Friday, December 28, 2007

It Takes An Instant

It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of reason begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him.

-- Voltaire

Thursday, December 27, 2007

RIP Benazir Bhutto

I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger. People are worried. We will bring the country out of this crisis.

-- Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 - 27 December 2007), Pakistani politician, first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, at a rally in Rawalpindi minutes before her assassination

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Nobody

Without my body I am a nobody!

-- Hermes Conrad, Futurama, "Bender's Big Score"

Friday, December 21, 2007

Minute Fractions

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heart-felt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.

-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Most Useful Gift

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A Place To Go

Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing.

-- Donna Hedges

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Juggling

What's hard about what I'm doing is the sheer number of balls I'm juggling at once ... and they aren't balls. They're knives and chainsaws and burning [stuff] and the trick is not dropping any of that. That's what makes it hard.

-- Martin Eberhard, Tesla co-founder, CEO, and Illinois alumnus, UI Alumni Association's "Resonance", 16 November 2007

Monday, December 17, 2007

Good Weather

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

-- John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Baseball's Collective Failure


Manny Alexander Brendan Donnelly Ryan Jorgensen
Chad Allen Chris Donnels Mike Judd
Rick Ankiel Lenny Dykstra David Justice
David Bell Bobby Estalella Chuck Knoblauch
Mike Bell Matt Franco Tim Laker
Marvin Benard Ryan Franklin Mike Lansing
Gary Bennett Eric Gagne Paul Lo Duca
Larry Bigbie Jason Giambi Nook Logan
Barry Bonds Jeremy Giambi Josias Manzanillo
Ricky Bones Jay Gibbons Gary Matthews Jr.
Kevin Brown Troy Glaus Cody McKay
Paul Byrd Juan Gonzalez Kent Mercker
Alex Cabrera Jason Grimsley Bart Miadich
Jose Canseco Jose Guillen Hal Morris
Mark Carreon Jerry Hairston Jr. Daniel Naulty
Jason Christiansen Matt Herges Denny Neagle
Howie Clark Phil Hiatt Rafael Palmeiro
Roger Clemens Glenallen Hill Jim Parque
Paxton Crawford Darren Holmes Andy Pettitte
Jack Cust Todd Hundley Adam Piatt

Todd Pratt Jeff Williams
Stephen Randolph Matt Williams
Adam Riggs Todd Williams
Armando Rios Steve Woodard
Brian Roberts Kevin Young
John Rocker Gregg Zaun
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Gary Sheffield
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Randy Velarde
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White

Everybody in baseball -- commissioners, club officials, the players' association, players -- shares responsibility.

-- George J. Mitchell, issuing a report on use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball naming 86 past & current players, 13 December 2007

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Workouts

I never stay away from workouts. I work hard. I've tried to take care of my body. I'll never look back and say that I could have done more. I've paid the price in practice, but I know I get the most out of my ability.

-- Carl Yastrzemski (1939-), American baseball player, Red Sox all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played (second in home runs behind Red Sox great Ted Williams), last winner of the triple crown in the major leagues

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Living A Second Time

Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.

-- Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), author, neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Fun Is Hope

If you can have just a little fun today, it's a sign that maybe the future will hold even more fun for you. Fun isn't just fun - it's hope.

-- Linda Richman, author, summa cum laude graduate of the school of hard knocks

Monday, December 10, 2007

Important Decisions

The interesting thing is that there are so few important decisions. You don't have to go in the "right" direction. You don't have to enter the "right" business. What you have to do is have made a decision as to what you're going to do and then you just have to figure out how to succeed at it.

-- Ken Oshman, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Echelon Corporation

Friday, December 07, 2007

It Will Not Matter

One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child.

-- Dr. Forest E. Witcraft (1894-1967), scholar, teacher, and Boy Scout administrator, Scouting Magazine, October 1950, p2

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Half Time

In the game of life, nothing is less important than the score at half time.

-- anonymous

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Worries Diminished

A great many worries can be diminished by realizing the unimportance of the matter which is causing anxiety.

-- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, mathematician, essayist

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

I Write On Napkins

I write on napkins. One time, this seventeen-year-old waitress says to me, "Do you write on napkins because it doesn't count?" And bingo. That's exactly why I do it! When you're jotting on a napkin, you're not committing yourself. It's only a napkin, right? You can throw it away. You'd be surprised. It loosens you up. Some of the best stuff I've written has been done on napkins.

-- August Wilson (1945-2005), Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright

Monday, December 03, 2007

Power

You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power - he's free again.

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-), Russian author and Nobel laureate