Life is not always a matter of holding good cards,
~ Jack London
but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.
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Quotes
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.
Protest Against Idleness
It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad in order to make a failure in life; simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written her protest against idleness; that which remains inactive, rapidly deteriorates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the constant effort to get higher and further, which develops manhood and character.
~ James Terry White
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Fitness
Fitness is not about being better than someone else,
~ unknown
it’s about being better than you used to be.
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Virtus
Without an adversary, virtus shrivels. We see how great and how viable virtus is when, by endurance, it shows what it is capable of.
~ Seneca
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Specialization is for insects
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.
~ Robert Heinlein
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Stand erect
A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
~ Marcus Aurelius
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The right state of mind
Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. When I believe I can, I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.
~ Mohandas Gandhi
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Prove yourself
No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.
~ Seneca
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Create something
If you want to really hurt you parents … the least you can do is go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.
~ Kurt Vonnegut
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Simple in our tastes
We greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
~ Thucydides
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Come to the edge
Come to the edge.
~ Christopher Logue
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It’s too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came,
and he pushed,
and they flew.
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Don’t waste time
Be a good person, but don’t waste time trying to prove it.
~ unknown
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Our numbered days
Here is a list of fearful things:
~ Clive Barker
The jaws of sharks, a vulture’s wings,
The rabid bite of the dog’s of war,
The voice of one who went before.
But most of all the mirror’s gaze,
which counts us out our numbered days.
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They will laugh
First they will laugh.
~ unknown
Then they will copy.
Don’t. Give. Up.
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Time well spent
The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened, it’s just wonderful. And … the opportunity to spend 70 or 80 years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.
~ Douglas Adams
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Genius
Genius is the power of carrying the feelings of childhood into the powers of manhood.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Happiness
I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
~ J. Richard Lessor
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A big yes
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”
~ Stephen Covey
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Mathematics
To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature. C.P. Snow talked about two cultures. I really think that those two cultures separate people who have and people who have not had this experience of understanding mathematics well enough to appreciate nature once. […] Physicists cannot make a conversion to any other language. If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in. She offers her information only in one form; we are not so unhumble as to demand that she change before we pay any attention.
~ Richard Feynman
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Compassion
All cruelty springs from weakness.
~ Seneca
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