by Philip Yaffe
Part 16 of an occasional series
I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school.
I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of subjects: love, religion, politics, human nature, etc. What unites them is their ability to say more in one or two sentences than could be expressed in a thousand-word treatise. It's like being able to pour a liter of liquid into a half-liter bottle.
They are superb examples of Mark Twain's famous dictum, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
In principle, all writers and public speakers are capable of producing pithy prose, but clearly some are better at it than others.
Any collection of pithy prose must necessarily be biased in terms of what it includes and excludes. I make no apologies for my selections, only for the hundreds of other meritorious quotations I had to leave out.
No one will agree with all these quotations; this was not their intention. You may even find some of them repugnant or outrageous. This was their intention.
We seldom learn anything of value from what we already agree with. Only those ideas that grate on our nerves can open our minds. As with oysters, irritation can produce pearls. So if anything you are about to read annoys or shocks you, try to think clearly and dispassionately about what it is saying. You will either be confirmed in your current belief or shaken into re-examining it.
Either way, you win!
This article is part of an occasional series. In each article, I will be offering more amusing, educating, and exasperating quotations to your judgment. But just to be certain that we agree on what we are talking about, here it is in a nutshell.
Pithy Prose: A quotation where at first you may not be quite certain what it means. But when you become certain, you become equally certain that it couldn't have been said better any other way. In short, big ideas in small packages.
If you have a better definition of pithy prose, please contact me. I would love to hear it.
Who Is Simone Veil?
Simone Veil (born July 13, 1927) is a French lawyer and politician who has served in a number of high offices, including French Minister of Health and President of the European Parliament. She is a survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where she lost part of her family. She was elected to the prestigious French Academy (Académie française) in November 2008.
A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.
2. A mind enclosed in language is in prison.
3. A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.
4. All sins are attempts to fill voids.
5. An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.
6. As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.
7. Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
8. Culture is an instrument wielded by teachers to manufacture teachers, who, in their turn, will manufacture still more teachers.
9. Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
10. Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.
11. Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
12. Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.
13. Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.
14. Humility is attentive patience.
15. I can, therefore I am.
16. I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.
17. I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic that becomes more or less pronounced according to the play of circumstances.
18. Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.
19. In struggling against anguish, one never produces serenity. The struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.
In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs.
22. In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more or less than the power of attention.
23. It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.
24. It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more or less just. It is the order that is established when arms have been laid down.
25. Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure.
The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.
34. The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.
35. The only way into truth is through one's own annihilation, through dwelling a long time in a state of extreme and total humiliation.
36. The role of intelligence -- that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions -- is merely to submit.
We can only know one thing about God -- that He is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate Him.
42. We must prefer real hell to an imaginary paradise.
43. What a country calls its vital interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.
44. Whatever debases intelligence degrades the entire human being.
45. When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.
Part 1: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Mark Twain
Part 2: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde
Part 3: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of People Named "W"
Part 4: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Anatole France
Part 5: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Ambrose Bierce
Part 6: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche
Part 7: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Anon
Part 8: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of People Named "H"
Part 9: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Johann Goethe
Part 10: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Eric Hoffer
Part 11: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Blaise Pascal
Part 12: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Robert Frost
Part 13: Pithy Prose: More Wit & Wisdom of Anon
Part 14: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Elbert Hubbard
Part 15: Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Friedrich Schiller
Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. His recently published book In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).
For further information, contact:
Philip Yaffe
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 660 0405
Email: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com,phil.yaffe@gmail.com
Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. Now semi-retired, he teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.
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Life is only worth living if it's exciting and you can grow as a person. To do this challenges need to be overcome. The more challenges you defeat the more confident you will be.
Without these challenges and your ability to overcome them, you can't build up your self-esteem. If you never overcome challenges the self-esteem you have starts to deteriorate.
Pick A Challenge
Regardless of the type of challenge you decide on, the most important part is to begin as soon as possible. Procrastinating will do you no good, and the sooner you start making some changes, the sooner you will experience the benefits this can give you.
