Words of Wisdom 2

[Turkbear]

I hope to start this thread as a place to post speech excerpts, essay segments, etc showing the use of words to have an impact or to express important thoughts - please post your favorites.
To start,
From George Carlin:


The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings
but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We
spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have
bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less
time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less
judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less
wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too
little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too
tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk
too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added
years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon
and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new
neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done
larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the
atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan
more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more
copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and
small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are
the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken
homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway
morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do
everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is
much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time
when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you
can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not
going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,
because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is
the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a
cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones,
but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when
it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that
person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the
precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

George Carlin







To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[tsdragon]

One of the finer poets of our time! Thanks for posting that!

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Turkbear and Tracy, Although George Carlin is, indeed, often witty, incisive, et cetera, and although the sentiment in the above essay is, indeed, very poignient, "one of the finer poets of our time" (in this case) is Dr. Bob Moorhead, former pastor of Seattle's Overlake Christian Church...

In May 1998, Jeff Dickson posted the 'Paradox of Our Time' essay to his Hacks-R-Us online forum, loosing it upon the Internet. The essay has since been attributed to comedian George Carlin, an unnamed Columbine High School student, and that most prolific of scribes, Anonymous.

George Carlin very emphatically denied he had had anything to do with "Paradox," a piece he referred to as "a sappy load of shit," and posted his comments about being associated with this essay on his own web site.

The true author of the piece is neither George Carlin nor Jeff Dickson, nor is he anonymous. Credit belongs with Dr. Bob Moorehead, former pastor of Seattle's Overlake Christian Church. (He retired in 1998 after 29 years in that post). The essay appeared under the title "The Paradox of Our Age" in Words Aptly Spoken, Dr. Moorehead's 1995 collection of prayers, homilies, and monologues used in his sermons and radio broadcasts.

You can read more if you choose, at Snopes.com.


I do, however, really like the idea of posting Words of Wisdom here.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]

 

[KenCunningham]

John Lennon and Paul McCartney....Let It Be

 

[Trevoke]

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I
would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this
trip. I know of very few things I would take seriously. I would be crazier.
I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers and watch more sunsets. I'd
travel and see. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I am one of those people who lives prophylactically and sensibly
and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments and,
if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to
have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many
years ahead each day. I have been one of those people who never go anywhere
without a thermometer, a hotwater bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.
If I had it to do over again, I would go places and do things and travel
lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start bare-footed
earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky
more. I probably wouldn't make such good grades, but I'd learn more. I would
ride on more merry-go-rounds. I'd pick more daisies.

-- Nadine Stair (when she was 85).

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
When I received that quote, I did wonder about Carlin being that sentimental ( especially the older, grumpier George)..Oh well, whoever said it, it is worth thinking about..









To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[SF0751]

Warning - by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.





Susan
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work."
- Thomas A. Edison

 

[Turkbear]

The 60s:

The lesson of the 60s was that people who cared 
enough to do right could change history.
We didn't end racism, but we ended legal segregation.
We ended the idea that you could send a half million soldiers around the world to fight a war that the people do not support.
We ended the idea that women are second-class citizens.
We made the environment an issue that couldn't be avoided.

The big battles we won, cannot be reversed.

We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical,
brave, silly, headstrong and scared half to death.

And [b] We were right [/b]

... Abbie Hoffman

To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[KenCunningham]

In similar vein to Susan's post:

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

Roger McGough

 

[sleipnir214]

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't know.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave it before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess around too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, buy be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

This one was written my Mary Schmich (columnist and creator of the "Brenda Starr" comic strip) and published by the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997. It made the rounds on the internet, attributed to an MIT commencement address by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., despite the facts that Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has never given an commencement address at MIT and that Mr. Vonnegut didn't write it.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[SantaMufasa]

Here are some of SantaMufasa's favourites from his collection of "Words of Wisdom":

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge

“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But, rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ~ WOO HOO what a ride!~”

"Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life."

“You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.” -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“The last voice we will hear before the world explodes will be that of an expert saying: ‘This is technically impossible!’" - Sir Peter Ustinov

“If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money.” -Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist (1918- )

"Reality is what you run into when you are wrong.", Dallas Willard

"The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends."

"Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today."

"Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness."

"I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting my pantyhose on fire."

"Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like, 'You know, sometimes I just forget to eat.' Now I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name, and my keys. But I've never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat."

"The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him!"

"I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are: eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That is my idea of a perfect day."

"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. · Nikita Khrushchev "

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." -Plato

"The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best." -Will Rogers

"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important." · Eugene McCarthy

"Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation." -Henry Kissinger

"Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians." -Chester Bowles

"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained." -Edward R. Murrow

"The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was." - Steven Wright

"Both parties run for office as conservatives. Once they have fooled the voters and are safely in office, Republicans sometimes double-cross the voters. Democrats always do." -- Ann Coulter

“A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in, and how many want to get out." – Prime Minister Tony Blair

"Liberals and Socialists are not bad people; they just want your money to give to someone else to demonstrate their compassion."

"Without the objective of finding common ground, political discourse is just a means of pissing people off." -- Blackrain

"In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take." -Adlai Stevenson, statesman (1900-1965)

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." — Charles Wadsworth

"The person who says it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it." -- Chinese proverb

"Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm." -Frank Dane


"Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm." -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914)

"Some people think they are worth a lot of money just because they have it." -Fannie Hurst, writer (1889-1968)

"Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?"

"The secret of a good (sermon) talk is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and have the two as close together as possible." -- George Burns

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory." - Arthur Ashe

Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance." - Henry W. Beecher

"You and I do not see things as they are. We see things as [iwe are." - Herb Cohen

"Even I don't wake up looking like Cindy Crawford." - Cindy Crawford

"The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of his time each day." -M. Grundler

"There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible." -Marcel Proust, novelist (1871-1922)

“Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.”

"I started out with nothing, and I’ve worked hard to keep it that way."

"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them."

"Mothers of teens know why animals eat their young."

"Grandchildren are God's reward to parents for not killing their teenagers."

"I will defend to your death your right to my opinion."

"If there is a tourist season, how come we can’t shoot them?"

"As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools."

"If you woke up breathing, congratulations, you have another chance."

"I don't do drugs. I get the same effect just standing up fast."

"I don't approve of political jokes. I've seen too many of them get elected."

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

"How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?"

"Every time I walk into a singles bar I can hear Mom's wise words: 'Don't pick that up, you don't know where it's been!' "

"A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying 'Damn ...that was fun!' "

"I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!"

