P.22-23
I obsess instead about “rules,” or all the procedures, laws, treaties, rules of thumb, and conventional wisdom that seem to guide the actions of individuals, corporations, governments, and the international community at large. I focus on rules because wherever I find them in healthy abundance (read quality, not quantity), I know the U.S. Military’s role in enforcing them will be small, because once you have rules, you typically have rule enforcers built into the system (e.g., our very robust and distributed U.S. law enforcement network of federal, state, and local police). Likewise, wherever rules are clear because most players in that system agree they’re good, there’s not as much enforcement required, because most participants simply decide on their own that playing by the rules is the best course of action. But where you don’t find generally agreed-upon rules, or where rules are out of whack or misaligned across social sectors, then you’re talking about the future of instability, the potential for misperceptions leading to conflicts, and the clash of competing rule sets.
P.26
Simply put, when we see countries moving toward the acceptance of globalization’s economic rule sets, we should expect to see commensurate acceptance of an emerging global security rule set- in effect, agreement on why, and under what conditions, war makes sense.
P.29
…for I’m a huge believer in the free flow of mass media, ideas, capital, goods, technology, and people. Rather, we didn’t construct sufficient political and security rule sets to keep pace with all this growing connectivity. In some ways, we got lazy, counted a little too much on the market to sort it all out, and then woke up shocked and amazed on 9/11 to find ourselves apparently invited to a global war.
P.43
“It is an enduring conflict between those who want to see disconnected societies like Saddam’s Iraq join the global community defined by globalization’s Functioning Core and others societies from being – in their minds- assimilated into a “sacrilegious global economic empire” lorded over by the United States.”
Barnett, Thomas P.M. 2004. The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century. Berkley Books: New York.
Showing posts with label Book Quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Quotes. Show all posts
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Endurance
Viii
The timing of this later voyage could not have been worse. The world was plunged into war at midnight on August 8, 1914, the same day the Endurance sailed from Plymouth.
P. 13
Fortitudine vincimus – “By endurance we conquer”
P. 17
*Though Shackleton bought the Endurance for $67,000, the Framnaes shipyard today (1959) would not undertake to build a similar vessel for less than $700,000 – and the cost might well run to $ 1 million, they estimate.
P. 51
Late in the evening, the men on deck saw a band of about ten emperor penguins; they waddled slowly up toward the ship, then stopped a short distance away. Emperors, singly or in pairs, were a common sight, but nobody had ever seen so large a group before. The penguins stood for a moment watching the tortured ship, then raised their heads and uttered a series of weird, mournful, dirgelike cries. It was all the more eerie because none of the men – not even the Antarctic veterans among them – had ever before heard penguins voice anything except the most elemental, croaking sorts of noises.
The sailors stopped what they were doing, and old Ton McLeod turned to Macklin. “Do you hear that?” he asked. “We’ll none of us get back to our homes again.”
P. 55
May the Lord help you to do your duty and guide you through all the dangers by land and sea.
May you see the works of the Lord and all His wonders in the deep.
P. 56
Nevertheless, there was a remarkable absence of discouragement. All the men were in a dazed state of fatigue, and nobody paused to reflect on the terrible consequences of losing their ship. Nor were they upset by the fact that they were now camped on a piece of ice perhaps six feet thick. It was a haven compared with the nightmare of labor and uncertainty of the last days on the Endurance. It was quite enough to be alive – and they were merely doing what they had to do to stay that way.
There was even a trace of mild exhilaration in their attitude. At least they had a clear-cut task ahead of them. The nine months of indecision, of speculation about what might happen, of aimless drifting with the pack over. Now they simply had to get themselves out, however appallingly difficult that might be.
P. 57
After he had spoken, he reached under his parka and took out a gold cigarette case and several gold sovereigns and threw them into the snow at his feet.
Then he opened the Bible Queen Alexandra had given them and ripped out the flyleaf and the page containing the Twenty-third Psalm. He also tore out the page from the book of Job with this verse on it:
Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it?
The waters are hid as with a stone.
And the face of the deep is frozen.
And he laid the Bible in the snow and walked away.
