Ten Quotes on Faith

Nothing beats the Lenten season in reminding a Catholic about his spirituality and faith. Certainly not Christmas. A season commemorating the birth of Christ is far too joyous a celebration to be able to induce serious soul-searching and introspection. Didn't you notice that our relationship with God comes to the fore in times of need, suffering or great sorrow? That flow is from us to Him. During Lent, it's the reverse flow of this relationship that is highlighted--from Him to us. By reliving His passion and ultimate sacrifice on the cross during this season, we are in effect reminded to renew our faith in the Almighty. Here are ten quotes that explore the various dimensions of this thing we call FAITH:

Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible. -William James

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Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. -George Seaton

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Faith means not wanting to know what is true. -Friedrich Nietzche

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Faith is knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof. -Kahlil Gibran

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Faith is like electricity. You can't see it, but you can see the light. -Unknown

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To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. -St. Thomas Aquinas

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Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. -Henry David Thoreau

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Faith is taking the first step even when when you don't see the whole staircase. -Martin Luther King

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When the solution is simple, God is answering. -Albert Einstein

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Change

The bottomline in the ongoing political drama in the Philippines is the increasingly impatient clamor for leadership change and moral transformation. In America, change is also the winning battlecry of Barack Obama. Actually, in many aspects of life in many parts around the world, the mantra is change. This is why I chose it as my theme in this post today. See if you can learn an additional lesson or two about CHANGE in the following quotes:

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. -Alan Cohen

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If you want to make enemies, try to change something. -Woodrow Wilson

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The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. -Abraham Lincoln

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The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. -Alfred North Whitehead

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He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. -Harold Wilson

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All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. -Anatole France

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Change always comes bearing gifts. -Price Pritchett

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The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. -William Blake

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The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. -Jawaharlal Nehru

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All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. -Ellen Glasgow

Ten Quotes on Corruption

It's been a week since my last set of quotes (on Truth) inspired by a new whistleblower on the aborted NBN/ZTE deal which has created a firestorm, which now threatens the Philippine president's continued hold on power. Over a period of just one week, I have had to adjust my own initial assessment of the likelihood of a new People Power movement materializing (being euphimistically labelled today as "communal action" by the Catholic Church heirarchy) from "zero" to "more than 50% probability".

In my view, unless President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) does something to turn the tide of history that is unfolding, she'll get knocked-over and swallowed-up by the developing political tsunami. At the very heart of the present maelstrom is the sickening culture of CORRUPTION that has been quietly tolerated for so long by Pinoys. Here are quotes that expound more on this evil spell that has turned Philippine governance hopelessly dysfunctional and badly in need of change:

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. -Friedrich Nietzsche

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The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference. -Bess Myerson

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It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. -David Brin

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The more corrupt the state, the more laws. -Publius Cornelius Tacitus

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The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. -Georges Bernanos

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Only the old are innocent. That is what the Victorians understood, and the Christians. Original sin is a property of the young. The old grow beyond corruption very quickly. -Malcolm Bradbury

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Corruption never has been compulsory. -Anthony Eden

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Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep. -Ray Davies

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As a columnist, I realize that whatever amount of corruption I expose, half my readers will block it out, although they may get a frisson of joy in the process. -Margaret Carlson

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Every man has his price. -Proverb

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Truth

There's a national drama being acted out on the Philippine Senate that, in my view, could potentially destabilize the country. This is the latest in a series of politically-motivated exposes, which has hounded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) for sometime now, clearly intended to humiliate, discredit and, if luck is on the side of the President's political opponents, unseat her ahead of the scheduled elections in 2010.

The bone of contention is the TRUTH behind allegations, made earlier by the businessman-son of the ex-Speaker of the House and now reinforced by a new whistleblower, of huge pay-offs whose money trail presumably leads to the seat of power in Malacanang Palace. Here's a collection of quotes that dwell on that elusive TRUTH which has sown so much discord in the Philippines:

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. -Abraham Lincoln

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Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. -Albert Einstein

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There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil. -Alfred North Whitehead

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Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. -Andre Gide

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Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -Arthur Conan Doyle

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We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart. -Blaise Pascal

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Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true. - Buddha

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Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coattails. -Clarence Darrow

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Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit. -Edward Murrow

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Truth is such a rare thing, it is delighted to tell it. -Emily Dickenson

