“
To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little.
”
”
Criss Jami (Venus in Arms)
“
Intelligence is more important than strength, that is why earth is ruled by men and not by animals.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Memories make you sentimental, experiences make you smart.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
The deepness of your mind produces the thickness of your thoughts.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson
“
Don't overestimate your emotions and underestimate your intelligence.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Over intellect will make you a genius, over emotions will make you a lunatic.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
The most awful hunger is the type that is satisfied too soon, before it moves you, before you are moved by it, before it becomes protracted and superior, a motivating business, making you honorable, graceful, clever - a hunter.
”
”
Hilary Thayer Hamann (Anthropology of an American Girl)
“
Never stop acquiring the commonsense, it is as good as the knowledge.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
It is a courage which can find the solution to every problem, not the intelligence.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
The human creature is so astonishing, but count on it before anything else to be just that-a creature. A laughing animal, a dangerous one, a clever one, a scared one, but always acting for a reason-a motive that will move the beast towards its desires.
”
”
Jeffery Deaver (The Bone Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #1))
“
Have you noticed how the cleverest people at school are not those who make it in life?
People who are conventionally clever get jobs on their qualifications (the past), not on their desire to succeed (the future).
Very simply, they get overtaken by those who continually strive to be better than they are.
”
”
Paul Arden (It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be)
“
People in love overvalue their heart and undervalue their mind.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Often we judge ourselves by our intentions and everyone else by their actions. It is possible to intend one thing while communicating something totally different. Sometimes our true motives are cleverly hidden even from us.
”
”
John Bevere (The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense)
“
You may not be the person with high IQ, but you can be the person with highest hard work.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
But the Turing test cuts both ways. You can't tell if a machine has gotten smarter or if you've just lowered your own standards of intelligence to such a degree that the machine seems smart. If you can have a conversation with a simulated person presented by an AI program, can you tell how far you've let your sense of personhood degrade in order to make the illusion work for you?
People degrade themselves in order to make machines seem smart all the time. Before the crash, bankers believed in supposedly intelligent algorithms that could calculate credit risks before making bad loans. We ask teachers to teach to standardized tests so a student will look good to an algorithm. We have repeatedly demonstrated our species' bottomless ability to lower our standards to make information technology look good. Every instance of intelligence in a machine is ambiguous.
The same ambiguity that motivated dubious academic AI projects in the past has been repackaged as mass culture today. Did that search engine really know what you want, or are you playing along, lowering your standards to make it seem clever? While it's to be expected that the human perspective will be changed by encounters with profound new technologies, the exercise of treating machine intelligence as real requires people to reduce their mooring to reality.
”
”
Jaron Lanier (You Are Not a Gadget)
“
You can be clumsy yet clever. You can be classy yet poor. It's not tearing a leaf off a calendar which will make you a better or a worse man but the attitude that you have from dusk till dawn every day.
”
”
Indeewara Jayawardane
“
Is it not true that the clever rogue is like the runner who runs well for the first half of the course, but flags before reaching the goal: he is quick off the mark, but ends in disgrace and slinks away crestfallen and uncrowned. The crown is the prize of the really good runner who perseveres to the end.
”
”
Plato
“
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.
”
”
Atticus Aristotle (Success and Happiness - Quotes to Motivate Inspire & Live by)
“
If truth be told, the easy road is nothing more than an armchair in clever disguise. And if you look around, it seems that there are a whole lot of people in the furniture business.
”
”
Craig D. Lounsbrough
“
If your expenditure brings you poverty, then you may call yourself a poor but the world will call you a fool.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
To be a scholar study math, to be a smart study magic.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Brilliance of the brain must be admired more than beauty of the body.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Cheating, disloyalty, unfaithfulness—they start out as little things justified by clever reasonings of the brain, but never do they fully convince the knowing heart.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year)
“
A marriage is about how clever you deal with it, not about pushing it away when hurricanes come crashing down. You've to be strong and find a way to not let the world tear your marriage apart.
”
”
Aina M. Rosdi (After the Storm)
“
I think that at that time none of us quite believed in the Time Machine. The fact is, the Time Traveler was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness. Had Filby shown the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller's words, we should have shown him far less skepticism. For we should have perceived his motives; a pork butcher could understand Filby.
”
”
H.G. Wells (The Time Machine)
“
[T]he more we do this, the more I learn about what I think Chains was really training us for. And this is it. He wasn't training us for a calm and orderly world where we could pick and choose when we need to be clever. He was training us for a situation that was fucked up on all sides. Well, we're in it, and I say we're equal to it. I don't need to be reminded that we're up to our heads in dark water. I just want you boys to remember that we're the gods-damned sharks."
"Right on," cried Bug. "I knew there was a reason I let you lead this gang!
”
”
Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1))
“
A clever person solves a problem; a wise person uses Cosmic Ordering!
”
”
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering: You can be successful)
“
If my 'mind' don't mind, I don't mind.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
They say “as brave as lion”, they say “as clever as fox”, they say “ as friendly as dog” but nobody says “as something good as man”.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Sometimes an act of common sense is indistinguishable from an act of genius.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-fucking-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others.
”
”
Guy Ritchie
“
Cleverness in itself is useless. It’s like a peacock’s feathers – an extravagant display used by those who crave attention.
The mind’s worth is revealed when clever solves real problems.
”
”
Sola Kosoko
“
To ensure a well-motivated participant, Pfungst rewarded Clever Hans with a small piece of bread, carrot or sugar each time he responded (interestingly, this same procedure still works well with most undergraduate students today).
