Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do.

-Voltaire

There is only one Lord of the Rings and he does not share power.

Gandalf to Saruman
Lord of the Rings

خنک آن قمار بازی که بباخت هر چه بودش
بنمانده هیچش الا هوس قمار دیگر

مولوی

Sacrifice

Every big wish comes with a big sacrifice. Sometimes you know what it is and sometimes you don't. What keeps me worried all the time is that constant fear of not being ready for the sacrifice.

Quit

Quiting while you're hit is not necessarily quiting.

Refrigerator door note!

There is only one YOU.

- Written on a friend's
refrigerator door

Light the Skies

And if you only knew
Just how much the sun needs you
to help him light the skies
You would be surprised
You would be surprised

-lyrics: Light the Skies

Story

Just because I told you my story,
does not invite you to be part of it.

- from the movie: The Bucket List

مکن به نامه سیاهی ملامت من مست
که آگهست که تقدیر بر سرش چه نوشت

قدم دریغ مدار از جنازه حافظ
که گر چه غرق گناهست میرود به بهشت

[click to enlarge]

Cats

Do all the cats in the world talk the same language? Can an Italian born cat understand a German born one? Is it a good idea to take your cat with you from one country to another?

After concentrating on my research for more than a couple of hours now, this is the question that is bothering me which believe me it has nothing to do with my research whatsoever. I guess I seriously need some sleep!

Good night and good luck.

یکی نغز بازی کند روزگار
که بنشاندت پیش آموزگار

فردوسی

Argument

Joseph Joubert - the French philosopher - says the aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress. Joseph Joubert didn't win many arguments in his life!

speech by S. Arthur
How to win any argument!

Minibar

I remember when I was going to stay in a hotel in Dubai, the only advice everybody was giving me was not to use the water bottles or juices in the Minibar! Kind of a creepy thing, I was trying to keep a certain distance from that scary Minibar all the time!
Last night, I was watching a movie and a guy was about to commit suicide because he had betrayed his country. He was sitting alone in a hotel room, sweating, trembling, a gun in his one hand and a glass of Whisky (I guess) in the other . Very sad moment ... everybody was shocked by the turn of events and I was thinking to myself had he used the Minibar or not? Then I realized even if he was worried before, he didn't have to worry anymore because nobody can charge him anymore.

Old memories ...

تنت به ناز طبیبان نیازمند مباد
وجود نازکت آزرده گزند مباد

شفا ز گفته شِکّرفشان حافظ جوی
که حاجتت به علاج گلاب و قند مباد

Bourne ...

Director Paul Greengrass hasn't manufactured a sequel -- he's written code for a template all future Bonds, Ryans and whoever-the-hell-else will have to match or stumble and die trying.

- Kevin Williamson
Jam! Movies

scenario #3

All that happened was a miracle,
All you had to do was nothing,
All you know about it is nothing.

Scenario #2

All you need is a Miracle,
All it takes is a God,
The only missing part is a wish.

Scenario #1

All you need is a Miracle,
All it takes is a wish,
The only missing part is a God.

Serenity

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

- The Serenity Prayer

Voice Box

I don't get the point! When you call a number and you reach the voice box, it starts repeating the number you've dialed if there is no personal voice message. Does it expect me to check the number or what? I know what number I've dialed! what I don't know is whether I've reached the correct voice box or not!

Barriers

Your task is not to seek for love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it...

Unknown...
from: www.yully.com

Swimming

Swimming is a tricky course, you fail you die.

Hypothetical question!

Assume that you have only one hour left in this world. Interestingly enough, you have a couple of missed calls on your cell phone. If you had to choose, would you spend that one hour to do your research at school or return those phone calls?

تار و پود هستیم بر باد رفت اما نرفت
عاشقی ها از دلم، دیوانگی ها از سرم

رهی معیری

Kite

Remember ... a kite only rises against the wind.

P. D. Cummings

Opinion

When you ask someone for his/her opinion ... it is a complement.

P. D. Cummings

مهم نیست، مهم نیست ...
مهم انیشتین بود که اونم مرد

Idiocrocy !!

