Words of Wisdom
In developing our seminars and keynote presentations, we are fortunate to run across many words of wisdom.
If you need a refreshing thought, idea, slogan, or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board, take a look through the following topic areas.
- Random Thoughts on Leadership
- Random Thoughts on Teamwork
- Random Thoughts on Service
- Random Thoughts on Time Management
- Random Thoughts on Goals
- Random Thoughts on Change
- Random Thoughts on Motivation
- Random Thoughts on Sales
- Random Thoughts on Potential
- Random Thoughts on Gender
- Random Thoughts on Creativity
- Random Thoughts on Repetition
- Random Thoughts on Enthusiasm
- Random Thoughts on Employees
- Random Thoughts on Attitude
- Random Thoughts on Networking
- Random Thoughts on Fear
- Random Thoughts on Sense of Urgency
- Random Thoughts on Passion
- Random Thoughts on Empowerment
- Random Thoughts on Women
- Random Thoughts on Persistence
- Random Thoughts on Chaos
- Random Thoughts on Reading
Random Thoughts on Leadership
By not demanding accountability, you fail to protect your
people from their own incompetence.
~ General Norman Schwarttzkoph
The truly successful managers and leaders of the next century will be determined
not by what they know but by how fast they can learn!
~ Strategy & Business
We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and
strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the
wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats — and then
they figured out where to drive it. The old adage "People are your most
important asset" turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important
asset. The right people are.
~ Jim Collins, author of Good to Great
Leaders see more in other people
than other people see in themselves.
~ Unknown
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
~ Jonathan Swift
Today a reader—tomorrow a leader.
~ W. Fusselman
It isn't the people you fire who make our life miserable,
it's the people you don't.
~ Harvey Mackay
The world is moving so fast these days
that the man who says it can’t be done
is generally interrupted by someone doing it.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
It’s wonderful when the people believe in their
leader ...
but it’s even more wonderful
when the leader believes in the people!
~ Unknown
It is only as we develop others that we
permanently succeed.
~ Harvey S. Firestone
People support what they create!
~ Unknown
IBM’s Tom Watson was asked if he was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost IBM $600,000. He replied, "No, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?"
The best executive is the one
who has sense enough to pick good people
to do what he wants done,
and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do!
~ Theodore Roosevelt
I don’t know the key to success,
but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~ Unknown
A person must be big enough to admit their
mistakes,
smart enough to profit from them,
and strong enough to correct them.
~ Unknown
Random Thoughts on Teamwork
"Denial" is not a river in Egypt. Most relationships suffer
from what we deny or avoid. But if we can't talk about it, we can't fix it.
~ Peter Drucker, writer, teacher, consultant and author
There is more information and knowledge
within a team than is usually revealed.
~ Unknown
The object is not to see through one another,
but to see one another through.
~ Peter DeVries
The power of a waterfall is nothing
but a lot of drips working together.
~ Anonymous
A company with internal dissension
is drained of energy
before it has a chance
to devote itself to its proper purpose.
~ J.C. Penney
Random Thoughts on Service
Customer service is either good or bad.
There is no in-between.
~ Anonymous
If you provide only 99% satisfaction,
a million transactions mean
10,000 unhappy customers!
~ Anonymous
If your departments
don't communicate effectively
with each other,
you can be certain they aren't communicating
with your customers either.
~ Anonymous
Response time should be measured
in minutes, not hours.
~ Anonymous
There is less to fear from outside competition than from
inside inefficiency, discourtesy, and bad service!
~ Tom Peters
Today’s typical customer wants only two things:
1. Good feelings
2. Solutions to problems
~ Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D., author
The quality of service is going to be a selling point in a
fickle environment where customers have more choices.
~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Harvard Business Review
It never ceases to amaze me that companies spend millions to
attract new customers (people they don’t know) and spend next to nothing to keep
the ones they’ve got! Seems to me the budgets should be reversed!
~ Tom Peters
If you own the problem, you own the customer.
If you lose the problem, you lose the customer.
It’s just that simple.
~ Unknown
A major key to success of any business in today’s competitive
environment is to never lose sight of the fact that your number one goal is to
please your customers.
