- When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
Author: Unknown Monk 1100 A.D.
Humility. But it’s a trait bound up in age. So we’re fated to make the same realization time and again.
That's the tragedy of life. I think I wouldn't have made it this far in terms of personal development were it not for the people whose writing I was able to read up on on the Internet. A certain common knowledge base, with all the lessons in it, could make a big difference.
"new-age piffle" I have no problem with the sentiment. It's noble. It's good for you. But it isn't a thousand years old. "nations" are a concept that dates back to The Enlightenment, no earlier. If you search for the quote it's attributed to a 12th century monk about eight times in the past ten years. If you dig a little deeper they try and pin it on Israel Salanter, a 19th century German rabbi. If you dig deeper than that, they attribute it to Israel Salanter, an unknown 11th century monk. The two wolves is a cool parable, too, even if it came from Billy Graham.
Can I have one billion, please? I want to buy a new computer to play games on. That would be a damn fine computer, though. Could even run Crysis on maximum settings, probably.