Famous Quotes at Understand Famous Quotes dot com

To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.
~~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld ~~ (1613 - 1680)

Even though Francois de La Rochefoucauld said it a few centuries ago, it’s even more relevant today.

Even though the public is becoming very conscious about the foods they eat, still, in any super market, you’ll find so much junk food in attractive packaging and under deceptive names that choosing healthy food becomes an extremely fine art.

For example, in a Statistics Canada study in 2007, it was found that most Canadians consume far too much salt in their daily diet than recommended. Exceeding the recommended limits of salt can increase the risks of adverse health effects, especially those linked to hypertension (high blood pressure). It is worth noting that the study did not include the amount of salt people themselves add to their food; it only included the salt added by the producers of the food products. Thus the consumers are consuming more salt than the recommended limit even if they themselves add no salt to their food!

The study further stated that “Even if you were to cut out the salty snacks and sprinkling salt on your food, unfortunately because it’s added (by the manufacturers/producers of food products) to so many of the food products we consume, it would still be difficult to reduce your levels (to the recommended level).”

Thus even if you were a conscious food consumer, you’ll find it extremely difficult if not impossible, to keep your daily salt consumption within the recommended limit. And salt is just one example; the food producers routinely add a lot of other stuff to their food products to enhance its taste and/or lengthen its shelf life.

So, yes, while eating is a necessity, eating intelligently is an art which one must develop continuously so that one can learn to read and understand the labels on the food products, carefully choose the healthy food products and eat it in moderation.

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

It’s a reflection of human stupidity that wars have been fought and are still being fought over such a simple matter as to whether there is or isn’t a God.

If everybody was to think logically and act reasonably, then it is clear that it poses no danger to anybody if somebody believes there is one God and somebody else believes that there are many gods and somebody else believes that there is no God at all.

The trouble begins when some people appoint themselves as special messengers of God and proceed to enforce their brand of God on others, usually using one religion or the other as a front for their operations. We call such people ‘fundamentalists’ or ‘religious fanatics’ though I think ‘deranged idiots’ is a better description. LOL.

In reality such ‘deranged idiots’ have no faith in God or even in the religion they profess to propagate as they show no hesitation in killing even people belonging to their own religion. And since such people have existed before, exist today and will exist tomorrow in one form or another, it’s imperative on the World in general and secular democracies in particular to keep themselves well armed and well prepared to face such self-proclaimed special messengers of God.

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.
~~ Oprah Winfrey ~~

Actually I think there are secrets to life but nobody knows those secrets - the nature is keeping those secrets to itself. But it is true that our best chance at life is to have our goal(s) and work towards it with resolute determination and a positive attitude. That way there is a good possibility that we will get where we want to go but there are no guarantees in life. History is filled with examples of people who attained spectacular success yet ended up failing miserably.

A classic example is the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821) who rose from chaos to be the Emperor of France, built a powerful empire, then failed miserably causing the destruction of his empire and he himself died in captivity. So what happened? Why Napoleon, who is variously described as a genius, a master tactician etc. and who was so successful, failed so miserably?

Well, we can explain it away by saying that he failed because he made terrible decisions. But I am sure he didn’t wake up one morning and thought that from now on he is going to make terrible decisions that will lead to his destruction. No, my thinking is that there are times - call it chance or luck or secret of nature - when your actions or decisions will produce bitter results, no matter how smart you may be. On the other hand, if you don’t diligently work towards your goal, it’s virtually guaranteed that you’ll never attain your goal.

I do not like work even when someone else does it.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)

Mark Twain is not alone in his dislike for work; there are a lot of people who don’t like their work. There are many reasons for it:

• We humans by nature don’t like ‘anything’ that we ‘have to’ do as it implies compulsion and we resent it. Now, to survive in this world, one has to have a job (work) and lots of us end up with jobs for which we have no interest.
• Many jobs such as factory or assembly jobs are so repetitive that a worker is required to perform the same operation over and over again all day, everyday with little or no brain work involved. This results in extreme boredom for the worker resulting in such problems as workers drinking or taking drugs on the job.

Looking from another angle: If you don’t like to work, don’t worry; even Mark Twain didn’t like it! LOL

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
~~ C.S. Lewis ~~ (1898 - 1963)

That’s exactly true! Whether we sit, sleep, whine, grumble or do something useful, we keep reaching the future at the rate of 60 minutes an hour until we take our last breath, then the time stops and that precisely is moment when one’s future comes to a complete halt permanently! LOL

So if you were waiting for your future, don’t - the future is now and it is passing you by at the rate of 60 minutes an hour.

