Beautiful intelligence *

"Beauty without intelligence is an illusion that is close to disenchantment. 

It is like a fairy that fascinates us, 

as long as we look at her through the enchanting prism of her beauty. 

However, it disappears as soon as the light of reason 

penetrates beyond the place where the eyes can see." 

- Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, 1876

kate upton

Homeless *

To those who sleep along the pedestrian way. 
Tucked inside a niche in the wall
littered around Sydney CBD, and sadly,
many other locations to find refuge from Winter's cold. 

Less is more.
Being bothered by trivial first world problems - 
an upcoming exam, stresses from work, a car breaking down,
seems to be cast in ridicule compared to Those 

who struggle from dawn to dusk, in order to survive.

Latin, to be Learned *

mutantur omnia nos et mutamur. tempus fugit. eheu, fugaces labuntur anni. respice, adspice, prospice. non est vivere sed valere vita est. si vis amari, ama. nosce te ipsum. perfer et obdura; dolar hic tibi proderit olim. possunt quia posse videntur. Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus. ipsa scientia potestas est. 

non est ad astra mollis e terris via. 

...

all things change and we change with them. time flies. alas, the fleeting years slip by. examine the past, the present and the future. life is not being alive but being well. if you wish to be loved, love. know thyself. be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you. they can because they seem to be able to: positive thinking. we are slaves of the Law, in order that we may be able to be free. knowledge is power. there is no easy way from the earth to the stars. 

every person is architect of their own fortune. 

Advocacy with no oil *

"Perhaps the most valuable thing the lawyer brings 

into the courtroom when he is an advocate is his reputation. 

His reputation for candor and soundness is worth three points in his brief 

and a marvelous opening for his oral argument. 

If his reputation is bad, I don't care what he says or how he says it;

he is climbing a glass mountain in shoes covered with oil."

- Hon. Charles D. Brietel

Jesting Pilate *

"'What is truth?" said jesting Pilate, 

and would not stay for an answer." 

I have not forgotten that when Pilate said this 

he was about to leave the judgment hall.

                                 - Sir Owen Dixon

Sir Owen Dixon was a Justice of the High Court from 1929 until 1952 when he was appointed Chief Justice. He was sworn in as Chief Justice at a sitting of the Full Court in Sydney on 21 April 1952. "Jesting Pilate" is an expression derived from Bacon's Essay on Truth and it also bears the name of my latest treasure. Finally I may devote time for some leisurely reading to learn from one of Australia's legal greats... 

Hemingway *

"Things may not be immediately discernible in what a man writes, 
and in this sometimes he is fortunate; 

but eventually they are quite clear 

and by these and the degree of alchemy that he possesses 

he will endure or be forgotten.

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.

For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer 

he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

...

[A] new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. 

He should always try for something that has never been done 

or that others have tried and failed. 

Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

I have spoken too long for a writer. 

A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it."

                               

                                              - 1954 Nobel Acceptance Speech

Distractions *

"By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, 

one may unfailingly arrive at 

his chosen goal or destination."

                              - Christopher Columbus 

In an ideal world, one read all day and all night to consume all knowledge bound in the innumerable books before all time. Realisation suddenly dawned on me that this is not only impossible, but unfeasible, in light of other priorities in life. Study smart, not study hard. And applying the same principle: one should work smart, not work hard. For instance, my sleeping hours last week were borderline ridiculous: 2 hours Monday; 1 hour Tuesday; 3 hours Wednesday; 5 hours Thursday. *Note to self, remove distractions and prepare in advance rather than work/study 20 hours a day.

Of course, to succeed the necessary sacrifices in life must be made. Yet it should not come at the expense of working away the better part of youth and life to arrive at the chosen goal. Indeed the goal is reached but at what cost? A decade or more of life? An illuminatingly interesting prospect if I continue doing what I'm doing, then I will keep getting what I'm getting. Life: progress in the professional realm is evident (direction, goal, change) and now some attention to the personal dimension. 

Plato's angel *

Soul to the universe, 
wings to the mind, 
flight to the imagination, and 
love to life. 

Someday, someone will walk into your life 
and make you realise why 
it never worked out with anyone else. 
Until then, 
have faith they will find you

Thomas Jefferson *

"Determine never to be idle.

No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time

who never loses any.

It is wonderful how much may be done

if we are always doing."

The two sides to Thomas Jefferson.
All men are created equal - 
but are they really?
A distinguishing factor is one's determination & discipline.
No time for mundane, only time for essentials.
Give time, invaluable time.

Mather Brown, 1786

The dark side of Thomas Jefferson

Charis Tsevis, 2012

Just a minute *

As we grow up,

we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down...

probably will.

You will have your heart broken

probably more than once

and it's harder every time.

You'll break hearts too,

so remember how it felt when yours was broken.

You'll fight with your best friend.

You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.

You'll cry because time is passing too fast

and you'll eventually lose someone you love.