”
”
Richard Wiseman (Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There)
“
It is obvious that in his day-dreams he is a warrior, not a professor; all of the men he admires were military. His opinion of women, like every man's, is an objectification of his own emotion towards them, which is obviously one of fear. "Forget not thy whip"-- but nine women out of ten would get the whip away from him, and he knew it, so he kept away from women, and soothed his wounded vanity with unkind remarks. [...] [H]e is so full of fear and hatred that spontaneous love of mankind seems to him impossible. He has never conceived of the man who, with all the fearlessness and stubborn pride of the superman, nevertheless does not inflict pain because he has no wish to do so. Does any one suppose that Lincoln acted as he did from fear of hell? Yet to Nietzsche, Lincoln is abject, Napoleon magnificent. [...] I dislike Nietzsche because he likes the contemplation of pain, because he erects conceit into duty, because the men whom he most admires are conquerors, whose glory is cleverness in causing men to die. But I think the ultimate argument against his philosophy, as against any unpleasant but internally self-conscious ethic, lies not in an appeal to facts, but in an appeal to the emotions. Nietzsche despises universal love; I feel it the motive power to all that I desire as regards the world. His followers have had their innings, but we may hope that it is coming rapidly to an end.
”
”
Bertrand Russell (A History of Western Philosophy)
“
Negativity is not intelligent. It is always of the ego. The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.
”
”
Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose)
“
The body is an outstanding source of strength; the mind an incredible source of intelligence; the heart an uncommon source of might; and the soul a remarkable source of power.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. -Stendhal (1783 – 1842)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (Quotes: The Box Set: Funny, Inspirational and motivational quotes (Quotes For Every Occasion Book 10))
“
No tricks, no tools, but talent makes a task truly top class.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Confuse them with your intelligence, baffle them with your excellence, bewilder them with your brilliance, and perplex them with your transcendence.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
A small idea with wings will take you higher than a big one with legs.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Yesterday, I was clever, I wanted to be rich. Today, I am wise, I want to be happy.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Faith moves mountains, intelligence goes over them, wisdom goes around them, but love levels them.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Clever people learn from their mistakes; wise people study other people’s errors first.
”
”
Francis Shenstone (The Explorer's Mindset: Unlock Health Happiness and Success the Fun Way)
“
Ultimately, the thrill created by being told ‘You’re so clever’ gave way to an increase in anxiety and a drop in self-esteem, motivation and performance.
”
”
Stephen Grosz (The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves)
“
Always remember, animals can intimidate men with their strength but men cannot intimidate animals with their intelligence.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
We shouldn't let our envy of distinguished masters of the arts distract us from the wonder of how each of us gets new ideas. Perhaps we hold on to our superstitions about creativity in order to make our own deficiencies seem more excusable. For when we tell ourselves that masterful abilities are simply unexplainable, we're also comforting ourselves by saying that those superheroes come endowed with all the qualities we don't possess. Our failures are therefore no fault of our own, nor are those heroes' virtues to their credit, either. If it isn't learned, it isn't earned.
When we actually meet the heroes whom our culture views as great, we don't find any singular propensities––only combinations of ingredients quite common in themselves. Most of these heroes are intensely motivated, but so are many other people. They're usually very proficient in some field--but in itself we simply call this craftmanship or expertise. They often have enough self-confidence to stand up to the scorn of peers--but in itself, we might just call that stubbornness. They surely think of things in some novel ways, but so does everyone from time to time. And as for what we call "intelligence", my view is that each person who can speak coherently already has the better part of what our heroes have. Then what makes genius appear to stand apart, if we each have most of what it takes?
I suspect that genius needs one thing more: in order to accumulate outstanding qualities, one needs unusually effective ways to learn. It's not enough to learn a lot; one also has to manage what one learns. Those masters have, beneath the surface of their mastery, some special knacks of "higher-order" expertise, which help them organize and apply the things they learn. It is those hidden tricks of mental management that produce the systems that create those works of genius. Why do certain people learn so many more and better skills? These all-important differences could begin with early accidents. One child works out clever ways to arrange some blocks in rows and stacks; a second child plays at rearranging how it thinks. Everyone can praise the first child's castles and towers, but no one can see what the second child has done, and one may even get the false impression of a lack of industry. But if the second child persists in seeking better ways to learn, this can lead to silent growth in which some better ways to learn may lead to better ways to learn to learn. Then, later, we'll observe an awesome, qualitative change, with no apparent cause--and give to it some empty name like talent, aptitude, or gift.
”
”
Marvin Minsky (The Society of Mind)
“
To pass the barrier, you have to drop your ambivalence and cynicism. Your clever self-deceptions, excuses, and ulterior motives. You have to be ready, even desperate, before you propel yourself beyond your own fear.
”
”
Karen Maezen Miller (Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden)
“
The fact is that moving matter about, while a certain amount of it is necessary to our existence, is emphatically not one of the ends of human life. If it were, we should have to consider every navvy superior to Shakespeare. We have been misled in this matter by two causes. One is the necessity of keeping the poor contented, which has led the rich, for thousands of years, to preach the dignity of labor, while taking care themselves to remain undignified in this respect. The other is the new pleasure in mechanism, which makes us delight in the astonishingly clever changes that we can produce on the earth's surface. Neither of these motives makes any great appeal to the actual worker. If you ask him what he thinks the best part of his life, he is not likely to say: "I enjoy manual work because it makes me feel that I am fulfilling man's noblest task, and because I like to think how much man can transform his planet. It is true that my body demands periods of rest, which I have to fill in as best I may, but I am never so happy as when the morning comes and I can return to the toil from which my contentment springs.
