ADVICE

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 A. Heinlein, "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

        - Mark Twain

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
        - Benjamin Disraeli

All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
        - James Russell Lowell

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

- Kahlil Gibran The best way to persuade is with your ears.

        - Dean Rusk

Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.

- Carl Schurz God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. - Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer (1934) When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and night you cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter. - Albert Camus I got a fortune cookie that said, "To remember is to understand." I have never forgotten it. A good judge remembers what it was like to be a lawyer. A good editor remembers being a writer. A good parent remembers what it was like to be a child. - Anna Quindlen, "Thinking Out Loud" We are usually undone by our lack of understanding of ourselves.
        - Julian Fellowes

He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.
        - Joseph Addison

We should never use the truth to wound.
        - Saint Augustine

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
        - Oscar Wilde

"You don't have to gaze into a crystal ball when you can read an open book."
        - Aneurin Bevan

"Love your neighbor but don't pull down your fence."
        - New England proverb

A man is not obliged honestly to answer a question which should not properly be put.
        - Samuel Johnson (attributed)

"If you are not being criticised, you may not be doing much."
        - Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defence

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiams, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, and the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
        - Theodore Roosevelt, former US President

You may wonder why a question of manners has got me so exercised. It’s because I believe in a simple rule. If you see a person you know behave unreasonably to someone else, you can bet your last pound that before long he’ll be behaving like that to you.
        - Daniel Finkelstein

Take care that the face that looks out from the mirror in the morning is a pleasant face. You may not see it again during the day, but others will.
        - Anonymous

Better keep yourself clear and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.
        - George Bernard Shaw

If I keep a green bough in my heart, a singing-bird will come.
        - Chinese proverb

Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.
        - Anthony Burgess

A man with his heart in his profession imagines and finds resources where the worthless and lazy despair.
        - Frederick the Great, advice to his Generals.

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
        - Etienne de Grellet

We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before he entered it.
        - Unknown

I am as fond of colorful language as anyone, but I try not to inflict it upon strangers. I suspect many people sense they should have better manners, and need only a nudge. In high school, I was addressed for the first time in my life as "Mister Ebert" by Stanley Hynes, an English teacher, and his formality transformed his classroom into a place where a certain courtliness prevailed.
        - Roger Ebert

My grandfather used to say, "Learn to like art, music and literature deeply and passionately. They will be your friends when things are bad". It is true: at this time of year, when days are short and dark, and one hardly dares to open the newspapers, I turn, not vainly either, to the great creators of the past for distraction, solace and help.
        - Paul Johnson

There are days when I'll wake up and think, oh, I've really been something. You know, it won't be the same without me. And then there are days when I wake up and I say, 'Don't kid yourself. Your contribution was minimal. You changed very little. Everything you hated prospered'.
        - Norman Mailer

In dreams begin responsibilities.

- WB Yeats In all things we must consider the end.

        - Jean de la Fontaine, "Fables"

To accuse others for one's misfortunes is a sign of want of education; to accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun; to accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.

- Epictetus, "The Encheiridon" To be nobody-but-yourself, in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
        - EE Cummings, "A Poet's Advice"

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
        - EE Cummings

To be human : to strive in the face of the certainty of failure.

- Spider Robinson The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

        - Robert Byrne

Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done, whether you like it or not.
        - James Russell Lowell

There is no better ballast for keeping the mind steady on its keel, and saving it from all risk of crankiness, than business.
        - James Russell Lowell

It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.
        - Peter Ustinov

Oh for a life of sensations rather than of thoughts.

- John Keats How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~ George Washington Carver Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. - Og Mandino "What is a human being, then?"
"A seed."
"A... seed?"
"An acorn that is unafraid to destroy itself in growing into a tree." - David Zindell, "The Broken God" "Why don't they make more science fiction movies?"
The answer to any question starting, "Why don't they-" is almost always, "Money." - Robert Heinlein, "Shooting Destination Moon" "My new catchphrase is: 'Pull yourself together.' I've done the inner child, I've had analysis, I've decided that unless you're mentally ill and need support, it's up to you."

        - Sheila Hancock

"The darker the night, the brighter the stars."
        - Vasily Rozanov

"The first law of holes : When in one, stop digging."
        - Denis Healey

"The person who is slowest in making a promise is most faithful in its performance."
        - Jean Jacques Rousseau

"Always go to the bathroom when you have a chance."
        - King George V

"Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket."
        - Andrew Carnegie

"Qui s'exuse, s'accuse: Who excuses himself accuses himself."
        - Old French Saying

"People do not want advice - they want corroboration."
        - John Steinbeck

To be good is noble, but to teach others to be good is nobler - and less trouble.
        - Mark Twain

"The secret of good health and happiness is to have rather small illnesses throughout your life which you can rely on to stop you doing anything you don't want to do."
        - John Mortimer

"It is always good to spend part of each day writing down your thoughts. That way you will not have to bother others with them."

