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Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by Bruce Lee, who I knew by the movie 'Enter the Dragon'. His dynamic actions enthralled my heart. I found a quote by or paraphrased/used by Bruce Lee in Wikipedia.

Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.

I learnt that this quote could have been from J.Krishnamurty paraphrased by Lee. Yet, I started to wonder what would have been the thought foundation of Bruce Lee who has mastered his body and mind in such a way that they operate in so much unison ( those dynamic fight scenes!...how can one forget? )

Tracing Bruce Lee on Wikipedia, I found some more quotes by him or which inspired him. I have mentioned the ones that I liked below. Tribute to Bruce Lee and thanks to Wikipedia for the online collection of such good information.

To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.

Time means a lot to me because, you see, I, too, am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing and simplifying. If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

Life is better lived than conceptualized.

Cease negative mental chattering. — If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.

You can read the rest and more at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

We cannot think first and act afterward. From the moment of birth we are immersed in action, and can only fitfully guide it by taking thought.

- Alfred North Whitehead

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

- Anais Nin

Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not.

- Dhammapada

We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts.

- Harrold Nicolson

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

- Helen Keller

Tribute to all the authors for their timeless quotes of wisdom.

Thanks to www.wisdomquotes.com for the online version.

I was looking for some sample questions for an examination that I am preparing for. I found a website and there mentioned was a quote from Henry Ford.

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

Very impressed by this, I googled for more of his quotes and found the below. Tribute to Ford. Thanks to brainyquotes.com for the online version of these quotes and wikipedia for the image.

Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas. 
 

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.

We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today.

You don't build a reputation on what you're going to do.

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

Okie, Okay, Wokay, Okie Dokie

There are these many variations of OK that I know of. Curious, I googled to find about the origins of this word OK.

 Here below are some interesting information found, thanks to http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/ok

Some say it is derived from

* the Scots expression 'och aye', the Greek ola kala ('it is good'),

* the Choctaw Indian oke or okeh ('it is so'),

* the French aux Cayes ('from Cayes', a port in Haiti with a reputation for good rum)

*or au quai ('to the quay', as supposedly used by French-speaking dockers),

*or the initials of a railway freight agent called Obediah Kelly who is said to have written them on lading documents he had checked.

*The oldest written references to 'OK' result from its adoption as a slogan by the Democratic party during the American Presidential election of 1840. Their candidate, President Martin Van Buren, was nicknamed 'Old Kinderhook' (after his birthplace in New York State), and his supporters formed the 'OK Club'.

*During the late 1830s there had been a brief but widespread craze in the US for humorous misspellings, and the form orl korrekt which was among them could explain the initials 'OK'.

*This term could have been originated among slaves of West African origin, and represents a word meaning 'all right, yes indeed' in various West African languages.

* None of the above is conclusive, in terms of evidence.

OK? :-)

Thanks to Viktor Frankl and to brainyquotes.com for the online version of these quotes.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast.

Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.

I have heard from several sources that we use a miniscule portion of the brain and often references quoted that Einstein used a small portion ( comparatively higher than average human ).

Curious ,I googled and came across this site

http://www.enchantedmind.com/html/science/brain_capacity.html

to know that the author had not only the same doubt, but also has done some research to find out if such inferences are true.

The article is interesting and you may want to read it in full. It starts with Shakespeare's

"What a piece of work is a man!
How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculty,
in apprehension how like a god!."

I was looking to learn about the origin of stock exchanges / markets. I paid a visit to Wikipedia.

Some interesting Stats; Thanks to Wikipedia.

In 11th century France the courratiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. As these men also traded in debts, they could be called the first brokers.

In the middle of the 13th century, Venetian bankers began to trade in government securities. There were people in Pisa, Verona, Genoa and Florence who also began trading in government securities during the 14th century.

h later started joint stock companies, which let shareholders invest in business ventures and get a share of their profits - or losses.

In 1602, the Dutch East India Company issued the first shares on the Amster

In 1688, the trading of stocks began on a stock exchange in London.

I started to wonder that we are still clinging to the same old ways of building wealth. This wonder does not mean any disrespect to the ancient set up. It is because of the monotonous adherence to the medium of exchange and representation of wealth till date.

"An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind."

"Worry is a waste of emotional reserve."

"Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential."

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received--hatred. The great creators--the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors--stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The first airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won."

Thanks to Ayn Rand 

If we do what we did, we will get what we always got.

This simple message, yet so profound hit me in the back of my head. This message was hand written on a communication board in the office floor where I work.

This also reminded me of Einstein's  "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I never thought that Moscow would be the most costliest place in the world to live until I googled and found the information.

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm gives an extensive summary of the cost of living by ranking cities from several countries.

The strengthening of Euro and other currencies against the US dollar has moved several cities in countries other than from USA, up in their ranking and it is surprising to find that Beijing in China, ranked at 20th place.

The website also gives information on how long a person need to work to earn a Big Mac Burger. It is interesting to see the variance in different countries.

With the developed countries continue to move their production facilities to several Asian countries such as Malaysia, India, China, we can anticipate movements in these rankings every year I think!

Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Moscow for the picture. 

Yesterday morning, in the gym, I was viewing a picture of the human body with so many names of the muscles. I started to wonder about the discovery of man, about all these and how it would have commenced.

My wonder galloped to  the creativity of the Nature. All attempts of learning about the body, the so many developed products and methods to keep the body well, including medical science are great! Even great is the body itself and the work of nature in building it! Isn't it?

Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Skeletal_muscle.jpg for the image.

Today morning, my friend and I were talking about the sub prime crisis. Ever since I came to understand what it actually meant, I wondered on how all major banks bought into this 'idea' of money making. You can read about in wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_financial_crisis 

My friend explained to me that in certain countries, the situation is even bad where some of the salesmen who are so focused on selling the products of the bank, lie about very high interest loans in the name of 'personal loans'. Half of the loans given go 'default', but the rest half are obtained at the expense of the 'gullible' people who signed the loans without paying attention to the terribly high 'interest' rates that they accepted!

My friend went on adding his wonder about the financial industry. He said that he started reading about one financial product in wikipedia, followed the related link in the page that led to information about other financial product, then followed another link in the new page...Thus, he ended up reading about 50 products when he stopped. The related links did not stop; still many were left unread by him.

I started to wonder about the necessity to create that many variations in financial industry. It is true that man's creativity can and certainly has added variety to any field. When I thought about several products and the motive behind them, I started to suspect that  'greed' could also promote creativity in addition to 'need'!

I think Rumi says that the caller and called are one and the same. Atleast, that is my interpretation.

Okay; who is the caller? who is called? what is the call?

This beautiful poem by Rumi Be lost in the call is fully viewable at http://www.armory.com/~thrace/sufi/poems.html#BeLostintheCall

Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds?

Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you've never seen the face.

Has anyone ever produced a mirror out of mud and straw?

Yesterday in the Metro Transit displays, I witnessed this deeply thoughtful quote from George Bernard Shaw. It hooked on to my mind for a long time.

Life is not a "brief candle". It is a splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing on to future generations.

I googled for his quotes on life; Here below is what I found; Every quote is priceless. 

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

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