“Take a simple idea, take it seriously. Another thing you have to do is have a lot of assiduity. I like that word because to me it means: Sit down on your ass until you do it. Another thing that I have found is that intense interest in any subject is indispensable if you’re really going to excel in it. I could force myself
Category: Life
“Great men seem to us men of boldness; In reality they are more obedient than others. The sovereign voice speaks to them. It is because they are actuated by an instinct which is a prompting of that sovereign voice that they take, always with courage and sometimes with great humility, the place that posterity will later give them – venturing on acts and risking
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. –Viktor Frankl Excerpts from “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor Frankl “If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be ameaning in suffering. “ “To live is to suffer, to survive is to
“The free communication of thought and opinion is one of the most precious rights of man; every citizen may therefore speak, write and print freely.” –French National Assembly in 1789 Interesting read of the history of publishing. Could not agree more with the above quote, there is nothing more important to me than the ability to freely express my thought, opinion and even action as long
Thoughts are the root of everything we experience in our life. So why do we entertain bad thoughts if we know that bad thoughts are bad for us and good thoughts are good for us? Mind, like a farmland, needs to be plowed, weeded of bad thoughts to get the crop of Ananda (Joy). It takes no effort to let weeds grow in the
“A human being,” wrote Einstein in reply, “is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection
The Prophet Mohammed said, “There is no better companion on this way than what you do. Your actions will be your best friend, or if you’re cruel and selfish, your actions will be a poisonous snake that lives in your grave.” –Rumi Thinking is the opposite of acting, so if you are not acting you are thinking and if you are thinking too much
There is nothing equal to patience in this world. Patience makes people very brave and great. This is mentioned in the Balakanda of Ramayana like this – अलङ्कारो नारीणां क्षमा तु पुरुषस्य व/क्षमा दानं क्षमा यज्ञः क्षमा सत्यं हि पुत्रिकक्षमा यसः क्षमा धर्मः क्षमय निष्तितं जगत “Alankaro Naareenaam Kshama Tu Purushasya Va/ Kshama Danam Kshama Yajnah Kshama Satyam Hi Putrikah Kshama Yasah Kshama Dharmah
Buridan’s Ass (Buridan’s Principle) named after the 14th century French Philosopher Jean Buridan. The principle is “an ass placed equidistant between two bales of hay must starve to death because it has no reason to choose one bale over the other“ I am reminded of the “Don’t be a donkey” story that I heard Derek Sivers narrate. The story goes, a donkey is stuck
“Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible. It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What’s thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it—and makes it burn still