It was a dramatic gesture, but that was the way Shackleton wanted it. From studying the outcome of past expeditions, he believed that those who burdened themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those who had sacrificed total preparedness for speed.
P. 64
Though he was virtually fearless in the physical sense, he suffered an almost pathological dread of losing control of the situation. In part, this attitude grew out of a consuming sense of responsibility. He felt he had gotten them into their situation, and it was his responsibility to get them out. As a consequence, he was intensely watchful for potential trouble-makers who might nibble away at the unity of the group. Shackleton felt that if dissention arose, the party as a whole might not put forth that added ounce of energy which could mean, at a time of crisis, the difference between survival and defeat. Thus, he was prepared to go to almost any length to keep the party close-knit and under his control.
P. 65
Hudson was just as had always been, simple and a little irritating. His attempts at humor were often more foolish than funny because he lacked perception. He was a young dandy, a little impressed with his own good looks but really not too sure of himself. As a result of this fundamental insecurity, he was quite self-centered and a poor listener. He could be counted on to interrupt any conversation to inject something about himself—even though what he said bore no relation to the subject being discussed. And his self-centeredness made it difficult for him to tell when his leg was being pulled, as was the case in the practical joke from which he got his nickname, Buddha. Strangely, he seemed to enjoy a joke on himself—at least it gave him the chance to occupy center stage. Shackleton was not fond at all of Hudson, but he preferred putting up with him to inflicting him on others.
P.104
A sense of mounting desperation began to infect them. James wrote on the following day: “Something decisive must occur soon, and whatever it may be will be preferable to continued inactivity. This is our fifth month since our shipwreck. When we left, we were going to be ashore in a month! ‘Man proposes—‘ * applies here with a vengeance.”
* For some reason, James omitted the last portion of the quotation: “Man proposes, God disposes.”
P.106
There were some intrepid attempts to make jokes about cannibalism. “Greenstreet and I,” wrote Worsley, “amuse ourselves at Marston’s expense. Marston is the plumpest man in the camp, and we become very solicitous about his welfare and condition, making a great show of generosity by offering him old penguin bones that we have gnawed till there is nothing left. We implore him not to get too thin and even go as far as to select chops, etc., off him and quarrel about who shall have the tenderest part. Finally, he gets so disgusted with us that whenever he sees us approaching he turns and walks away.”
P.118
Throughout the night, the hoarse croaking of the penguins, punctuated by the explosive sound of schools of whales blowing, created almost a din. When dawn finally came, the weather was clear and bright, with a moderate westerly wind blowing. Once again the men could see Clarence Island, and to the left of it, very faintly, the chain of peaks on Elephant Island. Worsley counted ten of them.
P. 123
The James Caird was in the lead with Shackleton at the tiller. So far as the ice permitted he set a course for the northwest. Next came Worsley steering the Dudley Docker, then Hudson in the Stancomb Wills. The sound of their voices chanting, “stroke…stroke…stroke…”mingled with the cries of the birds overhead and the surge of the swell through the pack. With each stroke, the oarsman fell more into the rhythm of their task.
P. 150
“Blackboro,” he shouted in the darkness.
“Here, sir,” Blackboro replied.
“We shall be on Elephant Island tomorrow,” Shackleton yelled. “no one has ever landed there before, and you will be the first ashore.”
Blackboro did not answer.
P. 200
Then, too, there were the reindeer hairs. They moulted from the insides of the sleeping bags, and at first they had been only a petty annoyance. But no matter how much hair was shed, the supply seemed inexhaustible. And they were everywhere—the sides of the boat, the seats, the ballast. They clung set in clumps to faces and hands. The men breathed them as they slept and occasionally woke up choking on them. The hairs ran down in the bottom and clogged the pump, and little clusters of them were turning up more and more frequently in the food.
Part of the Afterword:
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28, NIV
Lansing, Alfred. 1959. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. First Tyndale House edition (1999). United States.
The timing of this later voyage could not have been worse. The world was plunged into war at midnight on August 8, 1914, the same day the Endurance sailed from Plymouth.
