (1921-1944)
...conquer ourselves
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
-Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer (1919-2008)
capacity for sacrifice
The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.
-Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961)
student needs someone...
Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count."
-Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)
...may grow
If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, -- quieter, warmer.
-Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)
-Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)
...as possibilities
Literature encourages tolerance -- bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them, also, as possibilities.
-Northrop Frye, writer and critic (1912-1991)
Strength & inspiration
"Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others."
~ Plato
Smile with your...
"Smile with your lips, smile with your eyes, smile with your heart and your soul and your life."
~ Terri Guillemets
...how much difference we can make
"Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others."
~ Gordon B. Hinckley
..a bit of our heart
"Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind."
~ Ritu Ghatourey
..central nervous system
When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.
-Ingrid Newkirk, animal rights activist (b. 11 Jun 1949)
...second the world
In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world.
M-Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924)
Have to have...
"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
-Theodore M. Hesburgh
-Theodore M. Hesburgh
More and more...
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
-John Quincy Adams
Unqualified faith...
Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue.
-Robert King Merton, sociologist (1910-2003)
ill-adjusted Vs. adjusted
A man who is 'ill-adjusted' to the world is always on the verge of finding himself. One who is adjusted to the world never finds himself, but gets to be a cabinet minister.
-Hermann Hesse, novelist, poet, Nobel laureate (1877-1962)
..expressing it
We are healed of suffering only by expressing it to the full.
-Marcel Proust, novelist (10 Jul 1871-1922)
uneasy...
I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.
-E.B. White, writer (1899-1985)
...able to solve the problems
"Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems that we created with our current patterns of thought."
~Albert Einstein
Yardstick of quality..
"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."
~Steve Jobs
...more and most painful
As a child I was taught that to tell the truth was often painful. As an adult I have learned that not to tell the truth is more painful, and that the fear of telling the truth -- whatever the truth may be -- that fear is the most painful sensation of a moral life.
-June Jordan, writer, teacher, and activist (1936-2002)
equal in suffering
All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals.
-Peter Singer, philosopher and professor (b. 6 Jul 1946)
Power of Truth
Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.
-Jean de la Fontaine, poet and fabulist (1621-1695)
...way of life
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.
-Frédéric Bastiat, economist and writer (1801-1850)
-Frédéric Bastiat, economist and writer (1801-1850)
..can't change your mind
The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His.
-Roger Ebert, film-critic (1942-2013)
..death is not an adventure
This book (All Quiet on the Western Front) is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.
-Erich Maria Remarque, novelist (1898-1970)
Aims Vs Methods
There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another.
-Emma Goldman, social activist (1869-1940)
...justified strength
Having been unable to strengthen justice, we have justified strength.
-Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)
Speed of the boss...
"I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team."
– Lee Iacocca
...until you refuse to
An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
-Orlando Aloysius Battista, chemist and author (1917-1995)
become responsible...
And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944)
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944)
Am I proud of me?
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?
-Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)
Not to fear...
Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.
-Pearl S. Buck, Nobelist novelist (1892-1973)
5 Rules of Lean Management
1.When a problem (abnormality) arises, go to the gemba first.
2. Check the gembutsu ("relevant objects").
3. Take temporary countermeasures on the spot.
4. Find the root cause.
5. Standardize to prevent recurrence. ("Go")
2. Check the gembutsu ("relevant objects").
3. Take temporary countermeasures on the spot.
4. Find the root cause.
5. Standardize to prevent recurrence. ("Go")
Quality begins....
"Quality begins when everybody in the organization commits to never sending rejects or imperfect information to the next process."
,,,need for illusion
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
-Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel laureate (1915-2005)
...improve the world
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
-Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (1929-1945)
What is the worst?
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity.
are full of passionate intensity.
-William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (1865-1939)
Real soldiers
Ethics, decency, and morality are the real soldiers.
-Kiran Bedi, police officer and social activist (b. 9 Jun 1949)
-Kiran Bedi, police officer and social activist (b. 9 Jun 1949)
...learn the difference
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.
-Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937)
...added to the happiness
What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
-Adam Smith, economist (1723-1790)
...their kind of love
The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.
-Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)
...more dangerous
There is nothing more dangerous than a government of the many controlled by the few.
-Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3 Jun 1961)
..more complete world
The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.
-Henry Beston, naturalist and author (1888-1968)
...unread book
Your love to me was like an unread book.
-Countee Cullen, poet, novelist, and playwright (1903-1946)
Things to do...
Quick Capture: Drafts or Apple Notes (fleeting ideas in day)
Slow Capture: Notebook & Pen (journal & sketch)
Long Capture: Obsidian (examining & colliding ideas)
Sorriness Vs Sorriest
The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things.
-Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (1840-1928)
What if Vs. EVEN IF
Replace "what if" with "EVEN IF."
"Even if I fail, I'll learn something valuable."
"Even if people judge me, I'll grow stronger."
"Even if I'm not perfect, I'll be better than yesterday."
"Even if I fail, I'll learn something valuable."
"Even if people judge me, I'll grow stronger."
"Even if I'm not perfect, I'll be better than yesterday."
Stabilize Your Strategy in Uncertain Times
When conditions shift faster than your strategy can adapt, paralysis can set in. Plans lose relevance. Priorities get murky. But waiting for clarity isn't an option; you need to move forward—quickly and flexibly. Here's how to keep your strategy effective in uncertain times.
- Prioritize cash and financial flexibility.
- Rebuild commercial strength.
- Focus on your most profitable customers.
- Get serious about risk and cybersecurity.
...nothing is dearer
To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter.
-Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE)
-Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE)
Necessity is...
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
-William Pitt, British prime minister (1759-1806)
Objector Vs Warrior
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
-John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)
...not weakness
Compassion is not weakness and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.
-Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)
Passion: Natural and reasonable
A man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable is generally proud of those that are shameful and silly.
-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (1689-1762)
Action & inaction
A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.
-John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873)
What are the odds?
What's madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance?
-Theodore Roethke, poet (1908-1963)
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