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Thought and Circumstance

beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances:

pure thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and peace:

thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom:

energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness:

gentle and forgiving thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances:

loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of self- forgetfulness for others, which solidify into circumstances of sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.

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Man Study

“A genius is the one most like himself.” Thelonious Monk.

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Man Study

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The Art Spirit

“The brain can prove to be a wonderful tool, can be a willing slave, as has been evidenced by some men, but of course it works poorly when it has not the habit of usage.”

“Don’t worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick to you and show you up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.”

“The power of concentration is rare and must be sought and cultivated, and prolonged work on one subject must not be mistaken for concentration. Prolonged work on one subject may be simply prolonged digression, which is a useless effort, as it is to no end.”

“All outward success, when it has value, is but the inevitable result of an inward success of full living, full play and enjoyment of one’s faculties.”

‘The man who believes that money is the thing is cheating himself. The artist teaches that the object of a man’s life should be to play as a little child plays. Only it is the play of maturity-the play of one’s mental faculties. Therefore, we have art and invention.”

“Age need not destroy beauty. There are people who grow more beautiful as they grow older. If age means to them an expansion and development of character this new mental and spiritual state will have its effect on the physical. A face which in the early days was only pretty or even dull, will be transformed. The eyes will attain mysterious depths, there will be a gesture in the whole face of greater sensibility and all will appear coordinate.”

“I know I have said a lot when I say “You can do anything you want to do.” But I mean it. There is a reason for you to give this statement some of your best thought. You may find that this is just what is the matter with most of the people in the world; that few are really wanting what they think they want, and that most people go through their lives without ever doing one whole thing they really want to do.”

“It takes wit, and interest and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish, and spirits must flow. There must be courage. There are no easy ruts to get into which leads to happiness. A man must become interesting to himself and must become actually expressive before he can be happy. I do not say that these people are devoid of the possibility of happiness, but they have been enough interested in their real selves to have awareness of the road when they are on it. They no doubt fall into moments which I am sure prevent them from suicide. There are, however, others who do recognize their great moments, and who go after them with all their strength.”

“It beats all the things that wealth can give and everything else in the world to say the things one believes, to put them into form, to pass them on to anyone who may care to take them.”

“Of course, if a man were to plump suddenly into the world with the gift of telling the actual truth and acting rightly, he would not fit into our uncertain state, he would certainly be very disturbing-and most probably we would send him to jail.”

“Every man who has shown the world the way to beauty, to true culture, has been a rebel, a “universal” without patriotism, without home, who has found his people everywhere, a man whom all the world recognizes, accepts, whether he speaks through music, painting, words or form.”

“There are two classes of human beings. One has ideas, which it believes in fully, perhaps, but modified to bring about “success.” The other class has ideas which it believes in and must carry out absolutely; success or no success. The first class has a tremendous majority, and they are all slaves. The second class are the only free people in the world.”

“It is not easy to know what you like.”

“We read books. They make us think. It matters very little whether we agree with the books or not.”

“In the faces of children I have seen a look of wisdom and of kindness expressed with such ease and such certainty that I knew it was the expression of a whole race.”

“Be always looking for the thing you like and not afraid of overstating it. We want the simple vision of one who sees and enjoys. Suppose all people try to declare the things they like.”

“…wanting to want it is not wanting it.”

“I think a great nation must be a happy one.”

“Can’t we ever realize that it is not for the old to judge the young-that it is the young who must judge the old?”

“Let a student enter a school with this advice: No matter how good the school is, his education is in his own hands. All education must be self-education.”

“We do but humanize, we see ourselves in all we look at.”

“If you want to know about people watch their gestures. The tongue is a greater liar than the body.”

“There are a mighty few people who think what they think they think.”

“It is wonderful how much steadiness can be commanded by will, by intense desire.”

“Those who cannot begin do not finish.”

