💭 Laws, Quotes, and Thoughts to Live By

From the article Old Man's Advice to Youth, LIFE Magazine (2 May 1955), page 64.

Einstein, one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time, is often credited with many insightful sayings. For some of the more common ones it is unclear that he ever actually said them, such as:

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly known as "Horace," was a Roman soldier, senator, poet, and public notary. In his skills as an artist and writer, he was known for his elegant rhythmic verse and bitingly sarcastic poetry. He is sometimes regarded as the world's first autobiographer as his writings tell us a great deal about who he was, what he thought, how he developed, and his way of life.

This aphorism is taken from Horace's work Odes (c. 23 BC). The full verse occurs at the end of Odes 1.11:

Latin Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Commonly translated:

Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow.

As this text came from a metaphoric poem, a more literal translation of his horticulturally-related reference "carpe diem" might be pluck the day [as it is ripe].

This aphorism is attributed to British army intelligence early in World War II (1939–1945).

The phrase was adopted and popularized by Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (1883–1946), a headstrong US Army General of some controversy. Although he was very influential during WWII in the China Burma India Theater, he was ousted in 1944 related to some political drama. (The drama involved Britain's General Claire Chennault, China's Commander Chiang Kai-shek, a letter to Chiang from President Roosevelt delivered by Stilwell against the wishes of the American-Chinese ambassador, and the run-up to the Chinese Civil War.)

The sentence is a Latin-English pun (Dog Latin) which means, at best, it has a mock translation:

• Illegitimis meaning "unlawful" or "outlaw" in Latin, here in the sense "illegitimate" or "bastard."
• Non meaning negation in Latin, here in the sense "do not."
• Carborundum which is not a Latin word but instead is derived from a once-trademarked industrial grinding abrasive, here in the sense "to grind down."

In 1964 the saying was further popularized by presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. Over the years, this phrase has shown up in many contexts, including in an unofficial school song at Harvard (1953), the motto of an US Airborne Special Forces Group (1984), and on the desk of a former US Speaker of the House (2014).

This is also referred to as the Robustness Principle and was originally expressed as a part of the early TCP/IP networking specifications (RFC 760). As such, it is technically a programming principle ... and it is not without its critics.

Jonathan Postel (1943–1998) was an American computer scientist who made significant contributions to the development of the Internet. Postel is known for his roles as the editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, the author of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and the director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

My take is that this principle expresses an excellent approach to oneself vis-a-vis other people:

Think and act conservatively, strive to accept others as they are.

Warren Zevon was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Zevon's career-making event was Linda Ronstadt covering his song "Hasten Down the Wind" on her 1976 album of the same name. She later made a hit recording of Zevon's Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

Zevon collaborated with many other famous musicians, including Jackson Brown, the members of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, Carl Wilson, and Bonnie Raitt. Some of these friends performed on his albums.

The source of this insight was an October 2002 interview with David Letterman (1947–) where Zevon was dying of pleural mesothelioma. In response to Letterman asking about the differences in recording before and after his diagnosis, Zevon answered:

You're reminded to enjoy every sandwich and every minute playing with the guys, and being with the kids.

Zevon played three of his songs at the end of the show; it was his last public performance. When Letterman bid him goodbye with a handshake on stage, he echoed to Zevon "Enjoy every sandwich."

The Golden Rule, referred to as such beginning in the early 17th Century, is sometimes thought of as "an ethics of reciprocity." It can be found in the tenets of most religions and creeds through the ages.

One of the earliest documented appearences of this maxim is in the story of The Eloquent Peasant composed around 1850 BC during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.

In Judeo-Christian writings, the rule is codified in Vayikra/Leviticus 19:18 (c. 450–350 BC):

Hebrew ”לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה׃„

Torah translation: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Lord."

King James Version: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord."

The famous sage Hillel the Elder (died c. 10 AD) was asked to teach a man the meaning of the whole Torah while the man stands on one foot. Hillel said:

That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.

Franklin initially wrote this quote in 1755 regarding a tax dispute between the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Penns, the family who ruled from afar. This context is a bit different from how we generally use it today. Franklin was known to enjoy quoting himself, however. He likely repeated it later in the broader context more consistent with our current interpretation.

