Pearls of Wisdom

(Original and Borrowed)

Ethics, Values, Morals, Rules and a Dose of What Should be Common Sense

A Dynamic Work in Progress. Priorities and Important or Frivolous Things that Change as I Change

Honesty is a virtue, not an excuse.
Never mistake hard work for progress.
Work smarter, not harder.
Get a job where they pay you for what you know how to do and not for how much you do.
There’s nothing like the loss of a job to give you a new outlook.
There’s nothing that can be done at 7 or 8 AM that cannot be done better at 9 or 10 AM.
A diagnosis of cancer is not the end of the world; but it sure reshapes the way ends look.
Doing the right thing is rarely the easy thing to do.
Medince always has been and always will be an art, not science. People cannot be reduced to reprovable facts or evidence.
Play the cards you're dealt
Don't get so far down that you can't get up again. (Been Down So Long, It Looks Like Up To Me. Richard Fariña, 1966)
What happens to you all depends on your attitude. See: http://www.design.caltech.edu/erik/Misc/Attitude.html
Things don't just happen; they are made to happen. (No such thing as coinsidences?)
Beware the doctrine of unintended consequences (like, " No good deed ever goes unpunished").
There are no traffic jams on the high road.
"Know the rules well so you can break them effectively." Dalai Lama XIV
There are no atheists in foxholes
Where is that principled client I have been waiting to represent?
“There’s no client so scary as an innocent man.”
If you're not paranoid, you're just not trying.
Justice and Ethics are imperfect methods of regulating conduct.
"There's something lost but something gained in living every day." Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell
"Procrastination is the best medicine known to cure an aching soul.'"
“Sometimes you’re the dog and sometimes you’re the fire hydrant.”
“Do not mistake temptation for opportunity.”
“If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”, Tennessee Williams, 1973
The real challenge to living a successful life is to decide which battles are worth fighting for and letting go of the ones that don’t count for much. If it can’t be won, don’t fight it. Don’t play if the game is not worth the candle.” (the last phrase being a translation of a term used by the French essayist Michel de Montaigne in 1580, alludes to gambling by candlelight, which involved the expense of illumination meaning if the winnings were not sufficient, they did not warrant the expense. (http://www.answers.com).
"Patience is like virtue: You need it when you want it the least"
"Virtue is insufficient temptation." Shaw
“Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip its been. Truckin’, (Garcia, Hunter, Lesh, Weir), The Grateful Dead.
Legal ethics is an oxymoron. "Never screw a client and never lie to the judge.That’s all of the so-called legal ethics that make any sense. The rest of it is just so many little rules you can twist around to suit whatever you want to do.” Tony Dunbar Crooked Man, 1994.
“It is what it is.” (overused and somewhat meaningless, it is still true).
“Life sucks, then you die.” (Louis Creed in Pet Cemetery by Stephen King, http://www.answers.com).
“Quoting one without attribution is plagiarism; quoting many without attribution is research.”
“It’s far better to address the difficult person while you can maintain some objectivity and emotional control.” Rise Above the Fray, Susan M. Heathfield. Or, perhaps, in the right situation, when all else fails, loose your sanity (hire a good lawyer first) and shoot them. Insane people are not executed in the American system of justice. Free legal advice is worth every penny you pay for it.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and lightening bug.” Mark Twain
“Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.” Caveat: "Abnormal is so common, it's practically normal." Cory Doctorow
“If you’re not having fun, why are you doing it?”
“No good deed ever goes unpunished.”
“It is easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission.” See: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?DontAskPermission
“A failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine.”
“A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.”
Drugs should be titrated until tolerated. For many patients, this means that they should be given increasingly larger doses until the patient is well tolerated by the caregiver.
Pharmacists expect people to just say yes to drugs.
“So many Drugs…So little time.”
“I said no to drugs but they just wouldn’t listen.”
“Everything I know about drugs, I learned in Detroit.” Wayne State University Pharmacy Student T-Shirt.
"Our prisons are packed. Our steets are filled with drugs. Who's winning the war? We've lost our minds." John Grisham, Rouge Lawyer (2015).
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” Harry S. Truman
"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." Robert Pirsig
“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”
“Most plans are just inaccurate predictions.” Ben Bayol