"When I was young we used to go 'skinny dipping,' now I just 'chunky dunk.' "

"Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

"Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?"

"If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called LABOR!"

"Wouldn't you know it...Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FAT cells live forever."

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." -Alan Kay, inventor (1940- )

"After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood." -Fred Thompson, US senator, lawyer, writer, and actor (1942-)

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public povisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for
themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." --Benjamin Franklin

"Just remember that if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off."

"It takes guts to be an organ donor."

"Political ability is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability to explain why it didn't happen." (Winston S Churchill)

"Men are like parking places, the good ones are taken or they are all handicapped."

"The men that American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth" -- H. L. Mencken

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." – Winston Churchill

"We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." --Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)

"Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. 'No,' I replied, 'I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?' " –Thomas J. Watson, industrialist (1874-1956)

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” -Robert Maynard Hutchins, educator (1899-1977)

"There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes…That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

"A positive attitude may not solve the problem, but at least it will annoy enough people to be worth the effort!"

“Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” -Susan Ertz, author (1894-1985)

“People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security.”
-Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

"Assumptions allow the best in life to pass you by." - John
Sales

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx

"I start feeling stupid when I think of how smart I could be” -- My daughter, Sarah Hunt (age 21 at the time).

“If I get electrocuted, will my feelings get hot?” -- My grandson, Zackery Moreton (age 4 at the time).

"I asked my mom if I was gifted. She said probably so since they certainly wouldn’t have paid for me."

"Before marriage, a man YEARNS for the woman he loves. After marriage, the ‘Y’ becomes silent."

"The Shortest and Longest sentence: 'I do.' "

"Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade," -- Vernon Law

"We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience." - George Bernard Shaw

"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future" – Oscar Wilde

"I want to live in such a way, that when I get up in the morning Satan will say, 'Oh no! He's awake!' "

"The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born." - William Ralph Inge

"No husband was ever shot while doing the dishes."

"Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand."

"I am in shape. Round is a shape."

"Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician."

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic."

"Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good."

"Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand."

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

"Politicians and diapers have one thing in common.
They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason."

"An optimist thinks that this is the best possible world.
A pessimist fears that this is true."

"There will always be death and taxes; however, death doesn't get worse every year."

"In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday."

"I am a nutritional overachiever."

"I plan on living forever. So far, so good."

"Practice safe eating -- always use condiments."

"A day without sunshine is like night."

"If marriage were outlawed, only outlaws would have in-laws."

"It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions."

"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

"Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone."

"Life not only begins at forty, it also begins to show."

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing."







Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Well done Dave.,..Great collection.









To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[donbott]

Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invaribly they are both disappointed."--
Albert Einstein

DonBott

Lean to the left lean to the right
Stand up sit down Fight Fight Fight!
(Lazlo Toth)

 

[mjldba]

Minds are like parachutes, they work best when they're open.

 

[Trevoke]

Well, after SantaMufasa's post, I feel justified in pasting the content of /usr/share/fortune/wisdom...
___________________________________________
(1) Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
(2) If your stomach antagonizes you, pacify it with cool thoughts.
(3) Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
(4) Go very lightly on the vices, such as carrying on in society, as
the social ramble ain't restful.
(5) Avoid running at all times.
(6) Don't look back, something might be gaining on you.
-- S. Paige, c. 1951
------------
A clash of doctrine is not a disaster -- it is an opportunity.
------------
A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such
a speed, if feels an impulsion... this is the place to go now. But the
sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will
know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
A dream will always triumph over reality, once it is given the chance.
-- Stanislaw Lem
------------
A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should
be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.
-- R.A. Heinlein
------------
A halted retreat
Is nerve-wracking and dangerous.
To retain people as men -- and maidservants
Brings good fortune.
------------
A lifetime isn't nearly long enough to figure out what it's all about.
------------
A lot of people I know believe in positive thinking, and so do I. I
believe everything positively stinks.
-- Lew Col
------------
A man said to the Universe:
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the Universe,
"the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
-- Stephen Crane
------------
A master was asked the question, "What is the Way?" by a curious monk.
"It is right before your eyes," said the master.
"Why do I not see it for myself?"
"Because you are thinking of yourself."
"What about you: do you see it?"
"So long as you see double, saying `I don't', and `you do', and so
on, your eyes are clouded," said the master.
"When there is neither `I' nor `You', can one see it?"
"When there is neither `I' nor `You',
who is the one that wants to see it?"
------------
A neighbor came to Nasrudin, asking to borrow his donkey. "It is out on
loan," the teacher replied. At that moment, the donkey brayed loudly inside
the stable. "But I can hear it bray, over there." "Whom do you believe,"
asked Nasrudin, "me or a donkey?"
------------
A priest advised Voltaire on his death bed to renounce the devil.
Replied Voltaire, "This is no time to make new enemies."
------------
A priest asked: What is Fate, Master?
And the Master answered:
It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for existence.
It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their backs.
It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City
to City upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns
have come to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness.
And that is Fate? said the priest.
Fate... I thought you said Freight, responded the Master.
That's all right, said the priest. I wanted to know
what Freight was too.
-- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
------------
A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly.
If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space.
-- Thomas Carlyle, looking at the stars
------------
A Scholar asked his Master, "Master, would you advise me of a proper
vocation?"
The Master replied, "Some men can earn their keep with the power of
their minds. Others must use thier strong backs, legs and hands. This is
the same in nature as it is with man. Some animals acquire their food easily,
such as rabbits, hogs and goats. Other animals must fiercely struggle for
their sustenance, like beavers, moles and ants. So you see, the nature of
the vocation must fit the individual.
"But I have no abilities, desires, or imagination, Master," the
scholar sobbed.
Queried the Master... "Have you thought of becoming a salesperson?"
------------
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
-- Oscar Wilde, "The Portrait of Mr. W.H."
------------
A would-be disciple came to Nasrudin's hut on the mountain-side. Knowing
that every action of such an enlightened one is significant, the seeker
watched the teacher closely. "Why do you blow on your hands?" "To warm
myself in the cold." Later, Nasrudin poured bowls of hot soup for himself
and the newcomer, and blew on his own. "Why are you doing that, Master?"
"To cool the soup." Unable to trust a man who uses the same process
to arrive at two different results -- hot and cold -- the disciple departed.
------------
Ah, but a man's grasp should exceed his reach,
Or what's a heaven for ?
-- Robert Browning, "Andrea del Sarto"
------------
All hope abandon, ye who enter here!
-- Dante Alighieri
------------
All men know the utility of useful things;
but they do not know the utility of futility.
-- Chuang-tzu
------------
All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.
-- The Book of Bokonon / Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
------------
All of us should treasure his Oriental wisdom and his preaching of a
Zen-like detachment, as exemplified by his constant reminder to clerks,
tellers, or others who grew excited by his presence in their banks:
"Just lie down on the floor and keep calm."
-- Robert Wilson, "John Dillinger Died for You"
------------
An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these eyes
we cannot bear to look out of, we blind them as quickly as possible.
-- Russell Hoban, "Pilgermann"
------------
An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.
------------
An older student came to Otis and said, "I have been to see a
great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures.
I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment.
I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but
I have not been enlightened. What should I do?"
Otis replied, "Give up suffering."
-- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"
------------
And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the
hour of separation.
-- Kahlil Gibran
------------
Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this
big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around --
nobody big, I mean -- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy
cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go
over the cliff -- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're
going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do
all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye. I know it; I know it's crazy,
but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy.
-- J.D. Salinger, "Catcher in the Rye"
------------
Approaching the gates of the monastery, Hakuin found Ken the Zen
preaching to a group of disciples.
"Words..." Ken orated, "they are but an illusory veil obfuscating
the absolute reality of --"
"Ken!" Hakuin interrupted. "Your fly is down!"
Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon Ken, and he
vaporized.
On the way to town, Hakuin was greeted by an itinerant monk imbued
with the spirit of the morning.
"Ah," the monk sighed, a beatific smile wrinkling across his cheeks,
"Thou art That..."
"Ah," Hakuin replied, pointing excitedly, "And Thou art Fat!"
Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon the monk,
and he vaporized.
Next, the Governor sought the advice of Hakuin, crying: "As our
enemies bear down upon us, how shall I, with such heartless and callow
soldiers as I am heir to, hope to withstand the impending onslaught?"
"US?" snapped Hakuin.
Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon the
Governor, and he vaporized.
Then, a redneck went up to Hakuin and vaporized the old Master with
his shotgun. "Ha! Beat ya' to the punchline, ya' scrawny li'l geek!"
------------
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's
incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."
-- Muad'dib, "Dune"
------------
As failures go, attempting to recall the past is like trying to grasp
the meaning of existence. Both make one feel like a baby clutching at
a basketball: one's palms keep sliding off.
-- Joseph Brodsky
------------
At ebb tide I wrote a line upon the sand, and gave it all my heart and all
my soul. At flood tide I returned to read what I had inscribed and found my
ignorance upon the shore.
-- Kahlil Gibran
------------
At the end of your life there'll be a good rest, and no further activities
are scheduled.
------------
At the foot of the mountain, thunder:
The image of Providing Nourishment.
Thus the superior man is careful of his words
And temperate in eating and drinking.
------------
Beauty is one of the rare things which does not lead to doubt of God.
-- Jean Anouilh
------------
Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and
took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of
his followers.
One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and
there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing.
"Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his
commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile? What is your
Purpose in Life, anyway?"
Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU". (The
Chinese ideogram for NO-THING.)
Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened.
Primarily because nobody understood Chinese.
-- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"
------------
Before you ask more questions, think about whether you really want to
know the answers.
-- Gene Wolfe, "The Claw of the Conciliator"
------------
Brahma said: Well, after hearing ten thousand explanations, a fool is no
wiser. But an intelligent man needs only two thousand five hundred.
-- The Mahabharata
------------
By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.
-- Titus Lucretius Carus
------------
Catharsis is something I associate with pornography and crossword puzzles.
-- Howard Chaykin
------------
Certainly the game is rigged.

Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.
-- Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love"
------------
Chance is perhaps the work of God when He did not want to sign.
-- Anatole France
------------
Chapter 1

The story so far:

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot
of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
-- Douglas Adams, HHGG #2, (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe).
------------
"Cheshire-Puss," she began, "would you tell me, please, which way I
ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't care much where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
------------
Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
-- Herodotus
------------
Coincidences are spiritual puns.
-- G.K. Chesterton
------------
Death is a spirit leaving a body, sort of like a shell leaving the nut behind.
-- Erma Bombeck
------------
Death is God's way of telling you not to be such a wise guy.
------------
Death is life's way of telling you you've been fired.
-- R. Geis
------------
Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings.
------------
Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'.
------------
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
------------
Death is only a state of mind.

Only it doesn't leave you much time to think about anything else.
------------
Depart not from the path which fate has assigned you.
------------
Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember, it didn't help
the rabbit.
-- R.E. Shay
------------
Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't,
don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.
-- Joseph Heller, "God Knows"
------------
Disease can be cured; fate is incurable.
-- Chinese proverb
------------
Ditat Deus.
[God enriches]
------------
Do not believe in miracles -- rely on them.
------------
Do not despair of life. You have no doubt force enough to overcome your
obstacles. Think of the fox prowling through wood and field in a winter night
for something to satisfy his hunger. Notwithstanding cold and hounds and
traps, his race survives. I do not believe any of them ever committed suicide.
-- Henry David Thoreau
------------
Do not seek death; death will find you. But seek the road which makes death
a fulfillment.
-- Dag Hammarskjold
------------
Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive.
------------
Do what you can to prolong your life, in the hope that someday you'll
learn what it's for.
------------
"Do you think there's a God?"
"Well, ____SOMEbody's out to get me!"
-- Calvin and Hobbs
------------
Do your part to help preserve life on Earth -- by trying to preserve your own.
------------
Don't abandon hope. Your Captain Midnight decoder ring arrives tomorrow.
------------
Don't abandon hope: your Tom Mix decoder ring arrives tomorrow.
------------
Don't go to bed with no price on your head.
-- Baretta
------------
Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
------------
Don't kid yourself. Little is relevant, and nothing lasts forever.
------------
Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance.
------------
Don't make a big deal out of everything; just deal with everything.
------------
Don't stop to stomp ants when the elephants are stampeding.
------------
Don't take life seriously, you'll never get out alive.
------------
Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.
-- Paul Tillich, German theologian.
------------
Down with categorical imperative!
------------
Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate
and captain of your soul.
------------
During the voyage of life, remember to keep an eye out for a fair wind; batten
down during a storm; hail all passing ships; and fly your colors proudly.
------------
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. My advice to you is to have
nothing whatever to do with it.
-- W. Somerset Maughm, his last words
------------
Dying is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down.
-- Woody Allen
------------
Each man is his own prisoner, in solitary confinement for life.
------------
Each of us bears his own Hell.
-- Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil)
------------
Either I'm dead or my watch has stopped.
-- Groucho Marx's last words
------------
Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral.
-- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
------------
Every man who has reached even his intellectual teens begins to suspect
that life is no farce; that it is not genteel comedy even; that it flowers
and fructifies on the contrary out of the profoundest tragic depths of the
essential death in which its subject's roots are plunged. The natural
inheritance of everyone who is capable of spiritual life is an unsubdued
forest where the wolf howls and the obscene bird of night chatters.
-- Henry James Sr., writing to his sons Henry and William
------------
Every person, all the events in your life are there because you have
drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end.
------------
Everything in this book may be wrong.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
Everything is possible. Pass the word.
-- Rita Mae Brown, "Six of One"
------------
Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.
-- Marcus Aurelius
------------
Expansion means complexity; and complexity decay.
------------
Facts are the enemy of truth.
-- Don Quixote
------------
Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.
-- Sir Walter Raleigh
------------
Faith goes out through the window when beauty comes in at the door.
------------
Faith is under the left nipple.
-- Martin Luther
------------
Fill what's empty, empty what's full, scratch where it itches.
-- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
------------
... "fire" does not matter, "earth" and "air" and "water" do not matter.
"I" do not matter. No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers
words. The more words he remembers, the cleverer do his fellows esteem him.
He looks upon the great transformations of the world, but he does not see
them as they were seen when man looked upon reality for the first time.
Their names come to his lips and he smiles as he tastes them, thinking he
knows them in the naming.
-- Roger Zelazny, "Lord of Light"
------------
For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.
------------
For good, return good.
For evil, return justice.
------------
For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in
despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the
implacable grandeur of this life.
-- Albert Camus
------------
For your penance, say five Hail Marys and one loud BLAH!
------------
Force has no place where there is need of skill.
-- Herodotus
------------
FORTUNE'S RULES TO LIVE BY: #2
Never goose a wolverine.
------------
FORTUNE'S RULES TO LIVE BY: #23
Don't cut off a police car when making an illegal U-turn.
------------
From listening comes wisdom and from speaking repentance.
------------
From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
-- Bertolt Brecht
------------
Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
-- Miyamoto Musashi, 1645
------------
Getting into trouble is easy.
-- D. Winkel and F. Prosser
------------
Getting there is only half as far as getting there and back.
------------
Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief.
-- William Faulkner
------------
God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to
change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference.
------------
God instructs the heart, not by ideas, but by pains and contradictions.
-- De Caussade
------------
God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.
-- Alfred Jarry
------------
God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.
-- Paul Valery
------------
Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored.
-- George Saunders' dying words
------------
Goodbye, cool world.
------------
Got a dictionary? I want to know the meaning of life.
------------
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
**** GROWTH CENTER REPAIR SERVICE

For those who have had too much of Esalen, Topanga, and Kairos. Tired of
being genuine all the time? Would you like to learn how to be a little
phony again? Have you disclosed so much that you're beginning to avoid
people? Have you touched so many people that they're all beginning to
feel the same? Like to be a little dependent? Are perfect orgasms
beginning to bore you? Would you like, for once, not to express a
feeling? Or better yet, not be in touch with it at all? Come to us. We
promise to relieve you of the burden of your great potential.
------------
Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.
-- Ogden Nash
------------
Happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion.
------------
Happiness isn't having what you want, it's wanting what you have.
------------
Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
-- Oscar Levant
------------
Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
-- Socrates
------------
He has shown you, o man, what is good. And what does the Lord ask of you,
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God?
------------
He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another's mishap.
------------
He knows not how to know who knows not also how to unknow.
-- Sir Richard Burton
------------
He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.
-- B. Franklin
------------
He thought of Musashi, the Sword Saint, standing in his garden more than
three hundred years ago. "What is the 'Body of a rock'?" he was asked.
In answer, Musashi summoned a pupil of his and bid him kill himself by
slashing his abdomen with a knife. Just as the pupil was about to comply,
the Master stayed his hand, saying, "That is the 'Body of a rock'."
-- Eric Van Lustbader
------------
He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hopes for
the human condition is a fool.
-- Albert Camus
------------
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is ignorant. Teach him.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool. Shun him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep. Wake him.
------------
He who knows nothing, knows nothing.
But he who knows he knows nothing knows something.
And he who knows someone whose friend's wife's brother knows nothing,
he knows something. Or something like that.
------------
He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
...He who laughs does not believe in what he laughs at, but neither
does he hate it. Therefore, laughing at evil means not preparing oneself to
combat it, and laughing at good means denying the power through which good is
self-propagating.
-- Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"
------------
Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:
if you're alive, it isn't.
------------
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our
thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another
in the waking state?
-- Plato
------------
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.
-- William Allen White
------------
I didn't believe in reincarnation in any of my other lives. I don't see why
I should have to believe in it in this one.
-- Strange de Jim
------------
I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or
whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
-- Chuang-tzu
------------
I do not seek the ignorant; the ignorant seek me -- I will instruct them.
I ask nothing but sincerity. If they come out of habit, they become tiresome.
-- I Ching
------------
"I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very
reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment."
-- Gotama Buddha
------------
I hate dying.
-- Dave Johnson
------------
I have a simple philosophy:

Fill what's empty.
Empty what's full.
Scratch where it itches.
-- A. R. Longworth
------------
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
-- Publilius Syrus
------------
I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer.
-- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
------------
I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good.
That would be dishonest.
------------
I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!
------------
I know not how I came into this, shall I call it a dying life or a
living death?
-- St. Augustine
------------
"I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of
that is -- `Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put
more simply -- `Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it
might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not
otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be
otherwise.'"
-- Lewis Carrol, "Alice in Wonderland"
------------
If a guru falls in the forest with no one to hear him, was he really a
guru at all?
-- Strange de Jim, "The Metasexuals"
------------
If a man has a strong faith he can indulge in the luxury of skepticism.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
------------
If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his
reverence for all of life.
-- Albert Schweitzer
------------
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it around.
Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't say embrace trouble; that's
as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for
you'll see a lot of it and you had better be on speaking terms with it.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
------------
If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I
would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this
trip. I know of very few things I would take seriously. I would be crazier.
I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers and watch more sunsets. I'd
travel and see. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I am one of those people who lives prophylactically and sensibly
and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments and,
if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to
have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many
years ahead each day. I have been one of those people who never go anywhere
without a thermometer, a hotwater bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.
If I had it to do over again, I would go places and do things and travel
lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start bare-footed
earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky
more. I probably wouldn't make such good grades, but I'd learn more. I would
ride on more merry-go-rounds. I'd pick more daisies.
------------
If little green men land in your back yard, hide any little green women
you've got in the house.
-- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
------------
If men are not afraid to die,
it is of no avail to threaten them with death.

