31–34 of 34 posts
"I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better." -- Mae West
I always thought it was Woody Allen that said that. Don't tell me he stole it and took credit for it?
In any case I think they all beat out Woodie Allen. Ne was no more than a baby at the time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a reason they call it the Bible.
Because it is a book? early 14c., from Anglo-L. biblia, from M.L./L.L. biblia (neuter plural interpreted as fem. sing.), in phrase biblia sacra "holy books," from Gk. ta biblia to hagia "the holy books," from biblion "paper, scroll," the ordinary word for "book," originally a dim. of byblos "Egyptian papyrus," possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician port from which Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece.…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let me put it another way: 1. Benjamin Franklin wrote that when colonial era children were taken by Indian tribes and were later found again, they usually didn't want to come back. Their lives were too easy and carefree now. 2. Egyptian society didn't change for thousands of years. The weather was mild and the Nile would flood every year, providing them plenty of easy food. There was no need to strive for anything. I…
"The weather was mild and the Nile would flood every year, providing them plenty of easy food. There was no need to strive for anything." I don't know anything about the Indian tribes but I know that slavery, serfdom, superstition, and tyranny were integral parts of ancient Egyptian society.
I think the keyword here is "psychological". If you train yourself to control your mental state you can suffer all sorts of physical afflictions but psychologically you can still be as happy as ever. I used to think that balance was the key, but after some consideration I'm undecided. If spending all your energy on training yourself to be happy actually makes you happy despite your physical well-being, why would you…