"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."

-- George Bernard Shaw

I know it's been quiet around here, but I'm coming off a self-induced blogging break over the past few days, mainly because yesterday was my birthday and I decided to spend time with my son and some friends rather than write.

I suck.  I know.

As things ramp back up, I would like to share this with you, because it's all sorts of awesome.

"Whatever you have forgotten, you can remember. Whatever you have buried you can unearth. If you are willing to look deep into your own nature, if you are willing to peel away the layers of not-self you have adopted in making your way through the tribulations of life, you will find that your true self is not as far removed as you think."

-- Meredith Jordan

Also, a huge thanks to the many people who wished me happy birthday yesterday.  I appreciate the wishes more than I can say, and if I haven't responded to you over email yet, I will.

John Gruber quotes MDJ via Twitter:

"It's the only business in the world where being wrong about someone else's facts gets them in trouble, not you."

Depressingly true.

"For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all of the horrors of the half-lived life."

HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891)

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I know the price of success -- dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.” -- Frank Lloyd Wright [Via Leo]

“Success breeds success because everybody wants to aid the successful, thereby fulfilling a law of nature.” -- William Feather

"The idea of the past is as useless as the idea of the future. Both could be invoked by anybody about anything. There is never any more beauty that there is now. There is no more joy or sorrow or wonder than there is now, nor perfection, nor anymore evil nor any more good than there is now." -- The Silver Dory Gould's Book of Fish - a Novel in Twelve Fish Richard Flanagan [Via Clusterflock]

"Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own." -- BERTRAND RUSSELL