THE MIND'S "TRUTHS"

"The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it. "

D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) English writer

Something to think about the next time you're certain.

I INTENDED TO POST THIS YESTERDAY BUT . . .

"I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions."

Lord Byron (1788-1824) British poet

As with offering to pay for groceries using money you intended but did not bring to the store, your intentions to do most anything are only valuable when you actually do them.

I'LL THANK YOU NOT TO BE INGRATEFUL

"Too great a hurry to discharge an obligation is a kind of ingratitude."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer

Remember to thank those who helped you on your way up while you are on your way up.

THE MANAGER'S CREED?

"It is a pleasure to give advice, humiliating to need it, normal to ignore it."

Unknown

Were I to be cynical I'd say this applies to a lot of managers, possibly a small majority.

Were I to be.

DID YOU KNOW . . . ?

"Most ignorance is invincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know."

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) British author

And I'll bet we usually don't know when we knowingly or otherwise choose not to know.

You know?

LEARN FROM MISTAKES YOU NEED NOT REPEAT

"People will not look forward to posterity who will not look backward to their ancestors."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British political writer

And to their own histories.

Paraphrasing philosopher George Santayana, those who do not know their own past are condemned to repeat it.

IT MUST BE TRUE; HE'S EINSTEIN, HE KNOWS STUFF

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-Swiss-U.S. scientist

Mr. Einstein casts a pretty big net when he refers to infinite human stupidity.

However he did so for good reason and we all have to occasionally if not often acknowledge how this applies to us.

We'd be stupid not to.

OVERLY RETIRED

"Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name."

Jean Paul (1763-1825) German novelist/humorist

True under any circumstance, even more so when self-imposed in idle retirement.

Think carefully what that will mean to you.

OPPORTUNITY WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

"Let your hook always be cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish."

Ovid (BC 43-AD 18) Roman poet

How much opportunity have you missed because you decided it wouldn't be where it actually was?

Big "wins" come infrequently, never if you aren't looking for them.

I HATE TO TELL YOU

"Hatred. The anger of the weak."

Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) French short-story writer/novelist

Some things, and people, need to be hated.

Just not most.

Be careful selecting what and who you choose to hate.

THIS IS GENERALLY THE WAY THINGS WORK

"Any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it."

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American poet/critic/intellectual

We generalize more than specify and ultimately are paid for the latter not the former.

Succeeding beats generally succeeding every time.

WHAT PRICE EVERYTHING?

"If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too."

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) British clergyman/author

The key to understanding this is the word "endless".

If only everything, or at the very least, much, much more, will satisfy you, you will never be satisfied.

CONCENTRATED EFFORT

"Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer

The ability to focus energy and resources on the most pressing problem.

Very difficult to do yet so necessary.

KNOW THYSELF

"What fugitive from his country can also escape from himself."

Horace (BC 65-8) Latin lyric poet

No one.

You are at the core of all your future successes and failures so know yourself well.

Change what you don't like, that which will prevent you from living to your greatest potential.

EASIER TO BE THE REAL DEAL

"To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified."

William James (1842-1910) American philosopher/psychologist

Much easier too.

Simply be whatever you really are as opposed to what you would have others believe you really are.

JUST WHEN I WAS GETTING REALLY GOOD

"Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life."

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer

Very true.

Just when we've (hopefully) learned how to function well at one age we grow into another.

Never completely with all the wisdom we need to live our best.

That will only (if ever) come at a time just prior to the time we must move on to the next stage of our lives.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT ME

"I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist/poet/philosopher

It's not the talking so much as it is not really knowing, more so when the subject is you.

BEWARE EXTREME CERTAINTY

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British logician/philosopher

Whether about religion, politics, or any other silly discussion you might enter into, remember that extremists are those who will not do as Mr. Russell suggests.

DELUSIONAL REALITY

"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities."

Christian Nevell Bovee (1820-1904) American author/lawyer

Ok, but make sure you know which are delusions, which realities.

GETTING THERE

"Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."

Josh Billings (1815-1885) American humorist/lecturer

And you will too assuming you do as the postage stamp does.

Happy new year and good luck with this year's goals!