

Life and How to Survive It (2008) - djshah
http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2008/08/life-and-how-to-survive-it.html

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makeramen
"And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve
already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument."

I am absolutely in love with this speech. The message is so clear and
succinct, while he also manages to inject relevant, yet not terribly offensive
humor into it and still stay on topic.

I also love that he can cover so many different points without making any one
point take priority over others. Meanwhile the quantity of topics covered also
doesn't dilute the strength of each. I find that really remarkable.

He sums it up so nicely right in the middle:

"I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that
you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated."

------
Zev
I clicked, expecting it to be an audio/video clip that I'd maybe, possibly get
around to listening to/watching. Pleasantly surprised to find it was a
transcript of the speech instead.

I still put it into Instapaper, though.

~~~
detcader
No, read it _now_.

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stellar678
Great line from the article: "So, I became a litigator...If I didn’t do that,
I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing
fiction"

~~~
c0riander
"... probably a sports journalist."

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MarinaMartin
This speech is the perfect blend of humor and sound advice:

"I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to
expect being average."

~~~
powrtoch
I actually take issue with this line. Unless given evidence to the contrary,
don't you _have_ to expect being average at any particular thing?

Of course I'm nitpicking though. His point is that you shouldn't _aspire_ to
averageness, and overall it's a great speech.

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vkdelta
"Be Hated."

I always thought being liked by everyone should be my goal. After reading
this, I realized that being hated is is even better.

~~~
rxever
My interpretation of him saying be hated is to speak and do the things you
believe in even if they dont quite resemble with the audience you are in. So I
think it's not in searching of people to hate you but in having the guts to
speak your mind and do the things you believe in no matter what others think
of it. And hatred of other people because of you doing it and them not having
guts to do it sometimes comes along with it.

~~~
paulgerhardt
"Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It
takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence."

------
yewweitan
The ability to be able to say this, and mock so many of his surrounding people
and disciplines, probably highlights best the fact that he practices what he
preaches.

A refreshing read indeed.

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abalashov
Is a "litigation lawyer" kind of like a "balancing tightrope walker?"

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J3L2404
"Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that
you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You
may never reach that end anyway."

Always loved a similar quote by Thoreau:

"This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy
a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the
Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might
return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up the
garret at once."

~~~
klbarry
How about using 7 years for a life of not needing to work? Seems fair to me...

~~~
wazoox
Except that you may die tomorrow.

~~~
megablast
Well, you can use that excuse never to do anything slightly unpleasant. Why do
the dishes?

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
Because not doing the dishes is even more unpleasant.

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albertcardona
Fantastic read. One sample:

" It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise.
Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is
hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable."

(The Anna Karenina principle, in other words.)

~~~
swombat
Just for completeness, in case someone doesn't know about it, the Anna
Karenina principle (first time I've heard it called this) refers to the first
line of the Tolstoy book of that same name:

[http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/shared/WebDisplay/0,,489...](http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/shared/WebDisplay/0,,48992_1_10,00.html)

 _'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own
way.'_

~~~
three14
From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle>:

The Anna Karenina principle was popularized by Jared Diamond in his book Guns,
Germs and Steel to describe an endeavor in which a deficiency in any one of a
number of factors dooms it to failure. Consequently, a successful endeavor
(subject to this principle) is one in which every last one of the possible
deficiencies has been avoided.

~~~
swombat
Thanks for this! I actually read the book, I should really have remembered
this...