P. 13
Fortitudine vincimus – “By endurance we conquer”
P. 17
*Though Shackleton bought the Endurance for $67,000, the Framnaes shipyard today (1959) would not undertake to build a similar vessel for less than $700,000 – and the cost might well run to $ 1 million, they estimate.
P. 51
Late in the evening, the men on deck saw a band of about ten emperor penguins; they waddled slowly up toward the ship, then stopped a short distance away. Emperors, singly or in pairs, were a common sight, but nobody had ever seen so large a group before. The penguins stood for a moment watching the tortured ship, then raised their heads and uttered a series of weird, mournful, dirgelike cries. It was all the more eerie because none of the men – not even the Antarctic veterans among them – had ever before heard penguins voice anything except the most elemental, croaking sorts of noises.
The sailors stopped what they were doing, and old Ton McLeod turned to Macklin. “Do you hear that?” he asked. “We’ll none of us get back to our homes again.”
P. 55
May the Lord help you to do your duty and guide you through all the dangers by land and sea.
May you see the works of the Lord and all His wonders in the deep.
P. 56
Nevertheless, there was a remarkable absence of discouragement. All the men were in a dazed state of fatigue, and nobody paused to reflect on the terrible consequences of losing their ship. Nor were they upset by the fact that they were now camped on a piece of ice perhaps six feet thick. It was a haven compared with the nightmare of labor and uncertainty of the last days on the Endurance. It was quite enough to be alive – and they were merely doing what they had to do to stay that way.
There was even a trace of mild exhilaration in their attitude. At least they had a clear-cut task ahead of them. The nine months of indecision, of speculation about what might happen, of aimless drifting with the pack over. Now they simply had to get themselves out, however appallingly difficult that might be.
P. 57
After he had spoken, he reached under his parka and took out a gold cigarette case and several gold sovereigns and threw them into the snow at his feet.
Then he opened the Bible Queen Alexandra had given them and ripped out the flyleaf and the page containing the Twenty-third Psalm. He also tore out the page from the book of Job with this verse on it:
Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it?
The waters are hid as with a stone.
And the face of the deep is frozen.
And he laid the Bible in the snow and walked away.
It was a dramatic gesture, but that was the way Shackleton wanted it. From studying the outcome of past expeditions, he believed that those who burdened themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those who had sacrificed total preparedness for speed.
P. 64
Though he was virtually fearless in the physical sense, he suffered an almost pathological dread of losing control of the situation. In part, this attitude grew out of a consuming sense of responsibility. He felt he had gotten them into their situation, and it was his responsibility to get them out. As a consequence, he was intensely watchful for potential trouble-makers who might nibble away at the unity of the group. Shackleton felt that if dissention arose, the party as a whole might not put forth that added ounce of energy which could mean, at a time of crisis, the difference between survival and defeat. Thus, he was prepared to go to almost any length to keep the party close-knit and under his control.
P. 65
Hudson was just as had always been, simple and a little irritating. His attempts at humor were often more foolish than funny because he lacked perception. He was a young dandy, a little impressed with his own good looks but really not too sure of himself. As a result of this fundamental insecurity, he was quite self-centered and a poor listener. He could be counted on to interrupt any conversation to inject something about himself—even though what he said bore no relation to the subject being discussed. And his self-centeredness made it difficult for him to tell when his leg was being pulled, as was the case in the practical joke from which he got his nickname, Buddha. Strangely, he seemed to enjoy a joke on himself—at least it gave him the chance to occupy center stage. Shackleton was not fond at all of Hudson, but he preferred putting up with him to inflicting him on others.
P.104
A sense of mounting desperation began to infect them. James wrote on the following day: “Something decisive must occur soon, and whatever it may be will be preferable to continued inactivity. This is our fifth month since our shipwreck. When we left, we were going to be ashore in a month! ‘Man proposes—‘ * applies here with a vengeance.”
* For some reason, James omitted the last portion of the quotation: “Man proposes, God disposes.”
