Superstition is the notion that supernatural powers created our world and interfere with its operations. 
Fear of such gods and their will is banished with understanding.
By showing that the operations of the world can be accounted for entirely in terms of the regular, but purposeless motions of tiny atoms and agglomerations of atoms in interaction in empty space.
The fear of death will be banished by showing that death is the dissipation of a being's material mind.
And so, as a simple ceasing-to-be, death can be neither good nor bad for this being.
The value of life for a being is something that only matters to this being during its life.
Fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced in life, of pain that only a living (intact) mind can feel.
Lucretius also puts forward the 'symmetry argument' against the fear of death.
In it, he says that people who fear the prospect of eternal non-existence after death should think back to the eternity of non-existence before their birth, which they probably do not fear.

I like Lucretius !
My question to people since I was a kid was, weren't we dead before we were born?
If so, isn't life an abberation of our normal state?
If so, isn't the fear of death illogical?
People told the kid I was, that I was incorrect. That when I die, there will be angels, pastures, and Jesus. If I get saved, I will go to Heaven. Everyone else will go to Hell, which is a firey place where you burn forever. And that I shouldn't ask questions. I should just have faith.
Faith seems to be the fire consuming the world of mankind.
For with faith, there is an extreme lack of understanding.
I tell someone god gave me a beanstalk that reached to the sky.
Another says yes, and it had blue bells on in. Another says, yes, it glowed in the night.
And yet, another says, it was the beanstalk of life.
And everyone with faith just believes it. Those who question are told they will go to hell and they are killed by the masses of the ignorant. And the ignorant are told, "It was God's will, and it was good".
Those with faith are the sheep. They'd rather not think while they are herded into battle for land, money, or "Glory".
And they shall be called the poor, uneducated, and undesirable.
And those without faith will be learning how to grow their own beanstalk, and it will reach to the sky someday.
And they shall be called the rich, powerful and beautiful. They shall create more stories for the sheep to follow.

---

I put this in here for my reference. The hand is an incredible device! And the body runs on carrots! lol... I get so excited when I see blueprints like this. I wish life was longer, so I could have the time to debug some of these wonders. I'd love to explore the routines and functions in DNA. How it works, how cells create cells that create this, it is all very awsome. We will figure it out someday.

Thanks GMa for the sample!
It surely beats the heck out of paying another $800 for a doctor and coming out with 1 bottle of Albuterol (like I did).
Albuterol is better than Primatine Mist (which is bottled Epinephrine), but its not great.
Advair is Albuterol plus ipratropium bromide.

Superman forgets to 
wear pants, again ! ! !
Becky's kids, Dustin and Jennifer stayed over for several days this week.
They were great as usual.
However, the following seemed strange:
When we picked the kids up, GMa told Becky, "Make sure Jennifer changes her underwear tommorrow".
That night, Becky blurted "Jennifer, you need to change your underwear".
Then Jennifer said "GMa said I don't have to change my underwear until tommorrow!".
So, being natually curious, I asked "Whats wrong with your underwear, Jennifer?"
Jennifer said "NOTHING".
Becky said, "Nothing's wrong, GMa asked me to make sure Jennifer changes her underwear".
I've never heard people talk about their underwear like this before.
That is, unless they are drunk and are trying to seduce me at the local pub. 
But clearly, that wasn't the case here.
I've just never thought of putting "1) Change Underwear" on my To Do List.
Now I'm wondering if everyone changes their underwear daily!!!
These are things I would have never thought of if it wasn't for these kiddos.

 Becky
I love more than elephants love peanuts.
I love you more than mice love cheese.
I love you like salt loves pepper
I love you more than dogs love Alpo.
I need you more than my socks need washing.
You are my Easter Bunny Baby!!!
=)

Its seems to work pretty good for my COPD.
I may have a chance at life after all.
Thanks GMa!!!
Of course, its got some pretty nasty side effects...one of them being death.
But if you'd had my experiences lately, its worth the risk.
Its got "ipatropium bromide" in it, and is one of the ingredients in Atrovent.
BTW - I ordered some Advair and Pulicort from Canada.
6 months worth for $180 including shipping.
BTW-DID YOU KNOW
The Japanese, French, Icelanders, Swedes, Spanish and the English all live longer than Americans. 
Wow.

