In expert tennis, about 80 per cent of the points are won; in amateur tennis, about 80 per cent of the points are lost. In other words, professional tennis is a Winner’s Game – the final outcome is determined by the activities of the winner – and amateur tennis is a Loser’s Game – the final outcome is determined by the activities of the loser. … [ Read more ]
Author: Simon Ramo | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Personal Improvement, Success / Failure
One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.
Author: Thomas Schelling | Subjects: Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Life & Society, Miscellaneous, Perception | Observation
The cult of the amateur is digital utopianism’s most seductive delusion. This cult promises that the latest media technology—in the form of blogs, wikis and podcasts— will enable everyone to become widely-read writers, journalists, movie directors and music artists. It suggests, mistakenly, that everyone has something interesting to say.
Author: Andrew Keen | Subjects: Communication, IT | Technology, Life & Society, Miscellaneous
I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.
I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its … [ Read more ]
Author: Bill Gates | Subjects: Life & Society, Miscellaneous
Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.
Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | Subjects: Material Possessions, Miscellaneous
The labor into which a heart has poured its whole love—where will it have its say, to excite and inspire, and when?
Author: Kawabata Yasunari | Subjects: Love, Miscellaneous
It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.
Author: Margaret Mead | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Politics & Public Policy
As soon as you mention something, if it’s good it goes away. If it’s bad, it happens.
Author: Murphy’s Law | Source: The Unspeakable Law | Subject: Miscellaneous
Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.
Author: Murphy’s Law | Source: Tussman’s Law | Subjects: Gratitude, Miscellaneous
The only imperfect thing in nature is the human race.
Author: Murphy’s Law | Source: Fowler’s Note | Subject: Miscellaneous
Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
Author: Lily Tomlin | Subjects: Gratitude, Miscellaneous
This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night of the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
Author: William Shakespeare | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Personal Improvement
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
Author: Wayne Dyer | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Wisdom
Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue.
Author: Christopher Hitchens | Subject: Miscellaneous
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Author: Martin Luther King Jr. | Subjects: Character, Family & Friends, Life & Society, Miscellaneous, Relationships
I was recently asked what it takes to become a writer. Three things, I answered: First, one must cultivate incompetence at almost every other form of profitable work. This must be accompanied, second, by a haughty contempt for all the forms of work that one has established one cannot do. To these two must be joined, third, the nuttiness to believe that other people can … [ Read more ]
Author: Joseph Epstein | Subjects: Literature | Arts, Miscellaneous
We must never forget that essentially we shall always live in a world of people rather than in a world of things, and that others can do for us more than we can do for ourselves.
Author: Paul G. Blazer | Subjects: Culture, Life & Society, Miscellaneous
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
Author: Charles W. Eliot | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Miscellaneous
Magazine and journal articles are usually the best forum for bold and original arguments […] most books […] tend to have (at best) a kernel of an important idea, padded with superfluous case studies and second-rate reporting.
Author: Benjamin Schwarz | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Journalism, Learning, Miscellaneous, Reading | Writing
Here’s to the Chef
Who makes sauces so dear,
And here’s to the Barkeep,
Who pours such good cheer.
To our friends and our families,
and anyone not here,
The Best of the Season,
and a Prosperous New Year!
Author: Unknown | Subjects: Gratitude, Life & Society, Miscellaneous