Dissecting Quotes #18

            This is the eighteenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

"A lifetime of training for just 10 seconds" 

- Jesse Owens 

           Over my short lifetime, I have been actively involved in sports, whether it be soccer, swimming, baseball, or running, I consider myself an athlete. Jesse Owens is one of the fastest men alive, at least he was back in his day. He ran in the Olympics, and if you don't know what the Olympics is, I suggest watching the news every four years. Anyways, Owens trained since he was a kid, all for 10 seconds of running. And while this could be a good sports lesson, it can also be a life lesson. Learning all your life for the one key moment where you can get the promotion, starting your career in a completely different path. Most kids here in the United States are in education for 15-20 years, just so they can have an entry-level job. But the education can pay off, such as in a key situation where a keen response is needed in a timely manner. So while you may think all your preparation is in vain, just have hope that sometime you may need your knowledge and know-hows to get the job done. 

Dissecting Quotes #17

            This is the seventeenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

"Common sense is not so common," 

- Voltaire 

Voltaire

              Today's society is skewed, we all rely on what others tell us. Sometimes we act without action, and the consequences are horrific. While I myself have not seen common sense gone wrong, I know of others who did not fully think through the consequences before acting. This reminds me of a quote I read in a book, "First with your head, then with your heart." This quote describes how sometimes our gut feeling is not the best feeling, and that it is better to use our brains to think things out before we act or make a decision. As Voltaire, a Enlightenment thinker, said, common sense is hard to come by these days, and he said that 300 years ago! So we should just be reminded to think things through before we decide on what we should do. And be sure to look out for my next article providing my formula for decision-making. 

Dissecting Quotes #16

           This is the sixteenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

"Start every day off with a smile

and get it over with."

-W. C. Fields

           Boy oh boy, even though my life is going well, everyday can still be a challenge. Whether it be waking up every morning to get to school, or going to bed early enough so I am not tired the next morning, life is full of conflicts. This quote is mocking how hard it can be to smile, so go against what it says and smile for the heck of it. 

Dissecting Quotes #15

          This is the fifteenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"What you can do today can

improve all your tommorows." 

-Ralph Marston

          We are always told that live like there is no tomorrow. That can be good advice, but it also can be destructive. If we really did live like there was no tomorrow, we would be in such a hole the next day that we would not be able to survive. Even if we did survive, we would not be able to live like that for long. Ralph Marston disagrees with this statement, he says what we choose to do today can change our future, improving it to how you want it to be. This quote, when reflected upon, is instrumental in everyday decisions and things we do. Some things we choose to do are very near sighted, and if we put our actions in perspective, we would realize that what we are doing is maybe not the best thing to be doing. If we choose to do something productive instead of wasting our time on silly things, our future can turn out to be better and more enjoyable than it would have been.

           

Dissecting Quotes #14

            This is the fourteenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Always remember that the future

 comes one day at a time." 

-Dean Acheson

           Many people promise change. Sometimes presidential candidates, sometimes Senators, sometimes parents. We all need some change, and while some change is good, some change cannot be good. Sometimes change is pushed too fast, and there are consequences for the lack of patience. We look too far to the future, but we need to refocus our mentality on today, and when we are able to live each day as a single day, we can get somewhere. We will achieve change, and the change will be good. Unless the change you want to see is destroying the world, or something similar. Just kidding, but even if we are trying to destroy the world, if we live our lives one day at a time, we will see that destroying the world is probably not the best thing to do. So the best thing we can do is to take one day as a time.  

 

Dissecting Quotes #13

         This is the thirteenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Every gift which is given, even though it may be small,

is in reality great, if it is given with affection."

-Pindar

         You either love Christmas time or you hate it. Personally, I love the spirit of the season, and the way most people are more joyful. I know a few people who do not like the holiday season, and with all my trying, I cannot see why they would not like it. Some of these people who do not like Christmas argue that nowadays, everyone is selfish and they only think of Christmas as a time to receive what they want. This is understandable, but not everyone is like this. Some like to give thoughtful presents to friends and family, brightening the recipients day. This quote suggests something similar, that if an individual puts thought and care into a gift, it can mean more than any material thing. Recipients of gifts desire thought, not necessarily expensive gifts. These gifts dramatically outweigh the gifts given without thought, the gifts that are picked up and bought at the last minute. With this in mind, though Christmas is a few days away, try to give gifts that are given in love, with affection. These gifts may be the best gifts the recipiants may ever recieve.

