There are two types of people, those who are victims and those who are empowered. The victim focuses on the wrongs he has endured. The empowered focuses on not being a victim. --Steven R. Hobbs
Choosing Joys and Sorrows
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. --Khalil Gibran
Hard Work Wins
Hard work wins. You get out of life what you put into it. You cannot control the outcome, but you are one hundred percent in control of the effort. And before you complain about what somebody did to you or said to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at it and say, what could I have done to change the outcome? And no matter how good you are, how hard you work, sooner or later, bad things are gonna happen to you. How you deal with those bad things will tell your mother and me if we raised a man. –Randolph Elder in Dear Father, Dear Son by Larry Elder
Capacity for Good and Evil
I don't think that you have any insight whatsoever into your capacity for good until you have some well-developed insight into your capacity for evil. ― Jordan B. Peterson
I Am Only One
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. --Edward Everett Hale
Early to Bed
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. --Benjamin Franklin
The Good Wolf
Characteristics of a good wolf:
He prioritizes and protects his own pack.
His stated values are in alignment with those in his pack.
He acts according to his values, with rare exception.
He takes immediate responsibility and makes amends for mistakes.
—Steven R. Hobbs
Largest Burden
The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear and bearing it. ― Jordan B. Peterson
Living Messages
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. --Neil Postman
Great Man
“A man is great by deeds, not by birth.” --Chanakya
Cannot Do, Can Do
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” --John Wooden
I've Failed
“I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” --Michael Jordan
Improving the Universe
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. --Aldous Huxley
Seeking Liberty
“Whoever seeks in liberty anything other than liberty itself is born for servitude.” --Alexis de Tocqueville
Nothing Will Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” --Maya Angelou
Other People's Faults
“It’s silly to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.” — Marcus Aurelius
Build Me a Son
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
“Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee - and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
“Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.
“Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
“And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the weakness of true strength.
“Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’” —General Douglas MacArthur, a prayer for his son
Wait for Others to Change
“If you wait for others to change, you’ll wait forever.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
5 Behaviors Guaranteed to Increase Happiness: #3 of 5
“View yourself as actively capable of making changes in your life, rather than as a passive, helpless victim. Make use of your own agency. Take responsibility for being the architect of much of your own misery, and choose to build success instead.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
Tragedy and Regret
We ought not conflate the pain of tragedy with the suffering of regret. Pain is inevitable; suffering is gratuitous. Tragedy is the painful experience of acknowledging an unfortunate reality. Regret is the experience of acknowledging an unrealized opportunity that could have led to avoiding an unfortunate reality. —Steven R. Hobbs