Quaotable Quotes

`In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual" - Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

Break Me Out - the Rescues ( appeared in Grey'a Anatomy Season 5 Episode 20 Sweet Surrender)

Break Me Out::The Rescues

my empty room
crowded too soon
i look for the fire escape
i picture myself
runnin like hell
makin my getaway

there was a cavin in with no warnin
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i'm runnin out of air

break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out

stare at our feet
sneak down the street
some kind of secret race
they'll carry on
won't notice we're gone
so easily replaced

there was a cavin in with no warning
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i'm runnin out of air

break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out

there was a cavin in with no warning
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i've got a feelin we're better off anyway
i don't care what they say

so, break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out
break me out!

Quotes from Vivekananda study circle (IITM)

Quotable Quotes (Source : www.vsc.iitm.ac.in)

Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young,
but to live until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived.

If you can't fly, then run.
If you can't run, then walk.
If you can't walk, then crawl.
But whatever you do, keep moving.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of
social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people,
but the appalling silence of the good people.


All the powers in the universe are already ours.
It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
Know that there is no darkness around us.
Take the hands away and there is the light which was from the beginning.
Darkness never existed, weakness never existed.
We who are fools cry that we are weak; we who are fools cry that we are impure.

No bad action goes unchecked with impunity.
A bath in the holy river Ganges purifies one, but the impurities turn out to
be more clever than us. Sri Ramakrishna says that the ghosts of lust,
greed, etc. in persons taking a bath in the Ganges disembark and wait on the
trees on the bank, to resettle on their shoulders after they have finished
their holy Ganges-bath! Nothing will be of any help unless we have purified
our own mind from the dross of ancient fear, medieval hatred and modern greed.
There is no reward in heaven for hatred and injury to a section of children of
the same God by His other children. If all are not already His children then
how does He claim to be omnipotent? Such a god has competitors and he is no
better than a rank despot--cruel, vindictive and demanding!
                                                  
       ---- Swami Vivekananda

Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of death,
Dance in the destruction's dance,
To him the Mother comes.


Know that talking ill of others in private is a sin.
You must wholly avoid it. Many things may occur to the mind,
but it gradually makes a mountain of a molehill if you try to express them.
Everything is ended if you forgive and forget."
      ---- Swami Vivekananda

You can't buy love, but you can pay heavily for it.

The trouble with the world is not that people know too little,
but that they know so many things that ain't so.

Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine
of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that
aspect of existence.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world
      ---- Mahatma Gandhi

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.
      ---- Kahlil Gibran

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
      ---- Walt Whitman

People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars,
and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.
      ---- St. Augustine

"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or
catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until
it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom
and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit."
      ---- Dawna Markova



When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. 
Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
      ---- Cherokee Expression

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it
and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'
      ---- The Talmud

"The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds,
the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God and the energies of love.
And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world,
we shall have discovered fire."
      ---- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Joy is not the absence of suffering; it is the presence of God.

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say Thank You?

When making your choices in life, do not neglect to live.
      ---- Johnson, Samuel

Dreams come true; without that possibility,
nature would not incite us to have them.
      ---- John Updike

Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is but today's dream.
      ---- Kahlil Gibran

Do not go where the path leads,
rather go where there is no path, and leave a trail.
      ---- David Perkins

We are all angels with one wing.
The only way to fly is to embrace one another.


I hope you still feel small
when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes
I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance...
I hope you dance...

Every man dies. Not every man truly lives. 
      ---- William Wallace,"BraveHeart"

There are many things in life that will catch your eye -
but only a few things will catch your heart. Pursue those!

"The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies
ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of
the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: `Whosoever comes to Me,
through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through
paths which in the end lead to me.' Sectarianism, bigotry, and its
horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful
earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often
and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole
nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human
society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is
come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in
honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism,
of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all
uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same
goal." 
      ---- Swami Vivekananda


My prayer for you is a dream big enough to capture your heart,
bright enough to illuminate your mind and
deep enough to satisfy your spirit.
May you find the strength to pursue it and be enriched by it across the years.

