Transcript

#261 Dee Hock's Autobiography of a Restless Mind Volume One and Two

0:00 As a young child born in a tiny cottage in a small farming village in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, I discovered three principal loves of my life. Nature. Reading In unstructured learning.

0:13 With school and church came increasing confinement. Demands for conformity. And crushing boredom. Along with sharp rising awareness of the chasm between how organizations profess to function. And how they actually did.

0:27 When I was fourteen The fourth love of my life appeared. A beautiful brown eyed girl. We married at twenty. Sidetracked into business to support a growing family

0:38 I vowed to escape. As soon as possible. It took Thirty five years. As partial recompense for a dislike of business

0:47 I continued to read and study. Voraciously. During my business years I developed the habit of formulating short graphic assertions Often in the form of aphorisms, maxims, and metaphors. To test and clarify my thinking.

1:01 In nineteen eighty I took the first steps to keep my vow to escape. From business by purchasing two hundred acres. Of ravaged land in coastal hills. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

1:12 With the intent to restore it to health and beauty. Do personal labor. Four years later In nineteen eighty four. I resigned as CEO of Visa.

1:22 Turn my back on the business world. And turn to my first loves. Family. Nature. Books.

1:28 Contemplation. And the isolation of manual labor on the land. A house was eventually built there. Containing a poor boy's dream realized. A library containing five thousand books.

1:41 accumulated over the years. Rising at five thirty in the morning. To write a thousand words or more. Before beginning the day's labor. Became an entrenched habit.

1:52 Unbroken to this day. Each day's writing ended with four or five short reflections on subjects that Then occupying my mind. By the late 1990s, my writing had grown to five thousand pages. Containing several thousand

2:06 Of the short reflections. It occurred to me That a selection of them in the order written Would constitute a history of sorts. An autobiography of a mind at work.

2:17 Since the mind never works linearly by subject matter, But flutters from thought to thought and idea to idea. with the agility of a butterfly. I selected one and five in the order written then index them by subject matter for the convenience of readers

2:31 with specialized interests. The contents of these two volumes of the autobiography of a restless mind Were written in the decades spanning the turn of the millennium. Volume one contains selections. From those written when I was in my sixties.

2:44 Volume two contains selections from when I was in my seventies. I make no claim to have fully believed them when written. To believe them today. Or to have fully lived those I do believe. Neither do I pretend that others have not thought or written about many of the same subjects over the centuries.

3:00 For most reflect common concerns of mankind. The only claims asserted are Or that they then occupied my mind. Seemed worth serious thought. Contain some truth.

3:11 Or indulge my lifelong love affair. With the music of words. So here is The autobiography. of a restless mind.

3:21 That is from the preface of the first of two books that I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is Autobiography of a Restless Mind. Reflections on the human condition. Volume one and it was written by Dee Hawk. So this is part two of a two part series I'm doing on D Hawk. D Hawk was the founder And CEO of Visa.

3:37 He just passed away recently at the age of ninety three. And I thought a way to honor him in like my own little small way is to reread three books of his that I have that I've read before. And make podcasts on them. And the primary reason I felt compelled to do that is because of the book that I'm holding in my hand. After I read the first time I read one from many. It was probably like four years ago.

3:56 I picked up I went looking for other books that he wrote. And I found this one. It is a book of aphorisms and maxims, just like he said. It's about two hundred pages long and it has almost twelve hundred di little short reflections. This book has been on my nightstand for years. And so I would say every week or so uh sometimes a few times a week. I would just pick it up

4:14 Turn to a random page. Read a few, you know, these these are most of'em are a sentence or two. uh just as a way to prompt my own thinking or learn something really rapidly. And the way I thought about it is like hey, what if you had like this wise grandfather figure that could pull you aside for a minute or two And just drop some knowledge in your ear. And so the format of this episode is gonna be different than of and any other episode that I've ever done.