Larry Niven also suggests (see ):

The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa.

This philosophical razor suggests that when there are competing theories about the same prediction or outcome and both appear to explain things equally, the preferred theory should be the one that is the least complex or requires the fewest assumptions.

The extensive use of this razor by William of Ockham (1287–1347) caused it to be attributed to him posthumously. He spoke of the principle in a variety of ways, but the popular version was:

Latin Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.

Translation:

Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.

These concepts are traceable back to Aristotle (384–322 BC), who wrote in Posterior Analytics:

We may assume the superiority, other things being equal, of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses.

Scientific luminaries such as Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, and Einstein subscribed to this principle. The razor is often popularly but inexactly paraphrased:

The simplest explanation is usually the best one.

This standard describes the core of the scientific method while also capturing the basic principles of scientific skepticism.

Although science communicator Carl Sagan (1934–1996) both said and popularized this expression, these principles appeared quite a bit earlier.

The 1748 essay Of Miracles by the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) explores this topic in depth.

In 1708, Benjamin Bayly, the rector of church in Bristol (England) published the book An Essay on Inspiration. Bayly is skeptical of people claiming to have received revelations directly from God (regarding, for example, the end of the world). He wrote:

... these Matters being very extraordinary, will require a very extraordinary Proof ...

While it probably dates earlier, the concept can be traced to a proverb published in 1829:

latin quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur

Translation:

what is asserted gratuitously may be denied gratuitously

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) was an outspoken, controversial, and influential atheist and author. He applied this razor using these words in at least one of his books. In 2010, others began citing it by this name; the name gained more traction after his death.

The concept has been traced to a 1774 German novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers which included:

... Misunderstandings and lethargy perhaps produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do. At any rate, the latter two are certainly rarer.

In the 1941 "Logic of Empire" novella, author Robert Heinlen (1907–1988) wrote dialog that included:

You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.

The name of this razor was apparently coined in a 1980 book related to Murphy's Law (see ).

This razor can slice way too thin, leading to restrictions that prevent discovery or innovation.

Mike Alder, the Australian mathematician who is credited with this razor, described it in his 2004 Philosophy Now article as Newton's Flaming Laser Sword. This is partly because it is inspired by Newtonian doctrine. Alder is known for his popular and sometimes sardonic writings.

Alder admits: "While the Newtonian insistence on ensuring that any statement is testable by observation undoubtedly cuts out the crap, it also seems to cut out almost everything else as well. [This razor] should be used very cautiously."

Sometimes obtaining knowledge through experimentation is very difficult. Sometimes the act of experimentation has significant impacts on its target or obfuscates potential findings.

Adams wrote the popular 1979 humorous science-fiction novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first in a "trilogy" of five books. In this book the supercomputer Deep Thought, after computing for 7½ million years, reveals:

The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is forty-two.

Doyle's book The Complete Sherlock Holmes, first published in 1892, includes the story The Man with the Twisted Lip. In this story, Holmes says this quote to Watson while they are riding in a carriage on the way to the case. During much of the ride, Holmes is deeply lost in thought. Watson is extremely curious about what is apparently flummoxing Holmes, but Watson holds his tongue.

From the same book, the story A Case of Identity, begins with another insightful thought:

... Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.

Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and writer; she held a number of world records and was celebrated for many achievements. In 1922, she was the first female pilot to reach an altitude of 14,000 feet. In 1928, only a year after Lindberg, she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

In July 1937, Earhart attempted to be the first woman to fly around the world. During one of the final legs of the flight she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean, about 1,700NM southwest of Oahu near Howland Island. She wasn't officially declared dead until January 1939.

Earhart is remembered by countless posthumous awards and memorials. These include, in 1963, being the first woman to appear on U.S. Airmail Postal stamp and, in 1973, becoming a charter member of the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Socrates said this after being found guilty of "impiety and corrupting youth." Rather than be exiled from his beloved Athens, he chose death as his sentence. He believed the most important pursuit in life is acquiring wisdom through logical argument by questioning, examining, and thinking.

I interpret this maxim as teaching:

Life is short, enjoy it!

