H.a.l. Quotes

H.A.L.T., I reminded myself. Hungry. Angry. Lonely. Tired. It was one of those Twelve Step clichés they’d endlessly repeated in treatment. Well, I was definitely all four of those. Which meant I needed to stop whatever it was I was doing and take care of myself.

Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon wave, only one great fact with respect to which, since it is unique, there can be no generalizations; only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.

H.A.L.T. – that would also serve investors very well. The acronym stands for hungry, angry, lonely, tired and is a reminder to abstain from making important decisions in any of these emotional states.

Don't accept my being alone for loneliness

My brother used to tell me, “Whenever you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, H-A-L-T.” That’s an instruction on refraining. Instead of barreling ahead and reverting to old patterns of blaming or judging or otherwise avoiding what we’re feeling, we allow space. We halt. We slow down the reactivity.

So despite their aim to find at least some meaningful patterns in history, it is probably true that many historians sympathize with the historian H. A. L. Fisher, who in 1935 concluded: Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another…and only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen….The ground gained by one generation may be lost by the next.8

Japan is known for its earthquakes. A quake releasing ten times as much energy leveled the city of Nobi in central Japan in 1891, and others struck in 1927, 1943, and 1948 at other locations. The intervals between these great earthquakes—thirty-five, sixteen, and five years—hardly form a simple, predictable sequence, as is typical of earthquakes everywhere. If the historian H. A. L. Fisher failed to see in history “a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern,” then so too have geophysicists failed utterly, despite immense effort, to discern any simple pattern in the Earth’s seismic activity. Modern scientists can chart the motions of distant comets or asteroids with stunning precision, yet something about the workings of the Earth makes predicting earthquakes extremely difficult, if not altogether impossible.

I would rather shovel manure with friends than serve chocolate with enemies.

I spelled my name across her clit. J-H-A-L-I-L. Marking my territory and claiming my victory.