Quote of the Day: 31 October 2025 #QotD

“What was to be done? To turn and fly was now too late; and besides, what chance was there of escaping ghost or goblin, if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the wind?” -Washington Irving
[Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoy your celebrations of the holiday, and find some safe fun in being a bit scared.]

Quote of the Day: 30 October 2025 #QotD

“Sometimes we'd rather slay a dragon than exit our comfort zones.

“And sometimes the comfort zone is the dragon that needs slain.” -@Straffos

[Probably more than sometimes. At least for me, it's probably most of the time. So, go slay one of your personal dragons today.]

Quote of the Day: 29 October 2025 #QotD

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” -C. S. Lewis
[One of the tragedies of our age is that so few people actually understand love. Yet so many think that they do. When you love someone, you want things for him that he may not want for himself. And those who don't understand call this hate.]

Quote of the Day: 28 October 2025 #QotD

“Placing my attention on outcomes rather than on problems has made a world of difference.” -Sophia, The Power of TED
[Focusing on outcomes puts your focus on what you want to achieve and allows you to track if your actions are making progress toward that outcome or not.]

Quote of the Day: 27 October 2025 #QotD

“The family is inherently an obstacle to schemes for central control of social processes.” -Thomas Sowell
[That it is also the source of man's greatest joys is just a further commendation of the family as an institution. Not that it needed more to recommend it to us.]

Quote of the Day: 26 October 2025 #QotD

“When we live with our eyes single to the glory of God, we respect one another and support one another. Those divine patterns of righteousness lead to stability in our individual lives, our families, and society.” -Ronald A. Rasband

Quote of the Day: 25 October 2025 #QotD

“[P]eople who look for adventures don’t always find good ones.” -Tomé Cecial, Don Quixote
[It is always possible that things are going to turn out worse than you thought. Sometimes far worse.]

Quote of the Day: 24 October 2025 #QotD

“Life is so darn tricky.” -Pig, Pearls Before Swine
[And it hasn't gotten any easier to decipher as I have gotten older. When is it that I'm supposed to gain wisdom?]

Quote of the Day: 23 October 2025 #QotD

“You can only knock off the King's head once. But you can knock off the King's hat any number of times.” -G. K. Chesterton
[Disruption is more sustainable than revolution. And then you have the messy bit of actually implementing a new society afterwards. Ugh. Who needs all that hard work?]

Quote of the Day: 22 October 2025 #QotD

“Fascist and antifascist are apparently like flammable and inflammable.” -Frank J. Fleming
[Only if you actually engage your brain about the matter. If you only let the labels inform your opinion you will come to a different conclusion.]

Quote of the Day: 21 October 2025 #QotD

“If you haven't stormed out of a restaurant swearing to never eat out again, are you even a parent?” -Henpecked Hal
[I know I have, and it hasn't gotten a lot better since the last time I swore I wouldn't go out to eat with children again.]

Quote of the Day: 20 October 2025 #QotD

“The only way to go beyond redemption is to choose to take yourself there. The only way to do it is to stop caring.” -Michael Carpenter, Skin Game
[Redemption is possible as long as you are willing to seek it. Only you can make yourself irredeemable.]

Quote of the Day: 19 October 2025 #QotD

“The fire of yesterday’s testimony can warm us for only so long. It needs constant nourishment to keep burning brightly.” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Quote of the Day: 18 October 2025 #QotD

“I determined that if Death came he should find me ready.” -Jonathan Harker, Dracula
[What would it mean to me to be ready for Death? I think it would mean that I had come to terms with my regrets and felt I was progressing in the right direction with my life.]

Quote of the Day: 17 October 2025 #QotD

“Intellectual consistency does not require that I critique the full universe of idiotic ideas.” -Gad Saad
[There is no compulsion to act merely because someone else has acted. You are free to decline to act in those circumstances. Consistency only requires that when you act it is not contrary to the previous actions you have taken.]

Quote of the Day: 16 October 2025 #QotD

“Fate might not be thwarted often, but she seemed to have a soft spot for those who gave their all.” -Jagdish (thought), Graveyard of Demons
[Even if fate is a thing (which I dispute,) nothing about it says you have to accept the one assigned to you unquestioningly. You are free to seek to oppose it all you want.]