So take too many pictures,

laugh too much,

and love like you have never been hurt

because every sixty seconds you spend upset

is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don’t be afraid that your life will end, 

be afraid that it will never begin.

Lady strikes confusion *

The No.111 Rule of a Lady:

"A wise girl kisses, but doesn't love.

Listens, but doesn't believe.

And leaves, before she is left."

- Marilyn Monroe

The best feeling in the world is knowing that you actually 
mean something 
to someone.

Everyone says love hurts but that is untrue.
Loneliness hurts.
Rejection hurts.
Losing someone hurts.
Envy hurts.
Everyone gets these things confused with love.

But in reality,
Love 
is the only thing in this world
that covers up all the pain and
makes someone feel whole again.

Nothing in the room *

The Paradox of our Age

We have bigger houses but smaller families.
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees, but less sense.
More knowledge, but less judgment.
More experts, but more problems.
More medicines, but less healthiness.
We've been all the way to the moon and back
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.
We built more computers to hold more information 
to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion.
Tall man but short character.
Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window
but nothing in the room.

...

May I ask one question Dalai Lama:
"Why?"

Breakfast at Tiffany's, no more *

Welcome to the age of un-innocence.

No one has breakfast at Tiffany's and
no one has Affairs to Remember.
Instead we have breakfast at 0600 and
see guys we try to forget as quickly as possible.
Self protection and closing the case are paramount.
Cupid has flown the Co-op (bookshop).

How the hell did we get into this mess.

There are thousands,
maybe tens of thousands 
of women like this in the city.
We all known them and we agree they are great.
They travel, they pay taxes.
They spend $1,100 on a pair of Manolos -
yet they're alone.
It's like the Riddle of the Sphinx.

Some day your prince will come.
Mine took a wrong turn, got lost
and is too stubborn to ask for directions...

The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage *

I am a place with immense substance and story,
where everyone can achieve their glory.
A masquerade shall be my term,
where you can be anyone
from Athena, Bottura, Jobs, Condezz
to Denning LJ before we adjourn.

life is a Stage *

The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Little Gidding *

"There are three conditions which often look alike
Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow:
Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment
From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference
Which resembles the others as death resembles life..."

- T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets III

To do *

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed 
by the things that you didn't do 
than by the ones you did do. 
So throw off the bowlines. 
Sail away from the safe harbour. 
Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover."


- Mark Twain

The Bar *

"Setting The Bar high,

it provides a meaningful purpose to work towards.

Not in the least for status, money, power or the like.

But rather, giving talent to reason.

I know the path is not going to be easy.

Yet I know it is going to be worth it."

From the remarks of Sir Owen Dixon on his swearing in as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia:

The Bar has traditionally been, over the centuries, one of the four original learned professions. It occupied that position in tradition because it formed part of the use and the services of the Crown in the administration of justice. But because it is the duty of the barrister to stand between the subject and the Crown, and between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, it is necessary that, while the Bar occupies an essential part in the administration of justice, the barrister should be completely independent and work entirely as an individual, drawing on his own resources of learning, ability and intelligence, and owing allegiance to none.

The work of solicitors in the administration of justice has the greatest possible importance, but their allegiance is perhaps more to their clients who have a more permanent or at all events a longer relation with them than the transitory relations between client and counsel when the full enthusiasm and force of the advocate are attached to the individual for a short space of time. I would like to say that from long experience on the Bench and a not much shorter experience at the Bar there is no more important contribution to the doing of justice than the elucidation of the facts and the ascertainment of what a case is really about, which is done before it comes to counsel's hands. Counsel, who brings his learning, ability, character and firmness of mind to the conduct of causes and maintains the very very high tradition of honour and independence of English advocacy, in my opinion makes a greater contribution to justice than the judge himself.

I think it is hardly useful to refer to the past except to explain the present. But my work at the Bar covered a period when I was younger and when perhaps according to the ordinary nature of man he derived greater pleasure and excitement from his activities. The activities at the Bar are greater than those on the Bench, and the responsibilities are no less.

21 April 1952 85 Commonwealth Law Reports XI-XII

Persuasion *

"What does persuasion mean- 

a firm belief, 

or the action of persuading someone to think something else?"

- Jane Austen

Imagine a time of accident, adventure, 
the making of new fortunes & alliances.
A woman of no importance manoeuvres in restricted circumstances,
but can she win in a regenerated society?

A Journey *

what is a journey. besides being a rhetorical question.

"A journey is not a trip. 

Not a vacation.
It's a process. 

A discovery.
It's a process of self-discovery.
A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.
A journey shows us not only the world, 

but how we fit in it. 
Does the person create the journey 
or does the journey create the person? 
The journey is life itself."

Where will life take you?

- Louis Vuitton

Why I write *

Aesthetic enthusiasm. 

Desire to share an experience one feels 
so valuable it ought not to be missed.

Besides, life never works except in retrospect. 

You cannot control life, 

at least you can control you version.