Systemic Failure

The gears of poverty, ignorance, hopelessness and low self-esteem interact to create a kind of perpetual failure machine that grinds down dreams from generation to generation. We all bear the cost of keeping it running. Illiteracy is its linchpin

- Carl Sagan

Happiness

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go

- Martha Washington

Inspiration

The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration

- Ernest Newman

The most valuable resource

Unlike other resources, time cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or stolen, stocked up or saved, manufactured, reproduced, or modified. All we can do is make use of it. And whether we use it or not, it nevertheless slips away

- Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber

Mistakes

To some people, I am kind of a Merlin who takes lots of crazy chances, but rarely makes mistakes. I've made some bad ones, but fortunately, the successes have come along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you go to bat as many times as I do, you're bound to get a good average

- Walt Disney

Success and Failure

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure

- Jim Rohn

Mistakes

When you make a mistake or get ridiculed or rejected, look at mistakes as learning experiences, and ridicule as ignorance... Look at rejection as part of one performance, not as a turn down of the performer

- Denis Waitley

Failure

I have always felt that although someone may defeat me and I strike out in a ball game, the pitcher on the particular day was the best player. But I know when I see him again, I'm going to be ready for his curve ball. Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it

- Hank Aaron (baseballer)

True Happiness

Realise that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself

- Og Mandino

The Way Forward

No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.

- Harry Emerson Fosdick

Born... again and again

I believe a man is born first unto himself - for the happy developing of himself, while the world is a nursery, and the pretty things are to be snatched for, and pleasant things tasted; some people seem to exist thus right to the end. But most are born again on entering manhood; then they are born to humanity, to a consciousness of all the laughing, and the never-ceasing murmur of pain and sorrow that comes from the terrible multitudes of brothers

- D. H. Lawrence

The Greatest Success

Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success

- Stephen Covey

Action and Motivation

The common conception is that motivation leads to action, but the reverse is true - action precedes motivation. You have to 'prime the pump' and get the juice flowing, which motivates you to work on your goals. Getting momentum going is the most difficult part of the job, and often taking the first step is enough to prompt you to make the best of your day.

- Robert J. McKain

Attitude

Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful

- Norman Vincent Peale -

Potential

The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good

- Brian Tracy -

Fragility

Anything can happen to anybody. In the last movie I did, "Above Suspicion," I played a paraplegic. I went to a rehab centre and I worked with the people there so I could simulate being a paraplegic. And every day I would get in my car and drive away and go, "Thank God that's not me." I remember the smugness of that, as if I were privileged in a way. And seven months later, I was in this condition. The point is, we are all one great big family, and any one of us can get hurt at any moment...We should never walk by somebody who's in a wheelchair and be afraid of them or think of them as a stranger. It could be us - in fact, it is us.

- Christopher Reeve

The Greatest Treasure

Don't be afraid of misfortune and do not yearn after happiness. It is, after all, all the same. The bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold, and if hunger and thirst don't claw at your sides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms work, if both eyes can see, and if both ears can hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart and prize above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Deserving

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly

- Theodore Roosevelt

When in Doubt...

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So, what the hell, leap

- Cynthia Heimel

Genius

Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes out, so it comes clear in. In business, sometimes, prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose

- Elbert Hubbard

Best Response

When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil, while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments

- Thomas Jefferson

The Road Less Travelled

Don't keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten track occasionally and drive into the woods. You will be certain to see something you have never seen before. It will be a little thing, but do not ignore it. Follow it up, explore all around. One discovery will lead to another and, before you know it, you will have something worth thinking about.

attributed to Alexander Graham Bell

Time Will Pass...

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use

- Earl Nightingale

Life Value

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for free, that makes nothing of me

- Jim Rohn

Potential

I have no doubt whatever that most people live whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness...Much like the man who, out of his whole body organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger...We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream!

- William James (1842 - 1910)

Hope

To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, or love. Chained by his addictions, he's a slave. He has forfeited his greatest trait, and that is his individual freedom. Only the person who risks is free

- Leo Buscaglia

Relationships

In life you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load. When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens everyone is struggling with

- Brian Tracy

Goals

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, learn about them, or even seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them

