there's a few ideas or mottos that i generally use that sum up some of the important ways in which i try to live my life or shape my perceptions of things that occur. i'd like to share one of them: that which least tolerates criticism most deserves it.
while this idea is probably not original, i think this phrasing is. i first came up with it when i started to understand just how much power can corrupt and the chilling effect that stifling discussion can have. i reflexively mistrust anyone or anything that is strident in its inability to handle criticism, b/c that kind of response, to me, always signals a need to justify. people who have the truth on their side don't feel this need.
accordingly, i mistrust people who possess power and institutions who demonstrate this reaction to criticism. i think that while it's entirely possible for people to have this reaction for reasons that do not actually warrant such mistrust, those occasions are IMX very, very few and far between.
what words do you try to live by?
ed
silverwhisper posted on Aug 25, 2006
| views: 1128
Comments
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lioneljay said on Aug 25, 2006....
I don't have many mottos, per se, but I do try to remain open to new experiences. In the last few years that simple idea has changed my life in ways that I still have not fully comprehended.
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Mamie said on Aug 25, 2006....
i am thinking of changing my mantra of : dream big. dream bigger.
today i am thinking: just be.
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Zayda said on Aug 25, 2006....
Honestly, one of the mottos/sayings that I am most fond of (but don't know if I would say that I live by it) is:
Curiosity was innocent. Ignorance killed the cat.
I am also particulary fond of the following ones:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ~~Marcel Proust
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
~~Albert Einstein
Be brave enough to live creatively.
You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. ~~ Alan Alda
The biggest journey is the journey inward.
~~Dag Hammarkskjöld
To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. ~~Walker Percy
It seems the ones that I most fond of have to do with the concept of discovery or learning in some way.
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LayaMaria said on Aug 25, 2006....
[font color=purple]"A law unto myself."[/font]
*teehee* sounds like a beauty pageant contestant.
How about:
[font color=blue]"And this above all, to thine own self be true; thou canst not then be false to any man."[/font](William Shakespeare)
[font color=blue]"Dreams take time, patience, sustained effort, a willingness to fail, if they are ever to be more than just dreams."[/font]
or maybe...
[font color=green]"Live and learn."[/font] That's one.
[font color=red]"Je ne regrette rien (I regret nothing)."[/font](Edith Piaf)
Or, when I'm feeling particularly cynical:
[font color=gray]"Expect nothing."[/font]
How about this one that my former roommates and I coined:
[font color=pink]"It's hard to be beautiful and expensive."[/font]
and my own personal flip quip:
[font color=red]"A good girl is just a bad girl who retired."[/font]
*toothy grin*
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CreativeWoman said on Aug 25, 2006....
Never trust a skinny cook.
And
Treat others how you would like to be treated.
CW
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Jenna said on Aug 25, 2006....
l agree with with CW.. treat others as you would like to be treated.
Live as though today was the last day you were blessed with.
I don't know the artist's name... I wish I could remember it, but there is a song I love...I Hope you'll dance... does anyone know what I am talking about?
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scalywag said on Aug 25, 2006....
If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem.
Those who don't really care never find the time, those who care make the time.
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ALIENated said on Aug 25, 2006....
There are no atheists in fox holes.
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CreativeWoman said on Aug 25, 2006....
I used to have this little saying posted at my desk when I was a secretary many moons ago....
"Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my end."
CW
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secretlife said on Aug 25, 2006....
If you've got nothing nice to say; don't say anything at all
You'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Jenna: The song is 'I Hope You Dance' by Lee Ann Womack
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FaithfulDisciple said on Aug 25, 2006....
Do not do unto others as you don't want others to do unto you.
For every push there is pull, for every yin there is yang, and for every cause, there is an effect. This is the karmic law of the universe.
If it aint broke, no need to fix it.
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hotaka said on Aug 26, 2006....
I have read lots of good ones but can't recall most of them now.
Like CreativeWoman, Jenna, and FaithfulDisciple I try to live by being to others as I wish others to be to me. I also like like a Japanese saying that translates as, "Seven times falling down; eight times getting up." That's the story of my life. I don't know if anyone else has said this (probably someone has) but I will respect a person until he gives me reason not to.
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hotaka said on Aug 26, 2006....
Stupid edit button. I clicked it with 52 seconds left and it instead published my comment after giving me one second to edit.
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Jenna said on Aug 26, 2006....
Believe someone the first time they tell you who they are...Maya Angelou
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crosario7915 said on Aug 26, 2006....
i have three mottos:
the first is: think more, talk less.
unfortunately that doesn't pertain to my typing
second: the past is gone, forget it, the future's not here yet, there's nothing you can do about it, and the present is not worth shit, so f... it.
in other words, stop stressing over things
the third is: all religion is based on the political propaganda of an alien species.
Can you refute that?
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Elevator said on Aug 26, 2006....
hi all, if you want to see my views on this, i started my own advice page, excluding quotes by people,
Good on you for expanding silverwhisper
http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/14843/Great-Advice
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Alyss said on Aug 26, 2006....
'Do no harm'
'Do as to others as you would have done to you'
'If you've nothing good to say, say nothing'
I expect there are multitude more but those seem to be the main ones.
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paidinblood said on Aug 26, 2006....
crosario: the second one was downright hilarious!
Love is directly proportional to pain.
More matter, less art.
"We are oft to blame in this, tis too much proved that with devotion's visage and pious action we do suger o'er the devil himself."
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the_infernal_optimist said on Aug 26, 2006....
I try to live by these:
Do no harm.
"Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string." (Emerson)
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." (Thoreau)
Yesterday's song of the day on my blog sums up my life view better than any of these.
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purple said on Aug 26, 2006....
To LayaMaria...lending a hand.
To make your text in color, just erase the word 'font' from the front and end tag, and replace it with the word color. You were so close.
How about:
[font color=blue]"And this above all, to thine own self be true; thou canst not then be false to any man."(William Shakespeare)
"Dreams take time, patience, sustained effort, a willingness to fail, if they are ever to be more than just dreams."
or maybe...
"Live and learn." That's one.
"Je ne regrette rien (I regret nothing)."(Edith Piaf)
Or, when I'm feeling particularly cynical:
[font color=gray]"Expect nothing."
How about this one that my former roommates and I coined:
"It's hard to be beautiful and expensive."
and my own personal flip quip:
[fcolor=red]"A good girl is just a bad girl who retired."
*toothy grin*
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purple said on Aug 26, 2006....
Just for the record, the edit feature doesn't work for me...the minute I click on the box to edit, everything acts like I hit 'save'.
So a few boring phrases I use more all the time are :
It is what it is. (A great one for us control freaks) and
This too shall pass. (A great one for the broken hearted).
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carmachu said on Aug 26, 2006....
Always pay your debts. The hands that help you up, as well as the feet that kick you when your down.
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JadeLondon said on Aug 26, 2006....
I haven't even seen this 'edit' feature--I need to find that blog I saw in passing when I snuck a gander of SoulCast at work (during a smoke break).
And don't ask me who says these things--I do not know...
Those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
The Golden Rule--which was previously mentioned.
Try to bite your tongue when speaking with loved ones. What if that was the last time you spoke?
One in hand is worth more than two in the bush.
There is no such thing as a sure thing.
One good turn deserves another.
What you put out there comes back tenfold--good or bad.
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JadeLondon said on Aug 26, 2006....
Silverwhisper: Congrats on breaking the 200 mark!
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Zayda said on Aug 26, 2006....
Ohh..I almost forgot this one:
Never assume anything or you will make an ass out of u (you) and me.
:)
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rosking said on Aug 26, 2006....
There are no limits, only in your imagination!
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CreativeWoman said on Aug 26, 2006....
Today is yesterday's tomorrow.
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crosario7915 said on Aug 27, 2006....
to paidinblood:
would you believe they published that phrase, uncensored, yes, even with the f... word, as my quote in my highschool yearbook back in 82.
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silverwhisper said on Aug 27, 2006....
elevator: sorry man, i somehow missed that post by you.
jade: i did? yikes!
ed
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LayaMaria said on Aug 27, 2006....
I never get the hang of that font color thing *sheepish* I was going to edit it but the whole thing got published instead. Darn!!! Sorry...
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secretlife said on Aug 28, 2006....
Another one: Actions speak louder than words
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Zayda said on Sep 02, 2006....
I just remembered this one:
Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless ~ Mother Teresa
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silverwhisper said on Sep 02, 2006....
ah, the wisdom of mother teresa...thanks, zayda. :>
ed
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hotaka said on Sep 05, 2006....
A few weeks ago I posted these lyrics from a recent Deep Purple song:
"How many words we waste to justify a crime,
Compared to an act of love that really takes no time."
Zayda's comment just reminded me of it. There must be a message in there.
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