Aristotle on Excellence

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”  (Aristotle)

According to Einstein

According to Albert Einstein, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

True.  Perhaps everyone is guilty of this at one time or another.

Margaret Drabble on Certainty

"When nothing is sure, everything is possible."  (Margaret Drabble)

Uplifting.

Churchill on Success and Failure

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal:  it is the courage to continue that counts."  (Winston Churchill)

The Wisdom of Dr. Seuss

"Today you are you, that is truer than true.
 There is no one alive who is youer than you."  (Dr. Seuss)

Fun stuff.

Confucius Says

"It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop." (Confucius)

Guess we can exempt eating from this.

Socrates on Ignorance

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."  (Socrates)

(The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know.)

Seng Ts'an

"When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity, your very effort fills you with activity." (Seng Ts'an)

Actor, Ralph Fiennes on Success

"Success?  It is all about being able to extend love to people.  Not in a big, capital-letter sense, but in the everyday.  Little by little, gesture by gesture, word by word."  (Ralph Fiennes)

I love this notion.

From Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite playwrights.  His writing is insightful, pithy, witty and charming, and usually involves satire about the human condition and social mores of the time which tend to transcend time.  According to him:  "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."

I like it!

Sir Winston Churchill

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." (Sir Winston Churchill)

Amusing truth.

Einstein

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

Ha. Ha.

Romans, Verse 5

"...suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us..."

Hope is essential in life.  There is much hope behind another expression:  "this too shall pass" from an old proverb.  I use this expression frequently.  For me, it inspires hope that as time moves forward, whatever difficulties I am currently facing shall pass (even though how I choose to use the expression does not utilize the full interpretation of the proverb.)

Hobbes

"Without the Arts, man would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."  (Thomas Hobbes)


For decades, this has remained my favourite quotation.

Freud on Maturity

Sigmund Freud once said that the two hallmarks of a healthy maturity are the capacities to love and to work. 

I agree with this, but disagree with many of the other things Freud has come up with...

Rod McKuen

"...Sometimes the distance that you keep is as difficult for me to bear as proximity would be to anyone I didn't care for." (Rod McKuen)

Thomas Paine: Sublime and Ridiculous

The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately.  One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.
(Thomas Paine)


In case any of you are wondering, sublime means: of high moral, aesthetic, intellectual, or spiritual value; noble; exalted; inspiring deep veneration, awe, or uplifting emotion because of its beauty, nobility, grandeur, or immensity.  (Thefreedictionary.com)

Miles and Johnson on Character

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."
(James D. Miles)  and "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." (Samuel Johnson)

Help those less fortunate...

Goethe: Commitment

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.  Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.  All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.  A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.  Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Another From Emerson

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Emerson: Be Yourself

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

That's for sure.

Herbert Hoover: On War

"Older men declare war.  But it is the youth that must fight and die.  And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow, and the triumphs that follow the aftermath of war."

Enough said.

Albert Einstein

"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted."  (Albert Einstein)

One of my favourite sentiments.

On Marriage

"Seems that the thought of marriage fills him with an impending sense of doom."  (Spoken by Nathan Fillion's character, Richard Castle, on the CTV crime drama, Castle.)

Mere Shadow

"I'm a mere shadow of my former self." 
(Anonymous)

On Character

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously.  This is how character is built."
(Eleanor Roosevelt)

Weakness of Attitude

According to Albert Einstein, "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character". 

True, indeed.

James Baldwin - Poverty and Change

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."  Very true.

"Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor."  This is thought-provoking and contains many layers not first apparent. 

(James Baldwin, American novelist/author)

Muppet Wisdom

'Muppet' wisdom:  "Every day is the first day of what's left of your life."  (Wired magazine, "Better Living Through Science", November 2011, p. 169.) 

A twist on the usual adage.

Do I Look Okay?

“This is my face; get used to it.”  (Spoken by Annette Bening’s character in the movie, The Women as she walked through Saks Fifth Avenue and after a saleswoman said to her “face lift in a jar?”). 

I especially love this, considering that we (women and girls) are constantly bombarded with messages (apart from the Dove ads) that it's not okay to look real - to be natural - to look like ourselves.  If we are actually satisfied with how we look, well, we are simply delusional and would look so much better if we just had - pick one, or more - butt implants, cheek sculpting, collagen added to parts of our face and our lips, botox injections to remove frown lines and other wrinkles, a 'perfecting' face cream, vaginal surgery, our private parts fully waxed to remove all 'unsightly' hair, hair extensions, no grey hair, fake nails, bleached teeth, capped teeth, bleached skin, our tummy tucked, our thighs liposuctioned, and our breasts enlarged!  (Enough said?)

Omission Equals Oppression

  

Heard this on O’Reilly on Advertising (CBC Radio 1):  "Omission is a form of oppression".  This is very true.  During the show, O'Reilly was speaking about the experience of African-Americans - how they were ignored by advertisers - left out of advertising - and, that this omission was, in fact, a form of oppression.  There was also a case in Uganda concerning persons with albinism which also found this theory to be true.  And, I have personal experience with this form of oppression, so for me, it rings true.

Misplaced Surmising

I get very annoyed when people say that God doesn't give people more than they can handle.  Oh, really?  What's up with suicide, then, or with mental breakdown?

Pure rubbish, in my opinion.

Anonymous: Hiding

I have no intention of hiding from the world because others can't accept who I am.  (Anonymous)

A good strategy.

Knowing

"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment."  (Lao Tzu) 

From "Women's Infidelity II"

According to Michelle Langley, author of the above-noted book: "...in order for people to live on autopilot, they must be transfixed, or focused upon that which can never be attained. In our culture we are focused on the perpetuated belief that happiness can be achieved in the future by acquiring money and things as well as by finding the right mate and having children."

From the Movie, "Little Children"

I like this:  "It's a hunger for the alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness."  (Spoken by Kate Winslet's character in the movie, Little Children.)

Who You Are

I saw this on someone's blog the other day:  "You are who you make up your mind to be."

I think that someone who suffers from psychosis or schizophrenia or bipolar disease would find this as patently false and objectionable as I do.

Grounds for Divorce

Okay, this one, I admit, is from a Chinese fortune cookie. 

"Man who serves wife bad coffee gives her grounds for divorce." 

Shakespeare on Love

From Much Ado About Nothing:  "Speak low if you speak love."

Emily Dickinson on Nature

Emily Dickinson once wrote, "How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude."

I think that people who have been through hurricanes or tornadoes would beg to differ.