I have listed here some useful philosophies which I live by.  Lately my focus has been towards eastern philosophy, as most of it is common sense on everyday life, and yet very insightful. Western philosophy seems content to live in the realm of what ifs, which is good, but it is not for the most part, what is. The irony in most western philosophy is that most of it is used not to find the truth, but to lie, and distort the truth.  I am always fond of saying that:  If in court and innocent, hire a lawyer.  If in court and guilty, hire a philosopher.  For the most part, its the shortest, simplest quotes that hold the most for me.  By no means do I consider myself a philosopher, but I do enjoy the occasional "enlightenment."  Every now and again I might come up with something too...

"There are two paths to glory.  One flies high and bright like a dragon.  The other burrows beneath the earth anonymously like the beetle."   ~unknown

"Everyone has four faces... The one we portray, the one which is perceived, the one that is private, and the one that is the truth."     ~Unknown

"There are only two ways in which we can account for a necessary agreement of experience with the concepts of its objects:  Either experience makes these concepts possible, or these concepts make experience possible."     ~Immanuel Kant

"What is written is not what is, only what is written."   ~unknown

"There are those who say warfare is selfish, and those who study it seek only to increase their own glory and position.  I tell you now, that nothing is more important than the study of warfare.  It must be foremost in the mind at all times, for all other studies mean nothing without knowledge of warfare.  If a leader does not command his generals to study warfare, they will become uncertain on the battlefield, and hesitate when the important decisions must be made.  This is what will cause the leader's army to fail, and when the leaders army fails, his one moment of uncertainty causes the deaths of many thousands.  And when the army is defeated and destroyed, the army of our enemy will march on those who taught us that the study of warfare was selfish, and cut their heads from their bodies and leave them to rot in the dust.  That is the way of the world, and those that believe differently are fooling themselves and teaching others their own foolishness."    ~Unknown

"Why do you insist that the human genetic code is sacred or taboo?   It is a chemical process and nothing more.  For that matter, we are chemical processes and nothing more.  If you deny yourself a useful tool, simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself."     ~ Sid Meyer

"Confrontation is done directly, victory is gained by suprise."  ~Sun Tzu

"Pride is not so much a sin as self neglect."   ~Shakespere

"A victorious army first wins and then seeks battle;  A defeated army first battles and then seeks victory."  ~Sun Tzu

"Moral virtues, like crafts, are acquired by practice and habituation."  ~Aristotle

"Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean."     ~Aristotle

"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness.  Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness.  Thereby you can be the director of the opponents fate."  ~Sun Tzu

"Heaven lasts long and earth abides.  What is the secret of their durability?  Is it not because they do not live for themselves that they live so long?"   ~Lao Tzu

"Without going out your door, you can learn the ways of the world.   Without peeping through your window, you can see the way of heaven.  The farther you go, the less you know.  Thus, the sage knows without travelling, Sees without looking, and achieves without ado."   ~Lao Tzu

"Those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers.  When they come to an end, they begin again, like the days and months:  They die and are reborn, like the four seasons."    ~Sun Tzu

"I must not fear, fear is the mind killer.  Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.  I will face my fear.  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.  And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.  Only I will remain"   ~Frank Herbert

Can God make a rock so heavy that even he can not lift it?  In the same vein can God make a puzzle so complicated that even he can not solve it.  If so, then surely that puzzle is humanity.

~Paraphrased from an unknown source

"...That he which hath no stomach to fight, Let him depart;   his passport shall be made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse; we would not die in that mans company, that fears his fellowship to die with us.  This day is call'd - the feast of Crispian:  He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand at tip-toe when this day is nam'd, and rouse him at the name of Crispian.  He that outlives this day and sees old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his friends, and say, To-morrow is saint Crispian:  Then he will strip his sleeve, and show his scars and say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day.  Old men forget, but he'll remember, with advantages, what feats he did that day.  Then shall our names, familiar in their mouths as household words,- Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster, - be in their cups freshly remember'd.  This story shall the good man teach his son;  And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by from this day to the end of the world, but we in it shall be remembered,-  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother;  Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition:  And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs'd, they where not here;  And hold their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks, that fought with us upon saint Crispin's day."     ~Shakespere.

Choose your Path by the pictures