The Laughing Heart
Charles Bukowski
A short, urgent poem about staying alert to the chances life hands you — and taking them — before routine smothers the instinct. Bukowski at his most tender: a reminder that even a little light beats darkness, and that simply being here is something worth defending.
Find it: "The Laughing Heart" in Bukowski's collected poems
Credo
Jack London
London's life philosophy distilled into a handful of lines — written over a century ago, and still the cleanest argument for living wide rather than long.
I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
To Be or To Do
John R. Boyd, USAF
A story about fighter pilot and strategist John Boyd, who was given a choice early in his career: chase rank, approval, and an easy ride to the top — or do work that actually matters, even if it costs him both. Boyd took the harder road, and quietly became one of the most influential military minds of the century, never receiving the recognition his ideas deserved in his lifetime.
Find it: Robert Coram, "Boyd: The Fearless Hero Who Changed the Art of War"
The Way of Self-Reliance
Miyamoto Musashi
Musashi went undefeated across 61 duels and wars. Shortly before his death, he set down 21 short precepts on how to live — on detachment, discipline, and standing on your own. A handful, in spirit:
- Take things as they come, without resistance.
- Don't chase pleasure for its own sake.
- Don't lean on a feeling that hasn't fully formed.
- Think little of yourself; think hard about the world.
Find it: Musashi's 21 precepts ("Dokkōdō") and "The Book of Five Rings"
Think Different
Apple, 1997
Apple's 1997 campaign cast the misfits and rebels — the ones who don't fit the mould — not as outliers to be tolerated, but as the only people who ever actually move things forward. A reminder that being inconvenient to the status quo is often a feature, not a bug.
Find it: search "Apple Think Different 1997 ad"
Ten Principles of Good Design
Dieter Rams — paraphrased
Industrial designer Dieter Rams' decade-defining checklist for what good design actually requires. Paraphrased here, in our own words — and still holding up nearly fifty years on.
- It should move things forward — not just look different.
- It should serve the product's purpose first.
- It should be beautiful. Aesthetics matter.
- It should explain itself, with no manual required.
- It should stay out of the way.
- It shouldn't pretend to be something it isn't.
- It should be built to last, not to expire.
- It should be considered down to the smallest detail.
- It should respect the environment, start to finish.
- It should do as little as it possibly can — less, but better.
Find it: search "Dieter Rams ten principles of good design"
On the Shoulders of Giants
Isaac Newton & Charlie Munger
Newton is often credited with this line — but he was quoting a tradition older than he was. The phrase had already been passed between scholars for centuries before he wrote it down, which makes it a fitting motto for an idea that's been borrowed and handed forward for nearly a thousand years.
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
Newton wrote this in a 1675 letter to Robert Hooke — but the phrase traces back to the 12th-century scholar Bernard of Chartres, and was repeated by writers for five centuries before Newton made it famous.
Charlie Munger made the same point in plainer terms: most of what's worth knowing has already been worked out by people smarter than you. The job is to go find it — not to reinvent it from scratch.
Find it: Charlie Munger's talks and writings on "worldly wisdom" and mental models