Floyd's Own Quotes

My 870 Favorite Q9 Quotations

My 4,000 Personal Favorite Quotations

A picture is worth 1,000 words.
It also requires about 1,000 times the memory
1,000 times the disk storage
and takes 1,000 times longer to display or print.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-) [One of my 4,000 personal favorite quotations]

Confidence should only come from competence.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-) [One of my 4,000 personal favorite quotations]

Turn what you get
into what you like.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 12, 1999

Bicycles solve a lot of problems at once: (1) rush hour, (2) noise, (3) people not getting enough exercise, (4) people in too much of a hurry (i.e. stressed out), (5) pollution [cars being the #1 cause], (6) dying (car accidents again are #1), (7) impersonalness of the city, (8) the "blight" of parking lots and (9) expense.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on June 19, 2000

When you don't know what you want, you end up wanting a lot more than you need.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on June 29, 2000

The disorder of play is the greatest order.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 3, 2000

Selfless people succeed.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 22, 2000

Let's have a new rule: You can only complain about a problem when you have a solution, and when you aren't a direct contributor to the problem.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on November 22, 2000

Coffee: creative lighter fluid.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on January 16, 2001

When you know your own strengths and weaknesses, you are better able to know those of others. Once you do, managing people becomes an optimization game, where everyone wins.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 23, 2001

"Cast Away" -- a 2.5 hour FedEx commercial.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 5, 2001

Heard about the cure for the human form of "Mad Cow Disease"?
Become a vegetarian.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 15, 2001

Perhaps the greatest joy is learning how to motivate yourself.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 21, 2001

Windows 95 was "perfect", the greatest thing since cable TV. Then Windows 98 was released, whereby Steve Ballmer "sold" us on it by saying it fixed over 5,000 bugs in Windows 95. Then we hear that Windows 2000 has 63,000 known defects:
http://zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2436920,00.html
Anyone care to guess how many bugs Windows XP has? Let's review that progression:
DOS: zero
Win95: 5,000
Win98: 63,000
Calculating: 63,000*(63,000/5000)=793,800. Sort of gives new meaning to the idea of Microsoft millionaires.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 30, 2001

Of all the media people I have listened to in the past six days, I have to say I am the most profoundly impressed by Peter Jennings. Among other things: he kept his composure the best at the worst possible moment(s); he editorialized the least and in the gentlest way when he did comment/summarize; he used his fleet of reporters, producers and assistants the best; he did the least amount of "I have three people here today and they are going to give conflicting opinions and it is going to degenerate into an argument"; and he logged herculean hours. Then I saw what he did on the first Saturday morning after 9/11 with a group of children and their parents, and that just put him over the top. Here's to Sir Peter.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September, 2001, September 17, 2001

One of the most alarming things I see when companies cite their new security measures is that they say things like "We do a very complete and thorough job making sure when our gates are open that we have secure facilities" (a VP of MLBaseball security). They use superlatives: "most", "best", "complete". This is utter nonsense, and a lie. They should be saying "more", "better", "improving". It is impossible to be completely secure. It is impossible to think of everything. And it is impossible for perfect measures TODAY to be perfect TOMORROW. This arrogance can only be explained by considering the legal angle -- these firms are trying to cover themselves, and little else. Well I think they are so far wrong in what they are saying that they are lying...it is such a distortion, in such an important area. "er", not "est", should be the most we hope and work for. This would also be more in keeping with "kaizen" (continuous improvement), a Japanese word that sums up my personal philosophy. Further to that, why don't public facilities install "How can we improve our security" suggestion boxes? 50,000 fans are 50,000 sets of eyes -- that collectively can see potential weaknesses a thousand times better than a few VPs. In a single year (some years back) Toyota employees submitted over one million suggestions on how to improve things. If your place of work doesn't have a suggestion box, put up your own -- a box full of suggestions is less likely to be ignored than no box at all. Oh, and if you catch people using superlatives regarding security, be sure to correct them.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 17, 2001

Last week, after the events of 9/11, I found myself returning to the same thought again and again. Several times per day I asked myself, "What on Earth is David Letterman going to do?" Each time I thought this, it struck me as strange that I would think about this, of all things. But I guess that part of the reason I did was because I was faced with the exact same situation for "#3" that I send out each day in Q9. Each comedian or comic talk show is faced with the same dilemma, but all I wondered about was Dave's show... Then the word got out in advance of the show that it would be a bit different, with no opening monologue, no Top 10 list and a different tone in general. So naturally I tuned in last night. And was profoundly impressed with how he handled it. Dave cited NY's mayor, a small struggling town's citizens and other stories to show the strength and resolve that America, and Americans, are truly made of. Too bad he was just way too humble and sincere to include himself.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 18, 2001
[Incidentally, Kilborn followed with an equally appropriate unscripted opening, talking about the dilemma of being about comedy, yet being placed in a non-comic moment, and asking not only was it right to broadcast, but *when* would it be right to be funny again. I don't have the answer, but perhaps that too needs a Presidential decree, just so that no one's feelings will be hurt when the comedy resumes. Here's to that moment, as it will be a good thing when it is once again ok to quip "I'm back, Jack", as Mork so memorably did so many Orkian years ago.]
[NBC's duo is back for the first time tonight (09/18/01) and I'll try to watch them...honest ]