If men live in constant fear of dying,
And if breaking the law means a man will be killed,
Who will dare to break the law?

There is always an official executioner.
If you try to take his place,
It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood.
If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter,
you will only hurt your hand.
-- Tao Te Ching, "Lao Tsu, #74"
------------
If something has not yet gone wrong then it would ultimately have been
beneficial for it to go wrong.
------------
If the master dies and the disciple grieves, the lives of both have
been wasted.
------------
If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.
-- Anatole France
------------
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong,
the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure
can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way will promptly develop.
------------
If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing
of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur
of this life.
-- Albert Camus
------------
If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.
------------
If we don't survive, we don't do anything else.
-- John Sinclair
------------
If you are not for yourself, who will be for you?
If you are for yourself, then what are you?
If not now, when?
------------
If you can survive death, you can probably survive anything.
------------
If you find a solution and become attached to it, the solution may become
your next problem.
------------
If you fool around with something long enough, it will eventually break.
------------
If you have to hate, hate gently.
------------
If you have to think twice about it, you're wrong.
------------
If you keep anything long enough, you can throw it away.
------------
If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
-- Simone de Beauvoir
------------
If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
-- Maslow
------------
If you put it off long enough, it might go away.
------------
If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.
------------
If you wait long enough, it will go away... after having done its damage.
If it was bad, it will be back.
------------
If you want divine justice, die.
-- Nick Seldon
------------
If your aim in life is nothing, you can't miss.
------------
If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do
have a problem.
-- Richard Bach, "Illusions"
------------
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
-- Voltaire
------------
Immortality -- a fate worse than death.
-- Edgar A. Shoaff
------------
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, delve deep into the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In work, be competent.
In action, be careful of your timing.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
In order to discover who you are, first learn who everybody else is;
you're what's left.
------------
In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom.
It is not always an easy sacrifice.
------------
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart.
-- Ann Frank
------------
In the long run we are all dead.
-- John Maynard Keynes
------------
In the next world, you're on your own.
------------
Indeed, the first noble truth of Buddhism, usually translated as
`all life is suffering,' is more accurately rendered `life is filled
with a sense of pervasive unsatisfactoriness.'
-- M.D. Epstein
------------
Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better.
-- Edgar W. Howe
------------
Intellect annuls Fate.
So far as a man thinks, he is free.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
------------
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations.
------------
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is
lightly greased.
-- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"
------------
It is Fortune, not Wisdom, that rules man's life.
------------
It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do,
that makes life blessed.
-- Goethe
------------
It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live
at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result
is the only thing that makes the result come true.
-- William James
------------
It is only with the heart one can see clearly; what is essential is
invisible to the eye.
-- The Fox, 'The Little Prince"
------------
It is said that the lonely eagle flies to the mountain peaks while the lowly
ant crawls the ground, but cannot the soul of the ant soar as high as the eagle?
------------
It is so stupid of modern civilisation to have given up believing in the
devil when he is the only explanation of it.
-- Ronald Knox, "Let Dons Delight"
------------
It is through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works
and has his being.
-- Thomas Carlyle
------------
It will be advantageous to cross the great stream ... the Dragon is on
the wing in the Sky ... the Great Man rouses himself to his Work.
------------
It's easier to take it apart than to put it back together.
-- Washlesky
------------
It's hard to drive at the limit, but it's harder to know where the limits are.
-- Stirling Moss
------------
It's not reality that's important, but how you perceive things.
------------
"It's today!" said Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.
------------
It's very inconvenient to be mortal -- you never know when everything may
suddenly stop happening.
------------
Joshu: What is the true Way?
Nansen: Every way is the true Way.
J: Can I study it?
N: The more you study, the further from the Way.
J: If I don't study it, how can I know it?
N: The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen.
It does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do
not seek it, study it, or name it. To find yourself on it, open
yourself as wide as the sky.
------------
Just remember, wherever you go, there you are.
-- Buckaroo Bonzai
------------
Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.
-- Muad'dib [Frank Herbert, "Dune"]
------------
Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around us in awareness.
-- James Thurber
------------
Life can be so tragic -- you're here today and here tomorrow.
------------
Life exists for no known purpose.
------------
Life is a grand adventure -- or it is nothing.
-- Helen Keller
------------
Life is knowing how far to go without crossing the line.
------------
Life is like a 10 speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.
-- C. Schultz
------------
Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
-- Tom Lehrer
------------
Life is the childhood of our immortality.
-- Goethe
------------
Life is the living you do, Death is the living you don't do.
-- Joseph Pintauro
------------
Life is the urge to ecstasy.
------------
Life may have no meaning, or, even worse, it may have a meaning of which
you disapprove.
------------
Life only demands from you the strength you possess.
Only one feat is possible -- not to have run away.
-- Dag Hammarskjold
------------
Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all.
-- Thomas J. Kopp
------------
Like, if I'm not for me, then fer shure, like who will be? And if, y'know,
if I'm not like fer anyone else, then hey, I mean, what am I? And if not
now, like I dunno, maybe like when? And if not Who, then I dunno, maybe
like the Rolling Stones?
-- Rich Rosen (Rabbi Valiel's paraphrase of famous quote
attributed to Rabbi Hillel.)
------------
Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is
published around the world -- even if what is published is not true.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
Living in the complex world of the future is somewhat like having bees
live in your head. But, there they are.
------------
Loneliness is a terrible price to pay for independence.
------------
Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and
long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his
pain and his aloneness without regret?
-- Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet"
------------
Man's reach must exceed his grasp, for why else the heavens?
------------
[Maturity consists in the discovery that] there comes a critical moment
where everything is reversed, after which the point becomes to understand
more and more that there is something which cannot be understood.
-- S. Kierkegaard
------------
Mohandas K. Gandhi often changed his mind publicly. An aide once asked him
how he could so freely contradict this week what he had said just last week.
The great man replied that it was because this week he knew better.
------------
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do,
and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the
graduate school mountain but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't
hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt someone.
Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good
