β
Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
β
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Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie)
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Kindness is not a business. True kindness expects nothing in return and should never act with conditions.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
If we listened to our intellect we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go in business because we'd be cynical: "It's gonna go wrong." Or "She's going to hurt me." Or,"I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore . . ." Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.
β
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Ray Bradbury
β
What would you do if you weren't afraid?
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Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Done is better than perfect.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
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He not busy being born is busy dying.
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.
β
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
What other people think and say about you is none of your business. The most destructive thing you would ever do is to believe someone else's opinion of you. You have to stop letting other people's opinions control you.
β
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Whenever I am in a difficult situation where there seems to be no way out, I think about all the times I have been in such situations and say to myself, "I did it before, so I can do it again.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work β the most you will make is 5 dollars.
β
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.
β
β
Warren Buffett
β
We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
β
β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
Whenever you are going through lifeβs challenges, remember that for iron to be cast into its desired form, it must first go through intense heat.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (All You Need Is a Ball: What Soccer Teaches Us about Success in Life and Business)
β
If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldnβt have a job if he was any smarter.
β
β
John M. Gottman
β
If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it.
β
β
Criss Jami (Healology)
β
Fortune does favor the bold and you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try.
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β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.
β
β
T. Harv Eker (Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth)
β
What the society thinks is of no interest to me. All that's important is how I see myself. I know who who I am. I know the value of my work.
β
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Robin S. Sharma (The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in)
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Truth builds trust.
β
β
Marilyn Suttle
β
If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg
β
You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.
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β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
I lied and said I was busy.
I was busy;
but not in a way most people understand.
I was busy taking deeper breaths.
I was busy silencing irrational thoughts.
I was busy calming a racing heart.
I was busy telling myself I am okay.
Sometimes, this is my busy -
and I will not apologize for it.
β
β
Brittin Oakman
β
A photograph shouldn't be just a picture, it should be a philosophy.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.
β
β
Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac)
β
Sometimes success isn't about making the right decision, it's more about making some decision.
β
β
Robin S. Sharma (The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life)
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It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
β
β
Isaac Asimov
β
If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.
β
β
Wanda E. Brunstetter (Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook: Desserts)
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Leadership begins and ends with relationships
β
β
Richard Polak (Work Smart Now: How to Jump Start Productivity, Empower Employees, and Achieve More)
β
Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on.
I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise.
I have full confidence in myself and my abilities.
I can do all things that I commit myself to.
No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me.
I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily.
I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past.
I am moving forward daily.
Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
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How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?
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Seth Godin (Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas)
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Your smile is your logo, your personality is your business card, how you leave others feeling after having an experience with you becomes your trademark.
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Jay Danzie
β
The culture of women in the church today is crippled by some very pervasive lies. "To be spiritual is to be busy. To be spiritual is to be disciplined. To be spiritual is to be dutiful." No, to be spiritual is to be in Romance with God. The desire to be romanced lies deep in the heart of every women. It is for such that you were made. Are you ARE romanced, and ever will be.
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John Eldredge
β
What others think about you is none of your business.
β
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Jack Canfield (The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be)
β
If we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love, and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of βI could have, I should haveβ. We can sleep in a storm. And when its time, our goodbyes will be complete.
β
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Mitch Albom (Have a Little Faith: a True Story)
β
Your comfort zone is a place where you keep yourself in a self-illusion and nothing can grow there but your potentiality can grow only when you can think and grow out of that zone.
β
β
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
β
Too many people are too busy making a living to make a life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
Unless today is well lived, tomorrow is not important.
β
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Alan Sakowitz (Miles Away... Worlds Apart)
β
6 Ways To Give Your Mind A Break:
1. Stop stressing
2. Stop worrying
3. Give rest to the problems weighing you down
4. Lighten up
5. Forgive yourself
6. Forgive others
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β
Germany Kent
β
Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.
