Few dare write the true news of their chamber. - Proverb
A nation reveals itself not only by the people it produces, but also by the people it honors and remembers. - Anonymous
People will pay liberally to be made to feel or laugh, while they will begrudge a dime for instruction or talk that will make them think. - Anonymous
You must never try to make all the money that's in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won't have many deals. - George Getty
Friendship should disregard a person's age, station, and relatives. Friendship with someone is friendship with his qualities only. Meng Hsien Tzu was a high ranking person and had five friends... They maintained a friendship as if he didn't possess that rank. If his rank had been taken into consideration, they wouldn't have [truly] been friends. - Mencius
If someone only looked at a person's features, clothing, and speech, even Confucius would not be able to say what sort of a person he is. Yet if one tests him in a government position and sees what he does, then even someone with mediocre judgment would be able to know if he is wise or not. - Han Fei Tzu
No book on business effectively warns you that if the boss is prejudiced against men who wear red neckties, it is your business to know it. Yet such little human elements are of great importance. - Wallace B. Donham
In order to please [people] in society, we must be prepared to be taught many things we know already by people who don't know them. - Nicolas Chamfort
The great gift of conversation is less about displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. Anyone who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is very well pleased with you. - Jean de la Bruyere
When you fall into a Man's Conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater Inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him. The latter is the more general Desire, and I know very able Flatterers that never speak a Word in Praise of the Persons from whom they obtain daily Favours, but still practise a skilful Attention to whatever is uttered by those with whom they converse. - Richard Steele, Spectator 49
Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request. - Lord Chesterfield / Philip Stanhope
Though it is commonly thought that the "art of pleasing" is a great way to achieve wealth, there is something that works far better: knowing how to be bored. In fact, the talent of acquiring wealth, like the one for succeeding with women, can be reduced practically to that. - Nicolas Chamfort
He who cannot resort to the use of a joke, and who is inflexible in the spirit, is very often placed between the need for being false or pedantic---an annoying alternative from which an honest man withdraws himself, for the ordinary one, by grace and cheerfulness. - Nicolas Chamfort (113)
The world is a very complicated place with many layers to it. It is naive to dismiss something offhand that you really know nothing about. ... "I don't know anything at all about this subject. I have no clue. Never cared about it, never will. But that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion, and my opinion is right!" ... When a person like yourself reads something they do not understand, why do you attack it and say it is wrong, instead of admitting you do not understand it, or maybe asking for further explanation? Is your ego fragile? ... Instead of asking insightful questions about what you do not understand, you make demands. ... When a person comes at me like a machine, demanding an answer right this second, I refuse. It is my nature. I am not a machine and I don't want to be trained to be a machine by people forcing me to give machine like answers [to people who] ... can only handle cut and dried facts that are exactly square at 90 degree angles. ... You ought to wake up to the real world. It is really interesting. As long as you stay in that box where you only accept things that are "proven", you will never have a clue what is really possible for a human being. ... What you guys need to learn to do is to shut your mouths. If someone says something you disagree with, don't instantly jump up and start shouting. Sit there and listen some more. You don't know what comes after, and by jumping up and shouting, you will never find out what comes after. As long as you feel you need to jump on people instead of trying to understand them, I think your learning curve... is going to be very steep. - Jalon Anderson / Happeh
I thought scientists were open minded and curious. I didn't realize they were power hungry and status conscious. ... [Many scientists feel they should not bother] considering any idea, that does not originate with a scientist. - Jalon Anderson / Happeh
There are clues to the Secrets of Life everywhere. Many of these clues are right out in the open. The reason that most people do not see these clues is misdirection. ... The purpose of life is not what you think it is. When hit by all of this uncertainty, 99.9 percent of the people will run away screaming. - Jalon Anderson / Happeh
Those books that tell you how to manipulate people? Have you ever thought about how they affect you? Or were you so thrilled by the possibilities you saw in the books that you never really thought about it? You are no longer Matthew Cline human being. You are that book on how to manipulate people. You cannot give honest reactions to anything anymore. Your mind filters everything through those manipulation techniques you have filled it with. I don’t believe in learning techniques to manipulate people. I wanted to remain human. - Jalon Anderson / Happeh
Did you know there are lots of people that would be very angry with me for saying the things I do? They think I have a big mouth and give away secrets. They feel that they are special people who have the right to lord it over everyone else. I can't stand that attitude. Especially from people telling me how holy and good they are. I think everyone should have the chance to be a super being if they want to. The idea of some group of people purposefully telling lies about things in order to hold other people down fills me with outrage. - Jalon Anderson / Happeh