for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint
and sing and dance and play and work some every day.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for
traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the
little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and
nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and
hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup -- they all
die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you
learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in
there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and
politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all -- the whole world
-- had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other
nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own
messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into
the world it is best to hold hands and stick together.
-- Robert Fulghum, "All I ever really needed to know I learned
in kindergarten"
------------
Murphy was an optimist.
------------
Murphy's Law is recursive. Washing your car to make it rain doesn't work.
------------
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior
spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive
with our frail and feeble mind.
-- Albert Einstein
------------
My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
-- Christopher Morley
------------
Nasrudin called at a large house to collect for charity. The servant said
"My master is out." Nasrudin replied, "Tell your master that next time he
goes out, he should not leave his face at the window. Someone might steal it."
------------
Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the villagers
gathered around to hear what had passed. "At this time," said Nasrudin, "I
only want to say that the King spoke to me." All the villagers but the
stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The remaining villager
asked, "What did the King say to you?" "What he said -- and quite distinctly,
for everyone to hear -- was 'Get out of my way!'" The simpleton was overjoyed;
he had heard words actually spoken by the King, and seen the very man they
were spoken to.
------------
Nasrudin walked into a shop one day, and the owner came forward to serve
him. Nasrudin said, "First things first. Did you see me walk into your
shop?"
"Of course."
"Have you ever seen me before?"
"Never."
"Then how do you know it was me?"
------------
Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and declaimed, "The moon is more useful
than the sun."
"Why?", he was asked.
"Because at night we need the light more."
------------
Nasrudin was carrying home a piece of liver and the recipe for liver pie.
Suddenly a bird of prey swooped down and snatched the piece of meat from his
hand. As the bird flew off, Nasrudin called after it, "Foolish bird! You
have the liver, but what can you do with it without the recipe?"
------------
Ninety percent of everything is crap.
-- Theodore Sturgeon
------------
Ninety percent of the time things turn out worse than you thought they would.
The other ten percent of the time you had no right to expect that much.
-- Augustine
------------
No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the
Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea,
Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if
a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes
me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
-- John Donne, "No Man is an Iland"
------------
No matter where I go, the place is always called "here".
------------
No use getting too involved in life -- you're only here for a limited time.
------------
Nobody ever ruined their eyesight by looking at the bright side of something.
------------
Nonsense and beauty have close connections.
-- E.M. Forster
------------
Normal times may possibly be over forever.
------------
Not every question deserves an answer.
------------
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
------------
Nothing is as simple as it seems at first
Or as hopeless as it seems in the middle
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
------------
Nothing is but what is not.
------------
Nothing is ever a total loss; it can always serve as a bad example.
------------
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
-- Michel de Montaigne
------------
Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all.
-- Arthur Balfour
------------
Of all men's miseries, the bitterest is this:
to know so much and have control over nothing.
-- Herodotus
------------
Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in.
-- H.R. Haldeman
------------
Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great
crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs
and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and
resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature
said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall
let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."
The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current
you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will
die quicker than boredom!"
But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at
once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet, in time,
as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the
bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See
a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come
to save us all!" And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more
Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us free, if only we dare let go.
Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.
But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to the
rocks, making legends of a Saviour.
-- Richard Bach
------------
Once you've tried to change the world you find it's a whole bunch easier
to change your mind.
------------
One day it was announced that the young monk Kyogen had reached
an enlightened state. Much impressed by this news, several of his peers
went to speak with him.
"We have heard that you are enlightened. Is this true?" his fellow
students inquired.
"It is", Kyogen answered.
"Tell us", said a friend, "how do you feel?"
"As miserable as ever", replied the enlightened Kyogen.
------------
One day the King decided that he would force all his subjects to tell the
truth. A gallows was erected in front of the city gates. A herald announced,
"Whoever would enter the city must first answer the truth to a question
which will be put to him." Nasrudin was first in line. The captain of the
guard asked him, "Where are you going? Tell the truth -- the alternative
is death by hanging."
"I am going," said Nasrudin, "to be hanged on that gallows."
"I don't believe you."
"Very well, if I have told a lie, then hang me!"
"But that would make it the truth!"
"Exactly," said Nasrudin, "your truth."
------------
One learns to itch where one can scratch.
-- Ernest Bramah
------------
One meets his destiny often on the road he takes to avoid it.
------------
One monk said to the other, "The fish has flopped out of the net! How will it
live?" The other said, "When you have gotten out of the net, I'll tell you."
------------
Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying.
-- Baba Ram Dass
------------
Only those who leisurely approach that which the masses are busy about
can be busy about that which the masses take leisurely.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
Paradise is exactly like where you are right now ... only much, much better.
-- Laurie Anderson
------------
Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
when there is no longer anything to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
------------
Perhaps the biggest disappointments were the ones you expected anyway.
------------
Philosophy will clip an angel's wings.
-- John Keats
------------
Push where it gives and scratch where it itches.
------------
Reality always seems harsher in the early morning.
------------
Reality does not exist -- yet.
------------
Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?
-- Patrick Sky
------------
Reality is for people who lack imagination.
------------
Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity.
-- Alvy Ray Smith
------------
Reality is just a crutch for people who can't handle science fiction.
------------
Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
-- Lily Tomlin
------------
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away".
-- Philip K. Dick
------------
Remember, Grasshopper, falling down 1000 stairs begins by tripping over
the first one.
-- Confusion
------------
Rule of Life #1 -- Never get separated from your luggage.
------------
Seeing is believing. You wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't believed it.
------------
Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well
burst out in laughter.
-- Long Chen Pa
------------