We watched:
Ghost Rider
GREAT MOVIE
I thought it would turn out to be another "Wicker Man" for Nicolas Cage, but it was one of his best yet.
The effects were awsome.
IMAX  Deep Sea
Wonderful movie. Its amazing how they illustrate the balance of nature.
They put together how all the creatures interact in life and death, and in ways that even a cave man can understand.
Premonition
It was okay. The story was very predictable right from the beginning.
Ahhhh, but whoever recorded it ran out of memory at the last 10 minutes of the movie.
I thought that added to the movie. I made up my own ending, which was probably better than the real one.
Wild Hogs
Good movie with Tim Allen, John Travolta, Will Macy, Martin Lawrence and Ray Liotta.
A good illustration of an over the hill gang getting a second chance at life.

It was okay. It dragged on...
One of the things the hit on was a group called the Skull and Bone "Bonesmen"
This is real group, a secret society of sorts, of Yalemen.
They relishes their glass enclosed skull and bones of "Geronimo".
As odd as this group sounds, its 800 members include some of the most powerful people in the world.
Bush is one of them. Anyway, their purpose seems honorable....to be powerful, and to make a difference.
The CIA director was one of them.
Somewhere in the mix, they hit on the CIA's disinformation strategies.
How they tell truth mixed in with lies, all to get people to behave the way they want.
I instantly started thinking about the Kennedy assassinations an what we were told about it.
It could have been Castro, the Mafia, the Soviet Union or Lyndon B Johnson, as has been suggested.
We heard everything except for what should have been obvious. It seems obvious too me anyway.
Here's what I thought:
Shortly after John F Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
Shortly after that, Jacquie Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis (the richest man in the world).
NOW, that just sounds odd to me.
Why didn't anyone mention that maybe...just maybe,
Onassis had John killed to marry Jacquie, then Robert killed because he objected to the marriage.
Its a theory as good as the others.
What makes it a better theory is, it has never been entertained.
Why is that?
I mean, isn't that more believable than anything else we've heard.
But please take note: I don't know anything. I just read and reason.
I thoroughly admit that my ideas are influenced by dis-information.

People can't seem to remember anything right.
We write things down, and still can't remember things right.
Except for some fears and desires, we inherit very little from our ancestor's memories.
On the other hand, animals and plants seem to remember a lot from their ancestors.
For example, birds fly south. Bees make honey. Ants make hills. Penguins go on a march.
All these things they learned to do thousands if not millions of years ago.
It's like their entire species only had one original thought!!!
What we have instead of those inherited memories are "IDEAS".
We lack clear memories of anything that happened before we were born.
So, we have to think our way through every day of our lives.
And when an inherited memory does pop into our heads, we think its our idea!
The penguins without a word, get up one day, and think
"Hey, its time to march south to mate, just like our Great, Great,....Grandparent did 1 million years ago".
For me, a thought pops in my head saying, "Mate, anywhere, NOW"!
Even trees have inherited memories.
I've noticed the trees in my back yard start dropping their leaves starting the 3rd week in December.
Every year, for the last 21 years, its happened.
And I've noticed the weather has little to do with their decision.
All three trees just seem to know when to do it!
I know its not telepathy. Its not a chemical response to the environment. Its instructions that come from the seed.
I'm almost kind of jealous.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could remember your great grand parents life, 
and you knew instinct was how they communicating with you?
This is where I'm headed with this blog:
If we remembered our ancestor's lives, it would be pretty obvious that much of what we are, is really them.
And that they will never really die as long as life continues.
Maybe we'd realize that all life is connected.
And maybe we'd respect this planet more than we do.

That's because I usually forget my birthday.
My birthday was Saturday,
but we celebrated it on April Fools Day.
So, for me, there was no Saturday Night Fever,
However, I liked the picture so I put it in here anyway.
HaHa.
For my birthday, Sonny gave me a pair of binoculars with a camera on it.
That's cool, because I like to play a "Peeping Private Investigator" a lot!
Now, I can take pictures of the neighbors taking their garbage out....Yippppeeeeee!!!!
I got two calls.
Sharon called and said HBD. She's having rough times.
Ida called and said HBD. She's having good times.
Becky got me a couple of XXL Shirts!
Thats great, because my tummy is as big as her heart.
I talked to my sister in Frisco, Texas.
She's having rough times.
She's got here to fall back to if she wants. She can be a Las Veggy with us!
I talked to Allen in Texas.
We philosophized and drempt of new things, new ideas.
"The future holds infinite possibilties, while the past holds only one" was a cool thought.
Becky's mom made me Black Forest Cake and Paul made homemade Chicken Alfredo.
Yum. It was really great of them.
Robert, Emily and Amy came by, and we all watched a tear jerker on my old 60" TV.
I was having a really rough time health wise though.
I kind of talked to Ruth.
Actually, I talked to her through her neice, Daphne. She's in really bad shape.
She really liked the pictures I sent her.
It maybe morbid to say this, but, cancer is pretty quick, and you miss the last few weeks.
Ruth has time to truly appreciate this life.
For most, today was just another day.
At the same time, Ruth knows she's down to just a few more sunrises.
For me, today could have been my last day,
and ya know, if it was, it would have been one of my best days.
With that in mind, the truck got broken into at the Flamingo last night.
Some desparate soul stole the stereo.
And it seemed so unimportant.