It is only the ego which separates us from God.God comes to our heart,
sees the ego seated there and silently goes back. How to banish this ego?
Sri Ramana Maharshi gives a classic example of his method of self enquiry.
"The ego is an uninvited guest in a wedding party. Nobody questions him
as the grooms party thinks he is of the brides party and vice versa.
But then someone has a doubt and starts enquiring. When the ego comes
to know about the enquiry he quitely leaves fearing detection".

Any kind of realisation is impossible without erasing the ego.

Be as humble as a blade of grass, as patient as a tree, give respect to all,
expect respect from none, chant unceasingly the name of the Lord.
      ---- Sri Chaitanyadev

The ego is like the root of a banyan tree, you think you have removed it
all then one fine morning you see a sprout flourishing again.
      ---- Sri Ramakrishna

The greatest mistake we do upon the birth of a child is to give him a name!

Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity;
for pain that teaches you courage -
and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery still -
the veil that hides you from the infinite,
which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see.
      ---- Robert Nathan

God is the consciousness that pervades the entire universe
of the living and the non-living. 
      ---- Sri Ramakrishna

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be;
your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you,
and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God's Paradise.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored
by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written
in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the
authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions
because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it.
      ---- Swami Vivekananda

Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.

A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.

Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has
finished listening.

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom
of thought which they avoid." 
      ---- Soren Kierkegaard

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put
some responsibility on their shoulders.
      ---- Abigail Van Buren

"A being that values its privileges above its principles
soon loses both". 
      ---- Eisenhower (1890-1969)

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things
you didn't do than by the ones you did do ... Explore. Dream. Discover."
      ---- Mark Twain

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us.
      ---- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A great many open minds should be closed for repairs."
      ---- Toledo Blade

Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure
you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life.

I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted,
until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.

In trans-border relations, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies
or even permanent borders. There are only permanent interests and everything
should be done to secure these interests. 
      ---- Chanakya

It is much more advantageous for politicians to keep a problem alive than solve it.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else
is the greatest accomplishment.
      ---- Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Forty for you, sixty for me And equal partners we will be.
      ---- Barzan, Gerald

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.
      ---- Bisset, Jacqueline

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
      ---- Hebrews 11:1

I really didn't know it was impossible when I did it!!

"Work like you don't have the money"
"Dance like nobody's watching"
"Love like you've never been hurt"

If you're looking for the key to the Universe,
I have got some good news and some bad news.
The bad news: There is no key to the Universe.
The good news: It was never locked.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid,
you must also be well mannered.
      ---- Voltaire

A person's true wealth is the good he or she does in the world.    
      ---- Mohammed

Doubt sees the obstacles
faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day.
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions 'who believes?'
Faith answers, 'I.'

Success in any endeavour depends on the degree
to which it is an expression of your true self.

The greatest happiness in the world is the conviction that we are loved.

Only as deep as i look can i see, only as much as i dream can i be.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.   
      ---- Guillaume Apollinaire

If you treat an individual as if he were what he ought to be and could be,
he will become what he ought to be and could be.
      ---- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

People will forget what you said
People will forget what you did
But people will never forget how you made them feel..

Achievement is to spend life for something which outlasts it.  
      ---- William James

Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.  
      ---- John Erskine

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.    
      ---- Derek Bok

Santa Claus has the right idea -- visit people only once a year.

As a king is no king without a treasury, subjects and an army,
as a flower is no flower without fragrance,
as a river is no river without water,
so also, a man is no man without Bramhacharya.        
      ---- Swami Sivananda

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient
while nature cures the disease.    
      ---- Voltaire

We grow small trying to be great.

A good sermon should have a good beginning and a good ending,
and they should be as close together as possible.

Definition of courage: ' Grace under pressure '.       
      ---- Ernest Hemingway

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be
reached by the caravan of thinking. 
      ---- Kahlil Gibran

Alice came to a fork in the road.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know", Alice answered.
"Then", said the cat, "it doesn't matter".
      ---- Lewis Carroll

Success is just getting up one more time than you fall.
      ---- Roxanne Quimby

Success doesn't come from one brilliant idea
but from a bunch of small decisions.
      ---- Roxanne Quimby

Decide what you want to be and every message should deliver that idea
at every point of contact with the consumer. And finally, stay with it.
      ---- Jack Trout 
A warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path;
if he feels that he should not follow it,
he must not stay with it under any conditions.
His decision to keep on that path or to leave it
must be free of fear or ambition.
He must look at every path closely and deliberately.
There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily:
Does this path have a heart?
      ---- Carlos Castaneda 
Insanity: doing the same things over and over again and expecting
different results.
      ---- Albert Einstein

