# Words you live by



## Steve (Nov 17, 2010)

What are the words you live by?  Do you try to be honest in all things?  Winner takes all?  Might makes right?  What are the fundamental philosophies that drive you?

I have a couple:  


I'm responsible for all things in my life:  simply put, things that occur either happen TO you or BECAUSE of you.  If it happens because of you, you have power to influence the situation.  If it happens TO you, you have no power.  I prefer to have some influence.
Someone doesn't have to lose for me to win:  Some people have to have an enemy at all times.  If they're working on a project at work, it has to be compared to someone else's work.  If they know something, they want to hoard it because they believe that knowledge is power.  I disagree.  I believe that if I succeed, there's room for you. 
Creative people will always be creative/uncreative people will never be creative:  In business and personally, there are people who steal ideas or take credit for things they didn't do.  This can work for a while, but I believe that these people are always exposed at some point.  Conversely, creative people (replace with smart, hardworking, or honest people) will always come out ahead.  
Nobody knows everything about anything:  This one's pretty straightforward.  Anything I say today is subject to change as I learn more about it.  Anything other's say is only as credible as they are, and even then should be taken in context.
Never argue with a crazy person.  They don't play by the rules and are, by definition, irrational at least to some degree.  

Anyway, this is just a short list, and I'll admit that I'm not always successful.  What are the words you live by?


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## Blade96 (Nov 17, 2010)

The quotes in my sig. For 2 examples. You don't have to hurt someone else to succeed in life, and you gotta have some discipline cause if you didnt have rules to live by you wouldnt get anywhere.


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## Steve (Nov 17, 2010)

Blade96 said:


> The quotes in my sig. For 2 examples. You don't have to hurt someone else to succeed in life, and you gotta have some discipline cause if you didnt have rules to live by you wouldnt get anywhere.


Your quote regarding discipline reminds me of the differences between open and closed form poetry.  New poets often gravitate toward open form poetry.  It's looser, and allows them to express themselves with fewer rules.  Many seem to rankle at what they perceive is a lack of control.  Closed forms are also often associated with being old fashioned, while open form poetry is considered "modern."  

But often, great poets begin to work within closed forms and many of them have said that it's those very rules that focus their poems.  The structure forces them to be disciplined and to make decisions that hone their poetry and often makes their writing stronger and their poems better.


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## Jdokan (Nov 17, 2010)

mine are simple...............


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## Steve (Nov 17, 2010)

Jdokan said:


> mine are simple...............


If more people lived by them, we'd be in great shape.


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## seasoned (Nov 17, 2010)

"Say what you mean, and mean what you say". I don't believe in gray area, it is too complicated, honesty and straight forwardness is the only way to go.


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## Sukerkin (Nov 17, 2010)

An interesting thread, Steve.  It is harder than it might first sound to hone down to a few words what guiding principles you choose to steer your life by .

Qualities that I value (not listed in any order of precedence) are:

Honesty
Politeness
Knowledge
Eloquence
Compassion
Self-Sacrifice/Selflessness
Strength in Adversity
Even-Temperedness

Weaving those into paragraphs to describe them in more depth is possible but I hope that even as just a bald list of principles they give something of a picture of the man I'd like to be (for I often fall short of my ideals I do confess ).


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## Ken Morgan (Nov 17, 2010)

Sukerkin said:


> An interesting thread, Steve. It is harder than it might first sound to hone down to a few words what guiding principles you choose to steer your life by .
> 
> Qualities that I value (not listed in any order of precedence) are:
> 
> ...


 
Reading this thread I was putting a list together in my head, then i came to your post Suk, and realized that you already had named most of what was floating around upstairs for me. Must be a JSA thing?


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## Sukerkin (Nov 17, 2010)

You never know, Ken.  It may well be that there is indeed something in the JSA that calls to a certain type of mindset.  

Or equally likely that there is something calming to the spirit about learning to carve your fellow man into quivering chunks with a three-foot blade whilst avoiding the same fate.  It is one of the wonderful contradictions inherent in martial arts of all sorts i.e. that training for years in one of the most violent of pass-times turns many of us into the most peaceful of men and women.


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## Bill Mattocks (Nov 17, 2010)

Semper Ubi Sub Ubi.


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## Mark Jordan (Nov 18, 2010)

The best gifts to give :



To your friend - loyalty
To your enemy - forgiveness;
To your boss - service;
To a child - a good example;
To your parents - gratitude and devotion;
To your mate - love and faithfulness;


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## Aikicomp (Nov 18, 2010)

He who would rather be wrong in company than right alone....





is a slave.



Mike


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## Carol (Nov 18, 2010)

"To have a friend, you must be a friend" - Dr. David Brudnoy (RIP David!  Miss you!)

"Don't give up" - Peter Gabriel.


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## Chris Parker (Nov 18, 2010)

Smile as much as possible. It encourages those that love you, and worries those that don't....

To live without regret, simply know that every decision you make is done with the best information at the time, with the best reasons you could possess. And without them, you would not be where you have come to in this journey.

To live without guilt simply requires firm conviction of your own personal sense of ethics and morals, and to not allow them to be compromised.

Wherever I go, people are a little safer because I am there (Robert L. Humphries).

