Prudent Sleepers
It’s better to sleep on what you plan to do than to be kept awake by what you’ve done.
Sensible Crossing
Never insult an alligator until you’ve crossed the river.
Looking and Acting
See everything, overlook a lot, correct a little. –Pope John XXIII
Higher Faculty
Imagination is more important than knowledge. –Albert Einstein
Problems and Solutions
There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.
Dancing Bears
If you dance with a grizzly bear, you’d better let him lead.
Planning Well
He who rides a tiger must make plans for dismounting.
Repair Work
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. –Billy Carter
Proximity of Dragons
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. –J.R.R. Tolkien
Rodent Wisdom
Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is, which never entrusts its life to one holy only.
Peace in the Storm
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last. –Winston Churchill
First Priority
A young ensign, after nearly completing his first overseas cruise, was given an opportunity to display his capabilities at getting the ship under way. With a stream of commands, he had the decks buzzing with men, and soon the ship was steaming out the channel en route to the states.
He efficiency established a new record for getting a destroyer under way, and he was not surprised when a seaman approached him with a message from the captain. He was a bit surprised, though, to find it a radio message and even more surprised to read: “My personal congratulations upon completing your underway preparation exercise according to the book and with amazing speed. In your haste, however, you have overlooked one of the unwritten rules—make sure the captain is aboard before getting under way.”
Unfair Advantage
Never wrestle with a pig. You will both get all dirty, and the pig likes it.
Esoteric Cheating
In Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall, Woody has his protagonist say: “I was thrown out of New York University for cheating on a Metaphysics test. The professor caught me looking deeply into the soul of the student seated next to me.”
Shopping for a Car
No one ever got rid of an old car because it ran too well.
Balance
The archer strikes the target, partly by pulling, partly by letting go.
Limitations
Genius has limits; stupidity does not.
Narrow Vision
In the year 1870 the Methodists in Indiana were having their annual conference. At one point, the president of the college where they were meeting said, “I think we live in a very exciting age.” The presiding bishop said, “What do you see?” The college president responded, “I believe we are coming into a time of great inventions. I believe, for example, that men will fly through the air like birds.” The Bishop said, “This is heresy! The Bible says that flight is reserved for the angels. We will have no such talk here.” After the conference, the bishop, whose name was Wright, went home to his two small sons, Wilbur and Orville. And you know what they did to their father’s vision.
Kind of a Trust
Trust in God, but tie your camel. –Persian proverb
The Wisdom That Comes in Crisis
There’s a true story that comes from the sinking of the Titanic. A frightened woman found her place in a lifeboat that was about to be lowered into the raging North Atlantic. She suddenly thought of something she needed, so she asked permission to return to her stateroom before they cast off. She was granted three minutes or they would have to leave without her.
She ran across the deck that was already slanted at a dangerous angle. She raced through the gambling room with all the money that had rolled to one side, ankle deep. She came to her stateroom and quickly pushed aside her diamond rings and expensive bracelets and necklaces as she reached to the shelf above her bed and grabbed three small oranges. She quickly found her way back to the lifeboat and got in.
Now that seems incredible because thirty minutes earlier she would not have chosen a crate of oranges over even the smallest diamond. But death had boarded the Titanic. One blast of its awful breath had transformed all values. Instantaneously, priceless things had become worthless. Worthless things had become priceless. And in that moment she preferred three small oranges to a crate of diamonds. –Charles Swindoll
More Important Knowledge
A young man was being interviewed to be a pilot for a steamboat on the Mississippi River. The interviewer, doubtful that the young man could know the dangers of the river, asked if knew where all the rocks were. To this he replied, “No, sir, I do not know where all the rocks are, but I know where they aren’t.” He got the job.
Practical Consideration
As the fame of Auguste Renoir spread, so did the number of Renoir forgeries. The painter was understandably upset by the proliferation of these bogus pictures, but after a time, he came to accept their presence.
On occasion, as a favor to collectors who had been stuck with one of these fakes, he would even touch up the canvas and sign it, so that the collector could pass it off as an original. Angry friends urged him to get tough with the forgers and to take legal action against them, but Renoir could see no benefit in litigation. He pointed out, “It takes less time to touch up a painting than to go to court about it.”