Thread: Quip Of The Day

At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political ideas.
―Aldous Huxley

idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious ideas.

I believe over 90% of the worlds problems involve this.

" What we call progress is just exchanging from one nuisance to another nuisance. "
- Havelock Ellis

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.

Alfred Adler

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.

Alfred Adler

" World War 11 was the last government program that worked."

-George Will

"Those without a belief in God/gods/divine often make a religion out of it all the same. This with all the usual trappings which include yet are not limited to, idealism, dogmatism, proselytizing zeal, and let's add death and destruction.
It's a slippery slope the moment we assume our dog will not poop in our backyard."
--Vigilant Philosophical Funambulist

Razorfeld,

My deepest apologies as this is as far from a 'Quip' as can be.

This was sent to me by a friend who is a computer guru. He had helped me many times and I'd always asked how I could repay him and he always said that it was his pleasure and it wasn't any problem.

The last time he'd helped me and I asked how I could repay him he sent me this:

There once was a man who had a flock of sheep. As the time of shearing came around he was out in the pasture collecting his sheep. When he came home to shear them he discovered that his home was ransacked by a thief who not only took most of his belongings and all of his money, but his most prized possession of all -- his wool shears.

The man was greatly troubled by this. He must shear his sheep and sell the wool or he would starve. If he sold some of the sheep, then he would be able to shear the rest, but would not have enough to survive the following year. His neighbors were shepherds as well, but they had their own flocks.

Eventually he swallowed his pride and asked his neighbor if he could borrow his shears. The neighbor not only loaned him the shears, but stopped his own work to come over and help the man shear his flock. After much hard work, both men sheared all the sheep and they took their wool to market and sold it.

When they had been paid, the man handed some of the money to his neighbor telling him, "This is for the loan of your shears and for helping me shear my sheep." But the neighbor refused. The man was upset by this and insisted that the neighbor allow him to repay this debt.

To this the neighbor replied, "What you have received is the gift of my friendship. If you could repay it, it would no longer be a gift and I would be like one of your hired hands. Keep your money and use it to build your flock. Your joy has repaid me much more than money ever could."

The two returned home from the marketplace with a much stronger friendship than they had ever had before. Remember, friendship is all the payment a friend ever needs. There is never any debt between friends.

A quip or not this was what I needed at this moment in time. Thank you.

Thank you Roy, that is a great story. A good lesson to learn, to accept true friendship when it is given (it can only be given). It's often hard for me to accept generosity.