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An Antidote for Inner Emptiness

The true antidote to an inner emptiness is to discover what we truly want with our life and to take the actions necessary to bring that self, and life, into existence. To accomplish this, we must be willing to face up to our loneliness and the anxiety which accompanies it

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40 Life Rules – Jordan Peterson

The most valuable things everyone should know

Tell the truth.

Do not do things that you hate.

Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act.

Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.

If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things.

Pay attention.

Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you.

Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships.

Be careful who you share good news with.

Be careful who you share bad news with.

Make at least one thing better every single place you go.

Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that.

Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or resentful.

Try to make one room in your house as beautiful as possible.

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.

Work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens.

If old memories still make you cry, write them down carefully and completely.

Maintain your connections with people.

Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or artistic achievement.

Treat yourself as if you were someone that you are responsible for helping.

Ask someone to do you a small favour, so that he or she can ask you to do one in the future.

Make friends with people who want the best for you.

Do not try to rescue someone who does not want to be rescued, and be very careful about rescuing someone who does.

Nothing well done is insignificant.

Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

Dress like the person you want to be.

Be precise in your speech.

Stand up straight with your shoulders back.

Don’t avoid something frightening if it stands in your way — and don’t do unnecessarily dangerous things.

Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.

Do not transform your wife into a maid.

Do not hide unwanted things in the fog.

Notice that opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated.

Read something written by someone great.

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.

Don’t let bullies get away with it.

Write a letter to the government if you see something that needs fixing — and propose a solution.

Remember that what you do not yet know is more important than what you already know.

Be grateful in spite of your suffering.

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Creativity

“The labor one performs transforms something in the environment, which in turn transforms you. The act of creation shapes you as a man, refines your sensibility, improves your strengths, hones your concentration, and builds your character. Passive consumption leaves you untouched and unchanged. Consumptions breeds indifference; creation begets empowerment.”

“But when you create instead of consume, your capacity for pleasure increases, as opposed to your need for it. Being a creator gives you a far more lasting and deeply satisfying happiness than consuming ever will.”

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves.”

Carl Jung

“The noun of self becomes a verb. This flashpoint of creation in the present moment is where work and play merge.”

Stephen Nachmanovitch

“Creativity is harnessing universality and making it flow through your eyes”

Peter Koestenbaum

“It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God”

Mary Daly

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”

Joseph Pearce

“Creativity is oxygen for our souls.”

The Artist’s Way

“Creativity is …. seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.”

Michele Shea

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Value

“The essence of provision is the ability to tame nature, to turn chaos into order, to take the raw materials of life and transform them into something of value. . . It involves “purposive construction” commanding and assertive action that adds something measurable to society’s store.”

-Dr. David D. Gilmore

“You add value to artwork by forming, enriching, and deepening the experiences people have when they see and learn about it. Any artist including you can add value to any work of art almost instantly, thereby increasing its perceived significance in the eyes of serious buyers and collectors, and very possibly the price they’ll be willing to pay for it as well.”

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Life

Life is not a problem to be solved; it is an adventure to be lived.

Eldredge, John. Wild at Heart Field Manual

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Art

“All art is immoral. For emotion for the sake of emotion is the aim of art, and emotion for the sake of action is the aim of life.” “The facts of art are divine, but the essence of artistic effort is unity.”

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.”

“Art’s first appeal is neither to the intellect nor to the emotions, but purely to the artistic temperament.”

“Art never expresses anything but itself. All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals. Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life. It follows as a corollary that external Nature also imitates Art. Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.”

Oliver Wilde

“Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes it visible. The moon develops creativity as chemicals develop photographic images.” Norma Harris

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Artist

“The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, because he is absolutely himself.”

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to be an artist.”

“She is like most artists; she is all style without any sincerity.”

“The only artists I have ever known, who are personally delightful, are bad artists, good artists exist simply in what they make and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are.”

“Nature is always behind the age. It takes a great artist to be thoroughly modern.”

“The originality which we ask from the artist is originality of treatment, not of subjects. It is only the unimaginative who ever invent. The true artist is know by the use he makes of what he annexes, and he annexes everything.”

