It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. --Niccolo Machiavelli
Motive or Ignorance
Never ascribe to motive what is likely better ascribed to ignorance. —Allen Estrin
No Regrets
People who say, “I have no regrets,” are not telling the truth. They should truthfully say either, “I avoid thinking about my regrets,” or, “I am content with the regrets I have chosen.” Every choice made in life excludes the opportunity for another experience, given the limits of time and resources. If I choose to go to the mountains this weekend, I cannot at the same time go to the beach. While I may prefer the benefits of going to the mountains, I am still missing out on the benefits of going to the beach. I may choose benefits of self employment, but I miss out on the opportunity to have the relative stability of being an employee of someone else. I may choose the benefits of not marrying, but I miss out on the opportunity of experiencing the depth of committed relationships of a spouse and children in a cohesive family. There is a price to be paid for every choice, an opportunity missed for every opportunity taken, a regret to be had for every regret avoided. The best we can do is to choose our regrets wisely. --Steven R. Hobbs
The Life We Have Planned
“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” --E.M. Forster
Great Man
“A man is great by deeds, not by birth.” --Chanakya
Significance and Fame
“The famous are rarely significant, and the significant are rarely famous.” —Dennis Prager
Cannot Do, Can Do
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” --John Wooden
Change the Way You Look
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. --Wayne Dyer
Improving the Universe
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. --Aldous Huxley
Suffering and Meaning
“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” ― Viktor E. Frankl
Dare Mighty Things
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” --Theodore Roosevelt
Education and Ignorance
“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” --Will Durant
No Solutions
“There are no solutions, only trade offs.” — Thomas Sowell
The Last of Human Freedoms
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl
Suffering, Imagination, and Reality
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca
5 Behaviors Guaranteed to Increase Happiness: #3 of 5
“View yourself as actively capable of making changes in your life, rather than as a passive, helpless victim. Make use of your own agency. Take responsibility for being the architect of much of your own misery, and choose to build success instead.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
5 Behaviors Guaranteed to Increase Happiness: #2 of 5
“Keep positive thoughts and perceptions about others, even when they disappoint you.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
Tragedy and Regret
We ought not conflate the pain of tragedy with the suffering of regret. Pain is inevitable; suffering is gratuitous. Tragedy is the painful experience of acknowledging an unfortunate reality. Regret is the experience of acknowledging an unrealized opportunity that could have led to avoiding an unfortunate reality. —Steven R. Hobbs
The Art of Being Happy
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. --Henry Ward Beecher
We See
We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are. --Anais Nin