- Denis Waitley

Man Murders Former Classmate after Holding 50-Year Grudge

In June of 2012, Carl Ericsson, a 73-year-old South Dakota man, was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to the murder of a former high school classmate. Friends and family members were shocked that the once-successful insurance salesman seemed to snap. Ericsson had been married to his wife for over 44 years.
But after the murder, Ericsson's secret finally came out. For over 50 years he had simmered with a belated grudge: He was still mad about a classmate who had once pulled a jock strap over his head during a high school locker room prank. Norman Johnson, the classmate and murder victim, was a star athlete on the track team. Ericsson was a student sports manager. According to Ericsson's confession, on one occasion Johnson put a jock strap on Ericsson's head, humiliating him and planting the seed of resentment that would continue to grow for over half a century. Apparently, throughout their lives, Norman Johnson continued to outshine Ericsson. Prior to his murder, Johnson had competed in college football, earned a degree, and then taught and coached at his alma mater for more than three decades.
After holding the grudge for over 50 years, Carl Ericsson rang Johnson's doorbell and shot him dead. Ericsson told a judge, "I guess it was from something that happened over 50 years ago. It was apparently in my subconscious." During his sentencing, Ericsson turned to Johnson's widow and apologised, saying, "I just wish I could turn the calendar back."

Cameron Smith, Bizarre S.D. murder caused by resentment over 50-year-old locker room jockstrap prank,"

Yahoo Sports Prep Rally blog (18 June 2012)

When Our Spiritual Life Resembles a Treadmill

Treadmills are fun if you want to get a little exercise. Unfortunately, for many people, religion feels like running on a treadmill: they're working hard but getting nowhere. That's a good image for one way to approach the Christian life, especially if you consider the history behind the treadmill. Elyse Fitzpatrick writes:

In Victorian England, treadmills weren't found in air-conditioned health clubs—they were found in prisons. Treadmills, or treadwheels, as they were called, were used in penal servitude as a form of punishment. Some treadwheels were productive, grinding wheat or transporting water, but others were purely punitive in nature. Prisoners were punished by spending the bulk of their day walking up an inclined plane, knowing that all their hard labour was for nothing. The only hope the prisoner had was that, at some day in the future, he would have "paid his debt" to society and would be set free. He couldn't even look on his labour at the end of the day and know that, if nothing else, he'd been productive.

As you struggle with [sin in your life], remember that [Christ] has set you free indeed and that you're no longer sentenced to be chained to the treadmill of sin and failure. He has paid the ransom demanded for your release from sin, and you're now walking in the freedom of the glory of the sons and daughters of God.

Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me (Crossway, 2010), pp. 87-91

Reserve Player Shared in Michael Jordan's Glory

We do not simply want to see glory; we want to be a part of it. When we lived in Chicago, a friend of ours regularly gave us Bulls tickets. Every year I would take my son, Johnny, to a game. The seats were located alongside the tunnel at the United Center, so when the Bulls ran out on to the floor, when Michael Jordan would run through the tunnel, everybody nearby wanted to give him a high five. They wanted to share his glory.
We all want to touch glory. We want to connect with it. We want to be a part of it, even though we know we are not worthy.
The Bulls had a reserve player named Stacey King. During the 1990 season King only started six games and averaged 15 minutes per game. But one night, during an overtime game against Cleveland, he contributed to an important victory. He said it would always be the greatest memory of his life: the night he and Michael Jordan scored a combined total of 70 points in a NBA playoff game. Michael Jordan scored his career-high 69 points, but King shared in the glory.

John Ortberg, from the sermon "For the Glory of God Alone"

Improving...

You should practice with a purpose. Personally, it would really frustrate me to practice for three or four hours in the morning, walk away, and two hours later say to myself, "Gee, I wish I had worked a little harder on this or that." It's the quality of the time you spend practicing that counts, not the length of time

- Jimmy Connors

Passion

I'd rather be a failure at something I'm in love with than a success at something I hate. Fortunately, I'm doing well in a business I love. I've always been in love with show business, and I still am. I love it today as much as I did for the 20 years I flopped in it.

- George Burns

Creativitiy

Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful: yourself

- Alan Alda

Opportunity

When I think of how quickly time flies, I am always sorry that I did not do better yesterday or last year, because that particular opportunity will never come again. But I comfort myself with thinking that the opportunity to do better next time lies before me.