~ Edgar A. Falk
1001 Ideas to Create Retail Excitement
Random Thoughts on Time Management
Don’t spend a $1.00's worth of time
on a $ .10 decision.
~ Unknown
Time flies.
It’s up to you to be the navigator.
~ Robert Orben
Time is life.
To waste your time is to waste your life.
~ Merrill Douglass
You will never find time for anything.
If you want time, you must make it!
~ Charles Buxton
Many of us spend half our time wishing for
things
we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.
~ Alexander Woollcott
The more sand has escaped from the hour glass
of our life,
the clearer we should see through it.
~ Jean Paul
Do today what must be done.
Your tomorrow may never come.
~ Harry F. Banks
Random Thoughts on Goals
Avoid perfection.
That last 10% of effort and skill
it takes to achieve it
isn't worth the time.
~ Walter Wadsworth
You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
~ Wayne Gretsky
There are two things to aim at in life:
first, to get what you want,
and after that to enjoy it.
Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
~ Logan Pearsall Smith
Nothing can add more power to your life
than concentrating all of your energies
on a limited set of targets.
~ Nido Qubein
Random Thoughts on Change
A man who does not leave his hut will bring nothing in.
~ West African Proverb
Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while
the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.
~ Bruce Lee, martial artist and Actor
It is generally much easier to kill an organization than
change it substantially!
~ Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
Leaders need to be the Rock of Gibraltar on Roller Blades!
~ Tom Peters
The new competitive realities demand that we turn our backs on
the ones who brung us. Every leader needs a formal “forgetting strategy.”
~ Tom Peters
When the speed of change outside the organization exceeds the speed of change
within ... The end is in sight!
~Jack Welch, C.E.O., General Electric
When you shift people’s perceptions, their actions follow.
~ Rayona Sharpnack, Founder, Institute for Women’s Leadership
If nothing changes, nothing changes!
Think about it!
~ Anonymous
If you always do what you always did —
you'll always get what you always got!
~ Unknown
Dissatisfaction is the basis of progress.
When we become satisfied,
we become obsolete.
~ J. Willard Marriott
A bend in the road
is not the end of the road ...
unless you fail to make the turn.
~ Anonymous
Change happens, that is for sure, and not just in our modern,
21st century era. It seems that the stress of the new affects most people in
every age. So the trick is not to resist it, but to go with it. The real problem
for the creative person is getting over the resistance of those who don’t want
to change.
~ Anonymous
Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have
witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding.
~ Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor
Observe constantly that all things take place by change.
~ Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor
Those who have changed the universe have never done it by
changing officials, but always by inspiring the people.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader
The only way to change our lives is by changing our minds.
~ Anonymous
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
~ Richard Buckmunister Fuller, American visionary, designer, architect, poet,
author, and inventor
Faced with changing one's mind, or proving that there is no
need to do so, most people get busy on the proof.
~ John Kenneth Galbraith, influential Canadian-American economist
In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst
enemy.
~ J. Paul Getty, American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company.
In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth,
while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that
no longer exists.
~ Eric Hoffer, American social writer
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from
bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that; it is
often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.
~ Washington Irving, short story writer, essayist, biographer
There is nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty
and change.
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the U.S.
The world hates change yet it is the only thing that has
brought progress.
~ Charles F. Kettering, teacher, mechanic, engineer, scientist, inventor, and
social philosopher
The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in
the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the
greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.
~ Martin Luther King, Baptist minister, Nobel Prize winner and leader of the
American civil rights movement
You don't get creative by staying in the same place.
~ Andy Law, author
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous
to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the
introduction of a new order to things.
~ Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet,
and playwright
Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
~ Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist
Change does not change tradition, it strengthens it. Change is
a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat.
~ Prince Phillip
Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot
change their minds, cannot change anything.
~ George Bernard Shaw, world-famous Irish playwright, critic, and political
activist
A competitive world offers two possibilities. You can lose.
Or, if you want to win, you can change.
~ Lester Thurow, former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of
numerous bestsellers on economic topics
Change is not merely necessary to life—it is life.
~ Alvin Toffler, American writer and futurist
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to
preserve change amid order.
~ Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher
Random Thoughts on Motivation
One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 with only
interests.