If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.  
      ---- David Carradine

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of
action you should take - choose the bolder.
      ---- William Joseph Slim

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
      ---- Sidney J. Harris

Thoughts without content are empty; intuitions without concepts are blind

You may delay, but time will not.
      ---- Benjamin Franklin 
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something
more interesting than sex.
      ---- Aldous Huxley

Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time.
      ---- Norman Ford 
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.
      ---- Benjamin Franklin

It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.
      ---- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends
and fads and popular opinion.    
      ---- Kuralt, Charles

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.
      ---- Hall, Manly

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die,
life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
      ---- Hughes, Langston

In the past, those who foolishly sought power by
riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside.
      ---- Kennedy, John F.

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.
       ---- Holmes, Oliver Wendell

A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.
      ---- John A. Shedd

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age.
Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age.
But only if the grapes were good in the first place.
      ---- Abigail Van Buren

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself
to be a fool.
      ---- William Shakespeare

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority.
The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.
      ---- Ralph W. Sockman

Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin
to change places.
      ---- E. Joseph Crossman

Some things have to be believed to be seen.
      ---- Hodgson, Ralph

Some people have so much respect for their superiors
they have none left for themselves.
      ---- Peter McArthur

Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work
      ---- William Arthur Ward

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence;
then success is sure.
      ---- Mark Twain

Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.
      ---- Johnson, Samuel

Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.
      ---- Ralph Waldo Emerson

At 18 our convictions are hills from which we look;
At 45 they are caves in which we hide.
      ---- F. Scott Fitzgerald

All human beings should try to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.
      ---- James Thurber

Many of us spend half our time wishing for things
we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.”
      ---- Alexander Woollcott

The worldy pleasures have not been enjoyed by us,
but we ourselves have been devoured;
no religious austerities have been gone through,
but we ourselves have become scorched;
time is not gone (being ever-present and infinite),
but it is we who are gone (because of approaching death).
Desire is not reduced in force,
though we ourselves are reduced to senility.
      ---- The Vairagya-Satakam of Bhartrihari

"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer",the boy
told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than
the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when
it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search
is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.
      ---- Paulo Coelho

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
      ---- Oscar Wilde

We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities
brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
      ---- John W. Gardner

The greatest act of faith is when a man understands he is not God.
      ---- Holmes, Oliver Wendell

The vulture rise higher and higher until he becomes a speck,
but his eye is always on the piece of rotten carrion on the earth.

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known,
then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.
      ---- Fred Allen

The truth is more important than the facts.
      ---- Frank Lloyd Wright

Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
      ---- Robertson Davies

When you change the way you look at things,
the things you look at change.”
 
If all of our wishes were gratified,
many of our dreams would be destroyed.

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs;
ask yourself what makes you come alive.
And then go and do that.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
      ---- Harold Whitman

 What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy.
We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful flowing music.
But when we trust in the hands of a Greater Power,
our life's work truly can be beautiful.

Have the courage to take your own thoughts
seriously, for they will shape you.
      ----  Albert Einstein
 
(1) Alexander the Great was a great general.
(2) Great generals are forewarned.
(3) Forewarned is forearmed.
(4) Four is an even number.
(5) Four is certainly an odd number of arms for a man to have.
(6) The only number that is both even and odd is infinity.

Therefore, Alexander the Great had an infinite number of arms.

To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three
men, two of them absent.

"What are you doing?"
       "Examining the world's major religions.  I'm looking for something
that's light on morals, has lots of holidays, and with a short initiation
period."

Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.
      ---- F. M. Hubbard

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
      ----  Jules de Gaultier 
Agnes' Law:
       Almost everything in life is easier to get into than out of.
 
Logic doesn't apply to the real world.
      ----  Marvin Minsky

The most happy marriage I can imagine to myself would be the union
of a deaf man to a blind woman.
      ----  Samuel Taylor Coleridge 
If the grass is greener on other side of fence,
consider what may be fertilizing it.


One difference between a man and a machine
is that a machine is quiet when well oiled.

Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed.  It is not fair that some men
should be happier than others.
      ----  Oscar Wilde

Hardware:
       The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.

Hickery Dickery Dock,
The mice ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The others escaped with minor injuries.

Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'.

If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied
harder.
      ---- Pope John Paul I

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not
spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the
genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  This is not a way
of life at all in any true sense.  Under the clouds of war, it is
humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
      ----  Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953


Cleanliness is next to impossible.

Your life would be very empty if you had nothing to regret.

"You've got to think about tomorrow!"
"TOMORROW!  I haven't even prepared for *yesterday* yet!"

Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.
      ----  Fletcher Knebel

Weiler's Law:
       Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it
himself.

Patageometry, n.:
       The study of those mathematical properties that are invariant
under brain transplants.

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than
we deserve.
      ----  George Bernard Shaw

While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own
form of misery.

Idiot, n.:
       A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human
affairs has always been dominant and controlling.
     ----  Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

Waiter: "Tea or coffee, gentlemen?"
1st customer: "I'll have tea."
2nd customer: "Me, too. And be sure the glass is clean!"
       (Waiter exits, returns)
Waiter: "Two teas.  Which one asked for the clean glass?"

The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming dragon.

Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer.

"I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence.
There's a knob called `brightness', but it doesn't work."
      ----  Gallagher

Leibowitz's Rule:
       When hammering a nail, you will never hit your finger if you
hold the hammer with both hands.

Intolerance is the last defense of the insecure.

An apple every eight hours will keep three doctors away.

Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

Teamwork is essential .... it allows you to blame someone else.

If you want to know what god thinks of money, just look at the people
he gave it to.
      ----  Dorthy Parker

Sweater, n.:
       A garment worn by a child when its mother feels chilly.

Spouse, n.:
       Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you
wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.

You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
      ----  Salvor Hardin

Trying to be happy is like trying to build a machine for which the only
specification is that it should run noiselessly.
f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.

Dawn, n.:
       The time when men of reason go to bed.
     ----  Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much.

We really don't have any enemies.  It's just that some of our best
friends are trying to kill us.

I was born because it was a habit in those days, people didn't know
anything else ... I was not a Child Prodigy, because a Child Prodigy is
a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows
up.
      ----  Will Rogers

The Heineken Uncertainty Principle:
       You can never be sure how many beers you had last night.

Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
      ----  Beckett

Rules:
       (1)  The boss is always right.
       (2)  When the boss is wrong, refer to rule 1.

All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most
ridiculous ones.
      ----  La Rochefoucauld

Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age
brings wisdom.
      ----  H. L. Mencken

Kin, n.:
       An affliction of the blood

Parallel lines never meet, unless you bend one or both of them.

Absurdity, n.:
       A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own
opinion.
     ----  Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
      ----  Oscar Wilde

The idea is to die young as late as possible.
      ----  Ashley Montagu 

Labor, n.:
       One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
     ----  Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

Everyone is a genius.  It's just that some people are too stupid to
realize it.

Associate with well-mannered persons and your manners will improve.
Run with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be
strengthened.  Keep the company of bums and you will become a bum.
Hang around with rich people and you will end by picking up the check
and dying broke.
      ----  Stanley Walker

There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
      ----  Dr. Who

"I am ready to meet my Maker.  Whether my Maker is prepared for the
great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
      ----  Winston Churchill

Boling's postulate:
       If you're feeling good, don't worry.  You'll get over it.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
ingenious.

"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with
the ideal never goes unpunished."
      ----  Goethe

Drink Canada Dry!  You might not succeed, but it *is* fun trying.

"I had to hit him ..... he was starting to make sense."

It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

The rain it raineth on the just
       And also on the unjust fella,
But chiefly on the just, because
       The unjust steals the just's umbrella.
 
The tree that bears the most fruits also gets the most stones.

Until people feel that you understand them,
they will not be open to your influence.

Before you ask more questions, think about whether
you really want to know the answers.
     ----  Gene Wolfe, "The Claw of the Conciliator"

In the depths of winter, I finally learnt that there
was in me an invincible summer.
      ----  Albert Camus

Love is the one treasure that multiplies by division.
It is the one gift that grows bigger the more you take from it.
It is the one business in which it pays to be an absolute spendthrift.
You can give it away, throw it away, empty your pockets,
shake the basket, turn the glass upside down,
and tomorrow you will have more than ever.