- Edward Chipman Guild (1831-1899)

Life's Discipline

Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realise it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

- Henry Miller

The Measure of a Person

Benjamin Franklin believed that the measure of a person's greatness was the person's goodness. He did not believe one could exist without the other. In 1729, in the "American Weekly Mercury," Franklin wrote:
If we were as industrious to become good as to make ourselves great, we should become really great by being good, and the number of valuable people would be much increased.
But it is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness; and I pronounce it as certain, that there was never yet a truly great person who was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Be Bold

Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth - the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

- Goethe

A Mistake

One of the most serious mistakes we can make is to confuse the thing we call "intelligence" with another thing called "judgment." The two do not always, or necessarily, go together; many persons of high intelligence have notoriously poor judgment

- Sydney J. Harris

The Creative Tension

We cannot go back to a pristine and innocent time where humanity was free and without sin. Nor can we lunge into the future where God's kingdom is fully established and righteousness and peace will reign supreme. Both the beginning and the future are denied for us, for we are in the middle. Yet both affect us, for that innocent beginning reminds us that sin and dis­obedience are not intrinsic to our lives and the future beckons us with the promise of God's new world. This does not make life in the mid­dle undesirable; it only makes it full of promise and tension.

Perseverance

If an unusual necessity forces us onward, a surprising thing occurs. The fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, then, gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than before! We have evidently tapped a new level of energy. There may be layer after layer of this experience, a third and a fourth wind. We find amounts of ease and power that we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed, because habitually we never push through the obstruction of fatigue.

- William James (1842 - 1910) Psychologist and philosopher

Attitude

I play to win even when common sense should tell me that I no longer have a chance. Even when I have been playing at my worst, or when all the breaks have been going against me, I approach each new day, each new hole, as a glorious opportunity to get going again.

- Arnold Palmer

The Greatest Loss

Every day I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing and which, shirking pain, misses happiness as well

- Mary Cholmondeley

Where Life is Wasted

Every day I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing and which, shirking pain, misses happiness as well

- Mary Cholmondeley

One Difference...

Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualise not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualising the impossible, they begin to see it as possible

- Cherie Carter-Scott

One More Step...

All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Genius

Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man's physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of experience, involuntarily amassed

- Charles Baudelaire

Who We Are

I look back upon my youth and realise how so many people gave me help, understanding, courage – very important things to me – and they never knew it. They entered into my life and became powers within me.
All of us live spiritually by what others have given us, often unwittingly, in the significant hours of our life. At the time these significant hours may not even be perceived. We may not recognise them until years later when we look back, as one remembers some long-ago music or a boyhood landscape.
We all owe to others much of the gentleness and wisdom that we have made our own; and we may well ask ourselves what will others owe to us

- Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) French medical missionary

What is Most Needed

The celebrated historian Barbara Tuchman called our times, "The Age of Disruption, a period when we've lost belief in certain kinds of moral understanding of good and bad."
A reporter for The Indianapolis Star once asked the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner what she thought was most needed in the next century.
"Probably personal responsibility," she replied, explaining that this means "taking responsibility for your behaviour and your expenditures and your actions, and not forever supposing that society must forgive you because it's not your fault."

Our Purpose

This is our purpose:
to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us;
to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves;
to act in such a way that some part of us lives on

- Oswald Spengler (1880 - 1936) Philosopher

To Change the World

You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime

- Dale Carnegie

The Voice of God

When God speaks He speaks so loud that all the voices of the world seem dumb. And yet when God speaks he speaks so softly that no one hears the whisper but yourself. Today, perhaps...

- Henry Drummond

Who is it all for?

The world, we are told, was made especially for man - a presumption not supported by all the facts... Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation?

- John Muir, Naturalist and explorer (1838-1914)

Trouble

Trouble makes us one with every human being in the world - and unless we touch others, we're out of touch with life. If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I wouldn't pass it around. Wouldn't be doing anybody a favour. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't say embrace trouble. That's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Trust

Having someone's trust is like having money in the bank. Just like a bank account, you must make deposits if you expect to make withdrawals. When you keep your word, it's like making a deposit into your trust fund. The more often you perform the way you promised, the larger your balance is. Whenever you break your word, you have made a withdrawal from your account. You have a separate trust fund with each person that you have a relationship with. If you have been making regular deposits into your account with that individual, when the time comes that you are unable to keep your word (let's face it, nobody's perfect!), you will still have a large enough balance of trust to draw from. That person will realize that your account is still good. You are trustworthy!

- Matt Dimaio

First concerns

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are

- John Wooden (former college basketball coach).

Relationships

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if he or she were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again

- Og Mandino

Consequences

The effects of our actions may be postponed but they are never lost. There is an inevitable reward for good deeds and an inescapable punishment for bad. Meditate upon this truth, and seek always to earn good wages from Destiny

- Fu Wu Ming

The Seven Blunders of the World

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle

- Mahatma Gandhi

Scientist Says That Physics Points to the Creator

John Polkinghorne, a theoretical physicist and a minister, claims that the equations that guide physics point to a Creator. Polkinghorne said,
Physicists are deeply impressed with the order of the world. It is rationally beautiful and structured, and the feeling that there is a mind behind it is a very natural feeling to have …. I think the feeling of wonder, which is fundamental to the experience of physicists … is fundamentally a religious experience, whether people recognise it or not.