When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you’ve been and where you are going, when you look at your work, your love affairs, your marriages, your children, your pain, your happiness - when you examine all that closely, what you really find out is that the only person you really go to bed with is yourself.
~~ Shirley Maclaine ~~

I think this is a real classic. I truly believe in it. We have friends and relatives and whatever but can you really depend on them in every situation? Not really. Just look around to find how many friends, relatives, lovers, co-workers etc. turn against each other.

As a matter of fact, we all experience what is known as internal struggle, where we debate within ourselves whether or not to do something. When all is said and done, the only person you can truly count on is you. All the more reason to take care of yourself, be independent, self-reliant and love yourself first!

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)

Man a rational animal? Those who say that man is a rational animal are stretching the truth! LOL. That’s why Mr. Bertrand Russell could not find any evidence in his search; man and rationality don’t mix!

I think that if animals were to know that we are comparing man to them, most of them will be offended except, perhaps, the snakes. Snakes will probably claim that they are more creepy than the man. LOL

Men (humans) usually do whatever creepy thing they are bent upon doing with no regard to facts and offer rationalizations after the fact to justify their actions. It happens that way likely because it’s much harder and difficult to face facts and act accordingly while being creepy is easier and often profitable! :-)

The fact is that while men (humans) may be capable of thinking and acting rationally, history tells us that they usually act irrationally. A good example is the wars fought throughout history over religion. Now let us assume, for the sake of argument, that everybody in the world adopts a religion ‘X’. Then what? Will the conflicts go away? Will everybody start showing love and respect for everybody else? Not a chance. So this pursuit of forcing one’s religion, any religion, on others is totally irrational (and useless as well) yet man has followed it since ages and continues to follow it today, often using brutal force.

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.
~~ Helen Keller (1880-1968) ~~

It’s so true. Self-pity, by its very nature, is negative; it has no positive to it and we must never yield to it.

Sometimes we may find ourselves in trying circumstances when everything around us seems to be falling apart and we may be inclined to indulge in self-pity but such indulgence will not help us rectify the situation. Only determined, positive efforts can do that.

So always treat self-pity for what it is: An enemy. And don’t allow it to control your life.

Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)

That will be the way to live a happy life! Most of us are always too conscious of what we say or do as we are looking for approval from others about everything we say or do. And we concentrate so much on our problems, disappointments and failures that we usually ignore the moments of happiness that come by.

Considering that each of us is here on earth for a very short period of time (most of us live less than 100 years which is negligible compared to earth which has been around for billions of years), we should heed Mark Twain’s advice; keep our spirits uplifted in spite of disappointments and failures we may encounter and enjoy the ride of life with all its ups and downs. After all, it’s only a short ride! :-)

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a tragedy - for Iraq, for the U.S., for the UN, for truth and human dignity.
~~ Hans Blix ~~

Hans Blix, the former United Nations chief weapons inspector, wrote the above quote in his opinion piece for The Guardian. As you may remember, he asked many times that the UN inspections be given a chance to establish if WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) exist before any military action is taken but was repeatedly over-ruled by the Bush administration.

The war was certainly a tragedy for Iraq and U.S., and still continues to be so with no end in sight. But it was a godsend for ‘private’ security firms, re-construction firms and the like who made a fortune and still continue to make millions. I’m sure ‘they’ don’t consider war to be such a bad thing. They probably wish there were more wars so that they could get some extra business!

In my view, so far as the prevention of wars is concerned, UN is pretty much a useless body; it has no teeth, its decisions are made based on politics rather than facts and the decisions are usually ignored. Or even worse, its decisions are used as a pretext to start a war.

Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.
~~ Walter Chrysler ~~ (1875 - 1940)

Not true at all. If you assign a hard job to a lazy man, you are most likely to hear a perfect excuse as to why the job couldn’t be done because the easiest thing for the lazy person to do will be to invent a perfect excuse rather than find an easy way to do the job. Once in a while a lazy man may be able to find an easy way of doing a hard job but that will be the exception rather than the rule.

I would rather assign a hard job to a dependable, intelligent and hard working person who will spend his time finding ways to get the job done rather than thinking of excuses as to why it couldn’t be done. As you might have noticed at your work, most bosses follow the same rule: Whenever there is an urgent job to be done, they always assign it to the most dependable and hard working person. And rightly so.

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)

Most of us take our work too seriously. That is a paradox considering that most of us don’t like our jobs; many surveys show that only about 2% of us are making our living by doing what we really like to do.

Don’t take your work too seriously. Work is a means for living, not the living itself. You might think that your work is extremely important and only you can do it well but you are sadly mistaken. Nobody is irreplaceable. What if you die right now? Will the world come to a halt? Absolutely not. The world didn’t come to a halt even when those who labeled themselves as ‘Great’ passed away.

