When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. The bathwater should be carefully checked to make sure no baby is contained therein before throwing it out. -- Iamatlas (slashdot) If you don't have a backup, you have no plan. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them. - - - Coco Chanel The world is no nursery. - Sigmund Freud God grant me the strength to change the things I must, the wisdom to know what I must change, and the rationality to know God isn't the key person here. - Eliezer S. Yudkowsky Doing things RIGHT beats doing things with just EFFORT every time. Greg Burch. There's only one thing more beautiful than a beautiful dream, and that's a beautiful reality. - Ashleigh Brilliant Putamus viam semper esse There is always a way If "everybody knows" such-and-such, then it ain't so, by at least ten thousand to one. -- Robert Heinlein Lev idag, imorgon kan det bli styrelsemöte. - Håkan Andersson He who hopes to grow in spirit will have to transcend obedience and respect. He'll hold to some laws but he'll mostly violate both law and custom, and go beyond the established, inadequate norm. Sensual pleasures will have much to teach him. He won't be afraid of the destructive act: half the house will have to come down. This way he'll grow virtuously into wisdom. -- Constantine P. Cavafy, Growing in Spirit Whatever you do, a good marketing dpt. will make it look better. This is sad. -- gTsiros Worry is a circle of inefficient thought whirling around a pivot of fear -MJ September 1955? CONCERNING ACTS OF CREATION Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning 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 favor all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamt would come their way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. -- GOETHE You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. --Henry Ford Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. --Benjamin Franklin He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book. --Benjamin Franklin Never confuse motion with action. --Benjamin Franklin Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself. --Erich Fromm Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot. D. H. Lawrence Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt Luckily, we can see further even if we stand on the shoulders of dwarfs. Damien Broderick Y'see, I figure I've got two choices at my stage. I can try to make my world grow bigger, or I can let it get smaller -- and if I don't do the one then the other's gonna happen in time... -- Uncle Max, in ZOT! #3 "No one can be a unique individual until one knows who they are. Defining oneself should be a personal priority." Lani Picard Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds Demand The correlation between bravery and correct results is statistically insignificant when compared to right planning and right resources. Daniel Keys Moran, LeftBehind ``If you have a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's much easier to apologize than to get permission.'' - Rear Adm. Grace Hopper Mondaugen's Law: "Personal Density is directly proportional to temporal bandwidth." Temporal bandwidth is the width of your present, your *now*. It is the familiar "delta-t" considered as a dependent variable. The more you dwell in the past and in the future, the thicker your bandwidth, the more solid your personal. But the narrower your sense of Now, the more tenuous you are. It may get to where you're having trouble remembering what you were doing five minutes ago, or even--as Slothrop now-- what you're doing *here*, at the base of this colossal curved embankment.... Thomas Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow (509) "If the eye is the window of the soul, then that window needs a shade. If the brain is a computer, then the eye is an open port, an unsecured opening against hackers." -- Steve Mann make simple actions monumental, and monumental actions simple. -whisper softly (oelectra@hotmail.com), June 29, 2001. My moronic mnemonic for smart behavior: "DICKS" == diplomacy, integrity, courage, kindness, skepticism. Michael M. Butler You can do anything, but not everything" Adam Wern Sleep is actually a good substitute for coffee -Bill Arms Don't burn your bridges while you're standing on them. -Colin MacDonald Mark S. Miller once said, "It's edifying to witness how someone a lot smarter than I am can be dead wrong." T.T.T Put up in a place where it's easy to see the cryptic admonishment T.T.T. When you feel how depressingly slowly you climb, it's well to remember that Things Take Time. Piet Hein PROBLEMS Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back. Piet Hein THE ROAD TO WISDOM The road to wisdom? - Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less. Piet Hein A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP Whenever you're called on to make up your mind, and you're hampered by not having any, the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find, is simply by spinning a penny. No - not so that chance shall decide the affair while you're passively standing there moping; but the moment the penny is up in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping Piet Hein The mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with similar energy. It would not perhaps be too fanciful to say that a new idea is the most quickly acting antigen known to science. If we watch ourselves honestly we shall often find that we have begun to argue against a new idea even before it has been completely stated. Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter (1872-1939) English surgeon. My life doesn't need sex and violence. It has plot. Eliezer Yudkowsky PEOPLE'S WHOLE LIVES DO PASS IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES BEFORE THEY DIE. THE PROCESS IS CALLED 'LIVING'. -- (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent) motherfuckers better realize, now is the time to self actualize. Krust, Coded Language Ignorance of your profession is best concealed by solemnity and silence, which pass for profound knowledge upon the generality of mankind. -------"Advice to Officers of the British Army", 1783 "It is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final." -- Anonymous You did something because it had always been done, and the explanation was "but we've always done it this way." A million dead people can't have been wrong, can they? -- (Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant) Authority belongs to the one who best answers those who question authority. J. R. Molloy" Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdues both intelligence and skill Cicero Nullus est liber tam malus ut non aliqua parte prosit There is no book so bad that it is not profitable in some part Pliny the Younger (C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus) The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the mind. ---William Blake "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" The moment you step into the world of facts, you step into a world of limits. -- G K Chesterton: Orthodoxy "When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow." -Anaïs Nin, The Diaries of Anaïs Nin The republication of unverified, outrageous claims makes you part of the *PROBLEM*, not part of the *solution*. DO NOT TRUST, ALWAYS VERIFY Robert Bradbury I'm not particularly materialistic, but wealth is one of the most valuable tools for survival - it allows you breathing room in times of crisis. Peter Passaro "You've got to think about 'big things' while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." Alvin Toffler The friend of my enemy may also be my friend -- if the price is right. HAL: I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do. 2001 The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us. -- Mario Cuomo The Universe is now! "Don't go through life, grow through life." - Butterworth, Eric "We are here to do. And through doing to learn; and through learning to know; and through knowing to experience wonder; and through wonder to attain wisdom; and through wisdom to find simplicity; and through simplicity to give attention; and through attention to see what needs to be done..." (Pirke Avot) A bad idea's worst fear is to be questioned, for then it will be seen for what it truly is. A good idea's greatest desire is to be questioned, for then it will be seen for what it truly is. David Musick Glen Finney, "View the Past with Skepticism, the Future with Optimism, and the Present with Opportunism." When you want to find a cure for cancer, you don't waste time arguing with Christian Scientists. J. R. Molloy "I hurt, I will heal, I will learn, I will grow stronger. Always." -- Carl Fransen, 1994 ``Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.'' (1 Thess. 