MY FAVORITE QUOTES

When I come upon a quote that is particularly meaningful to me, I don’t  think it happened by accident.

I believe that when it appears in my universe, does so because I have decided that I need it – or something like it – at that moment in my life.

For instance, when I feel I’m ready for a healthy dose of expansion, like when I need to break out of some old habit or pattern of living, usually the first things that show up are things that I should have confronted and handled long ago; things that may have been inhibiting my ability to move out and expand to other areas.

These things tend to show up immediately after I make the decision to expand.  Like cleaning out a closet that is long overdue in cleaning, it’s a mess when I first start; persistence and endurance will win the day however, and order will once again prevail.  It is also my opinion that expansion requires order in order to be accomplished.

So it is with most aspects of my life.  Once I decide that I am going to set upon a new project of some type, the weakest link in the process inevitably and invariably shows up and persists until it’s taken care of.  I never shy away from this phenomena, instead, I welcome it.  It reveals to me the ignored or neglected areas that should have been faced long ago.   Now I have the chance to address these issues and put them terminatedly behind me, exposing an exciting new future to move into!

So – because these quotes showed up in my universe – and for no other reason – they are included in this blog.  I’ve also added some of my own when they seem appropriate.

I hope you find one or more that may hold some meaning for you as well. – daniel w. jacobs

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

The price of freedom is never too great – when the cost of indifference is so dear. – daniel w. jacobs

Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.  – Albert Schweitzer

Love is senior to art in importance since love, even of the darkest and most wonderfully twisted and fucked up sort, is where art comes from anyhow. Thus when one holds a knowledge of it imperiously, the irony gets too thick for anyone’s good. ~ Neisha Trout

We project ourselves on everyone else.  We see hate in others because we ourselves hate.  We see love in others because we ourselves love.  We see talent and potential in others because we believe those qualities are in ourselves.   When we see others as a hopeless case, it’s because we feel that way about ourselves. – Brian Austin Whitney

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin

This is the true joy in life – being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining the world will not devote itself to making you happy.  I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.  Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch, which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it to future generations.  – George Bernard Shaw

Your creation of time, circumstance and conditions of life determine where you have been, what you are and who you will become. – daniel w. jacobs

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. – Theodore Roosevelt

Nothing can truly harm you – unless you have decided priorly that such a thing is harmful. When you set up the idea that anything is too painful to experience, you also set it up so that you can be harmed by that thing.
~ daniel w. jacobs

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy.  What a man can be, he must be. – Abraham Maslow

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Rooevelt

People have an insatiable demand and desire for surprise. ~ daniel w. jacobs

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Your power to expand is infinite – so is your ability to limit yourself. ~ daniel w. jacobs

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.  The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — George Bernard Shaw

It’s never too late to be who you really are. ~ daniel w. jacobs

My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise . . . a part of yourself you never knew existed. – pianist Bill Evans

Your future unfolds with inexorable certainty, but in minute increments. Big changes can and do occur, but only when they’ve been preceded by countless infinitesimally small ones.  Even a slight shift of viewpoint can precipitate enormous changes in your life. –daniel w. jacobs

We all carry with us the seeds of our futures – planted, given life and sustenance by our ongoing attention on them . ~ daniel w. jacobs

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~ Hans Hoffman, abstract expressionist painter.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~ Winston Churchill

Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right. ~ Mario Cuomo

Criticism can expose the existence of something not evident in the message.  Subtle signs can reveal a hidden harmful intent embedded in the words. Stay alert; listen with your eyes, see with your ears, trust your instincts and act or re-act accordingly. ~ daniel w. jacobs

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

~ Sir Winston Churchill

Wisdom begins by calling things by their right name.- Ancient Chinese proverb

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo Da Vinci

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. – George Washington

The willing contribution, coordination and cooperation of the individuals in the group lead to a strong and expanding entity.  The relationship is symbiotic, as a group thus empowered becomes a greater source of strength and power for the individuals creating it.  – daniel w. jacobs

Our enemies of today are the forces of privilege and greed within our own borders. – Franklin Roosevelt

Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats. – Howard Aiken

Self doubts require constant nurturing and attention to become reality.  – daniel w. jacobs

