An African proverb, from @CallUsCupid:

Nobody will think you’re somebody if you don’t think so yourself

Recognition of yourself and your qualities begins with yourself.  If you don’t see your qualities, how can you expect anybody else to?

This doesn’t mean that you need to point out everything good about yourself.  Just know that those qualities are there.  The confidence boost will be amazing; people will notice the confidence, which will silently draw their attention to your positive attributes.

Likewise, self-knowledge of your negative attributes (don’t deny that you have them – everybody does) is the first step towards correcting them.  People often say that admission is the first step towards correction, but before admission must come recognition.

Nosce te ipsum.

@KattyBlum brings this quote from Orson Scott Card‘s Ender’s Game:

Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.

I don’t have my copy right here in front of my, but as far as I can remember, Ender has just been told, by a doctor “This will sting a little” (or words to that effect).  Ender reflects on the fact that usually, when an adult tells him something will hurt a little or not at all, it really means alot of pain is about to occur.

He is, of course, not disappointed in his prediction.

Sometimes you can tell more about what’s happening around you by what’s not said, than what is said.  Likewise, you can tell what’s important by what gets hidden behind lies.

If you observe the pattern of lies used around you, you can generally get a better picture of the truth than if you only listen to the truth being told.  This is because the truth is often incomplete; while lies, when detected, will cause you to dig more, and find the edges that are hidden.

So next time someone lies to you, thank them for leading you to the truth.

This quote, forwarded by @bourdieu, is unfortunately timely, coming from the recently-deceased José Saramago:

In the end we discover the only condition for living is to die.

Many people will go on about a higher purpose of life, and will try to tell you how to live your life.  I’m guilty of that – my current series of quote analyses can be seen as my advice for living.

You are, of course, free to take or leave any advice given to you; this is especially true about general life guides.  I believe that this is what Saramago was saying; as much as you may be told that there are terms and conditions for living a full life, the fullness of your life is measured between your birth bed and your deathbed.

The fullness of your existence, however, is measured by your influence on others; as long as that influence exists, you can be said to exist as well.  So make your plans to last beyond the grave, but don’t fear it.

Here’s an Australian proverb, courtesy of @Care2JoinMe:

None so deaf as those who would not hear.

The lesson here is simple: if you don’t want to hear something, you won’t.  The same goes for seeing.

What you’re probably not hearing or seeing is the dragon in your backyard.  The evils and injustices around you, which may be plain to those who choose to see, are invisible to the willfully blind, and unheard by the willfully deaf.

Pay attention to the world around you, and you will see what others miss.  The world may appear to be a darker place, but you will be able to make it a better one.

@JAVIonline brings us the following Latin proverb:

Dum spiro, spero

It’s not quite as poetic when translated to English, but it still brings us a message:

While I breathe, I hope.

As long as you are alive, don’t give up.  There is always hope to succeed in our endeavours, but only as long as we hold out our own hope.  The only failure is to give up; the loss of hope leads to despair, which leads to this failure.

Whatever your goals, maintain hope always.  If you can see success, you will succeed.  Similarly if all you see is failure.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

Thank you @DrBea

Too many people seem to think of people as a convenience.  A true friend isn’t something that can be turned on or off at a moment’s notice.  True friendship is cultivated over a long period of time; the only way to gain this friendship is to give it.

This does not mean that one should indiscriminately give their friendship.  Many people are truly incompatible, and attempting to share life between them can lead only to sorrow.  Additionally, watch for the “friendship sink” – the person who will pretend to be your friend in order to gain the benefits, but will not share in the trials of friendship.

But once you find a true friend, share yourself with that person; by being a friend you will gain a friend, and both will grow from the experience.

Another quote from @Flipbooks, this time a Chinese proverb:

He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg

We all know the benefits of planning before doing.  However, there are times that planning becomes procrastination.  You can never know every possibility, so there is a time that you have to look up from the plans and do it.

Besides:

No plan survives contact with the enemy

Courtesy of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (yes I can use non-Twittered quotes).

Neither of these quotes should be taken to mean that planning is useless.  Note that the first quote warns against full deliberation, not against deliberation in its entirety.  Likewise, looking at von Moltke’s biography, you can see that he did plan as fully as possible.

Instead, they should be taken as advice to plan as much as needed, and no more.  Once you start planning for the possibility of your main players being abducted by aliens, you have left the realm of reasonable planning and entered the realm of planning as procrastination.

There are much better ways to procrastinate.

Oops, found another related one:

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence

Vince Lombardi, via @Flipbooks.

Thanks to @Care2JoinMe:

Haste is the mother of imperfection

This Brazilian proverb very succinctly summarizes something that should be obvious to anyone who gives it a moment’s thought.

Unfortunately, haste usually denies that moment of thought.

We tend to be in a permanent rush, as if a failure to accomplish something right now is equivalent to a failure to accomplish anything at all.  What many fail to see is that the accomplishment will better stand the test of time and quality if a little more time is taken up front.

More haste.  More mistakes.  More cut corners.  More imperfection.

It is a logical progression; unfortunately, our non-logical minds tend to miss it all the time.

Before you start anything, no matter how urgent it appears to be, take a moment.  Even if you don’t plan on paper, plan your course of action.  Re-evaluate this plan constantly; make every step deliberate.

Do not accomplish by accident, accomplish by purpose.  Know what you did.  Know how you did it.  Know that you did it.

And the accomplishment will be yours.

Thank you to Hello Kosmos, who brings this quote:

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

Franklin D. Roosevelt provides these words of wisdom, among many others.

Rules come from without.  They are defined by society, and define what everybody else thinks is right.

Principles come from within.  They are defined by you, and define what you think is right.

As you travel, you will come to different societies and cultures.  The rules will change, sometimes quickly.  You are not in control of these changes, and can only accept them (or not) as they occur.  Your principles, on the other hand, are fully within your control.  They may change, but slowly and deliberately, as you experience life.  Just as you change, your principles may change, but just as you will not change overnight neither should your principles.

Be true to yourself.  Be true to your principles.  Remember how important they truly are.

Another quote sourced from @ChangeJourney:

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Have you ever watched a child exploring the world around them?  They don’t know what limits are.  They will try anything, do anything.  Constantly experimenting.  Constantly creating.

What happens when we grow up?  Does anybody know for sure?

I think that, as we grow, we learn what limits are.  The child pours spaghetti on the floor, watching the interesting pattern; the parent corrects him, then cleans up.  The child has learned (eventually) that pouring spaghetti on the floor is outside the limits.  An avenue for art and experimentation has been removed.

Unfortunately, once limits have been imposed on the human mind, they have a tendency to stay there.  It is the rare person who can remove their programmed-in boundaries.  That person is the one that we know as “artist”.