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Thoughts for the Day
Thoughts for the Week, actually ... sent out every Monday morning.
"One of
the paradoxes of life is that the things that initially make you successful are
rarely the things that keep you successful." - John Maxwell
"Remember, the greatest enemy of learning is knowing, and the goal of all
learning is action, not knowledge." - John Maxwell, "Talent Is Never Enough"
"A great
deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage." - Sydney
Smith (1771-1845)
"The
lessons we learn from our failures
Are lessons that help us succeed,
And if we are wise and we heed them,
Then failure is just what we need."
-
Dennis De Haan
"There is no right way to do
the wrong thing." - Harry H. Harrison, Jr., author, "1001 Things Your Kids
Should See and Do (or Else They'll Never Leave Home)"
"Each person is responsible for
his or her own reaction to us. Yet the way we behave makes a difference in
others' lives." - Anne Cetas
"Don't let yesterday take up too
much of today." - Will Rogers
"Greatness is not a function
of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious
choice, and discipline." - Jim Collins, "Good to Great"
"Good is the enemy of great." - Jim Collins, "Good
to Great "
"The measure of a man's
character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out."
- Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)
"If you put yourself out
in the marketplace as a person of value, others will want to connect with
you. Not all of them will be good. Not all of them will be valuable. Most
of them will not lead you to the Promised Land. But some will." -
Jeffrey Gitomer, "The Little Black Book of Connections"
"I believe that it is no harder to
build something great than to build something good. ... [I]t involves less
suffering, and perhaps even less work. ... There is great solace in the simple
fact of clarity - about what is vital, and what is not." - Jim Collins, "Good
to Great "
"To laugh often and much; to
win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to
earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false
friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the
world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a
redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived. This is the meaning of success." - Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"Try not to become a man of
success but rather to become a man of value." - Albert Einstein
"You've removed most of the
roadblocks to success when you know the difference between motion and
direction." - Bill Copeland, author and private investigator
"Would you tell me please,
which way ought I to go from here?" she asks.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get," the cat replied with
a grin.
"I don't care much where," she answers.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," the cat responds.
- From "Through the
Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll
"I think what separates a
superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a
little bit longer." - Hank Aaron
"Nearly all men can stand
adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -
Abraham Lincoln
"You reveal who you are by what
you do with what you have" - Unknown
"I believe you don't motivate
people. What you do is hire motivated people, then make sure you don't
demotivate them." Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex, Inc.
"Nothing is so fatiguing as the
hanging on of an uncompleted task." William James (1842-1910)
"Nothing is more common than
for men to think that, because they are familiar with words, they
understand the ideas they stand for." John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
"You cannot kindle a fire in
any other heart until it is burning within your own." Eleanor Doan
"When you discover you've been
leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you
develop it." Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), composer of "O Little Town
of Bethlehem"
"Talent for talent's sake is a
bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth
lifts the possessor to a new power as a benefactor." Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"Human beings, who are almost
unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are
also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." Douglas
Adams (1952-2001), author, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"Thanksgiving is nothing if not
a glad and reverent lifting of the heart to God in honor and praise for
His goodness." Robert Casper Lintner
"There are very few men who
have the shrewdness to think and feel beyond the commotion of the present
moment. Try." Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), Prussian military
theorist and historian
"A man would do nothing if he
waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
"The most important question to
ask is not, 'What am I getting?' The most important question to ask is,
'What am I becoming?'" Jim Rohn
"Being busy does not always
mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and
to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning,
intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do
is not doing." Thomas Edison
"Just remember that the things
you put into your head are there forever ... You might want to think about
that." Cormac McCarthy, author, The Road
"I was bound by the iron chain
of my own will. I was rather an unwilling sufferer than a willing actor.
And yet it was through me that habit had become an armed enemy against me,
because I had willingly come to be what I unwillingly found myself to be."
Augustine (354-430)
"Half of the harm that is done
in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They do not
mean to do harm. They are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well
of themselves." T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)
"If we insist on being as sure
as is conceivable ... we must be content to creep along the ground, and
never soar." John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
"Do not wait; the time will
never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools
you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go
along." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), author
"The harder I work, the luckier
I get." Samuel Goldwyn (1882-1974), film maker
"Speak when you are angry and
you will make the best speech you will ever regret." Henry Ward
Beecher (1813-1887)
"All man's miseries derive from
not being able to sit quietly in a room alone." Blaise Pascal
(1623-1662), mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher
"Be more concerned with your
character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really
are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." Dale
Carnegie
"Within you right now is the
power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes
available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs."