I am a warrior. But only when it comes to truth. Freedom, as we have seen, can be co-opted to do many things. Some use it to justify their country's actions but that is not always acceptable, as one person's freedom must end where another's begins. Freedom by itself is not the path because, if we follow only freedom, then we will keep coming to a standstill every time we "bump" into someone else's freedoms. Truth, on the other hand, *is* the path. Truth, by shining its beacon, unites us and points the way. There is no bumping, no halting, no opposed interests when it comes to truth. Following truth is the path to true freedom and we must learn to recognize, find, follow, and in fact be slaves to, truth.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 19, 2001

Nimda (a virus): So easy to spread, no wonder it's Number 1!
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 20, 2001

An engineer is an artist with constraints.
- Floyd Maxwell, BASc (1957-), November 2, 2001

"Friendly" and "easy" are not things I look for in a tool. "Powerful", "logical design", "granular", "extensible", and "self documenting" -- these things are. I prefer having to learn a tool once rather than suffering its awkward "ease" repeatedly. "Ease of use" specifically prevents a tool from being "productive to use".
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on December 14, 2001

My sister gave herself an incentive to quit smoking. She pledged to save her cigarette money so that she could travel. One day my mom got a call from my sister saying that she had saved up enough for a trip. Away they went, as did my sister's former habit.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on January 1, 2002
[she is now a vegetarian too :-)]

It is ironic to observe that those who try to "please everyone" end up spending all their time in a futile effort to please a small group of friends and family, whereas those who resolve to be principled, regardless of how many or few agree with them, eventually end up with a huge following of true friends.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 22, 2002

Now that they've found the true average color of the light from 200,000 galaxies (beige), they are looking for a new name for it. How about "Big Bang Beige"?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 11, 2002, March 11, 2002

Has anyone observed before that the acids in acid rain, when they land on Earth, readily react, forming salts...and salts help dissolve ice, i.e. what glaciers, and most of Antarctica are made of? Salt will do a better job of melting a glacier than supposed "global warming" will. So it is not rising Earth temperature that is a serious threat to our environment, but the quantities of fossil fuel combustion by-products being released into the atmosphere. Analogous to freon -- a catalyts that would assist in the splitting up of an ozone molecule then do it again and again because the freon itself was not consumed in the reaction -- the smog salts are consumed, but are replaced with interest each day we continue to burn them.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on June 28, 2002

Picasso, with a conscience.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 20, 2002, of Marlon Brando

I wish the chat world's "ignore" button was available in the real world.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 30, 2002

Why is the world in the state it is in today? Well, what is the best way to solve a problem? Come up with a solution that is exactly tuned to the person, place, situation, age and real reasons involved. Yet this is, by definition, the exact opposite of mass marketing, mass medical "cures" and mass education. If you want real change, customize your solution. One tip: look for basics. Water is pretty much always good for you, smoking always not. And for me, doctors, are always to be avoided.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on Chem Eng UBC 1984, September 2, 2002
[Oh yeah, don't forget that fluoride is good myth? Go out, find and analyze your own actual information not just words from "doctors" (who know spit about fluoride compared to a chemical engineer) on the subject and decide for yourself. Remember, ads in the 60's bragged that "4 out of 5 doctors smoked Camels". Today the slogan should be "9 out of 10 doctors are only in it for the money".]

Broken records don't sell records.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 3, 2002,
typed back at a chat room spammer

Bring your own water to Niagara Falls.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 5, 2002
[on the astonishing prices of everything there, and the very high concentration of fluoride in almost every brand of bottled water sold there!]

