Dokken's
Rules of Common Wisdom
or
A Compendium of Knowledge
from Matchbook Covers
A long time ago in a faraway place, I started
Dokkens Rules of Common Wisdom.
Some, my own origin, some, others,
and some, adaptations.
I hope you enjoy them.
On Our Creator
and The Savior of Your Soul
Your best Friend
is Jesus Christ - always there, always cares,
always loving and forgiving. He will
never, never let you down. He will
never turn away. He will -always-
be there when you need Him most.
Failure, simple
failure, is the constant of life -
even Jesus failed with His disciples, His followers, His message -
but He conquered failure by placing His trust in God -
and rose again - as He said He would
So will we, if we believe
God uses good
people, bad people use God
God enters your
life when you need Him, not when
you want Him
or
God gives you what you need, not
what you want
Prayer is always
answered - not necessarily as we want nor when,
but, it is always answered. Be patient
and wait
Religion is for
people who are afraid of hell
Spirituality is for people who have been thru hell.
God does not
answer prayer nor speak to you
in the blare and noise of the day,
but,
in quiet and solemn moments when
you are alone and actually take the time to listen.
God gives seed
to the birds of the air,
but He does not place it in their
nests
The one constant
in the Universe is change,
change that always occurs rather
violently
Wisdom comes
from Experience
Knowledge comes from applied Facts
Judgment comes from your Conscience
Hope, and Faith, and Forgiveness, come from God
A babys journey
begins with their first step,
but does not end with the last,
you see,
friends have to complete that journey for them
they can no longer make by themselves
You will never
fail unless you quit
Jesus didn't
quit, we crucified Him
Christ's First
Miracle was changing Waiter to Wine
So His host would not be embarrassed
And, He, was a really Fun Guy indeed
Jesus prayed
to His Father,
so should we
One day, if you
live long enough, you will realize
How close God stands beside you
Every day, every night
Behave as if you know He is there
He, is indeed
One day, if you
live long enough,
You will be truly happy
Not with things nor money,
But with His Peace in your heart
One day, if you
live long enough,
You will know
What is truly important
For you, for others, And, for God
May we always
place first,
The Thought
That our Actions
Would make our parents,
And theirs,
And Jesus Christ,
And God,
Proud of Us
"Today is
the day
"
"Remember God likes us best when we are flying by the seats of our pants
"
Ruth Bernhard - Photographer - 1905-2006
The bond that
links your true family is not one of blood,
but,
of respect and joy in one another's lives.
Rarely do
members of the same family grow up under the same roof.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Richard Bach
God rose to the
very height, the very pinnacle, of His ineptness
Miracles are
a gift from God,
but one must rejoin the real world
after the miracle is finished
Self Pity
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself
D H Lawrence
God gives a bounteous
harvest for all of nature,
but He does not put the seed in the bird's nest,
they have top go out and fetch it
What you think,
will come true,
what you eat is how you will look,
your deeds will return to you,
the treasure you seek is the treasure you will inherit
Thoughts always
turn into actions, be careful with them,
one does not know where they will
lead
Who taught us
to ask, for that which makes us weep
God created mankind
for His amusement, not ours
Life is the most
fragile thing on this earth,
death the most fleeting the most painful,
eternity is a very long time,
Be very careful of the life you lead,
you do not know how much you have
left.
If at all possible,
treat everyone you meet as if it is
the last time you will be with them
It may be
that last time
Christ was smart,
He did not get married
It is acceptable,
and proper, for a married man
to feel sorry for himself, from time to time
It is far better
to want something you do not have,
than to have something you do not want
Life has an urgency
about it when you
spill Coke all over your mouse
What spirit is
so empty and blind,
that it cannot recognize the fact
that the foot is more noble than the shoe,
and skin more beautiful
than the garment with which it is clothed?
(or)
And who is so
barbarous as not to understand
that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe,
and his skin nobler than
that of the sheep with which he is clothed.
