Author: LINUS FERNANDES
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G K Chesterton: Government becomes the God
“Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God. That fact is written all across human history; but it is written most plainly across that recent history of Communist Russia; which was created by Lenin.” —G K Chesterton.
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Warren Buffett: Bubbles
“In economics, it’s far easier to tell what will happen than when it will happen. I mean, you can see bubbles develop and things, but you do not know how big the bubble will get.” —Warren Buffett (2005).
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Machiavelli: New order of things
“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only luke-warm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order. This luke-warmness…
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Kurt Vonnegut: Be careful
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” —Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night.
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Simon Sinek: Stand for people
“Stand for people; not a product or service or metric or number. Stand for real, living, breathing people and we will change the world.” —Simon Sinek.
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Lee Hsien Loong: Long-term perspective
“I think you can only plan in broad terms where you want to go and what are the major pieces which you want to put in place. And then you have to leave a lot of space for the economy to develop, for people to pursue their passions, and for technology to unfold. But you…
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G K Chesterton: Modern toleration
“Modern toleration is really a tyranny. It is a tyranny because it is a silence. To say that I must not deny my opponent’s faith is to say that I must not discuss it; I may not say that Buddhism is false, and that is all I want to say about Buddhism.” —G K Chesterton.
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G K Chesterton: Change
“Can you hate the world enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?” —G K Chesterton.
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C S Lewis: Humbled
“In a perfect friendship…each member feels, in his secret heart, humbled before the rest. Sometimes he wonders what he is doing there among his betters. Especially when the whole group is together; each bringing out all that is best, wisest, or funniest in the others.” —C S Lewis.
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G K Chesterton: Social system denies the family
“Hardly anybody dares to defend the family. The world around us has accepted a social system which denies the family. It will sometimes help the child in spite of the family; the mother in spite of the family; the grandfather in spite of the family. It will not help the family.” —G K Chesterton.
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Martin Luther: Husbands and wives
“Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.” —Martin Luther.
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Will Durant: Acted rightly
“We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly.” —Will Durant, historian.
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Bill Mauldin: Advances in civilization
“Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counterrevolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.” —Bill Mauldin, editorial cartoonist (29 Oct 1921-2003).
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Simon Sinek: Dance that makes us human
“Sometimes we give too much too soon. Sometimes we hold back for too long. This is our beautiful dance. Our imperfect dance. This is the dance that makes us human.” —Simon Sinek.
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G K Chesterton: Verbal controversy
“I will not engage in a verbal controversy with the skeptic because long experience has taught me that the skeptic’s ultimate skepticism is about the use of his own words and the reliability of his own intelligence.” —G K Chesterton.
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Erich Auerbach: Differentiated into full individuality
“The old man, of whom we know how he has become what he is, is more of an individual than the young man, for it is only in the course of an eventful life that men are differentiated into full individuality.” —Erich Auerbach.
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Paul Lockhart: Art of explanation
“By concentrating on what, and leaving out why, mathematics is reduced to an empty shell. The art is not in the ‘truth’ but in the explanation, the argument. It is the argument itself which gives the truth its context, and determines what is really being said and meant. Mathematics is the art of explanation.” —Paul…
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Simon Sinek: Risk to trust others
“If we are unwilling to take the risk to trust others, then others will be unwilling to take the risk to trust us.” —Simon Sinek.
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Rosanne Cash: Quiet, solitary moments
“You begin to realize that everyone has a tragedy and that if he doesn’t, he will. You recognize how much is hidden behind the small courtesies and civilities of everyday existence. Deep sorrow and traces of great loss run through everyone’s lives, and yet, they let others step into the elevator first, wave them ahead…
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Simon Sinek: Group dynamics
“Instead of expending energy to fit into the group, it’s better to expend energy to find the group in which we fit.” —Simon Sinek.
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Patti Page: Dries up
“Your voice dries up if you don’t use it.” —Patti Page, singer (8 Nov 1927-2013).
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Unknown: Pick two
“You can have the project: Done On Time. Done On Budget. Done Properly – Pick two. —Unknown.
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Morley Safer: Reality shows
“What has reality shows got to do with reality? It is beyond unreality, there is nothing real about it.” —Morley Safer.