Your work is to discover your world .....
and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
      ----  Buddha

Dont walk infront of me,
I may not follow...
DOnt walk behine me,
I may not lead...
just walk beside me,
and be my friend....

There are more tears shed over answered prayers
than over unanswered prayers.
      ---- Saint Theresa of Jesus

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
      ---- John F. Kennedy

Genius without religion is only a lamp on the outer gate of a palace;
it may serve to cast a gleam on those that are without
while the inhabitant sits in darkness.
      ---- Hannah More

I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success,
but I can give you a formula for failure:
try to please everybody all the time.
      ---- Herbert Bayard Swope

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age.
Nothing does - except wrinkles.
It's true, some wines improve with age.
But only if the grapes were good in the first place.
      ---- Abigail Van Buren

My people? Who are they?
I went into the church where the congregation
Worshiped my God. Were they my people?
I felt no kinship to them as they knelt there.

My people! Where are they?
I went into the land where I was born,
Where men spoke my language...
I was a stranger there.
My people, my soul cried. Who are my people?

Last night in the rain I met an old man
Who spoke a language I do not speak,
Which marked him as one who does not know my God.
With apologetic smile he offered me
The shelter of his patched umbrella.
I met his eyes... And then I knew..

      ---- Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni

The world stands aside to let anyone pass
who knows where he is going.
      ---- David Starr Jordan

Courage is the art of being the only one
who knows you're scared to death.
      ---- Harold Wilson

Science can get along with talent; but art requires genius.
      ---- Durant

At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas
we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.

We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat,
I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.'

Hungry not only for bread -- but hungry for love.
Naked not only for clothing -- but naked for human dignity and respect.
Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks -- but homeless because of rejection.

      ---- Mother Teresa

By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time,
but by virtue of love and kindness he may rule the world forever.

      ---- Lao-Tse

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible,
but also for what we do not do.

      ---- Moliere

Blessed are those who see and believe,
and even more blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
      ---- Jesus Christ

If I help this man, what will happen to me?
If I don't help this man, what will happen to him?

Which of these would you ask?

You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.

      ---- Ford, John

Perfection, then, is finally achieved, not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.

      ---- Antoine de St. Exupery

The shepherd must tend his flocks, and at times fight off the wolves.

      ---- From the movie "The Patriot"

It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
         ---- G. H. Hardy (1877 - 1947)

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

Anyone who thinks he is too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito.

It is rewarding to find someone you like, but it is essential to like yourself.
It is quickening to recognize that someone is a good and decent human being,
but it is indispensable to view yourself as acceptable.
It is a delight to discover people who are worthy of respect and admiration and love,
but it is vital to believe yourself deserving of these things.

For you cannot live in someone else. You cannot find yourself in someone else.
You cannot be given a life by someone else. Of all the people you will know in a lifetime,
you are the only one you will never leave or lose.

To the question of your life, you are the only answer.
To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -
it is the illusion of knowledge.
      ---- Daniel J. Boorstin (1914 - )

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
      ---- G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

There is no destination beyond reach of one who walks with God.

Nothing is too small to know, and nothing is too big to attempt.
      ---- William Van Horne

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty.
I only think about how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
      ---- R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983

 Travel only with thy equals or thy betters;
if there are none, travel alone.
      ---- The Dhammapada

If you want to have what you have not,
you must do what you do not."
      ---- Taro Gold

In forming a bridge between body and mind,
dreams may be used as a springboard from which man can leap
to new realms of experience lying outside his normal state of consciousness.
      ---- Ann Faraday

Talent hits a target no one else can hit;
Genius hits a target no one else can see.
         ---- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

 

Quotable Quotes

# The most important aspect of my personality, as far as determining my success goes, has been my questioning conventional wisdom, doubting the experts and questioning authority. While that can be very painful in relationships with your parents and teachers, it's enormously useful in life. - Larry Ellision (Oracle)

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. - Winston Churchill

Every seeming equality conceals a hierarchy - Mason Cooley

Victory is the beautiful, bright coloured flower. Transport is the stem without which it could never have blossomed. - Winston Churchill

The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good. - William Shakespeare

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god - Seneca

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. - Winston Churchill

Top 10 authors in literature - an article from rediff

'My top 10 favourite authors of all time' - An article by Srinath Sridhar (http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2009/feb/12my-top-ten-favourite-authors-of-all-time.htm)

I consider myself a connoisseur of fine literature. Reading has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life. If I could see into the Mirror of Erised I would see myself sitting in a comfortable armchair in a room full of books.