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Life

I was reviewing my posts since I started this blog a year ago and discovered to my surprise that, while I have sprinkled my previous posts with quotes about life, here and there, I have yet to devote a post dedicated to LIFE--the canvas on which I paint my thoughts in my other niche blog. So here goes:

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and have a new ending. -Maria Robinson

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Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. -Albert Einstein

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Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. -Dorothy Thompson

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The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. -Friedrich Nietzsche

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The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live. -Joan Borysenko

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I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. -Diane Ackerman

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Why stay we on the earth except to grow? -Robert Browning

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Don't go through life, grow through life. -Eric Butterworth

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To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. -Emily Dickinson

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Vision and Ambition

Vision and ambition. Two words with terminal sounds that rhyme nicely. The former "conceives" while the latter "achieves"; action words which, again, have a nice ring to them but therein ends their resonance (at least to me). The first one is decidedly "yang"--positive, upward-seeking. As for the other, well, ambition has an uplifting nature but it has an ugly side that is "yin"--consuming, ironically downward-seeking and, therefore, negative.

My recent posts in two of my other blogs contain elements of both. My brief post on Davos, where I traced the origin of what is now called the "World Economic Forum," (the 38th annual conference being attended by 27 heads of state, among others, is ongoing) is meant as a tribute to a single individual's strategic vision. On the other hand, my post on the shocking $7 billion loss announced recently by Societe Generale (SocGen) is meant as a slap on the wrist of a young rouge trader driven by overweening ambition to get ahead fast in the competitive world of banking.

The following quotes hopefully capture in elegant prose what my own thoughts are about vision and ambition:

On Vision

To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe... act! -Alfred A. Montapert

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Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision. -Ayn Rand

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The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going. -Anonymous

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Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. -Jonathan Swift

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Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. -Carl Jung

On Ambition

No one does anything from a single motive. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Ambition can creep as well as soar. -Edmund Burke

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When ability exceeds ambition, or ambition exceeds ability, the likelihood of success is limited. -Ralph Half

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In order to be profoundly dishonest, a person must have one of two qualities: either he is unscrupulously ambitious, or he is unswervingly egocentric. -Maya Angelou

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Man's many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weigh him down. -Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

(Photo credits: Stockxpert.com)

Ten Quotes on Greed

I've been blogging about the US subprime crisis since the middle of last year. That crisis is a shameful showcase of human frailties. Try naming one--I'm sure the subprime crisis has it. Greed comes to mind easily, for the subprime crisis is, at bottom, a tale of greed. Here are ten selected quotes that shed more light on the nature of greed:

We are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and most of us remain greedy. -Mignon McLaughlin

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The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. -Jesus

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So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. -Morrie Schwartz

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For greed, all nature is too little. -Seneca

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Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed. -Albert Einstein

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Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough. -Janwillem Van De Wetering

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A greedy person and a pauper are practically one and the same. -Swiss Proverb

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There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed. -Buddha

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The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus up to the chin in water, and yet thirsty. -Thomas Adams

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Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed. -Bhagavad Gita

(Photo credits: Stockxpert.com)

Ten Quotes on Paradoxes

A paradox is a self-contradictory statement. I blogged today about a paradox that I have observed in the present subprime turmoil which has rocked the U.S. economy and could possibly affect the rest of the world if it really worsens. It is by no means the only paradox I have seen in my lifetime. There are many, believe me. Life is full of paradoxes, if you'd only care to notice. Let me share with you what others have said about paradoxes:

The truth often sounds paradoxical. -Lao Tzu

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Two paradoxes are better than one; they may even suggest a solution. -Edward Teller

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Play not with paradoxes. That caustic which you handle in order to scorch others may happen to sear your own fingers and make them dead to the quality of things. -George Eliot

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The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes, which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo. -Soren Kierkegaard

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Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be simultaneously true. -Ram Dass

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The paradoxes of today are the prejudices of tomorrow, since the most benighted and the most deplorable prejudices have had their moment of novelty when fashion lent them its fragile grace. -Marcel Proust

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There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so. -Charles Colton

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Perhaps the greatest paradox of all is that there are paradoxes in mathematics. -Edward Kasner

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The best therapy for emotional blocks to math is the realization that the human race took centuries or millennia to see through the mist of difficulties and paradoxes which instructors now invite us to solve in a few minutes. -Lancelot Hogben

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Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex. -M. Scott Peck

(Photo credits: www.stockxpert.com)

Ten Quotes on the Presidency

I've been intently monitoring the developments in the on-going primaries in the U.S., as well as the early start of party maneuverings in the Philippines that will build up to the presidential elections in mid-2010. Getting elected to the presidency is no joke, as we can glean from these quotes:

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but stand there and take it. -Lyndon B. Johnson

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[Running for President is] physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually the most demanding single undertaking I can envisage unless it's World War III. -Walter F. Mondale

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Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

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To be a great president, you have to have a war. All the great presidents have had their wars.