~ John Stuart Mill, philosopher
Find your voice, and inspire others to find theirs. (Don't
ignore that longing to make a difference.)
~ Stephen Covey's 8th Habit
It's not what you are that holds you back, it's what you think
you are not.
~ Denis Waitley, author
It is difficult to say what is impossible,
for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today
and the reality of tomorrow.
~ Robert Goddard
Yesterday is a canceled check;
tomorrow is a promissory note;
today is the only cash you have —
so spend it wisely!
~ Kay Lyons
The man who believes he can do something
is probably right,
and so is the man who believes he can't!
~ Anonymous
Things may come to those who wait,
but only the things left by those who hustle!
~ Abe Lincoln
Many of life’s failures are people
who did not realize how close they were to success
when they gave up.
~ Thomas Edison
Fall seven times,
stand up eight.
~ Japanese Proverb
In the heating and air conditioning trade,
the point which neither heating nor cooling must operate
— around 72 degrees —
is called "The Comfort Zone."
It’s also known as "The Dead Zone."
~ Russell Bishop
Failure can be divided into
those who thought and never did
and into those who did and never thought.
~ Rev. W.A. Nance
The only difference between a big shot and a
little shot
is that a big shot is just a little shot that kept on shooting.
~ Unknown
Fear is that little darkroom where negatives
are developed.
~ Michael Pritchard
Failure is the opportunity to begin again,
more intelligently.
~ Henry Ford
Random Thoughts on Sales
You don't sell what it is —
you sell what it does.
~ Anonymous
The prospect is persuaded moreby the depth of your conviction
than he is by the height of your logic.
~ Zig Ziglar
You can get everything in life you want
if you will just help enough other people
get what they want.
~ Anonymous
There's no business like KNOW Business —
KNOW your industry, company, product,
service, customer, and competition
better than anyone else!
~ Harry K. Jones, AchieveMax®, Inc.
Random Thoughts on Potential
Better than a CD-ROM ...
our brains are capable of retaining
about 100 billion bits of information.
That's the equivalent of 500 encyclopedias!
~ Jean Stine
There are 200 billion neurons in the adult human brain.
That's as many stars as there are in some galaxies!
~ Camden Benares
As we think, the brain undergoes
100,000 chemical interactions per second!
~ Jean Stine
Whether awake or asleep,
at any given moment
millions of our brain cells are at work.
24 hours a day,
7 days a week,
information is being fed into the cerebrum
and signals are sent back to the body.
~ Asimov
People are always blaming their circumstances
for what they are.
I don’t believe in circumstances.
The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up
and look for the circumstances they want,
and, if they can’t find them, make them.
~ George Bernard Shaw
I am looking for a lot of men
who have an infinite capacity
to not know what can’t be done.
~ Henry Ford
Random Thoughts on Gender
Men are more prone to color blindness and left-handedness.
Women are more sensitive to sounds and more agitated by loud noise.
Men are less likely to disclose personal information such as political and religious views, etc.
Women have sharper senses: smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
Random Thoughts on Creativity
I dream my painting and then paint my dream.
~
Vincent Van Gogh, famous artist
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
~
Albert Einstein, Nobel prize-winning physicist, professor,
author, smart guy.
The only sustainable competitive advantage comes from
out-innovating the competition!
~ Tom Peters
To stay competitive, we have to lead the world in per-person
creativity.
~ Jim Clifton, CEO of the Gallup Organization, which provides management
consulting for 300-odd companies
The average business executive has spent between 1,000 and 10,000 hours formally
learning economics, history, languages, literature, mathematics, and political
science!
The same executive has spent less than ten hours learning about creative
thinking!
~ Tony Buzan,
author of Use Both Sides of Your Brain!
PEOPLEOPOLY
The attainment of dominance
in your chosen field
resulting from realizing
the full potential
of each and every one
of your people!
~ Harry K. Jones, AchieveMax®, Inc.
No employee will ever perform to any meaningful level where
expectations are not clearly established, communicated, and verified for
understanding.
~
Peter Drucker, writer, teacher, consultant and author
Hire employees with caution, launch them with clarity and
eliminate poor ones with great dispatch!
~
Peter Drucker - writer, teacher, consultant and author
Your organization will never be any stronger than the
employees you recruit, select and hire and how effectively they are initially
trained, coached and ultimately retained.
