20 May 2018

Week 2018-21


[#thought, #belief]
"What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within")

[#identity, #quest]
"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it." (William James, "The Principles of Psychology")

[#limits, #imagination]
"To realize one's limitations marks the awakening of intellectual integrity, without which imagination, integrity and assiduity are barren." (Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin)

[#thought, #happiness]
"All that we are is made up of our thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with a pure thought, happiness will follow him, like a shadow that never leaves him." (Dhammapada)

[#human nature, #extremes]
"People want to hear about the extremes of human nature. They want things that are larger than their own lives, and more romantic, and not necessarily of their own experiences." (Richard Thompson)

[#truth, #meaning]
"Truth is something which can't be told in a few words. Those who simplify the universe only reduce the expansion of its meaning." (Anais Nin)

[#quest, #introspection]
“The nature of creation is that you have to go inside and dig out. The very nature of creation is not a performing glory on the outside, it’s a painful, difficult search within.” (Louise Nevelson)

[#emotions, #problem_solving]
"Emotions are far harder things to understand than algebra and geometry, yet we spend hours in elucidating mathematics and expect such a problem as that of human relationships to solve itself." (Frances G Wickes)

[#life, #perseverance]
"Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted in something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." (Marie Curie)

[#time, #potential]
"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities." (Stephen Hawking)

26 February 2018

Week 2018-07

[#timing, #understanding]
"The developed structures at each point in the game are the past, and the possibilities existing in that situation are the future. Together they constitute the present. Properly understanding the past and future in this sense is the essence of good timing." (W. Cobb)

[#religion, #life]
"Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language." (Hilaire Belloc)

[#opportunity, #action]
"The frog lives by the side of the fragrant lotus, but it is the bee who gets the honey." (Ramana Maharshi)

[#education]
"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give." (Phyllis D James)

[#sorrow, #joy]
"Find expression for a sorrow, and it will become dear to you. Find expression for a joy, and you will intensify its ecstasy." (Oscar Wilde)

[#hope, #wisdom]
"When hope is born, it is necessary to unite courage with wisdom. Only then is it possible to avoid violence." (Óscar Arias Sánchez)

[#reason, #control]
"Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason." (George O Welles)

[#change, #habit]
"Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change." (Herbert G Wells)

[#truth, #experiment]
"Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth." (Herbert G Wells)

[#learning, #change]
"In times of change, the learner will inherit the earth while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists." (Eric Hoffer)

Week 2018-08: Aphorisms on Learning

"One of the things that limits our learning is our belief that we already know something." (L David Marquet, "Turn the Ship Around!", 2013)

“More important than learning how to recall things is finding ways to forget things that are cluttering the mind. “ (Eric Butterworth)

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.” (Henry D Thoreau)

“No one has completed his education who has not learned to live with an insoluble problem.” (Edmund J Kiefer)

“A man eminent in learning has not even a little virtue if he fears to practice it. What precious things can be shown to a blind man when he holds a lamp in his hand?” (Hitopadesa)

“Learning dissipates many doubts, and causes things otherwise invisible to be seen, and is the eye of everyone who is not absolutely blind.” (Hitopadesa)

“He who has more learning than goodness is like a tree with many branches and few roots, which the first wind throws down; whilst he whose works are greater than his knowledge is like a tree with many roots and fewer branches, which all the winds of heaven cannot uproot.” (Talmud)

“We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.” (Shakti Gawain)

“Learn to depend upon yourself by doing things in accordance with your own way of thinking.” (Grenville Kleiser)

“The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.” (Dame Rebecca West)

“To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.” (Henri Frederic)

"To learn in order to know is scandalous curiosity." (Bernard of Clairvaux, "Sermones in Cantica")