Good Timber Quotes

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life. ~ Douglas Malloch

The takeaway here is simple but powerful: just because you're great at something doesn't mean you're good at everything. Unfortunately, this fact is routinely ignored by those who engage in - take a deep breath - ultracrepidarianism, or the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one's knowledge or competence. ~ Steven D. Levitt

Her ability to use language, that thing that most separates humans from animals, was leaving her, and she was feeling less and less human as it departed. She's said a tearful good-bye to okay some time ago. ~ Lisa Genova

The main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family, being loved and learning to love in return. ~ Benjamin Spock

People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to ... rather than detracts from ... our lives. ~ Stephen Covey

To be claimed as a good, though in an improper style, is at least better than being rejected as no good at all. ~ Jane Austen

I just became exposed to the world, like the blinders had been removed. In typical good-kid fashion, I never really experienced the "bad" things I was around, but my awareness of them increased. ~ Connor Franta

God is good, not in some abstract, religious definition of the word "good." Not a "sit still, shut up and say your prayers" good. Not just "good for you" like cough medicine. God is really sweet, yummy to the tummy, delectable and exquisite-taste and see that the Lord is good! ~ John Crowder

Beautiful day out there," I said, perching on the stool and crossing my legs. "It's autumn, Sunday, great weather, and crowded everywhere you go. Relaxing indoors like this is the best thing you can do on such a nice day. It's exhausting to get into those crowds. And the air is bad. I mostly do laundry on Sundays - wash the stuff in the morning, hang it out on the roof of my dorm, take it in before the sun goes down, do a good job of ironing it. I don't mind ironing at all. There's a special satisfaction in making wrinkled things smooth. And I'm pretty good at it, too. Of course, I was lousy at it at first. I put creases in everything. After a month of practice, though, I knew what I was doing. So Sunday is my day for laundry and ironing. I couldn't do it today, of course. Too bad: wasted a perfect laundry day. ~ Haruki Murakami

Art, if it is successful in the task of questioning reality, if it is good painting and not merely a performance of dexterity, will be an affirmation of God. ~ Patrick Swift

It's tough when your brain and heart don't seem to agree. But I've found it's easier to change your mind than it is your heart. You should follow your heart, because a good heart makes a good person, whereas a good brain can still make a bad person. The Recruits all have good hearts - that's what makes us special. ~ Rob Buyea

Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It's what propels societies forward. ~ Melinda Gates

His goal was to be vigilant against " the bozo explosion" that leads to a company's being larded with second rate talent:

For most things in life, the range between best and average is 30% or so. The best airplane flight, the best meal, they may be 30% better than your average one. What I saw with Woz was somebody who was fifty times better than the average engineer. He could have meetings in his head. The Mac team was an attempt to build a whole team like that, A players. People said they wouldn't get along, they'd hate working with each other. But I realized that A players like to work with A players, they just didn't like working with C players. At Pixar, it was a whole company of A players. When I got back to Apple, that's what I decided to try to do. You need to have a collaborative hiring process. When we hire someone, even if they're going to be in marketing, I will have them talk to the design folks and the engineers. My role model was J. Robert Oppenheimer. I read about the type of people he sought for the atom bomb project. I wasn't nearly as good as he was, but that's what I aspired to do. ~ Walter Isaacson

These entities are clever enough to make Strieber think they care about him. Yet his torment by them never ceases. Whatever his relationship to the entities, and he increasingly concludes that their involvement with him is something 'good,' he also remains terrified of them and uncertain as to what they are. ~ John Ankerberg

Kat turned back to Hale. "The Mary Poppins?"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Oh. Yeah. Obviously. Just so we're clear, this master plan of yours ... "
"Might have a couple kinks to work through," Hale admitted, then reached for her hand. As soon as he touched her, Kat knew there was no such thing as curses. People make and break their own fortunes-they are the masters of their own fate. And right then Kat wouldn't have changed a thing.
She kissed him, quick and feather soft.
"What was that for?" he asked.
Kat placed her fingers on his face and brought his forehead close to hers, touching as she whispered, "For luck. ~ Ally Carter