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Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
What is it that inspires you? What do you love to do? What would you do for free? At the beginning of my busi-ness career, my why was to become a millionaire, not a good why! And why not? Because that is an aspiration rather than a why. Aspirations, I have found, wonβt fuel me when the going gets tough. But a true βwhyβ will.
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Richard Polak
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Thereβs not a chance weβll reach our full potential until we stop blaming each other and start practicing personal accountability.
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John G. Miller (QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life)
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What other people think of me is not my business.
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Michael J. Fox
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Working hard for something we do not care about is called stress, working hard for something we love is called passion.
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β
Simon Sinek (Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action)
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Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential.
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Sheryl Sandberg
β
Be a King. Dare to be Different, dare to manifest your greatness.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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A confident woman wears a smile and has this air of comfortability and pleasantness about her.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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You become what you think about
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Napoleon Hill (Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude)
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Men love women who are courageous for it means they can go all the way with him in his pursuit of his good dreams and intentions.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
β
A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.
β
β
F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
β
When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless.
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β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
Life's had to break you down so you could be rebuilt
β
β
Robin S. Sharma (The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life)
β
People are so busy chasing happiness- if they would slow down and turn around, they would give it a chance to catch up with them.
β
β
Harold S. Kushner
β
When faced with a challenge, get smarter.
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β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
Don't die without fulfilling your purpose.
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β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
Resources are hired to give results, not reasons.
β
β
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
β
To earn more, you must learn more.
β
β
Brian Tracy
β
but I have no mind for business and considered staying awake to be enough of an accomplishment.
β
β
David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day)
β
Words are your business, boy. Not just the word. Words are everything. The key to the rock, the answer to the question.
β
β
Ralph Ellison
β
When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.
β
β
Jeannette Walls (Half Broke Horses)
β
Firestarters are flexible. They recognize situational needs and are able to flow into the accessible role identity most relevant to overcome emergent challenges.
β
β
Raoul Davis Jr. (Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life)
β
The personal, as everyoneβs so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here β it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that itβs just business, itβs politics, itβs the way of the world, itβs a tough life and that itβs nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.
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β
Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1))
β
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
β
β
Martha Graham
β
A Manifesto for Introverts
1. There's a word for 'people who are in their heads too much': thinkers.
2. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
3. The next generation of quiet kids can and must be raised to know their own strengths.
4. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend extrovert. There will always be time to be quiet later.
5. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is key to finding work you love and work that matters.
6. One genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
7. It's OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.
8. 'Quiet leadership' is not an oxymoron.
9. Love is essential; gregariousness is optional.
10. 'In a gentle way, you can shake the world.' -Mahatma Gandhi
β
β
Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
β
Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage.
β
β
Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business)
β
Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.
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β
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
β
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible Gods and Goddesses. To remember that the dullest, and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.
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β
C.S. Lewis (Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy, Reflections on the Psalms, the Four Loves, the Business of Heaven)
β
Actually, writers have no business writing about their own works. They either wax conceited, saying things like: 'My brilliance is possibly most apparent in my dazzling short story, "The Cookiepants Hypotenuse."' Or else they get unbearably cutesy: 'My cat Ootsywootums has given me all my best ideas, hasn't oo, squeezums?
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β
Connie Willis (The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories)
β
What is the point of hiring smart people, we asked, if you donβt empower them to fix whatβs broken?
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β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
I come across too much material on "how to make a man want you", "how to make a man commit", "how to make a man finally pop the question", "how to make a man take you seriously", "how to get into a man's emotions." And I laugh. My dear fellow women, enough! Do not busy yourselves with such things! Instead, fall in love with yourself!
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β
C. JoyBell C.
β
The topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is important to know it is human business, it is a question of human survival.
β
β
Dalai Lama XIV
β
The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes- a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.
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β
Dallas Willard (The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives)
β
Youβll never stumble upon the unexpected if you stick only to the familiar.
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β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
Getting lost along your path is a part of finding the path you are meant to be on.
β
β
Robin S. Sharma (The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life)
β
When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that youβve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.