Michelangelo
Now, it makes
so much sense,
it is so clear,
The length of time between
Monday morning and Friday evening
is far longer then the length of time between
Friday evening and Monday morning
One can not consider they have achieved
the lofty
rank of 'Fine Art Photographer', until, a customer
has asked them to remove the spaghetti from one
of their prints.
Only then, can the photographer
truly achieve
the humility and wisdom so dearly
necessary ...
And, my mother
thinks I am such a fast learner
On a ship, the
individual parts will sink, but when combined together,
they can weather the typhoon, sail 'round the world,
and, protect the very crew that mans her, provides for her, cares for her
In matters of
True Religion, all compasses, no matter what creed,
nor what temple they are in, point due North - towards God.
Its more fun
to be in the race, than sitting on the bleachers
Life is so tumultuous,
so unfair, so very real,
be Gentle with yourself as few
others will
If one drop of
oil is good, two is most certainly better
(The first Rule I created c1962)
The common denominator
of all mankind is the stomach flu,
it treats everyone the same
(The Second
)
If it is going
to be cold, it may as well be white
(The Third
)
Everyone on Earth
gets twenty four hours a day,
not one second more, not one second less
everyone gets absolutely the same
Loss, not Profit,
is a four letter word
Work is still
a four letter word.
Thou shalt not
employ used fittings in thy plumbing project,
Any amount of
profit, any, far exceeds any amount of loss
Quitters Don't
Win, Winners Don't Quit
Taxes are not
paid by any business,
nor by any government,
but by the households and families of America
Begging is a
time tested, absolutely practical, completely profitable
and totally honorable profession
Investments do
not have a life of their own,
they are only the result of human behavior - absolute and consuming greed
One will never
find fortune in a bookstore,
one must work hard to find fortune their own way
If one is going
to upgrade one's computer - buy a new one.
Money does not
come with instructions
The Universe
exists quite nicely without money
You can not own
nor give away money
By itself, money
does not have a conscience
If one expects
to have money, one must handle money. The
money one
accumulates can never exceed the total handled.
Management must
thoroughly understand their business, so they understand
how to manage their business thoroughly
A man's fancy
turns towards other things in the Spring, as the
oxygen content of the air is much higher and fresher than the Winter
The epitome of
confusion, is, a PostIt note stuck to a Sharp Organizer
A ship is safe
in harbor, but that is not what a ship is for
Good captains,
and good sailors, are tested at sea, not at port
Have you noticed,
Priests always have communion each Sunday
If one acts the
part, most people will accept that person knows the part
The accounting
method one keeps, determines their destiny
It is much better to think of today, not
as Tuesday,
But as Monday+1 and Friday-3.
Most folks think in simple terms,
And -1 +3 gets the mind all befuddled
...
There is only first place, second place
does not exist
Being In Second
Place Is Actually Being The First Place Loser
It is not unreasonable
for reasonable people to disagree
But, it is unreasonable, for reasonable people to be disagreeable
If I must ask
someone to do a thing they do not want to do,
I am not a good leader
The Chief (From a Stone Age Tribe
in Brazil's Outback)
There are two
basic kinds of managers,
the leaders who do not have to ask,
and the bullies
Prove It In Sales
There is nothing
more powerful, more constant, to force someone,
no matter how lazy, from the house to work for a living,
than daytime television
Live younger
longer
Folks will still
cut their fingernails, have haircuts and wrestle with
their very ineptness, no matter the technology nor age we live in
Selling price
is always a compromise between buyer and seller
Buy low and sell
high
Corporations
are not in business for profit, profit is simply
the tool corporations use, to remain in business long enough
to fulfill the egos and uncompromising greed of management
To follow another's
advice,
that man must have experienced the thing
and must know more than yourself
If one spent
as much time exercising as one does eating, one's health
would never be in question
Don't expect
great pictures from bad negatives
The negative
should not look better than the resulting picture
If one has to ask how much the taxes are,
one can not afford the property
If one must ask the price, one can not
afford it
J P Morgan on being asked the price
of a yacht
The value of a programmer is perceived
to be directly related
to the size of the compooter. If the
compooter is in a locked room,
out of sight, double, or triple, that perceived value.