QUOTATIONS

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner has practiced his faith and led for decades.  He's a regular contributor on NPR and in this week's episode, we explore a pearl of his wisdom from his 1977 book Honey from the Rock.  He compares each of us to incomplete puzzles, wholly dependent on others to complete our puzzle and us theirs.  

Pink Floyd is one of the most recognizable and unique-sounding bands of all time.  Their music is as memorable as it is haunting.  In today's episode, we explore the lyrics to Time, a hit from their Dark Side of the Moon album of 1973.  Time is precious.  

Renana Brooks is a practicing Psychologist and, in 2003, penned an article in The Nation entitled The Character Myth.  In it, she describes how a fallacious outward appearance of morality and character does not necessarily indicate character beneath.  This episode serves as a caution to us to be wary of those who claim to have "strong character" without the sustained, outward manifestations of tha...

Barbara Drescher is a cognitive psychologist and writer for Skeptic.com.  She is highly accomplished and published in her field and today's quote is all about rational behavior.  Sometimes we do stupid things, things we know better than to do, and yet we do them anyway.  Why? And more importantly HOW do we avoid doing them?  Drescher has a solution...escrow.  

Brian Greene is the Director of Columbia University's Center for Theoretical Physics and the Chairman of the World Science Festival.  In 2011, he published an article titled On Being a Physicist.  In it, Greene lays out how he came to love the sciences and desire to "push the rock" himself.  His words are motivating and give us meaning and purpose in our sometimes seemingly pointless and unending...

Nandini Sethi is a poet and lead fundraiser at Justice Without Borders.  She works tirelessly to raise money to help exploited and trafficked persons get what is rightfully theirs.  Not only is poetry excellent, but her work is noble.  I can't think of a better challenge to start the new year than the one she lays out in this poem.  

Happy New Year and welcome to 2023!  What's a better way to start the new year than another challenge from a great thinker of the last century?  Bertrand Russell was a logician and philosopher who was known for his eloquent dissent and even suffered some jail time for his beliefs.  But still, he kept on.  He warns us this episode that hate can ruin us and the world....

Frances "Fanny" Wright was a prolific feminist and abolitionist long before it was popular to be either.  She spoke on equality and liberty in the 19th century and did so with compelling words.  Her quote today is presented in challenge to "blind faith," though she did use that exact phrase.  She implores us to question what we believe and why we believe it.   This is not only wise, but a worthwhi...

Tom Stoppard is a highly acclaimed and accomplished playwriter and screenwriter.  He has even been knighted.  His expert ability to craft words on difficult topics into his plays is what makes him stand out to me.  The dramatic effect of his lines on the viewer is profound.  Today's quote is about sacred words and their power.  It strikes right at the heart of what this podcast is all about.  

Relationships can be wonderful while also being challenging.  We get the best and the worst of a partner the more time we spend with them.  Today's quote teaches us how to have the best relationship, marriage or otherwise, that we can with one simple action.  

Rush is a classic rock band from Canada with dozens of hits and a multi-decade career on the stage.  They knew first-hand the challenges of fame and notoriety.  While, on the outside, it might appear to be an easy life, it's not.  Their song Limelight lays that out and it is the topic of today's episode.  

Vivian Clayton is an accomplished professor and author in the field of geriatric neuropsychology.  She's studied what makes and keeps people smart and wise through their lives and into their old age.  Her words bring something we think we know into full clarity today.  Join me as we explore both intellect and wisdom.  

A centuries-old proverb from France is the subject of today's episode.  Who originated it, we may never know.  What we can know is that it holds a valuable lesson in humility for all of us.  

In this, the second in a series on Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator, I look at the second half of the closing speech, in which Chaplin's acting skills really shine.  His delivery is phenomenal, his words moving, and his message long-living.  His call for peace and justice and freedom is as valid and important today as it ever was.  

Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced and acted in dozens of films during a career that spanned more than seven decades.  In one of his most enduring and iconic films, The Great Dictator, Chaplin boldly denounces facism and dictatorial behavior in ways only he could.  His speech is so grand that we'll cover it in two episodes, the first of which focuses on the part of the speech related to the goodness...

Steven Novella is a neurologist and professor at Yale.  He is also a skeptic, steeped in science and doggedly in search of what's right over what's comfortable.  In this episode's quote, he cautions us to beware our emotions, lest they lead us to incorrect, simple conclusions that we then retroactively reinforce with our logic.   It is an important lesson for all of us.  

Daniel Burnham is one of the most accomplished American Architects of all time.  In addition to numerous buildings of note still standing today, he was also the driving force behind the 1892 Chicago World's Fair.  He made grand plans and set out to accomplish them, piece by painful piece.  His thoughts on how and why we make plans are the topic of today's episode.

John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States.  He also served multiple very long periods overseas doing the duties of his fledgling nation.  While he was away, he wrote to his wife often.  In a letter from 1780, while on assignment in France, Adams told his wife of all of the wonders of the city and then told her of the things he must do so that his children may live a better life than he...

Alex Honnold does what few others can or would even dare.  He climbs some of the world's most challenging rocks, hundreds and thousands of feet in the air, without safety equipment.  No ropes, no helmet, no crash pads.  To do this, Alex must perform at the highest levels of focus, skill, and determination.  We can learn a lot from him.  

Ralph Waldo Emerson's work Letters and Social Aims contains many words of wisdom.  They've survived the test of time, though not always in their original form.  Today we look at the true, original words of Emerson himself.  He reminds us that who we are is far more important than what we say.  

Winifred Holtby was an early 20th century feminist poet who wrote and edited numerous newspaper and famously, the feminist magazine Time & Tide.  Her poem, Boats in the Bay puts forth, in very easily understood prose, a challenge we all face.  

Ansel Adams captured a sense of awe in all of his photographs that lives on to today.  His images captured both the sights and feelings of the moment and he took took them to compel others to protect the lands he held so dear.  We have him to thank, in part, for the more than 5 dozen natural parks and scores of monuments and other protected spaces in the United States today.  

Today I speak with author and philosopher, Jason Merchey, whose book Living a Life of Value is one of the very best modern-day collections of quotations.  This makes it and our interview instant favorites for me.  When you're done listening, be sure to check out his website and quote database of more than 35,000 searchable quotes at www.valuesofthewise.com .   If you'd like a copy of Living a Life...

Admiral William McRaven (USN-Ret.) gave a wildly popular commencement address at the University of Texas in 2014.  In it, he laid out 10 edicts to the class so they (and we) can change the world.  While many of you are familiar with the "make your bed" edict, you may not know today's by heart.  McRaven advises the class of 2014 and all of us that we simply can't change the world alone...

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and tackler of hard problems.  He aims to make electric vehicles affordable and ubiquitous, take human beings to Mars, and enable rapid subterranean transportation, among other things.  To solve these hard problems, he actively seeks and internalizes feedback.  So should we.