So little time, so little to do.
-- Oscar Levant
------------
Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
-- Seneca
------------
Sometimes you get an almost irresistible urge to go on living.
------------
Standards are different for all things, so the standard set by man is by
no means the only 'certain' standard. If you mistake what is relative for
something certain, you have strayed far from the ultimate truth.
-- Chuang Tzu
------------
Suffering alone exists, none who suffer;
The deed there is, but no doer thereof;
Nirvana is, but no one is seeking it;
The Path there is, but none who travel it.
-- "Buddhist Symbolism", Symbols and Values
------------
Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes
a-begging.
-- Martin Luther
------------
Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to
your execution is not generally understood by less advanced life forms,
and they'll call you crazy.
-- "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul"
------------
That that is is that that is not is not.
------------
That, that is, is.
That, that is not, is not.
That, that is, is not that, that is not.
That, that is not, is not that, that is.
------------
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.
-- A. Camus
------------
The best you get is an even break.
-- Franklin Adams
------------
"The chain which can be yanked is not the eternal chain."
-- G. Fitch
------------
The chief cause of problems is solutions.
-- Eric Sevareid
------------
The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.
-- Alfred Adler
------------
The days are all empty and the nights are unreal.
------------
The door is the key.
------------
The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing,
the mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its
own capacity. ... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god
of the Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god
of the center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together
what they could do to repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas
everyone else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and
so on, Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes
in him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
-- Chuang Tzu
------------
The farther you go, the less you know.
-- Lao Tsu, "Tao Te Ching"
------------
The final delusion is the belief that one has lost all delusions.
-- Maurice Chapelain, "Main courante"
------------
The first requisite for immortality is death.
-- Stanislaw Lem
------------
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
-- Sophocles
------------
The longest part of the journey is said to be the passing of the gate.
-- Marcus Terentius Varro
------------
The major sin is the sin of being born.
-- Samuel Beckett
------------
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice
and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the
master calls a butterfly.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and
robbers there will be.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
------------
The moss on the tree does not fear the talons of the hawk.
------------
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably
not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
-- H.L. Mencken
------------
The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions.
------------
The only happiness lies in reason; all the rest of the world is dismal.
The highest reason, however, I see in the work of the artist, and he may
experience it as such. Happiness lies in the swiftness of feeling and
thinking: all the rest of the world is slow, gradual and stupid. Whoever
could feel the course of a light ray would be very happy, for it is very
swift. Thinking of oneself gives little happiness. If, however, one feels
much happiness in this, it is because at bottom one is not thinking of
oneself but of one's ideal. This is far, and only the swift shall reach
it and are delighted.
-- Nietzsche
------------
The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
and the pessimist knows it.
-- J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists"
------------
Yet creeds mean very little, Coth answered the dark god, still speaking
almost gently. The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
-- James Cabell, "The Silver Stallion"
------------
The Poems, all three hundred of them, may be summed up in one of their phrases:
"Let our thoughts be correct".
-- Confucius
------------
The price of success in philosophy is triviality.
-- C. Glymour.
------------
The questions remain the same. The answers are eternally variable.
------------
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but
that's the way to bet.
-- Damon Runyon
------------
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits,
but not when it misses.
-- Francis Bacon
------------
The savior becomes the victim.
------------
The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
------------
The state of innocence contains the germs of all future sin.
-- Alexandre Arnoux, "Etudes et caprices"
------------
The true way goes over a rope which is not stretched at any great height
but just above the ground. It seems more designed to make people stumble
than to be walked upon.
-- Franz Kafka
------------
The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.
-- Oscar Wilde
------------
The truth is what is; what should be is a dirty lie.
-- Lenny Bruce
------------
The truth of a thing is the feel of it, not the think of it.
-- Stanley Kubrick
------------
The truth you speak has no past and no future. It is, and that's all it
needs to be.
------------
The world is your exercise-book, the pages on which you do your sums.
It is not reality, although you can express reality there if you wish.
You are also free to write nonsense, or lies, or to tear the pages.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
There are no accidents whatsoever in the universe.
-- Baba Ram Dass
------------
There are no winners in life, only survivors.
------------
There are ten or twenty basic truths, and life is the process of
discovering them over and over and over.
-- David Nichols
------------
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
------------
There is no comfort without pain; thus we define salvation through suffering.
-- Cato
------------
There is no cure for birth and death other than to enjoy the interval.
-- George Santayana
------------
There is no sin but ignorance.
-- Christopher Marlowe
------------
There is nothing which cannot be answered by means of my doctrine," said
a monk, coming into a teahouse where Nasrudin sat.
"And yet just a short time ago, I was challenged by a scholar with
an unanswerable question," said Nasrudin.
"I could have answered it if I had been there."
"Very well. He asked, 'Why are you breaking into my house in
the middle of the night?'"
------------
There's only one everything.
------------
To get something clean, one has to get something dirty.
To get something dirty, one does not have to get anything clean.
------------
To give happiness is to deserve happiness.
------------
To give of yourself, you must first know yourself.
------------
To have died once is enough.
-- Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil)
------------
To lead people, you must follow behind.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now -- always.
-- Albert Schweitzer
------------
Truth is hard to find and harder to obscure.
------------
Truth never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy
of him that brought her birth.
-- Milton
------------
Two men came before Nasrudin when he was magistrate. The first man said,
"This man has bitten my ear -- I demand compensation." The second man said,
"He bit it himself." Nasrudin withdrew to his chambers, and spent an hour
trying to bite his own ear. He succeeded only in falling over and bruising
his forehead. Returning to the courtroom, Nasrudin pronounced, "Examine the
man whose ear was bitten. If his forehead is bruised, he did it himself and
the case is dismissed. If his forehead is not bruised, the other man did it
and must pay three silver pieces."
------------
Two men were sitting over coffee, contemplating the nature of things,
with all due respect for their breakfast. "I wonder why it is that
toast always falls on the buttered side," said one.
"Tell me," replied his friend, "why you say such a thing. Look
at this." And he dropped his toast on the floor, where it landed on the
dry side.
"So, what have you to say for your theory now?"
"What am I to say? You obviously buttered the wrong side."
------------
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
-- Euripides
------------
We can embody the truth, but we cannot know it.
-- Yates
------------
We have nowhere else to go... this is all we have.
-- Margaret Mead
------------
We have only two things to worry about: That things will never get
