“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.”

George S. Patton, General U. S. Army

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Mark Twain

"The ancestor of every action is thought."

Emerson

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."

Buddha

"When you are not told what to do you begin to think what to do."

Roger Cohen, Op-Ed Columnist New York Times

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."

Voltaire

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

"You and I are not what we eat; we are what we think."

Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

Winnie the Pooh

"Time to think matters ─ at least if we’re interested in getting the answers right."

Stephen L. Carter

"Thinking is always out of order, interrupts all ordinary activities and is interrupted by them."

Hannah Arendt, Life of the Mind

"Too often we…enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy

"The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds."

Will Durant

"Thinking is like living and dying. Each of us must do it for himself."

Josiah Royce

"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory."

G. Behn

"The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking."

Albert Einstein

"Pursuing our thoughts in silent contemplation takes an investment in time that few can spare."

Stephen L. Carter

"A moment’s thinking is an hour in words."

Thomas Hood

"Sometimes I think and other times I am."

Paul, Variete: Cantiques spirituels 192

"To think is to differ."

Darrow

"To think is to live."

Cicero

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

William Jones

"What we think, we become."

Buddha

"Our job is not to make up anybody’s mind, but to open minds and to make the agony of the decision-making so intense you can escape only by thinking."

Anonymous

"The person who thinks before he speaks is silent most of the time."

Anonymous

"Think ─ and you will be very lonely."

Anonymous

"Thought is action in rehearsal."

Anonymous

"We live in a world that leaves very little time to contemplate."

Anonymous

"Don’t worry too much about what people think because they seldom do."

Anonymous

"Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest."

Anonymous

"One cannot think crooked and walk straight."

Anonymous

"Think Differently + Do Things Differently = Better Results"

Anonymous

May 26, 2016

Mother Nature Would Approve

Tags: General, Design,

I still remember looking at the impossible color combinations on the tropical fish at the Baltimore Aquarium and thinking to myself, “You just can’t improve on Mother Nature.” But that was before I saw the insanely colorful displays at the Chinese Lantern Festival in Philadelphia last night. Leave it to the Chinese to finally crack the code.

LED lights are the source of the un-natural color lantern displays that decorate Franklin Square near our city’s Chinatown. The show originated in China but is currently touring a handful of U.S. cities and Philadelphia was lucky enough to snag it for a 7-week run (ends June 12).

It’s one of those things you almost have to see to believe but the Festival features 28 over-the-top lantern displays, from this fiery 200-foot dragon, to exquisite lotus flowers, a panda playground, floral arches and a breathtaking four-story pagoda.

The smaller lanterns were shipped directly from the mainland but the larger exhibits were actually handmade on-site.

All of the displays are illuminated from within against a jet black night sky that gives the Festival an other-worldly setting and feel.

Lantern Festivals are a 2,000 year old Chinese tradition that started with the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD - 220 AD) about the same time Buddhism was being introduced in China. They are celebrated on the night of the first full moon of the Chinese lunar year to symbolize the coming of spring.

According to custom, families would join in the fun by lighting up their own beautifully decorated lanterns and take them on a moonlight stroll while watching fireworks, guessing riddles pasted on passing lanterns, and munching on rice glue balls.

Make that glutinous rice glue balls (featuring “fragrance, sweetness, freshness, smoothness and glutinosity”) combining pure white soft sugar, black sesames and high quality lard stuffing (and would you believe this was a dessert ...?)

Not to digress...but these rice glue balls eventually made their way to the New Year’s Day breakfast table where they were consumed with best wishes all around for happiness, reunion and good luck.

Many Chinese living overseas would actually eat a bowl of rice glue balls to release their homesickness (I think I’ll stick to looking at family photos). By1997, these glutinous beauties were named one of the “Famous Snacks in China.”

Glue balls aside, Confucius said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

The lesson here is to surround yourself with beauty, so it’s impossible not to see it.

Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140


Chinese Lantern Festival LED Lights Lanterns

Since establishing Alvaré in 1981, Anita has guided the agency through 38 years of steady growth and success. A marketing communications entrepreneur who has done it all, she remains deeply involved in strategic planning and creative direction, bringing extensive knowledge and insight to each client project.

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