* Find a new career path. If you see no bright future in your current job, quit. Find a job that will give you the compensation and satisfaction that you deserve.
* Improve your health by shedding a few pounds and making a few changes in your daily diet.
* Take up a new hobby like playing a musical instrument, scuba-diving or starting your own vegetable garden.
These are the types of challenges that will take a considerable amount of time to overcome, and that's perfectly fine. You don't need instantaneous results. The important thing is to get up and get started, and you will soon find yourself brimming with new found confidence.
Creating a Timetable for Achieving Your Goals
Start off with one large long term goal and divide into smaller more manageable pieces. If you want to lose 20 lbs in 4 months, start with smaller goals of 5 lbs a month.
Giving yourself reasonable deadlines will also encourage you to make wise use of your time. In the process, if you find your timetable too lenient, you can increase stringency to further challenge you more.
Keep Track of Your Achievements
These acknowledgements give you the boost of confidence you are going to need to finish up the long term part of the goal.
* Every night write down everything you have accomplished in 24 hours.
* Create a reading list and check all the books you've read so far.
* Place a notepad by the weighing scale to record your weight loss progress.
The small victories that you achieve on a daily basis will compound the confidence you feel in yourself. The momentum will speed up and you are likely to achieve your goals earlier than you originally set.
Get Support from Other People
Have friends that support you in your endeavor. If you have a friend that will work with you to accomplish the same goal, that's even better.
If you continue this practice of overcoming challenges then your self-confidence will always be at a high, and you will have more rewarding life for it.
Feeling insecure about overcoming obstacles that come into your day to day life? Need more tips on how to improve confidence? Go to:SuperSonicSuccess.com
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Does it ever seem like you need more than 24 hours in your day? Is your work life and home life clashing together? The problem is not that we need more time but that we need to learn to use time more wisely. The best way to get started organizing your life and ridding yourself of the insanity is to read these efficient effective time management techniques.
Time Management Basics
One of the best habits you can develop to effectively manage your time well is to maintain a list of daily chores. Writing down your tasks will give you a sense of control and enable you to accomplish more in less time.
After you accomplish your goal mark it off on your schedule of tasks. It gives you a peace of mind and the encouragement to continue on with your day.
* Every morning take a look at your list of tasks and adjust them so you are doing the most important things first. Then make sure you have time to do them all. If you need to push some things out until tomorrow. The purpose of having a list is to get things done and relieve stress not cause stress and lose focus.
* If you have an appointment be sure to make a call to them and see if the appointment is still on. You don't want to waste time going all the way over there and find out that it's been canceled. You could have use that time to get other things done.
Say No When You Need To
All too often, people find themselves in over their head in projects and other commitments simply because they don't have the heart to say no to a client or a friend in need. However, if you stretch yourself too thin, you will no longer be able to perform to the best of your abilities and this will compromise the quality of your results.
If you find yourself in a situation where someone asks for help, you first need to take a look at your schedule and see if you can get your responsibilities accomplished and still have time to help them. If not, say no.
* Budget your time in advance. If you can't take on anymore obligations don't.
* Make sure you know all the facts. Don't take a project before you know how much time and effort it will take. Also, consider what may go wrong, because it takes time to fix these things.
If you are a particularly busy person, you will probably have tons of things to do and it is perfectly natural to forget some appointments and meetings. You can avoid being late by using the alarm function on your wristwatch or your mobile device.
Set a Highly Organized Schedule
There are dozens of activities that you need to perform every single day, such as preparing to work every morning or cooking the family's dinner at night. Organize your schedule such that these chores are clustered, giving your more time for your other tasks.
* Before leaving the house in the morning, make sure that everything in the kitchen has been tidied up. When everything is clean, you can go home later in the day to a fresh and relaxing environment.
* After you get home from work make sure to put your things in their place. Don't make a bigger mess for yourself. Then make sure to keep going. There is no reason to lye down before dinner.
With these helpful time management tips, you will be able to accomplish more and make the most of your day.
Does it feel like there's never enough time in the day? Get more time management tips at SuperSonicSuccess.com
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