Strong minds discuss ideas,
average minds discuss events,
weak minds discuss people.
~ Socrates
So, what do you think about HIM?
Does it seem chilly in here?
Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories.
~ Terry (Deborah Kerr), to Nickie (Cary Grant), in An Affair to Remember
People are vectors
Tom Mueller on SpaceX's early days:
If people were negative, they were not in the next meeting.Elon was technically very strong, even though he was just learning about rockets.The one thing I noticed, if people were negative, they were not in the next meeting.He said, a company is a bunch of vectors. Each person is a vector and they need to point in the direction that you want to go.Bureaucracy and office politics and low morale, it's almost random vectors.He was always about making all the vectors which are all the employees pointing in the right direction. Forward, moving forward.
~ From BBC's documentary The Elon Musk Show, 2022
Lot of crazy for sale these days...
Go sell crazy somewhere else - we're all stocked up here.
~ Melvin Udall (played by Jack Nicholson), in As Good As It Gets
A spicy take!
If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it.The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury.Therefore, what he must be taught to fear is his victim.
~ Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, U.S.M.C.
This resonated with me - my dad often said the same thing (in a slightly different way)
You can have a million problems,
but when you have a health problem,
that is your number one problem.
~ heard on TV on a medical center ad
Suffering, indeed...
We must all suffer one of two things:the pain of disciplineor the pain of regret or disappointment.
~ Jim Rohn, author
Dependencies
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
~ Upton Sinclair
Cognitive dissonance
It’s easier for some people to live with comforting lies than uncomfortable truths.
Climb the best you can
Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
~ Albert Einstein
Ageless love
I saw this couple sitting at McDonald’s every day that were like 80 years old. They would order a cheeseburger, a medium fry, a glass of water and an extra glass.
I watched them cut the cheeseburger in half and divide the fries. Then the guy ate first. I was so moved, thinking maybe they couldn’t afford two meals.
He finished eating and he poured half the water from one cup into the extra cup they asked for. I was watching them share this relatively inexpensive meal that didn’t seem like much.
So I went up to The couple and said, "Can I buy you an extra meal?"
And the old woman goes, "No, I’m just waiting till he’s done eating, then I will borrow his teeth."
Simple, but important truth
If you wanna remain happy, stop caring about what other people think.
~ Professor Richard Feynman
Oh, but what a high price it is!
Regret is the emotional price we pay for free will.
If we were just pawns tossed around on the chessboard of life, there’d be nothing to regret.
~ Julie Beck, author
Arnold Schwarzenegger's rule on complaining
No complaining about a situation unless you're prepared to do something to make it better.If you see a problem and you don't come to the table with a potential solution, I don't want to hear your whining about how bad it is.It couldn't be that bad if it hasn't motivated you to try to fix it.
A good lesson
Ryan: I don't get it. I don't get what I did wrong.
Dwight: Not everything's a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.
~ Dwight and Ryan, in The Office
Almost always true!
You don't have to turn this into something.
It doesn't have to upset you.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Shhh, trying to calm my mind...
The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Chasing Motivation
You keep failing because you chase motivation.
Here’s the truth:
Motivation is a spark.Discipline is the engine.Identity is the fuel.
Until you build an identity around health, you’ll always be starting over.
~ Mackenzie Smith
True
When a man's father dies, he realizes that the one man who truly wanted him to be better than him is gone.When my daddy died, I didn't have nobody to say they was proud of me.
~ Steve Harvey
Good plan!
Be the oldest person in the gym, not the youngest person in the nursing home.
~ found on the Interwebs
Billions and billions of stupidity (if you know, you know)
Nothing disturbs me more than the glorification of stupidity
~ Carl Sagan
Powerful words at the time (Kids, look it up...)
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan.
There were no survivors.
~ Radar O'Reilly, Mash
Spicy!
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies...
~ 1984, George Orwell
Pointless death...
ALLCHARLIE KIRKDIDWASHAVEARESPECTFULDIALOGUEWITHPEOPLEHEDISAGREEDWITH
~ John Rocker
So, what are you doing Saturday night?
Rich people plan for three generations.
Poor people plan for Saturday night.
~ Gloria Steinem
My daily meditation these days
Every day we make choices:
Choices that build strength,
Choices that bring peace,
Choices that grow our mind,
Choices that power our body,
Choices that connect,
Choices that disconnect.
Because how we feel tomorrow
starts with what we do today.
~ London Fitness Guy
Me, too!
I’m killing time while I wait for life to shower me with meaning and happiness.
~ Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes)
Hold me now...