Quote of the Day: 15 October 2025 #QotD

“I don't know who needs to hear this, but wearing stuff with luxury brand labels isn't signaling to us that you're rich, it's signaling to us that you're a broke dimwit desperately trying to look rich[.]” -David Burge
[Rich people aren't able to be identified by their outward appearance. They may look like anyone. There will probably be clues, though.]

Quote of the Day: 14 October 2025 #QotD

“[Y]ou learn ten times more in a crisis than during normal times.” -A. G. Lafley (as quoted in Talent is Overrated)
[Well, you have the opportunity to, anyway. The stressed induced by the situation may make is difficult if not impossible to learn from the experience.]

Quote of the Day: 13 October 2025 #QotD

“Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius.” -Andrew Nivens, The Puppet Masters
[An envious man looks to excuse his own inadequacies by making the accomplishments of others the result of luck or chance, so he doesn't have to grapple with his own failings.]

Quote of the Day: 12 October 2025 #QotD

“Today, peacemaking still begins in the most basic place—in our hearts. Then in homes and families. As we practice there, peacemaking will spread into our neighborhoods and communities.” -Gary E. Stevenson

Quote of the Day: 11 October 2025 #QotD

“Almost every war since the Industrial Revolution was initiated by the side which ultimately lost.” -Jack Ryan, Debt of Honor
[An interesting observation. Something that bears watching as the wars of the twenty-first century develop and progress.]

Quote of the Day: 10 October 2025 #QotD

“The truth can be devastating. We spend much of our lives protecting ourselves from it and shielding others as well. We use lies to take the edge off life.” -Ferrin, Chasing the Prophecy
[Well, we think we're protecting ourselves. Ultimately, we're not protecting ourselves, just living in denial.]

Quote of the Day: 9 October 2025 #QotD

“MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.” -Ambrose Bierce
[After 15 years of marriage. I think this is less true than it is funny. But it is funny.]

Quote of the Day: 8 October 2025 #QotD

“Scientists pretended that history didn’t matter, because the errors of the past were now corrected by modern discoveries. But of course their forebears had believed exactly the same thing in the past, too. They had been wrong then. And modern scientists were wrong now.” -Ian Malcolm (thought), The Lost World
[Hubris is a very common tendency amongst us humans. A failing that has come to so many that it is nearly universal. Not me of course. Oh, right.]

Quote of the Day: 7 October 2025 #QotD

“[W]hoever you make yourself into, you have to be that person, every moment of every day. Choose carefully.” -Devon Eriksen
[You are yourself, and you don't get to escape that. So, make the choice of who you want to be.]

Quote of the Day: 6 October 2025 #QotD

“There is a question I have learned to ask myself, Gwyn, when I am feeling bothered about others: am I holding myself to the same standard I am demanding of them?” -Yusuf al-Falah, The Anatomy of Peace
[I often am not. Though, sometimes I'm holding them to far lesser standards. And they can't even live up to that.]

Quote of the Day: 5 October 2025 #QotD

“We want to become humble before the Lord, like a little child who obeys their father. We will then always have the Holy Spirit with us, and our hearts will soften.” -Christopher H. Kim

Quote of the Day: 4 October 2025 #QotD

“We experience pain for a reason. It warns us of danger, signaling us to take action. This process provides us with a tremendous survival advantage.” -Ethan Kross
[This applies to emotional pain as well. We might not take the right action, but at least we're acting.]

Quote of the Day: 3 October 2025 #QotD

“Cryin’ helps sometimes. No shame in tears for them as you’ve loved.” -Nanny Ogg, The Shepherd’s Crown
[Crying is sometimes necessary. Don't hold back when you feel the need to. Though, sometimes, it's more appropriate in private than in public.]

Quote of the Day: 2 October 2025 #QotD

“By definition, it is not possible for everyone to be above average.” -Jim Collins
[But everyone sure wants to believe that they are. I find it a lot easier to accept that I am below average in physical endeavors than in intellectual ones, though. Perhaps I am just less accepting of reality about my intellect because it is so tied up in my identity.]

Quote of the Day: 1 October 2025 #QotD

“Death is fugitive; even when you’re watching for it, the actual instant somehow slips between your fingers. You don’t get that sudden drop of the head that you see in movies. Instead you simply sit there, waiting for something to happen, and all at once you realize you’ve missed it.” -Lucy Carlyle, The Whispering Skull
[And it arrives when you don't want it to. Whether that is too early, or too late in some unfortunate circumstances. It will hurt you either way. Or, rather, the loss of the individual who has died will.]