A man should choose a friend who is better than himself. – Chinese Proverbs What does that mean? A person should try to improve themselves. That can be done in many ways, but this saying promotes finding a friend who is better than you are. Better at what, you might ask. Better at whatever you are striving…
Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil. – Niccolò Machiavelli What does that mean? It means that no matter what you do, there are some people who are going hate you. If you do evil, the good people will hate you. If you do good, the evil people will hate you. If…
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. – Popularly credited to Lewis Carroll Short answer: Without a goal, no path is better than any other. You’ll end up somewhere, just not anywhere you chose. The line is a paraphrase of the Cheshire Cat’s advice in Alice in Wonderland, not a…
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – Albert Einstein What does that mean? Einstein is stating here that he believes everyone has some genius in them. His genius was seeing the world of physics…
Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. – Charles Schultz What does that mean? Like most of the roads around town (with some notable exceptions, like Florida & Kansas), there hills and valleys. It goes up and down. You need to shift gears, as the correct gear for climbing…
To arrive at certainty, you need to start from a skeptical posture. The best scientists are impartial, not swayed by their own beliefs. – Dalai Lama What does that mean? The subject of this comment is the Scientific Method. Throughout the history of science, people have made claims of many sorts. Often the results were not repeatable, sometimes even…
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. – Seneca What does that mean? To me, it speaks of the difficulties that often precede any significant accomplishment. The most rewarding accomplishment can be the one that included the greatest obstacles, or the roughest road. Oftentimes, the very reason that the accomplishment is…
Many strokes, though with a little axe, hew down and fell the hardest-timber’d oak. – William Shakespeare Quoting directly from The Third part of King Henry the Sixth, Act 2, Scene 1 (5th and 6th lines from the Messenger) “And many strokes, though with a little axe / Hew down and fell the hardest-timber’d oak.” What does…
Anger is never without Reason, but seldom with a good One. – Benjamin Franklin What does that mean? Anger is frequently seen, and it almost always claims to be justified. However, as Ben rightly states, the reason that is given, it is seldom a good reason. This is because the reason we tell ourselves that anger is justified…
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. – Bertha Calloway also attributed to Dolly Parton What does that mean? To me, it speaks of the forces of nature which we are unable to control. We can’t do anything about the wind, or lack thereof. All we can do is adapt to…
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. – Wayne Gretzky What does that mean? If you don’t do it, it won’t happen. If you don’t take a shot, you’ll never make the goal. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But how many times have you waited too long before starting something? That usually doesn’t…
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. – Calvin Coolidge What does that mean? We don’t honor people for what they got, like lottery winners. What they have already received is sufficient reward. While receiving is not dishonorable, neither is it specifically deserving of…
To have true friends and be loved by them, we must in turn feel love and sympathy for others. – Dalai Lama What does that mean? This reminds me of the phrase “to have a friend you have to be a friend.” A true friend will have some flavor of love (a word that covers a…
There is no delight in owning anything unshared. – Seneca What does that mean? This seems fairly straight forward, doesn’t it? How many things have you ever purchased that you deliberately hid from the world, that nobody else knew about? We tend to get stuff to either share or to show off. Some people go…
To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail. –Abraham Maslow Also seen : If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. What does that mean? As an amateur carpenter, this is a funny quote. I have (more than once, I…