Dissecting Quotes #12

          This is the twelfth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"A people free to choose will always choose peace"

-Ronald Regan

         Many people have thought about world peace, about why it is so hard to achieve it. Peace is a precious thing, and even though many people do not work to see peace, deep down they really desire to have peace and there not to be any strife. Without any other people telling them what to do, humans really want peace, the only reason they go to war is for peace, which is ironic in itself. We should think about what we would choose if we didn't have anyone over us telling us what to think, or what to do.

Dissecting Quotes #11

                This is the eleventh edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. The quote today is an quote requested by a friend of mine, and I will try to dissect the quote best as I can.

"Be more concerned about your character than your reputation. Your

character is what you really are and your reputation is what others think you are."

-John Wooden, NCAA Coach

         Some people get all worked up on what other people think of them. I know I was really concerned about appearance and about reputation. I got better on it, but even now I still worry about what people think of me. John Wooden related this to sports by saying, "Be more concerned about your character than your reputation." This means we should worry more about who we are as a person than who others think we are. We sometimes get caught up on how we are viewed in the eyes of others, but I think we should focus more on our own problems and own self than others. This does not mean, however, it is okay to be a jerk to others because you do not care what they think of you. The second part of the quote just further explains what a character is and what the reputation is. I think we should all realize reputation isn't everything, and that in order to have a good reputation, we need to focus on our character.

Dissecting Quotes #10

         This is the tenth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"A man who wants to lead the orchestra

must turn his back to the crowd."

-Max Lucado

          Leadership is quite a precious thing, those of us who are leaders know what it is like to be looked up upon. It can be stressful for leaders when they are in charge or are being followed by others. But it can also be very profitable, leaders are the ones that become famous and the ones that are praised for victory or success. There is a way normal people become leaders, and the ways can be different for every person. One popular way, as Max Lucado said, is to go your own way, not to follow the crowd. The crowd follows, and you become one of them when you join the crowd. In order to be a leader, you need to not follow the crowd, but to go your own way, provided your way is appealing to others and is profitable for others. There are ways to come about being a leader, and while they are not necessarily impossible, they are not simple. We need to have determination and desire to reach the top and be someone who is looked up to as an individual.

Dissecting Quotes #9

        This is the ninth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Always desire to learn something useful"

- Sophocles

         Desire can be a powerful thing. It can move mountains, and can alter lives forever. If used properly, desire can change the world for the better. If we as humans have the desire to learn, we can use what we learned to not only help others but to help the world. If people desire to profit from learning, they can change their mindset for the positive. We should learn to learn better, as it can help us and others. 

Dissecting Quotes #8

        This is the eighth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go

 back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 

          The mind is an amazing thing. One second it can be changing humanity for forever, the next it can be dumb. The mind is influenced by everything around us, every little detail and experience. With these experiences, the mind is in a new state, the old cannot be achieved again. So good choices create a good mind, and bad choices create a bad mind. The choices we make should be made with our brains in mind.

Dissecting Quotes #7

         This is the seventh edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to

open it and remove all doubt."

-Unknown

         I have heard this quote before, but never really thought about it until now. What it is talking about is opinions of people, how people judge based on bias. The first part of the quote, "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool," describes how a person could go about life. Those who are quiet, all of us have met them, are regarded in the eyes of others as respected and even possibly intelligence.  But the second part, "than to open it and remove all doubt," describes how if a person talks and is foolish in doing so, is thought to be a fool. Contrasted to the one who is regarded wise and is respected, I do not think any one of us wants to be a fool. So before we speak, think about what we are about to say. Is it the wisest thing to say in that situation?

Dissecting Quotes #6

         This is the sixth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Beauty and folly are old companions."

-Benjamin Franklin

          Beauty could be classified as how a person looks. Or, it could be classified as how a person acts. Whatever it could be, beauty has been sought after for ages. Folly, I hope, has not been sought after, but with the search of beauty, many find folly. Folly is a foolish decision, a costly risk that ends with failure. Most people do not think about folly when they think about beauty, but sadly, both beauty and folly could be related. As Franklin said, beauty and folly being old companions means they are related. Beauty could lead to folly, contrary to the beliefs of most people. I want us to think about whether we are in search of beauty and to think if it could lead to folly.

Dissecting Quotes #5

        This is the fifth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"Begin to be now what you will hereafter."

