An Ancient Book Of Wisdom Spanning Continents And Cultures

Quintus Curtius Literature , ,

Some books are so good that they become adopted by cultures outside their place of origin.  Such a book is the collection of stories and fables that has found a home in India, Iran, the Arab world, and in Europe.  The book is known by many names in all of these cultures, and various version of it exist, just as we find in Aesop’s Fables or the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.

It is known most commonly in India as the Panchatantra, in Iran as the Kalīleh o Demneh, and in the Arabic-speaking world as كليلة ودمنة (Kalila wa Dimna).  In Europe the book generally is known either by its Arabic title or by the generic Fables of Bidpai.

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How A Man Can Win A Good Name For Himself (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

Everyone wants to gain notoriety.  Everyone wants to be respected.

But what are the various ways this can be achieved?

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The Ways A Man Can Win A Good Name

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

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Every man starting out in life is concerned with gaining notoriety.  He wishes to win a name for himself, and thereby gain the respect of others.  We wish others to see us as we see ourselves; or perhaps we want to remake ourselves into something better than what we once were.

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“You Never Got Me Down, Ray” (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

 

This is a podcast reading of my article of the same title that I published here today.

It describes how I overcame a collapsed lung, an operation, and a hospital recovery, and what kind of attitude you need to have when confronting disasters.

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8 Ways To Win When Dealing With Difficult People

Quintus Curtius Thought ,

We all have to deal with difficult people. They may be co-workers, clients, friends, family members, or lovers. We can’t avoid contact with them.

And with our narcissistic world being what it is, more and more difficult people are injected into the course of life every day.

[To read the rest of the article, click here.]

 

“You Never Got Me Down, Ray”

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

I have a huge scar on my back.  It’s 35 or 36 stitches, I think.  I can’t remember the exact number.  Let me tell you how I got it.  It was my freshman year in college.  And this was a long time ago, mind you.  I’m talking 1986 here.

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The Power Of Justice

Quintus Curtius Literature, Podcast , ,

 

This is a podcast reading of an article that I published yesterday.

The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has much to say about the virtue of justice, and why it is so rare.

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Unleashing The Creative Forces Inside You (Podcast Reading)

Quintus Curtius Podcast ,

 

This is a podcast reading of an article that I published last week here at Fortress of the Mind.

Recently I received a moving request to turn some of my articles into podcast readings.  It came from one very kind German schoolteacher who found them useful for her classroom instruction in teaching English to pupils.

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William H. Prescott: America’s First Great Historian

Quintus Curtius History, Literature , ,

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William H. Prescott was mentioned in the preceding article here, but I felt that he merited a more extended treatment in an article devoted to him alone.  He was America’s first great historian, known for his heroic style, and for his ability to fuse a meticulous attention to original sources with a striking narrative power.

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Unleashing The Creative Forces Within You

Quintus Curtius Thought , , , ,

It’s hard to predict when you’ll enjoy your most productive periods in life.  For some people, their years of productivity come early, and then they just ride out the remainder of their lives based on early successes.  Albert Einstein, to take an example, was one of those people.  In fact, most major scientists seem to achieve their major breakthroughs before they reach the age of 50.  After that, there seem to follow decades of “coasting” on past successes.

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