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite. – John Kenneth Galbraith

” . . . genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.” – Edith Sitwell

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others. - Sir Winston Churchill

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. – Ray Bradbury

Accept good advice gracefully – - as long as it doesn’t interfere with what you intended to do in the first place. – Gene Brown

Only after I quit searching for it – and started being myself – did happiness and success finally find me. – daniel w. jacobs

The Lord sent me . . . the Lord loves my trumpet. – from the movie, “The Commitments”

The old adage states: he who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.  I would add:  Only a fool would accept counsel from those who remain unaffected by the consequence of such advice.  ~daniel w. jacobs

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious — George Orwell

Studies of life and human relationships are a never-ending pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and truth wherever they may lie. – daniel w. jacobs

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Living a long life is its own reward. – daniel w. jacobs

Art is above insanity . . . not the same as or because of. ~ Myrna Jacobs

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly; to keep the channel open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate YOU.  Keep the channel open…

No artist is pleased…  There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others. – Martha Graham – American Dancer, Teacher and Choreographer of modern dance, 1894-1991 – in a letter to Agnes DeMille

Yogi Berra Explains Jazz

Interviewer: “What do expect is in store for the future of jazz guitar?”
Yogi: “I’m thinkin’ there’ll be a group of guys who’ve never met talkin’ about it all the time.”

Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?
Yogi: I can’t, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it’s wrong.

Interviewer: I don’t understand.
Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can’t understand it. It’s too complicated. That’s what’s so simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: No. That’s why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn’t know anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?
Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That’s when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don’t hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they’re the same as something different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I really don’t understand.
Yogi: I haven’t taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.

by Yogi Berra

Never Explain – your Friends do not need it and your Enemies will not believe you anyway. – Elbert Hubbard

Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and precious thing. – Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) American Writer

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein

Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back –
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.  – LAW OF THE JUNGLE” by Rudyard Kipling

“I’ve always believed no matter how many shots I miss, I’m going to make the next one.” – Isiah Thomas, basketball star

“What makes a great endurance athlete is the ability to absorb potential embarrassment, and to suffer without complaint.  I was discovering that if it was a matter of gritting my teeth, not caring how it looked, and outlasting everybody else, I won.  It didn’t seem to matter what sport it was–in a straight-ahead, long-distant race, I could beat anybody. If it was a suffer-fest, I was good at it.” – Lance Armstrong, My Journey back to Life

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann von Goethe

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my dailymood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”–Johann von Goethe

The first time you get bad advice it’s excusable; the second time, it’s suspicious; the third time, it’s an enemy action. ~ daniel w. jacobs

“Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all the way.” – – -  Jimmy Buffett, (from “He Went To Paris”)

My final lesson of history is the same as that of Jesus. Love one another. You may think that’s a lot of lollipop but just try it. Love is the most practical thing in the world. To love, to be kind, not to be greedy, not to be ambitious, not to be influenced by people but to think for yourself – these are all very practical things, and they will bring about a practical, happy society. – Will Durant, 1885-1981, American Philosopher, Historian and Author

“Cold hearted orb that rules the night, removes the colours from our sight. Red is gray and yellow white, but we decide which is right, and which is an illusion.” – “Days of Future Passed’ – The Moody Blues

“You can produce a piece of beauty . . . of such a magnitude that you just stop people in their tracks!  You can blow away and erase their anger, hate, discomfort or anything else with an aesthetic.” – L.Ron Hubbard   (note: derivation of the word aesthetics is:  “to perceive.” in the Heron Derivation Dictionary)

“It’s better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you aren’t.” – author unknown

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.” ~ Albert Einstein

“The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them…” ~ Thomas Jefferson

“I predict the future happiness of Americans if they can prevent the government wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. ” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Silent enim leges inter arma.
Interama, eynem seelent leggess
Translation:     In time of war, the law falls silent

There is no present time . . . except that which you yourself create at this moment . . . and it won’t be there unless you yourself create it. ~ daniel w. jacobs

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities. – Aldous Huxley

“Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have fucked with? That’s me.”~ Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) in the movie Gran Torino.

