CHARACTER
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. — Benjamin Franklin
COMMUNICATION
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
– C. L Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), Alice in Wonderland
EMPATHY
“changing places in fancy with the sufferer.” — Adam Smith, on the act of perspective-taking
FREEDOM
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right…. — Judge Learned Hand, “The Spirit of Liberty,” speech at an “I Am an American Day” ceremony, Central Park, New York City, May 21, 1944.—Hand, The Spirit of Liberty, 3d ed., enl., ed. Irving Dilliard, p. 190 (1960).
GOVERNMENT
Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for. — Will Rogers
INSPIRATION
You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. — Jack London
LIBERALS
“Professional liberals are too arrogant to compromise. In my experience, they were also very unpleasant people on a personal level. Behind their slogans about saving the world and sharing the wealth with the common man lurked a nasty hunger for power. They’d double-cross their own mothers to get it or keep it.”
– Harry S Truman, pp. 55, American Heritage 7/8 1992, from a 1970 interview
QUESTIONS
I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
– Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child
THINKING
We are a lot better at <em><strong>doing </strong></em>outside the box than <strong><em>thinking </em></strong>outside the box. Nassim Taleb, author of <em>The Black Swan, </em> in an interview on econtalk.org 5/3/10