”
”
Bertrand Russell (In Praise of Idleness)
“
The essential point was that Cicero for the first time laid out his political credo in black and white, and I can summarise it in a sentence: that politics is the most noble of all callings (“there is really no other occupation in which human virtue approaches more closely the august function of the gods”); that there is “no nobler motive for entering public life than the resolution not to be ruled by wicked men”; that no individual, or combination of individuals, should be allowed to become too powerful; that politics is a profession, not a pastime for dilettantes (nothing is worse than rule by “clever poets”); that a statesman should devote his life to studying “the science of politics, in order to acquire in advance all the knowledge that it may be necessary for him to use at some future time”; that authority in a state must always be divided; and that of the three known forms of government—monarchy, aristocracy and people—the best is a mixture of all three, for each one taken on its own can lead to disaster: kings can be capricious, aristocrats self-interested, and “an unbridled multitude enjoying unwonted power more terrifying than a conflagration or a raging sea.
”
”
Robert Harris (Dictator)
“
Neville Chamberlain, commented in a private letter on the persecution of German Jews: ‘I believe the persecution arose out of two motives: a desire to rob the Jews of their money and a jealousy of their superior cleverness.’ Chamberlain continued: ‘No doubt Jews aren’t a lovable people; I don’t care about them myself; but that is not sufficient to explain the Pogrom.’37
”
”
Martin Gilbert (The Holocaust)
“
It is unimpressive to interrupt another person while they are talking. Interrupting someone in mid-sentence demonstrates that your focus is on yourself, not the person talking. I had a friend who used a humorous retort whenever someone would interrupt him. He would graciously, albeit sarcastically, say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to speak while you were interrupting.” It always got a laugh, yet he was cleverly letting the intruder know of his infraction without being too confrontational.
”
”
Susan C. Young (The Art of Action: 8 Ways to Initiate & Activate Forward Momentum for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #4))
“
Gruber had none of these motives. Gruber’s candor about Obamacare was not caused by the desire to be a whistle-blower nor by a drinking spree nor by the prospect of gain. Rather, it was caused by Gruber’s arrogance. The man is a smug self-promoter who wanted to take credit for his participation in a clever racket. Speaking to fellow academics and liberal political activists, Gruber apparently thought he was in a room of thieves cackling about the latest heist they had pulled off. He thought he was swapping notes with others who were “in” on the con.
”
”
Dinesh D'Souza (Stealing America: What My Experience with Criminal Gangs Taught Me about Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party)
“
Scientists will discover a weak correlation between A and B, assuming C under D conditions. The university PR office will then post something for immediate release: ‘Scientists Find Potential Link Between A and B (under certain conditions)’. News organisations will pick it up and publish, ‘A causes B, say scientists’, which will then be read by The Internets and turned into ‘A causes B - ALL THE TIME!’ Which will then be picked up by TV shows that run stories like ‘A ... A Killer Among Us??’ All of this eventually leads to your grandma getting all weird about A.
”
”
Jason Fox (The Game Changer: How to Use the Science of Motivation with the Power of Game Design to Shift Behaviour, Shape Culture and Make Clever Happen)
“
If you appreciate competence,
you will appreciate performance.
If you appreciate performance,
you will appreciate cleverness.
If you appreciate cleverness,
you will appreciate brilliance.
If you appreciate brilliance,
you will appreciate excellence.
If you despise laziness,
you will despise carelessness.
If you despise carelessness,
you will despise negligence.
If you despise negligence,
you will despise amateurishness.
If you despise amateurishness,
you will despise ineffectiveness.
If you cherish alertness,
you will cherish attentiveness.
If you cherish attentiveness,
you will cherish resourcefulness.
If you cherish resourcefulness,
you will cherish productiveness.
If you cherish productiveness,
you will cherish progress.
If you loathe weakness,
you will loathe fearfulness.
If you loathe fearfulness,
you will loathe cowardliness.
If you loathe cowardliness,
you will loathe spinelessness.
If you loathe spinelessness,
you will loathe unproductiveness.
If you treasure firmness,
you will treasure dominance.
If you treasure dominance,
you will treasure eminence.
If you treasure eminence,
you will treasure influence.
If you treasure influence,
you will treasure confidence.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
With his uncanny lame instinct for publicity, he had become in four or five years one of the best known of the young `intellectuals'. Where the intellect came in, Connie did not quite see. Clifford was really clever at that slightly humorous analysis of people and motives which leaves everything in bits at the end. But it was rather like puppies tearing the sofa cushions to bits; except that it was not young and playful, but curiously old, and rather obstinately conceited. It was weird and it was nothing. This was the feeling that echoed and re-echoed at the bottom of Connie's soul: it was all flag, a wonderful display of nothingness; At the same time a display. A display! a display! a display!
”
”
D.H. Lawrence (Lady Chatterley's Lover)
“
Epictetus agrees with Seneca regarding God’s goals. At one point in his Discourses, he imagines a conversation in which God explains why humans experience setbacks: If it had been possible, Epictetus, I [God] would have ensured that your poor body and petty possessions were free and immune from hindrance. But as things are, you mustn’t forget that this body isn’t truly your own, but is nothing more than cleverly moulded clay. But since I couldn’t give you that, I’ve given you a certain portion of myself, this faculty of motivation to act and not to act, of desire and aversion, and, in a word, the power to make proper use of impressions; if you pay good heed to this, and entrust all that you have to its keeping, you’ll never be hindered, never obstructed, and you’ll never groan, never find fault, and never flatter anyone at all.
