What's a Truth Pick you ask?
A Truth Pick is a short, sharp commentary designed to extract 'Truth' from a Quote, pithy saying, epigram or graffiti. I send these out whenever the muse strikes. My goal is to continue generating them as long as people keep reading them.
I know of no manner of speaking so offensive
as that of giving praise,
and closing with an exception.
Sir Richard Steele
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Sincere praise carries us up a mountain path towards the Sun. We experience simple and honest joy when recognized by others for our effort and success.
The abrupt "but" severs the path of glory and plunges us to ragged rocks below.
"But" is simultaneously a retroactive deletion, and an omen of future disappointment. It deftly and without heart, erases all that went before and adds sorry emphasis to all that follows.
In our defense we use it most often blindly, with no intention to discredit. Like a long sharp knife held in error by the blade, it draws blood instead of building confidence.
Praise bridges effort to achievement, it functions best when it travels straight from start to finish... no turns, no diversions, no hesitations in mid-flight.
There are reasons enough for criticism, but for praise there is a dearth. When given, it is best served without restraint or caveats; for to spoil a feast of praise is a crime against achievement.
To erode praise is to corrupt future effort.
(c) 2003 Peter de Jager - Pdejager@truthpicks.com
#173:
I am I plus my surroundings
and if I do not preserve the latter,
I do not preserve myself.
Jose Ortega y Gasset
#174:
I do not pretend to know
what many ignorant men are sure of.
Clarence Darrow
#175:
If error is corrected
whenever it is recognized as such,
the path of error
is the path of truth.
Hans Reichenbach
#176:
A perfect method
for adding drama to life
is to wait until the deadline
looms large.
Alyce P.
Cornyn-Selby
#177:
Don't judge each day
by the harvest you reap,
but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
#178:
A
riot is
the language
of the unheard.
Martin Luther King Jr
#179:
We are judged by what we finish,
not what we start.
Anonymous
#180:
If you want to build a ship,
don't drum up the men to gather wood,
divide the work and give orders.
Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast
and endless sea.
Antoine de
Saint-Exupery
#181:
Windows of opportunity exist
for only a brief moment in time,
you have to have vision in order to spot
them,
and take advantage of them.
John Sculley
#182:
Reward excellent failures,
Punish mediocre successes.
Phil Daniels