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Anyone that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office. -David Broder

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It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember. -Eugene McCarthy

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You can fool all the people some of the time, and some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. -Abraham Lincoln

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Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power, but they will never look to anything but power for their relief. -Edmund Burke

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Whenever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience. -Thomas C. Haliburton

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All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway. -Harry S. Truman

(Thanks to www.stockxpert.com for the use of the royalty-free photo shown above).

Ten Quotes on Fame

Pop diva Britney Spears recently figured in the news again. I'm not into celebrity-watching alright, but she was all over cable television so how could I miss the news that she was taken to the Cedars-Sinai Hospital last Thursday night for what one source called a "complete psychotic meltdown"? She actually joins an already long, and still growing, list of showbiz celebrities whose success, fame and fortune worked more like a curse than a charm for them.

At 55, going 56 this year, you could probably say that I've been around long enough to have confirmed from experience the great truth in the old saw that "there is a price for everything." On this note, here's a short collection of quotes on the subject of fame:

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident and money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character. -Unknown

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Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole. -Vicki Baum

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A celebrity is a person who works hard all of their life to become well known, and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. -Fred A. Allen

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People should realize we're jerks just like them. -Edward De Bono

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He said "What did fame ever do for me? I'm still broke!" I said "What did your fame ever do for anyone else?" -Raphie Frank

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Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. -Lao Tzu

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Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property of a man. -Thomas Carlyle

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Fame is a food that dead men eat. -Henry Austin Dobson

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Stardom isn't a profession; it's an accident. -Lauren Bacall

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In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. -Andy Warhol

(Thanks to www.stockxpert.com for the royalty-free photo shown above)

Ten Quotes on Perseverance and Persistence

I have accepted long ago that life's problems, sufferings and pain are thrown our way for a purpose. They build character and make us better persons in the end; they are not meant to punish us or defeat us. And so it was with this spirit that I faced a most unusual challenge last week.

Like I wrote in my other blog, I never imagined that I would one day need to know how to code a blog template when I first decided to go blogging one year ago. I thought blogging was mere writing and that was it.

Anyway, a peculiar problem with one of the ads displayed on my other blog forced me to learn the XML language in a jiffy, from scratch! To make the long story short, I succeeded where I initially doubted if I could hack it. Only a stubborn failure-is-not-an-option attitude saved the day for me. Three cheers for perseverance and persistence!

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. -Robert Schuller

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With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. -Thomas Foxwell Buxton

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Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. -Newt Gingrich

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The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. -Henry Ward Beecher

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When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. -Author Unknown

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Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. -Dale Carnegie

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Fall seven times, stand up eight. -Japanese Proverb

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The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein

Here's wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

(Thanks to www.stockxpert.com for the use of the royalty-free photo shown above)

Ten Quotes on Justice

I had the urge yesterday to comment (in my, yes, dog blog) on two celebrated local cases where, in my view, the executive branch of government might gain political mileage, but at the expense of an already weakened justice system, a co-equal branch in the democratic triad. If my analysis is correct, where is the wisdom in all that?

As is my wont when I needed to take a position on issues, I first consult the wisdom of the ages, which can be found in famous quotes, to test if my layman's thoughts resonate with those of others who have gone before. See what I came up with:

"Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned." -ANATOLE FRANCE

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"Injustice alone can shake down the pillars of the skies, and restore the reign of Chaos and Night." -HORACE MANN

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"The most reasonable man always manages, when he pulls the trigger, to become a dispenser of justice." -JEAN GENET

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"Justice will only exist where those not affected by injustice are filled with the same amount of indignation as those offended." -PLATO

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"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice." -MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

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"It is not the business of the law to make anyone good or reverent or moral or clean or upright." -MURRAY ROTHBARD

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"One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty." -MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

