The official Benjamin Hirsch Collection


Internet Chat
"Remember that on the internet, a word was never said, it was typed.  It arrives with no inflection.. with no look in the eyes..  with no reassurances that may come with spoken words.  With that in mind, don't get upset by what you 'thought' someone meant by something they typed to you on the internet.  The world will unfold as it should."
-Benjamin Hirsch (9/3/2003 speaking about assigning value to typed text)
Thanksgiving Prayer
We come to this table today, 
humble and thankful and glad. 
We give thanks first for the great miracle of life, for the exaltation of being human, for the capacity to love. 
We give thanks for joys both great and simple. 
For wonder, dreams and hope; 
For the newness of each day; 
For laughter and song and a merry heart; 
For compassion waiting within to be kindled; 
For the forbearance of friends and the smile of a stranger; 
For the arching of the earth and trees and heavens and the fruit of all three; 
For the wisdom of the old; 
For the courage of the young; 
For the promise of the child; 
For the strength that comes when needed; 
For this family united here today. 
Of those to whom much is given, much is required. 
May we and our children remember this.
-Unknow (shared by my father at Thanksgiving one year)
Experience
"I don't think anyone ever said..that experience..is an understanding teacher."
-Unknown (I've said this many times)
Faith
Doubt that the stars are fire; 
Doubt that the sun doth move; 
Doubt truth to be a liar; 
But never doubt I love. 
-William Shakespeare ("Hamlet") 
Self Esteem
"I don't make you feel special, I just remind you that you are special."
 -Sims, David F. 
Endurance
"If you want the rainbow, 
you have to put up with a little rain... "
-Unknown 
Love
"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
-Aristotle. 

"Love is something eternal; 
the aspect may change, but not the essence."
-Van Gogh, Vincent 

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence."
-Fromm, Erich

"Love will find a way through paths 
where wolves fear to prey."
-Byron, George Gordon Lord

 "Not loving is but a long dying."
-Ti, Wu 
Marriage
"Marriage is not living with the person you love, but living with the person you can't live without."
-Sarmiento, Aissa Amor A. 
Helping
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."
-Dickens, Charles 
Optimism
Soft white petals 
A fragrance so sweet 
Blooming in a meadow 
So pretty, so petite 
If you listen closely 
You can hear it sing 
Though it knows it's dying 
It looks only to the spring. 
-Long, R.E. 
Communication
"The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss with a gaze."
-Becquer, Gustavo Adolfo 
Support
"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
 -Unknown 
Intimacy
"We can talk frankly about our defects only to those who recognize our qualities."
-Maurois, Andre 
Home
"Home is where hearts open and forgiveness and acceptance are the rule..."
*Unknown
Fear
"Do the thing you are afraid to do and the death of fear is certain."
*Ralph Waldo Emerson
Resolution
"To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail." 
 *Abraham Maslow 
Change
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society 
today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only 
the world as it is, but the world as it will be...This, in turn, means that our statesmen, 
our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking. 
 * Isaac Asimov 
Methodology / Success
"There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same."
 * Chinese Proverb 
Opportunity / Change
 "You cannot step twice into the same river; forother waters are continually flowing in."
 * Heraclitus
Progress / Change
"Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies."
* Robert F. Kennedy
Serendipity / Love
"We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person."
* W. Somerset Maugham 
Logic
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be 
the truth." 
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
Age / Change
"To me, fair friend, you never can be old For as you were when first your eye I eyed, 
Such seems your beauty still."
* William Shakespeare 
Body Language / Self Truth
"He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him 
at every pore."
 * Sigmund Freud 
Destiny
Luck is not chance--- 
It's Toil--- 
Fortune's expensive smile 
Is earned--- 
 * Emily Dickinson 

"Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered."
 * William Shakespeare 

"Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men."
* E. B. White 
Listening
"The words the happy say 
Are paltry melody 
But those the silent feel 
Are beautiful--"
 * Emily Dickinson
Silence / Human Communication
"In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood."
* Henry David Thoreau 
Action / Inaction
"What we do in life........., Echoes an eternity"
 -Russel Crowe as Maximus in the movie 'Gladiator'.
Compassion / Procedure
"If one comes across a person who has been shot by an arrow, one does not spend time wondering about where the arrow came from, or the caste of the individual who shot it, or analyzing what type of wood the shaft is made of, or the manner in the which the arrowhead was fashioned. Rather, one should focus on immediately pulling out the Arrow."
-Shakyamuni, the Buddha
Human Rigidity / Flexibility
"It is through our efforts to achieve a flexible mind that we can nurture the resiliency of the human spirit."
-Howard C. Cutler, M.D. (reflecting on words from the Dalai Lama in the book "The Art of Happiness")
Love / Regret
"I guarantee that we'll have tough times…
…and I guarantee that at some point, one.., or both of us…will want to get out.
..but I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine..
..I'll regret it for the rest of my life..
.....cuz I know in my heart....
…You're the only one for me…"
-Julia Roberts to Richard Gere, end of the movie 'Runaway Bride'.
To Love or Not to Love
"I would rather have had one breath of her hair..., one ..kiss of her mouth...., one touch of her hand...., than an eternity without it........, ........one......"
 -Nicolas Cage, End of movie, "City of Angels"
Courage
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, ...but he is brave five minutes longer"
Ralph Waldo Emerson (learned from playing Activision's "Call of Duty")

"To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, and of principle."
 -Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

 "'Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not, knows no release
From little things;
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings."
- Amelia Earhart; 1898-1937
Hate
"Hate is Baggage.  Life is too short to going around being pissed all the time.  It's just not worth it."
 -Edward Furlong (End of 'American History X')
Religion
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car."
 - Laurence J. Peter 
Permanence
"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!"
 - Abraham Lincoln
Conviction
"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."
 - Ernest Hemingway; 1899-1961
Reputation
"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."
 - George Washington
Freedom
"Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social, and even political."
- Ignazio Silone; 1900-1978 
Self / reading
"When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before."
- Clifton Fadiman
Faith / Conviction
"Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate if you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another name?"
 - Graham Greene
Artificial Intelligence
"The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do."
 - B.F. Skinner
Perception
"There is an inevitable divergence, attributable to the imperfections of the human mind, between the world as it is and the world as men perceive it."
 - J. William Fulbright 
Restriction and Planning
"We must dare to think unthinkable thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent. We must dare to think about unthinkable things because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless."
 - J. William Fulbright 
Growth
"We all are born mad. Some remain so."
 - Samuel Beckett 
Optimism
"I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism."
 - Roberto Rossellini; 1906-1977
Leadership
"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."
 - Stanislaw J. Lec; 1909-1966
Compassion
"Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism."
 - Hubert Humphrey; 1911-1978 
Daily Living
"I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day."
- Albert Camus; 1913-1960 
Creation
"All glory comes from daring to begin."
 - Eugene F. Ware 
Open Minds
"Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king."
 - Mark Van Doren
Resourcefulness
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."
- Samuel Johnson
Honesty
"A lie can travel half way around the world while truth is putting on its shoes."
 - Mark Twain
Problem Solving
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
 - C.F. Kettering
Cynical
"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
 - Oscar Wilde
Forgiveness / Tough Decisions
"God will forgive me; that's his business."
- Heinrich Heine 
Winners / Losers
"It is not enough to succeed; others must fail."
 - Gore Vidal
Idealism and Cost
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality the cost becomes prohibitive. 
- William F. Buckley, Jr.

Bureaucracy
"England has forty-two religions and only two sauces."
- Voltaire
Cost / Humor
"A man must properly pay the fiddler. In my case it so happened that a whole symphony orchestra had to be subsidized."
 - John Barrymore
Odds
"It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong 
    - but that is the way to bet."
 - Damon Runyon
 

That's all for now, more to come later I'm sure...