Desperation

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

- Henry David Thoreau

I look around and see the depravity that some individuals have reached and the heights that others have achieved. The notion that a person can find happiness by taking lottery winning actions, i.e. doing those things that will either give them a measure of success or return absolutely nothing is dangerous at best.

The Enron scandals of a few years ago clearly demonstrate this. Similar attitudes are to be found in foundering politicians and leaders of many fallen businesses. Placing faith in desperate and unlikely sources is a dangerous and generally unwise thing to do.

Life Is A Mixed Up Web

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.

William Shakespeare
All 's Well that Ends Well, Act IV, Sc. III

How true it is that there are so many different things in our lives mixed together both for happiness and for sadness. In the course of a single day we can traverse this myriad of emotions many times over.

I have often enjoyed the works of Shakespeare. I find that many of his lines provoke thought and inspiration.

Chickens

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

-Aesop

So many times, especially these days we look to the future, counting on returns that we may never see. The state of the current economy should teach us this lesson all over again, though in all likelihood the majority of us will forget these lessons all too soon.

As we look to the future, it is generally good to keep a positive disposition. However a dose of reality can keep us from unhappiness. Spending money we have not earned, especially buying on credit is one of those dangers that we should heartily avoid wherever possible.

Growth

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

- C.S. Lewis

There are a lot of things that a person can become in this life. Unfortunately none of those things happens without a lot of change and a lot of work. For us very often this means that we must do the work and make the change happen ourselves. Nobody else is going to do it for us.

The gem of truth I like in this quote is that we either have to do something or by default we won't achieve what we want. Sloth by its very nature drives us to become less than what we are, and that in and of itself is (or should be) enough to convince me to be a better person.

Wisdom

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

-Elbert Hubbard

This really struck me in terms of reflection. I know that as for myself I'm not the brightest light on the Christmas tree, but I do shine when I can. I think that all too often we don't give ourselves enough credit for the good things that we do and allow ourselves to behave foolishly to try to cover up our own inadequacies.

For those that don't know Elbert Hubbard, he was an author and editor in the early 20th century. He was known for his quotations, especially his satire and whimsy.