Quote of the Day: 31 December 2021 #QotD

“I sympathise. I know just how it feels To think of the right thing to say too late.” -Robert Frost
[And that feels like a fitting conclusion to this year's collection of quotes.]

Quote of the Day: 30 December 2021 #QotD

“[D]umb is okay so long as they’re not stupid[.]” -Moist Von Lipwig, Going Postal
[I've met too many who were stupid and very evidently not dumb. I lament my exposure to such individuals.]

Quote of the Day: 29 December 2021 #QotD

“[T]hose who have not swords can still die upon them.” -Éowyn, The Return of the King
[Death will come for you. Some time, and some way, and you can't fully control it. But you can improve your chances in any particular situation through preparation.]

Quote of the Day: 28 December 2021 #QotD

“If y’all can wominquire we should be able to manswer.” -@MattsIdeaShop
[This is probably the best response to exasperation at 'mansplaining' that I have yet encountered.]

Quote of the Day: 27 December 2021 #QotD

“You never want to be indistinguishable from something that's mocking you.” -Noam Blum
[If you've become so predictable that someone can imitate you so thoroughly, are you even still living?]

Quote of the Day: 26 December 2021 #QotD

“When you know and understand how completely you are loved as a child of God, it changes everything.” -Susan H. Porter

Quote of the Day: 25 December 2021 #QotD

“Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted _me_?” -Jacob Marley, A Christmas Carol
[Merry Christmas! And a reminder of what the season can mean for us if we let it.]

Quote of the Day: 24 December 2021

“To listen well is to figure out what’s on someone’s mind and demonstrate that you care enough to want to know.” -Kate Murphy
[A skill I am still working to develop further.]

Quote of the Day: 23 December 2021 #QotD

“Remembering that time is money is, among other things, a defense against political rhetoric, as well as an important economic principle in itself.” -Thomas Sowell
[Spend your temporal capital carefully. You're not getting any of it back again.]

Quote of the Day: 22 December 2021 #QotD

“If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trials and tribulations of life.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
[Truly living the gospel requires something of us. And it is not something we can just put on to make us feel good. Living the gospel is not always comfortable, but it will ultimately lead us into the best of all good things.]

Quote of the Day: 21 December 2021 #QotD

“Some days returning to bed is the best option.” -Pig, Pearls Before Swine
[I don't encounter these often, but it happens.]

Quote of the Day: 20 December 2021 #QotD

“We fail the minute we let someone else define success for us.” -Brené Brown
[If you aren't clear what success is for you, someone else is standing ready to fill that void for you. And that lack of clarity will leave you confused about how to accomplish what you want. You are also prone to frequent changes of direction causing you to make little progress toward any particular outcome.]

Quote of the Day: 19 December 2021 #QotD

“As we act in faith, the Lord guides and directs us.” -Ciro Schmeil

Quote of the Day: 18 December 2021 #QotD

“Don’t feel guilty for existing. And never feel like you owe ‘the state’ or ‘society’ or whatever anything.” -Sarah Hoyt
[Someone else's expectations of you have no power over you unless you let them.]

Quote of the Day: 17 December 2021 #QotD

“Men’s opinions, accordingly, on what is laudable or blamable, are affected by all the multifarious causes which influence their wishes in regard to the conduct of others, and which are as numerous as those which determine their wishes on any other subject.” -John Stuart Mill
[You are human. You are subject to the frailties of mortality. You experience cognitive biases. Yes, you. Stop thinking you don't.]

Quote of the Day: 16 December 2021 #QotD

“[W]hatever it is you are going to do next, do it as you. Good or bad, do it as you. Too many lies and there’s no truth to go back to.” -Sgt. Jackrum, Monstrous Regiment
[Don't be false to fit in with others. You are who you are, and you can hide that, but you can't change it without going through a thorough process of change.]

Quote of the Day: 15 December 2021 #QotD

“If you’re not careful about cues, you can cause the very behavior you want to stop.” -James Clear
[Whether that is within yourself, or in others. And it is super annoying.]

Quote of the Day: 14 December 2021 #QotD

“It is so much in the nature of law to support justice that in the minds of the masses they are one and the same.” -Frédéric Bastiat
[A little thought will reveal that they are not. So, how do you approach interactions with people who have given it little to no thought, and a blithely happy in their ignorance?]

Quote of the Day: 13 December 2021 #QotD

“Playing cat and mouse is generally only fun for the cat.” -Harry Dresden, Small Favor
[Quite true. If you find yourself in the position of the mouse, you can either accept it, or find a way to change the calculus.]

Quote of the Day: 12 December 2021 #QotD

“Attendance and activity in a church help us become better people and better influences on the lives of others.” -Dallin H. Oaks

Quote of the Day: 11 December 2021 #QotD

“Probably the silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for himself.” -Ambrose Bierce
[Or a memorial.]

Quote of the Day: 10 December 2021 #QotD

“Understanding is the goal of listening, and it takes effort.” -Kate Murphy
[A lot of effort.]

Quote of the Day: 9 December 2021 #QotD

“[U]nless a change is made and a new policy adopted, the cause of education will break down. It will either become a trade for those little fitted for it or be abandoned altogether, instead of remaining the noblest profession, which it has been and ought to be.” -Calvin Coolidge
[It has become a trade for those little suited for it. Those seeking to indoctrinate, rather than educate. And that is largely a result of the perversion of the colleges of education. While not everyone is suited to teaching, and some instruction is necessary to develop skills of instruction, a degree in education is largely useless.]

Quote of the Day: 8 December 2021 #QotD

“Good leaders seize crises to remake organizational habits.” -Charles Duhigg
[I take it that Mr. Duhigg uses good here to mean effective leaders, but it could be that he means morally good leaders. The problem is that effective leaders who also happen to be evil will also make use of crises to remake organizations.]

Quote of the Day: 7 December 2021 #QotD

“Half my waking hours would be spent shopping for gifts if I hadn’t reduced the process to a science: I let my wife buy all the presents.” -Patrick F. McManus
[This is not what happens in our home, but it's not much more complicated.]

Quote of the Day: 6 December 2021 #QotD

“For whatever reasons, some societies have been receptive to other cultures, while other societies have been very resistant—a difference that has had major consequences for both kinds of societies.” -Thomas Sowell
[I would posit that selective receptivity would also have major consequences.]

Quote of the Day: 5 December 2021 #QotD

“In the Lord’s timing, it is not where we start but where we are headed that matters most.” -Clark G. Gilbert

Quote of the Day: 4 December 2021 #QotD

“Asking for help is a power move. It’s a sign of strength to ask and a sign of strength to fight off judgment when other people raise their hands.” -Brené Brown

[Something I need to work on myself.]

Quote of the Day: 3 December 2021 #QotD

“[N]othing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset[.]” -Charles Dickens
[There are critics for everything. Some of them justified, but most of them not.]

Quote of the Day: 2 December 2021 #QotD

“The trouble is, you can shut your eyes but you can’t shut your mind.” -Terry Pratchett
[That hasn't stopped some people from trying though.]

Quote of the Day: 1 December 2021 #QotD

“Prices perform three functions in organizing economic activity: first, they transmit information; second, they provide an incentive to adopt those methods of production that are least costly and thereby use available resources for the most highly valued purposes; third, they determine who gets how much of the product[.]” -Milton Friedman
[There seems to be q lot of confusion around prices by people who want the world to conform to their idealized views of things rather than conforming their thinking to observations about reality. I thought I'd share Mr. Friedman's words on prices to help inform them of their ignorance.]