A collection of quotes I’ve gathered from different life stages and from different places.
They resonate with me in different ways.
Some from the meaning, some from personal experience, and some for the humour.
Childhood and Teens
"Suffering breeds character"
Evil villain lady from Batman “The Dark Knight Rises”
- I resonated with how tough experiences from growing up led to growth or maturity in someway.
- For example, I moved to Australia for Year 6 – found the school curriculum unstimulating (1 double-sided piece of math homework a week) after years of Singapore academic rigour. My mum offered me the chance to go back to finish the final year of Singapore primary school – I took it and it was mentally challenging after skipping a year, but enriching.
- This quote helped me decide to pick the harder long-term choices whenever I came to crossroads in life.
- And helped me see any hardship positively with a focus on growth from it.
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”Rohl Dalh, The Twits
- Or as I like to recall it,
“A beautiful person with ugly thoughts will become ugly. It will show on their face and they can’t hide it.
A person can have crooked teeth, a big nose…etc but as long as they think pleasant thoughts and have a beautiful soul - it will show on the outside, through their smile, eyes and expression.”
- I.e. personality and inner-beauty. The eyes being a window to the soul.
- A person’s demeanor and vibe can convey their mindset.
- I found people who frown often tend to have perpetual frowns and be less pleasant to interact with, while people who are more positive tend to have brighter eyes and are quick to smile.
- A good reminder to develop a positive mindset and have good thoughts.
"keep moving forward"
Meet the Robinsons (movie)
- The movie was inspiring to watch, and it resonated with all my childhood Jimmy Neutron nostalgia.
- This quote speaks to me to move forward, 80/20, and to just take action.
Young Adult
"Pain of discipline or pain of regret"
- I held this quote for a long time. Effective reminder at times.
- I realised it could have a more positive spin, and reframed it as
- I am someone who moves forward
- I make choices that fulfil my potential and play long-term
- I see the positives in everything
"A stage to dance, a place to grow."
a Stanford scholar
- One of the longest surviving quotes on my whiteboard in my room.
- A positive reminder to strive, pursue my goals and get to somewhere I could grow further.
80/20 rule
from consulting
- 80% of results come from 20% of effort
- the last 20% of results will take 80% of effort
- This rule is also for scale, leverage, and cause/effect relationships
- This relationship holds true for the majority of things. And it’s up to one to decide when to go for 80% results or >80% results
- It also applies in multiple fields, as a cause/effect relationship
- 80% of revenue comes from 20% of products/customers
- 80% of what makes you happy/unhappy comes from 20% of things
- Across university semesters, I improved my grades as I readjusted back to academics after 2 years of army and grew my appreciation in the joy of learning. First, I got Distinctions (>70%) and then High Distinctions (>80%) - the highest recognised category for average marks.
Then, I found getting higher HD’s (>85%) was pretty doable. Then, I started challenging myself to get >90%, what I call HDD’s.
After that, I wanted to top a course (rank 1st) and get an academic award. At that point, it was harder – I had ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 10th for different courses – and it took a disproportionate amount of effort as I was competing against other high-achievers.
This was the 80/20 rule in effect. Still, I wanted to rank 1st at least once to prove to myself I could do it. So after ranking 1st in ELEC5506 - Process, Instrumentation and Control, I decided to never intentionally do so again. As it was more fruitful and fun for me to invest that extra time and energy towards my interests at the time (hackathons, medtech, and building things).
"The time has come to surpass my limits"
me
- What I whisper to myself whenever a large challenge arises – before I summon my supersuit and go super-Joey-mode.
- Effective to an extent. Not spammable.
Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
watch your words, they become your actions;
watch your actions, they become your habits;
watch your habits, they become your character;
watch your character, it becomes your destiny.Lao Tzu
- I find this apt.
- I like to recall it as
“Watch your words, they shape your thoughts.
Watch your thoughts, they become you.” - It speaks to mindset and perception arising from vocalised word-choice.
- I see this often from how different people react to a situation. When someone expresses their stress and negative emotions in a group, it’s often contagious. Not so say we should suppress our emotions, but self-awareness of the impact is important.
Come from a position of strength/abundance.
me
- A position of abundance or strength – can be both a mindset and also a realistic evaluation of self
- Whether mentally (mindset) and/or realistically (financially, knowledge, skills, physically, energy-wise, emotionally…etc)
- When you’re in a position of abundance:
- you have security - ” ” (closer to peace of mind)
- you have more capacity and consideration to help others - “Of course, let me help!”
