ANOTHER "GATE" THAT SWINGS BOTH WAYS

"Misfortunes tell us what fortune is."

Thomas Fuller

17th century British clergyman/author

It's not that we need seek out misfortune; enough will find us regardless.

And when it does it helps to think of all the fortune we've enjoyed, and will one day again.

THE LIMITS OF MULTI-TASKING

"Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things."

Robert Louis Stevenson

19th century Scottish essayist/poet/novelist

Really, the perpetual devotion to most anything comes at the expense of adequate time for all other things.

You may think you've successfully got all the balls in the air at once but you don't.

In any event not all for long.

I CAN/WILL DO THIS(?/!)

"Energy and persistence alter all things."

Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman/scientist/philosopher

Pretty ambitious to say "all" things but I can easily imagine many to most.

When planning new ventures do you take your energy and ability to persevere into account?

You should.

HOW OLD ARE YOU?

"I am not young enough to know everything."

Oscar Wilde

19th century Irish poet/dramatist

How old do you have to be before you learn how true this is?

I CAN SEE THAT

"A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide."

Samuel Butler

17th century British poet/satirist

Can you think of anything worse than believing you know what you really don't know?

I THINK I SHOULD LISTEN

"When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself."

Plato

4th century BC Greek philosopher

I wonder.

What happens if the mind isn't listening to what it has to say?

Ahh, but no doubt Plato took that into account when he said, "When the mind is thinking . . ."

A closed mind doesn't think.

FOCUS!

"Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

The Army has a name for what a lot of today's companies call product development.

Recon by fire: Just keep shooting until you hit something.

Whatever else it may be it isn't efficient.

Can you afford it?

THE ANSWER IS OFTEN NEAR, NOT IN YOU

"Who is so deaf or so blind as he that willfully will neither hear nor see?"

English proverb

Unfortunately, way too many with a wide range of consequences the result.

And this is particularly bad if you are a manager; the one who supposedly knows what to do.

No doubt you sometimes do but often enough?

As yesterday's post suggested, there is much more to be learned from others assuming you take the time to hear what they have to say.

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

"Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own."

Arthur Schopenhauer 

Late 18th.early 19th century German philosopher

While specific to reading I believe the thought ("thinking with someone else's head") is valid beyond just what we read.

It is something we all should strive to do more often.

I UNDERSTAND THAT

"One may understand the Cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Late 19th/early 20th century British journalist/novelist/poet

But you must try.

You must do all you can to direct the only mortal life you will have.

If you don't others will for you.

GO IRISH!

"Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy."

Fiona Shaw

20th/21st century Irish actress/theater/opera director

Yes they do.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all including the 16.7% Irish proportion of me.

UNLESS YOU IGNORE IT

"Conscience is a man's compass."

Vincent van Gogh

19th century Dutch painter

True, but of little value unless we more often listen to, rather than ignore, what it tells us.

THE BURDEN OF ASSUMED INFALLIBILITY

"From a worldly point of view, there is no mistake so great as that of being always right."

Samuel Butler

17th century British poet and satirist

Mr. Butler and I may be on the same page for this but just in case . . .

The bigger mistake would be assuming you are always right.

You're not.

DOING THE UNDOABLE

"When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat."

Henry Miller

20th century American author

Because being beyond your known powers means the only conclusion your friends can reach is that you will fail.

Maybe so, maybe not.

Consider what they have to say but don't base your decision solely on that.

WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

"Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it."

Laurence J. Peter 

20th century Canadian teacher/writer

It really is difficult to think and act originally, the beliefs of most every new generation notwithstanding.

But it should be easy to recognize the contributions of all those who precede us.

For better and worse we are what they have helped us become.

(With thanks to Buzzle.com for the graphic. Where they got it from I can't say.)

THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-CONTROL

"He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures."

Friedrich Nietzsche

19th century German-Swiss philosopher/writer

You will be commanded by someone.

Wouldn't it be best for that person in charge of you to be you?

NAH, NAH, NA, NAH, NAH; I CAN'T HEAR YOU

"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge."

Bertrand Russell

19th/20th century British logician and philosopher

Much of my career involved selling data to companies, including some whose management declined to even learn what that data was about.

I recall one in particular who said, " I don't need to know; we know all we need to know." 

To which I replied, "Yes I know."

BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO ME?

"The injuries we do and the injuries we suffer are seldom weighed on the same scales."

Aesop 

6th century BC Greek fabulist

Very few, if any, reading this will admit to having done the same or more harm to others than has been done to them.

I DON'T HAVE MY BACK

"There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one's self."

John Gay

18th century English poet/dramatist

Notice he did not how often we depend on ourselves.

Not often enough.

Instead, out of laziness or lack of confidence in our own capability, we look to others, including the government, for salvation.

How sad.

WHAT WOULD YOUR MOTHER SAY?

"We moralize among ruins."

Benjamin Disraeli

19th century British politician/author

Not always but often enough.

Consider what for you is immoral before, not after, it becoming obvious.

SATISFYING DREAMS

"I dreamed a thousand new paths. I woke and walked my old one."

Chinese proverb

For many reasons this must mostly be true.

But not always. 

("In the early morning hours of May 7, 1965, in a Clearwater, Florida, motel room, a bleary-eyed Keith Richards awoke, grabbed a tape recorder and laid down one of the greatest pop hooks of all time: The opening riff of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." He then promptly fell back to sleep." History Channel)

And don't forget, you don't only dream when asleep.