Watch out!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D.
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. 
This is how it manifests:
- I decide to water my garden.
- As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
- As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
- I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
- I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
- So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
- But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
- I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left.
- My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.
- I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
- The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
- As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye. They need water.
- I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
- I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
- I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
  Someone left it on the kitchen table.
- I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the
- remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,
- but first I'll water the flowers.
- I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
- So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
- Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. 
At the end of the day:
- The car isn't washed
- The bills aren't paid
- There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
- The flowers don't have enough water,
- There is still only 1 check in my check book,
- I can't find the remote,
- I can't find my glasses,
- And I don't remember what I did with the car keys. 
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired. 
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it,
but first I'll check my e-mail.

Sure enough, there's a forest fire somewhere. I can smell it. Whats worse is, its toxic to me.
What gets me is, from a distance, you can clearly see an brownish orange cloud over Vegas.
I can feel it. My eyes, my lungs, my sinuses, even my skin can feel it.
People talk about it. IT EXISTS!!!
But the news doesn't say one darned word about it!
To me, that says the news isn't about reporting what we need to hear.
The news, instead, reports unimportant sensationalisms.
The news said earlier that 30,000 people die in Clark County each year from poisoning.
They were saying many of those died from mixing drugs.
SO, I did my own 7th Grade Math.
I figured there's 2,000,000 living people living in Clark County, and the average person lives for 75 years.
SO 2,000,000 / 75 = 26,000 people die in Clark County every year, and Channel 8 said 30,000 people die in Clark County from poisoning. Wow. Thats just bad math!
They're numbers could be correct, if the average life span in Clark County were something like 40 years old.

That looks like its going to work Great! Believe it or not, without almost any kind of search engine help, this sites makes about $50 a month, through ads.
I wish I had this software when I launched LVDude last February.
That was such a dud!!!
Thanks for Office 2007 software too!
I owe ya, dude.
You sound like the kind of guy I'd like to know. You know hardware and hacks, and I can write stuff like that calculator in a couple of hours (I'm the best programmer I know, haha).
You should register with this site.
You can do a heck of a lot more with it if you did. For one thing, the links you add to your menu will show up anywhere you go, even at a public library.
When are coming over?

Al Gore, testified before houseplants today, that it is not too late to deal with global warming.

That ride on top of the Stratoshere is call the "Excreme".

My Be Quick system got its design purely from my imagination, and by watching a notary for about an hour.
Its amazing how much you can surmize with little input.
Another site (NotarySoftware.Com) has a system for signing companies.
I was up a 4am this morning studying it.
It does pretty much the same thing my system does, but seems much more complicated.
If my software was to be adapted to theirs, it would be a total rerwrite. The reverse is true too. THAT'S GREAT!!!
It does offer some simple features that I don't have though.
-They use MSN Maps for their system. It looks like MSN will show you the route the agent will take.
-They bill by invoice. I bill based on COD, and therefore can take cash or credit.
The biggest advantage I have over the competition is
- My system is prettier.
- Its easy to learn.
- It has less clutter.

Good and Bad
-A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.
-A good man judges himself by a higher ideal.
-A bad man judges himself by a lower ideal.
-Be content with what you've become.
-Anything good is possible.
-Poverty is the mother of crime.
-Do good to others without thinking about what you have lost, like a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes.
Fate
-Accept and love your fate.
-Adapt yourself to what fate has dealt you.
-Love those who destiny brought to you.
-Each day provides its own gifts.
-Everything that happens, happens as it should.
-Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future.
-All victory lies in the organization of its secrets.
Work
-Do every task as if it were your last act.
-When in Rome, do as the Romans.
-If it is not right do not do it.
-If it is not true do not say it.
-Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than those who constantly read.
-Where a man can live, he can also live well.
The Mind
-You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
-Anger cannot be dishonest.
-Beauty comes from within. Beauty is not made better or worse by praise.
-Aptitudes come from understanding. Aptitudes are often inherited.
-Genius comes from reason and imagination. Genius is rarely inherited.
-Confine yourself to the present.
-Desire make us its puppets.
-Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.
-Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
-Every act has a purpose.
-Broaden your mind by investigating systematically all that comes to you.
-Reject your injuries and the injury will disappear.
-Happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts
-Happiness is a decision that you make.
Life
-Death releases us from our senses, desires, and mind. It frees us from the hard service of the flesh.
-Death is natural. Welcome it. It should not be feared.
-Not living life is worse than dying.
-Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle.
-Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.
-Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.
-Men exist for the sake of one another.
-Life is what we think it is.
-The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
-When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.  

