Quotes

Sometimes you get your ass whooped, right? And it doesn’t go your way. And you got to take your whooping and move on and get better and come back to the next thing.
Mike Rhoades

A Better Man

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

Geez, if I could get through to you, kiddo, that depression is not sobbing and crying and giving vent, it is plain and simple reduction of feeling. Reduction, see? Of all feeling. People who keep stiff upper lips find that it’s damn hard to smile.
Judith Guest, Ordinary People

Problems

‪All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal

Every age…

Every age yearns for a more beautiful world. The deeper the desperation and the depression about the confusing present, the more intense that yearning.
Johan Huizinga

Now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. Now the judgment of God is upon us, and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King’s Last Christmas Sermon

“American Girl,” the final track on the Heartbreaker’s first record and the last song he’ll ever sing in public, is as perfect a rock song as there is. “Raised on promises” could be the national motto. It should adorn our currency, the contemporary American English for “In God We Trust.” Not that the phrases are synonymous. A promise is probably a poor substitute for a god, but it’s what we’ve got if we’re lucky and realistic — promises and hope.
Michael Washburn “Tom Petty’s Problematic Album Southern Accents”

If you think about what you’re here to do in life, the answer is probably not ‘get really good at time management’.
Jocelyn K. Glei “Against Time Management”

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.
Edward Hopper

I’m sure if we did wayback sleuthing we’d find lots of conference presentations in a range of professions and pursuits on how “blogging” isn’t a good use of time because of pageviews, or clicks, or SEO, or engagement, etc. Pay no attention to the man behind the podium. Just share what’s of importance to you. And don’t look at pageviews. Don’t seek claps. Don’t chase reposts. Don’t covet trackbacks. Seek the unique pleasure of having shared something you feel is worth sharing. And the conversations that sort of writing (that sort of blogging) encourages. And yes, it can take time. Good things generally do.
Mark Weidenbaum “Bring Out Your Blogs”