Laws control the lesser man . . . . Right conduct controls the greater one. – Mark Twain
Someone with a strong character needs no external guide or precepts to determine behavior.
Where do you look for guidance?
Do you consult “laws” to see what’s acceptable?
Or do you consult your ethics to see what’s right?
A life lived consulting ethics is a much more satisfying – albeit sometimes more challenging – life.
This video is amazing. Please watch it. I wish we had stuff like this in my country… Care to venture a guess as to why such a video – both the content and the style – is so unlikely in the USA? (This is an intentionally short post as I didn’t want to take away from the video’s…
Are you disaster-tolerant? (Do you have reserves?) This question is well-posed in Seth Godin’s blog post (here it is in its entirety): Not all disasters can be avoided. Not all disasters are fatal. If you accept these two truths, your approach to risk will change. If you build a disaster-tolerant nation or project or lifestyle,…
“I must learn to love the fool in me—the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also…
Any person who selects a goal in life which can be fully achieved, has already defined his own limitations. – Cavett Robert In many respects its better to set a goal and fail to achieve it fully, than to accomplish exactly what you set out to do. The latter means you didn’t stretch yourself. And…
Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. – Alan Alda Assumptions are both helpful and dangerous. Yes, it can be helpful to bring a sense of what something is what you’re doing, but be very…
“Having a grievance or resentment is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy.” – Nelson Mandela As we are creatures of and by emotions we must understand that to be angry, or hate, or wish harm to another, or merely hold a grudge, we must produce that state and those emotions within…