When you are not around, there will be many others willing and able to fill your shoes and may be do even better than you! So relax, avoid nervous breakdown and premature death. LOL.

The wheel of time keeps on turning; with or without you!

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
~~ T. S. Elliot ~~

It is true that if you stay within your comfort zone, you are never going to find out how far you may be able to go. However, it’s also true that if you happen to go too far in your risk, the results may be disastrous. For example, many business ventures go bankrupt because they went too far in taking the risk. Of course, they find out after they have gone bankrupt as to how far they could have gone safely but by that time it’s too late. Or the athlete who over-exerts himself, collapses and even dies.

So the question becomes if it’s really necessary to find out how far one can go. The answer will vary from individual to individual and how dire the consequences may be of going too far. Some people will take extra-ordinary risks and may win big or may lose their shirt if they happen to go too far but most people will not go that far but will limit themselves to reasonable risks.

One has to take risks in life as risk is a part and parcel of life; without risk there can be no progress or achievement. One should always strive to go as far as possible without going overboard. Like everything else in life, there are no definitive rules as to when one might be going too far. It’s basically a subjective decision based on one’s knowledge, experience, intuition etc.

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
~~ Samuel Johnson ~~ (1709-1784)

Very true. As a matter of fact most of the time people lie because they think that we would not like it if they tell the truth. Truth, at times, can be very ugly and people don’t like to hear it. Politicians are a good example of people who can’t afford to tell the truth most of the time.

Who will vote for a politician who dares to tell the truth and says, ‘Elect me and I will raise your taxes.’? Yet the politician who says he won’t raise the taxes, gets elected and immediately turns around and raises the taxes! Happens all the time. So we can’t expect people to tell the truth unless we learn to hear and appreciate the truth even when the truth may be very ugly.

Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘Make me feel important.’ Never forget this message when working with people.
~~ Mary Kay Ash ~~ (1915 - 2001)

This is so true. Consciously or sub-consciously, we all carry that sign. It’s just the way we are. Whether in business (jobs) or in personal matters, we feel good when others appreciate us and make us feel important. And usually it doesn’t cost anything to appreciate somebody and make them feel important.

Unfortunately, most businesses as well as us as individuals fail to recognize this important fact of life in our day to day dealings with other people. May be because we are so concentrated on ‘me’ that we don’t have the time or the inclination to appreciate others. That’s why Jean-Paul Sartre said, ‘Hell is other people.’ :-)

It doesn’t have to be that way. We should all learn to be more appreciative of other people. That will make for a better world.

First, golfers don’t have to be fit. Second, they keep their clothes on while playing. And third, they frequently wear plaid.
~~ Richard Wiseman ~~

Richard Wiseman, a British psychologist found in his study that as far as women are concerned, golf is the least sexy sport a man can play. The above is his explanation as to why that is the case.

I have played golf a few times and found it to be quite boring; I just can’t seem to understand as to what the challenge is in hitting a little ball with a stick and see how far it goes. Plus the cost to play a game of golf is atrocious. I think the popularity of golf has to do more with the human herd mentality; we just tend to follow the herd thinking that since everybody is doing it, it must be good.

I think golf is a game for those who have lots of money to waste and lots of free time on their hands. Besides the exorbitant rates charged by the golf course (Why do they call it a golf course? Just wondering!) owners and operators, it takes almost a whole day to play a game of golf. And, like Richard Wiseman reasons, you don’t have to be fit to play golf! The average Joe has just been suckered in by the marketing machine and will walk away from this sport as soon as he wakes up from his slumber.

Women have a sixth sense; that’s why they know way before the average Joe that there is nothing sexy or even remotely interesting about this game. Kathy Lette said that Average Golfers Handicap is his IQ LOL.

The desire to be thin has been going on for centuries. Get real. That is what women do. Why did women wear corsets and keep fainting? We do it because we think it looks good. That is what we are like.
~~ Felicity Kendall ~~

I totally disagree with the views of Felicity Kendall expressed in this quote. I never buy the argument that we must continue to do something just because we have been doing it for centuries. We have more knowledge now than we had centuries ago. And if with our advanced knowledge we learn that what we have been doing for centuries is, in fact, injurious to our health then we should discourage that activity or desire. That would be just common sense.

There are countless examples of activities which, after we have discovered them to be injurious to our health, we actively discourage people from doing that activity. One such example will be cigarette smoking. While in the past nobody cared as to who smoked and who didn’t, now we actively discourage smoking because we know for sure that cigarette smoking is very injurious to our health. As a matter of fact, most jurisdictions have laws banning cigarette smoking in public places.