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"Legal plunder has two roots: One, as we have just seen, is in human selfishness; the other is in false philanthropy." -FREDERIC BASTIAT

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"What those people who ask for equality have in mind is always an increase in their own power to consume." -LUDWIG VON MISES

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"Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." -MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

(Thanks to Stockxpert.com for the use of the royalty-free photo shown above)

Ten Quotes from John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy became the U.S. president when I was graduating from Grade-VI in a public school in my hometown. It was my father who planted him in my consciousness after he came back the following year from a government scholarship in the States. He regaled us with his first-hand account of the palpable tension in America during the Cuban Missile Crisis that tested Kennedy's mettle as a young president of a world superpower. That made a lasting imprint on my impressionable mind, hence my choice for these quotes:

"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

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As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

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"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

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"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men."

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"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

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"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

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"Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder."

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"History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside."

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"I look forward to a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose."

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"I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide."

(Many thanks to obits.eons.com for the use of the photo shown above)

Ten Quotes on Destiny

While researching for my next post in my other blog, I was looking out for a quotation that would capture the essence of what I wanted to muse about the life path of incumbent U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

You see, Mr. Bernanke was just a child of six or seven when the Great Depression struck in the 1930s. His experience during that period apparently left a lasting influence on the young Bernanke who once asked his maternal grandmother why many children in the neighborhood went to school either barefoot or in tattered shoes.

It's an anecdote that leads me to the inevitable word: Destiny. Let me share with you these quotes that I stumbled upon:

"There is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny." -Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

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Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny." -Tyron Edwards

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"Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all." -Alexander the Great

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"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." -Ray Bradbury

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"A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance." -Benjamin Disraeli

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"The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five." -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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"And the high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule, or to impose himself in any other way." -Albert Einstein

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"Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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"Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid." -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

* * *

"Even when you think you have your life all mapped out, things happen that shape your destiny in ways you might never have imagined." -Deepak Chopra

(The royalty-free photo shown above courtesy of www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes from Sun Tzu's " The Art of War"

I thought about Sun Tzu after the failed rebellion of Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a PMAyer and former Navy officer, last Thursday, November 29, 2007. This was his second attempt to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). He may need to go back to the teachings of Sun Tzu in "The Art of War" if he will have a third chance, which is now a very big IF.

"We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors."

* * *

"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose."

* * *

"Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays."

* * *

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him."

* * *

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign."

* * *

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

* * *

"Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated."

* * *

"In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack - the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle - you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?"

* * *

"The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him."

* * *

"In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them."

(Thanks to www.geocities.com/Athens for the use of the photo shown above)

Quotes from "The International Rules of Manhood"

I'd like to share with you excerpts from a blog wittily written by George Moneo in www.babalublog.com, entitled "The International Rules of Manhood". Here are the rules of manhood that put a smile on my face:

1: Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella.

2: It is OK for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances:

(a) When a heroic dog dies to save its master.
(b) The moment Angelina Jolie starts unbuttoning her blouse.
(c) After wrecking your boss' car.
(d) One hour, 12 minutes, 37 seconds into "The Crying Game".
(e) When she is using her teeth.

Rule 3: Any Man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his buddies.

Rule 5: If you've known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off limits forever unless you actually marry her.

Rule 7: No man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering your buddy's birthday is strictly optional. At that point, you must celebrate at a strip bar of the birthday boy's choice.

Rule 10: You may flatulate in front of a woman only after you have brought her to climax. If you trap her head under the covers for the purpose of flatulent entertainment, she's officially your girlfriend.

Rule 16: Women who claim they "love to watch sports" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to drink as much as the other sports watchers.

Rule 19: If you compliment a guy on his six-pack, you'd better be talking about his choice of beer.

Rule 21: Phrases that may NOT be uttered to another man while lifting weights:

(a) Yeah, Baby, Push it!
(b) C'mon, give me one more! Harder!
(c) Another set and we can hit the showers!

Rule 22: Never talk to a man in a bathroom unless you are on equal footing: i.e., both urinating, both waiting in line, etc. For all other situations, an almost imperceptible nod is all the conversation you need.

Rule 28: There is no reason for guys to watch Ice Skating or Men's Gymnastics. Ever.

(The royalty-free photo shown above courtesy of www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Success

I received a pat on the back today after a successful presentation, which brought the project I've been working on since August this year just one step shy from final approval. I hope to get it tomorrow with one more presentation.

