We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood. — William James
“Well, if you’re going to control buffalo, you got to know two things, and only two things: First is,
“You can make buffalo go anywhere, just so long as they want to go there.
“And second,
“You can keep buffalo out of anywhere, just so long as they don’t want to go there.
No difference plus no difference plus no difference plus … eventually equals a clear difference. — Jerry Weinberg
The thought that disaster is impossible often leads to an unthinkable disaster.
People who are close to a problem tend to keep repeating what didn’t work the first time. If it did work, they wouldn’t have called in a consultant.
Even when it’s “really” a technical problem, it can always be traced back to management action or inaction. Even so, the experienced consultant will resist pointing out that it was management who hired all the technical people and is responsible for their development. At the same time, the consultant will look for the people who should have prevented this problem, or dealt with it when it arose.
Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him. — George Santayana
When there are many approaches possible, the shortest path to exceeding expectations rarely goes through meeting expectations. — Ward Cunningham
Sometimes the best management is no management at all — first do no harm!
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
The idea of last words is funny to me, because the whole notion of “last words” suggests they matter. Which they don’t, of course, but this hope we carry that there will be some wisdom or some insight at the last moment, other than “Oh, fuck it, fuck this fucking shit” is so sadly human, I just love it.
Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves. — Walter Anderson
Theories have four stages of acceptance: i) this is worthless nonsense; ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view; iii) this is true, but quite unimportant; iv) I always said so.
No related posts were found, so here's a consolation prize: I Love My Work.
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What would Heracles have been if he had said, “How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men?” What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.
“But if I die thus?”
You will die a good man, fulfilling a noble action.
What greater good do you look for than this? You were shameless and shall be self-respecting, you were undisciplined and shall be disciplined, untrustworthy and you shall be trusted, dissolute and you shall be self-controlled. If you look for greater things than these, go on doing as you do now, not even a god can save you.
Why do you not come forward and openly proclaim that you are at peace with all men, whatever they do, and that you laugh above all at those who think that they are harming you? saying, “These slaves do not know who I am, nor where to find what is good or bad for me, for they have no way of getting at my position.”
There is but one way to peace of mind (keep this thought by you at dawn and in the daytime and at night) — to give up what is beyond your control, to count nothing your own, to surrender everything to heaven and fortune.