4:35 There's a great YouTube channel that I really like. It's just called Quotes. And I'll leave a few links of some of the videos. I probably listened to I don't know, maybe like twenty or twenty five of their videos. But what they do is they hire voice actors and they make usually short videos, usually like you know, five, maybe ten minutes long. And the voice actors just have fantasti they sound fantastic. But what they do is they read quotes from historical figures. And in between each quote, they give you they pause for maybe like five seconds or so just to give you time to think about

5:03 that sentence or the two sentences that they had just read you. And I find myself just re listening to a bunch of these On people like Mark Twain or Pythagoras or Socrates, Einstein, Churchill's in there. Uh, Voltaire, Da Vinci, Hemingway, Machiavelli, Cicero, people that you and I have covered in the past, like Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Carnegie.

5:24 Teddy Roosevelt. And so I like that format so much I decided that's the format I'm gonna use for this episode. Most of these I don't think I'll have anything to add. If I do, obviously if anything pops to mind, I'll let you know and I'll just jump right into it now. Happiness may be difficult. But it's not complicated.

5:39 Dismiss desire. Discard opinion. Honor the past. Trust the future. And treasure the moment.

5:47 You can give no greater gift. Than to speak and write. That which is useful to your own heart. Reading academic prose is like trying to slake your thirst in a mud flow.

6:01 There's moisture there somewhere. But getting to it. Is the rope. Expecting to achieve all that we demand of ourselves. Is a love affair with disappointment.

6:14 This next one is one of my favorite ones ever. One should not read like a dog obeying its master. But like an eagle. Hunting its prey. Academia has an incurable compulsion to explain that which is simple and

6:29 With something complex. That which is direct with something labyrinth. That which is intuitive. With something verbose. And that which is obviously

6:38 With something obtuse. In the soil of every satisfaction sprout the seeds of discontent. Humility and generosity Have no enemies. A fool is no less a fool.

6:56 When a wise man errors Society will not progress until we cease endless discourse. about right IDES And consider right values. It is not the mind of society that is sick.

7:10 It is a soul. Powerful writing should take one side and stick to it tenaciously. Ignoring Even though it may have merit. Objective writing.

7:21 It's impotent. As my grandfather used to say. There's them that talks and them that does. And them that does gives them the talks. Something to talk about.

7:33 If you never test your courage and strength. How can you measure the validity of your fears? Do not get angry, stubborn. An imperial. Get curious.

7:45 Books like Nature never praise Never condemn. And never ignore me. I love them as much for that. as for the edification and pleasure that they bring.

7:55 That which is growing looks only ahead. That which is declining. Looks only behind. The essential reward of anything well done is is to have done it.

8:07 What becomes known is worthless. Until it is shared. When one has fallen among wild beasts and serpents, it is best to be alert Cautious and quiet. This is particularly true in business.

8:24 To speak is craft. To listen. It's art. Everything we say, do, or write belongs to the world. Others will take meaning from us that we never imagined or intended.

8:36 We can do no more than choose our words and and act with all the integrity, wisdom, and beauty That we have at hand. Ethics pale. When money growls.

8:47 Constructive humane behaviour Can not be achieved by external force. It arises from within. It can be a deuced. But cannot be compelled.

8:57 It is a rare leader who understands this simple fact. Let alone puts it into practice. When life is frightening or distasteful, scholarship is always a suitable sanctuary. We judge othersly by the standards we profess. Rather than those we practice.

9:14 Yet we resent it bitterly when they return the favor. Language, no matter how carefully crafted, is is inadequate to fully convey. What is in one's mind. No dream is so great as the person you might become.

9:29 By remaining true to it. There is so much to learn, do, and become in this mysterious Magnificent life. That it seems foolish to waste the least bit of it. Strange semantics indeed, to speak of free schooling.

9:44 When young people are compelled to attend And have nothing to say about their indoctrination. While incarcerated. I really like this one. We need not be limited to small dreams or accept the notion that large dreams cannot be realized.

9:57 Providing we are willing to pay the price required. For their realization. What is my life made of? Love of nature, love of literature. Love of solitude.

10:07 Love of thought. And love of another. One could do much worse. Educational systems are giant abstractions in which people forgo experience, humanity, and wisdom and In favor of symbolism.

10:20 Rationalization and indoctrination. This one is a great description of how D would want institutions to act or to be. The universe does not exert force in any meaningful sense. The sun does not force the planets into orbit. Or command them to do anything.

