“Many remedies are suggested for the avoidance of worry and mental overstrain by persons who, over prolonged periods, have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties upon a very large scale. Some advise exercise, and others, repose. Some counsel travel, and others, retreat. Some praise solitude, and others, gaiety. No doubt all these may play their part according to the individual temperament. But the element which is constant and common in all of them is Change.”
Winston Churchill
Painting as a Pastime (Primary source)
Churchill’s slender volume on the therapeutic powers of amateur painting stands as a compelling meditation on the nature of genuine respite from the burdens of public life. Writing with characteristic vigor and psychological acuity, Churchill advances a proposition at once simple and profound: that true relaxation demands not mere cessation of activity, but rather a fundamental reorientation of mental energy.
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“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“You do your worst—and we will do our best.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Never give in—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
— Winston Churchill Primary sourceBy noon it was clear that the Socialists would have a majority. At luncheon my wife said to me, “It may well be a blessing in disguise.” I replied, “At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.”
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“I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad.”
— Ian Fleming Primary source“I am sure it would be sensible to restrict as much as possible the work of these gentlemen [psychologists and psychiatrists], who are capable of doing an immense amount of harm with what may very easily degenerate into charlatanry.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Of all the things humans have ever created, AI will change society the most.”
— Bill Gates Primary source“Part of what you must learn is how to handle mistakes and new facts that change the odds. Life, in part, is like a poker game, wherein you have to learn to quit sometimes when holding a much-loved hand.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source