You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun–and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven’t perceived that moment, that it doesn’t exist–that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists–a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.

— Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Speechless. Life has its odd ways of testing one’s resolve but when the moment of clarity does dawn, sieze it. Intuition always guides in the right path. They say, that it’s being impulsive but we are different. For better or worse, ignorant as often we are to see, follow without regrets, and perform that miracle.

It always bothers me that, according to the laws as we understand them today, it takes a computing machine an infinite number of logical operations to figure out what goes on in no matter how tiny a region of space, and no matter how tiny a region of time. How can all that be going on in that tiny space? Why should it take an infinite amount of logic to figure out what one tiny piece of space/time is going to do? So I have often made the hypothesis that ultimately physics will not require a mathematical statement, that in the end the machinery will be revealed, and the laws will turn out to be simple, like the chequer board with all its apparent complexities.

– R. P. Feynman, Character of Physical Law, November 1964 Cornell Lectures, broadcast and published in 1965 by BBC, pp. 57-8.

James Branch Cabell

There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.

All good things come to those who wait … Another way of saying, patience is a virtue.

The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.
– Bob.

Beautifully put. A powerful thought in crisp and simple english. Feynmann would have loved it !

Btw, if you haven’t seen “Lost in Translation” do me a favor and watch it. There is nothing to regret there. When I find a lot of free time, I want to find a serene place in India or US or Nam or China or Japan even and spend a week, talking only to strangers…

Considering this is the start of a New Year and all, I thought the following quote was worth a mention:

“In another ten years we will look back on this decade with 2020 hindsight.”
– Anonymous

“Terrorism is the war of the poor and powerless.
War is the terrorism of the rich and powerful.”
– Peter Ustinov.

Simplistic but true.

“You know what people should do? Tell the truth, in writing and fiction, the real sincere truth, the truth that hurts – make sure it hurts to say it – and the illusions will drop away. And life without illusions is both frightening and exhilarating.”
– John Shirley

I know we can see beyond the maya and find the absolute truth. in time…

Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish… Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.

HERMANN HESSE, Siddhartha

I was watching TV, working on my code, not paying any attention to what was going on. And I look up and hear Achilles say,

I’ll tell you a secret. Something they don’t teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

Beautiful. ‘Troy’, a movie that is pretty normal in most aspects IMO, packed a dialogue so intense, so true and elegant. I cannot even begin to express my appreciation in mere words, on the subtlety this transcends. It was like poetry…