Food For Thought

Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears can hear them and while their hearts can be thrilled by them. - Henry Ward Beecher

An obvious fact about negative feelings is often overlooked. They are caused by us, not by exterior happenings. An outside event presents the challenge, but we react to it. So we must attend to the way we take things, not to the things themselves. - Vernon Howard

Two things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels: first, to have it well ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms rather than things and, second, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about. - Charles Colton 

How the Internet works

Do you know how the internet works? Ever wondered how the internet works? Interested in how the internet works? Well, here’s a chance for you to find out how the internet works – if you are interested. Just click, or copy and paste the link below to find out.

http://www.wimp.com/internetworks/  

Life

What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written, and cannot be written. - Unknown

Our lives are made up of myriad unique experiences. These are tightly woven together to form a tapestry that depicts the story of our lives. And the people we meet in our life’s journey are the threads that would eventually become an intrinsic part of your life's tapestry. - Unknown

There is no security in life. You are born a baby and will definitely end up dead – one day. It is more important to make your life meaningful before your time is up, rather than to hold on too tightly to the security you thought you had but never did! - Unknown

When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1,000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear. - Unknown

Diplomacy - Quotes

A diplomat is a man who can juggle a hot potato long enough for it to become a cold issue. - Vernon K. McLellan

All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means. - Zhou Enlai

All war represents a failure of diplomacy. - Tony Benn

An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. - Sir Henry Wotton

And a diplomatist is one who lets the other fellow think he's getting his way, while all the time he's having his own. It never does any special harm to let people have their way with their mouths. - George Horace Lorimer

Dexterity is one of the chief weapons of diplomacy; governments rely more upon the supremacy of this instrument, when in the hands of a skilful diplomatist, than in the soundness or justice of their claims. - James Ellis

Diplomacy and virtue do not make easy companions. - Iain Pears

Diplomacy is cutting the other fellow's throat without using a knife. - Vernon K. McLellan

Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest thing in the nicest way. - Isaac Goldberg

If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you. - Sue Monk Kidd

In order to be a diplomat one must speak a number of languages, including double-talk. - Carey McWilliams

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly. - Tom Clancy

Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due. - James Buchanan

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy. - Will Durant

People - Quotes

It is very difficult to know people. For men and women are not only themselves, they are also the region in which they were born, the city apartment or the farm in which they learned to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives’ tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the things they believed in. You can know them only if you are them.

There are people who are physically attractive on the outside yet emotional wrecks on the inside. There are people who turn us off at first glances, but later on, we found out they are gems on the inside. The point is we only have one opportunity to make a first impression, which is why our physical communication is so important.

There comes a time in life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it, and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all, life is too short to be anything but happy.

When people walk away from you, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you, and it doesn’t mean they are bad people. It just means that their part in your story is over.

Most people – one may say the best sort of people – greatly prefer to do things for themselves, however badly, than to have things done for them, however well.  

People sense how you feel about them. If you want to change their attitudes toward you, change any negative attitudes you may have toward them.

Surround yourself with people who know your worth. You don’t need too many people to be Happy, just a few real ones who appreciate you for exactly who you are.

If people don’t make an effort to be in your life, don’t try so hard to be in theirs; It’s not worth it. - Unknown

People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.

There are people who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened.

Sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you are down will be the ones to help you get back up.

When people are well-informed, they do not just listen to you; they also question you.

There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere.

Don’t worry too much about what people think, because they seldom do.

People who can agree on what's funny can usually agree on other things.

Places don't make people; it is people that make places.

Discipline - Quotes

A person without discipline is like a ship without a rudder in the storm of life. - Robert Elias Najemy

A person's attitude toward discipline is the measure of that person's own orientation to order. - Max van Manen

A sense of discipline is like the earth itself. It is the ground from which all good qualities can grow forth. - Tsoknyi Rinpoche

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. - Hebrews 12:11

Always remember that discipline is like a two-edged sword; it is not only to correct children when they are wrong, but to direct them to a way that is right. - James Merritt

Children expect discipline. Even though discipline can be unpleasant, everyone who has experienced good discipline knows not only that he needed it, but also appreciates, and loves those who had the courage to give it to him! To attempt to raise a child without discipline is like trying to build a complex building without a blueprint, or like leaving the rebar out of concrete when it is poured, or deciding not to install the steel beams and girders into a skyscraper – you steal its spine – you create a disaster. - Zester Hatfield

Corrective discipline is like surgery – it corrects something that's gone wrong in the body so that more serious injury doesn't result. - Mark Dever & Paul Alenxander

Discipline brings us effort, sacrifice and suffering. Later it brings us something of an inestimable value: something of which those who live only for pleasure, profit or amusement will always be deprived. This peculiar indefinable joy which one must have felt oneself to understand is the sign with which life marks its moment of triumph. - Alexis Carrel

Discipline in its highest notion is not punishment or self-punishment. It is rather something seminal to the self. It is our foundation. It is our architecture. It gives us structure. It allows us to steer our energies and pull our wagon. - Noah Benshea

Discipline is a moral, mental, and physical state in which all ranks respond to the will of the leader. - Unknown

Discipline is a necessity, as a regulator of society, so that those who break its rules may be taught the necessity of obeying them. - Engineer Lockhart

Discipline is important simply because we live in an organized society where, if you have not learned life's requirements at early age, you will be taught later, not by those whose love tempers the lesson but by strangers who could not care less about the harm they do to your personality. - William E. Homan

Discipline is just doing the same thing the right way whether anyone’s watching or not. - Michael J. Fox

Discipline is learning what to do, when to do it and in what manner it should be done. - Unknown

Discipline is like a vaccine. It inflicts lesser pain now to avoid greater pain later. - Dan Doriani

Discipline is like moonlight to cool the wild mind that is burning with anger, attachment, ignorance, jealousy and so forth. One becomes calm, concentrated, and magnificent, towering over ordinary beings like Mount Meru rising above the world. Others will be drawn to one's strength and will find great inspiration and confidence in it. It pacifies our own being, and it brings peace into the way other people and sentient beings relate to us. Thus wise practitioners protect their discipline as they would their eyes. Bstan-Dzin-Rgya-Mtsho

Discipline is like sandpaper. It feels rough and abrasive when it's in motion, but the final result is a smooth and polished surface. - Jerry L. Parks

Discipline is like spinach. We may not care for it ourselves but feel sure it would be good for everybody else. - Unknown

Discipline is like the helm of a ship; it gives direction. - Zester Hatfield

Discipline is necessary and good. You can't raise successful children without it, but discipline should not repress or tyrannize. Discipline should lead to powerful habits of direction, work, and good judgment. Good discipline produces strength, not weakness; creativity, not banality; responsibility, not self-indulgence. - Zig Ziglar

Discipline is necessary to curb the mind, otherwise there is no peace. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Discipline is something we despise for the moment.... We all look for a place to run, an excuse with which to stall. No one enjoys it. Yet those of us who have endured it know that the fruit it produces and the pain from which it ultimately spares us makes it worth the agony. - Charles F. Stanley 

Discipline is teaching a child the way he should go. Discipline, therefore, includes everything you do to help your child learn. Unfortunately, it's one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. Most people generally think of it as punishment or as something unpleasant. We need to understand that discipline is something you do for a child. Punishment is something you do to a child when discipline fails. Both Greek and Hebrew words denoting discipline include the meaning of chastening, correction, rebuke, upbringing, training, instruction, education, and reproof. The purpose of discipline is positive – to produce a whole person, free from the faults and handicaps that hinder maximum development. - Zig Ziglar

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. - Jim Rohn

Discipline is the duty and the hope of all who would enjoy the benefits of society and of instruction. - John H. A. Bomberger

Discipline is the process by which energy is directed along certain lines to the exclusion of others. Instead of being expended in many ways in unreflecting response to every stimulant applied, it is concentrated and made to focus itself upon a single point, or rather is confined within certain narrow limits. Discipline is often spoken of as acquired power. A more exact statement would seem to be that discipline is ability to make energy effective by confining it in a certain channel. - Geo P. Brown

Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability. - Roy L. Smith

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak and esteem to all. - George Washington

Discipline must come through liberty. We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined. - Maria Montessori

Discipline strengthens the mind so that it becomes impervious to the corroding influence of fear. - Bernard Montgomery

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction. - Brian Tracy

Fair and reasonable discipline is like a fence that provides protection and defines limits, demonstrating both care and concern. - Les Christie

Good discipline is more than just punishing or laying down the law. It is liking children and letting them see that they are liked. It is caring enough about them to provide good, clear rules for their protection. - Stanley Greenspan

Grabbing hold of the true concept of discipline is like trying to pick up liquid mercury – just when you think you have it cornered, it squirts from your grasp. - Thomas Mccafferty

He who hath not Discipline is like a race-horse without a rider. - John Ballou NewBrough

If love is the heart of the person, discipline is the skeleton, giving a person form and protection. - Henry Cloud & John Townsend

If we do not discipline ourselves the world will do it for us. Control from without flourishes when discipline from within grows weak. - William Feather

It is not crazy to think of discipline as a chariot. Without discipline we would drive ourselves crazy. - Noah Benshea

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through. - Zig Ziglar

I've never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. - Vince Lombardi

Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild. - Immanuel Kant

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline. - Seneca

Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another. - George Washington

One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline – and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck. - Carl Zuckmayer

Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline. - Barbara Tuchman

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. - Frank Herbert

Self-discipline is the free man's yoke. - John W. Gardner

Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly. - Julie Andrews

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. - H. Jackson Brown Jr

That discipline which corrects the eagerness of worldly passions, which fortifies the heart with virtuous principles, which enlightens the mind with useful knowledge, and furnishes to it matter of enjoyment from within itself, is of more consequence to real felicity than all the provisions which we can make of the goods of fortune. - Robert Bridges

The best discipline is self-discipline. Without discipline, there is no life at all. - Unknown

The discipline of desire is the background of character. - John Locke

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen. - Lee Iacocca

The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others. - Tryon Edwards

The man under no discipline is like the spoiled child whom nothing satisfies. - Chester B. Lord

The one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others. - Marcel Proust

The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline. - Bum Phillips

The secret of discipline is motivation. When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself. - Unknown

When discipline is sown, like a good seed, it yields a harvest of things that fulfil and satisfy us--things that make us happy and release peace and joy in our lives. - Joyce Meyer

Without disciple we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems. - M. Scott Peck

Quote Worthy

There is no stronger bond of friendship than a mutual enemy. - Frankfort Moore

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is just as bad. - Bob Edwards

To talk to someone who does not listen is enough to tense the devil. - Pearl Bailey

When we have done our best, we should wait the results in peace. - John Lubbock

What we really are matters more than what other people think of us. - Jawaharlal Nehru

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. - Thomas Jeffeson

Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory. - Miguel de Cervantes

   

In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd. - Miguel de Cervantes

A shocking occurrence ceases to be shocking when it occurs daily. -

Alexander Chase

If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold. - Louis Dembitz Brandeis  

Dark Chocolates Cut Heart Attack Risk? Not Quite

              If you are thinking of throwing out your cholesterol medication and chomping on dark chocolate instead, don’t.

              A group of cardiologists here has rubbished a recent study in Australia which claims that eating dark chocolate is a cost-effective way of cutting one’s risk of cardiovascular disease.

              The study is flawed, they say.

              Just published in the British Medical Journal, the study claims daily consumption of dark chocolate over 10 years would cut the number of fatal strokes and heart attacks by 15 for every 10,000 people, and the number of non-fatal strokes and hear attacks by 70 for every 10,000 people.

              The team from Monash University said: “Daily dark chocolate consumption could be an effective cardiovascular preventive strategy.

              Flavonoids, found in dark, but not milk chocolate, are known to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels – two risk factors for heart attacks.

              The Australian researchers calculated that if the country invested A$40 ($50) a person a year in a “chocolate strategy” with advertisements, education and possibly a subsidy, it would reap good returns.

              Dr Reginald Liew, a cardiologist at Singapore’s National Heart Centre, said while it is true that previous studies have shown the beneficial effects of eating dark chocolate, the researchers did not take into account the large amount of sugar and fat that would also be consumed, “which may undo some benefits found in this study”.

              This is a failing even the Monash team admits.

              Another flaw which limits the usefulness of the result is that the study was based on statistical modelling, meaning that the outcomes are “hypothetical” and not base on “real data”, said Dr Liew.

              He added that even if the findings were real, people would need to eat a lot of dark chocolate daily over 10 years – for “very modest benefits”.

              Dr Pipin Kojodjojo from the National University Heart Centre said: “Before you rush out to stock up on dark chocolate, be aware that the study has many flaws”.

              It is unrealistic to expect people to eat a 100g bar of dark chocolate every day of their lives, he added. Even if one assumes that a chocolate bar cost only $1, it would cost more that $40 million to prevent 70 non-fatal strokes and heart attacks and 15 deaths among 10,000 people.

              Dr Kojodjojo added: “I would argue that we’d prevent more strokes and heart attacks and save more lives if we could get 10,000 people to exercise for 20 minutes daily for 10 years, or 10,000 smokers to stop smoking for 10 years, or 10,000 at-risk patients to eat a healthier diet for 10 years.”

- Salma Khalik

Food For Thought

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character. -  Albert Schweitzer

When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know”, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives. -  Robert Heinlein

A certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help. Therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them seems to be a delusion and a snare. -  Mahatma Gandhi

At The Supermarket

           A  young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little old lady following  him around. If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore she kept staring at him.

           She finally overtook him at the checkout, and  she turned to him and said, "I  hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease; it's just that you look so  much like my late son."   

           He answered, "That's okay."

           "I  know it's silly, but if you'd call out "Good bye, Mum" as I leave the  store, it would make me feel so happy."

           She then went through the checkout, and as she was on her way out of the store, the man called  out, "Goodbye, Mum."

           The little old lady waved, and smiled back  at him.

           Pleased that he had brought a little sunshine into  someone's day, he went to pay for his groceries.

           "That comes to  $121.85," said the operator.

           "How come so much ... I only bought 5 items.."

           The operator replied, "Yeah, but your Mother said you'd be paying for her things, too."