Now there is nothing wrong with women (or even men) desiring to be optimally thin; it’s is actually good for your health. It’s being ‘extra’ thin that is injurious to one’s health and, therefore, should be discouraged.

The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)

So true; each party (class?) is equally foolish in believing the other is happier.

At least the poor can be excused for believing that the rich are happier because they watch the rich displaying their wealth like owning several big houses (mansions?), private jets, luxury cars, hiring the most expensive lawyers when they get on the wrong side of the law etc. etc. Since poor can’t even dream of such luxuries, it leads them to wrongly believe that the rich must be really happy.

The reasons as to why the rich think that poor are happier are not so obvious. May be the rich think that the poor don’t have to worry about such important matters as to ‘how I am going to make my next million dollars today!’ Or may be it’s a classic case of “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.” :-)

Being happier is not dependent on how rich or poor you are; rather it’s dependent on whether you view life as a comedy, a tragedy or something in between. Moreover, whether rich or poor, the humans are not designed to be perpetually happy. So expecting that somehow we can attain perpetual happiness is like expecting to catch hold of the rainbow; not going to happen.

We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.
~~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld ~~ (1613 - 1680)

Though it may seem cynical, in my view, it’s quite true. Very few people in this world commit themselves to do good things for others without any selfish motive. Most people have some ulterior motives, sometimes the motives are extremely sinister and even criminal motives. For example, the cases of some priests abusing boys under their care. Priests, by their very profession, are supposed to be God fearing and caring of other humans. That did not prevent some of them from indulging in such criminal activity. And there have many other cases such as volunteer coaches etc. indulging in similar sinister activities.

Sometimes the motive may be just the expectation of getting some fame or publicity or both. Though it’s still a selfish motive, I have no problem if somebody does good deeds just to gain some fame and publicity.

I think that it will be prudent for the world not only to scrutinize the evil deeds but also sometimes to scrutinize the motives behind the so called good deeds. It’s no secret that what humans think, what they say and what they do, is often worlds apart.

Early in my business career I learned the folly of worrying about anything. I have always worked as hard as I could, but when a thing went wrong and could not be righted, I dismissed it from my mind.
~~ Julius Rosenwald ~~ (1862 - 1932)

One has to realize that in business or even other facets of life, sometimes things will just not work or go wrong and can not be righted, no matter how hard you try. In such cases it’s best to accept the inevitable, give up and move on, and not perpetually worry about your failure. Constantly worrying about something you could not accomplish in spite of your best efforts only increases your stress level; it does nothing to solve the problem or resolve the situation.

Once you give up on something, there is always the possibility that other people may say or you yourself may think that you gave up too quickly. Everybody is wiser after the event; there are no hard and fast rules in life as to when it’s too soon to give up on something. It’s mostly a subjective decision on your part. Most successful people fail at one or more ventures before they finally succeed. Once you have given your best to something and you are convinced that you have hit a dead end; it’s best to learn your lessons from the experience and move on.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
~~ C.S. Lewis ~~ (1898 - 1963)

I don’t think universe has no meaning. It’s just that we don’t understand it and will probably never understand it. While we consider ourselves to be very important, in the grand scheme of the universe, we are actually quite insignificant.

Sun , Earth and Sun’s other planets have been around for billions and billions of years whereas, as individuals, most of us live less than 100 years - a totally insignificant number compared to billions. Even collectively as a human race we have been around for only a few million years - still a very tiny and insignificant number. The universe, which comprises of not just our Sun and its planets but countless other stars and planets, happily existed long, long before us and will happily exist if, by any chance, we become extinct just like the dinosaurs.

So the question remains: What is the meaning of universe and why does it exist? The simple answer is: We don’t know. What we do know is that the universe is limitless, just take a look at the sky on a clear night and all the stars that you see also make part of this universe. Some of these stars are way larger than our Sun which, by the way, is also a star. We also know that these stars also have planets circling around them just like our Sun has planets. And then we have comets and asteroids and all other stuff floating around in space. All this show - if I can call it a show - of countless stars and their planets can’t be just meaningless; it has to have some meaning. We just don’t know what that meaning might be.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~ (1869 - 1948)

There has to be more to life than just increasing its speed. We are too engrossed in the speed; everything must be done faster and faster. Where is the limit? Does increasing the speed of life improves our quality of life? I don’t think so. We are all in a kind of a rat race, everybody is trying to outrun the other.

In some instances, increasing the speed of certain electro-mechanical devices may be necessary or beneficial. For example, if we want to explore other planets and outer space, the increase in speed is a necessity. But it seems our appetite for speed in every facet of our lives has consumed us and we have become addicted to increasing the speed of life in general, without pausing to think if and how it adds to the quality of our lives.