Pallab Ghosh, "Historic Hunt for 'God Particle,'" BBC News (10 September 2008)

The Gods of Our Age

There is so much frustration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God. We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate. We have worshiped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short lived. We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money cannot buy and that in a world of possible depressions, stock market crashes, and bad business investments, money is a rather uncertain deity. These transitory gods are not able to save or bring happiness to the human heart. Only God is able. It is faith in Him that we must rediscover

- Martin Luther King Jr. -

Identity and Culture

Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

- Sydney J. Harris

Reflection on Culture

Born often under another sky, placed in the middle of an always moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which draws all about him, the American has no time to tie himself to anything, he grows accustomed only to change, and ends by regarding it as the natural state of man. He feels the need of it, more he loves it; for the instability; instead of meaning disaster to him, seems to give birth only to miracles all about him

- Alexis De Tocqueville -

Facing Opposition

It is easy and dismally enervating to think of opposition as merely perverse or actually evil - far more invigorating to see it as essential for honing the mind, and as a positive good in itself. For the day that moral issues cease to be fought over is the day the word "human" disappears from the race

- Jill Tweedie

Persistence

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 alone are omnipotent

- Calvin Coolidge

Bjorn Borg

My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories

- Bjorn Borg

Blame

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy

- Wayne Dyer -

A Daily Pratice

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and scientist (1749-1832)

Speed... or?

Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished

- Confucius

What we Owe...

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required, not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich

- John F. Kennedy

At the core...

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organisations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. ...When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.

- A. W. Tozer

Obstacles

Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better… or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future.

- Og Mandingo

Helps and Hindrances

Trials, temptations, disappointments - all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fibre of character but strengthen it. Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before

- James Buckham

When Life Begins

For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

- Bette Howland

Who We Are...

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind, And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind, And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakeable

- Buddha

The Most Important Ingredient

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques (the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the Character Ethic), others will sense that duplicity. We simply won't be able to create and sustain the foundation necessary for effective interdependence.

- Stephen R. Covey

Personal Growth

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving

- Albert Einstein

What to Look For...

Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without the first you really want them to be dumb and lazy

- Warren Buffet

Mistakes

Many of us grow up thinking of mistakes as bad, viewing errors as evidence of fundamental incapacity. This negative thinking pattern can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, which undermines the learning process. To maximise our learning it is essential to ask: "How can we get the most from every mistake we make?"

- Michael Gelb and Tony Buzan Lessons from the Art of Juggling

Finding Value

There is often more wisdom to be found at the edges of life than in its middle. Life-threatening illness may shuffle our values like a deck of cards. Sometimes a card that has been on the bottom of the deck for most of our lives turns out to be the top card, the thing that really matters. Having watched people sort their cards and play their hands in the presence of death for many years, I would say that rarely is the top card perfection, or possessions, or even pride. Most often the top card is love

- Rachel Naomi Remen

Don't!

Don't look - you might see
Don't listen - you might hear
Don't think - you might learn
Don't make a decision - you might be wrong
Don't walk - you might stumble
Don't run - you might fall
Don't live - you might die

from John Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You

The Enemy

An enemy I had, whose face I stoutly strove to know,
For hard he dogged my steps unseen, wherever I did go.
My plans he baulked, my aims he foiled, he blocked my onward way.
When for some lofty goal I toiled, he grimly said to me, 'Nay'.
One night I seized him and held him fast, from him the veil did draw,
I looked upon his face at last and lo . . . myself I saw

- John Maxwell

Building

We are blind until we see
That in the human plan
Nothing is worth the making
If it does not make the man.
Why build these cities glorious
If man unbuilded goes?
In vain we build the world
Unless the builder also grows.

- Vince Lombardi

Failure

You've failed many times, although you may not remember. You fell down the first time you walked. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the one who hit the most home runs, also strike out the most. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on. Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try...

- United Technologies Wall Street Journal ad.

