Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici "By the force of truth, I, while living, have conquered the Universe" -- Crowley's motto as a Master of the Temple. Meanwhile, I want to know EVERYTHING, and cannot imagine any of our intellectual descendants being satisfied with anything less. Compared to them, I'll wager, my most extreme lusts for understanding are paltry indeed. That's why they'll take over the universe, and almost desperately make copies of themselves and coerce all matter to support calculation---and MORE than mere calculation: wonderful wonderful wonderful experience. -- Lee Corbin I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. -- Jack London Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire To grasp thiss sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits -- and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! -- Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat, Edward J. FitzGerald transl Greek myths are heroic, noble and tragic; but the American Dream is heroic, comical, and uplifting. Americans are a people in whom overweening ambition is rewarded, not punished. The Wright Brothers did not have their wings melt when they flew too high. Perhaps their wings were more soundly built than those of Icarus. -- John C. Wright Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri "To transcend one's spirit and to take hold of (to master) the world." -- the Fields medal But should the domain of man appear small, pathetic and full of strife, in contrast with the preceding remote vastness? Of all people, Beethoven must have known with terrible immediacy the human mind's need for heroism if it is to face the staggering fact of its own creation. It can truly be said that the Ninth is the product of an imagination possible to few at first hand, but, through them, available to many. Such creative power can produce reactions of exaltation and despair. The latter is a common romantic response, but the former is more realistic in its realization that man is the only being that can sustain such feats. And even if the creative impulse reaches self-defeating limits, it is itself as marvellous as the infinities that defeat it. But defeat can lead to despair, and here the highest type of heroism must be summoned: when man reels from the impact of his own imagination, let him wonder at the very powers with which he is able to stagger himself! Beethoven says in effect: The visions of the first two movements seem to reduce man to the size of a microbe; but a man conceived them -- so let us all rejoice in our own potentialities." -- Robert Simpson At the Village Pizza shop, as they were sitting down to consume a pepperoni, Dorothy asked Jim, "So what other inventions are you working on?" Jim replied, "I've got a new idea, but it's really evolutionary. Literally REVOLUTIONARY." "Okay, Jim, which government are you planning to overthrow?," she asked, playing along. "All of them," answered Jim. -- Jim Bell, Assassination Politics The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. Elliot Carver Some people call it megalomania, I call it healthy self-esteem. discwuzit@yahoo.comdrashner1 I remember when I first learned the word "omniscient". I thought that was a reasonable goal to aim for. Samatha Atkins All we have to dare to do is throw away the old and difficult and embrace what's new and difficult and wonderful! White Mars, Brian Aldiss and Roger Penrose Our own grandchildren may demonstrate that--sometimes--Gigantic is Beautiful. -- Arthur C. Clarke John F. Kennedy, speech at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963: "Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings." Don't try to be rich, try to be God. Thomas Scott Painter No one can predict to what heights you can soar. Even you will not know until you spread your wings. Our aspirations are our possibilities. "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." R.A. Heinlein People always fin it easier to be a result of the past rather than a cause of the future. "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." - Sir Winston Churchill Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -Mark Twain To make a great dream come true, you must first have a great dream. --Dr. Hans Selye We move because we hate the idea of standing still. We create because we want something new in our life. We take the next step because we want to rise above. This is our mission, this is our passion. Daewoo Unless you try to do something beyond what you have mastered, you will never grow. ~ C.R. Lawton ~ I am responsible only to God and history. --Francisco Franco 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 Mediocrity is not an option! -Alonzo The Great Perfection is our goal. Excellence will be tolerated. - TQM Motto from the International Association of Business Communication The childhood shows the man As morning shows the day. Be famous then By wisdom; as thy empire must extend, So let extend thy mind o'er all the world. ~ John Milton, Paradise Regained Your attitude determines your altitude. You and I - we're dedicated to being better than the "average Joe." We're dedicated to constant improvement. The Japanese call this "Kaizen." In more ways than one, this is what bodybuilding is all about: always moving forward. Bill Phillips, Muscle Media "...no matter how far we go into the future, there will always be new things happening, new technologies coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness, and memory" "I think I have shown that there are good scientific reasons for taking seriously the possibility that life and intelligence can succeed in molding this universe of ours to their own purposes." Freeman Dyson You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd. "Your ambitions are bigger than life" "Of course. They must be. They encompass it." Bruce Sterling, Schismatrix ``We're always playing God. Even curing disease is playing God -- it's interfering with nature. We've been playing God since we invented the plow.'' --Jeffrey Reiman, philosophy professor, American University. Filosoferna har nojt sig med att forklara varlden pa olika satt. Uppgiften ar att forandra den. Karl Marx Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire. - Orison S. Marder There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul. - From The Poem "Will" By Ella Wheeler Wilcox If you can dream it, you can do it. - Walt Disney Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly. -- Horace (65-8 B.C.) Sikta mot stjärnorna, så hamnar du i alla fall någon stans där emellan "Where there is no vision, the people perish." --Proverbs 29:18 Too low they build, who build beneath the stars. "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dreams of yesterday are the hopes of today, and the realities of tomorrow. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt The price to be paid for certainty of vision is the compulsion, or sense of cosmic obligation, to translate vision into action and share it with others. T. Kun "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not something to be worked for, but rather something to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryant "Here's to the future to the dreams of youth It's not much I'm asking if you want the truth I want it all I want it all and I want it NOW!" "I want it all", Queen "I am content, but I can never be fullfilled. No living creature ever can be; and that is the real miracle of life." Demeter Mother, "Harvest of Stars" by Poul Anderson