Yogi Berra

 

“Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.”

“If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.”

“You can observe a lot just by watching.”

“The future ain't what it used to be.”

“When you come to a fork in the road take it”

“Nobody comes here anymore, its too crowded”

“Cut my pie into four pieces, I don’t think I could eat eight.”

“Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.”

“I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.”

“I never said most of the things I said.”

“Deja Vu All Over Again”

“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

“We made too many wrong mistakes.”

“I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.”

“You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you.”

“A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.”

“Its getting late early”

“No matter where you go, there you are,”

“You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what's left.”

“If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.”

“Even Napoleon had his Watergate.”

“He must have made that before he died.”

“If you can't imitate him, don't copy him.”

“You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.”

“It's not too far; it just seems like it is.”

“Pitching always beats batting — and vice-versa.”

“Ninety percent of all mental errors are in your head.”

“75% of baseball is mental the other half is phisical”

If I didn't wake up, I'd still be sleeping.”

“Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”

“Losing is a learning experience. It teaches you humility. It teaches you to work harder. It’s also a powerful motivator.”

“Boy, Whitey, I hope I never see my name up there.

To Whitey Ford during scoreboard tribute on opening day to recently deceased Yankees.”

“Never make predictions, especially about the future.”

 

“There are no gods, 

no nations, 

no money 

and no human rights, 

except in our collective imagination.”

Isaac Newton

 

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being...

This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont, to be called Lord God παντοκρατωρ or Universal Ruler.”

― Isaac Newton,

 The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

 

If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here

-and by 'we' I mean every living thing. 

To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. 

humans are doubly lucky, of course: 

We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. 

It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp.

 

“I penetrated the outer cell membrane with a nanosyringe."

"You poked it with a stick?"

"No!" 

"Well. Yes. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.”

 

The smell of the sweat is not sweet, 

but the fruit of the sweat is very sweet.

Freedom

 

Freedom is being yourself without permission 

 

Life is a useless passion,

 an exciting journey of a mammal in survival mode.

 Each day is a miracle, 

a blessing unexplored 

and the more you immerse yourself in light,

 the less you will feel the darkness. 

There is more to life than nothingness. 

And cynicism. 

And nihilism. 

And selfishness. 

And glorious isolation. 

Be selfish with yourself,

 but live your life through your immortal acts,

 acts that engrain your legacy onto humanity. 

Transcend your fears 

and follow yourself into the void

 instead of letting yourself get eaten up

 by entropy and decay.

 Freedom is being yourself without permission. 

Be soft and leave a lasting impression on everybody you meet

 

Live your life without regret 

don't be someone that they forget 

 

Like all of us 

in this imperfect world 

you have a heavy heart

and a mind troubled 

by grief 

by loss 

by longing 

 

Be cheerful.

 Strive to be happy.

 

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,

 it is still a beautiful world. 

 

be at peace with God, 

whatever you conceive Him to be.

 

whether or not it is clear to you, 

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. 

 

You are a child of the universe 

no less than the trees and the stars; 

you have a right to be here.

 

 Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

 

 do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

 

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

 

If you compare yourself with others, 

you may become vain or bitter,

 for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

 

As far as possible, without surrender, 

be on good terms with all persons.

 

Whatever you do,

 don't congratulate yourself too much, 

or berate yourself either. 

Your choices are half chance. 

So are everybody else's.

 

Sometimes you're ahead, 

sometimes you're behind. 

The race is long 

and, in the end, 

it's only with yourself.

 

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind

 

in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself 

and recall in a way you can't grasp now 

how much possibility lay before you 

and how fabulous you really looked. 

Sunscreen

 

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. 

The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists,

 whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. 

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. 

Oh, never mind. 

You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. 

But trust me, 

in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself 

and recall in a way you can't grasp now 

how much possibility lay before you 

and how fabulous you really looked. 

You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. 

Or worry, 

but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. 

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, 

the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.



Do one thing every day that scares you.


Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. 

Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. 

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. 

The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. 

Forget the insults. 

If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters.

 Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.



Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.

 The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. 

Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. 

Be kind to your knees. 

You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. 

Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. 

Maybe you'll divorce at 40, 

maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

 Whatever you do,

 don't congratulate yourself too much, 

or berate yourself either. 

Your choices are half chance. 

So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. 

Use it every way you can. 

Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.

 It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.



Dance, 

even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.



Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.


Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. 

You never know when they'll be gone for good. 

Be nice to your siblings. 

They're your best link to your past 

and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.




Understand that friends come and go,

but with a precious few you should hold on. 

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, 

because the older you get,

 the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, 

but leave before it makes you hard. 

Live in Northern California once,

 but leave before it makes you soft. 

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: 

Prices will rise. 

Politicians will philander.

 You, too, will get old. 

And when you do, 

you'll fantasize that when you were young, 

prices were reasonable, 

politicians were noble 

and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. 

Maybe you have a trust fund. 

Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. 

But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair 

or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.



Be careful whose advice you buy,

 but be patient with those who supply it. 

Advice is a form of nostalgia. 

Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, 

wiping it off,

 painting over the ugly parts

 and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

 

The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, 

where the light and shade are correct, 

the tone sustained, 

the colour perfectly harmonised; 

it is true to life. 

On the other hand,

 the intellectual attainments of the mere man of learning are like a large palette,

 full of all sorts of colours, 

which at most are systematically arranged

, but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning

Sun Tzu

 

Temet Nosce

 

 

 The key to finding a purpose and fulfillment in life begins with knowing and understanding yourself.

Temet Nosce

 

Know Thyself

 

Knowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is.

 Only one must know how to 'learn.' 

What is nearest to us is man;

 and you are the nearest of all men to yourself

Begin with the study of yourself; 

remember the saying

 'Know thyself.

 

Atheism is a way of humility.

 It's to think oneself to be an animal, as we are actually 

and to allow oneself to become human.

 

 Be confused. 

Confusion is where inspiration comes from

 

And when you look at the sky you know you are looking at stars which are hundreds and thousands of light-years away from you. 

And some of the stars don’t even exist anymore because their light has taken so long to get to us that they are already dead, or they have exploded and collapsed into red dwarfs. 

 

When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. 

What do you do,

Ecology

 

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. 

Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. 

An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, 

or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.

 

There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, 

and science, which is based on observation and reason. 

Science will win because it works.

 

The knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on earth - the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. 

These stars- 

the high mass ones among them-

 went unstable in their later years- 

they collapsed and then exploded- 

scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy- 

guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, 

and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. 

These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems- stars with orbiting planets. 

And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. 

So  look up at the night sky,

 yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, 

but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. 

many people feel small, cause their small and the universe is big.

feel big because atoms came from those stars.

 

The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is the final key to removing the need for a Grand Designer, and revealing how the universe created itself. …

 Time itself must come to a stop. 

You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang.

 We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in.

 this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. 

Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. … 

So when people ask if a god created the universe,

 the question itself makes no sense. 

Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, 

so there is no time for God to make the universe in.

 It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth.

 The Earth is a sphere. 

It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise.

 

We now know the basic rules governing the universe, together with the gravitational interrelationships of its gross components, as shown in the theory of relativity worked out between 1905 and 1916. 

We also know the basic rules governing the subatomic particles and their interrelationships, since these are very neatly described by the quantum theory worked out between 1900 and 1930. 

What's more, we have found that the galaxies and clusters of galaxies are the basic units of the physical universe, as discovered between 1920 and 1930.

 that in every century people have thought they understood the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong.

It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern 'knowledge' is that it is wrong...

, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. 

When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. 

But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.

The basic trouble,  is that people think that 'right' and 'wrong' are absolute;

 that everything that isn't perfectly and completely right is totally and equally wrong.

 right and wrong are fuzzy concepts,

 in every century scientists think they have worked out the universe and are always wrong,

 how wrong are they? 

Are they always wrong to the same degree?

 

It is easy to overlook this thought that life just is. 

As humans we are inclined to feel that life must have a point. 

We have plans and aspirations and desires. 

We want to take constant advantage of all the intoxicating existence we've been endowed with.

 But what's life to a lichen? 

Yet its impulse to exist, to be, is every bit as strong as ours—arguably even stronger.

 If I were told that I had to spend decades being a furry growth on a rock in the woods, I believe I would lose the will to go on. 

Lichens don't.

 Like virtually all living things, 

they will suffer any hardship, 

endure any insult, 

for a moment's additional existence

 Life, in short, just wants to be.

Solopsism

 

I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; 

I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. 

I think I have no senses.

 I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions.

 What is there then that can be taken as true?

 Perhaps only this one thing, 

that nothing at all is certain

 

We can't help ourselves, we see a line we want to cross it.

 Maybe it's the thrill of trading the familiar for the unfamiliar, 

a sort of personal dare,

 only problem is,

 once you have crossed it's almost impossible to go back.

Grief

 

 when we are dying or have suffered a catastrophic loss, we all move through five distinctive stages of grief. 

We go into denial because the loss is so unthinkable, we can’t imagine it’s true. 

We become angry with everyone. We become angry with survivors, angry with ourselves. 

Then we bargain, we beg, we plead. We offer everything we have. We offer up our souls in exchange for just one more day. 

When the bargaining has failed and the anger is too hard to maintain, we fall into depression, despair. 

Until finally we have to accept that we have done everything we can.

 We let go. 

We let go and move into acceptance.

 

There are days that make the sacrifices seem worthwhile... 

and then there are the days where everything feels like a sacrifice. 

And then there are the sacrifices that you can't even figure out why you're making

 

Even now I believe for the most part, love is about choices. 

It's about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending, 

most of the time,

 and that sometimes despite all your best choices and all your best intentions

 fate wins anyway.

 

We deny that we're tired, 

we deny we are scared, 

we deny how badly we want to succeed, 

and most importantly

 we deny that we are in denial. 

We only see what we want to see, 

and believe what we want to believe, 

and it works. 

We lie to ourselves so much that after awhile the lies start to seem like the truth. 

We deny so much that we can't recognize the truth right in front of our faces.