On the contrary, our addiction to speed leads to several harmful results. For example, due to the hectic (faster?) pace of life, stress levels among the people are on the increase. Take the automobile - most of us drive automobiles and we usually try to drive faster than the legal speed limit or faster than the road conditions permit resulting in many accidents and even deaths. Usually there is no pressing reason for us to drive faster, we just do it because we are addicted to it. Same goes for fast foods; we never seem to have enough time to prepare and eat healthy food, so to get our food fast we resort to easting fast foods or TV dinners. The results of this are proving to be disastrous, we are all getting fat. Some cities in North America reporting as much as 30% of their population as obese; that means one in three persons is obese! In my view, that is a disaster.

We need to take a pause and think if increasing speed in every facet of our lives and keep increasing it is really necessary. There has to be something more to life than just increasing its speed.

Fame, we may understand is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property of a man.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

It’s true; just because somebody is famous doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is meritorious. While many famous people fully deserve the fame they get, there are many others who just manage to become famous without having much merit or capability. They just manage to become famous through manipulation or some other similar accident. Fame is an happenstance; it’s not a property or quality of a person.

On the other hand there are many meritorious people, many a times referred to as unsung heroes, who deserve fame but never get it. Why that happens? Because we live in a twisted world, has always been twisted and will always be twisted; that’s why. :-)

So never automatically assume that because somebody is famous that person must have a great merit. While there is the probability that the famous person has a great merit, one can never be sure as fame is simply an accident or happenstance of the circumstances.

The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car - it can’t steer.
~~ Joyce Cary ~~ (1888 - 1957)

While I agree that the will is like the engine in a car and it can’t steer, I don’t agree that will is never free. What exactly is a will? Will is simply one’s ability to decide one’s course of action. If you have the freedom to decide your own course of action then you are said to have a free will.

In many instances our ability to exercise our free will is restricted. A good example will be our jobs. While we have the freedom to quit our jobs, most of us won’t do that because we have to pay our bills. :-) So in such instances, we still have our free will but only in theory and not in practice.

On the other hand we do have and exercise our free will in many instances. For example, I am writing this post because I decided, of my own free will, to write this post. I didn’t ‘have to’ write it.

A sure way to lose happiness, I found, is to want it at the expense of everything else.
~~ Bette Davis ~~ (1908 - 1989)

Very true. If you are always obsessed with attaining happiness, you’ll surely lose it. Happiness is not some commodity that you can buy from a store.

I think happiness is simply a state of mind and like everything else in this Universe, the state of the mind keeps changing all the time. Sometimes we feel happy, sometimes sad, sometimes we are angry etc.etc. The mind is indeed incapable of staying put in any single state for a long time.

Nobody, rich or poor and everybody in between, stays happy for ever; that’s an impossibility. All we can try and hope for is that we will have more frequent moments of happiness. If we are always chasing that elusive dream of eternal happiness, we are more likely to miss the moments of happiness that we would have otherwise enjoyed. The very act of always wanting happiness at the expense of everything else itself becomes the cause of unhappiness.

Most successes are unhappy. That’s why they are successes - they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.
~~ Agatha Christie ~~ (1890 - 1976)

I agree with that. What exactly is a success or to be more precise, who is a successful person? Normally we define somebody as successful if that person has managed to hold a high office such as President or Prime Minister of a country or Owner or CEO of a corporation or an actor, actress or athlete who rose to the top of his or her profession and manged to amass a lot of wealth etc. though such a definition of success is debatable. Attainment of such high positions or amassing of wealth certainly gets them noticed by the world.

However, considering what most of these people end up doing after attaining such exalted positions, they can not really be happy. For example sex scandals, outright corruption, driving while drunk, using illegal performance enhancing drugs or other unlawful activities by many of these so called successful people come to light quite frequently. They wouldn’t be doing such things if they were happy and content. Happiness is simply a state of mind that usually lasts only for a little while; no matter how successful one might be. On the other hand, even those who are considered total failures or are totally deprived, also experience moments of happiness.

Sometimes I think many of these so called successful people are border-line crazy and they crave constant attention from others. Very difficult, if not impossible, to have a happy disposition under such circumstances.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
~~ Abraham Lincoln ~~ (1809 - 1865)

While Abraham Lincoln aimed his advice mainly at Americans, it’s equally applicable to other nations. Obviously we have not paid any attention to his advice. Instead we have gone in the opposite direction and encourage litigation for anything and everything! While Americans may be leading in the field of litigation, many other developed and even developing countries aren’t far behind.

Just imagine how much money could be saved if the lawyers were to persuade the litigants to compromise instead of proceeding ahead with litigation. It will also boost productivity as fewer juries will be needed thus fewer jurors and fewer witnesses will have to take time off work. It will also help in reducing bitterness between the opposing parties as in a compromise everybody feels like a winner whereas in litigation one party wins and the other loses.

Don’t hold your breath though as it ain’t going to happen. Just because Abraham Lincoln gave us good advice doesn’t mean we are going to follow it or even make any attempts to follow it! :-)

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
~~ C.S. Lewis ~~ (1898 - 1963)

I agree that we should not regret leaving this world but I don’t agree that there are better things ahead. In my view, there is no ahead; this is it. When you are dead, you are dead and you just become dust! That’s also a good reason why we should let the end come when it comes and should not be in a rush to make an exit from this world. After all, why should anybody be in a rush to become a piece of dust?! LOL.

And never expect that the world will be kind to you. The world rarely, if ever, is kind to anybody; so why you’ll expect it to be kind to you? Instead learn to fight your battles with the world. You’ll win some and you’ll lose some! That’s just the way it is.

Do not be fooled into believing that because a man is rich he is necessarily smart. There is ample proof to the contrary.
~~ Julius Rosenwald ~~

Exactly true. I believe on an average more dummies than smart people become rich.

In this world, very rarely a highly educated, smart professional becomes filthy rich. My theory on this is that most highly educated professionals find it extremely hard to become filthy rich because in any recognized profession requiring high skills, there are usually professional bodies that issue code of conduct and ethics which the professionals are required to follow. But there are no such requirements for the average Joe. So the highly educated professional who may be very smart but has his or her hands tied by the code of conduct and ethics, has to compete with others who have no such restrictions.

So just because somebody has managed to get rich doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she is smart or even intelligent. Lots of them are neither!

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

Some people wrongly assume that, in a democracy, the party that wins the majority and forms the government can change or repeal old laws and make any new laws that it wishes to carry out its agenda. That is not exactly true. I think that is precisely what Thomas Jefferson is alluding to in this quote. Of course, when a political party wins majority and forms a government in a democracy, it has the right to pass new laws and change older laws to carry out its political agenda so long as its actions are reasonable and do not oppress the minority.

In true democracies, this is a very important and sacred principle. It is protected by the presence of a Constitution and an independent Judiciary. The Constitution guarantees certain rights to individuals and if the government encroaches upon such rights, the individuals can challenge the government in the court and the Court may declare the law unconstitutional.

It is also possible that a government with huge majority may try to amend the Constitution. Again, such an amendment can be challenged in the Court and the Court may declare the amendment invalid or unlawful if, in the opinion of the Court, such an amendment will lead to oppression of the minority. Independent judiciary in all true democracies is, therefore, extremely important in insuring that no majority party can become autocratic.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)

So true and is proven by recent events. I am sure you have noticed how the present day fools and religious fanatics are positively sure that their God is the Best and their religion is the finest and, in particular, their interpretation of their religion is the correct one! While, at the same time, many of them say that there is only one God.

Now if we assume that there is only one God then the question of whose God is better doesn’t or shouldn’t even arise. But fools and fanatics are not capable of such reasoning and thinking because if they were capable of such reasoning and thinking then they won’t qualify as fools and fanatics.

Even if we assume that there are many Gods or gods, when was the last time their God or god appointed these fools and fanatics to speak on His (their God’s) behalf? Never, that I know of. All those who pretend to speak on behalf of the God are fake, no matter what religion they may belong to. If God intended to speak to us humans then I am sure God is quite capable of speaking for Himself.

If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another.
~~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~~ (1769 - 1821)

Coming from Napoleon Bonaparte, a master soldier who conquered much of Europe and rose to be the Emperor of France, this quote speaks volumes about the stupidity and horrors of war. Obviously, those who have seen wars and, Napoleon not only saw but fought many wars in his lifetime, know that peace is way better than any war even when you win the war.

But to attain peace requires hardwork, foresight, courage and exemplary skills on the part of people in power while declaring war is easy because once the war is underway it’s the soldiers who pay for it with their blood, limbs and even lives. It’s not a surprise then that even today whever there is a conflict, the warmongers with the loudest drumbeat are those who have never been in a war and those people who have actually been in a war usually advise patience and negotiations.

History, a distillation of rumour.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

Funny and true! I think history is just rumour designed to appease the powerful rulers of the day. It has got to be totally inaccurate. Just look at what is happening right now. Do we ever know the truth? In spite of great communications means and freedom of press at least in some countries, we almost never know the truth; everybody has his or her own spin on every issue with usually total disregard for the facts.

And in ancient times when there were scant means of communications and many autocratic rulers, one can hardly expect unbiased recording of events. So history is basically agreed upon guesses by historians.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.
~~ Winston Churchill ~~ (1874-1965)

This is true and almost all successful people say the same thing in one form or another. We all have great potential but most of us fail to reach our potential as we give up as soon as we encounter some difficulties or problems in our pursuit. But those who persist and continue to make consistent efforts go on to reach new horizons and realize their full potential.

So the key is to keep ourselves motivated and consistently make efforts to achieve our goals.

Where There is a Will, There is a Way.
~~ Author Unknown ~~

This is a very motivational and true quote that prompts us to think hard and be creative in finding ways to achieve our goals and solve our problems.

All the technological, medical and other progress that we see or hear about in the world today has happened because there is a strong commitment and the will to do it. A good example is the space exploration programs undertaken by many countries. They don’t really “need” these programs per se but they undertake them anyways, may be for prestige, dominance or whatever reasons. From time to time, they do run in to problems; serious or even fatal problems but they find a way around those problems because of the will and commitment.

It’s the same way for an individual. If you want to attain your goals you must develop the will and commitment, constantly work towards it and find creative ways to overcome difficulties that may arise.

While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.
~~ Helen Keller ~~ (1880-1968)

This is definitely true. Many, many times dedicated individuals, with their determination and perseverance, have accomplished tasks that nobody thought could be accomplished. There is a great lesson here for all of us. We can accomplish our goals if we believe in them and are prepared to make determined, persistent efforts even though others around us may say it can’t be done.

The story of Helen Keller’s life in itself is a great example of what can be accomplished. She was left blind and deaf at the age of just 19 months due to an illness. In spite of all these odds stacked against her since such an early childhood, Helen - with the help of her dedicated teacher Anne Sullivan, made astonishing accomplishments and went on to become world famous.

When we are born we cry that we have come to this great stage of fools.
~~ William Shakespeare ~~ (1564 - 1616)

Now that’s a good one as you would expect from William Shakespeare. LOL. I never thought of it that way. I have been under the wrong impression that we cry so that we can start breathing! Shakespeare obviously has a great point: Who wouldn’t cry when they realize that they have come to the great stage of fools! :-)

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)

It’s very true and even more true now-a-days. We like to eat goodies like chips, ice cream etc. but these are definitely not good for our health. And what is good for our health like fruits and vegetables, we don’t like to eat. We like to drink pop but that again is no good for our health. Water and milk are good but not too many of us are fond of these drinks. Same goes with doing; walking and exercise is good for our health but we would rather take a car even if the place we are going to is only a 5 minutes walk.

I wonder why it happens: Why we end up inventing things that are injurious to our well-being? Is it because at the time of invention we don’t have the foresight or the ability to predict what long term effect of a particular invention will be? No, I think that even if we could predict that a particular invention will adversely affect our health in the long run, we will still invent it and use it anyways. The inventor would justify his/her invention by saying that if he/she doesn’t invent it, somebody else would; moreover nobody is forcing anybody to use it.

So ultimately it’s up to us as individuals to develop the self-discipline to stay healthy by eating what we don’t want such as fruits and vegetables and do things that we don’t want such as walking and exercise.

Lack of money is the root of all evil.
~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~ (1856-1950)

I don’t agree with this quote. It’s not just the people who lack money that engage in unlawful, stupid or evil activities; many rich people indulge themselves in unlawful, stupid or evil activities and some of them end up in jail.

Obviously, for the rich, it’s not the lack of money rather it’s their insatiable greed that leads them to engage in such activities. While a certain amount of greed may be necessary and even desirable for progress, unbridled greed is definitely a curse.

Also, there are people who neither lack money nor are rich but still engage in evil activities. Examples of such people would be rapists, pedophiles, mass-murderers etc., many of whom have been known to belong to the middle class. Why do these middle class people indulge in such evil activities? No body has a definitive answer.

So the causes of evil are complex and not simple like just the lack of money; people from all segments of society have been known to indulge in evil activities.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.
~~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~~ (1882 - 1945)

That is exactly true. An educated public willing to engage itself with the issues of the day and not leave it just to the elitists or politicians will ensure a successful democracy.

In a democracy people are, in fact, the employer. They elect their representatives to run the affairs of the state for a certain period of time after which they get to decide if they want to elect the same or different representative(s). It’s akin to an employer conducting a review of the employee after a certain period of time.

Therefore, an educated and well informed public where vast majority of people never commit themselves to just one political party but objectively assess the performance of the contenders just like an employer and then vote accordingly, will ensure a real successful democracy.

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.
~~ Agatha Christie ~~ (1890 - 1976)

It is so true. It’s funny how we seem to think that we know ourselves well, yet we are almost never aware of many little habits that we have until somebody points them out to us. And while we are blissfully unaware of most of these little habits of ours, these little habits may be driving other people around us up the wall. Further, we usually tend to resent those who gather the guts to tell us about our irritating habits.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
~~ Confucius ~~ (551 BC - 479 BC)

The quote is true but not very practical. Choosing a job you love is easier said than done. The reality of life is that most of us do not get to choose the job we love; the practicality of paying one’s bills starts hitting home pretty quick. Even if you find a job, which at the hiring stage you thought will be ideal for you, may, in reality, turn out to be quite different than you thought it would be. Once you get a job, the tendency is to stick with it even though you may not like it.

If you are one of those brave souls and quit 4 or 5 jobs after working for short periods of time because you didn’t love them and put these in your resume; you’ll probably not get any job let alone the job you love. That’s because most employers will look at your resume and won’t even call you for an interview as they think of you as a “quitter”.

So the idea of getting a job that you love is mostly a pipe dream; it very rarely happens in real life. I think most of the studies peg the percentage of people who love their jobs at around 1% to 2%. As a matter of fact, in a recent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid for the Royal Bank of Canada, 30% of Canadians said they are stuck in dead-end jobs. That is almost 1 in 3 Canadians! And Canada is one of the best countries to live in. If so many people in Canada can’t find a job they love, one can safely assume the situation in the rest of the world is far worse than in Canada.

You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.
~~ Abraham Lincoln ~~ (1809 - 1865)

This quote has proven itself to be very true over the ages. You can fool all the people for some of the time especially if you are in a position of trust or power because basically people tend to believe you or, in some cases, people may not have a choice but to believe you.

If you mis-use that position of trust or power to fool people then after some time the facts will start to appear that will unmask you and you’ll lose confidence and respect of most of the people. And once the people lose confidence in you, they won’t believe you after that even when you may be stating true facts; it’s like the shepherd boy who cried wolf too many times.

Unfortunately, the fooling of the people is not limited to just individuals in positions of power and trust, it can be a corporation or a whole industry. A good example of an industry that kept fooling the people for decades is the tobacco industry which kept insisting, in spite of the facts to contrary, that cigarette smoking causes no ill health effects!

So, yes, you can fool all the people for some of the time but you will eventually be unmasked.

This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

That is definitely true. With our science and technology, we have figured out that there are lots of suns (stars), lots of planets, and lots of asteroids roaming around in space, there are galaxies millions and millions miles away. Yet there may be lots of other things which we probably haven’t even imagined may exist. Even on our own planet earth, there are still a lot of things like other species that we know nothing about.

I often wonder why the world or universe exists and where does the universe end? With all our advanced science, we have no answer for these questions. Most likely we will never know the answers to these questions. May be universe has no end; it’s endless. Now think about it: If the universe is endless then it follows that there are countless suns (stars), planets, moons and probably countless other heavenly bodies which, with our present knowledge, we don’t know and can’t fathom.

And if the universe is endless and filled with countless suns and planets, it will be logical to think that some form of intelligent life will exist somewhere; it may be not exactly the life as we know it but something for sure. So the magical miracle continues. What do you think?

I claim to be no more than an average man with less than average abilities. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.
~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~ (1869 - 1948)

I think Mahatma Gandhi is being modest when he says he is no more than an average man. However, his advice is a good one. An avearge person can achieve a lot provided he or she is committed to the goal, continues to make efforts in that direction and doesn’t quit when the going gets tough.

Gandhi himself was physical beaten and imprisoned many times by the British authorities but he never wavered from his principle of non-violence, continued to persistently devote his energy to realize his dream and ultimately achieved his goal of freeing India.

Einstein said of Mahatma Gandhi:

“Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.”

Sometimes, we just don’t know enough about what we are trying to achieve.
~~ Stuart Wilde ~~

Not just sometimes, I would say a lot of times we don’t know what are we trying to achieve. Many a times we just don’t know where are we going and why we want to go there? But to achieve anything we must define as precisely as posiible what it is that we want to achieve. Even if at the beginning we may not know the exact goal, we should still define it and make adjustments along the way.

Man was made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)
And here I have been mistakenly believing all my life that God never gets tired! :-) I am wondering what this world would have looked like if God had decided to make man when God was well rested. Probably then we would have abundance of qualities like:

• No lies
• No corruption
• No wars
• No murders
• No stealing
• Total Honesty

and many more such undesireable qualities. LOL.

That will be a terribly boring world with lots of unemployment as we won’t need police, no need for judges, lawyers, no need for politicians, soldiers not needed. And above all there will be no obscene profits because everybody will charge just a fair price! No, no, no, we don’t want a boring world like that! See, God knows best that’s why He dicided to make man at end of the week’s work! :-)