Quotes I like
The New Testament offers the basis for modern computer coding theory,
in the form of an affirmation of the binary number system.
But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay:
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
— Matthew 5:37
Well now we know that its not just mathematics that invented things early. :p
These are some of the quotations that make me stop and wonder. It reminds me that life is not in vain, that its purpose is to work and to persist. No matter what.
About dreams (and one of my favorites!)
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return.
— Leonardo da Vinci
About delivering softwares
In most projects, the first system built is barely usable. It may be too slow, too big, awkward
in use or all three. There is no alternative but to start again, smarting but smarter, and build
a redesigned version in which these problems are solved . . . When a new system concept
or new technology is used, one has to build a system to throw away, for even the best planning
is not so omniscient as to get it right the first time. The management question, therefore,
is not whether to build a pilot system and throw it away. You will do that. The only
question is whether to plan in advance to build a throwaway, or to promise to deliver the
throwaway to customers . . .
Ideas
It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived.
Boxing
“Frankie likes to say that boxing is an unnatural act, that everything in boxing is backwards: sometimes the best way to deliver a punch is to step back… But step back too far and you ain’t fighting at all.”
“If there’s magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.”
I just saw a wonderful book: Learning Python the Hard Way (it’s also available as a PDF version; thanks people!). A very nice book to begin with.
When flipping through the book, this paragraph caught my eyes:
I will say that learning to create software changes you and makes you different. Not better or worse, just different. You may find that people treat you harshly because you can create software, maybe using words like “nerd”.Maybe you will find that because you can dissect their logic that they hate arguing with you. You may even find that simply knowing how a computer works makes you annoying and weird to them.
To this I have one just piece of advice: they can go to hell. The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out. When they treat you like this, just remember that this is your journey, not theirs.Being different is not a crime, and people who tell you it is are just jealous that you have picked up a skill they never in their wildest dreams could acquire.
You can code. They cannot. That is pretty damn cool.
Now that’s an advice, I think, we all need. It’s not only the so-called ‘nerds’ who suffer from such behaviours
Seriously.
Serendipity:
“One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind is that you have to be looking for something in order to find something else.”
– Lawrence Block.
Career advice from Charlie Hoehn:
Therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: just DO things. Chase after the things that interest you and make you happy. Stop acting like you have a set path, because you don’t. No one does. You shouldn’t be trying to check off the boxes of life; they aren’t real and they were created by other people, not you. There is no explicit path I’m following, and I’m not walking in anyone else’s footsteps. I’m making it up as I go.
“There are different species of laziness: Eastern and Western. The Eastern style is like the one practised in India. It consists of hanging out all day in the sun, doing nothing, avoiding any kind of work or useful activity, drinking cups of tea, listening to Hindi film music blaring on the radio, and gossiping with friends. Western laziness is quite different. It consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so there is no time at all to confront the real issues. This form of laziness lies in our failure to choose worthwhile applications for our energy.”
– Sogyal Rinpiche
Instead of seeking clients we will selectively and respectfully pursue ‘perfect fits’ – those targeted organizations that we can best help. We will say ‘no’ early and often, weeding out those that would be better served by others and those that cannot afford us. By using ‘no’ we will give power and credibility to our ‘yes’.
A Call to Arms: Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”
— African Proverb
If you’re not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original.
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
– Albert Einstein
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life — It goes on.
Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question — to doubt — to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained.
~ Richard Feynman ~
Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people
~ Dirac ~
“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
– Jim Rohn
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