”
”
William B. Irvine (The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient)
“
So. I see where you're going—bus number 27 to a crossroads near Delphi. Look, I did not want, at any point, on any level, to kill my own father and sleep with my own mother. It's true that I wanted to sleep with Susan—and did so many times—and for a number of years thought of killing Gordon Macleod, but that is another part of the story. Not to put too fine a point on it, I think the Oedipus myth is precisely what it started off as: melodrama rather than psychology. In all my years of life I've never met anyone to whom it might apply.
You think I'm being naive? You wish to point out that human motivation is deviously buried, and hides its mysterious workings from those who blindly submit to it? Perhaps so. But even—especially—Oedipus didn't want to kill his father and sleep with his mother, did he? Oh yes he did! Oh no he didn't! Yes, let's just leave it as a pantomime exchange.
”
”
Julian Barnes (The Only Story)
“
Nearly a century ago, French engineer Max Ringelmann (reported by Kravitz & Martin, 1986) found that the collective effort of tug-of-war teams was but half the sum of the individual efforts. Contrary to the presumption that “in unity there is strength,” this suggested that group members may actually be less motivated when performing additive tasks. Maybe, though, poor performance stemmed from poor coordination—people pulling a rope in slightly different directions at slightly different times. A group of Massachusetts researchers led by Alan Ingham (1974) cleverly eliminated that problem by making individuals think others were pulling with them, when in fact they were pulling alone. Blindfolded participants were assigned the first position in the apparatus and told,
“Pull as hard as you can.” They pulled 18 percent harder when they knew they
were pulling alone than when they believed that behind them two to five people
were also pulling.
”
”
David G. Myers (Social Psychology)
“
Rule by decree has conspicuous advantages for the domination of far-flung territories with heterogeneous populations and for a policy of oppression. Its efficiency is superior simply because it ignores all intermediary stages between issuance and application, and because it prevents political reasoning by the people through the withholding of information. It can easily overcome the variety of local customs and need not rely on the necessarily slow process of development of general law. It is most helpful for the establishment of a centralized administration because it overrides automatically all matters of local autonomy. If rule by good laws has sometimes been called the rule of wisdom, rule by appropriate decrees may rightly be called the rule of cleverness. For it is clever to reckon with ulterior motives and aims, and it is wise to understand and create by deduction from generally accepted principles.
Government by bureaucracy has to be distinguished from the mere outgrowth and deformation of civil services which frequently accompanied the decline of the nation-state—as, notably, in France. There the administration has survived all changes in regime since the Revolution, entrenched itself like a parasite in the body politic, developed its own class interests, and become a useless organism whose only purpose appears to be chicanery and prevention of normal economic and political development. There are of course many superficial similarities between the two types of bureaucracy, especially if one pays too much attention to the striking psychological similarity of petty officials. But if the French people have made the very serious mistake of accepting their administration as a necessary evil, they have never committed the fatal error of allowing it to rule the country—even though the consequence has been that nobody rules it. The French atmosphere of government has become one of inefficiency and vexation; but it has not created and aura of pseudomysticism.
And it is this pseudomysticism that is the stamp of bureaucracy when it becomes a form of government. Since the people it dominates never really know why something is happening, and a rational interpretation of laws does not exist, there remains only one thing that counts, the brutal naked event itself. What happens to one then becomes subject to an interpretation whose possibilities are endless, unlimited by reason and unhampered by knowledge. Within the framework of such endless interpretive speculation, so characteristic of all branches of Russian pre-revolutionary literature, the whole texture of life and world assume a mysterious secrecy and depth. There is a dangerous charm in this aura because of its seemingly inexhaustible richness; interpretation of suffering has a much larger range than that of action for the former goes on in the inwardness of the soul and releases all the possibilities of human imagination, whereas the latter is consistently checked, and possibly led into absurdity, by outward consequence and controllable experience.
”
”
Hannah Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism)
“
My dear readers, I find myself perplexed by the phantoms that now inhabit our veins and perpetually whisper in our ears. These specters are always watching, their formless eyes casting judgement upon our every thought and action. They stalk us behind screens and within circuits, gathering each tidbit we release into the ether to build their ever-growing profiles of our souls.
Through these ghastly portals, our lives have become performance. Each waking moment an opportunity to curate our images and broadcast our cleverness. Nuance has fled in favor of hashtag and like, while meaning has been diced into 280 characters or less.
Substance is sacrificed at the altar of shareability, as we optimize each motive and emotion to become more digestible digital content. Authenticity now lives only in offline obscurity, while our online avatars march on endlessly, seeking validation through numbers rather than depth.
What secrets remain unshared on these platforms of glass? What mysteries stay concealed behind profiles and pose? Have we traded intimacy for influence, and true understanding for audience engagement?
I fear these shadow networks breed narcissism and foster loneliness, masked as connection. That the sum of a life’s joys and sorrows can now be reduced to a reel of carefully selected snippets says little of the richness that once was.
So follow the phantoms that stalk you if you will, but do not forget that which still breathes beneath the screens. There you will find humanity, flawed but whole, beautiful in its imperfection and trajectory undefined by likes or loves.
The lanterns may flicker and fade, but the darkness that remains has always held truth. Look deeper than the glow, and know that which can never be shared or measured, only felt.
