This daily habit, capturing a piece of morning reading or serendipitous stumbling on wisdom, started on Twitter here and from October 2024 continued here…every day…
“Live to the point of tears”
– Albert Camus
Albert Camus (1913–1960) was a French-Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist, known for his existentialist and absurdist philosophy (although he rejected the existentialist label). Camus received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 for illuminating the human conscience and tragically he died in a car accident in 1960 at the age of 46.
“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for; and then live inside that hope.”
– Barbara Kingsolver
As ChatGPT writes back to my curiosity (here), Barbara Kingsolver is a celebrated American author, known for her deeply compelling novels, essays, and poetry that often explore themes of social justice, environmental conservation, and human relationships. Born on April 8, 1955, in Annapolis, Maryland, she spent much of her childhood in rural Kentucky. This upbringing, surrounded by nature and the complexities of small-town life, significantly influenced her writing.
Noted Tuesday 19 November, 2024
“I won almost 80% of singles matches. But I only won 54% of the points. Even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play.”
– Roger Federer, in his 2024 Commencement Speech at Dartmouth in a segment he called “It’s Only A Point”.
Noted Monday 18 November, 2024
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool”.
– Richard Feynman
And ChatGPT tells us:
“Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was an influential American physicist known for his work in quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, and particle physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, along with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, for his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, particularly his innovative use of Feynman diagrams, which visually represent particle interactions.
Feynman’s career spanned groundbreaking research and an infectious passion for teaching. He worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II, contributing to the development of the atomic bomb, and later became a key figure in theoretical physics. At Caltech, he was renowned for his engaging lectures, which distilled complex topics into understandable concepts. His *Feynman Lectures on Physics* remain a cornerstone of physics education.
Beyond physics, Feynman had a zest for life and an eclectic range of interests, including bongo drumming, safe-cracking, and art. His autobiographical books, *Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!* and *What Do You Care What Other People Think?*, reveal his wit, curiosity, and nonconformist approach to problem-solving. His legacy inspires scientists and enthusiasts alike, celebrating both intellectual rigor and the joy of discovery.” (Source: ChatGPT “Tell me about Richard Feynman”)
Noted Sunday 17 November, 2024
“People who have a creative side and do not live it out are most disagreeable clients. They make a mountain out of a molehill, fuss about unnecessary things, are too passionately in love with somebody who is not worth so much attention, and so on. There is a kind of floating charge of energy in them which is not attached to its right object and therefore tends to apply exaggerated dynamism to the wrong situation.”
― Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales
Noted Saturday 16 November, 2024
“Don’t speak negatively about yourself, even as a joke. Your body doesn’t know the difference.
Words are energy and they cast spells, that’s why it’s called spelling.
Change the way you speak about yourself, and you can change your life.”
– Bruce Lee
Noted Friday 15 November, 2024
“The ability to ask beautiful questions, often in very un-beautiful moments, is one of the great disciplines of a human life.
And a beautiful question starts to shape your identity as much by asking it, as it does by having it answered. You just have to keep asking.
And before you know it, you will find yourself actually shaping a different life, meeting different people, finding conversations that are leading you in those directions that you wouldn’t even have seen before.”
— David Whyte, poet, author, and speaker exploring work, relationships, and personal development.
Noted Thursday 14 November, 2024
“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how to get there” might be the motto of the great lion tracker.
– Boyd Varty, lion tracker, storyteller, life guide
…as I enjoyed stumbling back into, flicking open ‘The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life’ with waking tea.
Noted Wednesday 13 November, 2024
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
– Richard Feynman
as noted in TypeFu typing tutor, where I spend a minute at the start of each computer day.
Noted Tuesday 12 November, 2024
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing.
To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
– François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848)
Chateaubriand was a French writer, diplomat, and historian and is typically attributed with this quote, which I remember first discovering while living in London. Interestingly, from looking it up over the years, you will see it also attributed to James Michener (in Goodreads, for example) and I discussed this, mostly in the spirit of learning more about Chateaubriand, with ChatGPT where you can see also an error in ChatGPT that I called out…In the first response Chateaubriand is a priest, and then this is deemed incorrect.
Noted Monday 11 November, 2024
“There is no love of life without despair of life.”
– Albert Camus
…as noted in The Marginalia, here.
Noted Sunday 10 November, 2024
“A lot of psychology isn’t relevant to people’s lives.”
– Richard Wiseman
…as heard on the Tim Ferriss Show, here
Noted Saturday 9 November, 2024
“Anything you want more of, start giving it away.”
– Steve Hardison
…as cited by Ankush Jain in The Being Movement, here
Noted Friday 8 November, 2024
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
…as heard on the Tim Ferriss Show, here
Noted Thursday 7 November, 2024
