Thoughts Mostly on Art and Artists

"If reality weren't reality, it would be a darn good impression."


"In terms of reality, all art is decomposition and all science reverse engineering."


"If the Creator had been into modern art, the modern artist would be into realism."


"Art is about deciding what to maximize and what to minimize to maximize it,


"The abstract artist recognizes that observed reality is a painted-over canvas, his art not a layering but an uncovering."


"Abstract art presents us the notion of the carefully-crafted chaos, which is as close to understanding the universe as we're likely to get."


Today's Family Thought

The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective.


~ Robert Brault

Thoughts Mostly on Kids and Parenting

This post was previously titled Daily Thoughts #1 through #7.



To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word "boo."


Memories are always of ghosts, Halloween memories being of ghosts in little ghost costumes.


Today's Parenting Tip: Treat a difficult child the way you would your boss at work. Praise his achievements, ignore his tantrums and resist the urge to sit him down and explain to him how his brain is not yet fully developed.


I've just been to a seance. Everybody sat around, trying to conjure up ghosts from the past. No, wait -- that was my class reunion.


Kids can usually outsmart us, because their brains are undeveloped and ours are still undeveloping.


The devil, on God: "If you ask me, He does have a tendency to demonize His opponents."


Nothing ensures that kids will misbehave like regarding everything they do as misbehavior.


~ Robert Brault

Weekend Light

"It's finally happened -- a lawsuit for wrongful doing unto others as you would have them do unto you."


"A child's garden is a triumph of expectation over too much watering."


"To achieve success is just to give your mom something more to worry about."


"I would rather see a friend have success than a relative, because I can always get a new friend."


"To be happy though poor is not only possible but fervently wished for us by our relatives."


"Do I rue a life wasted doing crosswords? Yes, but I do know the three-letter-word for regret."


"It would be nice if people who have you figured out to the last nuance would take a moment to get the first clue."


"I am not your dog, but if every time you saw me, you gave me a backrub, I would run to greet you, too."


"Love thy neighbor, even when his ice cream maker has been going for two hours on his back porch."


"Leash: n, a means by which animals, formerly running wild, are prevented from running tame, also."


"Luck: n, that which happens without discernible cause; e.g., the success of a relative."


"When confronted by a barking dog, never turn tail and run; the dog might mistake this for fear."


"Corporations no longer try to fit square pegs into round holes; they just fit them into square cubicles."


"Every American child can grow up to be anything he wants, and if he wants to be a U.S. Congressman, even growing up is optional."


How to decline an invitation: "I'd love to come. Sounds great. I'll really look forward to it. Wait, Friday?"


And God said to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," whereupon God created the moon, saying "Let there be indirect lighting."


~ Robert Brault

Thoughts on Friendship, Loyalty and Duty

Some of the following is repeated from my June 10 post.


"Friends never ask favors of their friendship. They ask favors of each other, making clear that their friendship is not at stake."


"As candidates for the perfect friendship, I picture two people who have emerged from a confessional, are kneeling side by side, and discover that they have been given the same penance."


"If you can appeal to my respect, my gratitude or a promise made, then do so. If not, then do not bother me with appeals to loyalty."


"Loyalty: allegiance asked when there are no grounds for asking it."


To be able to answer the question: "What is my duty?" -- is to have all one can ask of a parent's guidance and a teacher's wisdom.


In MacArthur's words "duty, honor, country", you have the complete canon and, importantly, the right sequence. Indeed, if you have acted from duty and honor, you have already fulfilled all obligations to country.


"Take no revenge that you have not pondered beneath a starry sky, or on a canyon overlook, or to the lapping of waves and the mewing of a distant gull."


~ Robert Brault

Thoughts on Sticking To It

"To blame fate is to mistake the drift for the tides."


"Though the barriers of life seem formidable, we find when we challenge them that they have no will to resist."


"They who succeed never make the reward their goal."


"Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits."


"Most obstacles in life have no power to stop you but only to make you stop yourself."


"Why would you want to be somebody else when there is only one you and 6.6 billion somebody elses?"



And one from the archives...

"We all have our limitations, but when we bend to our critics, we also have theirs."


~ Robert Brault

A Thought on Persistence

If, every day, you persist in doing the same thing, expecting a different result, you will either be committed to an insane asylum or you will --

a. invent the light bulb.
b. have the city of Columbus, Ohio named after you.
c. be buried in Grant's Tomb
d. be dubbed Mahatma
e. (supply your own example).


Bonus Thought:

Never use the passing years as an excuse for old age.


~ Robert Brault

Thoughts: A Weekend Grab Bag

"Success isn't about who you know. It's about you know who."


"A mom never feels guiltier than when she must admit that her child's failings are not her fault."


"I have concluded that my dog feels guilt, just not nagging guilt."


"If God does not reveal Himself in a chalkboard covered with equations, it is because he has already revealed himself in 2 + 2 = 4."


"There is no right defended more loudly that the right to live in poverty while hoping to strike it rich in the lottery."


"A child is always more motivated by the chance to exceed expectations than by the challenge of meeting them."


"The test of majority rule is its willingness to educate the minority's kids."


"A Washington think tank is basically a microwave oven with a HALF BAKE button."


"You wonder if man would rate as the highest animal if the survey were conducted by a show of paws."


Overheard: "Nag, nag, nag. If I wanted nagging, I would have married a cough."


"Man would understand everything if he could understand this pause in eternity called time."


~ Robert Brault