Wisdom, Luck and Preening – updated 2017
Aren’t you lucky! It’s a ‘two-quotes-for-the-price-of-one’ luck napkin.
I put these two together on the same napkin because they are the carnal and intellectual sides of the same coin.
I like being older. I like having more wisdom than I used to. I like to think that I am a better person than I used to be. But I also know that that ‘wisdom’ is, in many cases, the stacking up of suitcases full of experiences. They are stacked in such a way that my ‘wisdom’ seems to have come from some far off place, but the reason I can see things as I do is because I have this great view from atop the suitcases.
I also know that that great view can make me think more of myself than I should. I can start to preen and strut that I have such a great view, that I have had such good luck. I start to think I made it all happen. That is the exact thought, if personified, would put the rocks in my path to make me trip.
Once again, humility is key in understanding luck and and living with good fortune.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quotes by:
“Wisdom adjusts itself to luck” – (top) Herbert Zbigniew, 1924-1998, Polish poet
“Wisdom adjusts itself to luck” – (top) Herbert Zbigniew, 1924-1998, Polish poet
“Man preens himself on his strokes of luck.” – (bottom) Paul Valery, 1871-1945, French poet