“When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.” Like a Rolling Stone Bob Dylan
“Politics is like a circus: the worst job is cleaning up after the elephants.” James Carville
“You don’t have to be sick to get better.” (Social Workers, especially, say this a lot).
“A story is never finished; it’s just abandoned.”
“A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.”
“May you live in interesting times.” Ancient Chinese Curse (or is it? See http://www.noblent.org/reference/inter.htm).
“The real test in life is not keeping out of the rough, but in getting out after you are in.” Chinese Fortune Cookie
“Life’s journey should not be to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, with a Martini in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other--- shouting at the top of your lungs, ‘O my God…. What a ride!’ ”
“Here’s a nice image for a life in balance: You’re juggling these four balls that you’ve named work, family, friends and spirit. Now work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it bounces back. The other balls—they’re made of glass” said Betsy Cavalierre to Alex Cross in Roses are Red, by James Patterson, 2000.
“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes is right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.” Andrew Jackson, ‘Old Hickory,’ 7th President of US, slave-owner, forced relocation of Native American tribes, gave rise to the Democratic Party; never admitted any errors.
“The man who fears no truth has nothing to fear from lies.” Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of US.
Keep your friends close and keep your enemies even closer” said Michael Corleone in Godfather Part ll (1974). It’s better to have your enemies inside your tent pissing out than to have them outside pissing in. Lyndon B. Johnson.
It is easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of computers by the sense of accomplishment you get from getting them to work at all.” Douglas Adams
If it doesn't work, they can't eat you.” Advice from the father of Bob Parson, CEO and founder of GoDaddy.com (http://www.bobparsons.com/index.php?/archives/19-Robert,-they-cant-eat-you!-My-rules-for-survival..html). After founding GoDaddy.com, Bob Parson’s single most outstanding decision was most likely hiring racecar driver, Danica Patrick, very early in her career as the centerpiece of his advertising campaign. See:
When putting the success of honored people into perspective, look at a turtle sitting on the top of a fence post: you know he didn’t get there alone.” T. Donald Rucker“
Revenge is a dish best served cold.” From Kill Bill I and II (Quentin Tarantino); appeared originally in the 1782 novel Les Liasons dangereues (Dangerous Liaisons), written by the French official and army general Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=646.
“Breeding is no substitute for intelligence.” Dr. Campbell (Sean Connery) in The Medicine Man, 1992.
“The lazier a man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow.” Fred Thompson (2015), former Republican Senator and Co-Star of Law and Order in his High School Yearbook, reported in Newsweek, June 11, 2007.
“The number one goal of a teacher is to help students learn how to judge themselves. It’s more important to see a light go on in a student’s head than to have him or her copy you.” Randy Pausch, The last Lecture at Carnegie Melon University, September 2007.
Speaking about Woodstock, he said, “I wasn't there. I am sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time." John McCain (R., AZ), during a Presidential debate, Orlando, Florida, October 21, 2007. (At the time of Woodstock, McCain was in a cell in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967, and not released until 1973) http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/one_up_one_down_for_john_mccai_1.html
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Henry Ford
“Sometimes leadership is planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit.” Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan, 2008.
“If its not broken, don’t fix it.” Caveat: “If it moves when its not supposed to, put duct tape on it. If its supposed to move and it won’t, oil it first, then hit it with a hammer. WD-40, duct tape (not to be confused with ‘duck tape’) and a hammer are the only things necessary in life.”
“A word to the wise is infuriating.” Hunter S. Thompson
“It takes a lot of sense to write nonsense.” Mark Twain
“Sir Churchill, you are drunk!” exclaimed a lady to the British Prime Minister during a party. Winton’s response, “Yes, madam and you are ugly. Tomorrow I shall be sober.”
Perhaps, the best insult ever uttered with the possible exception of Bob Dylan’s entire song, Positively 4th Street (1965) and it’s last lines: “I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, then you’d know what a drag it is to see you.”
"The facts of a case never fly in through the window. They have to be dragged in by the heels" Louis Nizer, Trial Attorney
"In for a penny, in for a pound."

End (for now).