In mystery,
Your friend,
Edgar Allan Poe
(Poe talking about social media)
”
”
Edgar Allan Poe
“
Laughter, then, shows us the boundaries that language is too shy to make explicit. In this way, humor can be extremely useful for exploring the boundaries of the social world. The sparks of laughter illuminate what is otherwise murky and hard to pin down with precision: the threshold between safety and danger, between what’s appropriate and what’s transgressive, between who does and doesn’t deserve our empathy. In fact, what laughter illustrates is precisely the fact that our norms and other social boundaries aren’t etched in stone with black-and-white precision, but ebb and shift through shades of gray, depending on context. For this task, language just doesn’t cut it. It’s too precise, too quotable, too much “on the record”—all of which can be stifling and oppressive, especially when stated norms are too strict. In order to communicate in this kind of environment, we (clever primates) turn to a medium that gives us “wiggle room” to squirm out of an accusation, to defy any sticklers who would try to hold us accountable.
”
”
Kevin Simler (The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life)
“
The sole purpose of these two teams is to ensure that we stay true to the high-quality bar set by the founders. If you start a company or team, you know exactly what you are looking for in a new hire: someone just as motivated, clever, interesting, and passionate as you are about the new venture. And the first few people you hire will meet that standard. But they in turn won’t uniformly hire to the same standard as you, not because they are bad or incompetent people, but because they won’t have precisely the same understanding of what you are looking for.
”
”
Laszlo Bock (Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead)
“
The Primary Fear For some it is strong, persistent, always there. For others, the fear strikes infrequently and intermittently, but remains powerful: on some deep level, I am not something enough as a person. I am not smart enough. I am not good-looking enough. I am not attractive enough. I am not strong enough. I am not clever enough. I am not successful enough. I am not motivated enough. I am not rich enough. And because I am not enough in this way, I will not be loved. People will not accept me. They will judge me, mock me, and reject me. I will lose connection and be isolated and alone.
”
”
Aziz Gazipura (The Solution To Social Anxiety: Break Free From The Shyness That Holds You Back)
“
While the family and servants gathered reverently to view the magnificent creation, Kathleen took West’s arm and tugged him out of the room. “Something is going on here,” she said. “I want to know the real reason why the earl has invited Mr. Winterborne.”
They stopped in the space beneath the grand staircase, behind the tree.
“Can’t he show hospitality to a friend without an ulterior motive?” West parried.
She shook her head. “Everything your brother does has an ulterior motive. Why has he invited Mr. Winterborne?”
“Winterborne has his finger in many pies. I believe Devon hopes to benefit from his advice, and at some future date enter into a business deal with him.”
That sounded reasonable enough. But her intuition still warned that there was something fishy about the situation. “How did they become acquainted?”
“About three years ago, Winterborne was nominated for membership at two different London clubs, but was rejected by both of them. Winterborne is a commoner, his father was a Welsh grocer. So after hearing the sniggering about how Winterborne had been refused, Devon arranged to have our club, Brabbler’s, offer a membership to him. And Winterborne never forgets a favor.”
“Brabbler’s?” Kathleen repeated. “What an odd name.”
“It’s the word for a fellow who tends to argue over trifles.” West looked down and rubbed at a sticky spot of sap on the heel of his hand. “Brabbler’s is a second-tier club for those who aren’t allowed into White’s or Brooks’s, but it includes some of the most successful and clever men in London.”
“Such as Mr. Winterborne.”
“Just so.
”
”
Lisa Kleypas (Cold-Hearted Rake (The Ravenels, #1))
“
7 Outstanding Tips for Banner Printing
Choosing to produce a printed banner is a fantastic way to maximize your promotional requirements, it helps you to give maximum stand out and showcase your brand. There are a range of options from large PVC banners to simple roller banner solutions to suit all purposes of banner printing. Let’s look at some important points that can help you to make the most out of your printed banner.
1. Use High resolution images
While going for banner printing, having good quality images is imperative. If you carry your own camera, then your camera should be able to take decent quality images, but be careful with images from the internet. Not only could you infringe copyright law but the quality is usually quite poor.
2. Clever use of color
Your banner printing should be such that maximizes the use of color. Imagine the environment, where will your banner be positioned? What does your competition look like? Then, you can use color to ensure that you stand out from the crowd. If you are an established business, be sure to use your brand colors and clearly position your logo towards the top of the banner, this will make sure you develop a consistent brand identity throughout your marketing material.
3. Count your words
Using a large amount of written text can look busy, messy and be off putting to your audience. Try to work out on your key message or brand values and make the banner big and bold. A short & striking message or a graphic will work a hundred times better than a hundred words. The banner printing is meant to grab attention of the viewer, not bore them.
4. Reveal your benefit
Succinctly convey your key benefit in your banner headline. Do you have the best price? The best service? The best quality product? Whatever it is, make your banner printing known, specific to your audience and make it centralized.
5. Include an offer
Make a time – limited offer to motivate customers to respond quickly. Your offer might even be included in your headline to simplify your banner.
6. Create a memorable call to action
Make it clear what customers should do next in order to take advantage of your special offer. Your call to action should be succinct as well as memorable, such as an easy-to-remember URL or phone number. Remember that potential customers will only have a few seconds to digest your banner, so they must be able to retain the action step at a glance.
7. Less is more
It is a simple rule but one that makes all the difference. It is very tempting to use a banner to get across every possible message and cram it full of content and images, however from an end user perspective big, bold and simple messaging and graphics is the most effective way to grab attention as well as looking professional and confident.
”
”
printfast
“
Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.