Stupidity is contagious.

Father!

That insecurity will never go away, but it is that insecurity which drives you forward in life.
Learn to come in peace with it.

گوی توفیق و کرامت در میان افکنده اند
کس به میدان در نمی آید، سواران را چه شد

First Step

The first step is to forgive yourself ...

Storm

Life is a storm ... you will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look in that storm and shout ... 'Do your worst ... for I will do mine '

Count of Monte Christo

The memory ...

That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved one is just poison in your veins. And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared your pain.

Henry Ducard!

طرح مبارزه با بد حجابی در روسیه

photo: BBCPersian.com

When the stupid question trick didn't work ...

When it is just 5 minutes left and the professor is about to start a new topic, somebody should make a sacrifice, ruin his reputation and do the stupid question trick because otherwise you have to sit there for another 15 minutes before the professor realizes that he has gone 10 minutes overtime.
How does it work? ... Simple, just make a complete fool of yourself and ask a very stupid question. The professor will be busy answering your question for the remaining time of the class.
But when the trick doesn't work, it really hurts ...

The Namesake

Everything that happens since that day has been a gift.

Einstein

The Orthodox Jewish leader in New York, Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, sent a very direct telegraph to Einstein: "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer Paid. 50 words."
Einstein used only about half his allotted number of words:

I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.

For more on this subject refer to TIME.com

تکیه بر تقوی و دانش در طریقت کافریست
راهرو گر صد هنر دارد توکّل بایدش

حافظ

The Caterpillar Effect

These days walking around campus is not as easy as it used to be. You have to watch out not to step over the caterpillars and at the same time you have to look up so that they don't end up in your mouth or eyes.
Wondering why I am worried about stepping over them? In my opinion, the way we look at the caterpillars is the same way God looks at us. All these little creatures like to do is to climb up something, as we like to climb up in the course of our life.
I am not stepping over them, so that the next time God is passing by to see how is everything here down on the earth, he doesn't step over me. I have had enough already!

The non-delivered gift

Old Story

Once again, God is singing the same old song, telling the same old story. The same old story that I hate.
Every moment is like a deja vu, and I can't stop it again.
I can't stop it again.

Vibration!

There is no point in putting your cell phone on the vibration mode and then leave it on the table in a meeting. The noise that it makes is even more horrible.

Hummingbird ...

When I see a hummingbird, I just stop and look at it as long as it is flying there. They fly so smoothly that I feel happy. The other day, I was walking down the street and bumped into one of them. It was flying and I was looking. But the exciting thing was that it started flying literally in front of my eyes for like fifteen seconds, standing still in the air and staring at me. Just beautiful …
Next time you see one of them, stop for a second and enjoy the maneuver.

Something ... Someone ...

Do something great for someone everyday and don't get caught.

G. W. Cummings Sr.
Lessons at the Fence Post

Things happen ...

We live and learn ...

Dr. Milani

Yourself

Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

50 life lessons

The color of Love

Love is red, although sometimes it appears a little blueish. But one thing is for sure, it is not green and never will be green.

دل خویش را بگفتم چو تو دوست میگرفتم
نه عجب که خوبرویان بکنند بی وفایی

سخنی که با تو دارم به نسیم صبح گفتم
دگری نمی شناسم تو ببر که آشنایی

سعدی

The boy who cried wolf

I am sure all of you have read or heard the story of the boy who cried wolf because he was bored. When the real wolf came, he cried wolf again but nobody helped him since he was a liar. The point that I don't understand is the moral of the story. When villagers didn't help the boy, their sheep were scattered and slaughtered. So the moral of the story should be if somebody is lying, listen to him/her every single time or you might be the looser at the end of the day.

اگر ژاله هر قطره ای در شدی
چو خر مهره بازار از او پر شدی

سعدی

What are you doing when you are not doing anything?

You may say "nothing". But according to an article in TIME we are traveling in time when we are doing nothing. When our mind is not involved in any task, it travels in time. Either reviewing the past memories or foreseeing the future. The thing is that if you have some distracting memory in your head or some not very pleasant event coming in the near future, you may get even more anxious when you are idle because your mind starts exploring them.

