The short poem "I will not die an unlived life" by Dawna Markova has had a profound impact on me. I don't think about it often, only when I am making big decisions, but it has convinced me to take some of the biggest and most rewarding steps outside of my comfort zone, including living in Germany for 6 months.
Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
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Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#402[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#403I always loved Frank Herbert's quote about fear in Dune : “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” In fact, this quote resonates with me so much that I've…
If that quote resonates with you, then you've never felt true fear.
I agree with you. Fear of leaving your bed because of anxiety is not the same as fear of having a gun pointed to you. You can be happy to be able to overcome your small fears, but get out of your bed is not really bravery.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#404‘If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. ’ - Kierkegaard More quote than motto but something that has guided me through the years
Sounds horrible to see potential squandered again and again.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#405"Measure twice, cut once."
This reminds me of one of my favorites: "The best measurement is the one you don't have to make."
E.g., if you want two boards of the same length, cut one and then use it to mark the other, avoiding a — potentially inaccurate — measurement.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s exactly the principles my grandfather thought me. But I tend to discuss, if it is still valid today.
How are those principles not valid today?
It's hard to imagine this advice being given to a young woman during the grandfather's time, or even today. It comes from a time when there was a tremendous amount of hard work that needed to be done and existential wars to be fought. These burdens were placed upon the men of the society while the women were tasked with the more social and emotional work of actually keeping our families glued together and raising the next generation.
This advice would have been good advice then, but today gender roles are much less rigid, and a well-rounded human understands how to balance hard work and purposeful relaxation, how to be strong and persevere and when to lean on others and be vulnerable, and knows the right time to speak up and voice one's grievances.
The grandfather's advice is one formula for a certain type of masculine stoic life, but if you were to follow it too rigidly, you'd miss out a lot of the emotional richness that modern life has to offer.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#407Done is better than perfect. This from a self-diagnosed perfectionist.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#408"slow is smooth, smooth is fast" - not sure where the origin is, perhaps military, but some of my friends/coworkers have laughed when I said this before. To me, personally, it has always turned out to be true. When you're working on something, don't rush it, take the time to do it right. This typically saves time in the long run because you tend to avoid rework.
Definitely heard this a ton in the US Army. Specifically around reloading your weapon.
I think it applies to individual and team movement too?
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#409"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people." -- George Bernard Shaw
I would add that all atrocities depend on unreasonable people. Reasonable people keep the world running smoothly.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#410At a Christmas lunch in 1996 - I was 12 - My nan told me and my sister. "Some bugger will always have a faster car, a flashier house, a glitzier watch - but you were the only kids that ever had me for a nana". I've used variations on the same theme throughout most of my life!
so sweet ! love it !