P.106
There were some intrepid attempts to make jokes about cannibalism. “Greenstreet and I,” wrote Worsley, “amuse ourselves at Marston’s expense. Marston is the plumpest man in the camp, and we become very solicitous about his welfare and condition, making a great show of generosity by offering him old penguin bones that we have gnawed till there is nothing left. We implore him not to get too thin and even go as far as to select chops, etc., off him and quarrel about who shall have the tenderest part. Finally, he gets so disgusted with us that whenever he sees us approaching he turns and walks away.”
P.118
Throughout the night, the hoarse croaking of the penguins, punctuated by the explosive sound of schools of whales blowing, created almost a din. When dawn finally came, the weather was clear and bright, with a moderate westerly wind blowing. Once again the men could see Clarence Island, and to the left of it, very faintly, the chain of peaks on Elephant Island. Worsley counted ten of them.
P. 123
The James Caird was in the lead with Shackleton at the tiller. So far as the ice permitted he set a course for the northwest. Next came Worsley steering the Dudley Docker, then Hudson in the Stancomb Wills. The sound of their voices chanting, “stroke…stroke…stroke…”mingled with the cries of the birds overhead and the surge of the swell through the pack. With each stroke, the oarsman fell more into the rhythm of their task.
P. 150
“Blackboro,” he shouted in the darkness.
“Here, sir,” Blackboro replied.
“We shall be on Elephant Island tomorrow,” Shackleton yelled. “no one has ever landed there before, and you will be the first ashore.”
Blackboro did not answer.
P. 200
Then, too, there were the reindeer hairs. They moulted from the insides of the sleeping bags, and at first they had been only a petty annoyance. But no matter how much hair was shed, the supply seemed inexhaustible. And they were everywhere—the sides of the boat, the seats, the ballast. They clung set in clumps to faces and hands. The men breathed them as they slept and occasionally woke up choking on them. The hairs ran down in the bottom and clogged the pump, and little clusters of them were turning up more and more frequently in the food.
Part of the Afterword:
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28, NIV
Lansing, Alfred. 1959. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. First Tyndale House edition (1999). United States.
Quotes from Robert Nozick's - The Examined Life
A Portrait vs. a Photograph
Why is it that no photograph of a person has a depth a painted portrait can have? The two embody different quantities of time. A photograph is a “snapshot,” whether or not it was posed; it shows one particular moment of time and what the person looked like right then, what his surface showed. During the extended hours a painting is sat for, though, its subject shows a range of traits, emotions, and thoughts, all revealed in differing lights. P.13
Focus
Still, when all other things are equal, the more concentrated thought goes into making something, the more it is shaped, enriched, and laden with significance. So too with living a life. P.14
The Purpose of Behaving Ethically
The philosophical tradition since Plato has sought to ground ethics by showing that our own well-being is served or enhanced by behaving ethically. P.16
What is our Purpose?
Does the desire somehow to survive physical death stem from the desire to have a larger purpose than we can find for ourselves on earth, another task we are to perform in another realm? We might think we each have the task here of making a soul for ourselves – souls might not be things we are born with – a task made more difficult by not knowing exactly what that soul is for. Perhaps it is more than our own individual souls we are to make, more even than a mosaic of souls together. P.25
Nozick, Robert. The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations. 1989. First Simon & Schuster Paperbacks: United States.
Why is it that no photograph of a person has a depth a painted portrait can have? The two embody different quantities of time. A photograph is a “snapshot,” whether or not it was posed; it shows one particular moment of time and what the person looked like right then, what his surface showed. During the extended hours a painting is sat for, though, its subject shows a range of traits, emotions, and thoughts, all revealed in differing lights. P.13
Focus
Still, when all other things are equal, the more concentrated thought goes into making something, the more it is shaped, enriched, and laden with significance. So too with living a life. P.14
The Purpose of Behaving Ethically
The philosophical tradition since Plato has sought to ground ethics by showing that our own well-being is served or enhanced by behaving ethically. P.16
What is our Purpose?
Does the desire somehow to survive physical death stem from the desire to have a larger purpose than we can find for ourselves on earth, another task we are to perform in another realm? We might think we each have the task here of making a soul for ourselves – souls might not be things we are born with – a task made more difficult by not knowing exactly what that soul is for. Perhaps it is more than our own individual souls we are to make, more even than a mosaic of souls together. P.25
Nozick, Robert. The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations. 1989. First Simon & Schuster Paperbacks: United States.