back to normal, and that they already have.
------------
We have reason to be afraid. This is a terrible place.
-- John Berryman
------------
We rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who,
content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest.
-- Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace)
------------
We're all in this alone.
-- Lily Tomlin
------------
We're mortal -- which is to say, we're ignorant, stupid, and sinful --
but those are only handicaps. Our pride is that nevertheless, now and
then, we do our best. A few times we succeed. What more dare we ask for?
-- Ensign Flandry
------------
"We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is
weird because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me
the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious,
unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must accept
responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous
desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must
learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a
short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it."
-- Don Juan
------------
Well, he thought, since neither Aristotelian Logic nor the disciplines
of Science seemed to offer much hope, it's time to go beyond them...
Drawing a few deep even breaths, he entered a mental state practiced
only by Masters of the Universal Way of Zen. In it his mind floated freely,
able to rummage at will among the bits and pieces of data he had absorbed,
undistracted by any outside disturbances. Logical structures no longer
inhibited him. Pre-conceptions, prejudices, ordinary human standards vanished.
All things, those previously trivial as well as those once thought important,
became absolutely equal by acquiring an absolute value, revealing relationships
not evident to ordinary vision. Like beads strung on a string of their own
meaning, each thing pointed to its own common ground of existence, shared by
all. Finally, each began to melt into each, staying itself while becoming
all others. And Mind no longer contemplated Problem, but became Problem,
destroying Subject-Object by becoming them.
Time passed, unheeded.
Eventually, there was a tentative stirring, then a decisive one, and
Nakamura arose, a smile on his face and the light of laughter in his eyes.
-- Wayfarer
------------
Well, you know, no matter where you go, there you are.
-- Buckaroo Banzai
------------
"Well," Brahma said, "even after ten thousand explanations, a fool is no
wiser, but an intelligent man requires only two thousand five hundred."
-- The Mahabharata.
------------
What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
-- Nietzsche
------------
What makes the universe so hard to comprehend is that there's nothing
to compare it with.
------------
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
-- Ursula K. LeGuin
------------
What we Are is God's gift to us.
What we Become is our gift to God.
------------
Whatever occurs from love is always beyond good and evil.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
------------
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
-- Gandhi
------------
When it's dark enough you can see the stars.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson,
------------
When the speaker and he to whom he is speaks do not understand, that is
metaphysics.
-- Voltaire
------------
When the wind is great, bow before it;
when the wind is heavy, yield to it.
------------
When you are young, you enjoy a sustained illusion that sooner or later
something marvelous is going to happen, that you are going to transcend
your parents' limitations... At the same time, you feel sure that in all
the wilderness of possibility; in all the forests of opinion, there is a
vital something that can be known -- known and grasped. That we will
eventually know it, and convert the whole mystery into a coherent
narrative. So that then one's true life -- the point of everything --
will emerge from the mist into a pure light, into total comprehension.
But it isn't like that at all. But if it isn't, where did the idea come
from, to torture and unsettle us?
-- Brian Aldiss, "Helliconia Summer"
------------
When you die, you lose a very important part of your life.
-- Brooke Shields
------------
Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.
-- Lao Tsu
------------
Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
-- J. Winter Smith
------------
Wisdom is rarely found on the best-seller list.
------------
[Wisdom] is a tree of life to those laying
hold of her, making happy each one holding her fast.
-- Proverbs 3:18, NSV
------------
With listening comes wisdom, with speaking repentance.
------------
Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
-- Socrates, quoting Plato
[Huh? That's like Johnson quoting Boswell]
------------
Work Hard.
Rock Hard.
Eat Hard.
Sleep Hard.
Grow Big.
Wear Glasses If You Need 'Em.
-- The Webb Wilder Credo
------------
Yes, but which self do you want to be?
------------
You are never given a wish without also being given the
power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.
-- R. Bach, "Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for
the Advanced Soul"
------------
You can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.
-- Tim Leary
------------
You can get *anywhere* in ten minutes if you drive fast enough.
------------
You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.
------------
You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
-- Jeannette Rankin
------------
You can observe a lot just by watching.
-- Yogi Berra
------------
You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
------------
You can't get there from here.
------------
You can't mend a wristwatch while falling from an airplane.
------------
You can't push on a string.
------------
You can't run away forever,
But there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start.
-- Jim Steinman, "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through"
------------
"You can't survive by sucking the juice from a wet mitten."
-- Charles Schulz, "Things I've Had to Learn Over and
Over and Over"
------------
You can't take it with you -- especially when crossing a state line.
------------
You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads
lead down.
-- Stanislaw Lem, "The Cyberiad"
------------
You have all eternity to be cautious in when you're dead.
-- Lois Platford
------------
You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are.
If you want to get anywhere, you'll have to run much faster.
-- Lewis Carroll
------------
"You mean, if you allow the master to be uncivil, to treat you
any old way he likes, and to insult your dignity, then he may deem you
fit to hear his view of things?"
"Quite the contrary. You must defend your integrity, assuming
you have integrity to defend. But you must defend it nobly, not by
imitating his own low behavior. If you are gentle where he is rough,
if you are polite where he is uncouth, then he will recognize you as
potentially worthy. If he does not, then he is not a master, after all,
and you may feel free to kick his ass."
-- Tom Robbins, "Jitterbug Perfume"
------------
You will always find something in the last place you look.
------------
"You would do well not to imagine profundity," he said. "Anything that seems
of momentous occasion should be dwelt upon as though it were of slight note.
Conversely, trivialities must be attended to with the greatest of care.
Because death is momentous, give it no thought; because victory is important,
give it no thought; because the method of achievement and discovery is less
momentous than the effect, dwell always upon the method. You will strengthen
yourself in this way."
-- Jessica Salmonson, "The Swordswoman"
------------
Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life.
------------
Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart, what is true.
------------
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being
true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the
mark of a fake messiah. The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What
are you doing? Think about these once in awhile and watch your answers
change.
-- Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul
------------
Your picture of the world often changes just before you get it into focus.
------------
Your wig steers the gig.
-- Lord Buckley
------------
You may be marching to the beat of a different drummer, but you're
still in the parade.
------------
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
-- Muriel Rukeyser
------------
Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
-- Jean-Paul Sartre
------------
There is a secret person undamaged within every individual.
-- Paul Shepard
------------
We are governed not by armies and police but by ideas.
-- Mona Caird, 1892
------------
The first

