RelentlesslyOptimistic

Philosophy is SO confusing!

via thisisnthappiness.com

"to imagine...is among mankind’s deepest needs"

The dreams are eloquent, but they are also beautiful. That aspect seems to have escaped Freud in his theory of dreams. Dreaming is not merely an act of communication (or coded communication, if you like); it is also an aesthetic activity, a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself. Our dreams prove that to imagine - to dream about things that have not happened - is among mankind’s deepest needs. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, p59, Milan Kundera, 1 April 1929

via fuckyeahexistentialism.tumblr.com

Steve Jobs: Don't Settle. Change Something. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

via news.stanford.edu

James Madison spoke against concentrated wealth

James Madison, the 4th President and the primary author of the Bill of Rights, had this to say about the concentration of wealth:

via www.facebook.com

"first make sure that you are not...surrounded by assholes

via afternoonsnoozebutton.com

"To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up"

To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up- Oscar Wilde

via afternoonsnoozebutton.com

“Another belief of mine:..."

“Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”
— Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye

Previously

via www.kungfugrippe.com

Happy Halloween: "did [Cheyney] just then turn into a bat and fly away?"

Chris Matthews asked Grayson [Rep. Alan Grayson, D-FL] what he thinks of Cheney's attacks on President Obama for "dithering" on Afghanistan.

"Well, my response is -- and by the way, I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes, because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he's talking," said Grayson. "But my response is this: He's just angry because the president doesn't shoot old men in the face. But by the way, when he was done speaking, did he just then turn into a bat and fly away?"

Via AZspot

"Some forms of success are indistinguishable from panic" — Edgar Degas

Best quote ever! From bookofjoe. Image source (annoying flash movie).

"Beware of seriousness: it is a form of stupidity" — Alexander Waugh

 

 

From a letter of Alexander Waugh to his 6-year-old son, which appears toward the end of his new book.

From bookofjoe

This Is Why You're A Temp

Lifted whole from Joe. My. God. (even the title)

"I'm sorry but her voicemail isn't working and I'm really too busy to write down your phone number."

Bush: "2 1/2 years seems like an eternity, but in the march of history it's not all that long."

....but it's three years until the inauguration, not 2 1/2.

Quote: A good life

Sugar Creek Farm posted this quote "from the introduction to The Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life by Nell Newman." She's also been posting pics of her cute new puppy.

"Perfection isn't the goal. A good life is. And a good life has a lot to do with who you are in the world, with your intent as much as with the end result."

Thinking and Paper

A thread at "Ask Edward Tufte" led to this quote from a review by Malcolm Gladwell of "The Myth of the Paperless Office" originally published in the New Yorker :

"The messy desk is not necessarily a sign of disorganization. It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unresolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desks, because they haven't yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head. Kidd writes that many of the people she talked to use the papers on their desks as contextual cues to "recover a complex set of threads without difficulty and delay"

Anyone who knows me understands why I like that. Still, I often describe my work as "surfing the chaos," so the complexity and uncertainty certainly fit with the quote. I wonder (hopefully) if my problem with traditional organizing models haven't worked for me because they were heirarchical rather than spatial? I'll have to think about that one, and see if I can find or devise a more spatially-based organizing system. Anyone have suggestions?

Mark Twain: lessons learned

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Via Caterina.net