Random Quotes

Time to think.

Here are some random quotes of interest that I've come across recently:

"An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general."
-- Chinese proverb


On the appointment of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state in today's Wall Street Journal:

"She is a good person; she has experience and accomplishments; she is stable, hardworking and sophisticated. She is also--this is breathtaking, still--a young black woman raised to the position first held by Thomas Jefferson. It is considered corny to point this out. But corny's not all bad. Look at it this way. In every U.S. embassy and consulate in the world very soon, non-Americans will walk in to see two things: a picture of the American president and next to it a picture of the young black woman who is this nation's secretary of state. They will notice this, and consciously or not they will think: This truly must be some kind of country."
-- Peggy Noonan


"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live his life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden


"Sloth is not to be confused with laziness. A lazy man, a man who sits around and watches the grass grow, may be a man at peace. His sun-drenched, bumblebee dreaming may be the prelude to action or itself an act well worth the acting.

"A slothful man, on the other hand, may be a very busy man. He is a man who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic pilot. Like a man with a bad head cold, he has mostly lost his sense of taste and smell. He knows something's wrong with him, but not wrong enough to do anything about. Other people come and go, but through glazed eyes he hardly notices them. He is letting things run their course. He is getting through his life."
-- The November 18th entry of "Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner"


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
-- Matthew 11:26-30 (quoting Jesus)


Perspectives.