I have a picturePinned to my wallAn image of you and of me and we're laughing, we're loving it allBut look at our life nowAll tattered and tornWe fuss and we fight and delight in the tears that we cry until dawnHold me nowWarm my heartStay with meLet lovin' start,Let lovin' start
You say I'm a dreamerWe're two of a kindBoth of us searching for some perfect world we know we'll never findSo, perhaps I should leave hereYeah, yeah, and go far awayBut you know that there's nowhere that I'd rather be than with you here today
Hold me nowWarm my heartStay with meLet lovin' start,Let lovin' startYou ask if I love youWell, what can I say?You know that I do and that this is just one of those games that we playSo, I'll sing you a new songPlease don't cry anymoreI'll even ask your forgiveness, though I don't know just what I'm asking it forHold me nowWarm my heartStay with meLet lovin' start,Let lovin' start
~ The Thompson Twins
Untroubled spirit
The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Change
You can't go back and change the beginning,but you can start where you are and change the ending.
~ C. S. Lewis
This might be the best thing I've ever read
An entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship.
Similarly, the negativity of the world can't put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.
~ found on the interwebs
The REAL Art of the Deal!
Lily: Terms - if you can do all that, I will let you touch one boob.
Barney: Both boobs!
Lily: Just one.
Barney: Touch and squeeze.
Lily: Just touch.
Barney: Touch and motor boat.
Lily: Just touch.
Barney: Honka honka?
Lily: [Annoyed] Barney...
Barney: Just touch?
Lily: Just touch.
Barney: For one hour.
Lily: For one second!
Barney: Twenty minutes both boobs.
Lily: Thirty seconds one boob.
Barney: Four minutes, both boobs, three squeezes.
Lily: One minute, both boobs, one squeeze.
Barney: Deal!
~ from How I Met Your Mother
Three types of conversation
People are only ever having three different conversations
- Practical - I have a goal, let’s find a solution
- Emotional - venting or they want validation
- Social - they just want acknowledgment
Ask them: Do you want me to listen, or do you want my advice?
But what about infinite disappointment?
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
I hate to admit it, my experience says yes
Women love a man under the condition that he has something to provide.
~ read on the interwebs
God DAMMIT!
The way you treat yourself is the exact way women will treat you.
~ read on the interwebs
Sounds about right...
This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.With such a people, you can do whatever you want.
~ Hannah Arendt, German historian and philosopher
(1906 - 1975)
Critics
An athlete won't judge you for working out.A millionaire won't judge you for starting a business.A musician won't judge you for playing a song
It's people going nowhere who are the biggest critics.
Squeak, squeak!
The mouse dies in the mouse trap
because it doesn't understand
why the cheese is free.
I may have posted this before
Sometimes I go about in pity for myself,
And all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky.
~ Ojibwe saying
Classic Lyrics
The highway's jammed with broken heroes
On a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Oh, someday girl, I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go, and we'll walk in the sun
But 'til then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
~ Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run, verse 3
An oldie, but a goodie
An old, blind Marine accidentally stumbles into an all-girl biker bar, completely unaware of his surroundings. After feeling his way to the bar, he takes a seat and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.
As he settles in, he suddenly yells out, "Hey, anyone here wanna hear a blonde joke?"
The room goes dead silent.
From beside him, a deep, authoritative voice calmly responds, "Before you go any further, I think you should know a few things."
The voice continues:
"First, the bartender is a blonde woman with a baseball bat.Second, the bouncer is also a blonde woman.Third, I'm a blonde, 6-foot-tall, 175-pound black belt in karate.Fourth, the woman sitting next to me is a blonde professional weightlifter.Finally, the lady on your other side is a blonde professional wrestler."
The room stays silent as the Marine pauses to process what he just heard.
After a moment, he chuckles softly and says, "You know what? Forget it. I don't feel like explaining the joke five times."
Personal Accountability - focusing on the "Question Behind the Question" - QBQ
What are IQs and QBQs?
We’ve discovered there are certain questions people ask that are unproductive, maybe even a bit dangerous!
We call them "Incorrect Questions" or "IQs."
IQs tend to begin with the outwardly focused words “Why,” “When,” and “Who”:
- “Why is this happening to me?” and “Why don’t I ever get a break?” cause us to fall into the trap of Victim/Entitlement Thinking.
- “When will they handle this?” and “When will I get more support?” lead people to Procrastination.
- “Who made the mistake?” and “Who dropped the ball?” take a person straight to Blame.
The best way to avoid costly IQs is to ask The Question Behind the Question—or the “QBQ.”
Here is our definition of the QBQ:
QBQ! is a tool enabling people to practice PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY by making better choices in the moment.
So, looking at the IQs above, how much better it is to choose to ask QBQs such as these:
- “How can I be my best today?”
- “What can I do now to make a difference?”
- “How can I help solve the problem?”
Note that all QBQs have a certain structure to them. Each and every QBQ:
- Begins with “What” or “How.”
- Contains the personal pronoun “I.”
- Focuses on action!
~ from the book by John A. Miller, QBQ
Some things are hard to understand
You know what I don't understand, Tony?
What does she have that I don't have?
~ Carmela, to Tony, after learning of yet another of Tony's affairs, the Sopranos
A man who is clearly smitten!
I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.
I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.
I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,
and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.
~ Pablo Neruda
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