We've all known a few scorpions

A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. 

The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. 

The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. 

Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. 

The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: 

"I am sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character."

One of the saddest songs ever written

Turn down the lights, turn down the bed 

Turn down these voices inside my head 

Lay down with me, tell me no lies 

Just hold me close, don't patronize 

Don't patronize me 

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't 

You can't make your heart feel somethin' it won't 

Here in the dark, in these final hours 

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power 

But you won't, no you won't 

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't 

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see 

The love you don't feel when you're holdin' me 

Mornin' will come, and I'll do what's right 

Just give me till then to give up this fight 

And I will give up this fight 

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't 

You can't make your heart feel somethin' it won't 

Here in the dark, in these final hours 

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power 

But you won't, no you won't 

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't 

Try, baby 

Ain't no use in you tryin', baby

~ sung by Bonnie Raitt

Caged by frail and fragile bars

The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars 

Restless by day and by night rants and rages at the stars 

God help the beast in me.

The beast in me has had to learn to live with pain 

And how to shelter from the rain 

And in the twinkling of an eye, might have to be restrained 

God help the beast in me. 

Sometimes it tries to kid me 

That it's just a teddy bear 

And even somehow manage to vanish in the air 

And that is when I must beware of the beast in me.

 That everybody knows 

They've seen him out dressed in my clothes 

Patently unclear if it's New York or New Year 

God help the beast in me.

~ Sung by Johnny Cash

Spicy

It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves

~ Franz Kafka, Czech novelist and writer

 

The final lines of King Lear

The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. 

The oldest hath borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much nor live so long.

~ Edgar, King Lear, Shakespeare

A lesson from Captain Picard

 

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose.

That is not weakness, That is life

~ Picard to Data, Star Trek:  The Next Generation

My favorite song today

Imagine what you want 

Then get out of the way 

Remember energy follows thought 

So be careful what you say 

Be careful what you ask for 

Make sure it's really what you want

Because your mind is made for thinking 

And energy follows thought 

Your mind is in control 

Even when you do not know 

And if you let it idle 

Ain't no telling where it'll go 

Wherever you are sleeping 

And your dreams take you away 

Go on with your dreaming 

And listen to what they say 

And if you hear spirits talking 

Their wisdom can't be bought 

Apply it to your thinking 

And energy follows thought 

Your mind is in control 

Even when you do not know 

And if you let it idle 

Ain't no telling where it'll go 

Imagine what you want 

And get out of the way 

Remember energy follows thought 

So be careful what you say

~ Willie Nelson, Energy Follows Thought,  from A Beautiful Time

If the shoe fits...

I don't recognize myself anymore.

Not in my laughter, not in my silence.

Somewhere between surviving and

pretending, I became a stranger

to my own soul.

~ found on the interwebs

True

The more often a man feels

without acting, the less he

will be able ever to act, and

and in the long run, the less he

will be able to feel. 

 C.S. Lewis

Oof!

No silence hurts

like the one

that comes

after the voice

that felt like home

goes silent.

~ David Jones, Love and Space Dust, Volume II

That's a lie!

To offend a strong man, tell him a lie;

To offend a weak man, tell him the truth

~ Marcus Aurelius

Why not both?

Anyone can love the mountains; it takes a soul to love the prairie.

~ Willa Cather

Despair, indeed...

I met a traveller from an antique land, 

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone 

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, 

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, 

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read 

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, 

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; 

And on the pedestal, these words appear: 

    My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; 

    Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! 

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay 

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare 

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, in Ozymandias

I made a pact with myself

"Do you love Me?" Alice asked.

"No, I don't love you!" replied the White Rabbit. 

Alice frowned and clasped her hands together as she did whenever she felt hurt.

 "See?" replied the White Rabbit. "Now you're going to start asking yourself what makes you so imperfect and what did you do wrong so that I can't love you at least a little. You know, that's why I can't love you. 

You will not always be loved Alice, there will be days when others will be tired and bored with life, will have their heads in the clouds, and will hurt you. Because people are like that, they somehow always end up hurting each other's feelings, whether through carelessness, misunderstanding, or conflicts with themselves. 

If you don't love yourself, at least a little, if you don't create an armor of self-love and happiness around your heart, the feeble annoyances caused by others will become lethal and will destroy you. 

The first time I saw you I made a pact with myself: 'I will avoid loving you until you learn to love yourself.' "

 ~ Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

I concur

A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

~ Muhammad Ali

Say what now?

People tell you who they are, 

but we ignore it.

Because we want them to be who we want them to be.

~ Don Draper, on Mad Men

If only more people listened...

Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.

~ Ricky Gervais (on The View, of all places!)

The faintest ink is better than the best memory.

~ Chinese proverb (heard on Mad Men)

Still trying to learn this lesson...

Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is considered wise; when he shuts his lips he is deemed a man of understanding. 

~ Proverbs 17:28

Napoleon's Credo

The world is for the taking.  

Ambition and determination are the means of achieving it.  

Imitate great men of history, and the world can be yours. 

~ Plutarch

I can relate!

 Caroline Lamb...God Damn!

~ Lord Byron

note:  Lord Byron was passionately in love with Caroline Lamb off and on throughout his life.  Caroline was described by Lord Byron as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."

A poem I'm trying to memorize

 My Heart's Fit to Break

My heart's fit to break, yet no tear fill my eye,

As I gaze on the moon, and the clouds that flit by;

The moon shines so fair, it reminds me of thee,

But the clouds that obscure it are emblems of me. 

