Homilies
No one gets out this world alive, so maintain a reasonable sense of values,
Growing older is for those who live a long time.
Living a long time makes you older and wrinkled but not often smarter and wiser.
Good health is everyone’s major source of wealth; without it, happiness is very difficult, so take care of yourself,
Angry, abrasive people are often vengeful; try to avoid them,
Zealots are generally humor less; it’s a one way conversation,
No one ever learns much by talking, so listen more and talk less,
Listen quietly to experts, but then chart your own path,
Wise men don’t need it and fools won’t heed it; be wary of giving or accepting advice,
Sometime in life most of us will be all of the above, so be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong.
A lynch mob operates by finding a victim for a problem. And it’s really satisfying if the cause can be someone rich and powerful so the mob can work off their envy and also take the intoxicating drug called anger. Anger organizes our emotions, lines them up, removes ambiguity and makes us feels good (for a while).
So the mob goes after someone to lynch, even if that person is innocent. After all, as the immortal Bob Dylan sang long ago, “A lot of people have knives and forks, but they don’t have anything on their plates, and they have to cut something.”
Pithy sayings
“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir?” —Keynes when challenged with an inconsistency
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts”,
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubt”—Bertrand Russell
Litigation—“A machine you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage”—Ambrose Bierce
“Tyranny is always better organized than freedom”—Charles Peguy
“When liberty destroys order, the hunger for order will destroy liberty”—Will Durant
“The ultimate measure of an man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy”—MLK
“Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve”—MLK
“Dignity doesn’t consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them”—Aristotle
“Not all those that wander are lost”—Tolkien
“When you are going through Hell, keep going”
Q: “Doctor, did you say he was shot in the woods?”
A: “No, I said he was shot in the lumbar region”
Practice makes perfect if you have learned to do it right.
If you can’t do it right the first time, the next time without help won’t be much better.
Ten thousand hours makes an expert, but pretenders run the gamut.
A good swing is sweet, a good game is sweeter.
An ounce of prevention is a pretty small amount.
A bird in the hand is bound to poop.
I have a brown thumb because what I touch turns to shit.
You can’t polish a turd.
“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.”—H.L. Mencken
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”—A. Einstein
“Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”—D.H. Burnham
“Insufficient medical research can be hazardous to your health.”—C.E. Koop
“The fundamental act of medical care is assumption of responsibility…complete responsibility for the welfare of the patient.”—Francis D. Moore
Be patient; everything important will take longer than you expect.
Have a big vision and stick to it.
Always be careful of people offering advice….
Principles for facing change and managing it:
- Set a vision
- Think small
- Move fast
- Evaluate
- Celebrate
J.B. Coombs
Alternatives to Evidence-based medicine:
- Eminence-based
- Vehemence-based
- Providence-based
- Diffidence-based
- Nervousness-based
- Eloquence-based
- Confidence-based
Evolution of Authority footprints…..
Three Latin versions of the Chuck Colson dictum from the Nixon era: “when you have their balls in hand, their hearts and minds will follow.”
- “Si culleos populi in manibus teneas, cordes et animi sequuntur”,
- “Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum”,
- “Testiculos tene: capiuntur mens et cor”
htapoemscom 