-William James

          Change is hard. I grew up being home schooled, and then for high school I jumped right into an environment I had never been apart of. It was a big change, but a change for the better. According to William James, a notable psychologist, the easiest way to change is to act how you want to act. The first part of the quote, "Begin to be now," describes how if we want to change, we must start at that instant. Putting off change will never change anything except make you more lazy. What will happen to us if we start to change is said in the second part of the quote, "what you will hereafter." If we start to act how we want to act, it will be easy to change. This reminds me of when I was little, I would have a hard time falling asleep. My parents used to come into my room, and to get them not to talk to me, I would pretend I was asleep. It usually worked, not only did my parents not talk to me, but I fell asleep. I hope that if any of us want to change, we will realize we have to start today.

Dissecting Quotes #4

         This is the fourth edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking.

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."  

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

         Life is a struggle. I have been alive for a short while compared to most, and while I have it easy, I can tell how hard life is. Sometimes the best way to learn is to make mistakes. Experimenting makes mistakes easier than any other way I know. In this quote, Emerson says, "All life is an experiment," which shows and proves the point that life is a learning process. The second part of the quote, however, explains the application of this quote, saying, "The more experiments you make the better." This, to me, sums it all up. With mistakes and failures, we can learn and not repeat what we have done before. Experimenting can be a good thing, if it is not misused or taken advantage of. We all should learn from this quote that we as humans are going to make mistakes, it is inevitable. The ones who succeed, however, are the ones who get right back up and learn.

Dissecting Quotes #3

         This is the second edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

"People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged

sooner or later to find time for illness."

-John Wanamaker

          Time is a precious thing. We do not think about time, but we are always under time's watchful eye. We can never escape the iron grip time has on our lives. In this quote, by John Wanamaker, he describes what happens to people who do not spare time from their lives to enjoy and have some fun. "People who cannot find time for recreation," means that people may make excuses about not having the time to do this, or to do that, but when they do not make that time, they may get mentally or physically ill. The second part, "...are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness," explains that people need recreation and fun, and without that crucial aspect of their life, they may become ill. The illness described here could be both mental or physical illness, or could just be talking about one type of illness. But aside from that discrepancy, illness is not a fun thing to have. This quote should speak to us, having us make time for doing the things we love. If we do not listen to our what our heart wants, we set ourselves up for illness, something no one wants.   

Dissecting Quotes #2

          This is the second edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

    "Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary,
   great minds with the ordinary." - Blaise Pascal

          This quote, personally, is a good one. I like how it not only speaks the truth but also subtly gives instruction on how to develop a great mind. The first part says, "Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary," which, to me, speaks the truth. I know from my own experiences, I have wanted to change something, to make an amazing product, or develop an astonishing idea. It was here that I was concerned about extraordinary things, as the quote says. But as I became a high schooler, and even just in the past year, I have started to look at the smaller things, the hidden and concealed problems.
          As the second part of the quote says, "great minds with the ordinary," I have been trying to think outside the box, but not so far outside I cannot see the box. I am not trying to say I have a great mind, which I do not, but to possess a great mind, one has to work at developing it. It is here that I have been trying to work, working to stimulate my brain, and thus possibly achieve more than was originally possible. With this quote, I hope all of you can take away what I took away, not to be concerned with gigantic problems or ideas, but to focus on the small ones, the ones that will get us far.

Dissecting Quotes #1

             This is the first edition of the series "Dissecting Quotes", where I choose a quote and briefly describe what I think the quote means and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I hope the insight a high schooler can provide can help brighten a day or get you thinking. 

"Believe you can, and you're halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

             Personally, to me, Theodore Roosevelt said a lot of great quotes, ones that are easily applicable to lives. This one in particular speaks to me in an encouraging way. There has been many articles and books written on how being optimistic does more in achieving goals than anything else. Believing is the first step to achievement, because, if a person does not believe, they do not have a desire to achieve the goal, so they are less likely to even start pursuing the goal. In this quote, Roosevelt says that believing is half of the work, because, if an individual believes in themselves, the rest will be easier because they are motivated. This is a key step in reaching the goal or desire the person may have.

             Applying this quote to our lives could be easier than many of us may believe. The main point to take away from this quote is when we believe, anything is possible. Meaning, being pessimistic is not the best way to go about achieving a goal. Instead, the best way is to have a positive attitude and above all else, know you can.