- you make better decisions towards the long-term - “I can afford it, and it’s going to teach me”
- you have options - “I can do XYZ”
- A position of scarcity, encourages:
- feelings of unsettledness - “Am I going to be ok?”
- more selfish or self-centered thinking - “I’m too tired to help”
- poorer decisions - “I need to save money, I won’t buy that book”
- limited options - “I can do X, which would also make ABC harder”
- Rarely are good decisions made from a position of weakness or scarcity
- So, as much as possible – I try to get myself into a position of abundance, ideally realistically and at least always mentally
- The fact of matter is: a realistic position of abundance is rare
- You’ll rarely have an abundance of time, energy, money, skills, knowledge…etc to help someone
- Refer to “Firewood in snow is more valuable than charcoal in summer”
- However, help is help – no matter how small. And often, the intent is just as if not more important than the amount.
- So, one should try at least reach a mental position of abundance, so you’ll always be ready to help how you can
- You can always do something
You're the average of the five people spend the most time with
Jim Rohn
- For real.
"A person is smart. People are stupid."
Men In Black, movie - as the Agent K explains why aliens are kept secret from the public.
- Why I’d never bother to argue on the internet.
- Why fake news work.
- Why user education and onboarding is important.
- I believe that 1-1 given enough time and effort, any two people can reach a solid understanding.
- However, it’s much much harder (practically impossible) to do the same just as well with >2 people, especially as people approaches infinity.
What's the bright side here?
me
- a question I trained myself to think in negative situations
- learn to default positive, and to go from negative-to-positive thought in 7 seconds
"Firewood in snow is more valuable than charcoal in summer"
- Legit.
- The friends I treasure really pull through for me.
- A reminder to help others if they need it even if it’s fair effort on your part – because it could be Winter for them.
- The big reason why I treasure my mentors.
Profanity is the parlance of the fool. Why curse when there is such a magnificent language with which to discourse?
Theodore Roosevelt
Avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason boys - to woo women - and in that endeavor, laziness will not do.
Dead Poets Society.
- These two quotes speak to me.
- I like to recall it simply as “language is beautiful and expressive, why swear?”
- That said, there’s a time and place to swear.
- I remember swearing a lot in the army – in English, Singlish, Chinese, and Malay.
- However, whenever I gave instructions – I made it a point to never swear. It reduces clarity and weight in a context when clear conveyance takes priority.
Cheng Yu 成语 - Chinese Idioms
Essentially, Cheng Yu are Chinese idioms made of 4 characters. Part of my cultural heritage and years of Singapore primary schooling :’)
“先苦后甜” (xian ku hou tian)
= endure the bitterness first and enjoy the sweetness last
- I.e. suffer now, enjoy later
- long-term mindset
“半途而废” (bàn tú ér fèi)
= give up halfway
- I remembered this as “Don’t procrastinate”
- Interestingly, this idiom is bad advice when taken word-for-word.
- It speaks to this Chinese parable telling people not to do things halfway.
- It’s also frequently used now to persuade people to persist in their study or work.
- I resonate with it and see the importance from projects I work on and on things I take up. To finish what’s truly important.
if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold
Xun Xi, Minister for the State of Jin, 707 - 476 B.C.
- Two persons or things share a common lot and that is one falls, the other is soon to be in danger
- The reason why I floss daily 😁
- And a reminder to not let 2nd/3rd-order problems fester, and to not ignore difficult conversations
- Long-term thinking
- Teams shattering begin from small cracks left untreated
From parents
Mum
- How you do anything is how you do everything
- Eat the frog
- If you can be faithful in small things, you can be faithful in big things
- A tongue can set a whole forest on fire
- Sometimes you just need to face the music
- Many can start the race, not many can finish.
Dad
- Winston Churchil, “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”
- How you do anything is how you do everything
- Bible verse: ~“…remember the Lord in your youth, or there comes a time when you won’t find interest”
Aussie sayings
These are just great. I love aussie slang and lingo
we’re not here to fk spiders
- E.g. “Alright folks, we didn’t come here to fk spiders…”
- This simple sentence encapsulates what it means to be Australian
a fair shake of the sauce bottle
- E.g. “…everyone deserves a fair shake of the sauce bottle”
- about giving everyone a fair go
“yeah nah yeah” or “nah yeah nah”
- The artful way to deliver your stance while acknowledging the opposing view.