10:36 It merely places an attraction in their path. to which they respond in accordance with their nature. It would be a blessing if people who aspire to be great could understand this principle and behave in accordance with it. Every word sent forth ricochets in a different direction.

10:54 When it strikes another mind. The universe seeks perfection. By patient attention to small things. A marvelous life. Is no different.

11:05 The wise make great use of adversity. The foolish whine about it. Each new thing must make its way against opposition from all that came before. Solitude has its merits. Бой травили?

11:21 Or a single flake of falling snow. Ideas arise from analysis, concepts arise from synthesis. One who cannot act effectively has no practical use for new ideas. If you listen to a bunch of the early episodes of Founders this is this reminds me of this is D's way of saying something I used to repeat over and over again that critics don't know shit.

11:43 There are hundreds eager to criticize and admonish for each one willing to constructively assist. If you can't be precise, be concise. If you can't be concise Be silent. If learning is so exciting.

11:59 Why are textbooks so pompous and dull? Impatience is a perpetual barrier between desire And realization. Nothing satisfies weak, dull people. More than publicly confronting strong creative people

12:16 With a list of their sins. The worst books benefit from the genius of the best readers. But the worst readers do not benefit. From the genius.

12:27 A magnificent mind has no defense against a hard heart. Especially when they occupy The same body. Transcending disagreement and confrontation through reconciliation is the test of an enduring marriage.

12:42 Opportunity to love. Is the reward. There are two ways to look at opposition. I want to do it and they will not let me. Or they want to prevent me.

12:52 And I won't let them. Life is never indifferent. And never in balance. We are steadily overcoming our problems. Or they are steadily overcoming us.

13:05 Wait patiently. And listen carefully. Until something whispers to your soul Then quietly follow the sound. When we believe we are everything, we are on our way to nothing.

13:17 When we believe we are nothing. We are on the way to everything. A dog chasing its tail. Never catches more than part of the dog. A man chasing his thoughts.

13:30 Never catches more. than part of the man. There is no shortage of men who would set civilization on fire. To warm their fingers. An academic education too easily prepares one to make a living at the expense of life.

13:47 To be narrowly expert. While broadly ignorant. To new much. And understand Little.

13:55 When we fully attend to management of self Excellent. Of all else is unavoidable. It is not the poor and humble who are desecrating the earth, but Waging wars and demeaning people.

14:08 It is the rich. The honored and acclaimed. Men of seventy

14:14 May make a lot of fuss. But they rarely make revolutions. This one reminded me of Henry Ford. Why supposed experts are so often employed to point out That which is obvious to anyone with common sense

14:26 is a mystery never to be solved. Old people have so little left of life that They should cease trying to make it bring what they desire and make the most of what it offers. Come to think of it. That's not a bad policy for young people as well.

14:43 I've probably read the next one a hundred times. A meaningful life cannot be made from denial. It must be made from affirmation. To discover new lands we must lose sight of the shore for a very long time. And one must carry a large cargo.

14:58 Of courage. Confidence. And faith as well. An old country saying Useful is either compliment or chastisement.

15:07 Youngin'. You keep on moving where you're heading. you're gonna get where you're going. I think the next one is gonna resonate with anybody that reads a lot of biographies. We are each the author of our own life.

15:19 Whatever we write. Masterpiece or trash. It will be published and widely read throughout our life. And for decades thereafter. Are words conceal more than they reveal?

15:30 Contain more than they convey. Achieve less than we desire. And offend more than we intend. Should have cannot create a better life.

15:39 It can only make miserable the one we have. Ought to. With commitment. Has a chance. We push our children out the door with one hand, urging them to conquer the world.

15:50 and cling to them tenaciously with the other. Wishing they would remain with us forever. Fortunately. Neither is our choice to make. Tyranny shouts you must.

16:01 Leadership whispers. Perhaps we should. It is a prud man who never reveals how little he thinks of others Or how much he thinks of himself. Vision without effort.

16:14 is impotent. Enjoy the convenience of prosperity. But treasure the benefit of adversity. The wise do not feel demeaned. By asking for advice.

16:26 are diminished by following it. Carnal love can create people. But it takes selfless love. To perfect them. This might be.