I've read thousands of books in my lifetime, from Enid Blyton to JK Rowling, from Tolstoy to Dickens, from Kiran Desai to Arundhati Roy. My most prized material possession is a cupboard filled with 500+ books at home. And no, I don't like to lend my books to anyone.

One fine day I decided to compile a list of the top 10 authors I love. This is a purely personal list. Feel free to disagree. Also, given that this is the top 10 and not top 100, I had to leave out some really great authors, which I did after a lot of soul-searching. So this list is by no means complete.

10. Enid Blyton: This may come as a surprise, because literary skills are very high up on my agenda when it comes to evaluating an author. Enid Blyton possessed mediocre literary skills at best. But for the sheer number of joyous hours that any author has given me, she muscles her way into the list.

Blyton's writing has other redeeming qualities too. She writes with a joy that is infectious to the reader. As for people who complain of subtle racism, sexism et all in her writing, give the lady a break. She just wrote with the attitudes prevalent in her era. Weaving tales of adventure, mystery, fantasy and joy she delights immensely. Go read good old Enid Blyton to savour those childhood memories again.

My favourites: Five Find Outers, the Mystery series, the Adventure series, Malory Towers and St Clare's, The Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair Series.

PS: I like JK Rowling too, but in my personal opinion she pales in comparison with Blyton.

9. Rohinton Mistry: The only Indian author I have consistently liked enough to figure in my top 10 list. He never won the coveted but overrated Booker Prize though he figured in the shortlist three times. His writing skill lies in creating an ordinary world but he still keeps you rooted in his story.

Mistry's only negative is the overwhelming use of tragedy in the plot (like most Indian writers). Another Indian writer who made it to the shortlist is Amitav Ghosh. I loved his The Hungry Tide but I thought that his Sea of Poppies was a little too ponderous.

As for the Booker prize-winning trio of Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and Aravind Adiga, I found Roy's writing too dark, Desai's too pretentious and Adiga's too poor.

My Mistry favourites: A Fine Balance and Family Matters.

8. William [Images] Somerset Maugham: I confess that I have read only one of this British novelist's books -- Of Human Bondage. Supposed to be strongly autobiographical in nature, it tackles philosophy, obsession and character in equal degrees. I love the way Maugham creates his world. Brooding but fun, hopeless yet full of desire -- it is a study in contradictions. I am waiting to read more of his work.

My favourite: Of Human Bondage.

7. Ayn Rand: One of the most read, adored and controversial authors ever. This Russian-American wrote many novels -- most popularly The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. She also developed the philosophical system called objectivism which propounds rational self-interest as moralism. She was as hated by critics and philosophers worldwide as she was adored by millions of adoring fans.

Introduced as a young teenager to Rand, I was hooked. Roark (protagonist of Fountainhead) became my hero -- my ideal of how man strives to be but can't. While I am older and wiser now and realise some of the fallacies in Rand's writings and philosophy, I still think she should be given enormous credit for her cult popularity and inspiring writing. Like her or hate her, you cannot ignore her.

My favourites: The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, We The Living.

6. George Orwell: This British author's writings are marked by a strong dislike of totalitarianism. His famous Animal Farm, an allegory which reflects events leading up to WW2, was his first success. This book is as humorous as it is insightful.

Another cult classic is Orwell's 1984.This dystopian novel made the term 'Big Brother' extremely popular. His writings are compulsive and stay with you long after you have put the book down.

My favourites: 1984 and Animal Farm.

5. Isaac Asimov: I was just recently introduced to this master science fiction writer. Science fiction is not a genre that I read too much of. Another Russian genius, Asimov was one of the most popular and prolific writers ever.

I have just started reading the Foundation series which is his most popular to date. His strengths are amazing visualisations and creativity and a knack for making the most unbelievable things seem commonplace and somehow inevitable. I've lined up his Galactic Empire and Robot series to move onto next.

My favourite: The Foundation series.

