Ed Dowding

Category: Quotes

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal;nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” — Thomas Jefferson

Forging a sense of collective identity and finding common values is vital.

“Mass social movements based on coalitions of a broad range of groups will be needed to drive political support as individual issue groups are not strong enough on their own. Forging a sense of collective identity and finding common values is vital.” — Zero Carbon Britain

Anybody can become angry – that is easy

To recall before updating your status, whether IRL or in conversation: Anybody can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. ...

Authoritarians tell the truth about the future. Authoritarians lie about the past.

Authoritarians tell the truth about the future. They speak openly about what they are going to do. When they say things that seem absurd — we’ll build walls, ban those people, and so on — believe them. Authoritarians lie about the past. They lie about the consequences of what they have done. They lie about the magnitude and scale ...

What it means to live at the optimum

“Life can only be lived dangerously – there is no other way to live it. It is only through danger that life attains to maturity, growth. One needs to be an adventurer, always ready to risk the known for the unknown. And once one has tasted the joys of freedom and fearlessness, one never repents ...

Purpose matters.

Along roads I have had banyan trees planted so that they can give shade to animals and men, and I have had mango groves planted. At intervals of eight krosas, I have had wells dug, rest-houses built, and in various places, I have had watering-places made for the use of animals and men. But these ...

A few choice quotes found of late

“Religion and choice of religions is unimportant. The wise will always find wisdom and solace in theirs, and fools will be fools no matter what they believe.” The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John ...

two silver fishes on round white ceramic plate

First rule of Corporate Club

First rule of Corporate Club: If you teach a man to fish, you’ve lost a customer.

Manifestos for life

Posters in the Hub Westminster with typographical design by Robert Reed. Source: This is Reed

Let the river run

We’re coming to the edge,Running on the water,Coming through the fog,Your sons and daughters. Let the river run,Let all the dreamersWake the nation.Come, the New Jerusalem. Silver cities rise,The morning lightsThe streets that meet them,And sirens call them onWith a song. It’s asking for the taking.Trembling, shaking.Oh, my heart is aching. We’re coming to the ...

Leaving behind earthly feelings

It was there that in the purity of the air around me I truly began to unravel the real reason for the change in my mood, and the return to that inner peace which I had lost for such a long time. Indeed, it is a general impression…that on high mountains, where the air is ...

“In these days, a man who says a thing cannot be done is quite apt to be interrupted by some idiot doing it.” — Elbert Hubbard

A contract with our children.

99% of what follows is from Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is a great book, much like all his others. I have only edited it in places to make it easier to read out of context. I think it makes a magnificent start.   If the scientific community were to propose a ...

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man. Euripides

One final paragraph of advice.

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While ...

How did it come to this?

Considerably better lyrics than I had ever expected from Take That: Just the other day somebody Said to me, hey maybe you’re slightly schizophrenic And a little out of reach my friend. I said, yes that?s partly true, But jokes aside, I can explain, It?s just my way of keep in track with Living on ...

Mottainai

Mottainai  is a Japanese term meaning “a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized.” The expression “Mottainai!” can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted. In addition to its primary sense of “wasteful,” the word ...

Don't do anything that isn't play

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had ...

Memento Mori

The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions. Ellen Glasgow PS. You’re going to die one day, soon. Bummer, eh?

Kurt Vonnegut

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become. I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. All those who ...