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Omkara

Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: One Truth You Live By |
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Is there some piece of wisdom that you often return to? A quote, moment, or piece of advice that you carry with you?
One that helps me find peace is, "Don't argue with fools."
(It helps me to stop arguing with myself!) |
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SuperFly

Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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Dogs are better than cats, period. Cats are sneaky, dogs are lovers. |
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faster

Joined: 03 Sep 2006
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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pick your battles
never eat anything bigger than your head |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I was told several years ago by a wise person that you can not change what others do -- you can only change your reaction to what others do.
It's good and practical advice. If someone cuts you off in traffic, bumps into your ankle with a shopping cart, or gives you a dirty look, you have a choice to get angry or to move on. |
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faster

Joined: 03 Sep 2006
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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And a corollary:
You cannot change a person. The best you can hope is to be either a good example or a horrible warning.
(That said, we all change each other all the time; we just can't control or force the way it happens) |
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Sine qua non

Joined: 18 Feb 2007
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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Forgive.
and
Love God with all your heart, all you mind and all your strength.
and
Love, and submit your will to the will(s) of those who love you, as necessary.
These help me. |
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Omkara

Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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faster wrote: |
And a corollary:
You cannot change a person. The best you can hope is to be either a good example or a horrible warning.
(That said, we all change each other all the time; we just can't control or force the way it happens) |
Such a simple point, but so profound. To realize this requires awareness.
Good stuff, all. |
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Tarmangani

Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: the Calm
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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It's only wrong if you get caught. |
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Omkara

Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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An older Mexican man walked up to me. He had noticed that my bicycle was packed with camping gear. He asked me where I was going. I told him that I was crossing California from Lassen Park to the Humboldt Coast, along 36.
He understood I was searching. So, he chose to share his gem of wisdom with me.
"Man is his biggest deceiver," he said. "Look at me. I am 57, and I'm still strong." Indeed he was. He was built like a brick wall. He flexed a massve bicep to prove it.
He said, "My friends lived their lives fast--chasing so many women, drinking, smoking. Now, my friends cannot keep up with me. They are miserable, and I am healthy, strong. Don't you live your life that way. Don't lie to yourself. I tell you, man is his biggest deciever."
I see the truth of this as I grow older and see friends enter into rehab, have unplanned children with women they don't love, and lose their health. There are a million ways we decieve ourselves. |
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Omkara

Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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Tarmangani wrote: |
It's only wrong if you get caught. |
Ha!
That reminds me of the special ring that Plato talks about. If you put it on, you become invisible. If the person who wore that ring were truly ethical, he'd not. . .go into the girls locker room! (Ah, screw ethics!) |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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Good stuff above, especially the parts about who we have influence over and who we don't.
I would just add - Most people are nice and will try to be helpful if you give them a chance. To give them a chance, you have to be willing to risk some trust. I have made an effort over time to be more trusting and less susupicious of others. It has almost always paid off.
A couple of quotes in support of this:
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: |
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. |
Henry Stimson wrote: |
The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust. |
Stimson, a former Secretary of War and State in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, supposedly said this when asked by people in the Eisenhower administration about how to counter Soviet efforts to learn the secret of the hydrogen bomb through espionage. His advice was tto give them the information because they were going to get it eventually anyway. Sharing it publicly he felt would make them more responsible with it. |
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mikowee

Joined: 03 Aug 2006
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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When I feel like shit:
"Some people have it much worse than me"
and its corollary:
"At least I'm not Britney Spears" |
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twg

Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Location: Getting some fresh air...
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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what life has taught me:
Telling someone "I forgive you" means "Do it again" to their ears. The best I give those who have troubled me in the past is to make them dead to me. |
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indytrucks

Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Location: The Shelf
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Ignore the problem. It'll go away. |
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Hapkido-In

Joined: 24 Jun 2006
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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Never wrestle with a pig in the mud. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it. |
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