control
“It doesn’t matter what other people do or say or think, it only matters what you do.” - Marcus Aurelius
worry
"You are a philosopher, Mademoiselle."
"That implies a detached attitude. I think my attitude is more selfish. I have learned to save myself useless emotion.” Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express)
fear
“To give into fear is to deny the talents and skills that got you where you are in the first place. It’s to deprive yourself of the agency you were given at birth.” - Ryan Holiday
time
“We’re tight fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.” -Seneca
pride
“People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.” Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)
“The ‘C’ students run the world.” - Harry Truman
good
“Oh, the mission got canceled? Good… We can focus on another one.
Didn’t get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good… We can keep it simple.
Didn’t get promoted? Good… More time to get better.
Didn’t get funded? Good… We own more of the company.
Didn’t get the job you wanted? Good… Go out, gain more experience, and build a better resume.
Got injured? Good… Needed a break from training.
Got tapped out? Good… It’s better to tap out in training than tap out on the street.
Got beat? Good… We learned.
Unexpected problems? Good… We have to figure out solutions.” - Jocko Willink
a life
“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.” Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five)
efficiency
“Unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results.” - Alfred D. Chandler
change
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
history
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” - Aldous Huxley
creation
“That’s creation out there, little green apples and infectious disease.” - Don DeLillo (Underworld)
addiction
“People took such awful chances with chemicals and their bodies because they wanted the quality of their lives to improve. They lived in ugly places where there were only ugly things to do. They didn't own doodley-squat, so they couldn't improve their surroundings. so they did their best to make their insides beautiful instead.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
the meaning of life
“Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
humanity
“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
capitalism
“Climate change, teen depression, income inequality, and profligate debt have made a lot of people exceptionally wealthy. And the cost to unwind the damage will be expensive … for all of us.” - Scott Galloway
simplicity
“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s much easier to make it complex.” - Yvon Chouinard
global warming
“The planet was being destroyed by manufacturing processes, and what was being manufactured was lousy, by and large.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
meaning
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
veteran's day
I read this short but powerful piece this AM. I had never heard the story of George Lawrence Price, the last soldier to die in WWI.