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Famous Quotes: Following
From: Reflections on the Art of Living The warrior's approach is to say "Yes" to life: "yea" to it all. Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in Joy. When we talk about settling the world's problems, we're barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
The heroic life is living the individual adventure. There is no security in following the call to adventure. Nothing is exciting if you know what the outcome is going to be. To refuse the call means stagnation. What you don't experience positively you will experience negatively. You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a way or path it is someone else's path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else's way, you are not going to realize your potential.
The goal is to live with godlike composure on the full rush of energy, like Dionysus riding the leopard, without being torn to pieces. A bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation: "As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think." "Work like
you don't need the money.
"Some men
see things as they are and say 'Why?' "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." G.B.Shaw "We must
sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must
sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." "The important
thing is to start; to lay a plan, and then follow it step by step
no matter how small or large one by itself may seem." "I am not
an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitution. But laws
and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human
mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries
are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change,
with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also
to keep pace with the times. "All that
lunacy is temporary. It can't last. It's demented, so it has to
defeat itself. You and I will just have to work a little harder
for a while, that's all."
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. "I have
learned a deep respect for one of Geothe's couplets: - from the Scottish Himalayan Expedition, by W.H. Murray Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones' favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe "Once you
have tasted flight you will always walk with your eyes turned skyward
for there you have been and here you will always be" "Truths," Descartes observed, "are more likely to have been discovered by one man than by a nation." "Little
minds are tame and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise
above them". "The good
things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that
belong to adversity are to be admired". "Prosperity
is a great teacher; adversity is a greater one. Possession pamper
the mind; privation trains and strengthens it". "One who
fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity
to begin again more intelligently". "He who
never made a mistake never made a discovery". "He who
has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great". "Failure
is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for
your next success". "God gives
every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest". "Courage
is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear". "The credit
belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred
by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and
comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the
best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at
the worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly". "The harder
you work, the harder it is to surrender". "You may
have to fight a battle more than once to win it". "My attitude
has always been...if it's worth paying, it's worth paying the price
to win". "The measure of a mans is the way he bears up under misfortune. - Plutarch "Nothing
splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe
that something inside of them was superior to circumstance". "The beauty
of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy
mischance after another, not because he does not feel the, but because
he is a man of high and heroic temper". "Acceptance
of what has happen is the first step to overcoming the consequences
of any misfortune". "It is
the mind that maketh good of ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich
or poor". "Success
seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let
go". "Effort
only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit". "Your
chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by
your belief in yourself". "Great
works are performed not by strength, but perseverance". "Never
give up. Never, never, never, never give up". "Nothing
in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not;
nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will
not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination
alone are omnipotent". "You become
a champion by fighting one more round" Ehricke said: "The 'Limits To Growth' people see Earth as a life raft in hostile space. Hence, they see man's world as a closed system -- restricted to Earth. I don't. Humanity's action world is no more closed than it is flat." "If you
are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence
and watch the birds; but, if you really wish to learn to fly, you
must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks and actual
trials." "Don't
tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever
he wants to go-and he'll do plenty well when he gets there."
"It was
a thunderingly beautiful experience-voluptuous, sexual, dangerous,
and expensive as hell." "Now we
have the capability to leave the planet, and I think we should give
careful consideration to taking that option. Man as always gone
where he has been able to go, it is a basic satisfaction of his
inquisitive nature, and I think we all lose a little bit if we choose
to turn our backs on further exploration. Exploration produces a
mood in people, a widening of interest, a stimulation of the thought
process... Our universe should be explored by microscope and by
telescope... When man fails to push himself to the possible limits
of his universe in a physical sense, I think it causes a mental
slackening as well, and we are all the poorer for it. Space is the
only physical frontier we have left..."
****************************************** "Man will
never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." "There
is no likehood man can ever tap the power of the atom." "Computers
in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." "I think
there is a world market for maybe five computers." "I have
traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with
the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a
fad that won't last out the year." "But what
... is it good for?" "There
is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." "This 'telephone'
has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means
of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." "The wireless
music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for
a message sent to nobody in particular?" "The concept
is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than
a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." "Who the
hell wants to hear actors talk?" "I'm just
glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary
Cooper." "We don't
like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." "Heavier-than-air
flying machines are impossible." "If I had
thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature
was full of examples that said you can't do this." "So we
went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even
built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding
us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary,
we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to
Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't
got through college yet.'" "Professor
Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and
the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to
react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in
high schools." "Drill
for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
crazy." "Stocks
have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." "Airplanes
are interesting toys but of no military value." "Everything
that can be invented has been invented." "Louis
Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction". "The abdomen,
the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
of the wise and humane surgeon". "640K ought
to be enough for anybody." |