”
”
Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose)
“
Today we are suffering because those who know better choose not to entertain politics and those who don’t know. The ones without integrity choose to sing the tune and praises of the one who gives them money, who feeds them or who promised to give them something. They see corruption as connections.
Oppositions as spies, agencies, puppet masters, proxies, sellouts, stogies or clever blacks.
Accountability to them means they are being targeted and hated. They choose to see themselves and those they support as victims when they must answer for their crimes or wrongdoings.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
Where schools or education systems can find individuals who are already intrinsically motivated to do the work required, or who already have a strong sense of purpose and belief in the importance of education (and who have therefore internalised the same goals as the school), good things come of it: positive work-related attitudes, effective performance, job satisfaction and psychological well-being. In order for this to happen, teachers need to feel that they are autonomous, and they are performing certain actions, like professional development, because they want to, not because they are being forced to. This is what makes Singapore's teaching career structure so clever.
”
”
Lucy Crehan (Cleverlands: The secrets behind the success of the world's education superpowers)
“
What are the features of conspiracy theories that distinguish them from scientific theories? One, the conspiratorial theory is often vague about the motives of the behind-the-scenes leaders or assigns them implausible motivations. Two, it assumes that they are extremely clever and knowledgeable. Three, it places power in the hands of one strong leader or a tiny cabal. And, finally, it assumes that illegal plans can be kept secret for indefinitely long periods of time. A scientific theory, like the class-domination one, is very different.
”
”
Peter Turchin (End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration)
“
But that’s all I had ever really given the evidence: a cursory look. I had read just enough philosophy and history to find support for my skepticism—a fact here, a scientific theory there, a pithy quote, a clever argument. Sure, I could see some gaps and inconsistencies, but I had a strong motivation to ignore them: a self-serving and immoral lifestyle that I would be compelled to abandon if I were ever to change my views and become a follower of Jesus. As far as I was concerned, the case was closed. There was enough proof for me to rest easy with the conclusion that the divinity of Jesus was nothing more than the fanciful invention of superstitious people. Or so I thought.
”
”
Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus)
“
Time is the most frequent obstacle to change that my clients name. Luckily, it comes in small increments. It can be broken down and taken back in pocket-sized, clever little nuggets: one minute, five minutes, fifteen minutes at a time.
”
”
Sarah Hays Coomer (The Habit Trip: A Fill-in-the-Blank Journey to a Life on Purpose)
“
A clever person learns from other’s mistakes, a sane person learns from his own mistakes, a foolish person keeps on making the same mistakes.
”
”
Anubhav Srivastava (Inspirational Sayings: Get Super Motivated and Achieve Amazing Success through Inspirational Sayings!)
“
When you're alone, keep an eye on your thoughts—they tend to throw wild parties when unsupervised. When you're successful, watch your ego—nobody likes a braggart with a ballooned head. Got problems? Keep your emotions in check—meltdowns are best reserved for ice cream. And when you're in a crowd, mind your words—foot-in-mouth syndrome is real and highly contagious. Master these, and you'll navigate life like a pro, with a grin and a clever retort always at the ready.
”
”
Life is Positive
“
What I find clever about prize-linked savings programs is that they wed people’s immediate temptation to gamble with their long-run aspirations to save. The underlying idea is that we can motivate ourselves in the present to do something that is good for ourselves in the future. This seems to me the flip side of setting near-term targets—instead, it’s finding ways to lure ourselves to stay on the long course.
”
”
Bina Venkataraman (The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age)
“
Jeg innså dumhetens uvurderlige betydning for alt åndelig arbeide - den sunne, medfødte eller ervervede, firkantete, jernbeslåtte dumhet, som sikrer sin mann mot hvert gløtt utenom hans eget verk eller bakenom hans egne motiver. Å, du herlige, sterke, hardføre dumhet, vikingen blant menneskets dyder, som verner mot selverkjennelse, vantro, fortvilelse og andre skammelige synder og laster, og i steden føder og fremelsker allslags forfengelighet. Du er i sannhet grunnlaget for all flid og fremgang i det åndelige.
”
”
Sigurd Hoel (Sinners in Summertime)
“
Gentle Sir Conan, I'll venture that few have been
Half as prodigiously lucky as you have been.
Fortune, the flirt! has been wondrously kind to you.
Ever beneficent, sweet and refined to you.
Doomed to the practise of physic and surgery,
Yet, growing weary of pills and physicianing,
Off to the Arctic you packed, expeditioning.
Roving and dreaming, Ambition, that heady sin,
Gave you a spirit too restless for medicine:
That, I presume, as Romance is the quest of us,
Made you an Author-the same as the rest of us.
Ah, but the rest of us clamor distressfully,
"How do you manage the game so successfully?
Tell us, disclose to us how under Heaven you
Squeeze from the inkpot so splendid a revenue!"
Then, when you'd published your volume that vindicates
England's South African raid (or the Syndicate's),
Pleading that Britain's extreme bellicosity
Wasn't (as most of us think) an atrocity
Straightaway they gave you a cross with a chain to it
(Oh, what an honor! I could not attain to it,
Not if I lived to the age of Methusalem!)
Made you a knight of St. John of Jerusalem!
Faith! as a teller of tales you've the trick with you!
Still there's a bone I've been wanting to pick with you:
Holmes is your hero of drama and serial:
All of us know where you dug the material!
Whence he was moulded-'tis almost a platitude;
Yet your detective, in shameless ingratitude
Sherlock your sleuthhound with motives ulterior
Sneers at Poe's "Dupin" as "very inferior!"
