Witty Wordsmiths 150

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

~ Plato

 

Witty Wordsmiths 142

“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

~ George Orwell

 

Witty Wordsmiths 139

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Witty Wordsmiths 138

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Witty Wordsmiths 127

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

~ Voltaire

 

Witty Wordsmiths 112

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.”

~ L. Frank Baum

 

Witty Wordsmiths 111

“The more I see, the less I know for sure.”

~ John Lennon

 

Witty Wordsmiths 101

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

~ Bertrand Russell

If you have ever read a history book or a biography or a news article or anything about some of the great thinkers of our time and before, you will most definitely come across some unsavory reactions to the ideas or inventions or societal mores we now accept as common, as law, or as truly revolutionary in thought. If you accept this premise, than this quotation holds only truth. 

     The problem I have with the idea behind this quotation is the world was a much smaller place when most of the great thinking occurred: there was no phone, no television, no internet (but I know great thoughts were thought after these inventions, but these advancements were not as prolific as they are now). People could still live relatively quiet lives after they made a statement or created a machine or suggested something negative about the way society lived, but now, now information can travel to the opposite ends of the world in mere seconds. 

     Where am I going with this train of thought? Basically, it is much more of a burden for people to combat civilization or go against well-practiced thoughts because the consequences are much more severe than they were, say, a hundred years ago. People lives are ruined now, and not people who are royalty or millionaires who could survive such an attack, but basic everyday people who depend on having a weekly income. The risk to change the world is so much greater nowadays, which is why I believe we have come to an impasse in our evolution as free-thinkers, and this is what scares the living peanuts out of me.

Witty Wordsmiths 97

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”

~ Pablo Picasso

This quotation appears to be a paradox: how can something described as a lie lead us to truth? It seems in this situation two wrongs would make a right, and depending on who and what you're describing or participating in, some people would definitely label two wrongs a right, and I think that's what this quotation is implying.

Witty Wordsmiths 90

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

~ Rudyard Kipling

My interpretation of this quotation is much too involved and lengthy to present in a lowly blog post, but I will try to communicate my position in the most succinct manner as possible.

    To my knowledge the most powerful people in history did not use mind-altering chemical drugs to convince droves of followers to support their chaotic causes. You might consider chemical attacks and poisonous gas deployments as the use of mind-altering chemical drugs, but for the general population not receiving these treatments they produced fear, not behaviors born from modifying a brain's neurological composition. Re-calibrating or re-wiring the brain is the main things drugs do, they alter and transform how brains fire, how brains actually work. And what about the people employing the chemical attacks and poisonous gas? What was used to get them to perform these heinous acts?

  Words. It's really that simple. You might considered monetary gains, gains of power, or other materialistic or authorial gains as the motivations, and you would be right in some cases, but words had to be used to convey these messages to relay the benefits of such actions.

  Words are dangerous. Why else would these powerful people in history burn books, ban literacy among common people, force people to see and hear only what these powerful people deemed appropriate, indoctrinate the young with their ideals and beliefs by simply having them repeat a slogan, a declaration, or an oath over and over on a daily basis? Because words are powerful. They are dangerous. They are a drug. But just as some drugs are used to better our lives, words have the same potential. It just matters what words you choose to hear and say. 

Below is a very poignant example of the potential of words:

The Power of Words

Witty Wordsmiths 89

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

~ Confucius

With this quotation or tidbit of advice, Confucius' advocates for reflection, which in my mind boils down to reading, writing, and study, as the noblest form of attaining wisdom. He states imitation is the easiest, which I connect to pretending, pretending to be something you're not or attempting to fit into a crowd you simply don't belong. Finally, he connects experience with bitterness, which is the clearest, because experience does bring pain, especially when learning life's harder lessons. Basically, he commends academics and people who practice the art of learning, expresses disappoint for those who simply pretend to live because it's taking the easy road, but then warns about the pains of living. I don't believe he means to dissuade people to not “live” by mentioning the pain that comes with it, but simply attempts to announce the truth about living without claiming negative or positive outcomes. We learn from and enjoy things in life that bring us pain, and if you think about it you will be able to name a few in your own life. 

Witty Wordsmiths 74

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

~ Anonymous

Witty Wordsmiths 66

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

~ John Lennon

Witty Wordsmiths 55

“Never memorize something that you can look up.”

~ Albert Einstein

Witty Wordsmiths 54

“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Witty Wordsmiths 51

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

~ Leo Tolstoy

Witty Wordsmiths 45

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

~ Socrates

Witty Wordsmiths 31

“The difference between genius and stupidity is: genius has its limits.”

~ Alexandre Dumas, fils

Witty Wordsmiths 29

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

~ Haruki Murakami

Witty Wordsmiths 9

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”

~ Albert Einstein