To laugh often and love much,
to win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest critics;
to appreciate beauty; to give of one's self;
to know even one life has breathed easier because
you have lived --- that is to have succeeded.
-- Harry Emerson Fosdick
Here are to evaluate people:
If they are in positions of high status, observe what they promote.
If they are wealthy, observe what they give.
If they are poor, observe what they refuse to accept.
If they are of low status, observe what they refuse to do.
If they are covetous, observe what they will not take.
See them change difficulties, and you can know their courage.
Move them with joy and happiness, and you can observe their self-control.
Entrust them with goods and money, and you can assess their humanity.
Shake them with fear, and you can know their discipline.
-- Ref: The Lessons of the Masters of Huainan, (207 B.C.E. - 220 C.E.) Translation: by Thomas Cleary
“Do or do not, there is no try”
To design something really well you have to get it. You have to really grok what it's all about. It takes a passionate commitment to thoroughly understand something -- chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don't take the time to do that. Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they've had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have. Unfortunately, that's too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. They don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions, without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better designs we will have.
-- Steve Jobs, Wired Interview
“I begin to wonder how many things that I know would suddenly take on new meanings if only I could perceive the connections. I forsee a restless night.”
