The Great Geek Manual

I’ve been a soldier and a slave. I’ve seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I’ve held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning: “Why?” I don’t think they were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams – -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness!

But maddest of all – -to see life as it is and not as it should be.Geek Quote of the Day

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

- A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, 1945.

What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules…

- Inception written by Christopher Nolan, 2010.

And one day, the dead, spoiled dreams make it difficult to breathe, and we actually seek death. It’s death that frees us from our certainties, from our work, and from that terrible peace of our Sunday afternoons.

- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, 1987.
Quoted in “1 min reading: Killing our dreams” on Paulo Coelho’s Blog

When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being.
We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice.

- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, 1987.
Quoted in “1 min reading: Killing our dreams” on Paulo Coelho’s Blog

And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams – we have refused to fight the Good Fight.

- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, 1987.
Quoted in “1 min reading: Killing our dreams” on Paulo Coelho’s Blog

The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don’t want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what’s important is only that they are fighting the Good Fight.

- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, 1987.
Quoted in “1 min reading: Killing our dreams” on Paulo Coelho’s Blog

The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the Good Fight.

- The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, 1987.
Quoted in “1 min reading: Killing our dreams” on Paulo Coelho’s Blog