Hello everyone,
Today I reflect on a biography I’m reading right now.
Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
—Napoleon Bonaparte
✏️ Delusions of grandeur
I have always loved biographies. A good biography is a window into the world of greatness; it reminds us how similar is our age to those gone by, and how similar our lives to those who’ve come before us.
I am currently reading Alan Turing’s biography. I bought it years ago. It waited patiently for its moment — I had tried to read it before, but couldn’t get past the first 50 pages. Now, returning to it as a new man and with a respect for the wealth contained within it, I find myself effortlessly flowing through the pages of his life. This is one of the many blessings of building one’s own physical library — it is a repository of one’s interests and aspirations, and a continual reminder of the vast and latent knowledge at one’s disposal. All you need to do is pull one out by the spine and examine its wares.
I read biographies in large part to fuel my own dreams. The ordinariness of greatness is inspiring — when you discover their failures and foibles, their victories and valleys, it brings the possibility of greatness into grasp. Biographies of great individuals, regardless of their domain, always have a common thread — an unwavering dedication to one’s self and one’s own path. People like Alan Turing, or Napoleon Bonaparte or Steve Jobs or Winston Churchill or Martin Luther, left an eternal mark on the world by playing their part in it to perfection. Biographies convince us it is possible for you, and I, to make such a mark too. There is an eternal contribution to be made by anyone if the right choices are made, and circumstances allow it.
Perhaps it’s just naivety, but as years go by, my dreams and aspirations only grow larger. And yours should too — because a life well-lived is one that involves aiming for the highest mark, and accepting what comes with grace. You might not be the next Alan Turing or Steve Jobs — in fact, you won’t. But you can be the next you. And God-willing, one day your story will sit patiently on someone’s bookshelf, waiting for its moment to spark greatness into another life.
cogito, ergo sum
I think, therefore I am
💡 Food for Thought
Be a man and follow me not. I found my path, so you find yours.
Martin Sugrue
🔗 Sunday Best
The Best Career Advice from Gardener
Told by Jensen Huang
“But this garden is so big, and your tweezers and basket are so small. How can you take care of the whole garden.”
“I have plenty of time.”
Paul Auster: How I Became a Writer
The essence of being an artist is the confront the thing you’re trying to do. To tackle it head on. And if, in wrestling with these things, you manage to make something that’s good, it will have its own beauty.
Working Graveyard on a Friday Night at 7/11
Some random guy from California who works at 7/11 (used to, he got fired last week) and films the content.
Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible.
—Richard Feynman
See you next week!
& don’t forget to think BIG!
AT