Figuring out how to be yourself
Nick Lowe, interviewed on the PBS News Hour last night: “Johnny Cash once said to me, incredibly disappointingly, I thought at the time, ‘Nick, what you have got to do is figure out how to be yourself.’
“The stuff that was good”
Shahid Kamal Ahmad, game developer, interviewed on the podcast Mac Power Users: Shahid Kamal Ahmad, game developer: “It’s a short life. We’re not kids anymore. But we forget so much of the good, and it’s just the way we’re primed. Evolution rewards us for remembering that which screwed us up. It does not reward us for remembering the stuff that was good.”
Kindness as intelligence
J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, in a commencement address at Northwestern University, June 12, 2023: “Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true: the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.”
“Eccentric adventures”
Steve Young: ”Life can be so rich and wonderful when we step off the logical path and embark on eccentric adventures.”
Three passages from Michelle Obama
“Any time your circumstances start to feel all-consuming, I suggest you try going in the other direction — toward the small.”
Little rituals
In New York Times, readers share rituals that keep them going.
Nick Cave on the point in life
Nick Cave answers a reader’s question.
College advice
From Imani Perry and my daughter.
Sam Potts’s five-point plan
I especially like no. 3: “Heed the wisdom of Mickey Rivers,” who said this: “Ain’t no sense worrying about things you got no control over because if you got no control, ain’t no sense worrying. And there ain’t no sense worrying about things you got control over, because if you got control, ain’t no sense worrying.”
“It will be sunny one day”
From Letters of Note, a letter from Stephen Fry to a stranger.
Alan Alda now and then
Alan Alda is now eighty-five. How did that happen? He was the speaker at my college commencement, Fordham College, 1978, forty-three years ago.
Advice from Raymond Chandler
“It is never stupid to ask questions. It is only stupid to guess at the answers and take a chance on being wrong.”
Advice from Gabby Giffords
Jeffrey Brown: “What do you tell yourself when things are difficult?” Gabby Giffords: “Move ahead.”
A precept from Paracelsus
“Be not another if thou canst be thyself.”
Coronavirus advice
Advice from James Robb, pathologist.
Salzberg’s Theory of Pizza
“It is better to have pizza you don’t want than to want pizza you don’t have.”
Recently updated
A comment from Anton Schwartz notes the death of Alan Bleviss.
Good advice from Ray Suarez
“All right, who do I want to be at the end of the day: promoted and a jerk, or owning myself and owning the way I want to be in the world and maybe missing out on that promotion?”
Close the door
Fire safety.
Perfectionism and its discontents
From the podcast Innovation Hub : Eugenia Cheng, mathematician, talks about perfectionism and diminishing returns.
Not famous
Emily Esfahani Smith: “We all have a circle of people whose lives we can touch and improve — and we can find our meaning in that.”
Eleanor Roosevelt on maturity
“Not to arrive at a clear understanding of one’s own values is a tragic waste. You have missed the whole point of what life is for.”
Relationship advice
My son Ben, my newly married son Ben, mentioned a bit of advice that I gave him some time ago: “The wooing phase is never over.”
Wise words on W. 12th
Martin Kornfeld: “If we all do one random act of kindness daily we just might set the world in the right direction.”
Wise words on Fulham Road
Barnaby Capel-Dunn writes about wise words on Fulham Road.
Be prepared
“Never be without a pen.”
The Dutch Reach
Open the car door with the far hand — and check for cyclists.
Ten bits and a jar
John Scalzi’s ten bits of advice for getting work done in these times, and Elaine’s idea for a jar of good things.
Alain de Botton and Mark Trail
Not perfect synchronicity, but pretty good.
From an old notebook
Eleanor Roosevelt, as quoted by the tenor saxophonist David Murray.