The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
C. Northcote ParkinsonRead
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.
Interpretation
People tend to value the decisions they can make when they are restricted from making more significant choices.
This quote by C. Northcote Parkinson highlights the psychological tendency of individuals to assign greater importance to the decisions they are permitted to make when they are deprived of making more substantial choices. It suggests that when faced with limits, people often overvalue the limited options available to them, illustrating how human perception can be influenced by the context of control and autonomy.
In practice
In a corporate seminar about decision-making, to emphasize the importance of empowerment.
The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
The man whose life is devoted to paperwork has lost the initiative. He is dealing with things that are brought to his notice, having ceased to notice anything for himself.
Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
Parkinson's First Law: Work expands to fill the time available.
I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.
So long as you have faith in your Guru, nothing will be able to obstruct your way.
Abra DeMadrigal didn't look young enough to be my sister anymore. Her sorrow weighed her down and aged her. She was still beautiful, but she looked very far away. No wonder our people had raven eyes, so distant, so sad. No matter how wise she was, my mother looked like a woman who hadn't truely believed how much evil there was in our world. Not until this moment.
Ponder just let it happen. It's because their minds are so often involved with deep and problematic matters, he told himself, that their mouths are allowed to wander around making a nuisance of themselves.
Remember, in the vast infinity of life, all is perfect, whole, and complete... and so are you.
Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere.
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