Words of Wisdom
A Potpourri

 

This, too, shall pass away.

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!  

Abraham Lincoln, Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, WI, September 30, 1859

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Robyn Leary: How much do children owe their parents, and vice versa?

Walker Percy: Don't know, beyond a certain decent respect. Love's fine, but so is toleration. Thus, parents should recognize that most children, especially the most talented, have to rebel to become themselves. Young people should recognize that their parents are not necessarily the cretins they appear to be. Each should try to put up with the other, difficult as that may be.

from "Surviving His Own Bad Habits: A Previously Unpublished Interview with Walker Percy," by Robyn Leary, DoubleTake

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America is an idea

The Europeans don't understand how we can be so arrogant. But that's because for a European to say that his country is better smacks of racism: blond, blue eyed ersatz ubermenschen derogating the lesser breeds. I don't think that they have grasped that Americans can say "our way is better" without implying a superiority of our breed, or even our culture.


Because America is an idea. America is the idea that if you leave people alone to get on with things, they get it right most of the time. It's the idea that where you come from is a great deal less important than where you're going. It's the idea that if you don't like something, you can pick up a wrench, get in there, and start fixing it. It's the idea that if your solution doesn't work out the first time, there's always room to try again. It's the idea that the most important thing a person can do in life can only really be known to them, and the most important thing a government can do is get out of their way while they look for it. It's the idea that individuals aren't available in groups; they can only be packaged individually. It's the idea that liberty is worth our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. It's the expectation that you do the best you can with what you have. And it's the knowledge that if there are a bunch of people who are violating these ideas, one way or another, you don't have to beat them into submission -- you can pick up and go somewhere else, where the people are more congenial.

It's not racist to say that some ideas are better than others.

I don't think that Europeans understand, in the American sense, the concept of freedom. Which is why they do not understand why we will not relinquish what they hold cheap.

But any one of them can join our merry band any time they want by crossing the pond and sharing the idea. And if they don't want to, that's okay too. But I'm not going to give these things up because the Euros get snotty and say we're immature every time we try to go our own way. Because I'm sorry if it hurts their feelings, but I think my way is better. And in the end, I'm willing to die for my idea. No, really, I am. I'm pretty happy that no one seems particularly interested in arranging it, but I'm also pretty sure that if it were necessary, I would be ready, if not exactly willing. The multilateralists should look deep in their hearts and ask themselves if their ideas are worthy of the same honor.

Jane Galt, Live from the WTC, May 21, 2002

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High school students, see the rules of life and "In, But Not Of," by Hugh Hewitt, hardcover (Nelson, 2003)  "In, But Not Of provides readers with valuable insights, wisdom, personal experiences, and advice on how to rise in the world and achieve the kind of radical success that honors God."

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Sue Pelka's "The Virtues that Lead to Good People Skills"

1. Be kind. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

2. Use people's names and remember them! Memorize people's names and then use them with enthusiasm. Repeat a person's name three times in the initial conversation. Don't hesitate to ask a person their name if you forget.

3. Eye contact. Look people in the eye while you are speaking with them and when they are speaking with you. Have you ever tried to talk with someone who looks around while you are speaking with them? We all do - try to eliminate it.

4. Be a good listener. Let people know they are connecting with you - ask questions and nod. You are telling people they are so interesting and important that they warrant your undivided attention..

5. Speak up! Your voice tells a lot about you, and these days our voices are constantly being recorded as voice mail. Speak clearly and with enthusiasm. Leave your name and telephone number at the beginning of a voice mail.

6. Introduce people. Learn how to do it and practice it. When introducing people to one another, use full names, and give a little bit of background information for each person you introduce. Don't forget to introduce people with enthusiasm.

7. Be positive! This means rarely saying no, minimizing the griping and complaining. "I usually go around work telling people how lucky I am to work at Fox and how well I am treated. The response is often . . . 'That's because you do such a good job!!!' Going hand-in-hand with positive thinking is to always try new experiences that are offered to you. They are never as hard as you think they will be."

8. Shake hands. Use a firm handshake, not a dead fish.

9. Smile. At everyone.

10. Understand and accept people that think differently from you. We all have core beliefs that are pretty much unshakable by the time we finish high school. And so does everyone else. We can rarely change these core beliefs - it takes a significant emotional experience for anyone to un-do these values.

(Sue Pelka announces the weather for the Fox channel in Washington, DC. She started her career as a teacher. These ten points are based on a talk she gave Dec. 7, 1997.)

