Big Blue Huddle

I don't come here often but I may change that.  I thought in the past that there was a thread like this but I went back 5 pages and couldn't find it so either it didn't exist or it's time for a new one.

H. L. Mencken Quote: It is the classic fallacy of our time that a moron run through a university and decorated with a Ph.D. will thereby cease to be a moron.

Carl Jung Quote: The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. (or, as I like to put it, it's not a one-size fits all world)

Bertrand Russell Quote: Even if all the experts agree, they may well be mistaken.

I'll try to come back and add some more, but feel free to pitch in your own favorites.  I'll finish with one that based on my own life I profoundly disagree with:

Jewish Proverb - Love is a sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.

Great stuff...love the H. L. Mencken and Bertrand Russell quotes. They are spot on!

Not quite the same, but the Jewish Proverb told differently by a comedian said, "Love is temporary insanity, cured by marriage"

My own quote I've used for years: "The road to wisdom is paved with humility"

Hey Rich, glad you can join us over here. We are just a small percentage of who posts on the main board, but we are a great group who share many things that just don't go on the other boards.

Nice post.

Some of my favorite words of wisdom

We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. Albert Einstein


And, I'm not sure who said these, but I have always tried to follow them

It's better to do nothing than to work on something that doesn't matter.
It's better to rest than to climb the wrong mountain.
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end

The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises, and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.

Paul Johnson

Quote from: y_so_blu on April 19, 2024, 12:15:05 AMThe study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises, and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.

Paul Johnson

That's a mouthful that is spot on. In short, "those who don't know history, are doomed to repeat it". And at great cost when following notions with a track record proving it doesn't work and is disastrous - over and over again throughout history. I'm always reminded of my professors with a white board explaining how a system (proven to fail throughout history) can work with a couple of adjustments. Earth to professors: "EVERY SYSTEM WORKS ON A WHITE (or black) BOARD"

Not to change the meaning of this topic, but some of the great 'quotes' and other meanings remind me of things.

As we get older, especially myself, there are times when I just sit back and try and recall the decisions of my life, good or bad, and think how things might have been different if I did something a different way.
You know, shoulda, woulda, and coulda.
But what I do try to do and have tried this my entire life. is no matter how stupid or messed up I might have acted or did, to keep doing that same thing is just ridiculous. As we say, we need to learn from our mistakes and hopefully improve on them. I have tried to live by this. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes, either stupidity, or just plain stubbornness has prevented me from doing this, but over the years, I have learned and I'll be damned if I do those same stupid things again.

Quote from: LennG on April 19, 2024, 03:06:53 PMNot to change the meaning of this topic, but some of the great 'quotes' and other meanings remind me of things.

As we get older, especially myself, there are times when I just sit back and try and recall the decisions of my life, good or bad, and think how things might have been different if I did something a different way.
You know, shoulda, woulda, and coulda.
But what I do try to do and have tried this my entire life. is no matter how stupid or messed up I might have acted or did, to keep doing that same thing is just ridiculous. As we say, we need to learn from our mistakes and hopefully improve on them. I have tried to live by this. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes, either stupidity, or just plain stubbornness has prevented me from doing this, but over the years, I have learned and I'll be damned if I do those same stupid things again.

My father sat in his worn out recliner and looked at me and said, "You know Richard, I've made a million indecisions in this chair"...LOL. Another time when it was the night before he retired from his job in Syracuse with the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, he said, "You know Richard, I retire tomorrow and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up"...LOL

Life is a ride of decisions, mistakes, great moves, bad moves, etc. We just never know where life's highway is going to take us, but oh what a ride

One of my favorites of all times came from Bob Keeshan (aka Capt. Kangaroo)...simple, but profound (IMO)

"Life is like learning to play the violin on a street corner" (Bob Keeshan)

So true - growing up I made so many mistakes, made a fool of myself more than a few times (usually had something to do with girls and alcohol), and it's right out there in the open for the whole world to witness your lowest moments, and those early years...yikes 

Which reminds me of another saying my old boss told me once (don't know who to credit), but it goes like this: "A whiskey glass...and a woman's ass...made a horse's ass outa me"...LOL

When helping the poor, leave the camera at home. (the only attribution I could find was Louis XIV, which seems unlikely since cameras hadn't been invented in his lifetime.)

H. L. Mencken Quote: A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.

H. L. Mencken Quote: The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.

Andre Gide Quote: Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.  (sounds like he's been listening to the draft talk)

Andre Gide Quote: Trust those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it.