Given a chance, shrinks would have medicated Robin Williams. Richard Pryor. Richard Jeni. John Belushi. Martin Short. They would have given them a name, and it wouldn't have been "entertainer" or "comedian".
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 9, 2002

If the computer industry is like the auto industry, then the Internet is the assembly line.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on October 17, 2002

The worse things get,
the harder people pray,
the worse things get.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on November 7, 2002

Ah, America, the land where everyone is free to vote any way they please, but where everyone ends up voting in the same way they did last time, and the time before, and the time before -- carefully avoiding the need to actually choose the better person for the job.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on January 22, 2003

For all of its strengths, the free enterprise system is a continuous game of musical chairs...and always with one less chair after each song.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 19, 2003

People want something for nothing, and a bit of mystery.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 24, 2003

Has there ever been a better White House Press Secretary than Ari Fleischer?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 17, 2003
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/road_taken/fleischer.html

Any last words, Saddam?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 18, 2003

Those who risk nothing, and have nothing to risk, lie ready to pounce on those who risk all.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on April 2, 2003

Iraq's Minister of Information put the finishing touches to his Comedy Central audition tape with today's press update.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on April 8, 2003

All children will at some point come to the personal responsibility fork in the road. Those who choose the road of less personal responsibility become Liberals. The rest will become conservatives. It is ironic that being a Liberal or a conservative has nothing whatever to do with the world of business.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on May 15, 2003

The irony of Al-Qaeda is that history will view it as the single biggest destroyer of Islam.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on May 16, 2003

Science is more inevitability than progress. If this is true, then that must be true also -- repeated a million times each year. Lots of little baby steps, in a million different directions. How did we ever fool ourselves into thinking that this would lead to significant developments in our humanity? The only way to make big gains on the human front are to make good decisions, and for sure science doesn't help with that. A quick google.com search for "most popular diets" brought up links to 215,000 web pages. Do you think even one of them mentions the benefits of parsley? My link below does...
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on May 19, 2003
http://www.just-think-it.com/parsley.htm

So short be one's youth
So long the decline
Only love's mighty power
Makes the moments sublime.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on May 23, 2003

If you're trying, you're succeeding.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on June 17, 2003

I nominate the Oatmeal Crisp commerical as the funniest yet feel good commercial of the year.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on July 10, 2003

Everyone wants reach (influence), and most will do whatever they can to get it, whereas the good people who have it are more concerned about using it properly.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on July 14, 2003

If a doctor suggested things for you to do that were actually healthy, and you did them, then in time you would have no reason to go back to your doctor. Do any of you stop going?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 4, 2003

50,000,000 people lost power ...because of the environmental movement. It has become next to impossible to run a transmission line from A to B -- as one said "All it takes is one property saying 'no' to stop the whole thing." The time is now for us to stop kidding ourselves that we are environmentalists when we block new power plants (or hug trees). If you don't want a new power plant (and the power transmission lines they require) then CONSERVE. Personally, I practice the ultimate act of conservation -- I have not and will not bring any new people into this world.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 21, 2003

Patriotism should just be a start, like Liberalism. The ultimate? True individuality of thought.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on August 25, 2003

Never try to please those that are never satisfied.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 12, 2003

Those who can do, those who can't destroy.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 25, 2003

Tommy Franks was on David Letterman last night (in a re-broadcast of a show I had missed the first time). Tommy Franks is one of the most rational, sound individuals I have ever heard. One person from his home town said General Franks was one of the finest people he knew (along with GWBush, also from the same town). Another person I talked to who had seen the show described General Franks by saying "Steel trap mind". Read or listen to him if you want to move upward.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 19, 2003

Remember, consuming is not "FEELING ALIVE!"
Creating, sharing, working-hard-and-achieving are.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on December 10, 2003

Nothing is more alarming than to realize your companion may be confused. If they know more than you, great for you! You learn something. If you should know more than them, also great, for them this time. And if either of you should be in error, ultimately your mistake will be realized and something will be gained from it. But confusion? What can be done to fix it? How does the confused mind realize that it is confused?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on December 22, 2003

Time is not money, quality is money.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on January 9, 2003

Wouldn't it be incredible if the greatest upgrade we could perform on ourselves cost almost nothing?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on January 6, 2004
[More at Super Baby Names]

I don't know if SCO is in the right with their current legal threats against Linux-using companies but I have my suspicions. I suspect that few companies will do business with SCO in the future.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on March 8, 2004

The press are having a field day right now. Keenly aware of the intellectual gap between the average Democrat and the average Republican, they have found ways to fool (ie. rally) Democrats with things like "Rice must testify! Rice must testify!" (when none before in her position have), while infuriating Republicans with the stupidity of the press request. Even though he predicted it, George Orwell would still be amazed at how "1984"-like today's world has become. All he missed in his 50-years ahead-of-its-time book was that it would be the media, not government, that would swing the masses from one side to the other in the blink of an eye.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on April 1, 2004

It is ironic that once we perfect an experience, we have often lost a lot of our initial interest in it. If the commercial world could figure out how to prevent it, the pill would be out tomorrow.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on April 5, 2004

Wherever you quote, there you are.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on April 16, 2004