I'm known enough that he's seen me nearly naked."
Dare's gaze lifted above her, no doubt to meet up with Trace's.
She heard Trace sigh, and felt his shrug. "Murray's orders."
Dare nodded in understanding.
Understanding! How in the world could he understand that? The big jerk.
"I'm known enough for him to take a picture of me almost naked, too." Priss scowled fiercely. "With his stupid cell phone. And he still has it!"
Trace stiffened behind her. "Damn it, Priss . . ."
Feeling braver by the second, she again left Trace's secure hold to confront Dare. "And I'm known enough that your good buddy has felt me up, twice."
That left eyebrow lifted to join the right. Dare shrugged. "If that's true - "
"It is!"
"Then I'm sure Trace had his reasons." He looked to Trace for confirmation.
Clearly growing irritated with her, not that she cared, Trace growled, "For the most part."
And damned if Dare's stony face didn't show her a quirk of a smile - there and gone. Her hands balled into fists and her neck stiffened. "Why, you - ~ Lori Foster

There are no easy words for the insights of the spirit, and approximate language used in good faith can cause approximate truths to spread like a disease. ~ Densey Clyne

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. ~ Ellen G. White

To think without a proper amount of good reading is to limit our thinking to our own tiny plot of ground. ~ A.W. Tozer

Camera-phones are like nuclear power plants: bad people will turn them into evil, good people will put them to good use. ~ Philippe Kahn

I spent a lot of time at the New York Public Library, the main branch. I was one of those people. If you ever spend a good amount of time there, you realize there are people who spend the entire day there. They're bookish homeless people. ~ Lisa Yuskavage

People see him as a hero. Not just in Zimbabwe or here in Zambia but across the whole of southern Africa. It's no good demonising Robert Mugabe. ~ Kenneth Kaunda

Being in touch with your sensuality is the greatest middle finger of all time. BE YOU. ~ Lebo Grand

I have a theory that life is gathering the raw materials, and when we die, we get to make patterns out of our lives and relive them in whatever order we want. That way I can spend forever repeating the days when I was really happy, and never have to experience any of the sad days. So that's how you live a really great life. You make sure you have enough good days that you want to go back to. ~ Robyn Schneider

The library was destroyed years back. My father-in-law used to say nothing burned so well on a cold winter's night as a good book. ~ Robert Harris

What I quickly learned after my diagnosis is that the world of a cancer patient has many parts and a good deal of uncertainty. ~ Tom Brokaw

We feel that we have to be right so that we can feel good. We don't want to be wrong because then we'll feel bad. But we could be more compassionate toward all these parts of ourselves. The whole right and wrong business closes us down and makes our world smaller. Wanting situations and relationships to be solid, permanent, and graspable obscures the pith of the matter, which is that things are fundamentally groundless. ~ Pema Chodron

Americans are crazy. They have this fascination with throwing their shoes on stage. I've been to a lot of shows in me life, some good and some bad. But I was never moved to take off me shoes and throw it at the lead singer. ~ Noel Gallagher

The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things ... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads. ~ Shelby Foote

But it wasn't that I wasn't big on socializing. It was that I wasn't very good at mingling. Small talk did nothing for me. Connecting in a vague way that was meaningless left me cold. ~ Kristen Ashley

When I was in New York, I took my bike everywhere for transportation. I didn't have a fixed-gear bicycle, like a lot of the messengers do, but I had a stripped-down deal - having lost a few good ones in New York - and I did 10 to 15 miles a day just getting around the city. ~ Thomas Gibson

I think that if advice is good it's the best comfort. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell

Every time we mention God we become theologians, and the only question is whether we are going to be good ones or bad ones. ~ J.I. Packer

Look at the past - empire succeeding empire - and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events. Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a thousand. Would you really see anything new? ~ Marcus Aurelius

Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not "This is misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune. ~ Marcus Aurelius

At Pixar, good ideas may be cut from a film, but they are never forgotten. ~ John Lasseter