I used to think my brain was my most important organ. But then I thought: wait a minute, who's telling me that?
-Emo Phillips
The great source of both misery and disorders of human life seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Some of those situations may no doubt deserve to be preferred to others, but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice
-Adam Smith
Theory of moral sentiments 1759
Every once in a while I hear something that makes me laugh, smile, or just stop and think. Here are a few examples of my favorites.
It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
-Alfred North Whitehead
The universe lies to our senses and they lie to us. And how can we ourselves be anything but liars? For myself, I trust neither message nor messenger; neither what I am told or what I see. There may be truth somewhere, but it never gets down to me.
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
Try not.
Do or do not.
There is no try.
― Yoda
On the one hand, nature is wiggling. Everything wiggles. The outlines of the hills. The shapes of the trees. The way the wind brushes the grass. The clouds. Tracts of streams. It all wiggles. And for some reason or other, we find wiggly things very difficult to keep track of...
You’re only making a mess by trying to put things straight. You’re trying to straighten out a wiggly world, and no wonder you’re in trouble.
-Alan Watts
One good think about music is when it hits you, you feel no pain.
-Bob Marley