Whip Cream

I am starting to believe that whip cream is a complicated thing, not necessarily the most complicated concept in the world but one of those that our little brain needs some time to process. I was in the Starbucks the other day and two girls entered the Starbucks talking to each other. The guy ask them about their orders and one of them without any hesitation started ordering:
Can I get a Triple Grande 140 degree no foam cinnamon dolce latte with caramel ...

The guy asked:
Do you want whip cream on it?

And the girl was thinking for like 10-15 seconds to decide whether she liked whip cream on it or not. Anyway, the funny part was that the answer was no and the order came with whip cream.

Automatic Doors

I think the automatic doors are the most polite and respectful things in the world. They open when you're close enough regardless of who you are. They don't care if you're black or white, tall or short, smart or idiot. They respect you being there.
Whenever you're sad, just pass by one of them. They will notice you, they will open for you and they will make your day.

Lessons not necessarily from a trip, No.1

بعد از این تنگ کنم دایره خلوت خویش
تا بدانجا که نهم دل به دل صحبت خویش

دوری و دوستی و حرف کم و رنجش کم
به چنین شیوه توان داشت نگه عزت خویش

زود رنجیدن اگر جرم من ساده دل است
جمع یاران ابدی باد و مرا عذلت خویش

Lessons from a trip, No. 5 - Tea

People have their own ideas on how to boil water, you trust your own or you won't have any tea for the night.

Lessons from a trip, No. 4 - The KitKat incident

If your socks got wet because of walking on a wet floor, don't accept any KitKat offers unless you exactly know what was on the floor!

I know it is a little bit tricky and hard to get the logics behind it. But believe me it is a very crucial lesson to hear and remember.

To move on ...

We never heal or recover inside, we just learn how to cope.

Lessons from a trip, No. 3 - Check list

When going to the bathroom, make sure to go through the well-known, universally acclaimed and internationally admired checklist:

• No multi paragraph announcement is hanging anywhere near the bathroom
• The door should have a lock
• Siphon should be working
• There should be enough toilet-papers

Lessons from a trip, No. 2 - Don't bother reading it

If you want to use the restroom and there is a multi paragraph announcement hanging on the door. Don't bother reading it, it basically means "Not Working".

Lessons from a trip, No. 1 - To slip away first

If something dropped on your head while standing in the kitchen and chitchatting with your friends. Do not look up first because the next one will drop on your face. But if you can't help it since you have a very very curious nature, make sure the curiosity does not open your mouth.

Attachment

I got an email from a TA today with several reading materials attached to it including a zero KB PDF file. Then I got another email from her, explaining that the PDF file had not been attached properly and we had to download it from a web page. Now that I am trying to download it I see that it is a 48MB file. It is a strange feeling to know that your TA expects a 48 MB file to be attached to an email. I am either gonna fail the course no matter how hard I try or will get an A+ without handing a single homework.

To hide a few ...

Skill is not to make people happy while you are happy. Skill is to make them laugh and laugh along with them and don't let them know how crashed and burned you are inside.

کی شعر تر انگیزد خاطر که حزین باشد

یک نکته از این معنی گفتیم و همین باشد

life ...

You know what is harder than catching on fire?
... Putting it out with your bare hands.

تا بهار دلنشین آمده سوی چمن
ای بهار آرزو بر سرم سایه فکن

چون نسیم نو بهار بر آشیانم کن گذر
تا که گلباران شود کلبه ویران من

Please, Don't walk for a second ...

Please, Please ... Don't walk for a second. That bird needs to rest. She is scared of you.

Clown

Somebody told me once that clowns have a pitiful life. They have to laugh even when they don't want to. I am not a clown. I can opt not to laugh anymore even when I am making jokes. The strange thing is that nobody even notices ...

Complicated things ...

Love should never be a secret. If you keep something as complicated as love stored up inside, it could make you sick.

Dr. Otto Octavius!
Spider-man II script