On faith

 

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

 -- Martin Luther King Jr.

 

On Influence

 

Pres. Bartlett: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, dedicated people can change the world. You know why, don't you?"

Will Bailey: "Because it's the only thing that ever has."

Pres Bartlett: "Margeret Mead was a smart lady."

 

 

Make no Small Plans

 

 

 

 

The homosexuality speech from West Wing:

 

President Josiah Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.

Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.

President Josiah Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.

Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.

President Josiah Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.

 

***

Rightsizing Your Life by Ciji Ware

 

Excerpt from forward by Gail Sheehy:

 

Making any life passage is hard. The sojourner midway through a major life passage is in disequilibrium. Suspended in midair. Not knowing when or where she will touch ground again.

 

I remind myself that once having set the wheels in motion, then is the time to sit back and pray, take walks, talk to my soulmate, meditate, and try to go to sleep at night – not planning or panicking about the future, but thinking only of what I can do to be fully in the present in the next day.

From Four Weddings & a Funeral, Author: H. Auden.

 

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and with muffled drum, Bring out the coffin... let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle, moaning overhead, Scribbling on the sky the message: He is Dead. Put crepe bows 'round the necks of public doves, Let traffic policemen wear black, cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East, my West. My working week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song, I thought love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now, put out every one. Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun. Pour out the ocean and sweep up the wood, For nothing now can ever come to any good."

 

"Aspira ad Astra"

 

"Aspira ad Astra" "Reach for the stars" Don't just try to have the right answer to a question, try to be right. Be better than you need to be. Be unreasonably good."

 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...

 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE...

enough money within her control to move out

and rent a place of her own,

even if she never wants to or needs to...

 

 

From the movie “The Third Man”

Harry Lime (portrayed by Orson Welles) to Holly Martins (portrayed by Joseph Cotton)

 

“Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.”

 

"Show me a smooth operation

... and I'll show you a cover-up.  Real boats rock."

 

    If you believe certain words, you believe their hidden arguments.

When you believe something is right or wrong, true or false, you believe the assumptions in the words which express the arguments. Such assumptions are often full of holes, but remain most precious to the convinced.

        -The Open-Ended Proof

          from The Panoplia Prophetica

 

Other Wisdom from the Sophist and other Desert Philosophers.

 

The hearts of all men dwell in the same wilderness."

Tibana

 

    There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengeance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences.

        -Feruq al Ada

 

"There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

        - The Sophist.

 

"What do you Despise? By this are you truly known.

        - The Sophist.

 

 

"You do not beg the sun for mercy."

        "The Sophist's Travail"

 

 

    In my estimation, more misery has been created by reformers than by any other force in human history. Show me someone who says, "Something must be done!" and I will show you a head full of vicious intentions that have no other outlet. What we must strive for always! is to find the natural flow and go with it.

        -The Reverend Mother Taraza,

 

"Truth suffers from too much analysis."

        -Ancient Bedouin Saying

 

On Love

 

"This is the true measure of love,

When we believe that we alone can love,

That no one could ever have loved so before us,

And that no one will ever love in the same way after us."

 

- Goethe

 

Quips and One-liners

I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous! - Anon

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

"I would not belong to any club that would show the bad taste to have me as a member." - Groucho Marx

 

Kimo's Hawaiian Rules

- Phong Chau

Never judge a day by the weather.

The best things in life aren't things.

Tell the truth, there's less to remember.

Speak softly, wear a loud shirt.

Goals are deceptive.  The unaimed arrow never misses.

He who dies with the most toys - still dies.

Age is relative - when you're over the hill you pick up speed.

Two ways to be rich - make more, desire less.

Beauty is internal - looks mean nothing.

No rain - no rainbows.

 

Semper Ubi Sub Ubi

"Always wear underwear" - Phong Chau