Thoughts: Some Heavy, Some Light

Some heavy...

"Some day, in paradise, man will consult with the better angels of his nature. For now, in this world, he works with his lesser demons."


"You do not wake up one morning a bad person. It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders of self-respect to self-interest."


"There is this about a self-evident truth -- that it can never be proved, because any proof offered will be less self-evident than the premise. All attempts to prove it will appear to fail, and in failing, they will cast doubt upon the premise. Such is the case with the existence of God. It is a self-evident truth obscured by dubious proofs."


"I live in a world where events have no cause and phenomena no origin. I reject the self-evident because it cannot be proved by the suspect. I acknowledge that I know nothing, yet reject all that I do not know. I am a skeptic. Welcome, Alice, to my strange land."


"Only among principled parties can there be compromise, and, of necessity, it must appear to be a compromise of principle. In fact, it is a discovery of principle, accomplished by leaving on the table prejudices and self-interests that only posed as principles. In the end, each party leaves the table more truly principled for the compromise."


In a dark moment I ask, "How can anyone bring a child into this world?" And the answer rings clear, "Because there is no other world, and because the child has no other way into it."


"At 70, I have no concern about being a shadow of my former self. It is enough that my current self has a shadow."



... and some light


"In a household of toddlers and pets, we discover this rule of thumb about happy families -- that they are least two-thirds incontinent."


"In the time it takes you to understand a 14-year-old, he turns 15."


"Life is short, especially when you consider that one-third of it is based on circumstantial evidence."


Every generation of teenagers builds its own totally unique vocabulary around the word "cool."


"I've concluded, after observation, that my Lab does not actually think, which is not to say she doesn't have an opinion."


"Exile a man to a desert island, allowing him only his dog, and in time his self-image will conform to his dog's opinion of him. This explains why Napoleon came back for one more shot at emperor."


Beethoven composed symphonies after going deaf. Monet painted masterpieces after going blind. A pessimist hears this and thinks, "With my luck, I'll never go deaf or blind."


Are you a positive or negative thinker? To find out, complete this thought.

"Alexandros of Antioch took a block of marble and chiseled away from it everything that was not his masterpiece, the Venus de Milo. If you will chisel away one fault from your character every day, you may discover --

a) that you're actually a statue of Margaret Thatcher.
b) that you're still just a block of marble.
c) that there are pigeon droppings on your shoes.
d) that you, too, are a hidden masterpiece.


~ Robert Brault