 

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"The answers to three questions will determine your success or failure. (1) Can people trust you to do your best? (2) Are you committed to the task at hand? (3) Do you care about other people and show it? If the answers to all these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail." Lou Holtz

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Genius will not. Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Press on." Ray Kroc

"A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well." Anonymous

"Dissatisfaction with oneself is one of the foundation stones of every real talent."  Anton Chekov

"You will hear everlastingly, in all discussions about newspapers, companies, aristocracies, or party politics, this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man. The whole case for Christianity is that a man who is dependent on the luxuries of this life is a corrupt man, spiritually corrupt, politically corrupt, financially corrupt. There is one thing that Christ and all the Christian saints have said with a sort of savage monotony. They have said simply that to be rich is to be in peculiar danger of moral wreck. ... [I]t is quite certainly un-Christian to trust the rich, to regard the rich as more morally safe than the poor. ... For it is a part of Christian dogma that any man in any rank may take bribes. It is a part of Christian dogma; it is also part of obvious human history." G.K. Chesterton

 "If you want to know what the Lord God thinks of money, you have only to look at those to whom He gave it." Michael Baring

“If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly." G.K. Chesterton 

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The Seven da Vincian Principles

Curiosita - An insatiably curious approach to life.

Dimostrazione - A commitment to test knowledge through experience.

Sensazione - The continual refinement of the senses.

Sfumato - A willingness to embrace paradox and uncertainty.

Arte / Scienza - The development of the balance between science and art.

Corporalita - The cultivation of grace, fitness and poise.

Connessione - A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. 

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"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." Albert Einstein

"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art."  Andy Warhol

"I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work." Benjamin Franklin

"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not the attainment. Full effort is full victory." Mohandas Gandhi

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." Winston Churchill

"What pioneer ever had chart and a lighthouse to steer by?"

"And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. Thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it like partisans, whilst the others defend lukewarmly...."  Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable." Sidney J. Harris

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The seven blunders of the world

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Knowledge without character.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Worship without sacrifice.

Politics without principle.

Mohandas Gandhi 

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"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln

"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight.
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
Longfellow, "The Ladder of St. Augustine"

"A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office everyday. Not because he likes it but because he can’t think of anything else to do." W.H. Auden

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one"  Malcolm S. Forbes

"I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun." Thomas Edison

"Fun is when you enjoy what you're doing; work is when you'd rather be doing something else." Art Buck

"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." Theodore Roosevelt

"In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it." John Ruskin

"The truth is that many successful people are no more talented than unsuccessful people. The difference between them lies in the old axiom that successful people do those things that unsuccessful people don't like to do."  Harvey Mackay

"I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, make the execution of that same plan his sole study and business." Benjamin Franklin

"The way to wealth . . . depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money."  Benjamin Franklin

"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." Tom Robbins

Also see "Don't Give Up" at 48Days

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John Rau's career lessons:

1. Learn the defining issues of your time.

2. Attach yourself to the right people. (warning - the "right people" can move on very quickly.)

3. Learn to manage people who know more than you do. (Listen, use incentives, get them the feedback they need right away.)

4. Look for positions where you can make a difference.

5. Don't hire managers to run the organization you have; hire managers who can run the organization you want to create.

6. Some time off can help you define what you really want out of life.

7. To promote change, win the hearts and minds of those you want to change.

(John Rau has been CEO of 3 different companies, most recently Chicago Title and Trust  from "John Rau learns from his staff, then finds a way to guide," The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday May 6, 1997, Page B1)

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In that anti-capitalist view of things, I suppose I should make more money writing this column than the owners of Foodland. Clearly, that's a formula for an oversupply of columnists and mass starvation, exactly what's been delivered time and again whenever an anti-capitalist intelligentsia has grabbed the reins of power.

Ludwig von Mises, 30 years ago, made much the same argument as Brooks in his book The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality: "Many people, and especially intellectuals, passionately loathe capitalism. In a society based on caste and status, the individual can ascribe adverse fate to conditions beyond his control. It is quite another thing under capitalism. Here everybody's station in life depends on his doing. The profit system makes those men prosper who have succeeded in filling the wants of the people in the best way."

"The economics of terrorism: When class envy leads to hate," by Ralph Reiland, Jewish World Review, May 22, 2002

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Thirty years after the first doom-mongering eco-confab in Stockholm, it should be obvious even to the UN frequent-flyer crowd. Markets aren't the problem, but the solution to the problem. The best way to clean up the neighbourhood is to make people wealthier. To do that, you need free markets, democracy, the rule of law and public accountability. None of those things exist in the Middle East, which is the real reason they'll be taking communal showers once a month in 2032.

"Unless we change our ways....the world faces a future where things look pretty darn good," by Mark Steyn, National Post, May 27, 2002