G’day folks, sheilas and blokes
Good day for it
We’re going to need more vegemite for this
- what I say when standards aren’t being met
That’s a double shaka
- what I say when it’s a big wub
“By dingo/jango!”, what my Yr 11 English teach exclaims with
What an absolute legend
From Army
Tough times don’t last, tough men do.
- To endeavour.
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
- Fundamental.
- This takes different forms. E.g. my superior had a style of “whatever I ask you or order you to do, I’m doing it in a way to help you learn and to benefit you” – I think it conveyed care.
If you can’t convince them, confuse them. - my favourite Warrant Officer.
- This is just funny.
- I think it speaks more depending on the group’s objective and the time/resource intensity of the moment.
- I remembered when we were in Taiwan, a rare moment in an air-conditioned room, and the Warrant Officer asked us cadets if we had any feedback/complaints/improvements – as we would, we poured it out. Next moment, the WO said “Right, this is why we shouldn’t let you guys be in a cool aircon room, your brains start working and you start complaining. We need to put you all back into the heat.”
“I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you” - Jeremiah 29:11
- Encouraging when many things go wrong.
“the face is a clock” - Sergeant Brenden
- The easiest way I could tell if my men were tired or were at their limit
- The metric to evaluate a person’s status
- I.e. reading a person’s condition from their face
- Super useful in hackathons when leading a team, and in any situation in working with others
“If a tree falls in the forest, will anyone know?”
- a form of “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound”
- Used to describe the dynamic natural environment in Brunei’s jungles. And how the paths get overgrown frequently.
- I interpret it from a visibility standpoint
Other Army:
From Officer Cadet School:
“To Lead, To Excel, To Overcome”, the officer’s motto
The world can fail, an officer cannot.
Faith not fear, Foxtrot Wing’s motto
Set the pace, Charlie Wing’s motto
From Infantry:
The only easy day was yesterday.
If you aren’t strong, you must at least try.
We train hard so the fight is easy
In times of struggle, people don’t often rise to the occasion - they fall to their basics/systems. That is why we train hard.
Once you achieve a standard, you cannot fall below it. It becomes your new minimum.
Me: Hey Sir, (points at a random tree) do you know what kind of tree that is? Higher-up: ??No what? Me: Haha, it’s an infantree! :D Higher-up: give me 20 push-ups
What’s that? A grenade?
Is that a snake?
From reading webnovels
I picked up a hobby of reading Korean/Chinese/Japanese web novels. The fiction tropes and writing style is refreshing different from Western fiction. Honestly, one of the most beautiful forms of language expression I’ve read was from a Korean web novel translated into English.
These ones are interesting forms of expression, or just funny.
Chinese thing:
“Neither human nor ghost” = to describe a shocking appearance 😆
“the river flows 50 miles east and 50 miles west” = who knows how things end up?
“the wave behind pushes the wave forward” = standing on shoulders of giants
- the reason I mentor
“refuse a toast, only to drink in forfeit” = easy way or hard way
“Junior, you dare?” = peak Wuxia fiction culture
“How can I die when you have not?” = what the hero’s mentor/villain says
“If I say I’m second, no one will say they are first” = what the arrogant side-character says
“Women will only affect the speed at which I draw my sword” = what the single guy says
Korean thing:
“Your ancestors must have saved/betrayed their nation” = luck
Japanese thing:
Having just finished a training session, there is a bright light flickering on and off inside my head, and my vision is wobbling unsteadily.
Either magic…… or perhaps aura……
I am definitely feeling the effects of either one of those.
I can say that today’s training was meaningful indeed.
By taking off all my clothes while in the forest, I was able to feel myself becoming one with nature. By continuously banging my head against a thick tree trunk, I was able to purge my mind of distracting thoughts AND stimulate my brain to encourage it to awaken to mystical powers.
It is a perfectly logical training menu.
Aah, my vision is blurring over.
It’s almost as if I’m suffering from a cerebral concussion.
- LOL
From friends
Brian H: “Ships are safe in the harbour, but that’s not what they are made for”
From somewhere
“Ah, my one weakness, bullets”
“If you think heroin is addictive, you should try a full-time salary”
- I swear I heard this during my US trips 😂
- Seeds of wisdom in it
- One of the reasons you need to choose work that has meaning to you
Disney/Dreamworks
Ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind