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
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! :-)
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)
We frequently fear of the worst and unnecessarily limit our chances of success. Most of the problems and troubles that we think we are going to encounter if we embark upon such and such venture never actually come to pass.
It is obviously a good idea to try to foresee any problems that we may encounter in our endeavors but the possibility that such problems may be encountered should not deter us from pursuing our goals. A better approach will be to figure out as to what will be done - a sort of back up plan - in case we do actually face the problem. But most of the time the perceived problems will never be encountered.
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.
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.
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! :-)
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
~~ Mark Twain ~~ (1835 - 1910)
There is a very good reason for that. If we think we don’t know something or not sure about something, we don’t insist on it but try to learn more about it. But when we think that we are sure of something, we insist on it being true and many a times it turns out that what we were sure of isn’t necessarily the way we thought it to be. And that may lead us to trouble. I believe the lesson here is to be open-minded about the views of others even on matters that we think we know for sure.
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
~~ Mark Twain ~~
Very true and for a good reason: Really great people are secure and self-assured. They don’t see anybody else as a threat or competition to their greatness. The same could not be said of the small people.