What Makes a Leader
From the article, “What Makes a Leader?”, Daniel Goleman reveals particular qualities associated with what he calls “self-regulation” (Goleman, 1998.). Qualities such as: trustworthiness and integrity, comfort with ambiguity, and openness to change” (Goleman, 1998), all stem from having a system or set of standards to rely upon. Having the confidence in making decisions come almost naturally once the results are established. The faith in this system allows one to exhibit behavior associated with leaders without having to think about them. Of the last two qualities mentioned above, both have the common anxiety many feel with change and ambiguity; it is the fear of the unknown. In each case, this new situation can lead to the thought that one may not be able to handle and overcome the obstacle. By keeping one’s set of principles at heart offers a stable platform and handrail to follow and assist: thus, the confidence in a new situation next time is present from the knowledge that the same method will work again.
Terrorist Hunter
I was introduced to this book through a seminar I attended a few years ago. I have only just recently gotten around to reading it. It deals with a woman telling her story of being an Iraqi born Jew living in the United States. She discovers a huge discrepancy in a number of Islamic non-profit and religious pamphlets. Each pamphlet asking for donations are written in English and Arabic, but there are significant differences in the messages being said between each language. True information about the organization’s affiliation and purpose are omitted in the English version, but is clearly expressed in the Arabic side. From living in the Middle East, she instantly knows the organizations the leaflet lists are all huge supporters of Hamas and al-Qaeda.
This book tells her story of going under cover to conferences that these groups sponsor for fundraising here in the United States. I have found very interesting, but at the same time equally revolting. It makes me sick with anger that these groups operate freely in the U.S. to support acts of terrorism that continue to kill our soldiers abroad.
My intent for this entry is to increase awareness of these activities that continue to operate in our country. Google some of the names on the list below. You might be surprised on what you may find with them. These names represent the same cowards that are responsible for 9/11 and the suicide bombings all over the world for the last 10 years. When I first started this book, I thought it would be a good way to learn more about how the terrorist networks operate, but unlike the pleasure I get from learning in other subjects, this book has become a painful chore to me. I hope that my effort in making this blog entry contributes (however in small measure) to ending terrorist fund raising in our country.
The following organizations listed below are affiliated with Islamic Extremism (terrorism). Of the organizations listed, the book supports every group listed by an overwhelming pile of evidence showing ties to people known for terrorist activities and giving speeches promoting the killing of Americans and Jews. These are just a few organizations from Terrorist Hunter.
Islamic American University (Southfield MI)
Dar al-Hijra Mosque (Falls Church VA) – Nike Corp. also donated $70,000. for the church’s playground
Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP)
World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Anonymous. 2003. Terrorist Hunter. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
This book tells her story of going under cover to conferences that these groups sponsor for fundraising here in the United States. I have found very interesting, but at the same time equally revolting. It makes me sick with anger that these groups operate freely in the U.S. to support acts of terrorism that continue to kill our soldiers abroad.
My intent for this entry is to increase awareness of these activities that continue to operate in our country. Google some of the names on the list below. You might be surprised on what you may find with them. These names represent the same cowards that are responsible for 9/11 and the suicide bombings all over the world for the last 10 years. When I first started this book, I thought it would be a good way to learn more about how the terrorist networks operate, but unlike the pleasure I get from learning in other subjects, this book has become a painful chore to me. I hope that my effort in making this blog entry contributes (however in small measure) to ending terrorist fund raising in our country.
The following organizations listed below are affiliated with Islamic Extremism (terrorism). Of the organizations listed, the book supports every group listed by an overwhelming pile of evidence showing ties to people known for terrorist activities and giving speeches promoting the killing of Americans and Jews. These are just a few organizations from Terrorist Hunter.
Islamic American University (Southfield MI)
Dar al-Hijra Mosque (Falls Church VA) – Nike Corp. also donated $70,000. for the church’s playground
Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP)
World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Anonymous. 2003. Terrorist Hunter. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Excerpt from NIETZSCHE - Reading and Writing
It is true we love life; not because we are wont to live, but because we
are wont to love.