Labels Gaboriau's clever "Lecoq," indeed,
Merely "a bungler," a creature to mock, indeed!
This, when your plots and your methods in story owe
More than a trifle to Poe and Gaboriau,
Sets all the Muses of Helicon sorrowing.
Borrow, Sir Knight, but in decent borrowing!
Still let us own that your bent is a cheery one,
Little you've written to bore or to weary one,
Plenty that's slovenly, nothing with harm in it,
Give me detective with brains analytical
Rather than weaklings with morals mephitical
Stories of battles and man's intrepidity
Rather than wails of neurotic morbidity!
Give me adventures and fierce dinotheriums
Rather than Hewlett's ecstatic deliriums!
Frankly, Sir Conan, some hours I've eased with you
And, on the whole, I am pretty well pleased with you
”
”
Arthur Guiterman
“
While a rich man cannot have more than 1440 minutes a day, a clever man makes more time by using OPM or Other Peoples Minutes.-RVM
”
”
R.V.M.
“
While a rich man cannot have more than 1440 minutes a day, a clever man makes more time by using OPM or Other People's Minutes.-RVM
”
”
R.V.M.
“
Elinor had not needed this to be assured of the injustice to which her sister was often led in her opinion of others, by the irritable refinement of her own mind, and the too great importance placed by her on the delicacies of a strong sensibility and the graces of a polished manner. Like half the rest of the world, if more than half there be that are clever and good, Marianne, with excellent abilities and an excellent disposition, was neither reasonable nor candid. She expected from other people the same opinions and feelings as her own, and she judged of their motives by the immediate effect of their actions on herself.
”
”
Jane Austen (Sense & Sensibility)
“
But in my case, eyewitness testimony was unreliable because I have an identical twin sister. No one who didn’t know us well could tell us apart. If the witnesses couldn’t be sure that it was me they’d seen and not Taryn, that would constitute reasonable doubt. Plus, Taryn had a potential motive, a history of drug use, defined by the constant need for cash. When I presented this as a possible strategy to Julio he was doubtful. “The jury is never going to buy that,” he told me. “It will work,” I insisted. “I’m the client, and it’s my life, so it’s my decision. I’m paying you to do as I ask.” Julio wasn’t happy, but he had no choice. It was easier to persuade Taryn. Being twins, we had an indelible bond, even if our lives had diverged. I knew she’d do anything to help, but I had to make sure she felt comfortable. I brought along my research materials to show her the overriding importance of reasonable doubt. “We hear that phrase on TV, but it’s for real. It means that the jury has to be 100 percent convinced I did it,” I explained. “So you’re saying that since we’re twins, the witnesses can’t be positive who they saw. That’s clever.” Then she looked worried. “Will I get arrested?” “No, because the witnesses and evidence say it’s me. The Feds can’t suddenly change the evidence to point to you. And the witnesses can’t tell us apart to say who really did what.
”
”
Tanya Smith (Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million)
“
Sad but sometimes clever"
Difficult to describe my sadness;
It broadens the vibe of madness;
Yet not all proscribe of alertness;
Running the bribe awkwardness;
I knew people ascribe bitterness;
Not good, step imbibe blindness;
My mouth diatribe I do calmness;
Hush feels jibe in our cleverness;
”
”
Aron Micko H.B
“
Another way to remain calm is to stop your barking dog from trying to control everyone around you. The more controlling it is, the more you’ll fight with life and everyone in it. Sometimes you aren’t even aware when your ego is controlling you. It cleverly tries to fake you out and make you believe you are spiritually motivated when, in fact, it’s only more of the same old ego stuff in disguise. Here’s a clue: If you are spirit-led, things run peacefully. If you are ego-driven, there’s usually a struggle or fight. That’s how you tell who is running the show.
”
”
Sonia Choquette (Trust Your Vibes (Revised Edition): Live an Extraordinary Life by Using Your Intuitive Intelligence)
“
No matter how long and how dark and how cold the winter, the spring always comes.
”
”
Sophie Cleverly (A Case of Grave Danger (The Violet Veil Mysteries, #1))
“
Like half the rest of the world, if more than half there be that are clever and good, Marianne, with excellent abilities and an excellent disposition, was neither reasonable nor candid. She expected from other people the same opinions and feelings as her own, and she judged of their motives by the immediate effect of their actions on herself.
”
”
Jane Austen (Jane Austen: The Complete Collection)
“
You’ll see,” he said, pacing the room. “You think they’re powerful—those giants of industry who’re so clever with motors and furnaces? They’ll be stopped! They’ll be stripped! They’ll be brought down! They’ll be—” He noticed the way she was staring at him. “It’s not for ourselves,” he snapped hastily, “it’s for the people. That’s the difference between business and politics—we have no selfish ends in view, no private motives, we’re not after profit, we don’t spend our lives scrambling for money, we don’t have to! That’s why we’re slandered and misunderstood by all the greedy profit-chasers who can’t conceive of a spiritual motive or a moral ideal or . . . We couldn’t help it!” he cried suddenly, whirling to her. “We had to have that plan! With everything falling to pieces and stopping, something had to be done! We had to stop them from stopping! We couldn’t help it!
”
”
Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)
“
It's not for us to say what is motive enough for a person. what might be a minor annoyance to us could mean murder to someone else...
”
”
Katy Watson (The Three Dahlias (Three Dahlias Mysteries, #1))
“
Caution, folks! This package comes with a "handle with care" label, but let me tell you, I'm not just fragile glass; I'm a delicate balance of wit, charm, and cleverness. Treat me like a precious gem, and you'll unlock a treasure trove of laughter and amusement. But beware, mishandle me, and you might unleash a whirlwind of snarky comebacks! So, be gentle, be kind, and prepare for an adventure with this quirky, witty wonder!