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Andrew Dickson White: Fanatic’s creed
“The cardinal doctrine of a fanatic’s creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God.” —Andrew Dickson White, diplomat, author, co-founder and president of Cornell University (7 Nov 1832-1918).
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G K Chesterton: Voting
“One of the many points on which professional politicians fail to understand human beings is this simple fact that voting is a bore, while arguing, shouting, heckling, and holding up one’s hand are, on the contrary, great fun.” —G K Chesterton.
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Malcolm Muggeridge: Man acting like God
“What will finally destroy us is not communism or fascism, but man acting like God.” —Malcom Muggeridge.
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James Cook: Just once
“Do just once what others say you can’t do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.” —James Cook.
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Simon Sinek: Being a leader
“The first criteria of being a leader is to practice empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” —Simon Sinek.
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James Jones: Untruthful combat
“I don’t think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won’t even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don’t even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become.” —-James Jones, novelist (6…
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Howard Marks: Are you prepared?
“Controlling risk is the mark of a professional. Anybody can make money when the market goes up. And most of the time the market goes up. And anybody who takes above-average risk can do above average when the market rises. So achieving returns is not a point of distinction in good times. In my opinion,…
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Natalie Merchant: Dissent without fear
“There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, ‘I disagree.’ We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators,…
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Vivien Leigh: False life
“I’m not a film star, I am an actress. Being a film star is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity.” —Vivien Leigh.
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Sir Tim Berners-Lee: Ethics is design
“Ethics, like technology, is design. As we’re designing the system, we’re designing society. Ethical rules that we choose to put in that design [impact the society]…Nothing is self-evident. Everything has to be put out there as something that we think will be a good idea as a component of our society.” — Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
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Walter Cronkite: Libraries
“Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.” —Walter Cronkite.
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Leonardo da Vinci: Hanged in a year
“He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.” —Leonardo da Vinci,artist, inventor and scientist.
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Conor Cruise O’Brien: Christian unity
“Nothing does more to activate Christian divisions than talk about Christian unity.” —Conor Cruise O’Brien.
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Simon Sinek: Delicate blend
“Pure pragmatism cannot imagine a bold future. Pure idealism cannot get anything done. It is the delicate blend of both that drives innovation.” —Simon Sinek.
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Rose Bird: Not good tenants
“We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long…
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Ken Rosewall: Concentration
“If I were asked to name one aspect of tennis that is the biggest weakness of players of all levels, I would probably say concentration. However good your shots, however fast your movement and reflexes, all is lost if the mind is not controlling every move.” —Ken Rosewall.
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G K Chesterton: Lunacy of men
“There is no limit to the lunacy of men when they think themselves superior both to laughter and humility.” —G K Chesterton.
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Simon Sinek: Always plan
“Always plan for the fact that no plan ever goes according to plan.” —Simon Sinek.
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Marcel Proust: Whole gamut of feelings
“A woman whom we need and who makes us suffer elicits from us a whole gamut of feelings far more profound and more vital than does a man of genius.” —Marcel Proust.
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Christopher Dawson: Catholicism to complete secularism
“Protestantism, Liberalism, and Communism are three successive stages by which our civilization has passed from Catholicism to complete secularism. The first eliminated the Church, the second eliminated Christianity, and the third eliminates the human soul.” —Christopher Dawson.
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Francis Arinze: God seeking humanity
“With reference to other religions, the Church sees a great difference between them and herself. The other religions are expressions of the human soul seeking God, with some beautiful spiritual insights, but also not without errors. Christianity is rather God seeking humanity.” —Francis Arinze.
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Thomas Babington Macaulay: Correctly informed
“Those who compare the age in which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in imagination, may talk of degeneracy and decay; but no man who is correctly informed as to the past, will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present.” —Thomas Babington Macaulay, author and…
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Alexander Alekhine: Objective
“Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.” —Alexander Alekhine.
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Simon Sinek: Leaders
“Leaders don’t complain about what’s not working. Leaders celebrate what is working and work to amplify it.” —Simon Sinek.
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John Adams: Honest and wise men
“May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof (White House).” —John Adams, 2nd US President, and the first one to live in the White House (30 Oct 1735-1826).