Ah the joy of learning a lesson CLEARLY. To see the picture from every angle, including the common traps and pitfalls, and to perhaps even have a story or two that describes the problem and reveals the solution perfectly. It's money in the bank.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on September 1, 2004

A single edition of the average newspaper could contain every uniquely-valuable word of wisdom ever spoken. But what would be printed for the second edition?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), January 4, 2005

Q. What is more toxic than lead, but is added to two-thirds of the US water supply?
Q. What has no medical benefit to teeth, but is added to toothpaste?
Q. What product is both a rat poison and "good for you"?
Q. What product is given daily to US school children in tablet form, and in school drinking water at a concentration three times higher than municipal levels?
A. Industrial waste
A. A fertilizer industry by-product
A. A Uranium enrichment industry by-product
A. The active ingredient in Sarin nerve gas
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), published in Q9 on February 3, 2005

I challenge any meat-eater to read Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation" and not change their food consumption practices.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), March 16, 2005

The "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report", a four-year, 2,500-page assessment by 1,300 researchers from 95 nations was released today, yet in this 700-word summary article on ctv.ca the words "over-population" are never used. Incredible.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), March 31, 2005

Population = consumption.
Consumption = resource depletion and pollution.
It really is as simple as that.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), April 4, 2005

The things worst for us cost the most,
the things best for us cost the least.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), April 10, 2005

People who say others have no life, have no life.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), April 18, 2005

Choose long hellos over long goodbyes. On departure talk is speculative, stress-inducing. On return accomplishments are always worth sharing.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), May 2, 2005

People who use the word "spiritual" usually aren't.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), May 12, 2005

August 2nd, 2005 email to Gary "King" Kaufman regarding steroids

Have you picked your cause? Life isn't worth living without one. It is the thing we should be doing when we are playing video games or endlessly channel surfing. It could be trying to increase the minimum wage, working to rid the world of fluoridation, or coaching kids to enjoy sports, not just win them. So what is your cause?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), June 17, 2005
[Note that peddling religion is not a cause -- it is more like becoming a human virus in order to propagate your destructive payload from person to person.]

Political correctness: content-free thought.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), June 20, 2005

Terrell Owen's Time Out Turns Out Terribly Overdue.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), August 17, 2005, on NFL bad boy Terrell Owens being suspended for a week by the Eagles

It is ironic to observe that those who try to "please everyone" end up spending all their time in a futile effort to please a small group of friends and family, whereas those who resolve to be principled, regardless of how many or few agree with them, eventually end up with a huge following of true friends.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), September 1, 2005

How will we ever see the conspiracies behind fluoridation, the supposed nutritional benefits of meat, or the insanity of taking petrochemicals (dubbed "drugs") to try to improve our health when the biggest conspiracy of all, the media, will not fairly report comments that prove a conspiracy?
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), September 12, 2005

No matter what the habit, ultimately it is our mental decision to stop that matters.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), September 25, 2005

Constructive human qualities work together, while destructive ones do not. This is why a person expressing a negative quality is "so annoying" to be around -- because one can not work constructively with them at that time, nor they with themselves for that matter. Conversely, we can develop an unlimited number of constructive qualities -- tweaking, refining and expressing them as often as we wish -- without creating issues, conflicts, problems or ultimately losses.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), November 14, 2005

Dentists shilling fluoride is like actors shilling plastic surgery. Each is equally qualified.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), December 27, 2005
[Research for yourself how many chemistry courses a dentist takes during their college/university training]

Worse than being Public Enemy #1, religion is really Public Diversion #1.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), December 29, 2005

My favorite Stars Wars moment? The theme music blairs as two men hurl over a hill in a 1961 red Ferrari GT250 ...in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), February 6, 2006

2005: The year Oscar substituted "most politically correct" for "best".
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), February 8, 2006

Truth leads naturally to freedom but freedom does not lead to truth. If anything, freedom leads to ease, and ease to consumption; hence the reason "freedom", not truth, is used in the media and government.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), February 9, 2006

Gates is like Tiger Woods: tenancious, win-at-all costs mentality and dominating his field.
Jobs is like Don King: promoter extraordinaire but not universally loved.
Woz is like Muhammad Ali: innovative, a hero to millions, able to perform miracles.
Ballmer is like Mark Cuban: mouthy, driven, get your kneepads ready.
RMS is like John Rocker: constantly in the media, but for the wrong reasons.
Phillippe Kahn is like Pele: brilliant, miles ahead of the competition, but peaked before his field did.
Linus Torvalds is like Phil Mickelson: "just having fun", happy to be number two, looking mighty good in 2006.
- Floyd Maxwell (1957-), posted April 11, 2006, on slashdot