β
β
Jim Collins (Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't)
β
Success in any field, but especially in business is about working with people, not against them.
β
β
Keith Ferrazzi (Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time)
β
If you want to conquer fear, don't sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
β
β
Dale Carnegie (The Leader in You: How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World)
β
No, I do not weep at the world. I'm too busy sharpening my oyster knife.
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Zora Neale Hurston (Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings)
β
Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms.
β
β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
You donβt have to ask permission to take responsibility.
β
β
Ed Catmull (Creativity, Inc.: an inspiring look at how creativity can - and should - be harnessed for business success by the founder of Pixar)
β
You know what? I was wrong. You are an idiot. My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it's not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own. The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys that pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening.
β
β
Joss Whedon
β
Our life is like a land journey, too even and easy and dull over long distances across the plains, too hard and painful up the steep grades; but, on the summits of the mountain, you have a magnificent view--and feel exalted--and your eyes are full of happy tears--and you want to sing--and wish you had wings! And then--you can't stay there, but must continue your journey--you begin climbing down the other side, so busy with your footholds that your summit experience is forgotten.
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β
Lloyd C. Douglas (The Robe)
β
On the late afternoon streets, everyone hurries along, going about their own business.
Who is the person walking in front of you on the rain-drenched sidewalk?
He is covered with an umbrella, and all you can see is a dark coat and the shoes striking the puddles.
And yet this person is the hero of his own life story.
He is the love of someoneβs life.
And what he can do may change the world.
Imagine being him for a moment.
And then continue on your own way.
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β
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
β
A man's bookcase will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about him," my father had told me more than once. "A businessman has business books and a dream has novels and books of poetry. Most women like reading about love, and a true revolutionary will have books about the minutiae of overthrowing the oppressor. A person with no books is inconsequential in a modern setting, but a peasant that reads is a prince in waiting.
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β
Walter Mosley (THE LONG FALL: A NOVEL (LEONID MCGILL MYSTERY 1))
β
I wish that all nations may recover and retain their independence; that those which are overgrown may not advance beyond safe measures of power, that a salutary balance may be ever maintained among nations, and that our peace, commerce, and friendship, may be sought and cultivated by all. It is our business to manufacture for ourselves whatever we can, to keep our markets open for what we can spare or want; and the less we have to do with the amities or enmities of Europe, the better. Not in our day, but at no distant one, we may shake a rod over the heads of all, which may make the stoutest of them tremble. But I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.
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β
Thomas Jefferson (Writings: Autobiography / Notes on the State of Virginia / Public and Private Papers / Addresses / Letters)
β
The wish of death had been palpably hanging over this otherwise idyllic paradise for a good many years.
All business and politics is personal in the Philippines.
If it wasn't for the cheap beer and lovely girls one of us would spend an hour in this dump.
They [Jehovah's Witnesses] get some kind of frequent flyer points for each person who signs on.
I'm not lazy. I'm just motivationally challenged.
I'm not fat. I just have lots of stored energy.
You don't get it do you? What people think of you matters more than the reality. Marilyn.
Despite standing firm at the final hurdle Marilyn was always ready to run the race.
After answering the question the woman bent down behind the stand out of sight of all, and crossed herself.
It is amazing what you can learn in prison. Merely through casual conversation Rick had acquired the fundamentals of embezzlement, fraud and armed hold up.
He wondered at the price of honesty in a grey world whose half tones changed faster than the weather.
The banality of truth somehow always surprises the news media before they tart it up.
You've ridden jeepneys in peak hour. Where else can you feel up a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl without even trying? [Ralph Winton on the Philippines finer points]
Life has no bottom. No matter how bad things are or how far one has sunk things can always get worse.
You could call the Oval Office an information rain shadow.
In the Philippines, a whole layer of criminals exists who consider that it is their right to rob you unhindered. If you thwart their wicked desires, to their way of thinking you have stolen from them and are evil.
There's honest and dishonest corruption in this country.
Don't enjoy it too much for it's what we love that usually kills us.