I am, if nothing else, a man of my word.

Always have a better answer.

Every moment is an adventure waiting discovery.


There's a fair few more, but this is a decent overview, I suppose.


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## Steve (Nov 18, 2010)

Very interesting posts. 

One that I'm not very good at, but my mom always said, "Don't advertise your ignorance."  Usually, she said that after I had just done exactly that. 

My dad told me as a young man that the only thing that can't be taken from you is your integrity.  I've never forgotten that.


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## Sukerkin (Nov 18, 2010)

Your dad's a wise man, Steve.  Aye, without a doubt that's a true word there :nods:.  My father called it "your reputation" but he was talking about the same thing.  He usually bundled it with "You can tell a lot about the measure of a man by the friends he keeps".

Odd isn't it how these men we thought knew nothing when we were know-it-all teenagers suddenly seem to have not been so dumb after all once we grew up? :blush:


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## Burnse (Nov 19, 2010)

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"It is better to remain silent and be thought the fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

"Do unto others as you would have them done unto you."


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## Drac (Nov 19, 2010)

Take time to laugh, even if its at yourself..


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## Steve (Nov 19, 2010)

Drac said:


> Take time to laugh, even if its at yourself..



I like this one a lot!


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## CoryKS (Nov 19, 2010)

"The map is not the territory."

I believe there is an objective reality that is separate and distinct from what we think it is or wish it to be, and that our happiness depends on how closely our perspective matches reality.  When we feel that things are going wrong, those are the times that our map is not an accurate depiction of the terrain.  This saying reminds me that I may need to step back, take a good look around and update the map.


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## Cryozombie (Nov 24, 2010)

Be nice. Until it's time to not be nice.


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## Rayban (Nov 24, 2010)

I have a few that I've collected over time.


"Life is too short to sweat the small stuff"

"The harder I fall, the quicker I get up"

"Wisdom is better than strength"

"A manager knows how best to do it; A leader knows what's best to do"


There are tons more but I'll leave it at that.  I love all of this philosophical stuff


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## Stac3y (Nov 25, 2010)

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit, from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced, nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet, the falling of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

--William Ernest Henley

My grandfather made me memorize this poem when I was a child. I've read it to my sons dozens of times.


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## Sukerkin (Nov 25, 2010)

I've not heard that in a long time, Stace :tup:.  I can't claim to have the whole thing committed to memory but "Bloody but unbowed" and "Captain of my soul" have echoed with me for {counts on fingers} thirty years (since I did serious study of poetry in my Sixth Form days ).


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## Supra Vijai (Nov 26, 2010)

"Fall 7 times, rise up 8"
"Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice"

and one that my friends know to be completely true of me:

"I'm won't always be there when you want me, but I'll always be there when you need me"


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## Langenschwert (Nov 26, 2010)

I've got a bunch of stuff I like to live by.


The foremost are the Nine Noble Virtues:
Courage
Truth
Honour
Fidelity
Discipline
Hospitality
Self Reliance
Industriousness
Perseverance
I've always been fond of "You deserve what you accept"

The entire text of "Illusions" by Richard Bach could very well be my manifesto. 

A couple from the Havamal:

Be your friend&#8217;s
true friend.
Return gift for gift.
Repay laughter
with laughter again
but betrayal with treachery

Cattle die,
kinsmen die
the self must also die;
I know one thing
which never dies:
the reputation of each dead man.

And some from various European manual writers:

"He that to wrath and anger is thrall, over his wits hath no power at all." -Joseph Swetnam

"Practice your art by necessity, honestly and never in foolish vanity. Then you will remain a good and true man, a true swordsman." -Hanko the Priest Dobringer

And for fun and contrast:

"If a man smite thee on one cheek, smash him on the other! Let no wrong go unredressed" - Anton LaVey 

Probably my favourite for dealing with my music career:

&#8220;Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.&#8221; -Robert Heinlein


Best regards,

-Mark


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## Brother John (Nov 26, 2010)

I Like that Steve!!  Good food for thought.

Me?

*#1:* *Love the Lord God* with ALL of who & what you are...seeking God's mind constantly.

*#2:* *Love ALL people* and *be at peace* with them so far as it is up to me. (this includes 
loving / forgiving and being at peace with MYSELF as well)

*#3:* *To have More of a thing* (pretty much Anything) *DO MORE with what you already have. *To have Less of a thing, DO LESS with what you already have. ((This goes for just about anything: IF you want more muscle, USE your muscles more, if you want more friends.....be a friend and the best one you can be to the ones you've already got.... want to get more love, express more love.......etc.  Want less Fat, eat less fat.  etc.  It's not OMNI-Applicable......but it's pretty darn close.)) 

*#4:* All things in *moderation* / *balance* with regards to specifics and w/in the entire context of your life. 

*#5:* Learn something new daily. This requires searching for and being sensitive to recieve the lessons life / environment and ALL people give us. 

*#6:* THINGS are seldom important. PEOPLE are ALWAYS important. 

*#7:* Over time, only that which is Honest / Real / Authentic.......lives. Any thing less than 100% TRUE...... is dead before it begins.


Just some things I like to think on.

Your Brother
John


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