Seneca on Wisdom
In Seneca’s Morals: Of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger, and Clemency, the famous stoic philosopher Seneca, who brought us combinatorial creativity, illuminates real wisdom. Wisdom is a right …
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John Keats on the Quality That Formed a Man of Achievement: Negative Capability
John Keats coined the term negative capability to describe the willingness to embrace uncertainty, mysteries and doubts. The first and only time Keats used the phrase was in a letter on 21 December …
Dead Poets Society
To Be Read At The Opening of D.P.S. Meetings: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to …
A Lesson in Friendship
Around 10:00 pm one night when I was 16 my cell phone rang with a panicked voice on the other side. My best friend was barely able to remain calm enough to get words out of his mouth. After a bit of …
Lincoln on Leadership
Fight the Good Fight The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. Try Honey Before Vinegar If you would win a man to your …
What makes Warren Buffett a great investor? Intelligence or Discipline?
I thought this excerpt from Warren Buffett’s 2011 interview in India was relevant to not only investing but also decision making. A member of the audience says to Buffett: “As we all know, …
Steve Jobs on Creativity
“Originality depends on new and striking combinations of ideas.” — Rosamund Harding In a beautiful article for The Atlantic, Nancy Andreasen, a neuroscientist who has spent decades …
Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Journalists, and Others
A lot of our day is spent trying to convince people of something. To do this we often make arguments as to why our product or service is better, or, more commonly why our own opinion is right and …
Marcus Aurelius: Debts and Lessons
Marcus Aurelius has been read for 1800 or so years now and he’s arguably just as relevant today as he was when he was ruler of the Roman Empire. “States will never be happy until rulers become …
Henry Miller on Turning 80, Fighting Evil, And Why Life is the Best Teacher
Only 200 copies of Henry Miller’s 1972 chapbook, On Turning Eighty, were ever printed; each hand-numbered and signed. How I ended up with copy 48 is a story for another day. The book contains 3 …
Richard Feynman’s Letter on What Problems to Solve
“No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.” *** In a letter dated February 3rd, 1966, included in the wonderful anthology Perfectly Reasonable …
Habit Stacking: 17 Small Productivity Habits
“The goal of a mini-habit is to be consistent. In fact, consistency is much more important than what you accomplish with this daily habit.” The Mini-Habit The idea behind mini habits is that you can …
Henry Miller on The Relationship Between Friendship and Aging
Shortly after his 80th birthday, Henry Miller wrote an essay on aging. More of a treatise on living life, it was published in 1972 in a chapbook titled On Turning Eighty. Only 200 copies of the book …
The Common Pattern To Procrastination
“Think of all the years passed by in which you said to yourself “I’ll do it tomorrow,” and how the gods have again and again granted you periods of grace of which you have not availed …
12 Books Every Investor Should Read
If you’re looking for something to read that will improve your ability as an investor, I’d recommend any of the books below. All 12 of them are deeply informative and will leave an impact on you. 1. …
What Makes a Genius?
What makes a genius is a story that never gets told, argues Adam Westbrook, the creative mind behind The Man Who Turned Paper Into Pixels. There is a single thread that connects history’s …