Steve Gillman's Quotes
By Steve Gillman
This is definitely a page that I will be adding to over time.
Apart from selecting a few pithy bits from things I have written,
I also sit and invent quotable arrangements of words as a hobby.
Here are a few of the things I have said or thought and then
written...
Most people see money as a way to buy things, but it has
much more important uses; it is a tool for buying situations,
time, and freedom.
Waiting for a perfect understanding before using what you
learn results in doing nothing and makes thought itself a waste
of energy, like a car that runs forever in neutral.
Guilt is the payment made by a shallow self to avoid real
change.
Writing is not only about telling people what is, but also
about helping them to see what can be.
To challenge a premise is to open a door for a look at
what's inside. We are free to enter or not, stay or leave. But
refusing to open that door is to refuse the treasure that may
be but a few steps away.
What you believe is only partly yours. All the rest comes
from the culture, family, and linguistic tradition into which
you were born; you cannot escape this any more than a frog can
choose to not jump.
I am not anything my thoughts tell me I am, and in remembering
this I gain freedom from a thousand painful illusions.
Having new ideas is easy - making something of them is
where the hard work begins.
Logic only proves an argument correct according to the
terms defined, but reality is never contained in or constrained
by our words.
The self is a prison in which the many and various inmates
fight for dominance.
To want the best for other people is natural, and the desire
to help them entirely human, but to provide assistance to a person
in a way that actually helps is one of the toughest challenges
of our time.
A king can be a slave to his desires and a slave can rule
the kingdom of his own heart and mind. We rarely know at first
glance how free a person truly is.
Heresy is often a path to a better, more peaceful world.
A job is the business of selling one's labor, and the profits
can be a means to find a better business.
Perhaps everything we say is a form of lying, since reality
can never be captured in words alone.
The most useful tools are often the most dangerous as well.
This is certainly true of the words we use, which help point
us towards the truth and perhaps just as often, away from it.
Make the world your home and you will never be homesick.
Being prepared for bad times isn't pessimistic. It may
indicate optimism in the form of belief that survival is possible,
as opposed to the pessimism of those who assume some things are
not survivable.
Whatever you want to do in your life, and no matter where
you are starting, someone has done something similar or even
something more difficult, starting with less than you have.
From the most playful thoughts great truths are discovered.
Duty to whom? I'm just not inspired by the argument that
slavery is a precondition of freedom. (Blue Snake)
Nationalism? Why would I feel an automatic commonality
of identity or purpose with another person simply because somewhere
on a map in the mists of history a line was drawn which today
encircles us both (Blue Snake)
Our minds tell us that condemnation of others is of great
value, when really it is nothing more than the sound and fury
that hides our own shortcomings.
A mind puppet is a person who is led about by his or her
mind, both consciously and unconsciously, especially in ways
that do not result in good outcomes. We all fit that description
at times. (Mind Puppet)
There is no final truth in words and logic. - (Mind Puppet)
Worshiping a flag is a magical, irrational form of thinking,
as demonstrated by the mysticism required to think that something
terrible might happen if a certain colored piece of cloth touches
the ground.
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