I think we have to stop spending money that we don't have. We're overconsuming. We have to find things to do other than just buying things. Learning things would probably be a better past time. That's a hard thing for a culture to change. But i certainly find learning things and solving problems the most challenging thing. If we're going to compete in this thing that Tom Freeman calls a flat world we're going to have to get more interested in solving prolbems and being entrepreneurial and less into materialism that we've become, the consumer emphasis that we have in this country. --Bill Joy, Nerd TV

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

- Albert Einstein

"Well, ok", she said, "we'll take a vote."

And they voted ten to four not to do the senior class play, which went against everything they'd been brought up with: "never to quit; never to quit; never ever give up."

And they found out then the reason you should never quit or give up is because when you do, it won't make that big a difference to people. They won't notice. You think it's going to be a scandle, and it's not. You'll come home early from school for three or four days before your parents say, "weren't you in a play?", and you say "it was cancelled," and they'll say "oh." That's all. That's all the world says when you quit, when you've given up. "oh." That's all you get.

--Garrison Keillor, A prairie home companion, Apr 23, 2005

Small | Medium | Large

Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow.

But of course, without the top you can't have any sides. It's the top that defines the sides.

--Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Mainenance, Robert M. Pirsig, p. 205

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After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi. -- P.J. O'Rourke

How would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified? What goverment would execute Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo? -- Philip Yancey (seen in Wild at Heart by John Eldredge)

If Java is your hammer, every problem looks like a thumb. --seen in a comp.lang.lisp sig