Musing on how things seem easier now to achieve compared to how it was in my younger years, I cannot help but ruminate that my success today didn't really come easy. I selected these ten quotes on success because each one of these speak a great truth in my career life.

Did success come easy for you or are you like me? See if you can identify with these quotes:

"Actually, I'm an overnight success. But it took twenty years." -Monty Hall

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"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." -Sir Winston Churchill

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"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom." -General George S. Patton

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"Eighty percent of success is showing up." -Woody Allen

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"You will find the key to success under the alarm clock." -Benjamin Franklin

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"It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final." -Roger Babson

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"Real success finding your lifework in the work that you love." -David McCullough

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"Men are born to succeed, not fail." -Henry David Thoreau

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"Success usually comes to those who are too busy looking for it." -Henry David Thoreau

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"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life." -Dr. David M. Burns

Ten Quotes on Hope

In my previous post, I shared with you the quotes I was able to collect on health to provide me with the needed perspective and wisdom on my current predicament. Today, I share with you the quotes that I collected to cheer me up and give me hope. Hope you also like these hope quotes (forgive the pun). You might need them someday. Who knows?

"He, who has health, has hope; and he who has hope has everything." -Arabian Proverb

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"True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings." -William Shakespeare

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"He who does not hope to win has already lost." -Jose Joaquin Olmedo

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"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." -Martin Luther

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"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come." -Anne Lamott

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"“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.” -Lyn Yutang

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"Hope is a waking dream." -Aristotle

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"While there's life, there's hope." -Cicero

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"Hope is only the love of life." -Henri-Frederic Amiel

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"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches on the soul.
And sings the tune,
Without the words,
And never stops at all." -Emily Dickenson

(Thanks to www.sxc.hu for the royalty-free photo shown above)

Quotes on Health

Health was a big issue in my life in May 2006 so I had to go under the knife. Since then, I have recovered the 30 lbs. I lost as a result of that problem. However, my recent regular check-up turned up with another "red flag". I saw a radiologist yesterday at the instance of my doctor. Things are still up in the air, and I will have to wait until that radiologist and my doctor have had time to discuss my new problem before they can tell me the next steps. Although I have not mentioned any specific detail about my problem, I'm sure you get the drift that my new problem is sort of life-threatening. Well, they haven't told me either; that's just my "feel". I would know more perhaps this weekend when I see my doctor again. Meantime, why don't I share with you some nice health quotes which I collected for my own consumption:

"If you trust Google more than your doctor then maybe it's time to switch doctors." -
Jadelr and Cristina Cordova, Chasing Windmills, 08-21-06

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"As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself." -Adelle Davis

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"Every patient carries her or his own doctor inside." -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

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"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory." -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

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"Health is not valued till sickness comes." -Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734), Gnomologia, 1732

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"What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease." -George Dennison Prentice

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"A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses." -Hippocrates (460 BC - 377 BC), Regimen in Health

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"Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can't buy." -Izaak Walton (1593 - 1683)

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"It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like." -Jackie Mason (1934 - )

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"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." -Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

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"Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: 'We would be more alive if we did more of this," and, "Life would be more lovely if we did less of that.' Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away." -Peter McWilliams, Life 101

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"The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits, or acquiring some new and better ones." -Peter McWilliams, Life 101

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"One of the most sublime experiences we can ever have is to wake up feeling healthy after we have been sick." -Rabbi Harold Kushner

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"Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing." -Redd Foxx (1922 - 1991)

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"Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away." -Robert Orben

Source: QuotationsPage.com

(Thanks to www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov for the use of the above photo)

Ten Quotes on Money

"Do not be fooled into believing that because a man is rich he is necessarily smart. There is ample proof to the contrary." -Julius Rosenwald (1862 - 1932)

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"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." -J. Paul Getty (1892 - 1976)

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"Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil." -Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

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"Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody." -Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

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"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart." -Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

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"Endless money forms the sinews of war." -Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), Philippics

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"One must be poor to know the luxury of giving." -George Eliot (1819 - 1880)

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"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game." -Donald Trump (1946 - ), "Trump: Art of the Deal"

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If all the rich people in the world divided up their money among themselves there wouldn't be enough to go around.
Christina Stead (1903 - 1983), House of All Nations (1938) "Credo"

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"Lack of money is the root of all evil." -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)