The good guys don't always win wars but the winners always make sure that they go down in history as the good guys.
The Philippines is like a woman. You love her and hate her at the same time.
I never believed in all my born days that ideas of truth and justice were only pretty words to brighten a much darker and more ubiquitous reality.
The girl was experiencing the first flushes of love while Rick was at least feeling the methadone equivalent.
Although selfishness and greed are more ephemeral than the real values of life their effects on the world often outlive their origins.
Miriam's a meteor job. Somewhere out there in space there must be a meteor with her name on it.
Tsismis or rumours grow in this land like tropical weeds.
Surprises are so common here that nothing is surprising.
A crooked leader who can lead is better than a crooked one who can't.
Although I always followed the politics of Hitler I emulate the drinking habits of Churchill.
It [Australia] is the country that does the least with the most.
Rereading the brief lines that told the story in the manner of Fox News reporting the death of a leftist Rick's dark imagination took hold.
Didn't your mother ever tell you never to trust a man who doesn't drink?
She must have been around twenty years old, was tall for a Filipina and possessed long black hair framing her smooth olive face. This specter of loveliness walked with the assurance of the knowingly beautiful. Her crisp and starched white uniform dazzled in the late-afternoon light and highlighted the natural tan of her skin. Everything about her was in perfect order. In short, she was dressed up like a pox doctorβs clerk. Suddenly, she stopped, turned her head to one side and spat comprehensively into the street. The tiny putrescent puddle contrasted strongly with the studied aplomb of its all-too-recent owner, suggesting all manner of disease and decay.
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β
John Richard Spencer
β
The creative process requires more than reason. Most original thinking isn't even verbal. It requires 'a groping experimentation with ideas, governed by intuitive hunches and inspired by the unconscious.' The majority of business men are incapable of original thinking because they are unable to escape from the tyranny of reason. Their imaginations are blocked.
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β
David Ogilvy (Confessions of an Advertising Man)
β
Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it.
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β
Charles R. Swindoll
β
as an artist, i do not always enjoy the questions, βwhat were you thinking when you wrote this. what was the inspiration behind this.β these questions imply that there is always thought involved in creation. for me it is the exact opposite. creativity is the act of experiencing the unconscious in the conscious. sometimes, i want to say, without sarcasm, βi do not know what my soul was thinking when i wrote that poem, i was too busy listening.
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β
Nayyirah Waheed
β
We're constantly getting these messages to mind our own business and look the other way if we want to be well liked, to not tell the truth or speak our mind or say anything too intense. Well, I'm telling you here that this approach not only makes you party to other people's crimes against themselves but is a prescription for mediocrity and delusion
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β
Kelly Cutrone (If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You)
β
Stop entertaining two faced people. You know the ones who have split personalities and untrustworthy habits. Nine times out of ten if they telling you stuff about another person, they're going to tell your business to other people. If they say, "You know I heard........." More than likely it's in their character to share false information. Beware of your box, circle, square! Whatever you want to call it.
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β
Amaka Imani Nkosazana (Sweet Destiny)
β
Christian does a great job helping an aspiring writer get inspired to write and finish their book. Itβs easy to read and understand, and provides encouragement and specific guidance, without being too harsh or detailed on fiction writing only. If you are struggling with how to put your thoughts onto paper, give this a read and establish a rhythm for your writing. Christianβs success at completing over 21 published manuscripts while leading a busy life are testament in if there is a will, there is a way. And it provides some good humor throughout.β
Rachel Braynin, Sr Program Manager at Lulu Publishing
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Christian Warren Freed (So...You Want to Write a Book?)
