Planck's Principle

A principle is a spine. Planck's Principle is the sort of spine that lets a person, or an institution, stand up straight.

Applied daily, it changes less than you hope and more than you expect. That is how principles work — unglamorous, cumulative, and visible only in photographs taken years apart.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

Every colony has a notice board and a gossip channel. The notice board informs; the channel decides. Wise residents read the first and audit the second.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. If this page made you think of one specific person, do not send it to them. Apply it to yourself first; that is how these things work.