4. Leo Tolstoy: The Russians keep coming, don't they? Tolstoy was universally regarded as one of the greatest writers ever. His two great masterpieces have overwhelmed me to a degree where I deliberately slowed down my frenetic pace of reading for fear of coming to the end and in order to savour every word and expression .He writes what is popularly termed 'realist fiction', depicting 19th century Russian life with a skill difficult to describe.

When I first read Anna Karenina I was spellbound that writing could be so skillful. Tolstoy's epic War and Peace is not a novel in the strict sense of the term. His writings and sense of grandeur are impeccable nonetheless. Tolstoy stands fourth on my list but would deservedly top the chart for many others.

My favourites: Anna Karenina, War and Peace.

3. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This Nobel Prize-winning Columbian author popularised a style of writing called magical realism, which uses magical elements in otherwise realistic settings. One of the most gifted storytellers I've ever come across, Marquez uses innovative storytelling like a paintbrush to literally bring the story to life in front of you.

I've read three books and fallen in love with his writings. The first is the immensely popular One Hundred Years of Solitude, set in the fictional town of Macondo. This had me hooked. I next read the novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Although this not magical realism, this was one of the first books I read set in non-linear chronology. Finally Love in the Time of Cholera may be viewed as Marquez's tribute to true love. One smashing writer!

My favourites: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera.

2. Charles Dickens: Dickens was one of the greatest writers to come out of England [Images]. His characters -- Ebenezer Scrooge, Fagin, Charles Darnay, Oliver Twist, Micawber, Samuel Pickwick, Miss Havisham and Wackford Squeers, among others -- were so popular that people thought they were real.

Vivid characterisations, a proper sense of the macabre and wry humour are hallmarks of Dickens' writing. I love so many of his novels, including The Pickwick Papers, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

This man's output was as prolific as it was great.

My favourites: David Copperfield, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers

1. Fyodor Dostoevsky: It is fitting that the list is topped by a Russian. Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a great novelist, essayist and philosopher who wrote some of the greatest works ever written by man. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential writers ever and I love his writing to distraction .His two masterpieces -- Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov are so beautiful that I cannot do justice describing them. So find out for yourself.

My favourites: Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov

Quotable Quotes

Source : http://www.linkedin.com/in/sanyalsugata
Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of the world. Anything. You have no idea what the smallest word, the tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion. Be outrageous in forgiving. Be dramatic in reconciling. Mistakes? Back up and make them as right as you can, then move on. Be off the charts in kindness. In whatever you are called to, strive to be devoted to it in all aspects large and small. Fall short? Try again. Mastery is made in increments, not in leaps. Be brave, be fierce, be visionary. Mend the parts of the world that are within your reach. To strive to live this way is the most dramatic gift you can ever give to the world." Clarissa Pinkola Estes American Author, Poet and Psychologist

Linkin Park Lyrics interpretations

"Breaking The Habit"

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again

[Bridge:]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused

[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again

[Bridge:]
I dont want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused

[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

[Bridge:]
I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends

[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
to show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
I’m breaking the habit
Tonight


The below is an interesting interpretation of the song "Breaking the habit" by Linkin Park. Just pasting it here ......


Source : http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/lookat.php/bands/linkinpark/c2f5628d6f90da3
Song : Breaking the habit


I find that the song has a meaning for almost every addiction. I talks about doing something, whether it is cutting or doing drugs, to hopefully forget the pain and hurt.

The best part in the song, personally, I find is:
"i'm picking me apart again
you all assume
i'm safe here in my room
unless I try to start again"
to me it talks about that you're pretending to the whole world and everyone seems to buy it. They think that you're okay, but they don't know how hurt you are from the inside.
It's almost like nobody cares about you.

The song also talks about helplessness.
"cause inside I realize
that I'm the one confused"

and



"I don't know what's worth fighting for
or why I have to scream
i don't know why I instigate
and say what I don't mean
i don't know how I got this way
i know it's not alright"

you don't know what to do except for the thing what you do, drugs or self harm. You feel helpless with yourself and there doesn't seems to be a way out.

And as last it can also talk about suicide. It's just the way how you see it and how it feels to you personally. I find everyone can recognize themselves in this song. Mostly because everyone battles an addiction. No matter if it are cigarettes, alcohol, drugs or self harm.