原创 It's hard to be humble when...

I love the way we float along in a sea of information these days; happily nibbling our way through tidbits of trivia and nuggets of knowledge...

I'm juggling too many balls in the air. This is unfortunate; because I can't juggle (you have to laugh). The thing is – like many folks these days – I spend an inordinate amount of time slaving away at my computer. As part of this, barrages of emails are constantly winging their way back and forth.

Sometimes you have a thread that grows out of nothing, takes on a life of its own, and starts leaping from one topic to another with the agility of a mountain goat (I'm waxing a tad poetic because we're closing in on the weekend, and I for one am more than ready for it).

For example, the editors of the various EE Times Designline sites were just bouncing a few thoughts around with contributions from around the globe as usual. As part of this, someone mentioned Bill Schweber (who is the editor of Planet Analog and one of the nicest of guys) with regard to his purported fondness of donuts. This sparked the following thread between Bill and myself:

Max: What type?

Bill: Dunkin Donuts only, please. No Mr. Donut and no Honey Dew Donuts – local chains here which are also popular, but whose donuts IMO are mediocre.

Max: Shouldn't this be "... IM(expert)O..." :-)

Bill: Humility is one of my many virtues...

I will have to remember that comeback and use it myself one day. At this point I decided to perform a brisk Google search and find a witty response in the form of a quote about humility. Of course I'm a fool to myself, because there's so much stuff out there and I found a bunch of great (and thought-provoking) quotes, which I then wished to share as follows:

"Be it ever so humble, there's no opinion like one's own." – Source Unknown

"Humility is the ladder to divine understanding." – Source Unknown

"If you are right, take the humble side – you will help the other fellow. If you are wrong, take the humble side – and you will help yourself." – Source Unknown

"When we become aware of our humility, we've lost it." – Source Unknown

"Humility like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights." – Henry David Thoreau

"We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility." – Rabindranath Tagore

"When you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble." – Muhammad Ali

"They are proud in humility, proud that they are not proud." – Robert Burton

"Humility is like underwear; essential, but indecent if it shows." – Helen Nielsen

You have to admit that these are rather good (I personally agree with Muhammad Ali's sentiments) and – of course – there are many more out there (if you know of any good ones, please feel free to share them with the rest of us).

I should probably note that before penning this blog, I did email Bill asking: "Do you mind if I gather up our recent banter into a short blog?" Bill responded: "Go for it, I never put anything in an email that would cause me problems. I learned that from George Washington."

I couldn't help myself. I immediately replied: "a) I didn't realize you were one of his contemporaries and (b) I'm amazed to hear that you all had email back then."

Doubtless this will initiate another rally (or sally, or ... what is the word I'm looking for?) that will carry us through the rest of the afternoon...