β
Pick a leader who will make their citizens proud. One who will stir the hearts of the people, so that the sons and daughters of a given nation strive to emulate their leader's greatness. Only then will a nation be truly great, when a leader inspires and produces citizens worthy of becoming future leaders, honorable decision makers and peacemakers. And in these times, a great leader must be extremely brave. Their leadership must be steered only by their conscience, not a bribe.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Donβt destroy yourself over somebody elseβs foolishness. I know they betrayed you. I know they lied on you. I know they talked behind your back and told all of your business. I know they hurt you to the core. I know they turned their back on you. I know they cheated on you. I know they mislead you. I know, I KNOW. In spite of it all, you have to know that you are worth more than what they dished out to you. You will survive! You will make it through! Remember who YOU are and know YOUR self-worth!
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Stephanie Lahart
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There is much that is immortal in this medieval lady. The dragons have gone, and so have the knights, but still she lingers in our midst. She reigned in many an early Victorian castle, and was Queen of much early Victorian song. It is sweet to protect her in the intervals of business, sweet to pay her honour when she has cooked our dinner well. But alas! the creature grows degenerate. In her heart also there are springing up strange desires. She too is enamoured of heavy winds, and vast panoramas, and green expanses of the sea. She has marked the kingdom of this world, how full it is of wealth, and beauty, and war--a radiant crust, built around the central fires, spinning towards the receding heavens. Men, declaring that she inspires them to it, move joyfully over the surface, having the most delightful meetings with other men, happy, not because they are masculine, but because they are alive. Before the show breaks up she would like to drop the august title of the Eternal Woman, and go there as her transitory self.
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E.M. Forster (A Room With a View)
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Do Something!
I was sitting on a plane after a long, tiring business trip. I was a bit grouchy and irritable because the rigorous schedule I had made for myself left me exhausted. Looking to not talk to the person next to me and simply endure the flight, I decided to open my newspaper and read about what was happening in the world. As I continued to read, it seemed that everywhere I looked there were stories of injustice, pain, suffering, and people losing hope. Finally, fueled by my tired, irritable state, I became overcome with compassion and frustration for the way things were. I got up and went to the bathroom and broke down.
With tears streaming down my face, I helplessly looked to the sky and yelled to God.
βGod, look at this mess. Look at all this pain and suffering. Look at all this killing and hate. God, how could you let this happen? Why donβt you do something?β
Just then, a quiet stillness pacified my heart. A feeling of peace I wonβt ever forget engulfed my body.
And, as I looked into my own eyes in the mirror, the answer to my own question came back to meβ¦
βSteve, stop asking God to do something. God already did something, he gave you life. Now YOU do something!
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Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
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Whenever we doubt our own ability to achieve, it is worthwile pondering the obstacles that others have overcome. To name a few...
*Napoleon overcame his considerable handicap, his tiny stature, to lead his conquering armies across Europe.
*Abraham Lincon failed in business aged 31, lost a legislative race and 32, again failed in business at 34, had his sweetheart die when he was 35, had a nervous breakdown at 36, lost congressional races aged 43, 46 and 48, lost a senatorial race at 55, failed in his efforts to become vice president of the U.S.A aged 56 and lost a further senatorial contest at 58. At 60 years of age he was elected president of the U.S.A and is now remembered as one of the great leaders in world history.
*Winston Churchill was a poor student with a speech impediment. Not only did he win a Nobel Prize at 24, but he became one of the most inspiring speakers of recent times.
It is not where you start that counts, but where you choose to finish.
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Andrew Matthews (Being Happy!)
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I was always reaching for love, but it turns out love doesn't involve reaching. I was always dreaming of the big love, the ultimate love, the love that would sweep me off my feet or 'break open the hard shell of my lesser self' (Daisaku Ikeda). The love that would bring on my surrender. The love that would inspire me to give everything. As I lay there, it occurred to me that while I had been dreaming of this big love, this ultimate love, I had, without realizing it, been giving and receiving love for most of my life. As with the trees that were right in front of me, I had been unable to value what sustained me, fed me, and gave me pleasure. And as with the trees, I was so busy waiting for and imagining and reaching and dreaming and preparing for this huge big love that I had totally missed the beauty and perfection of the soft-boiled eggs and Bolivian quinoa.
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V (formerly Eve Ensler) (In the Body of the World)