Drawing isn’t work. It’s a form of prayer.
– Random sailor
True.
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Indeed, judging by Jefferson’s literary commonplace book, into which he copied passages from authors who had caught his attention, Maury immersed the young man in the classics. There are few better ways to study a literary passage than to write it out in one’s own hand, feeling each word and following the flow of thought.
– Thomas E. RicksRicks, Thomas E.. First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country. United States, HarperCollins, 2020. pp67
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Yet I had not been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first judgement, when I had drawn away from them at the Ferry pier, as though they had been unclean beasts. No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough they were, sure enough; and bad, I suppose; but they had many virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them, simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, and had some glimmerings of honesty.
– David BalfourFirst judgements can cloud truth.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Kidnapped. New York: Running Press, 1989. pp58
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Certainly read the whole piece, but here is the print-it-out-and-hang-it-above-your-monitor version:
Be audacious.
Do grunt work.
Do the boring things.
Learn undefined skills.
Work hard.
Bring a sense of urgency & move fast.
Improve things.
Ask your naive questions.
Simplify things.
Follow up.
Show up during the hard times.
Figure out the first step.
Finish things.
No excuses then?
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These Nat Hentoff excerpts are from the Sketches of Spain CD pamphlet.
Are Gil Evans’ contributions to Sketches of Spain overlooked? Forgotten?
Gil Evans has been an autodidact throughout his career. Almost entirely self-taught, he does not limit himself to what the books say can or cannot be done. “I have always,” says Gil, “learned though practical work. I didn’t learn any theory except through the practical use of it.”
– Nat HentoffThis description nudges you to lean in…
“In the studio, Gil Evans was checking the parts with his characteristically preoccupied look. A lean, graying 47, Gil looks like a gently aging diplomat who collects rare species of ferns on weekends.“
– Nat HentoffSketches of Spain sounds like one of those great Hollywood scores. You know it’s Jazz, but there is a cinematic, Lawrence of Arabia, type sound.
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Self Criticism
Curiosity
Concentration
Perseverance
to further appreciate the power of self-criticism, consider where lies the grave of that very “ungifted” undergraduate, Charles Darwin. It is in Westminster Abbey, right next to the headstone of Isaac Newton, perhaps the most gifted student who ever lived, honored on that headstone in eight Latin words constituting the most eloquent praise in all graveyard print: “Hic depositum est, quod mortal fuit Isaaci Newtoni” — “Here lies that which was mortal of Isaac Newton.
– Charlie MungerMunger, Charles T.. Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. N.p., Stripe Matter Incorporated. pp176
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Most people who are talented or smart are scared of doing things. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s more often than not the case. The ability to do scary things on their behalf is extremely powerful, both in terms of advancing the goal/project and also getting them to better utilize their talents.
– AdaobiIt’s early 2024, but Adaobi’s piece How to do things if you’re not that smart and don’t have any talent is my favorite on-line piece of the year.
Audacious: recklessly daring. – origin, from L. audax, audac- ‘bold’
I can’t help but think of this in terms of football, but I find being audacious helps build confidence. Having an approach of I’m going to take this defender on, regardless of the result, can help steady the nerves.
Applicable elsewhere I’m sure.
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There are people who think of a diner as just a place to get a meal, and then there are those of us who understand diners, who cherish them, who seek them out and settle into them. We are recharged by time spent in diners in the way that adults who emerged from happy childhoods are recharged by a visit to their parents’ home. Every diner is different; every diner is exactly the same. The ideal of a diner—its promise, its function—is not to be great but to be there.
– Helen RosnerHelen Rosner truly gets diners.
She’s right. All a diner needs to be, is there.
Rosner, Helen. “The Best Diners Are Still Just Diners: Old John’s.” The New Yorker, January 7, 2024. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-food-scene/the-best-diners-are-still-just-diners-old-johns.
Floodlights and Goalposts 