Quotes on Michael Doornbos

Don't interrupt

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 07:47:26 +0000

“Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done.”– Amelia Earhart

Inspiration is for amateurs

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 09:03:24 +0000

Thanks to Tim Ferris for this quote today:

“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will, through work, bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea’.” -Chuck Close, American artist who achieved fame as a photorealist through massive-scale portraits

Today is life

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 09:42:09 +0000

Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto -Dale Carnegie

Respect the quiet

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 07:43:06 +0000

Can’t say amen to this enough.

Effective remote CEOs understand how quality work happens: People need quiet, uninterrupted time to get things done. That’s how people get into a state of “flow,” which is crucial to thinking creatively or building something from scratch -Claire Lew

No arrival

Sat, 26 Nov 2016 17:06:28 +0000

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. -Lao Tzu

Ideas are mostly worthless on their own

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 23:42:09 +0000

“Ideas are pretty useless in and of themselves. Everyone has ideas! I have to repress a cringe whenever someone says to an author, “I have a great idea for a book—say, maybe you could write it!” as though writing the book were a formality, and what was really needed was someone to come in and supervise with great Ideas. ”

— David W Brown

Confession Time

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:19:44 +0000

One of my biggest personal problems is sitting back when it gets easy. I’ve never ever ever experienced anything good because of this personal habit. Just a reminder to myself as we start a new month to never be content.

There’s more to do than can EVER be done and I can’t think of anything MORE exciting than that.

“Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.”

— Louis L’Amour US novelist of westerns (1908 – 1988)

The luxury of being ordinary

Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:34:16 +0000

“Enriched by a singular event that is larger than life, I no longer have the luxury of being ordinary. To stand on the lunar surface and look back at our Earth creates such a personal sense of awe that even Alan Shepard wept at the view. Trying to exist within the paradox of being in this world after visiting another may be why some Moon voyagers tend to be reclusive.”

Luck is useful

Thu, 25 Feb 2016 14:35:50 +0000

“Often you will discover that the harder you work, and the more wisely you work, the luckier you get. ”

— Neil Gaiman

Don't aspire to mediocrity

Sat, 24 Oct 2015 12:48:32 +0000

Don’t be mediocre. Don’t aspire to mediocrity. Even if you fail, try to be awesome. At something. Anything. It doesn’t matter. Just try to be awesome. Try to do something as best you possibly can. Or better than anybody else. -Anthony Bourdain

Not quite "You have your head in the clouds"

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 15:01:26 +0000

“It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.”

— Henry David Thoreau

If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself

Fri, 23 May 2014 17:59:42 +0000

Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

Influence of the next generation

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 16:19:24 +0000

Not everyone who successfully impacts the hearts and minds of one generation will carry that currency of influence into the generations that follow. -Neil deGrasse Tyson in Reflections on Carl Sagan’s COSMOS

Defiance

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:13:19 +0000

I don’t know why this never occurred to me before, but “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that the flag was still there” is about defiance. The kind of defiance you need when liberty is paid for with blood. The kind of defiance you need when what you believe is not what the people in charge believe. And then I remembered that the song was originally called “The Defiance of Fort McHenry”.

Philip Zimmerman on why he wrote PGP

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 16:54:22 +0000

This is actually from 1999 (updated from 1991), but I love this part:

The right to privacy is spread implicitly throughout the Bill of Rights. But when the United States Constitution was framed, the Founding Fathers saw no need to explicitly spell out the right to a private conversation. That would have been silly. Two hundred years ago, all conversations were private. If someone else was within earshot, you could just go out behind the barn and have your conversation there. No one could listen in without your knowledge. The right to a private conversation was a natural right, not just in a philosophical sense, but in a law-of-physics sense, given the technology of the time.

Sometimes fictional characters imart wisdom worth considering

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:30:55 +0000

_A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is. _- Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones

Ray Bradburry on Critics

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:01:26 +0000

I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.

Archived Comments

Madison Doornbos (2013-03-09 08:33:52):

Madison Doornbos liked this on Facebook.

Wesley Faler (2013-03-08 15:52:58):

Wesley Faler liked this on Facebook.

Julie Doornbos (2013-03-08 16:47:56):

Julie Doornbos liked this on Facebook.

A conversation with Ray Bradbury

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:47:20 +0000

Things that you see when you’re 3 and 6 and 10 and 12 wind up in your fiction in your 30s…

Smash the design button

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:46:56 +0000

I saw this live at TEDxNASA this year. As I’ve said before, I’ve been to both TEDxNASA events and didn’t love them. This talk however is outstanding. There are so many great concepts in this 18 mins. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE4D7OsIzuk&w=550&h=320]

Archived Comments

Chris Radcliff (2010-11-23 01:21:00):

Outstanding is right.

A little perspective

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:33:56 +0000

Here’s a quote I overheard this week about the economy in the US: “You have to close your laptop because you can’t stand to look at your retirement fund any more.”

Let’s think about this for a second. This one sentence is very indicative of many of the situations I hear people in. This sentence indicates a few things:

1. You have power in your house (ie, it’s warm) 2. You have internet connectivity 3. You have a portable supercomputer ON YOUR LAP that is connected to a global network of computers that allows unlimited communication with almost anyone in the world 4. We assume that if you have the 3 above, you have some sort of food.

Quote of the day

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:18:37 +0000

The cost of failure is the principal barrier to innovation. - Cory Doctorow

Quote of the day

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:43:17 +0000

My Nephew Xander looked at his mom (my sister) with a serious face this morning and said, “Mommy……Jesus had a DVD player.” Awesome.

Quote of the day

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:25:15 +0000

The lovely @pamslim who does Escape from Cubicle Nation had Gary Schoeniger on the podcast today. Here’s a real gem from him that stuck with me all day:

“Entrepreneurs look for problems, the don’t run from them”

Quote of the day

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:45:00 +0000

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.- Neil Gaiman

Quote of the day

Fri, 25 May 2007 15:40:00 +0000

“A good student can get a good education anywhere that has a decent library and a handful of good teachers—which is the most you ever get in the Ivy League or other high-reputation schools.” – Orson Scott Card

Quote of the day

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:28:23 +0000

“Quit worrying about your health. It’ll go away.” – Robert Orben

Quote of the Day

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:10:00 +0000

“I am not young enough to know everything.” – Oscar Wilde