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As it happened, March 31, 1991 the red area above known as the Warsaw pact went out existence.
Concluding the Cold War.
"I hope I shall never see the day when the forces of right are deprived of the right of force.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.
If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
We cannot guarantee victory, but only deserve it.
Success is never final.
From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness.
Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe." Winston Churchill (1946) |
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"Wide experience increases wisdom, provided the experience is not sought purely for the stimulation of sensation." --- Surak of Vulcan. |
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Feb. 25th, 2005 @ 07:55 am
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"When your opponent has more than one enemy, study them all at once." ---The wizen old go proverb generator. |
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"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." -- Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear (Frank Herbert " Dune")
Something I need to remember more than ever. |
| » Essential Information. |
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You think you know a person, you think you like a person, and then you realize how much better amnesia would be. :)
"Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known and I know the rest." - Mark Twain
Feb. 21st, 2005 @ 05:26 pm
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| » A thing to remember about love. |
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Attachment every where and to everyone an attachment; none forever, none perfect, none without regret but so sweet from moment to moment.
"Whenever you grow attached to something, do not act as though it were one of those things that cannot be taken away, but as though it were something like a jar or a crystal goblet, so that when it breaks you will remember what it was like, and not be troubled. So also here; if you kiss your child, your brother, your friend, do not trust your impression in every particular, nor permit your exuberance to proceed as much as it wants, but hold it back, stop it, just like those who stand behind generals parading in triumph and remind them that they are human. So too remind yourself that you love a mortal, something not your own; it has been given to you for the present, not inseparably nor forever, but like a fig, or a bunch of grapes, at a fixed season of the year, and that if you yearn for it in the winter, you are a fool. If in this way you long for your son, or your friend, at a time when he has not been given to you, rest assured that you are yearning for a fig in winter. For as winter is to a fig, so is every state of affairs in relation to the things which are destroyed in accordance with that same state of affairs." Epictetus (Disc. 3. 24. 84-7; cf. Ench. 3)
Feb. 20th, 2005 @ 02:53 pm
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| » Being Social? |
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"Is my understanding sufficient for this or not? If it is sufficient, I use it for the work as an instrument given by the universal nature. But if it is not sufficient, then either I retire from the work and give way to him who is able to do it better, unless there be some reason why I oughtnot to do so; or I do it as well as I can, taking to help me the man who with the aid of my ruling principle can do what is now fit and useful for the general good. For whatsoever either by myself or with another I can do, ought to be directed to this only, to that which is useful and well suited to society." Marcus Aurelius- The Meditations
Do any of us ever do this as a mental reflex or as a systematic thought. Taken as a fragment of Stoic philosophy its interesting to ponder the possible repercussions if this where the general attitude of the human race.
Feb. 20th, 2005 @ 11:06 am
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| » New Beginings |
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Life is full of flux and change and none of if always breaks our way. Yet, there are compensations and consolations. I hope to bring some of these to the LJ community.
I've been a spectator, sidelined as an observer, by choice up till now, of other journals, many very idiosyncratic and personal. This journal will be an attempt to be formally personal, meaning that I will try to provide those things that are not directly me but external, but which seem to be a reflection of an internal state. Hopefully you will find it of interest.
" Occupy thyself with few things, says the philosopher, if thou wouldst
be tranquil.- But consider if it would not be better to say, Do what
is necessary, and whatever the reason of the animal which is naturally
social requires, and as it requires. For this brings not only the
tranquility which comes from doing well, but also that which comes
from doing few things. For the greatest part of what we say and do
being unnecessary, if a man takes this away, he will have more leisure
and less uneasiness. Accordingly on every occasion a man should ask
himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things? Now a man should take
away not only unnecessary acts, but also, unnecessary thoughts, for
thus superfluous acts will not follow after.
Try how the life of the good man suits thee, the life of him who is
satisfied with his portion out of the whole, and satisfied with his
own just acts and benevolent disposition.
Hast thou seen those things? Look also at these. Do not disturb thyself.
Make thyself all simplicity. Does any one do wrong? It is to himself
that he does the wrong. Has anything happened to thee? Well; out of
the universe from the beginning everything which happens has been
apportioned and spun out to thee. In a word, thy life is short. Thou
must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice.
Be sober in thy relaxation." Marcus Aurelius ---- The Meditations
Feb. 19th, 2005 @ 02:21 pm
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akashic_record's journal