I've Got A Need For Sleep

"Zeh hayom asah Hashem..." "This is the day G-d made let us rejoice and be happy in it." King David doesn't say which day he's referring to. I think this is because he is talking about every day.

Today was a good day for me and I hope for you too. I had great company and conversation for both dinner and lunch. My lunch friend told me a great story about how he was in Psych grad school and gave a class presentation and sat behind the big desk and the teacher asked him if he enjoyed the feeling of power... There's more to the story. Let me know if you need to know.

How do you define need? That question came up at dinner. The halacha - ruling seems to be that if something needs to be said then it's allowed to say it without worry of lashon harah - improper speech. What I see as a need and you see as a need are very different creatures, so the plot thickens.

Amidst much pleasant talk about talk and about thought and about perception (and and and) this quote came up at dinner, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." My friend heard it at a shiur, in which the rabbi said it in the name of Eleanore Roosevelt. I've heard this before without any attribution. I am always curious about stories and quotes and find that it's often hard to know for sure where these truisms originated. Most important is to try to live them. Still, I was inclined to poke around regarding the source of these words.

In a Wikiquote (which I'd never heard of till a minute ago) entry on Roosevelt it puts the quote under Disputed, stating, "This has been quoted without citation as a statement of Eleanor Roosevelt. It is usually attributed to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, but though Rickover quoted this, he did not claim to be the author of it; in The World of the Uneducated in The Saturday Evening Post (28 November 1959), he prefaces it with 'As the unknown sage puts it...'Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and little minds discuss people.' In this form it was quoted as an anonymous epigram in A Guide to Effective Public Speaking (1953) by Lawrence Henry Mouat. Several other variants or derivatives of the expression exist, but none provide a definite author: 'Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss events, small minds discuss personalities.' 'Great minds discuss ideas - Average minds discuss events - Small minds discuss people.' 'Small minds discuss things - Average minds discuss people - Great minds discuss ideas.'"

In googling the quote I came across this entry by fellow bloggers, NorthofAndorra. I find it fascinating that what friends of mine and I tend to think of as a local issue of loshon hara, is for some, a universal concern. I really liked this post and the light it sheds on the origins of this quote. I'd never heard of Tobias Wilson, one of the purported coiners of this adage. I learned more about him here. I have heard of, seen, and read Fran Leibowitz and just recently was wondering what she's up to these days.

In seven hours I need to be on my way to work, "I got a feeling I'm not the only one." Can you identify that quote? (And while you're at it, care to name what quote referenced by this post's title?)

Good night and G-d bless

you and I and the rest of

the world to sleep well

and to wake up and speak well

about truly deep ideas