16:35 Might be my favorite one. A wise man goes forth to meet difficulty, but Rather than agonizing at its approach. When speaking of oneself Seldom and modest should be the rule.

16:49 What I have been is immortal. It cannot be changed. What I have yet to be is From which I must choose my becoming.

16:59 Fear when it adds nothing to safety. Is pain without utility. Retirement. It's confrontation between what we wish we were And what we have actually become.

17:10 When someone says Let's be completely objective about this. You may be confident. That they will not Envy

17:17 Is admission of inferiority. Common sense Is wisdom in working clothes. Never go to a wise man who For an elegant answer.

17:28 Go for a beautiful question. The greatest achievement in life is to become your own best self. Nothing external can help with that. Purpose is not a possession. It's a direction.

17:41 We should always keep in mind that the world is replete with those who preach like angels and behave like beasts. Old minds should be like ripe falling fruit. Rich with seeds of wisdom. For the evolution of the species. All things that have capacity for self organization and self governance should be revered.

18:02 Respected. And left free from interference. If we trash the past rather than build on it. The future will be filled with garbage. Few adults of great achievement were cooperative conformist children.

18:15 More often they were shunned, iconoclass, protecting themselves as best they could From the contempt and persecution Social conformity is not virtue. Young students who are not naturally docile are often labeled as having a disorder and drugged into submission.

18:34 Conformity and docility are poor qualities for anyone who would be curious, creative, and free. Та студент should be drugged into tolerance. Of banal boring curriculum and shoddy teaching. It's tragic. Patients married to will gives birth to persistence.

18:52 The greatest writers Have no purpose but to incite the minds of each reader with the highest and best thought. Of which they are capable. What we think of as an original idea is merely one that never knew its parents.

19:07 Those you would destroy You'd best destroy utterly else they were linger on to quietly plot your destruction. Wisely waiting is one of the most productive acts of man. Foolishly waiting is one of the least.

19:22 Don't preach. Don't teach. Don't judge. Take a loved child by the hand and And explore something fascinating together.

19:30 Each morning I rise determined to change the world. To make a lot of money. To exercise. To write something original.

19:38 To paint a grand picture. To plant some trees. To read a good book. And to spend more time with family. It does make some days.

19:46 A bit difficult. In the beginning. Few things are as delicate as a new idea. But once deeply rooted in a determined mind, It's tenacity.

19:56 Is astonishing. Originality and creativity do not result from calculated effort. But from the natural state of consciousness. An open mind at play. No one can ever fully know the wealth of creativity, curiosity and love of learning in all children.

20:12 What a pity. We send them to school to have it crushed. Every mistake is a bargain. If you learn the lesson it contains And remember it well.

20:23 Approach great enterprises with audacious abandoned And small enterprises With meticulous care. When disagreeing with those you love. Deal only with the moment.

20:33 Neither resurrecting the past Nor anticipating the future. Great thought. Great achievement and great love. Have this in common.

20:41 All involve great risk. You can't make a good child By abusing a bad one. But you can easily make a bad child By abusing a good one.

20:52 Every life. Is a subjective epoch. Knowledge is never in doubt. Wisdom is never certain. The swiftest means to an end is rarely the best.

21:05 If we could see ourselves as others see us, improvement would be instantaneous. For few of us could tolerate the sight. Nature and evolution don't whine. Why should we? You can't reason your way to hope.

21:19 You can't logically arrive at hope. You can't beg Borg. Buy or still hope. You either hope or you do not.

21:28 Superb design and sluggish effort. can never compete with modest design. And diligent effort. We never know our power until great difficulties or great opportunities. Have need of it.

21:43 Scorn and ridicule slip effortlessly from a furious mind. The troubles of life are rarely as terrible in reality. As they are in imagination. Is there anything more barren and futile than arguing with a critic? It is both foolish and weak to defer confronting

22:02 What cannot be avoided. I have done many great things perfectly. The ones I imagined, but never attempted. Delaying what we must do eventually does nothing but lengthen the time and distance of We must carry the burden.

22:16 The experience, meaning, and destiny of each life are unique. and cannot be compared to those of any other. Nothing is more conducive to silent communication Our solitary communion. Than reading a book.

