I'm a lighthouse - change course

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow." "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out. Lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signal man, "Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees." Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."

The captain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees." "I'm a seaman second class," came the reply. "You had better change course 20 degrees." By that time the captain was furious.

He spat out, "Send, I'm a battleship. Change course 20 degrees." Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."

We changed course.

- Frank Koch - Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute

Anger

"Heads are wisest when they are cool." - Ralph Bunche -

A Heaven-born Captain

"Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows;
The soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.
Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain."

- Sun-Tzu, The Art of War -

Living once is enough

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough" - Joe Lewis -

Rest like a great tree

Praise & blame,
gain & loss,
pleasure & sorrow
come & go like the wind.
To be happy,
rest like a great tree
in the midst of them all.
- The Buddha -

Stick to one thing

"Be like a postage stamp; stick to one thing until you get there." - Margaret Carthy -

Opposition

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a [person] does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses their intelligence." - Albert Einstein -

House

"First a person should put his house together, then his town, then the world." - Rabbi Israel Salanter -

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

- William Wordsworth -

Education

"The most important thing about education is appetite." - Winston Churchill -

Intellectual growth

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death." - Albert Einstein -

Live your dream!

Life gives Answers in Three ways:

It says YES and gives Whatever u Want,

It says NO and gives u Something Better

It says Wait and gives u the Best

"Don't just Dream. Live your Dream."

Experience

"I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes." - Omar Bradley -

Three kinds of love

There are three kinds of love, - unselfish, mutual, and selfish.
The unselfish love is of the highest kind. The lover only minds the welfare of the beloved and does not care for his own sufferings.
In mutual love the lover not only wants the happiness of his beloved but has an eye towards his own happiness also. It is middling.
The selfish love is the lowest. It only looks towards its own happiness, no matter whether the beloved suffers weal or woe.

- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa -

It is not the critic who counts

It is not the critic who counts,
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course;
who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly;
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory or defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt -

Attitude

The Longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company a church a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
And so it is with you we are in charge of our ATTITUDES.
- Charles Swindoll -

Seven sins in the world

There are seven sins in the world:

Wealth without Work.
Pleasure without Conscience.
Knowledge without Character.
Commerce without Morality.
Science without Humanity.
Worship without Sacrifice
Politics without Principle. - Mahatma Gandhi -

Toast - Irish

May the road rise upto meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warmon your face

And the rain fall softupon your fields

And until we meet again, May God hold you

In the palm of his hand

- An Irish Blessing -

Toast - Irish 2

May there always be work for your hands to do.

May your purse always hold a coin or two.

May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane.

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

- Irish toast, author unknown -

Life

“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch, which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations…!” - George Bernard Shaw -