cigam eonaC

Hey guys. I'm at scout camp. But I'm posting through the magic of canoes. More on that later.

As for now, some quotes that I really really like, with analysis.

"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
- Edward R. Murrow

Perhaps my favorite of the quotes I've discovered recently, I really agree with this. The truth is, no matter how respected you are, how many people hang on to every word you say, you're just a person in the end, apt to make mistakes like the rest of us. Just because people listen to you doesn't make you smarter than them. Just because you wrote a book about war doesn't make you the authority on warcraft mr. sun tzu. In the end, you're a dude, even if people listen to you. Remember that, don't let power go to your head.


"Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office."
- David Broder

Why would anyone want to be president? That much responsibility? Not for me, no thanks. I am a pretty confident person, I'll be the first to admit. I'm an egotistical windbag, it's true. But really, I don't think I'm qualified to run this country. It'd take a seriously confident person to be willing to compete for that responsibility. Anyone who thinks they're that good is probably a little crazy anyways. However, I do have loads of respect for all the presidents that we've had. I'm sure they're all brilliant and whatnot. Yeah.

"Many would be cowards if they had courage enough."
- Thomas Fuller

You said it Thomas. This struck me. Sometimes, there's absolutely no shame in running away. Running away is a valid strategy that's been in use for thousands of years. There's running away in The Bible, there's running away in France, there's running away everywhere we go. The truth is, sometimes it's smarter to run away than it is to stay. In situations like this, there's no shame in running like a little girl. However, some people are way too afraid of being cowards to do it. They're too afraid to be considered afraid. C'mon guys, being a coward is a valiant choice sometimes, at least the way I see it. Therefore, don't be afraid to be a coward. Go Thomas go.

"All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance."
- Edward Gibbon

Everything in life can be likened unto running. As long as you're getting better and practicing, things are great. As soon as you stop working hard, you begin to degrade. If you're not constantly practicing and pushing the bar, you're going to start declining, even if it is ever so slowly. You can't stay the same. If you stop practicing, you go down hill very fast. Don't stop running. Take that and apply it to the rest of life. Don't stop math. Don't stop science, don't stop thinking and dreaming. Keep up the good work.

"The truth is more important than the facts."
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Take that one as it is. Think about it.

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France

Thank you Anatole. It goes back to the first quote. Dumb things are still dumb. Dumb people are still dumb. It doesn't matter if it's widely accepted, it doesn't matter if everyone is doing it. Dumb things are still dumb. Getting your tongue pierced is a stupid idea. Even if everybody does it.

"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them."
- Mark Twain

Easy one, very true.

"Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before."
- Edith Wharton

Edith got me on this one. I'm afraid of what's been done before, I hate the unoriginal. But this gives me hope that there's a brighter future out there. It's ok to like someone else's idea. It's ok to use it, just don't plagiarize it. Build on it, grow with it. They keep improving the airplane, but the wright brothers are dead. Way to steal their idea boeing, nice one.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
- Soren Kierkegaard

ecivda doog.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."
- Richard Feynman

Perfect example: The legacy highway. Delayed forever for some wetlands, some environmentalists. Now, I'm all for preserving our environment, that's very important. But c'mon, I think this thing is necessary, it's gonna make everyone's life easier. So where does the trade off become fair? Where do we stop and say "ok, it's time to go for public relations and ax the improved coat rack." When do we get to say "See you later Castro, i can hang 40% more coats on this thing."

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
- Mahatma Gandhi

You've got to appreciate Gandhi. He's just so pimp. He's oldschool, genuinely valiant. Never one to fight, never one to be the bad guy. He got things done old school, the classics. Gandhi is amazing. He speaks the truth in this one. No single raindrop is responsible for the storm. Whether it fell or not wouldn't change the outcome of the flood, my basement is still filled with mud. But then again, if no raindrops are responsible, where does the flood come from? oh right, the raindrops.

"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities."
- Aldous Huxley

Well stated Aldous. Couldn't have put it better myself.

"Go big or go home."
- oldschool (I don't know)

We didn't come here to lose. We didn't come to be a bunch of pansies. We didn't come to go home without giving our all out there. Really, there's no reason to give anything but our best. I really believe that. If you're going to do it, give it 100%. You can't get away with only 90%. If you're gonna do it, you better do it. Go big or go home. No halfways. No almost's. No sorta's. It's go time.

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion."
- Abraham Lincoln

Brilliant man that Abraham Lincoln was. What is it that makes this statement so universally applicable to us all? Why is it that we truly do feel good when we do good? That one's up to you to decide, but either way, Honest Abe knew what he was talking about. Guaranteed, when you do good, you feel good. When you do bad, you feel bad. Guaranteed.

"It's not what you look like when you're doing what you're doing, it's what you're doing when you look like you're doing what you're doing."
- Express Yourself - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

A winding sentence. My second favorite quote on here, it came from a song. What you look like doesn't matter, what they think doesn't matter. What matters is what you're doing. Are you doing what's right, or what's wrong? That's the important question. Anything else is trivial really.

So there you have it. I hope everything is well back in the valley. Chances are scout camp is going well. Things are crazy, but good. Good luck everybody, I'll see you all later.