Maxwell Maltz, author, Psycho-Cybernetics
"I believe we have two lives:
the life we learn with, and the life we live with after that." Iris,
in The Natural
"Finish each day and be done
with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no
doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with
your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson
A person who seems to have all
the answers usually isn't listening. Jeffrey Gitomer
"Men do not differ much about
what things they will call evil; they differ enormously about what evils
they will call excusable." G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author
"There is no better test of a
man's integrity than his behavior when he is wrong." Unknown
"Controlling our speech isn't
easy, because the real problem is not our words, but our hearts. Behind
the insults, we are likely to find in ourselves an insecurity, fear or
guilt that tempts us to protect ourselves at the expense of another."
Mart De Haan
"Perceptions are formed by an
ounce of information, and changed by a ton." Unknown
"Sour moods create untold
misery. Discontent, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, defensiveness,
touchiness, and ingratitude are the dispositions that ruin our marriages,
wither our children, alienate our friends, and embitter every life
including our own. Its easy to defend our bad moods and to slide into
deception and hypocrisy. But we must guard our hearts against such
destructive attitudes. When they arise, we need to confess them, let them
go, and experience Gods forgiveness. Dont let your bad attitude cause
you to lose out while others enter into joy." David H. Roper
"Courage is fear that has said
its prayers." Norman Vincent Peale, author
"No man has a prosperity so
high or firm, but that two or three words can dishearten it; and there is
no calamity which right words will not begin to redress." Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"The greatest compliment that
was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to
my answer." Henry David Thoreau
"Good leaders make people feel
that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery."
Warren Bennis, author and professor of business administration, University
of Southern California
"To set and work toward any
goal is an act of courage. When we exercise the courage to set and act on
goals that are connected to principles and conscience ... we create an
upward spiral of confidence and courage. Our commitment becomes stronger
than our moods." Stephen R. Covey, author, First Things First
"If you don't like the weeds
growing up around you, you might want to take a look at what you're
planting." Variously attributed
"People won't go along with you
unless they can get along with you." John Maxwell, author and speaker
"Say what you mean. Mean what
you say." Anonymous
"Tempest-tossed souls, wherever
ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this: In the
ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of
your ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of
thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the commanding Master. He does
but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength, right thought is mastery,
calmness is power. Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still." "Serenity"
from As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen (1864-1912)
"Know what the difference
between hitting .250 and .300 is? It's 25 hits. 25 hits in 500 at bats is
50 points, okay? There's six months in a season, that's about 25 weeks.
That means if you get just one extra flare a week just one ... you get a
groundball with eyes, you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a
week and you're in Yankee Stadium." Crash Davis (Bull Durham)
"The first responsibility of a
leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the
leader is a servant." Max De Pree, former chairman of Herman Miller,
Inc.
"If you know what to do to
reach your goal, it's not a big enough goal." Bob Proctor, speaker
and author
"I have been through some
terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." Mark
Twain (1835-1910)
"It is the greatest of all
mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can."
Sydney Smith (1771-1845), English writer and clergyman
"In looking for someone to
hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy.
But the most important is integrity because if they don't have that, the
other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you."
Warren Buffett, from The Tao of Warren Buffet
"We talk about the quality of
product and service. What about the quality of our relationships and the
quality of our communications and the quality of our promises to each
other?" Max de Pree, author and former chairman of Herman Miller,
Inc.
"What we do in life echoes in
eternity." from the movie Gladiator
"Never wrestle with a pig.
You'll both get muddy, and the pig likes it." Anonymous
"The more tranquil a man
becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.
Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom." James
Allen (1864-1912), author, As a Man Thinketh
"There is nothing noble in
being superior to some other person. True nobility comes from being
superior to your previous self." Hindu proverb
"Great minds have great
purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by
misfortune; but great minds rise above them." Washington Irving,
author (1783-1859)
"How can you know what is in
your heart? Look at your behavior." LeRoy Eims, author
"Every time I've done something
that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right." Mario Cuomo,
former governor of New York
"Let no thought linger in your
mind that you would be ashamed to let out of your mouth." Anne Cetas
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness
of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into
acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into
a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes
sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for
tomorrow." Melody Beatty, author
"When a man is wrapped up in
himself, he makes a pretty small package." John Ruskin, author
(1819-1900)
Revenge never evens the score,
for alienated people never keep score of wrongs by the same mathematics.
Forgiveness is the only way to stop the cycle of unfair pain turning in
your memory. Forgiveness creates a new possibility of fairness by
releasing us from the unfair past. To forgive is to dance to the beat of
Gods forgiving heart. It is to ride the crest of loves strongest wave.
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was
you. Dr. Lewis Smedes, from "Forgive and Forget"
"In the final analysis, the
questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into
some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened,
but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it
happened." Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
"People of character do the
right thing not because they think it will change the world, but because
they refuse to be changed by the world." Michael Josephson
"Nurture your mind with great
thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think." Benjamin
Disraeli (1804-1881), British Prime Minister
"To dare is to lose one's
footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself." Sψren
Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
"Give me a stock clerk with a
goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no
goals and I'll give you a stock clerk." J.C. Penney (1875-1971)
"You can make more friends in
two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two
years by trying to get other people interested in you." Dale Carnegie
(1888-1955)
"One can choose to go back
toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and
again; fear must be overcome again and again." Abraham Maslow
(1908-1970)
"A mistake may turn out to be
the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement." Henry Ford
(1863-1947)
"No man, for any considerable
period of time, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude
without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the truth."
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), author
"Our anxiety does not empty
tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"Whenever you make a mistake or
get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are
life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is
inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all,
and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake
off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional
failure? Never quit. Your turn will come." Og Mandino
(1923-1996), from "A Better Way to Live"
"Those at the top of the
mountain didn't fall there." Marcus Washling
What we hope to do with ease,
we must learn first to do with diligence." Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"Even if you're on the right
track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." Will Rogers
(1879-1935)
"My mother taught me very early
to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was
to walk without braces." Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994), Olympic gold
medalist
"One of the greatest
discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find that he
can do what he was afraid he couldn't do." Henry Ford
"I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward
or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half of the
tasks you do you might as well turn over to me, and I will do them quickly
and correctly. I am easily managed you must merely be firm with me. Show
me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do
it automatically. I am the servant of all great people and, alas, of all
failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are
failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all
the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me
for profit, or you may run me for ruin it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your
feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am habit."
Source unknown
"There is no growth without
change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss
without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go
of old ways in order to experience the new. We fear these losses, even if
our old ways were self-defeating, because, like a worn-out pair of shoes,
they were at least comfortable and familiar." Rick Warren, The
Purpose-Driven Life
"Character building is a slow
process. Whenever we try to avoid or escape the difficulties in life, we
short-circuit the process, delay our growth, and actually end up with a
worse kind of pain the worthless type that accompanies denial and
avoidance." Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
"The problems we face today
cannot be solved on the same level of thinking we were at when we created
them." Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"This is the true joy of life:
the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one;
being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of
ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself
to making you happy." George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"Think positively and
masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more
fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience." Eddie
Rickenbacker (1890-1973), World War I aviator, race car driver and
businessman
"If you really want something
in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet, they're about to
announce the lottery numbers!" Homer Simpson
"Every decision you make
every decision is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about
who you are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything
changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and
situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do."