”
”
lifeispositive.com
“
I can totally understand why someone in Paris or London or Berlin might not like the president; I don't like the president, either. But don't those people read the newspaper? It's not like Bush ran unopposed. Over 57 million people voted against him. Moreover, half of this country doesn't vote at all; they just happen to live here. So if someone hates the entire concept of America—or even if someone likes the concept of America—based solely on his or her disapproval (or support) of some specific US policy, that person doesn't know much about how the world works. It would be no different that someone in Idaho hating all of Brazil, simply because their girlfriend slept with some dude who happened to speak Portuguese.
In the days following the election, I kept seeing links to websites like www(dot)sorryeverybody(dot)com, which offered a photo of a bearded idiot holding up a piece of paper that apologized to the rest of the planet for the election of George W. Bush. I realize the person who designed this website was probably doing so to be clever, and I suspect his motivations were either (a) mostly good or (b) mostly self-serving. But all I could think when I saw it was, This is so pathetic. It's like this guy on this website is actually afraid some anonymous stranger in Tokyo might not unconditionally love him (and for reasons that have nothing to do with either of them)...now I am not saying that I'm somehow happy when people in other countries blindly dislike America. It's just that I'm not happy if they love us, either. I don't think it matters. The kind of European who hates the United States in totality is exactly like the kind of American who hates Europe in totality; both people are unsophisticated, and their opinions aren't valid. But our society will never get over this fear; there will always be people in this country who are devastated by the premise of foreigners hating Americans in a macro sense. And I'm starting to think that's because too many Americans are dangerously obsessed with being liked.
”
”
Chuck Klosterman (Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas)
“
Competent among own people, kind with other people, wickedly-clever always towards evil people, loving towards good people, arrogant with base people, guileless with learned people, courageous against enemies, forgiving towards elders, and cunning with women; in these arts, that man who is skilful, in him the regard of the people is established.
”
”
Rajen Jani (Old Chanakya Strategy: Aphorisms)
“
Talent is intelligent, brilliance is clever, genius is wise.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
In an economy that prizes immediacy and flexibility, how do we manage time? In a culture that values autonomy and self-reliance, how do we motivate ourselves? In a world in which material excess is now as much a problem as deficiency, how do we relate to stuff? In a period of increasing uncertainty but ubiquitous monitoring, how do we know what really works? When others are within a finger's reach on our devices, how ought we connect and relate to one another? When we realize that nothing, even the most clever hacks, will save us from uncertainty and loss, how do we find meaning in life? (*Hacking Life*, p. 10 )
”
”
Joseph Reagle
“
you may have noticed a couple of unnerving things about the relationship between your thoughts and the truth: first, you can’t always believe what comes out of your own mouth, and second you can’t even always trust what you think. Our capacity and creativity for psychological avoidance, rationalization, and self-deception is awesome. Even the sharpest intellects are often way off when it comes to insight into their own psyche and motivations. In fact, sometimes the more clever you are, the more ingenious your rationalizations are.
”
”
Marshall Glickman (Beyond the Breath: Extraordinary Mindfulness Through Whole-Body Vipassana Meditation)
“
It is very easy to create problems , rather than creating solutions, because you don’t have to think, and you don’t have to be a genius or smart either. So, don’t tell yourself that you are clever, when you are creating problems for others.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
Suppose a top politician, entertainment figure, or sports star said it didn't really matter who shot Lincoln or why, who attacked Pearl Harbor, the Alamo or the USS Liberty. Imagine the derision. Imagine the ridicule. Imagine the loss in credibility and marketing revenue. Now imagine if a well-respected academic 'who should know better' said exactly the same thing. It doesn't really matter who committed a great crime; history had nothing to teach us; we should never waste precious time trying to apprehend the perpetrators, nor understand their motives but focus only on the outcome of their foul deeds.
Well, that is exactly what Noam Chomsky appears to believe. Do not focus on the plot or the plotters or the clever planning of any crime but only the aftermath. Strangely, I had always thought linguistics was the scientific study of language rather than a lame attempt at disinformation.
”
”
Douglas Herman
“
While a rich man cannot have more than 1440 minutes a day, a clever man makes more time by using OPM or Other People's Minutes.
”
”
R.V.M.
“
You are not as clever as you think. You are just getting away with fooling people who don't know any better.
”
”
De philosopher DJ Kyos
“
Before delivering a presentation, a salesperson might ask himself positive outcome questions that sound like this: Am I going to deliver a compelling pitch? Are they likely to buy from me? Will they be satisfied with their purchase? As it turns out, the very act of asking the questions is magical. In their fascinating paper “Motivating Goal-Directed Behavior through Introspective Self-Talk: The Role of the Interrogative Form of Simple Future Tense,” researchers Ibrahim Senay, Dolores Albarracín, and Kenji Noguchi describe the surprising results of a clever experiment they conducted in 2010. Participants were led to believe that the researchers were “interested in people’s handwriting practices” and asked to write one of the following four words or phrases twenty times: “I,” “Will,” “Will I,” or “I will.” Once the writing task was completed, they were given a series of word puzzles to solve. The group that wrote the interrogative phrase “Will I” outperformed all three other groups in the word-puzzles task by nearly double.
”
”
Tim David (Magic Words: The Science and Secrets Behind Seven Words That Motivate, Engage, and Influence)