There is always some madness in love. But there is always, also, some
method in madness.
And to me also, who appreciate life, the butterflies, and soap-bubbles, and
whatever is like them amongst us, seem most to enjoy happiness.
To see these light, foolish, pretty, lively little sprites flit about--that
moveth Zarathustra to tears and songs.
I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn:
he was the spirit of gravity--through him all things fall.
Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of
gravity!
I learned to walk; since then have I let myself run. I learned to fly;
since then I do not need pushing in order to move from a spot.
Now am I light, now do I fly; now do I see myself under myself. Now there
danceth a God in me.--
Thus spake Zarathustra.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
are wont to love.
There is always some madness in love. But there is always, also, some
method in madness.
And to me also, who appreciate life, the butterflies, and soap-bubbles, and
whatever is like them amongst us, seem most to enjoy happiness.
To see these light, foolish, pretty, lively little sprites flit about--that
moveth Zarathustra to tears and songs.
I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn:
he was the spirit of gravity--through him all things fall.
Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of
gravity!
I learned to walk; since then have I let myself run. I learned to fly;
since then I do not need pushing in order to move from a spot.
Now am I light, now do I fly; now do I see myself under myself. Now there
danceth a God in me.--
Thus spake Zarathustra.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Monday, October 09, 2006
Chuck Palahniuk's - Survivor
Not a bad book so far....
“To stand here and try to fix her life is just a big waste of time. People don’t want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 282
“The idea came by accident when a newspaper did a feature about a new crisis hotline. The phone number in the paper was mine by mistake. It was a typo. Nobody read the correction they ran the next day, and people just started calling me day and night with their problems.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 280
“Call me a sexual predator, but when I think of predators I think of lions, tigers, big cats, sharks. This isn’t so much a predator versus prey relationship. This isn’t a scavenger, a vulture, or a laughing hyena versus a carcass. This isn’t a parasite versus a host.
We’re all miserable together.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 278
“Just concentrate on the stain until your memory is completely erased. Practice really does make perfect. If you could call it that.
Ignore how it feels when the only real talent you have is for hiding the truth. You have a God-given knack for committing a terrible sin. It’s your calling. You have a natural gift for denial. A blessing. If you could call it that.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.268
“Ask me how to repair stab holes in nightgowns, tuxedos, and hats. My secret is a little clear nail polish on the inside of the puncture.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.265
“Whether you clean a stain, a fish, a house, you want to think you’re making the world a better place, but you’re really just letting things get worse. You think maybe if you just work harder and faster, you can hold off the chaos, but then one day you’re changing a patio light bulb with a five-year life span and you realize how you’ll only be changing this light maybe ten more times before you’ll be dead.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263
“After working in these rich houses, I know the best way to get blood out of the trunk of a car is not to ask questions.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263
“And maybe this is just a trick of the light, but I’ve eaten most of the lobster before I notice the heart beat.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 260
“To stand here and try to fix her life is just a big waste of time. People don’t want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 282
“The idea came by accident when a newspaper did a feature about a new crisis hotline. The phone number in the paper was mine by mistake. It was a typo. Nobody read the correction they ran the next day, and people just started calling me day and night with their problems.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 280
“Call me a sexual predator, but when I think of predators I think of lions, tigers, big cats, sharks. This isn’t so much a predator versus prey relationship. This isn’t a scavenger, a vulture, or a laughing hyena versus a carcass. This isn’t a parasite versus a host.
We’re all miserable together.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 278
“Just concentrate on the stain until your memory is completely erased. Practice really does make perfect. If you could call it that.