Older Rabbi Teaches Young Rabbi about Conflict

A young rabbi found a serious problem in his new congregation. During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the rabbi said or did helped solve the impasse. Finally, in desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue's 99-year-old founder.
He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles. "So tell me," he pleaded, "was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?"
"No," answered the old rabbi.
"Ah," responded the younger man, "then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers."
"No," answered the old rabbi.
"Well," the young rabbi responded, "what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout and the other half sit and scream."
"Ah," said the old rabbi, "that was the tradition."

as retold by P. J. Alindogan, The Potter's Jar blog, "Communicate and Relate" (9 April 2011)

Girl Blackmails Her Brother after He Kills a Duck

There is a great story about a little boy who killed his grandmother's pet duck. He accidentally hit the duck with a rock from his sling-shot. The boy didn't think anybody saw the foul (sorry!) deed, so he buried the duck in the backyard and didn't tell a soul.
Later, the boy found out that his sister had seen it all. And she now had the leverage of his secret and used it. Whenever it was the sister's turn to wash the dishes, take out the garbage, or wash the car, she would whisper in his ear, "Remember the duck." And then the little boy would do whatever his sister should have done.
There is always a limit to that sort of thing. Finally he'd had it. The boy went to his grandmother and, with great fear, confessed what he had done. To his surprise, she hugged him and thanked him. She said, "I was standing at the kitchen sink and saw the whole thing. I forgave you then. I was just wondering when you were going to get tired of your sister's blackmail and come to me."

Steve Brown, Three Free Sins (Howard Books, 2012), p. 110

Determination

We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times

- George Washington -

War

Night fell again. There was war to the south, but our sector was quiet. The battle was over. Our casualties were some thirteen thousand killed - thirteen thousand minds, memories, loves, sensations, worlds, universes - because the human mind is more a universe than the universe itself - and all for a few hundred yards of useless mud.

- John Fowles [The Magus, 1965] -

Try

Warning: Authorities warn that "try" is a dangerous expression that has enormous power to influence your behaviour. It's toxic. Use it very carefully. When "try" creeps into your language or into your thoughts, pluck it out quickly.

- Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course -

Man Robs Same Store 15 Years Apart

In 1999, 25-year-old Christopher Miller was arrested after he forced employees into the back room of the Stride Rite shoe store on Hooper Avenue in Toms River, New Jersey. After a 15-year sentence, on Friday, March 21, 2014, Miller was released from South Woods State Prison in New Jersey. The very next day, Miller, now 40 years old, took a bus from Atlantic City to Toms River and went to the same shoe store.
Employees tell police that he entered the store and demanded cash, telling two workers to go to the back room. When the employees refused, Miller became agitated and took the cash register drawer, which had $389. He then took the workers' cell phones and fled on foot. Police say he was found a few blocks away, with the cash stashed in a gutter and the phones in a garbage can.
Toms River Police Chief Mitchell Little speculated, "Maybe [prison life is] the only life he knows, and the only thing he could think of was going back to the same store and doing the same crime again—getting caught and going back where he was taken care of and told what to do and getting meals and shelter and everything else."

Adapted from Brian Thompson, "Man Leaves Prison, Robs Same New Jersey Shoe Store 15 Years Later: Police," NBC News (3-26-14)

Illusions

The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one.

Change

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered

- Nelson Mandela [A Long Walk to Freedom] -

Laws

Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them.

- Anacharis, quoted in Plutarch, The lives of the Noble, c. 600 B.C. -

Programmers

A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite series of incomprehensive answers calculated with micrometric precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the information in the first place

- IEEE Grid news magazine -

Mountain Climbing

A party of economists was climbing in the Alps. After several hours they became hopelessly lost. One of them studied the map for some time, turning it up and down, sighting on distant landmarks, consulting his compass, and finally the sun.
Finally he said, "OK see that big mountain over there?"
"Yes," answered the others eagerly.
"Well, according to the map, we're standing on top of it."

Love

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one...Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell

- C. S. Lewis

Guardian Angel

A man was walking in the street when he heard a voice. "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you."
The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished.
He went on, and after awhile he was going to cross the road. Once again the voice shouted: "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step a car will run over you and you will die."
The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him.
"Where are you?" the man asked. "Who are you?"
"I am your guardian angel," the voice answered.
"Oh yeah?" the man asked. "And where were you when I got married?"

Two Words

An English professor announced to the class; "There are two words I don't allow in my class. One is gross and the other is cool."
From the back of the room a voice called out, "So, what are the words?"

Can Two Rights Make A Wrong?

A linguistics professor was lecturing his class.
"In English," he explained, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative."
"However," the professor continued, "there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."
A voice from the back of the room piped up. "Yeah, right."

Prayer

Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. Remember, too, every day and whenever you can, to repeat to yourself, “Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee today.” For every hour and every moment thousands of people leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God...How touching it must be to a soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that for him too there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left on earth to love him. And God will look on you both more graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much more will He have pity who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you. And He will forgive him for your sake

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov