Benevolent Quotations

There are no ugly women, only lazy ones. from:  Helena Rubinstein ,  Immigrant, Entrepreneur I can hear it.  "OH MY GAWD!" "SEXIST" "UNBELIEVABLE" Well, it is all about the context.  And if someone knows the context of this quote, please put it in the comments. I picked this one today because I wanted something that was about BEING IN ACTION and breaking the lazy habit.  And this quote, in the context of our times, is provocative. But, it gets one thinking (that is if a person's cognitive biases prevents them from pursuing critical thinking). I read this and thought:  This is about how you can always improve yourself.  But why don't people improve themselves?   Originally, my idea for today's quote was about how lying is intellectually lazy.  I have said this and thought that it must be a quote.  But searching the Google machine yielded nada.  I was very surprised.  Maybe, if some day I get published I will ...

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.  I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.  I shall use my time. from:  Jack London Today, I prolonged my day. I have a story to structure and a teaching book to write.  I have a blog to update and a lesson to plan. I have a body to exercise and a home to organize. Yet, I played an inconsequential computer game first thing in the morning. How does wasting time help?  Everyone needs to relax, so if playing computer games is a "need," then why to I feel guilty.  Universities recommend it .  It is unhealthy as stress increases cortisol levels which may result in symptoms of weight gain, heart issues, lower immune function, etc.   Even the Pomodoro Method includes five minutes of rest after every 25 minutes of studying. I tell students to plan their relaxation time.  I suggest to parents that their children should be in outside, non-academic activities.  And yet, when I...

Reaching beyond where you are is really important. attributed to: Martin Seligman Dr. Seligman is the Professor of Happiness.  And I need a dose of that right now. I tell my students: "If it was easy for you to do, you'd have already done it."  I do a lot of work with under-performing students.  Each of them has a personal reason for underperforming, but normally it comes down to fear.   However, while they have been living in the fear, certain behaviors have become habitualized.  Watching Netflix, Facebooking, getting sucked into click-bait.   Unfortunately, the students behavior also trains those around them.  Yes, parents should not bend to the ineffectual and, perhaps, harmful actions and desires.  But they often do.  Parents look at is a 'picking battles,' which only cements the behaviors on both sides. I am in that position myself right now.  My partner and I were complacent with our careers.  It would...

[It] requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell. Maxwell Maltz , author of Psycho-Cybernetics I have started exercising.  The first two or three days were easy; I put on the sneakers and walked.  The fourth day I learned to connect the bluetooth headphones a friend loaned me and that gave me the incentive to get moving while listening to "Stranger in a Strange Land."  The story kept me getting out for the last two weeks. I was proud enough of the two weeks of consistent exercise that I screenshot my Mapmywalk app calendar and lined my friend.  "2/3's of the way to a habit!"  (and then sent him a pic of a Frida Kahlo-themed bar on my walk with the message "She missed you!"). Thinking about the quote to use for today, I decided on a quote about how it tales three weeks to establish a habit.   Yikes!  So Wrong. The Huffington Post article  How Long Does It Actually Take to Form a ...

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write.  It is as simple as that. from:   On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King ( See the quote in the book )  ( Amazon Link ) Teaching is a confronting profession.  All day long, a teacher is exhorting the students to 'learn' and to 'grow.'  At the end of the day or the week, a teacher looks into the mirror and thinks: "Do I do what I preach?"  For me and many of my friends, the mirror speaks back "Not enough." As I start a writing career ( or skilled avocation ), do I read enough?  I read some, but not like when I was younger.  I have been seduced by the passive illuminations of Netflix. So, like many of my students, I have a stable of practiced excuses.  I am tired.  I taught ten hours today.  I am starting an exercise habit.  There is ironing.  I ran out of garlic butter and had to make more. I, like many of us, move ...

You can teach an old dog new tricks, and this old dog wants to learn. from: Tip O'Neill    Speaker of the American House of Representatives 1977-1987 Gramma Moses didn't start painting until her 70's.  Colonel Sanders sold his first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in his 60's.  Ray Croc started McDonalds in his 50's.  Duncan Hines was 55 when he started writing cook books.  Sam Walton opened his first "Walmart" when he was in his 40's.  Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first Little House on the Prairie  when she was 65. Yesterday, some 30-something told me that one of the teachers we used to work with couldn't adapt because "she was too old."  I knew this teacher and I doubt if she could have adapted 20 years ago.  Age had nothing to do with her lack of evolution; her stubbornness and protection of ego had everything to do with it.   What really surprised me is that the 30-something is a teacher.  A TEA...

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again. from:   Buddha’s Little Instruction Book I got this one from Good Reads website: And again I doubled search the source and found out that even though it is attributed to Gautama Buddha, it is really from Jack Kornfield.  Hats off to  Fake Buddha Quotes  “I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha!" website. I was pulled to this quote because what I am trying to do is start a new phase in my life.  I have done this before, as we all have.  Sometimes with more success than others.  But when I am getting discouraged, I think "How many rabbits can I pull out of my hat." The past for me, at this point, is to get rid of bad habits and substitute in better ones.  Unlike the snake, which has only one skin to shed, we have many "skins."  Laziness, Ennui, Memories, Weight, Sedentary days and nights, Wasting time, TV, Facebook, Instagram, Video games, Youtube, "What if's...