Words you live by

Steve

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What are the words you live by? Do you try to be honest in all things? Winner takes all? Might makes right? What are the fundamental philosophies that drive you?

I have a couple:

  • I'm responsible for all things in my life: simply put, things that occur either happen TO you or BECAUSE of you. If it happens because of you, you have power to influence the situation. If it happens TO you, you have no power. I prefer to have some influence.
  • Someone doesn't have to lose for me to win: Some people have to have an enemy at all times. If they're working on a project at work, it has to be compared to someone else's work. If they know something, they want to hoard it because they believe that knowledge is power. I disagree. I believe that if I succeed, there's room for you.
  • Creative people will always be creative/uncreative people will never be creative: In business and personally, there are people who steal ideas or take credit for things they didn't do. This can work for a while, but I believe that these people are always exposed at some point. Conversely, creative people (replace with smart, hardworking, or honest people) will always come out ahead.
  • Nobody knows everything about anything: This one's pretty straightforward. Anything I say today is subject to change as I learn more about it. Anything other's say is only as credible as they are, and even then should be taken in context.
  • Never argue with a crazy person. They don't play by the rules and are, by definition, irrational at least to some degree.

Anyway, this is just a short list, and I'll admit that I'm not always successful. What are the words you live by?
 

Blade96

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The quotes in my sig. For 2 examples. You don't have to hurt someone else to succeed in life, and you gotta have some discipline cause if you didnt have rules to live by you wouldnt get anywhere.
 
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Steve

Steve

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The quotes in my sig. For 2 examples. You don't have to hurt someone else to succeed in life, and you gotta have some discipline cause if you didnt have rules to live by you wouldnt get anywhere.
Your quote regarding discipline reminds me of the differences between open and closed form poetry. New poets often gravitate toward open form poetry. It's looser, and allows them to express themselves with fewer rules. Many seem to rankle at what they perceive is a lack of control. Closed forms are also often associated with being old fashioned, while open form poetry is considered "modern."

But often, great poets begin to work within closed forms and many of them have said that it's those very rules that focus their poems. The structure forces them to be disciplined and to make decisions that hone their poetry and often makes their writing stronger and their poems better.
 

seasoned

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"Say what you mean, and mean what you say". I don't believe in gray area, it is too complicated, honesty and straight forwardness is the only way to go.
 

Sukerkin

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An interesting thread, Steve. It is harder than it might first sound to hone down to a few words what guiding principles you choose to steer your life by :D.

Qualities that I value (not listed in any order of precedence) are:

Honesty
Politeness
Knowledge
Eloquence
Compassion
Self-Sacrifice/Selflessness
Strength in Adversity
Even-Temperedness

Weaving those into paragraphs to describe them in more depth is possible but I hope that even as just a bald list of principles they give something of a picture of the man I'd like to be (for I often fall short of my ideals I do confess :eek:).
 

Ken Morgan

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An interesting thread, Steve. It is harder than it might first sound to hone down to a few words what guiding principles you choose to steer your life by :D.

Qualities that I value (not listed in any order of precedence) are:

Honesty
Politeness
Knowledge
Eloquence
Compassion
Self-Sacrifice/Selflessness
Strength in Adversity
Even-Temperedness

Weaving those into paragraphs to describe them in more depth is possible but I hope that even as just a bald list of principles they give something of a picture of the man I'd like to be (for I often fall short of my ideals I do confess :eek:).

Reading this thread I was putting a list together in my head, then i came to your post Suk, and realized that you already had named most of what was floating around upstairs for me. Must be a JSA thing?
 

Sukerkin

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:D You never know, Ken. It may well be that there is indeed something in the JSA that calls to a certain type of mindset.

Or equally likely that there is something calming to the spirit about learning to carve your fellow man into quivering chunks with a three-foot blade whilst avoiding the same fate. It is one of the wonderful contradictions inherent in martial arts of all sorts i.e. that training for years in one of the most violent of pass-times turns many of us into the most peaceful of men and women.
 

Mark Jordan

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The best gifts to give :


  • To your friend - loyalty
  • To your enemy - forgiveness;
  • To your boss - service;
  • To a child - a good example;
  • To your parents - gratitude and devotion;
  • To your mate - love and faithfulness;
 

Aikicomp

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He who would rather be wrong in company than right alone....





is a slave.



Mike
 

Carol

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"To have a friend, you must be a friend" - Dr. David Brudnoy (RIP David! Miss you!)

"Don't give up" - Peter Gabriel.
 

Chris Parker

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Smile as much as possible. It encourages those that love you, and worries those that don't....

To live without regret, simply know that every decision you make is done with the best information at the time, with the best reasons you could possess. And without them, you would not be where you have come to in this journey.

To live without guilt simply requires firm conviction of your own personal sense of ethics and morals, and to not allow them to be compromised.

Wherever I go, people are a little safer because I am there (Robert L. Humphries).

I am, if nothing else, a man of my word.

Always have a better answer.

Every moment is an adventure waiting discovery.


There's a fair few more, but this is a decent overview, I suppose.
 
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Steve

Steve

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Very interesting posts.

One that I'm not very good at, but my mom always said, "Don't advertise your ignorance." Usually, she said that after I had just done exactly that. :)

My dad told me as a young man that the only thing that can't be taken from you is your integrity. I've never forgotten that.
 

Sukerkin

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Your dad's a wise man, Steve. Aye, without a doubt that's a true word there :nods:. My father called it "your reputation" but he was talking about the same thing. He usually bundled it with "You can tell a lot about the measure of a man by the friends he keeps".

Odd isn't it how these men we thought knew nothing when we were know-it-all teenagers suddenly seem to have not been so dumb after all once we grew up? :blush:
 

Burnse

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"What's the worst that could happen?"

"It is better to remain silent and be thought the fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

"Do unto others as you would have them done unto you."
 

Drac

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Take time to laugh, even if its at yourself..
 

CoryKS

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"The map is not the territory."

I believe there is an objective reality that is separate and distinct from what we think it is or wish it to be, and that our happiness depends on how closely our perspective matches reality. When we feel that things are going wrong, those are the times that our map is not an accurate depiction of the terrain. This saying reminds me that I may need to step back, take a good look around and update the map.
 

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