So, put on your flowered dress, and go out and pick some flowers.

She combs her hair back and I comb my hair forward to hide the bald spot
She sleeps on my side of the bed, and I sleep on hers
We call each other by our middle names
She doesn't need a bra and I do
We quit sleeping spoons
Now we sleep like ladles
When she goes down on me, it's to tie my shoes
Our sex positions were whole numbers (1..69), now they're fractions (1/2..3/4)

What do you call two Mexicans playing basketball?  Juan on Juan
What is a Yankee?  The same as a quickie, but a guy can do it alone   
What is the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?  The position of the dirt bag   
Why is divorce so expensive?  Because it's worth it   
What do you see when the Pillsbury Dough Boy bends over?  Doughnuts   
Why is air a lot like sex?  Because it's no big deal unless you're not getting any   
What do you call a smart blonde?  A golden retriever   
What do attorneys use for birth control?  Their personalities   
What's the difference between a girlfriend and wife?  45 lbs   
What's the difference between a boyfriend and husband?  45 minutes   
What's the fastest way to a man's heart?  Through his chest with a sharp knife   
Why is it so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking?  Because those men already have boyfriends   
What's the difference between a new husband and a new dog?  After a year, the dog is still excited to see you
What makes men chase women they have no intention of marrying?  The same urge that makes dogs chase cars they have no intention of driving   
Why don't bunnies make noise when they have sex?  Because they have cotton balls
What's the difference between a porcupine and BMW?  A porcupine has the pricks on the outside
What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant?  "Are you sure it's mine?"
Why does Mike Tyson cry during sex?  Mace will do that to you
Why did OJ Simpson want to move to West Virginia?  Everyone has the same DNA
Why do drivers' education classes in Redneck schools use the car only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?  Because on Tuesday and Thursday, the Sex Ed class uses it   
Where does an Irish family go on vacation?  A different bar   
What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other?  A speech impediment   
What does it mean when the flag at the Post Office is flying at half-mast?  They're hiring   
How do you get a sweet little 80-year-old lady to say the F word?  Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell *BINGO*!   
What's the difference between a northern fairytale and a southern fairytale?  A northern fairytale begins "Once upon a time..." A southern fairytale begins "Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit..." 

Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray for a man, who's not a creep. 
One who's  handsome, smart and strong.
One who loves to listen long.  
One who thinks before he speaks.
One who'll call, not wait for weeks. 
I pray he's gainfully employed.
When I spend his cash, won't be annoyed. 
Pulls out my chair and opens my door.
Massages my back and begs to do more.  
Oh! Send me a man who'll make love to my mind.  
Knows what to answer to "how big is my behind?" 
I pray that this man will love me to no end.
And always be my very best friend.  

I pray for a deaf-mute nymphomaniac with huge boobs who owns a liquor store, a golf course and a bass boat.
This doesn't rhyme and I don't care.

Our point of view in this universe is our most unique possession. Perhaps, its the only thing we'll ever truly own.

In the notary site, if an order is place, a message is sent to the closest agent's phone (in this case, Becky's phone).
Becky would get the order in a text message, and reply to it.
I wrote a program that pulls those text message responses off the internet. That wasn't as easy as it sounds either.
Anyway, my program will update the database for the text message responses, eg-accepted or rejected.
It's all pretty cool, but we were up until 5am.

I'll probably never know why it gets cold around the airport on Las Vegas Blvd S.
It drops about 10 degrees for about 1 mile.
We had the Mustangs top down, and I gotta tell ya, we noticed the temperature drop.
Thats the only place in Vegas that did that, and there's nothing special about the area.

Dustin, Jennifer, Sonny, Becky and I all went to Henderson.
I'd dropped them off because it looked like there was going to be absolutely no place to park.
I was right. I had to park about a mile away.
ANYWAYS, Becky's cellphone somehow got set to vibrate mode, so I had to hunt them down.
I found them by walking with the parade! That was pretty cool.
The parade was, soso. Zelzah was there.
Later, we smoked some shiskabobs. They were pretty good.