22:30 The most interesting people Are always the most interested people. It is wise to avoid or eliminate problems in the beginning. For that is when they are least powerful. And least pervasive.

22:42 There is nothing so pleasant Cheap. Ubiquitous and independent of circumstance. Time and place. as a reading.

22:51 The true value of anything is best discovered in the loss of it. Complaining about life is like hurling sand against the wind. Fear is the father of most misfortune. And then the last one before he gives us some parting advice. Ignore logic and reality.

23:07 Live entirely in the strength of your imagination. passion and commitment. And you may become One of the profits of your era. And then he closes volume one with this after more than three quarters of a century on this planet.

23:20 It is apparent to me. That I know nothing about truth. And neither does anyone else. Here is one way to think about it. is as definitive as one can get.

23:31 So now I'm gonna jump to volume two. I'm gonna pull out a few things from the introduction before I go to the maxims. He's just updating us on what occurred in the the last ten d years of his life. After selling our rural paradise in nineteen ninety nine, we moved to the state of Washington where we bought a derelict house on two acres of land. Sales for my recently published book, one for many, were brisk and brought even more invitations to speak and consult. Which I had little desire to pursue.

23:53 After ten years of intense effort to catalyze institutional change without notable success, I had become Disillusioned. And I would say If you pick up both of the books.

24:03 This one is to me. I like volume one better. Volume two is a little more Cynical or I mean disillusion, I guess, is a good way you could see his disillusion in his writing, is basically what I'm trying to tell you.

24:15 And so to express his Disillusionment, he quotes Voltaire here. He says perhaps it is just as well to stay home and tend One's garden. I wanted no more of travel, notoriety, and fruitless effort. I methodically put aside activities of the past.

24:29 as I turn my attention to rebuilding the derelict house, creating two acres of gardens. Oil painting. Hand lettering in stone. And as ever continuing my incessant reading, writing and studying. including another twenty two hundred reflections on life and living.

24:44 I continue to make an occasional speech and work with the patient safety institute. Which is a non for for profit effort. By leading people. by leading people in the medical field. who were attempting to create an electronic medical information system

24:57 To reduce a rising tide. Of medical errors resulting in death or serious injury. Ironically The cartilage in both my knees gave out. And double knee replacement became necessary.

25:09 The surgery was successful, however, Вона регайн кончнес. Both my arms. were extremely painful. And the side of both hands and two fingers of each.

25:20 We're paralyzed. Neurological testing revealed major damage to the ulnural nerve in each arm. The surgeons. Nurses and hospital administrators denied any knowledge of possible cause.

25:33 Yet the fact remained that both arms and hands Had been in perfect shape. When when I Anesthesia was administered. And was severely damaged when I awoke.

25:43 Six months later came news of colon cancer. With great trepidation, I returned to the hospital for more surgery. To have a third of my colon removed. This without apparent medical error. Within months of the cancer surgery came diagnosis of sleep apnea, requiring use of machine that delivers constant air pressure through the night.

26:01 Via a face mask. Then chest pains due to a blocked heart artery. That put me back in the hospital. To have the artery probed, open, and a stent inserted. In spite of five major medical problems in less than two years,

26:15 My treasured routine of rising each morning at five thirty For a half hour of meditation and two hours of writing Followed by six to eight hours of work in gardens. Painting studio and wood and stone shop. Then four hours of evening reading and study

26:31 became even more entrenched. Towards the end of the decade. the habit of ending the morning's writing with four or five short observations came to a close And selecting and arranging them for publication. Took its place.

26:45 And so here is The second volume Of a restless mind. Life is messy.

26:53 Only death is neat. Trusting a politician to put the public interest before his own is like trusting a dog to To deliver a pound of hamburger to your neighbor. Under precise Scientifically controlled conditions.

27:06 Life does as it damn well pleases. Every man, no matter how intelligent and learned Conceals within the A dunce in a dungeon. And a madman on a chain.

27:17 Life offers everyone truth and comfort. Choose carefully. You rarely can have both. In the gratification of every desire lies the creation of more demanding ones. Certainty is not a property of the universe.

27:32 It is a construct of the mind. Pow demands Wisdom requests. Every decision. Other than those essential to secure food.

