Pligget
Little to say for myself


Friday, November 07, 2003

George Bernard Shaw

 
One of the distinctions discussed in the Landmark Education is "being unreasonable" as a positive way of being. All through the course I was aware of a GBS quote along those lines, so when I got home I looked it up. Lo and behold, there was a whole raft of quotes from the great man that go a long way to representing the distinctions of the course - and without the danger of infringing copyright!

on being unreasonable:
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"
on being the cause of your world:
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.
"Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893) act II
on living a life you love:
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
Man and Superman, Epistle Dedicatory
on going forward from the future:
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.
on media coverage of Landmark Education Inc.?:
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
If you are touched, moved and inspired by any of the above, then you should consider finding out more about this amazing education.

Update: The above link should work now...

posted by Plig | 14:52 |


Comments: Post a Comment
Forget the sentimental notion that foreign policy is a struggle between virtue and vice, with virtue bound to win.
Forget the utopian notion that a brave new world without power politics will follow the unconditional surrender of wicked nations.
Forget the crusading notion that any nation, however virtuous and powerful, can have the mission to make the world in its own image.
Remember that diplomacy without power is feeble, and power without diplomacy is destructive and blind.
Remember that no nation's power is without limits, and hence that its policies must respect the power and interests of others.
Hans Morgenthau

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts
Bertrand Russell

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one
Albert Einstein

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative
Martin Luther King Jr.

Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man
Bertrand Russell

I think it would be a good idea
Mahatma Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western civilization

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun
Pablo Picasso

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others
Groucho Marx

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it
Mahatma Gandhi

Always make new mistakes
Esther Dyson
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