5:21-22) You are what you know You are what you do Help yourself No more secrets No more excuses No more limits - Flashback Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. They are a source of useless nit-picking, the ferocious quibble over a comma. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in this universe. He must remain capable of saying: "There's no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we'll correct that when we come to it." The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our universe is merely part of larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: "Now what is this thing doing?" The Mentat Handbook CHoD 221 Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way. Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They are more afraid of life than death. - James F. Byrnes Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. "Be flexible, and you won't get bent out of shape" Those who say it can't be done are usually standing in the way of the ones doing it. You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything! It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier. > -xx- GSV The Low Golden Willow X-) > > We are animals who are becoming gods. We should expect some of our > higher accomplishments to shock our lower selves. But we should not let > shock decide our lives or policies. >> The past is what you make of it now. >> The present is what you make of it now. >> The future will be what you make of it now. Kennita Watson Popularity and truth don't really seem to have very much correlation. Eric Watt Forste "Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence. Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision." "Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change" Frank Lloyd Wright Given any controversial topic, any book about it that reaches the best-seller list is most likely wrong. - Henry Palka of Hartford, Connecticut I believe that there are three questions for each of us: "Which way do you want the universe to go?" [Heart], "What do you need to do to accomplish it?" [Mind], and "Why don't you get off your seat and do it, dammit?" [Body] Caliban "It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier." Heinlein "You live and learn. Or you don't live long." Heinlein There is serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane. I don't give soundbites. I give whole meals. A thousand people cannot convince one by words to the extent that one person can convince a thousand by action (Dk6.e15) "Opportunities multiply as they are seized." - Sun-Tzu People who die from ordinary dangers are dead exactly the same amount as people who die from extraordinary dangers. Tim Freeman Specialisation paralyses, ultra-specialisation kills. Teilhard de Chardin "There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: (1) not going all the way; and (2) not starting." -- Buddha --- "Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it." -- Gordon R. Dickson "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." Salvador Hardin Es ist nicht genug zu wissen, man muss auch anwenden. Es ist nicht genug zu wollen, man muss auch tun. -- Goethe "Faith is good, but skepticism is better" - Giuseppe Verdi --- "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature ... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. -- Sandra Carey The most important reason to listen to critics is: you might be wrong. ---Robin Hanson You have to have a purpose. Why are you studying? Most great martial artists have these purposes: 1) Self improvement. They never quit. They practice all their lives to improve. 2) They realize that it is their own self improvement that is the positive thing that rubs off on others. Both good for themselves, and good for those that come in contact with them. Soke Masaaki Hatsumi Study nothing except in the knowledge that you already know it. Worship nothing except in adoration of your true self. And fear nothing except in the certainty that you are your enemy's begetter. Maestro Sartori, _Imajica_, Clive Barker Limitations set you free. Stravinsky KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! Data is not information is not knowledge is not wisdom. Arthur C. Clarke's Laws: 1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. Whe he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 2. The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. 3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. LAWRENCE'S PILLARS OF WISDOM: 1. You do not need to be in a position of power. You need only be in a position to influence those in power. Few are in the prior and fewer are those who are not in the latter. 2. Find the prophet. This is the person whom you will influence to make your vision a reality. 3. Keep your agenda a secret from those who would undermine it. 4. Share your agenda with those whom you trust. This will allow you to drum up support when the time is right. 5. Focus your vision by giving it a goal. Give your vision a "Damascus." 6. Do not seek permission to influence those in power. 7. Seize the opportunities to influence events as they come your way. Leave it better than you found it. -- Pay close attention to everything, and improve everything you can. -- David Musick I can think of lots of creative terrorist actions. So can anyone else with half a brain. Thankfully, most terrorists aren't that bright. Don't share your brain with terrorists. Adam Ierymenko Always listen to your cortex. Patrick M. Don't break the Law...fix it. ;^) If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting. -Stephen Covey, First Things First A short saying often contains much wisdom. - Sophocles Fear Controls Knowledge. Knowledge Controls Fear. The most important skill is the skill to learn new skills Paul Bourke My mother used to tell me: "Do the best that you can with the tools that you have, and as soon as you can, get better tools." Romana Machado "Learn as though you were going to live forever, Live as though you were going to die tomorrow." Old Hebrew Saying "Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand." Ancient Proverb FEED THE VISIONARIES. And spread their ideas. Alexander "Will Think For Food" Chislenko. Take inspiration from a dreamer. Take advice from a cynic. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. - Japanese Proverb "I'm not trying to counsel any of you to do anything really special except to dare to think and to dare to go with the truth and to dare to really love completely. " Buckminster Fuller