i-TFTD #224

#224-1. Use what talent you possess - the woods would be very silent if no birds sang, except those that sang best.
-Henry Van Dyke

#224-2. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
-Henry David Thoreau

#224-3. Normal is in the eye of the beholder.
-Whoopi Goldberg

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Three reminders to stay close to your true self. Confidence booster for essentially good human beings. Does not apply if your actions cause harm to others.

i-TFTD #223: Deepavali Special

As Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the US, said, Diwali—the festival of lights—symbolises the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. So here’s a! bumper edition of i-TFTD on knowledge.

#223-1. Lead us from the unreal (illusion) to the real
Lead us from darkness to light.
-Brihadaranyaka Upanishad c. 800BCE, I.3.28

#223-2. Everyone has the right to... knowledge... the supreme goal is attained by... knowledge alone.
-Adi Shankaracharya (great Indian philosopher and spiritual leader, 788 CE - 820 CE) in Taittiriya Upanishad Bhashya 2.2

#223-3. It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
-Epictetus (Greek Stoic philosopher, 55–135CE)

#223-4. The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
-Henri-Louis Bergson (French philosopher, 1859–1941)

#223-5. We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.
-John Naisbitt (author of Megatrends, b. 1929)

#223-6. Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.
-Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese born American philosophical poet, 1883-1931)

#223-7. The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.
-Malcolm Forbes (publisher, 1919–1990)

#223-8. The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.
-Thomas Berger (American novelist, b. 1924)

#223-9. If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
-Isaac Asimov (author, 1920-1992)

#223-10. It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.
-Enrico Fermi (Italian physicist, 1901-1954)

#223-11. A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak.
-Michael Garrett Marino (author?)

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Through the centuries, the wise have advised the sincere pursuit of knowledge. One has to have a thirst for it, and seek with a mind open to change, with humility and curiosity.

i-TFTD #222: On Having a Stand and Changing It Too

#222-1. We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.
-Ambrose Bierce

#222-2. Be courageous—it’s the only place left uncrowded.
-The Body Shop

#222-3. When people are born they are supple, and when they die they are stiff.
When trees are born they are tender, and when they die they are brittle.
Stiffness is thus a cohort of death, flexibility is a cohort of life.
-Tao-Te Ching

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I find it interesting that we have modernity and progressive thinking in many spheres, which is all about breaking convention and old traditions, but we often replace it with adherence to new, unstated "rules of the game". Taking a bold stand on an issue is becoming rare. It is easier to sit on the fence! and hedge our bets before identifying the winning horse. We are frequently advised not to “rock the boat”.

Having taken a stand, one should also be willing to change it if new facts or better logic demand it.