It is notable to me that it is included in some of the earliest recorded Judeo-Christian texts. While this is probably the oldest, there are other related references as well.

Tanakh translation: "And behold, joy and happiness, slaying cattle and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine; ‟Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” "

King James Version: "And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die."

Lord John Dalberg-Acton (1834–1902), an avowed Roman Catholic, was a British Member of Parliament from 1859 to 1865. During the same period he was also the editor of a Catholic monthly paper named The Rambler.

Acton opposed the doctrine of papal infallibility in the First Vatican Council (December 1869 to October 1870); he traveled to Rome to (unsuccessfully) lobby against it. He later wrote his famous polemic in a letter to a notable Church of England bishop. Acton was never shunned by the Catholic Church, however, and received last rites when he died.

King James Version, complete verse: "For the love of money is the root of all of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

This maxim teaches that greed and avarice will lead to bad outcomes. History demonstrates this might be true for the world as a whole but sometimes less immediately true for those loving money. I think, taking everything in sum, both one and the world ignores this caution at their peril.

A remarkable example of someone who actively eschewed the love of money even though they found themselves highly capable of accumulating it was the philanthropist Chuck Feeny (1931–2023). Beginning around 1982, under cover of his Atlantic Philanthropies foundation, Feeny anonymously gave away his entire $8 billion fortune. In early 2011, Feeny wrote:

I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living—to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition.

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), the pseudonym of British author and mathematician Charles Dodgson (who penned Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), wrote an oft-quoted letter in 1890 that said:

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.

Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She has become an icon in the scientific world and has received tributes from across the globe.

Curie was known for her honesty and moderate lifestyle. Rather than keep her many monetary gifts and awards, she passed them to friends, family, students, associates, and institutions. She refused to patent the radium-isolation process so further research could continue unhindered.

Curie died, aged 66, at a French sanatorium from aplastic anemia. She likely contracted it from her long-term exposure to radiation, the damaging effects of which were not known at the time. Her papers from the 1890s, which are stored in lead-lined boxes, are considered too dangerous to handle directly because of their levels of radioactive contamination.

Yoda is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe, first appearing in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. He is very strong with The Force and is a leading member of the Jedi Order until its near annihilation.

Yoda reminds us that if we want to achieve something, we must take action. We must not wait for something to happen; we must apply the hard work and never give up ... only then can success follow.

Clip: Do. Or do not.

The paradox is that you must always remain optimistic (regarding the end result) but you should never be overly optimistic (about its arrival).

Navy Vice Admiral James Stockdale (1923–2005) was held at the so-called Hanoi Hilton prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over twenty times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, he lived out the war without any rights, no known release date, and no certainty of survial.

In Jim Collins' 2001 book "Good to Great," Stockdale was interviewed and was asked which people did not make it home from the prison camp. Stockdale's answer was:

Oh, that's easy, ... the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, "We're going to be out by Christmas." And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, "We're going to be out by Easter." And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.

Following this, Stockdale said the "You must never confuse ..." quote.

Carlos Cipolla (1922–2000) was an Italian economic historian. Among his numerous publications, he wrote two popular non-technical essays:

• The first was Il ruolo delle spezie (e del pepe nero in particolare) nello sviluppo economico del Medioevo. This essay correlated Middle Age population expansion to spice imports, particularly Black Pepper (as it was thought to be an aphrodisiac at the time).
• The second was Le leggi fondamentali della stupidità umana. This essay explored the subject of stupidity and laid out his five laws.

Perhaps Forrest Gump, who was clearly not stupid, summed this up tidily:

Stupid is as stupid does.

Although this quote originated from an unlikely source, it contains remarkable nuggets of wisdom. I find it particularly relevant in our current sociopolitical climate. It's also a reminder that insights can originate from anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Daria is the fictional protagonist of her namesake animated series which aired on MTV from 1997 to 2002. This quote is from the January 2002 series finale, where Daria accepts an academic award at her high school graduation. (I await the day the movie gets made.)

