Words of Wisdom 01 (May 08 - Oct 08)

[winston]

Word to the Wise: Redoubtable

Something or someone that's "redoubtable" (rih-DOW-tuh-bul) - from the French for "to dread" - is formidable, arousing fear or worthy of respect.

Example (as used by Nicholas Delbanco in The Lost Suitcase): "At the head of the table, as committee chair, sat the redoubtable Howard Mumford Jones - a teacher famed even at Harvard for his fierce authority, his wide-ranging erudition, and his intolerant exacting preciseness."

[winston]

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
- Sophocles

Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
- Langston Coleman

[winston]

Word to the Wise: Verisimilitude

"Verisimilitude" (ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood) - from the Latin - is the quality of seeming to be true or real.

Example (as used in the Economist): "The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait."

[winston]

Each person has a different conception of God and goodness, according to one's upbringing and the state of purification of their impulses. All conceptions are valid; when water is let out in fields, you will find sheets of different shapes - circular, rectangular, oval, square, according to the shape of the fields.

The fertility or the quantity of the crops harvested do not vary according to the geometrical correctness of the shapes. How far, how fast you have established attachment to the Divine - that is the test, the rest does not matter!

2-8-1963.

[winston]

To be mature means to face, and not evade, every fresh crisis that comes.- Fritz Kunkel

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.- Henry C. Link

[sidney]

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment or diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. Adam Smith

In the financial turmoil, ought to ring bells sounding in our head.. not jiggle bells cos x'mas coming, but warning bells.

[Cheng]

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand" -- Confucius

[winston]

Life is a battlefield where duties and desires are always in conflict. Smother the fiery fumes of desire, hatred and anger that rises up in your hearts. It is sheer cowardice to yield to these enemies that turn you into beasts. When obstacles come, meet them with courage. They harden you, make you tough.

2-8-1963.

[la papillion]

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand" -- Confucius

"I hear - it comes out, I see - it went through, I do - I don't know how, but when I teach - I completely understand"
- La Papillion

The ultimate in learning technology is to be paid while the student teach you. Two aims are simultaneously achieved - first the student will learn more than you, second and more importantly, you get to listen and slack Both are happier after it

[winston]

Word to the Wise: Zeitgeist

"Zeitgeist" (TSITE-giste) - German for "spirit of the age" - is the general trend of thought or feeling that's characteristic of a particular period of time.

Example (as used by John Forde today): "Sometimes, nothing can be more valuable than going down to your local bookstore to see what your prospective customers are reading. It's an excellent way to put your thumb on the popular zeitgeist."