3 Ring Binder

" Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. " -- Mark Twain (1835-1910) This bit of advice from Liberty Quotes this morning reminded me of my favorite maritime quotation, so I sought out its source: "A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. " I found not only its source, but also the story of an indefatigable pioneer in the nascent computer science field, Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) who said it.      Ms. Hopper was a Rear Admiral in the US Navy and an early computer scientist.  Her list of accomplishments  is impressive. And while I’m certain you’ve heard this amusing anecdote, perhaps you didn’t realize the significance of Grace Murray Hopper’s reported role in it: While she was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University in 1947, her a...

1.   In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. – Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642) 2.   What is that caterwauling? – my 11 year-old upon hearing an audio playback of her own violin practice. 3. Today, when a concerted effort is made to obliterate this point, it cannot be repeated too often that the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals—that it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government—that it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizens’ protection against the government. – Ayn Rand in “ The Nature of Government ”

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."      Eleanor Roosevelt

In looking for the source of George Washington's definition of government as a force, "Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire: a dangerous servant and a terrible master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." I came across another great quotation attributed to him. "[Government] has no more right to put their hands into my pockets, without my consent, than I have to put my hands into yours … " Hmmm. Where have I heard something like that before? Unfortunately, I was unable to find the source documents to either one - just yet.

(courtesy of Word a Day) "The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873)

Your thoughts become your words; Your words become your actions; Your actions become your habits; Your habits become your character; Your character becomes your destiny. Tell me something. Is it just me, or is this just great advice to give your teens and tweens? I don't know who said it originally, but I've found it very appropriate for two of my three children during that time period. The other one got this Eleanor Roosevelt classic: Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.