Ignore how it feels when the only real talent you have is for hiding the truth. You have a God-given knack for committing a terrible sin. It’s your calling. You have a natural gift for denial. A blessing. If you could call it that.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.268
“Ask me how to repair stab holes in nightgowns, tuxedos, and hats. My secret is a little clear nail polish on the inside of the puncture.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.265
“Whether you clean a stain, a fish, a house, you want to think you’re making the world a better place, but you’re really just letting things get worse. You think maybe if you just work harder and faster, you can hold off the chaos, but then one day you’re changing a patio light bulb with a five-year life span and you realize how you’ll only be changing this light maybe ten more times before you’ll be dead.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263
“After working in these rich houses, I know the best way to get blood out of the trunk of a car is not to ask questions.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263
“And maybe this is just a trick of the light, but I’ve eaten most of the lobster before I notice the heart beat.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 260
Monday, October 02, 2006
The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit
“It’s Funny, Tom thought – it’s funny, the way the world goes. You take your children and with all honesty you teach them, “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” You give them dancing lessons. You teach them Latin, and how to dress properly. You teach them self-respect, if you can. All these things my father must have learned when he was young, and all these things I learned, and if I can, I will teach all these things to my son. And if I can, I will also teach him to defend his country. If he has to, I hope he’ll be a tough bastard too.”
Tom Rath - P. 97
““I want justice,” he had said. I wonder how many murders have been committed, and how many wars have been fought with that as a slogan, Bernstein thought. When the say that want justice, they always want someone else to get the sharp end of it. Justice is a thing that is better to give than to receive, but I am sick of giving it, he thought. I think it should be a prerogative of the gods.”
Judge Bernstein - P. 136
Wilson, Sloan. 1983. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. Four Walls Eight Windows: Canada
Tom Rath - P. 97
““I want justice,” he had said. I wonder how many murders have been committed, and how many wars have been fought with that as a slogan, Bernstein thought. When the say that want justice, they always want someone else to get the sharp end of it. Justice is a thing that is better to give than to receive, but I am sick of giving it, he thought. I think it should be a prerogative of the gods.”
Judge Bernstein - P. 136
Wilson, Sloan. 1983. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. Four Walls Eight Windows: Canada
Friday, September 29, 2006
Narcotization
Narcotization - When something is shown as being too large to handle; the studied effect usually makes a person unresponsive to a problem and simply does nothing from the perceived hopelessness of the situation.
Chuck Palahniuk - (Stranger than Fiction)
Chuck Palahniuk - (Stranger than Fiction)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Either Make Love or Fight
“An authority on human behavior once remarked that if two people stare at each other for more than a few seconds, it means they are about to either make love or fight. Something similar might be said about human societies. If two nearby societies are in contact for any length of time, they will either trade or fight. The first is non-zero-sum social interaction, and the second ultimately brings it.”
Robert Wright
Wright, Robert. 2000. Nonzero – The Logic of Human Destiny . Vintage Books: New York.
Robert Wright
Wright, Robert. 2000. Nonzero – The Logic of Human Destiny . Vintage Books: New York.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Conflict
“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
- Orson Wells
- Orson Wells
Trouble with most of the beautiful women
“George was attracted to beautiful women, but he tended to avoid the beautiful ones. They were too aware of their own good looks, and that awareness often made them moody and difficult.”
(P. 138)
Jakes, John. North and South. 1982. Penguin Putnam: New York.
(P. 138)
Jakes, John. North and South. 1982. Penguin Putnam: New York.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
How Can I best Respond
“One simple practice can propel you forward in your long-term quest for excellence and in your struggle for true maturity (courage balanced with consideration) and for integrity. It is this: Before every test of your new habit or desired behavior, stop and get control. Plumb and rally your resources. Set your mind and heart. Choose your mood. Proactively choose your response. Ask, “How can I best respond to this situation?” Choose to be your best self and that choice will arrest your ambivalence and renew your determination”
-Stephen Covey
Principle-Centered Leadership
-Stephen Covey
Principle-Centered Leadership
First Official blog entry - The Fall of the Athenian Republic
The Fall of the Athenian Republic
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
-Alexander Tyler
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilization has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage.”
-Alexander Tyler
Alexander Tyler was listed as a Scotts Historian Professor 1787 re: The Fall of the Athenian Republic.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
-Alexander Tyler
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilization has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage.”
-Alexander Tyler
Alexander Tyler was listed as a Scotts Historian Professor 1787 re: The Fall of the Athenian Republic.
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