        - Sir Randolph Nettleby, "The Shooting Party"

"Honour and proven virtue."

        - Motto of the MacDermot sept

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Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.

- Henry VanDyke Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you. - Nicholai Velimirovic Every man I meet is in some way my superior. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can.
        - J.Wooden

We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
        - Oscar Wilde

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.
        - Helen Keller

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
        - Marianne Williamson

In every person there is the capacity to do something really special.
        - Colm O'Rourke

If we are more affected by the ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have formed a very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human life.
        - Unknown

If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.
        - Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Seek your happiness in the happiness of all.
       - Zarathushtra

You have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.
        - George Bernard Shaw

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
        - W. C. Fields

When you fall, never get up without gaining anything. Always find something on the way up. If there are only rocks, grasp one to throw in order to defend yourself.
        - Sameer

Don't judge those who try and fail. Judge only those who fail to try.
        - H. Jackson Brown

You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.

- James Whistler The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. - Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History But, by all thy nature's weakness, Hidden faults and follies known, Be thou, in rebuking evil, Conscious of thine own. - Whittier, John Greenleaff There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself. - William Shakespeare The longer I live, the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time. - George Bernard Shaw If I'd been born in my grandfather's time, I'd have made my grandfather's mistakes. Theres no doubt of it. I just don't want to make my grandfather's mistakes today.
        - Frank Herbert, "Maker of Dune"

"There's one time you can be sure of in life — you're gonna make a lot of mistakes, big ones, small ones... the way I see it, everyone's entitled to one really big screwup in their life."
        - Mr. Garabaldi in "Babylon 5"

"Sometimes it takes a lot of courage just to play the hand you got dealt."
        - Old saying

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When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with us! Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our own days and nights into a hellish turmoil.

- Dale Carnegie Hate is the coward's revenge for being humiliated. - George Bernard Shaw You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power - he's free again. - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "The First Circle" He who fears he will suffer, already suffers from his fear. - Michel De Montaigne,"Essays" (1580) #

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.

- George Bernard Shaw The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends upon the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. - George Bernard Shaw Those who dream by day are aware of many things which escape those who dream only by night. - Edgar Allen Poe You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also. - Marcus Aurelius Don't worry about things that you have no control over, because you have no control over them. Don't worry about things that you have control over, because you have control over them. - Mickey Rivers #

"Do you know a cure for me?"
"Why yes," he said, "I know a cure for everything. Salt water."
"Salt water?" I asked him.
"Yes," he said, "In one form or another; sweat, tears or the salt sea."

- Isak Dinesen Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. - Francis Bacon "It's at times like this I wish I'd listened to my mother"
"Why, what did she say?"
"I don't know, I never listened." - Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

        - Ben Franklin

People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.

- David H. Comins It is the greatest ability to be able to conceal one's ability. - Duc de la Rochefoucauld An amateur practices until he gets it right. A professional practices until he never gets it wrong. - Anon Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. - Proverbs #

To obtain a man's opinion of you, make him mad.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry - Henry Ward Beecher Observe your enemies for they first find out your faults. - Antisthenes He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. - Edmund Burke Our enemies's opinion of us comes closer to the truth than our own. "Ye have enemies? Good, good — that means ye've stood up for something, sometime in thy life..." - Elminster of Shadowdale By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man, man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him. - Robert A.Heinlein, "Time Enough for Love" Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is worth more.

        - Jean de la Fontaine, "Fables"

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Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.

~ William Shakespeare, "Macbeth" The louder he talked of his honor the faster we counted our spoons. - R. W. Emerson, "The Conduct Of Life, VI" 1860 I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest. - Unknown A lock is better than suspicion. - Irish Proverb Never appeal to man's "better nature". He may not have one. (Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.) - Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love" The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action. - Frank Herbert Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. - Aldous Huxley Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody. - John Churton Collins We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for. - Marie Von Eschenbach I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself. - DH Lawrence #

Teamwork : Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Success : Success is a journey, Not a destination.
Challenges : Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
Freedom : Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
Encouragement : A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
Welfare : God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it in the nest.

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KAHLIL GIBRAN

Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek
that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her
limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose
between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong,
and comforted herself that others, also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness,
and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face,
and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise,
and deemed it a virtue

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"The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, "What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?" and my answer must at once be, "It is no use." There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.
Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it.
We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use.
So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."

- George Leigh Mallory, (1922) #

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