Wisdom

Lessons in manliness from Atticus Finch →

Published August 30, 2016  ·  All posts on Aug 30  ·  

If Atticus had one dominating virtue, it was his nearly superhuman empathy. Whenever his children felt angry at the misbehavior or ignorance of the individuals in their town, he would encourage their tolerance and respect by urging them to see the other person’s side of things:

“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Atticus understood that people could only be held responsible for what they knew, that not everyone had an ideal upbringing, that folks were doing they best they could in the circumstances in which they found themselves. Atticus strove above all to see the good in folks and to figure out why they did the things they did.

~ Brett McKay from, Life Lessons From Atticus Finch | The Art of Manliness

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Hermann Hesse on the three types of readers and why the most transcendent form of reading Is non-reading →

Published August 22, 2016  ·  All posts on Aug 22  ·  ,

For this reader follows the poet not the way a horse obeys his driver but the way a hunter follows his prey, and a glimpse suddenly gained into what lies beyond the apparent freedom of the poet, into the poet’s compulsion and passivity, can enchant him more than all the elegance of good technique and cultivated style.

~ Hermann Hesse from, Hermann Hesse on the Three Types of Readers and the Most Transcendent Form of Reading – The Marginalian

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Useless to worry →

Published June 11, 2016  ·  All posts on Jun 11  ·  ,

When one is inexperienced as a teacher, one gets quite worried about the pupil’s situation; His anxieties rub off on the teacher as it were. But an older teacher realizes it is useless to worry or even think about it. The thinking has been done already, and a proper programme has been carefully worked out to suit this pupil. Either he will follow it, or he will not.

~ Trevor Leggett

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Thinking →

Published April 6, 2016  ·  All posts on Apr 6  ·  ,

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is think with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

~ A. A. Milne

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Good and bad →

Published February 6, 2016  ·  All posts on Feb 6  ·  ,

A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all-knowing and therefore all of us need both charity and love.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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Watch the river →

Published January 7, 2016  ·  All posts on Jan 7  ·  ,

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

~ A. A. Milne

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Those who hustle →

Published December 20, 2015  ·  All posts on Dec 20  ·  ,

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

~ unknown

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Smile back →

Published October 3, 2015  ·  All posts on Oct 3  ·  ,

Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.

~ Marcus Aurelius, in Gladiator, (2000 film)

Note: This was not written by Marcus Aurelius, but rather said by the character in the movie Gladiator. The closest thing which Aurelius did say, is in Meditations: “Accept death in a cheerful spirit, as nothing but the dissolution of the elements from which each living thing is composed.” at 2.17, and “So make your exit with grace — the same grace shown to you.” as the final line of 12.36.

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35 things that surprised me before 35 →

Published July 1, 2015  ·  All posts on Jul 1  ·  

. You’re just not going to finish some things. Deal with it.

~ Peter Welch from, 35 Things that Surprised Me Before 35

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Renouncing reason →

Published June 29, 2015  ·  All posts on Jun 29  ·  ,

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

~ Thomas Paine

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