“Face the facts. Then act on them. It’s the only mantra I know, the only doctrine I have to offer you, and it’s harder than you’d think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don’t pray, don’t wish, don’t buy into centuries-old dogma and dead rhetoric. Don’t give in to your conditioning or your visions or your fucked-up sense of… whatever. FACE THE FACTS. THEN act.”

From Quellcrist Falconer’s speech before the Assault on Millsport. Quellcrist Falconer is a character occuring in some novels of Richard Morgan. The mentioned quote is from Broken Angels by Richard Morgan, published in September, 2008.

Face the facts, then act on them is one of the most important philosophical quotes for me. And yes, it is from a science fiction novel. I take most of my philosophical inspiration from science fiction novels. 😉  Don’t you?

If you have any kind of problem as a developer or in your life in general, treat it in the light of Quellcrist Falconer’s quote. It may help you quite much. It definitely has helped me.

This will consist of two steps.

1. Face the facts.
   This means, look at the facts, look at all the facts. Especially, look at those facts which you don’t want to be true. Look directly into the eyes of the cruelest facts. Acknowledge their existence.
2. Then act on them.
   Only looking for the facts and pondering and ruminating the facts and how bad the world is, is not an option. Ponder about them and then act. Only through action, you’ll make the best of any situation.

Which bits of wisdom do you consider most important?