~
Peter Drucker, writer, teacher, consultant and author
Random Thoughts on Repetition
Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of
thought.
~
Napoleon Hill, author
Repetition of the same thought or physical action develops into a habit which,
repeated frequently enough, becomes an automatic reflex.
~
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author
Progress, far from consisting of change, depends on retentiveness ...Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
~
George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist
Relentless, repetitive self talk is what changes our self-image.
~
Denis Waitley, author, speaker, trainer, and Peak Performance expert
Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with REPETITION and
emotion will one day become a reality.
~
Earl Nightingale, radio announcer, author, motivator, and speaker
Only one thing registers on the subconscious mind: repetitive application
―
practice. What you practice is what you manifest.
~
Grace Speare, author
Random Thoughts on Enthusiasm
To successfully experience and demonstrate ENTHUSIASM,
remember the last four letters and be certain they describe you. I.A.S.M. (I Am
Sold Myself).
~
Harry K. Jones, consultant and speaker
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
~
Henry David Thoreau, author, naturalist, and philosopher
There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity
and accomplishment.
~
Norman Vincent Peale, author
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
~
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist and poet
A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that
inspires no one.
~
Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur and author
If you have zest and enthusiasm, you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give
back in kind.
~
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author
Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.
~
Ivern Ball, author
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on
fire first.
~
Reggie Leach, NHL Hockey Player
Random Thoughts on Employees
Over the years, I've had the privilege of observing many
successful leaders execute a variety of strategies in their quest for success.
The most effective tactic I have ever witnessed is the simple and constant
application of expectations, accountability, and consequences!
~ Harry K. Jones, AchieveMax®, Inc.
Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees,
motivate them, and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't
miss.
~ Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Corp.
I don't think I'm the primary motivator. I give people license
to be themselves and motivate others in that way. We give people the opportunity
to be a maverick. You don't have to fit into a constraining mold at work ― you can
have a good time.
~ Herb Kelleher, Chairman, Southwest Airlines
Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to
tolerate nonperforming individuals.
~
Peter Drucker
Numerous motivational studies show that employees typically place a high value
on getting information about their job, their performance and how the company is
doing.
~ Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Motivate Employees
When was the last time you asked your employees if they have the right level of
challenge in their work?
~ Alex Hiam, author
Stars radiate light. Black holes absorb energy. We need to invest in our stars
― not our black holes!
~ Unknown
The character and qualifications of the leader are reflected in the men he
selects, develops and gathers around him. Show me the leader and I will know his
men. Show me the men and I will know their leader. Therefore, to have loyal,
efficient employees, be a loyal and efficient employer.
~
Arthur W. Newcomb
Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work,
recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on
in the company.
~ Zig Ziglar
A great employee who is poorly managed is no better than a
poor employee who is managed well.
~ Peter Drucker
Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he should be,
and he will become what he could be.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Which horses win races ― those the jockey whips the hardest, or the ones who
enjoy running the most?
~ Unknown
Employees tend to live up to their manager's expectations of them. If a manager's
expectations are high, productivity is likely to be excellent.
~ Unknown
Random Thoughts on Attitude
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with
bricks that others throw at him.
~ David Brinkley
The good news is that the bad news can be turned into good
news when you change your attitude.
~ Robert Schuller
An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist
sees a calamity in every opportunity.
~ Sir Winston Churchill
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to
you ... as by the attitude you bring to life.
~ John Home Mills
Two men looked out through prison bars; one saw mud, the
other, stars.
~ James Allen
Life is 10% what you make it, and 90% how you take it.
~ Irving Berlin
Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world
is the triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from
achieving his goal: nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental
attitude.
~ Thomas Jefferson
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our
dispositions and not on our circumstances.
~ Martha Washington
There is no danger of developing eye strain from looking on
the bright side of things.
~ Unknown
Some people look at the world and say "why?" Some people look
at the world and say "why not?"
~ George Bernard Shaw
We are the only creatures on earth who can change our biology
by what we think and feel.
~ Deepak Chopra
I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give
this game of life everything's he's got.
