It was the best of times ...

The brilliant starting lines from Charles Dickens' - "The Tale of Two Cities"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness;
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair;
We had everything before us, we had nothing before us"

Life is so full of contradictions, the mind is so full of polarities, it is the ability to see joy in these opposites that makes it worth it!

Three Quotes for the day

Three quotes that made my day today.

The first is a tongue-in-cheek one:
"I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."

This is from Prof. Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" talk. Couldn't agree more and can't help saying that this is the height of optimism.
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

And from the hostel notice board.
"Research is seeing what everybody sees and thinking what nobody thinks."

Facets of choice

Stumbled across this set of quotes on choice. To choose what you think about choice is a choice in itself.

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy.”

“It is by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends.”

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

“I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.”

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what
you truly want, and all that is left is compromise.”

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.”

“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.”

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

“When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.”

“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except
what you bring to it yourself.”

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”

“A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.”

“Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be.”

“The artist is the only one who knows that the world is a subjective creation, that there is a choice to be made, a selection of elements”

“Life is a sum of all your choices.”

“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”