Clips: Graduation Speech Movie Trailer

Daria was introduced and recurred on Beavis and Butthead, an earlier MTV animated series created by Mike Judge (1962–). While not particularly liking the pair, Daria seemed to understand them and perhaps appreciate their "authenticity." Writer David Felton, working with Judge, originated the Daria character; neither were involved in the spin-off.

One other nugget is buried earlier in Daria's speech:

Given the unalterable fact that high school sucks, I'd like to add that if you're lucky enough to have a good friend and a family that cares, it doesn't have to suck quite as much.

An immediate inference is that stupid people do not realize they are stupid and therefore confidently forge ahead with their idiocy. Conversely, people who question their own competence and act cautiously are probably not stupid.

Consider this: Suppose you're reading an article regarding an area of your personal expertise. Any errors, ommissions, or mis-statements tend to be immediately recognizable. On the other hand, if you're reading something on an unfamiliar topic which at least seems reasonable, most of us have a tendency to consider the source accurate.

Sir Karl Raimund Popper was an Austrian-British philosopher of science and social commentator. He believed that scientific theories cannot be proven, but they can be falsified; this means such theories should be constantly re-evaluated. He is also known for his advocacy of both liberal democracy and the principles of social criticism. Regarding the latter topics, his quotes include:

Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstands you.

There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions.

You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence "democracy" and the other "tyranny."

Often the most passionate, inflammatory, and emotion-driven topics are the least-productive and are fueled by the least-informed rhetoric.

The source of this adage is the award-winning 1980 novel Timescape by Gregory Benford (1941–), an American astrophysicist and science-fiction author.

The nearly identical concept was captured earlier by Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), the famous British mathematician and philosopher. In the 1964 book Distilled Wisdom he is credited with saying:

The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts—the less you know the hotter you get.

The British economist Charles Goodhart (1936–), CBE, FBA is credited with this adage. His academic research focuses on central bank governance practices, monetary frameworks, and foreign exchange markets.

Although Einstein is often (erroneously) credited, the 1963 book Informal Sociology by William Bruce Cameron included:

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Laurence Peter (1919–1990) was a Canadian educator. He began teaching in 1941 and received his Doctor of Education in 1963. He is best known for his 1969 book The Peter Principle which was co-authored with creative writer Raymond Hull (1919–1985).

The book, which published research done over years prior, was apparently originally intended as satire. However, the principle became popular because it seemed to ring true. It has since been the subject of significant commentary and research, much of which has born out its concepts.

Roy Charles Amara (1925–2007) was an American researcher, scientist, and futurist. While there is confidence this is his adage, it is unclear exactly when he first taught it.

Amara attended MIT on the GI Bill, receiving his business and engineering administration degree in 1948. He went on to earn an MS in the Arts and Sciences and a PhD in Systems Engineering. He was a part of the the legendary think tank SRI (then Stanford Research Institute) from 1952 to 1970.

Amara then became president of the Institute for the Future (IFTF) from 1971 to 1991, leading studies into many realms and pioneering the institute's Ten-Year Forecast. He also convened one of the earliest systematic discussions regarding global climate change in 1978.

Hopper was a pioneer of computer programming. Around 1954 she created a compiler for FLOW-MATIC, her unique idea and the first machine-independent programming language. It laid the foundation for COBOL and other innovations.

One of Hopper's popular lectures was where she cleverly demonstrated the definition of a nanosecond.
Clip: Hopper's Nanoseconds

During her life, Hopper received many accolades, honorary doctorates, and awards. A very small sampling include: the National Medal of Technology (1991), the US Navy's guided-missle destroyer "USS Hopper" (launched 1996), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously in 2016).

Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise.

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) was an American writer and professor. He wrote/edited more than 500 books; he was so prolific and diverse that his output spans virtually all major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification system. Among his many awards and accolades, he received 14 honorary doctorate degrees from universities.

Among his many science-fiction short stories, one of his and my favorites is 1956's The Last Question. It is considered one of his best works and can be read in its original publication form.

Asimov also wrote in his 1988 Book of Science and Nature Quotations (co-authored with Jason Shulman):

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

Rest assured the timeline we are sharing and observing seems guaranteed to be consistent regardless of whatever other craziness is occuring elsewhere.

Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov (И́горь Дми́триевич Но́виков; 1935–) is a Russian astrophysicist and cosmologist. Since time travel may be permitted in certain solutions of general relativity, his conjecture is intended to solve the problem of inconsistencies or anomolies that doing so may introduce. His principle asserts it is impossible to create time paradoxes.

Novikov also suggested the idea of white holes, a hypothetical region of spacetime, in 1964. Relatedly, Stephen Hawking argued in 1976 that the time reversal of a black hole in thermal equilibrium results in a white hole in thermal equilibrium. I'll take their word on it.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, CBE, FRAS (1917–2008) was an award-winning English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, and inventor.

All three laws appear in Clarke's essay "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination," first published in Profiles of the Future (1962).

Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's First Law (1977):

When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervour and emotion — the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.

Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law (1991):

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

I am an unabashed, lifelong fan of Bugs Bunny and his cohorts from the Golden Age of American Animation. When my childhood self observed adults laugh in places I didn't realize were funny, I knew there was something I had to figure out. As an adult, I am impressed by the dedication to task of the creators of these cartoons. It is often important to make people laugh and it is challenging to try to make everyone do so.

Bugs Bunny is an iconic cartoon character. He appeared in 160 short films produced between 1940 and 1964 and, in total, more films than any other cartoon character. He is one of the most portrayed film personalities in the world and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Clips:
Eh ... What's up, Doc? Of course you realize, this means war! What an imbecile! What an ultramaroon! Wile E. Coyote: Genius

Bugs' definitive characterization debuted in the 1940's animated short A Wild Hare which was directed by Tex Avery (1908–1980), voiced by Mel Blanc (1908–1989), and a part of the "Merrie Melodies" series by Leon Schlesinger Productions.

1957's What's Opera, Doc?, a seven-minute short film directed by Chuck Jones (1912–2002), starred Bugs along with Elmer Fudd. It has been praised as the greatest cartoon that Warner Bros ever released. In 1992, it was the first short cartoon inducted into the National Film Registry. In 1994, it was ranked number one on a list of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time.

This quote is from the 1960 short Rabbit's Feat starring Bugs and Wile E. Coyote. Also in this episode is Bugs exclaiming to a befuddled Wile E.:

Daddy! You're back from Peru! Oh Papa, we thought you'd been run over by an elevator!

This particular law was captured from a 1984 novelty calendar which I received as a gift. The calendar was created by Arthur Bloch (1948–) who, beginning in 1977, popularized Murphy's Law along with similar epigrams and proverbs.

Although the premise of this law intrigues me, I saved it mostly because of its name and my affinity for February (my birth month). Note the calendar might still be available.

All that said, a more widely accepted Baxter's Law, also known as the Bell Doctrine, is named after Stanford Professor of Economics William Baxter (1929–1998). Baxter taught how a monopoly in a regulated industry can extend into, and dominate, a non-regulated industry.

In his position as an Assistant Attorney General, Baxter famously negotiated the 1982 landmark settlement of the seven-year-old antitrust case against AT&T. The result broke up the company and created the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies.

While Murphy's Law previously existed in other forms and its exact origins are debated, Edward A. Murphy Jr. (1918–1990) is memorialized in the name because he and his team had memorable mishaps during a 1948 rocket sled test. It is often typically stated:

Anything that can go wrong will ... and at the worst possible moment.

Douglas Hofstadter (1945–) is an American professor of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature. He won both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for his seminal work Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (1979).

For his continued work in fields of cognition and human understanding, Hofstadter has received various awards including fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and membership in the American Philosophical Society.

In his book I Am a Strange Loop (2007) Hofstadter wrote:

In the end, we are self-perceiving, self-inventing, locked-in mirages that are little miracles of self-reference.

Laurence van Cott Niven (1938–) is an award-winning American science-fiction writer. Among his numerous Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards is the 2015 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

Niven is prolific and contributes to many styles and aspects of science-fiction, fantasy, and comics. He has a large fandom; for example, in the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, the card "Nevinyrral's Disk" is named in his honor.

Over time Niven has built on his list. He describes these rules as How the Universe works as far as he can tell. At the time of this writing, his last law is:

Old age is not for sissies.