Random Thoughts On The Passing Scene - Part 1
General Quips, Axioms, Sayings, and Mantras I like (profound and otherwise)
Collected over many years, attribution for the title goes to amazing Thomas Sowell based on his once regular column of the same title. Read all of those first and perhaps a second time before mine. I have to note that Art Carden beat me to this.
[Disclaimer that these might be partially or wholly, but completely unintentionally, stolen.]
Choose honesty over pleasantry. Choose pleasant honesty above all.
You are "old" when the age you wish you could be forever is younger than your current age. Or perhaps it is when you have more memories than dreams.
You're not a team's true fan until a rival opponent's pain is your pleasure.
Vain people oscillate between two realms of worry regarding what others believe:
Concern that others will realize that they as good if not better than the vain worrier
Concern that others will realize the vain worrier has the first concern.
You aren’t that busy if you've been so busy you've done nothing but look at your calendar.
Most “terrifying realizations” are like standing in the shower daydreaming and suddenly the hot water begins to run out. It seems very bad at first, but after the fact it will be but a bump in the road.
You can be anyone you want to be, but no one is required to accept or like your choice.
A safe plan is usually not as safe or as fun as a risky plan with a good backup alternative.
The surfer does not control the wave.
You may have the wind behind you, and it may have been there for quite a while, but the wind can and will shift.
Envy would lead one to choose poorly between being the richest man on a very poor island or an average man on a very rich island.
Unfortunately, charismatic arguers usually trump subtle, elegant arguments.
Arguing that my tautology is true is not a criticism; it is itself a tautology.
It is important to know the difference between implication and inference. Your inference is not necessarily my implication.
Incentives trump intentions.
90% of news is entertainment and 90% of that entertainment is to one degree or another proverbial porn.
Your life has many chapters. Sometimes you turn the pages. Sometimes your pages get turned.
I wish that today I was as good a driver as I thought I was at the age of 16.
Too often committees are for people afraid to make decisions.
A reasonable critique: He can't get any taller, but he can stand up straighter.
An uncomfortable implication of the widely-held view that teachers should make significantly more money is that most teachers today should be replaced.
Ladders (proverbial and real) allow us to overcome shortness not defy gravity. You misunderstand this difference at your own peril.
Most ideas are bad ideas—impractical, plagued by substantially bad facts, and suffering from poor reasoning. Unfortunately, it takes getting through many to reveal the good ones.
You’ve reach adulthood when you’ve reasonably mastered control over your emotional impulses.
The wiser the answerer, the less definitive the answer.
You don’t really know someone until you recognize their handwriting.
The Sun never sees shadows. In the shadows lies flaws, dangers, opportunities, and unintended consequences. Be careful your actions and leadership are not too Sun like.
Typically the best, most robust and effective systems are those created by evolution rather than design. Instead of being teleological they are emergent.