Neale Donald Walsch, author
"There's no scarcity of
opportunity to make a great living at what you love. There is only a
scarcity of resolve to make it happen." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author
(who also wrote, "When you change the way you look at things, the things
you look at change")
"Do you remember the things you
were worrying about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a
lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them
turn out all right after all?" Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)
"Only those who risk going too
far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Eliot, poet
(1888-1965)
"The best way to have a good
idea is to have lots of ideas." Linus Pauling, scientist and
humanitarian (1901-1994)
"We first make our habits, then
our habits make us." John Dryden (1631-1700)
"Don't judge each day by the
harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." Robert Louis
Stevenson, 1850-1895
"I have missed more than 9,000
shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have
been entrusted to take the game-winning shot ... and I missed. I have
failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's precisely why I
succeed." Michael Jordan
"Nothing will ever be attempted
if all possible objections must first be overcome." Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
"The fishermen know that the
sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these
dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." Vincent Van Gogh
(1853-1890)
"[H]e who has so little
knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but
his own dispositions will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and
multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove." Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
"Well, I know it wasn't you who
held me down; Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free. So often times
it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we
have the key." From "Already Gone," by Jack Tempchin
"They who have no central
purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles,
and self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead,
just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route),
to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a
power-evolving universe." James Allen (1864-1902), author, As a Man
Thinketh
"There is an inherent law of
mind that we increase whatever we praise. The whole of creation responds
to praise and is glad. Words of praise, gratitude, or thanksgiving expand,
set free, and in every way radiate energy. You can praise a weak body into
strength; a fearful heart into peace and trust; shattered nerves into
poise and power; a failing business into prosperity and success; want and
insufficiency into supply and support." Charles Fillmore (1854-1948)
"Even a mistake may turn out to
be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement." Henry Ford
(1863-1947)
"In the clearing stands a boxer
and a fighter by his trade, and he carries the reminders of every glove
that laid him down and cut him til he cried out, in his anger and his
shame, 'I am leaving, I am leaving.' But the fighter still remains."
From "The Boxer," ©Paul Simon, 1968
"Security is mostly a
superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of man as a
whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than
outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
"It's tough to get ahead when
you waste your time getting even." Lou Holtz, football coach
You can live on bland food so
as to avoid an ulcer; drink no tea, coffee, or other stimulants in the
name of health; go to bed early; stay away from night life; avoid all
controversial subjects so as to never give offense; mind your own
business; avoid involvement in other peoples problems; spend money only
on necessities and save all you can. You will still break your neck in the
bathtub and it will serve you right. Eileen Guder, author,
Discovering Your Destiny
Whatever course you decide
upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are
always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics
are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires
courage. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
I can feel guilty about the
past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act.
The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental
wellness. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), psychologist
"Our deepest fear is not that
we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask
ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing
small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all
meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And
as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson, author
Human relations is the science
of dealing with people in such a way that our egos and their egos remain
intact. Les Giblin, How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With
People (1956)
Praise is like sunlight to the
warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while
most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of
criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine
of praise. Jess Lair, psychologist and author (I Ain't Much, Baby
But I'm All I Got)
"Stop a minute. Stop a minute
to contrast your keen interest in your own affairs with your mild concern
about anything else. Realize then, that everybody else in the world feels
exactly the same way! Then [...] you will have grasped the only solid
foundation for interpersonal relationships; namely, that success in
dealing with people depends on a sympathetic grasp of the other person's
viewpoint." Kenneth M. Goode, author of How to Turn People into Gold
It's not the will to win, but
the will to prepare to win, that makes the difference. Paul "Bear"
Bryant (1913-1983)
"People with humility don't
think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less." Ken
Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale in The Power of Ethical Management
"Anyone can steer the ship, but
it takes a leader to chart the course." "The Law of Navigation," from
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell
"He has achieved success who
has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of
pure women, the respect of intelligent men, and the love of little
children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left
the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect
poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's
beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in
others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction." Bessie Anderson Stanley (1904)
"We judge others by their
behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions." Ian Percy
"Far better it is to dare
mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure,
than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer
much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory
nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
"Character cannot be developed
in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the
soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success
achieved." Helen Keller (1880-1968)
"Every memorable act in the
history of the world is a triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever
achieved without it. Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a life of
mediocrity, but with it you can accomplish miracles." Og Mandino
(1923-1996), author and speaker
"Do not wait; the time will
never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools
you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go
along." Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970
"We lift ourselves by our
thought. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your
thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to
be, always, everywhere." Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924), founder of
Success magazine
"You will become as small as
your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration." James
Allen (1864-1912), As a Man Thinketh
"Some people have greatness
thrust upon them. Few have excellence thrust upon them; they achieve it.
They do not achieve it unwittingly by doing what comes naturally, and they
don't stumble into it in the course of amusing themselves. All excellence
involves discipline and tenacity of purpose." John William Gardner
(1912-2002)
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