Epigrams & Bromides I

• There can be no single path to sustained learning or living; diversity and adaptation in both biological and social worlds are required for survival. 
• The strength of a democracy is determined by the levels of participation and shared well-being of its constituents. 
• Economic success without personal happiness is misery; personal happiness without economic well-being is a myth.
• Real freedom is comprised of equal proportions of liberty and responsibility.
• The greatest threat to freedom is a shortage of trust; as trust recedes, policing moves forward.
• Civilization requires both conservation and growth.  Too much of either is the source of all moral and intellectual ill health.
• Leadership, in the classroom or the boardroom, requires equal proportions of support and challenge. Support without challenge breeds complacency and false competence. Challenge without support breeds intimidation and withdrawal.
• The offering of opinion serves an important purgative purpose;  understanding, on the other hand, is a metabolic act that fuels human organizations. 
• Ethical acts occur at the intersection of cool reason and warm compassion.
• Play that is not fun can be neither therapeutic nor constructive.