Why does the universe exist at all?
Its obvious the universe has a purpose. Everything seems to have a purpose. God does not roll the dice.
The universe has reason. Nothing is random.
They all seem to believe in god, but they shun people who define god in their own image, as I do.
I have these few quotations of my own.
- A blade of grass has more technology than anything man has created.
- When someone tells you the saw one of god's miracles, they almost right.
   The miracle was that they can see. 
- Walking on water is no more of a miracle than building the pyramids, and less of a miracle than giving birth.
   But if that is what it takes to get someone one to do good, let them be.
- Preachers and politians have much in common.
   Except for the true believers, their true agenda is pleasure, power, or property.
- A truly intelligent person will question everything they hear and read.
- The least technologically capable, talk the most technical talk.
- By feeding people who are starving because their they've let their population exceed their food supply,
   you may save 100 people just to doom the next 1,000 babies.
- Of all human behaviors, eating meat is probably the most disgusting.
- We owe water for tommorrow, we owe food for the month, we owe plants for the century,
   we owe the earth for our everything. We are here because it wants us to be here.
- The fertilized egg that created us, is more intelligent than its creation.

Friends

A friend to all is a friend to none.

A man who has many friends, probably has none.

Love is when two bodies share the same soul.

Friendship is essentially a partnership.

Hope is the dream of a waking man.

A great city and a big city, are two different things.

Man's Nature

Man is by nature a political animal.

Great men always surface from depression.

All men, by nature, desire to know.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.

Bad men are full of repentance.

Man may be the noblest of all animals, but without law and justice he is the worst.

God and Religion

Men create gods in their own image, in their own form, and in their own mode of life.

Politics

Tyrants usually claim an uncommon devotion to religion.

People will suffer illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing.

People are not likely to move against a ruler if they believe god is on his side.

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.

Democracy is the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects.

Democracy believes that because men are equally free, they are equal.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Democracy gives the poor more power than the rich, because they will always be the majority.

Liberty and equality will be best attained when all people share in government.

One should do without being commanded, what others do only from fear of the law.

Republics decline into democracies. Democracies decline into tyranny.

Nature

All actions are caused by one or more of these: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

Great ideas make their appearance in the world many times.

Change in all things is sweet.

If one way is better than another, it is nature's way.

There is something marvelous in all of nature creations.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Work

Beauty is always better than a letter of reference.

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

All virtue is summed up by dealing justly.

Anybody can become angry - that is easy.

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit.

Youth

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

Education

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

Education is the best provision for old age.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Emotions

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Fear is anticipation of pain before it exists.

Happiness depends on ones point of view.

With beauty and poverty, comes suffering.

Fighting

A man who conquers his desires is braver than a man who conquers his enemies.

The hardest victories are fought within one's self.

Women are almost always better off showing more affection than she feels.

In poverty, old age and misfortune, true friends are the surest refuge.

Misfortune shows us who our true friends.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

It is unbecoming for the young to speak of truth.

We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Most people would rather get than get affection.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Nature does nothing uselessly.

Nobody is exempt from some mixture of madness.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

It is not possible to love someone you fear.

No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world.

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.

Beauty is always better than a letter of reference.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself.

A Politicians nature is to seek power, glory, or happiness.

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

That in the soul which is called the mind is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.

The appropriate age for marriage is around eighteen for girls and thirty-seven for men.

The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

The end of labor is to gain leisure.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

The law is reason, free from passion.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.

The more thou dost advance, the more thy feet pitfalls will meet. The Path that leadeth on is lighted by one fire- the light of daring burning in the heart. The more one dares, the more he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that light shall pale - and that alone can guide.

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

The secret to humor is surprise.

The soul never thinks without a picture.

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.

There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.

There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.

To the query, ''What is a friend?'' his reply was ''A single soul dwelling in two bodies.''

Tragedy is thus a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself and of some amplitude... by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action. We make war that we may live in peace.

We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one.

We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.

Well begun is half done.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

Wit is educated insolence.

My goal is simple: to understand the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.

I haven't known any mathematicians who could reason

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?

I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

It is not clear if intelligence has any long-term survival value.

Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.

Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would half the sales.

Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

Events do not happen in an arbitrary manner. They seem to reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end of the search for the ultimate laws of nature.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

Few are those who see with their own eyes, and feel with their own hearts.

Genius has always encountered violent opposition from idiots.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Equations live forever. Politics live for the moment.

I do not know what weapons World War 3 will be fought with, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18

Ethical behavior should not be governed by the fear of punishment or hope of reward after death. It should be based on sympathy, education, and social ties.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

God does not play dice with the universe

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

When we face the world as free beings; admiring, asking and observing, we enter the realm of Art and Science.

Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That is relativity.

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.  

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.

Peace is achieved through understanding, not by violence.