HOW I REASON
The following are extracts from various writings done by Ajibola Aries in the past, either in the form of articles, letters, poetries or even school presentations.
Chiefly because they are just parts of main bodies of writings in which they have been buttressed, their interpretations may not be always fully clear as presented in this place.
Readers are expected to use their discretions in this respect.
The full body of Ajibola Aries quotations are in his moblog, 'Deep Thinking'.
1. Respect expressed is the best respect.
2. A person that is neither respected nor feared is the most vulnerable creature. He should be prepared to be at the receiving end of the worst anyone can give.
3. Except when it is dead the conscience is the boldest but quietest critic.
4. Moral courage is not the ability to avoid temptation, but the ability to see temptation and face it, without being overwhelmed by it.
5. War proves not strength, but that men enter a season of madness.
6. He who questions the origins of Fear, has done Mankind the greatest favour.
7. It is not everything that you desire that is good for you, and it is not everything that is good for you that is meant for you.
8. Wise men are ruled by their intellects; fools by their moods.
9. A wise dog does not flex muscles during misunderstanding with a lion.
10. For why do you live
And why do I live
If naught in Creation exists
Even as Hope?
11. Everyone should be given a fair hearing, for truth is such a powerful phenomenon that it can force itself out, through the mouth of anybody.
12. Nothing done anyhow is ever done well.
13. When a man attains wisdom, one of the first truths he will admit, is that it is not all what he is capable of doing, that he should do.
14. Making a good promise is akin to rolling out a red carpet in your own front. It is a honour if you go forward to walk on it, but a bad promise is nothing other than a declaration of bad intention.
15. The virtue in keeping promises is relative. There are good promises and bad promises: the world appreciates it and make applauses if a man keeps his good promises, but if a man makes a bad promise and keeps it, what the world really remembers is that he did what is bad.
16. Truth remains constant. But men will always believe what they want to believe.
17. One of the lessons we have learnt from history is that even the greatest men have been called villains.
18. There is no death that is a good news. Your enemy dies today and you rejoice. What is the assurance that your own end will come in a better manner?
19. It is wisdom that teaches men about the virtue of patience; it is also wisdom that reminds men of its limitation.
20. It is not perfection of reason that defines a rational person, but the discretion of a person to set limitations to his own unreason.
21. I dislike competition because there is pain in both victory and defeat. There is pain in victory because I am touched by the dejection of my defeated rival; there is pain in defeat because the disappointment is difficult to endure.
22. The habitual fault-finder is seldom happy, because he is always looking out for what is unpleasant to him in all things.
23. Suicide is a cowardly, self induced premature exit from earthly consciousness; a lazy man's way of escaping from life's challenges.
24. ... there is no wrong time but there is a wrong person. Whenever the right person appears is the right time.
25. Our problems are our weaknesses. To tell our problems to someone is to disclose what our weaknesses are. So be careful about who you tell your problems.
26. Beware of your actions and utterances in three circumstances under which even a rational person can make costly mistake: when you are in a hurry; when you are very happy, and when you are very angry.
27. Nothing raises more perplexity than an interesting story summarised, and an argument full of assumptions.
28. I am amazed at the potency of Religion as a universal force. religion is like a knife: when constructively channeled it is the recipe for the spiritual and material elevation of human civilization; if perverted or misused it can give birth to exactly those evils that define savagery and barbarism.
29. It's hard a policy to keep, but never expect and you will never experience disappointment.
30. ...the analysis of the scholar; the foresight of the mystic; the supplication of the worshiper; why, everybody has his own usefulness!
31. Every woman resents being beaten by her husband, but few ever realised that a lot of men view nagging with equal amount of disgust.
32. The truest intellectualism is the one associated with people who have natural aptitude and penchant for producing scholarly works, and not the one found with people who find themselves in schools- because they have to get certificate to work and to eat.
33. The shortest distance known to me is the one between the tobacco factory and the cemetery.
34. If an individual voluntarily goes into farming, or willingly enlists into the military, he has indirectly told the world that he is not indolent.
35. If you find yourself wanting in appreciation for Providence, go into farming.
36. Nothing draws more anger and disappointment; nothing draws more deception, than how one feels to look without seeing, while the looker is yet sure, that he is not blind.
37. Whichever man searches for the most beautiful woman will never find her, and whichever woman searches for the most handsome man will never find him, for as the man who believes he has got the woman highest in beauty settles down to enjoy her, unknown to him are many other more beautiful women elsewhere, all of who he can never meet and own at the same time!
38. How secure is your future? Find out how many problems you have now. The fewer problems you have, the more secure your future is.
39. God created you; refine yourself.
40. The best and easiest way to determine 'God's time' is to appreciate an occasion when opportunity is utilized and the expected results appear.
41. There's really no need for lengthy description with the best grammar: the simple definition of a mature person is he who makes effort to avoid trouble he can afford to avoid.
42. I have learnt that men who are not totally honest and straight-forward with women are more often the most successful in relationships with women. This is because women, by their nature, are cunning, and so, it takes a man who knows their way, and who knows how to play along accordingly, to handle them.
43. Love is not blind. Love with your eyes opened. Don't allow your heart to be stolen, for a heart that cannot be stolen, can never be broken.
44. Nominal friends may forever only fantasize about each other, but the force of Destiny unfailingly brings true friends together, somehow, someday.
I believe in Destiny.
45. As Christians and Muslims, we are bound to accept that heaven and hell are real; but even if they are not real, one losses nothing from being inspired to do good as a result of one's religious beliefs.
46. Politics is not for honest people; it is for only two categories of people: dishonest people, and, honest people who are ready to compromise honesty when expediency demands it.
47. People that are smal are small, not because they should be intimidated, but because they should be kindly shown the way to become big.
48. Unknown to most men, the men women hate the most are men who always tell them the bitter truth. And so if you consistently speak the truth, you will have few women around you, and you are likely to remain single for long.
49. ...and the bad news is: only very few things are absolutely certain in life, and that death, which you so much hate to think or talk about, is one of them.
50. ...if you want people to have confidence in your integrity, it will help if you are not faceless. Give some information about yourself; remove the anonymity if you know you have no skeleton to hide.
51. Psychology teaches a simple trick: if you don't feel confident, fake confidence, then confidence will naturally come. Many people who feel insecure use this trick - and the picture they create is that of a 'proud' or 'arrogant' personality. And so I decided never to judge people again by their external postures. What some people really need is love and security.