They will pass like the dreams of our pleasures and youth,

They will pass like the promise of honor and truth,

And bright thou shalt shine when these shadows are gone,

All radiant, serene, unobscur'd-but alone.

~ Caroline Lamb

If only it was that easy...

In my life, I've learned that you can't make someone love you.

So I've taken the next best course...

accept and surrender

~ Capt. Massey on Doctor Odyssey

Something to think about

Divorce. It’s the biggest destroyer of wealth you’ll face. Marriage is a financial partnership. You’re creating a business with your spouse. 

Choose wisely, align your financial goals, and protect your wealth. 

Otherwise, get ready to start over with half. 

~ Kevin O'Leary ("Mr. Wonderful" on Shark Tank)

Ask yourself...

Ask yourself who you’d want to spend the last day of your life with and then meet with them as often as you can. 

 ~ Warren Buffett

The man knew…

The grief that does not speak

whispers over the fraught heart

and bids it break.

~ Shakespeare, Macbeth

Subtle

 

[pause]...[pause]...Oh! I get it!

I asked God for flowers and he gave me rain... 

Swagger

If your path demands you to walk through hell, 

walk as if you own the place.

~ found on the interwebs

Squeak, squeak!

The mouse dies in the mouse trap because it doesn't understand why the cheese is free.

~ found on the interwebs

Don't take the bet!

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. 

Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. 

But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider.

~ Sky Masterson, in Guys and Dolls

Three core principles for life

• Don't whine. 

• Don't complain. 

• Don't make excuses. 

Get out there and whatever you're doing do it to the best of your ability. 

You can't control everything - But you can control how you show up. 

Attitude. Effort. Ownership. 

That's leadership.

~ John Wooden, citing principles taught to him by his daddy

Been there...am there...

Ted:        How you been?

Jamie:     Uhh, awesome!

Ted:        Yeah?

Jamie:    The best. Pretty good. Okay.

                Little depressed, yeah...

                It's all shit, Ted.

~ from Ted Lasso

She should know by now!

Dammit, Woman, you're my wife!

Your sole purpose is to make me do things I don't want to do!

~ Dan, on The Connors

Explains a lot

A patient cured is a customer lost.

~  John D. Rockefeller

If the shoe fits...

Some people run away by packing their bags.

Others run away by staying in the same place too long.

~ Martha, Baby Reindeer, Episode 1 

Embrace the chase

We are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well that we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect.

But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.  

I am not remotely interested in just being good.

~ Vince Lombardi 

Compound Interest

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. 

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.

~ C.S. Lewis

Simply put - we keep doing things the old way

Path Dependence Feedback Loop

A "path dependence feedback loop" refers to a situation where initial choices or events create a self-reinforcing cycle, meaning that the early decisions progressively lock a system into a particular path, making it increasingly difficult to change direction due to the accumulated effects of those initial choices, often creating a positive feedback loop where the initial trend further strengthens itself over time.

Tale as old as time...

"How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.  

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” 

~ Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Truth

One day you will bury your father and that day you will realize you lost the only man who wanted to see you do better than him.

~ found on the interwebs

Not a bad idea

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

~ Thomas Paine

Oh, to be a poet!

In English, we say:

    Can I be a child again?

But in poetry, we say:

    Take me back to when laughter was endless, 

                 and my dreams were bigger than my fears.

Ouch!

Nothing hurts a man like seeing himself getting older without any progress in his life.  

~ found on the internet

Indeed...

You say you got a real solution. 

Well, you know 

We’d all love to see the plan. 

~ Revolution 1, the Beatles

Do or do not. There is no trying ~ Yoda

Come on!  What's scarier?

Trying something?  Or not trying something?

~ Surfer dude, on Younger, to a reluctant beginner surfer

Indeed

"Non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco."

Not all donuts have a hole

meaning things don't always turn out as planned

If not LotR canon, it nevertheless is a fine statement

I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.

~ Arwen, in Lord of the Rings (the movie, not in the books)

Good advice all around

You never interfere with your opponent when he is kicking his own ass.

~ Senator John Kennedy (no, not that John Kennedy)

The devil is in the details

They ask me:  "Do you want to die on Mars?"

And I say, "Well, yes, but not on impact."

~ Elon Musk, who aspires to achieve space travel to Mars

He had a knack for pithy observation

"Victims of unsynchronized passion"

How Ernest Hemingway described his relationship with Marlene Dietrich 

Magical, indeed

They say she had magical powers,

That turned men melancholy.

~ from the TV series Younger

Good advice

Don't bite till you know if it's bread or stone. 

~ Anne Sexton

Watch out!

 Watch out for love

(Unless it is true...

and every part of you says yes,

including the toes)

~ Anne Sexton

Classic Rock lyrics

All I need is the air that I breathe,

and to love you.

~ The Hollies 

Quality

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships.

~ Ester Perel, well-known therapist

Love and meaning, indeed...

You can get happiness from Chipotle, Cialis, and Netflix. 

All those things will bring you short-term happiness.  

I think when we really talk about meaningful happiness, we talk about investments we make through the course of our lives and decisions in forgiveness we provide ourselves and other people, such that at the end of our life, we feel like we built a narrative of satisfaction.

~ Scott Galloway, in The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love and Meaning

A worthy goal

 I hate my life less and less every day

~ Scott Galloway’s common response when asked “How are you doing?”

It's funny if you watch the show!

The situation seems dark,

But if my military career has taught me anything, it's that

you can always give up!

~ Captain Isaac Higgentoot, on Ghosts