27:42 Shelter and clothing. should be made based upon its effect a hundred years hence. The great ideas of the past centuries continue to titillate our minds and But they no longer touch our hearts. They have become intellectual toys

27:56 Rather than fundamental beliefs. We reason about them. But do not live them. They are in the brain. And not the bone.

28:04 You can't reason with ideology any more than you can with deceit. Any idiot. Can impose and exercise control. It takes genius to ensure freedom and And release creativity.

28:17 Any third rate person can make things more complex and complicated. It takes a first rate wise person to make them simple again. Everything we think, experience, or feel. Із інтимличе.

28:30 than the language we have to explain it. Love, wisdom, and beauty. May not be the same thing. But they are as near to identical triplets. As any three things are likely to get.

28:42 The functioning of the finest mind. No matter how advanced. Із форбен компренші батьсел. Or by any other. An impossible dream realized

28:53 becomes ordinary when repeated. Unrecorded thoughts are elusive and evervescent. When they are recorded. They take on permanency. Enabling us to discover error

29:04 Improve content. and refine expression. The essential nature of control is tyranny. The essential of order is liberty. The only thing a wise man is certain of

29:16 It's his ignorance. Two centuries ago, it took a year to send a message around the globe. Now it takes a fraction of a second. We have no idea. What this means or what the consequences may be.

29:28 Man's knowledge and ability have dangerously exceeded his capacity for To understand either. To the majority of people. Truth is as welcome as a broken nose. We always pretend to know what will result from our actions.

29:41 Yet they always have unintended consequences. From this we have learned neither humility nor caution. There was always some fool or charlatan to articulate an immediate, simple Wrong solution to every problem. and a great many more to believe and implement it.

29:57 When this is professionalized. This becomes politics and economics. This next one might be my favorite one from this book. Use your head. But follow your heart.

30:07 Is my advice to all my grandchildren. Come to think of it. It's not bad advice for adults as well. A book is far more than what the author wrote.

30:17 It is everything you can imagine and read into it as well. Nature offers nothing simple. Man detests anything complex. Inducing acceptance of prior conclusions and beliefs is indoctrination. Not education.

30:34 No matter how adept the author Writing can evoke no more. than what is already within the reader. Welcome experience and be wary of hearsay. A second hand life

30:45 It's not worth living. It is foolish to accomplish with more But that is the heart and soul of government. Man is at war with his own nature.

30:58 That which fails to fiercely protect and enhance the spontaneous lust to learn inherent in all children cannot be education. If the good life isn't composed of health Liberty, love, and wisdom, I don't know what is There is nothing at all wrong with discipline. providing it is self induced rather than imposed.

31:18 A poorly lived life fears death. To a richly lived life, death is just another part of the adventure. Books are seductive things. All are worth a look and a touch. Summer kiss.

31:31 Oh, there's an affair. The best Marriage and lifelong devotion. Human compulsion to mess about in things it does not understand is infinite. The capacity to move in a new direction is immensely more valuable than either submission or rebellion.

31:49 There are few things more expensive and dangerous than a large, well developed, vigorous assumption. We spend the first thirty years wanting to be older. The next thirty years wanting to be younger. And the remainder just wanting to be. If one knows how to formulate penetrating questions.

32:06 And assiduously seeks answers. Education with or without schools. is inevitable. The happiest and best parts of former education or haphazard experiences with others.

32:17 And the eclectic reading Of excellent books. Life is one grand tumble into chasms of uncertainty. Good writing consists of the simplest Clearest.

32:28 That make the point. Effectiveness knows what efficiency will never learn. The superior mind distinguishes clearly the Between its knowledge and its ignorance.

32:40 The inferior mind cannot. Genius merely articulates what your heart already knows. The young hurl themselves into vast problems that have troubled the world's best thinkers. Believing that they can find a solution.

32:55 It is well that they should. For from time to time. One of them does. We are all in the same raft adrift on cosmic seas of uncertainty. The question for everyone is

33:07 What sort of shipmate Will I be? Language is man's most useful tool. Endless wrangling over minor details the death of every great idea. Great accomplishment.