~ Walter Cronkite
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at
midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our
hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
~ John Wayne
Frank Sinatra once told his son, Frank, Jr.: "Don't ever let me catch you singing like that again, without enthusiasm. You're nothing, if you aren't excited by what you are doing."
Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward
it, for that determines our success or failure.
~ Norman Vincent Peale
Don't give up. Keep going. There is always a chance that you
stumble onto something terrific. I have never heard of anyone stumbling over
anything while they were sitting down.
~ Ann Landers
A bend in the road is not the end of the road.
~ Joan Lunden
The most handicapped person in the world is a negative
thinker.
~ Unknown
Random Thoughts on Networking
Networking is creating relationships whereby you can help
others achieve their goals, which in turn will help you achieve yours.
~ Ralph Hayes, President, Data Voice Technologies
Networking is the systematic process of meeting people,
learning about them, and establishing relationships so that all parties
establish and expand a base of resources to support their endeavors.
~ John Hoppe, President, Independence Capital Co.
Networking is people connecting with people, linking ideas,
and resources.
~ Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, The Networking Book
Networking is establishing connections that are mutually
satisfying, helpful, and uplifting.
~ H. S. Khalsa, EcoWater Systems
Networking is a communication process—exchanging information
and receiving advice and referrals.”
~ Ronald L. Krannich and Caryl Rae Krannich, Network Your Way to Job and
Career Success
Networking is communication that creates the linkage between
people and clusters of people.
~ John Naisbitt, Megatrends
Networking is the way you interact and relate to people, the
world, and the opportunities around you.
~ Donna Fisher, author
When two people exchange dollar bills, each has only one
dollar. When two people exchange networks, they each have two networks! Do the
math!
~ Anonymous
Networking with integrity creates a greater willingness of all
parties to be part of a human conduit to serve as energy and resource to one
another. Sometimes you will give more than you receive and sometimes you will
get back more than you give. It’s not about keeping score.
~ Chris London, Manhattan Society: The Art and Spirituality of Networking
If you want to see positive results from your networking
efforts, you must focus on your area of needs. You must know what you want to
accomplish and how to communicate with those who can assist you in your efforts.
~ Anonymous
Random Thoughts on Fear
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built
the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
~ Unknown.
Never fear shadows ... they simply mean there's a light
shining somewhere nearby.
~ Unknown.
Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest
fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
~ Marianne Williamson
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
~ Aristotle
The fear of being wrong is the prime inhibitor of the creative
process.
~ Jean Bryant.
FEAR is an acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real.
~ Anonymous
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
~ Bertrand Russell
Fear is interest paid on a debt you may not owe.
~ Anonymous
Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.
~ Michael Pritchard
The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear
creates aggressiveness.
~ Dorothy Thompson
Fear gives a small thing a big shadow.
~ Swedish proverb.
Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile ...
initially scared me to death.
~ Betty Bender
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience
in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which
you think you cannot do.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up,
this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
~ Rosa Parks
Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit
is.
~ H. Jackson Browne
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and
your belief will help create the fact.
~ Henry James
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not
due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power
to revoke at any moment.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
~ Marie Curie
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the
world.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with
others.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
One will never reach distant shores, if he chooses to remain
upon the dock, In fear his little ship of dreams may be dashed against the
rocks.
~ F. Bolen.
Random Thoughts on Sense of Urgency
Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.
~ Jim Rohn, motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur
In everyday life there is always manana. There is no urgency.
~ Mark Spitz, Olympic swimming champion
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is
not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
~ Leonardo da Vinci, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist,
painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer
Great things come to those who hustle while they wait.
~ Thomas Edison
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by
those who hustle.
~ Abraham Lincoln
A sense of urgency wins.
~ Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada
If not now, when?
~ Hillel, religious leader
The people who make things move in this world share a same
sense of urgency. No matter how intelligent or able you may be, if you don't
have a sense of urgency, now is the time to start developing it. The world is
full of very competent people who honestly intend to do things tomorrow, or as
soon as they can get around to it. Their accomplishments, however, seldom match
those of the less talented who are blessed with a sense of importance of getting
started now.
~ Anonymous
Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a
complete rest!
~ Ashleigh Brilliant, author and syndicated cartoonist
I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it.
~ Jonathan Winters, American comedian and actor
I never worry about action, only inaction.
~ Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
I think there is something more important than believing:
Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead
and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.
~ Clement Stone
A leopard is chasing us, and you are asking me, "Is it a male
or a female?"
~ African Proverb
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.
~ Anne Frank, posthumously published German writer
"Now" is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is
just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your
dream. You don't need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it
today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.
~ Sam Ewing, veteran humorist and professional writer
Don't wait. The time will never be just right.
~ Napoleon Hill, one of America's foremost success/motivation authors
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
~ Baltasar Gracian, a Jesuit priest
A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do
the same thing; only at different times.
~ Lord Acton, a British historian
Random Thoughts on Passion
The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
~ Field Marshall Ferdinand Foch, French soldier, military theorist, and writer
"When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.
~ John Wesley, evangelist
Chose your passion, not your pension.
~ Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author of self-help books
Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
~ George Wilhelm, German philosopher
Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the
second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high
wire. This is your moment. Own it.
~ Oprah Winfrey, TV talk show host, actress, and magazine publisher
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you
the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the
world.
~ Harriet Tubman, American escaped slave, Civil War soldier and abolitionist
A genuine passion is like a mountain stream; it admits of no impediment; it
cannot go backward; it must go forward.
~ Christian Nestell Bovee, author and lawyer
Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive.
And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come
alive.
~ Harold Whitman, author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil right
leader
Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint
which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth a spark.
~ Amiel, Swiss philosopher, poet and critic
My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is
considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.
~ Bette Davis, actress
Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night.
~ Arthur Buddhold
One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.
~ E.M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist
Without passion you don't have energy, and without energy you have nothing.
~ Donald Trump, American business executive, entrepreneur, television and radio
personality, and author
Every civilization is, among other things, an arrangement for domesticating the
passion and setting them to do useful work.
~ Aldous Huxley, English humanist and author
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them
feel.
~ Carl W. Buechner, author and lecturer
A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
~ John Maxwell, American author and motivational speaker
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could hear the
music.
~ Angela Monet
The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea,
buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its
fulfillment.
~ Earl Nightingale, American motivational speaker and author
Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.
~ Oprah Winfrey, TV talk show host, actress, and magazine publisher
Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
~ Anthony J D'Angelo, founder of the Collegiate EmPowerment Company
Love life, engage in it, give it all you've got. Love it with a passion, because
life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it!
~ Maya Angelou, American poet
Random Thoughts on Empowerment
As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those
who empower others.
~ Bill Gates, American business magnate, philanthropist, the world's third
richest man (as of 2008), and chairman of Microsoft
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what
he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while
they do it.
~ President Theodore Roosevelt
The critical point in the career of many a leader is the point when he/she must
either learn to empower, or cease to grow in scope and capacity.
~ Anonymous
An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill,
desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective
organizational success.
~ Stephen Covey, author, professional speaker, consultant, and management-expert
I believe a leader's success can be defined as the maximum utilization of the
abilities of those under him/her.
~ John Maxwell, author, consultant, and professional speaker
Virtually every company will be going out and empowering their workers with a
certain set of tools, and the big difference in how much value is received from
that will be how much the company steps back and really thinks through their
business processes ... thinking through how their business can change, how their
project management, their customer feedback, and their planning cycles can be
quite different than they ever were before.
~ Bill Gates
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise
you with their ingenuity.
~ General George Smith Patton, Jr.
The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the
process.
~ Barbara Colorose, author
Today many American corporations spend a great deal of money and time trying to
increase the originality of their employees, hoping thereby to get a competitive
edge in the marketplace. But such programs make no difference unless management
also learns to recognize the valuable ideas among the many novel ones, and then
finds ways of implementing them.
~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Hungarian-born psychology professor and department
head
In our ever-expanding role as leaders, we should approach our jobs with a
willingness to nurture our employees to maturity in respect to the work we
empower to them.
~ Anonymous
The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information
about what's going on so they can do a lot more than they've done in the past.
~ Bill Gates
Empowerment means giving power - not just to DO things but to participate in
major decisions - to be listened to with respect. Empowerment is also the
natural shift of power - to knowledge, away from position. Empowerment normally
means letting others make decisions that you would normally make. You can also
empower leadership in the sense of encouraging employees to think for themselves
and to challenge upwards.