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Zen Koan ( at least attributed to one):

Teacher:
Student, tell me,
what should you do if you meet the Buddha along the road?


Student:
Kill Him


Apparently if you still see the Buddha as a separate being, you are not enlightened...







To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[jebenson]

This (paraphrased, I'm sure) quote was somebody's signature line here on TT a while back:

Experience is that thing you get right after you need it.

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

Arrrr, mateys! Ye needs ta be preparin' yerselves fer Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ye has a choice: talk like a pira

 

[j0ckser]

There are 3 short works that adorn my wall: Sunscreen is one, Footprints is another; and the third i will post later.

FOOTPRINTS

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

Written by Mary Stevenson. Mary wrote 'Footprints' in 1936 when she was very young and knew nothing of copyrighting. For many years handwritten copies were distributed by Mary to those who needed something to give them comfort at a low point in their lives. It was sometime after this that friends of Mary saw it in print and wondered why she wasn't given credit for writing it. An attorney at that time told her that it would be very hard to prove her the author since it had been used by many publishers of religious materials and greeting cards. Discouraged she didn't pursue it any further.

In 1984 while cleaning out the garage to prepare to move from her house, in a small suitcase, among her other poems, she rediscovered a very old handwritten copy that she thought was lost. It was one of the copies Mary had made and dated 1939, just three years after she wrote the original. Later that year the U.S. copyright office awarded her a copyright for 'Footprints in the Sand' 48 years after it was written. It was another 11 years before her handwritten copy was authenticated by a forensic specialist as to its age.

to this day a chill goes up my spine and i get misty-eyed reading this.

per ardua ad astra

 

[j0ckser]

If you seek the correct answer you must first prepare the correct question, then you must ask the correct person. Either without the other is insufficient.

j0ckser

per ardua ad astra

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Kant's categoric imperative:

"Act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

There is a more populistic version:
"Don't do to other's, what you don't want to be done to yourself."

The only weak thing about this, it does only tell you what not to do. So the wisdom should be: Have as much fun in life as possible whilst considering this. Everthing else will just follow naturally.

Bye, Olaf.