33:21 Often consists of doing little things well. It matters little how we come to wisdom, compassion, and courage, but But it matters a great deal if we do not. A good part of leadership is knowing what not to do. The superior man is concerned when his deeds are not better than his words.

33:41 The more egregiously flawed people's judgment and beliefs The less doubt they have about them. Do what you can. Suffer what you must. And leave the rest to Providence.

33:51 It all comes down to that. Loneliness is a much better companion than an evil person. Life has limited meaning. Until it finds someone or something worth dying for. Freedom from worry, confusion, and fear.

34:05 May not be the good life. But it will do. That which we have taken from others may be taken from us. But that which we give. Two others cannot.

34:16 Books are not dead things. They preserve something of the intellect and spirit that writes. And are instrumental in forming the intellect and spirit. That reads. A reward to ignorance is an insult to genius.

34:32 It is strange that human nature has much greater capacity for the ordinary than Then the exceptional. And at the same time Much greater propensity. For arrogance than humility.

34:42 Ignorant commentaries corrupt brilliant thoughts. That may well prove to be the curse of the internet. Many are the books written. To tediously expound What is clearly stated in simple proverbs.

34:56 Those who will not venture before taking everything into account. Never venture at all. When we impose rigid rules and regulations, the best we can hope for is mindless conformity. To dominate others and enrich self. have been the two most common compelling impulses of man throughout the ages.

35:15 Controlling others is force. Controlling self is power. If you attempt something new and innovative Do not think people will remove obstacles from your path. Expect them to add a great many more.

35:28 Stupidity is much more predictable than intelligence. The boundless anxieties and s uncertainties of freedom Are not easily tolerated. One who departs from custom and innovates. Is as likely to be destroyed by friends as by enemies.

35:44 Conduct. І силен сермен. Powerfully preached. Without cessation. Every child

35:51 Endowed at birth with biological capacity for ten thousand different lives, is destined to live but one. Choice makes all the difference. This is a great way to think about a founder. Every organization has one or two heroes who gives it birth Direction.

36:08 And purpose. It is an exceptional person who transcends the conditioning of formal education. In a very real sense, we imagine the universe into being. I had to read this one twice. Minus of thought.

36:23 Dart about in shallow mines with great agitation. Great whales of thought. Majestically move. Through oceanic mines without commotion. Fury, frenzy, and fanaticism.

36:37 Can destroy in a day. What it took wisdom Foresight and prudence. Centuries to construct. What one says and another hears

36:47 Maybe as different from one another. As a tropical jungle And the North Pole. Intellect and imagination are inseparable. Every idea is a dance.

36:57 Between the two. In the ballroom of the mind. Those who require little of themselves have even less to give others. superior people. Achievering in themselves that they expect in others.

37:11 It matters little. Whether my book reaches a handful of people or millions. For if it influences the right few. Others will follow. There are times when it's wise to be ignorant.

37:23 But never a time when it is ignorant to be wise. Self knowledge is an ocean without surface, shore, or bottom. Life begins in fire. Burns briefly and ends in ashes. Make it your business to create.

37:39 Not compare. Contemplate, not critique. Compliment. Not condemned. This one is to his wife.

37:46 We were inseparable from the age of fourteen. She was the early bird and I the worm. The foolish, the ignorant, and the indifferent make up a large majority of the public. Я ви стіль інсист. The majority should rule.

38:00 The new and novel should be viewed with suspicion. For it is improbable that one generation can be wiser than all ancestors combined. Someone has to be original. Or else others would have nothing to copy. There are many problems best left alone.

38:16 Since time and patience А поу ремедів. If you don't know your destination, every road is the right one. Those who succeed Chance upon opportunities.

38:28 More often than they create them. There is but a single day and night. No matter how many times experienced. And then the last one, teach children to think deeply. Read precisely.

38:41 Right concisely. And stimulate their curiosity about everything. Skip the rest of the stuff. And so that is where I'll leave it to read all of D's short thoughts, pick up Autobiography of Arrest Mind Volume One and Two.

38:54 I'll leave a link in the show notes and if you buy those books using that link. You'll be supporting the podcast at the same time. That is two hundred and sixty one books down. One thousand ago. And I'll talk to you again soon.