~ Anonymous
The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to
reach the magic in the players.
~ Blaine Lee, life coach, author, and professional speaker
If there is any one axiom that I have tried to live up to in trying to become
successful in business, it is the fact that I have tried to surround myself with
associates that know more about business than I do. This policy has always been
very successful and is still working for me.
~ Monte L. Bean, author
Random Thoughts on Women
The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer,
not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until
then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes
that shall result in the highest development of the race.
~ Susan B. Anthony, prominent American civil rights leader
The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the
generation to come.
~ Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the U.S.
Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade.
~ Constance Baker Motley, first Black woman in the U.S. to become a federal
judge
Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the U.S.
There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws
and elect lawmakers.
~ Susan B. Anthony, prominent American civil rights leader
I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery
depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.
~ Martha Washington, first First Lady of the U.S.
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them,
but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where
they lead.
~ Louisa May Alcott, an American novelist best known for her novel Little Women
Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before
the final masterpiece.
~ Author Unknown
A woman can say more in a sigh than a man can say in a sermon.
~ Arnold Haultain, author
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.
Luckily, this is not difficult.
~ Charlotte Whitton, a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa
A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who
hopes they are.
~ Chauncey Mitchell Depew, United States Senator from New York
There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.
~ Madeleine K. Albright, President Clinton's Secretary of State
It is only rarely that one can see in a little boy the promise of a man, but one
can almost always see in a little girl the threat of a woman.
~ Alexandre Dumas, writer, author, and playwright
In passing, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance, he laid
the blame on woman.
~ Nancy Astor, first woman to serve as a member of Parliament in the British
House of Commons
I would rather trust a woman's instinct than a man's reason.
~ Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Men look at themselves in mirrors. Women look for themselves!
~ Elissa Melamed, author
Women do not find it difficult nowadays to behave like men, but they often find
it extremely difficult to behave like gentlemen.
Compton Mackenzie, English-born Scottish novelist
One is not born a woman, one becomes one.
~ Simone de Beauvoir, feminist
A man chases a woman until she catches him.
~ American Proverb
Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them
little.
~ Samuel Johnson, essayist, poet, and biographer
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
~ James Thurber, U.S. humorist and cartoonist
I hate women because they always know where things are.
~ Voltaire, French writer, essayist, and philosopher
Good-looking women break hearts, and goodhearted women mend them.
~ Mignon McLaughlin, American journalist and author
The people I'm furious with are the women's liberationists. They keep getting up
on soapboxes and proclaiming women are brighter than men. That's true, but it
should be kept quiet or it ruins the whole racket.
~ Anita Loos, acclaimed American screenwriter, playwright and author
Random Thoughts on Persistence
I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is
another step forward.
~ Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor and businessman
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses
to quit.
~ Napoleon Hill, American author
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually
encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they
refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
~ B.C. Forbes, founder of Forbes Magazine
Most of the important things in the world have been
accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope
at all.
~ Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer
I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an
unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
~ Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, interior designer, writer, and
educator
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American educator and poet
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my
strength lies solely in my tenacity.
~ Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent
perspiration.
~ Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor and businessman
Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but
the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.
~ Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will
not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is
full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The
slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for
what he gave.
~ Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth President of the U.S.
The most essential factor is persistence―the determination
never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement
that must inevitably come.
~ James Whitcomb Riley, American writer and poet
By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you
gain the great.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the
Transcendentalist movement
If you're going through hell, keep going.
~ Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
How long should you try? Until.
~ Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker
A jug fills drop by drop.
~ Buddha
Energy and persistence alter all things.
~ Benjamin Franklin, a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist,
politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman and diplomat.
Keep on going and the chances are that you will stumble on
something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever
stumbling on something while sitting down.
~ Charles Kettering, an American inventor, founder of Delco and head of research
for GM for 27 years.
One of the most difficult things everyone has to learn is that
for your entire life you must keep fighting and adjusting if you hope to
survive. No matter who you are or what your position is, you must keep fighting
for whatever it is you desire to achieve.
~ George Allen, U.S. Senator
Paralyze resistance with persistence.
~ Woody Hayes, Ohio State football coach
Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily.
Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It's no use. I can't go on. If you
do you're licked, and by your own thinking too. Keep believing and keep on
keeping on.
~ Norman Vincent Peale, Protestant preacher, author and a forerunner of the
theory of "positive thinking"
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence,
but by oft falling.
~ Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher
Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence, and determination
will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these.
~ James Whitcomb Riley, American writer and poet
When things go wrong as they sometimes will. When the road you're trudging seem all up hill. When funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When life is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow—You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out—The silver tint of the clouds of doubt . And you never can tell how close you are. It may be near when it seems so far:
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—It's when things
seem worst that you must not quit!
~ Author Unknown
Random Thoughts on Chaos
If enough of us believe, a new thing can be made to exist.
Belief structure creates a filter through which chaos is sifted into order.
~ Frank Herbert, science fiction author
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
~ Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams
Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the
midst of order is.
~ Steve Martin, American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer,
musician, and composer
I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos,
it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.
~ Septima Clark, American educator and civil rights activist
Chaos furnishes the building blocks for order, and order
breaks down to replenish chaos.
~ Betty Brooks, author
Chaos is everywhere—and artists, to fashion art and live
truthfully, have no choice but to invite this unwanted quest right into the
studio.
~ Eric Maisel, author
The urban world is full of chaotic compositions that seem to
make sense in a way that earlier decades and centuries could never have
imagined.
~ Nicoletta Baumeister, artist
Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in
still water.
Chuang Tzu, philosopher
Chaos results when the world changes faster than people.
~ Unknown
Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.
~ James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist
Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be
change.
~ I Ching, Chinese classic text
We adore chaos because we love to produce order.
~ M.C. Escher, famous graphic artist
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is
only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step
out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
~ M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and best-selling author
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will
be one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte, French general, politician and emperor
Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the
opportunity for creativity and growth.
~ Tom Barrett, an American politician
If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was
fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it!
~ Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President
Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place
that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.
~ Chuck Palahniuk, author
It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind
a facade of order—and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of
order.
~ Douglas Hostadter, author
Chaos furnishes the building blocks of order, and order breaks
down to replenish chaos.
~ Betty Brooks, author
Random Thoughts on Reading
A book is a gift you can open time and time again.
~ Garrison Keillor
The person who does not read good books has no advantage over the person who
can't read them.
~ Mark Twain
You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for two
things, the people you meet and the books you read.
~ Charles "Tremendous" Jones
The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss
We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
~ B. F. Skinner
Books had instant replay long before televised sports.
~ Bert Williams
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
~ Joseph Addison
A library is a hospital for the mind.
~ Anonymous
When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of
literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in
the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou
I've traveled the world twice over,
Met the famous; saints and sinners,
Poets and artists, kings and queens,
Old stars and hopeful beginners,
I've been where no-one's been before,
Learned secrets from writers and cooks
All with one library ticket
To the wonderful world of books.
~ Anonymous
Beware of the man of one book.
~ Thomas Aquinas
Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully
furnishes a house.
~ Henry Ward Beecher
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
~ Joseph Brodsky
When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
~ Rita Mae Brown
Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.
~ Emilie Buchwald
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
~ Edmund Burke
After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to
get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of
books.
~ Thomas Carlyle
All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been―it is lying as in magic
preservation in the pages of books.
~ Thomas Carlyle
The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self activity.
~ Thomas Carlyle
There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.
~ Mary Ellen Chase
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
~ Marcus T. Cicero
The man who is fond of books is usually a man of lofty thought, and of elevated
opinions.
~ Christopher Dawson
It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which
are your very own.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
To read is to empower
To empower is to write
To write is to influence
To Influence is to change
To change is to live.
~ Jane Evershed
Read, read, read.
~ William Faulkner
The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one
on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
~ W. Fusselman
The libraries have become my candy store.
~ Juliana Kimball
Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.
~ James Russell Lowell
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who
think decorating
consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
~ Anna Quindlen
Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And
guess what?
All you have to do is go to the library.
~ Jim Rohn
A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at
the end.
You should live several lives while reading it.
~ William Styron
No matter how busy you may think you are,
you must find time for reading,
or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
~ Atwood H. Townsend
Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to
the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous
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