Music is a moral law.  It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. – Plato

Never invest with someone who has “never lost money.”  Eventually they will, and it is your money that will be lost. ~ daniel w. jacobs

There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. ~ Thomas Jefferson

A people who, being unwilling to discipline themselves, should not complain when those they have elected to represent them, act the same. ~ daniel w. jacobs

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. –Plato

A society of criminals will only elect its own kind.  Those who can not or will not work or help. ~ daniel w. jacobs

The truth of simplicity is camouflaged by complexity – just as a tangle of lies will mask the simplicity of truth. ~ daniel w. jacobs

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it. ~ Thomas Jefferson

If you can’t explain something well enough for a five-year-old to understand, you don’t understand it.  Misunderstanding creates complexity and complexity creates insecurity.  ~ daniel w. jacobs

If the Nation can issue a dollar bond it can issue a dollar bill.  The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also.  It is absurd to say our Country cannot issue bonds and cannot issue currency.   Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People.  ~Thomas Edison, interviewed in The New York Times in1921.

You can have any two of the following—fast, cheap, or good—but not all three. – author unknown

“. . . I now believe truth lies not in logic but in hope, both past and future.  I believe hope can surprise you.  It can survive the odds against it, all sorts of contradictions, and certainly any skeptic’s rationale of relying on proof through fact.” – “The Hundred Secret Senses,” by Amy Tan

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt ~ Unknown

In every artist there is a touch of audacity without which not talent is conceivable. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Music is a moral law.  It gives wings to the mind, a soul to the universe, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness — and life to everything.  – - Plato

People are willing to take these extraordinary chances to become writers, musicians or painters, and because of them, we have a culture.  If this ever stops, our culture will die, because most of our culture, in fact, has been created by people that got paid nothing for it — people like Edgar Allan Poe, Vincent van Gogh or Mozart. ~ Kurt Vonnegut (Nov. 1985)

I have been absolutely terrified my entire life, and I have never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do. ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

My dreams have an elusive element; not really allowing capture – giving up just enough to ensure my continued interest.  But isn’t this the nature of dreams anyway? They pretend capture – then morph seamlessly into something even more desirable to energize my ongoing pursuit. ~ daniel w. jacobs

George Bernard Shaw

Imagination is the beginning of creation.  You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.  ~ George Bernard Shaw

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven’t got it.  George Bernard Shaw

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ~ George Bernard Shaw

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~ Maya Angelou

We artists are indestructible; even in a prison cell or a concentration camp, I would be alright in my own world of Art; even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell. ~ Pablo Picasso

As a musical performing artist, I believe that every note I play, every sound I make has the power to change someone’s life in a desirable manner.  ~ daniel w. jacobs

Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.  ~ Will Durant

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. ~Franz Kafka

The truth is we are not that smart and we are not that dumb. ~ Donald Keough, President and COO of Coca-Cola said in 1985 after the company reintroduced original Coca-Cola as Classic Coke.

Jazz is the art of mastering your own life so that you can play your life’s story. ~ Wayne Shorter, widely regarded as one of the most important jazz musicians of his generation.

There is therefore a necessity for pleasure; for working – as happiness can be defined – toward known goals over not unknowable obstacles.  And the necessity for pleasure is such that a great deal of pain can be borne to attain it. Pleasure is the positive commodity. It is enjoyment of work, contemplation of deeds well done; it is a good book or a good friend; it is taking all the skin off one’s knees climbing the Matterhorn; it is hearing the kid first say daddy; it is a brawl on the Bund at Shanghai or the whistle of amour from a doorway; it’s adventure and hope and enthusiasm and ’someday I’ll learn to paint’; it’s eating a good meal or kissing a pretty girl or playing a stiff game of bluff on the stock exchange. It’s what Man does that he enjoys doing; it’s what Man does that he enjoys contemplating; it’s what Man does that he enjoys remembering; and it may be just the talk of things he knows he’ll never do ~ L. Ron Hubbard

Figures don’t lie, but liars figure. – Samuel Clemens (alias Mark Twain)

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. – Albert Einstein

Dealing with people you don’t like or trust is never worth the sour taste that remains after.  Learn to walk away instead.  ~ daniel w. jacobs