EPTmy favourite quotes (along with my signature) are The Wizards Rules from The Sword of Truth, mainly because they are so true:
wizards first rule:
People are stupid.
they will believe a lie because they want it to be true; or they're afraid it's true.
Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe its true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.
wizards second rule:
The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.
Kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.
starcraft example: when playing on ladder, going easy on your opponent may seem like a kindness because, he gets points for it, but in reality, you boost his position in the ladder slightly so he will face tougher opponents later that he will not be prepared for.
wizards third rule:
Passion rules reason.
for better or for worse.
Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you.
starcraft eample: don't attack because it feels like you can, attack when you know you can.
wizards fourth rule:
There is magic in sincere forgiveness.
in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.
wizards fifth rule:
Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
No matter what your affiliation is, either friend or foe, you should watch the person's actions instead of the lies that they use to decieve you.
wizards sixth rule:
The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists; what is, is; and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced.
Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death.
starcraft example: no matter how much you want to win, that doesn't mean you will
wizards seventh rule:
Life is the future, not the past.
The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices.
real world example: thinking back to what have already happened rarely fills a purpose.
in the case of a problem that must be solved, it doesn't matter how the problem came to be, what matters is that you solve it. another quote I like that say much the same thing is: "think of the solution, not the problem" - Terry Goodkind
wizards eighth rule:
Talga Vassternich.
Translation: Deserve Victory.
Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire.
starcraft example: if you happen to win by cheese, you haven't really earned it, more like you had others give you the win, or in the text, "what you desire".
wizards ninth rule:
A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.
To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions.
Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men.
In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake.
starcraft example: if you see a protoss double expands 5 minutes into the game, it is impossible for him to have much army, so don't be afraid and just GO KILL HIM!
wizards tenth rule:
Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
The truth is what should motivate your life not the lies or you will fall victim to the first rule and if you ignore the truth you're betraying everything that you believe in because the lie is more convenient to you than reality.
starcraft example: when having lost a game, don't delude yourself with, "well, what he did was clearly OP", that something is OP can rarely be distinguished by a single game, and you are most likely saying that just because it is more convenient for you to think of his stuff being OP than it is to admit that you are inferior to him.
wizards eleventh rule:
The "Rule Unspoken", the "Rule Unwritten", "The rule from the beginning of time."
literally undiscribable, but not inunderstandable, read the The Sword of Truth: Confessor and do your very best to understand.
- all from Terry Goodkind
the book series is long, but well worth your time, ~700 - 800 pages per book, 11 books, 1 rule per book (unless you'r gonna read a translation in which case the english books might be split up, for example, the swedish book series is 27 shorter books and cover no more story than the english one does)
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