Oliver Wilde

“The function of the creative artist consists of making laws, not in following laws already made.” Ferruccio Busoni

The Art Spirit

“A man must be master of himself and master of his word to achieve the full realization of himself as an artist.”

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Genius

“We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people’s models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.”

-Shakti Gawain

“Readily translates high order to low order and low order to high order abstraction – due to structural knowledge.”

-Alfred Korzybski

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Quotes about Man by Men

“…the samurai ethic is a political science of the heart, designed to control such discouragement and fatigue in order to avoid showing them to others. It was thought more important to look healthy than to be healthy, and more important to seem bold and daring than to be so. This view of morality, since it is physiologically based on the special vanity peculiar to men, is perhaps the supreme male view of morality.”

-Yukio Mishima

“A man is one whose body has been trained to be the ready servant of his mind; whose passions are trained to be the servants of his will; who enjoys the beautiful, loves truth, hates wrong, loves to do good, and respects others as himself.”

-John Ruskin

“A man should be able to hear, and to bear, the worst that could be said of him.”

-Saul Bellow

“There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is ‘Where am I going?’ and the second is ‘Who will go with me?’ If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble.” –Sam Keen

“Adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.”

–Patrick Henry

“Men of ideas and men of action have much to learn from each other, and the truly great, are men of both action and abstraction.”

–Jack Donovan

“[the difference between the old and the new education being] in a word, the old was a kind of propagation—men transmitting manhood to men; the new is merely propaganda.”

–C.S. Lewis

“Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.”

-Benjamin Disraeli

“The man who is deserving the name is the one whose thoughts and exertions are for others rather than for himself.”

-Walter Scott

“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine!”

-The Count of Monte Cristo

“The Strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions but by his habitual acts.”

–Blaise Pascal

“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”

–John Walter Wayland

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A man who has the core elements of what he wants to say in mind, but then tailors his message to the changing circumstances, is the far more effective communicator

Communication - Poetics of Manhood

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We learn who we are–in practice, not in theory–by testing reality

Herminia Ibarra

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Overthinking

“The more you overthink the less you will understand.”

– Habeeb Akande

“We are dying from over thinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.”

– Anthony Hopkins

“Don’t overthink things. Sometimes you can convince your head not to listen to your heart. Those are the decisions you regret for the rest of your life.” Faith Barnett From Texas Tangle”

– Leah Braemel

“Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.”

– Clement Stone

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

– Albert Einstein

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

– William Shakespeare

“The head thinks. The heart knows.”

– Rasheed Ogunlaru

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”

– Bruce Lee

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

– Terry Pratchett

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

– Albert Einstein

I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.” – Jonathan Safran Foer “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch “Stop thinking, and end your problems.”

– Lao Tzu

The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.”

– Bruce Lee

“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.”

– Napoléon Bonaparte

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.”

– Henry Ford

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”

– Christopher Hitchens

You’ve never lived what you are thinking, and that isn’t good. Only the ideas we actually live are of any value.”

– Hermann Hesse

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.” – Will Durant “Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.”

– G.C. Lichtenberg

“Thoughts are like an open ocean, they can either move you forward within its waves, or sink you under deep into its abyss.”

– Anthony Liccione

“[Thinking is] what a great many people think they are doing when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

– William James

“You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.”

– Author Unknown “No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.”

– Henry David Thoreau

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

– Aristotle

“Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.”

– Thomas Szasz

“It is well for people who think, to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean.”

– Luther Burbank

“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Better to be without logic than without feeling.”

– Charlotte Bronte

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”

— Ray Bradbury

“Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.”

— Niels Bohr

“I began to realize that thinking itself is nothing but the process of asking and answering questions.”

— Tony Robbins

“I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study.”

— Xun Zi

“I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.”

— Billy Joel

“If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don’t do it, and it won’t happen.”

— Desiderius Erasmus

What we think, we become.”

— Buddha

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As a Man Thinketh

James Allen

“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by, this you will become.”

“In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. “Gifts”, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.”