WHAT DO YOU WANT?

"Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence."

William Blake (1757-1827) British poet/painter.

Opposites attempt to change each other's position and out of this either comes further separation, or new thinking that might not otherwise exist.

Which it will be depends on your goals: resistance to or acceptance of change.

The former will leave you no better than before, the latter with hope for a better future.

YOU DO AGREE WITH ME DON'T YOU?

"We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer.

The trouble with this is our opinions become inbred when they are mostly or only our opinions.

TODAY'S BUDGETING LESSON

"The spendthrift robs his heirs, the miser robs himself."

Jean de la Bruyère (1645-1696) French satiric moralist.

Just because you have funds allocated, unspent, does not mean you should spend them.

Just because you have funds allocated, unspent, does not mean you should not spend them. 

Money that, for good reason, should or should not have been spent, is equally waste.

LEARNED FROM; NEVER (RARELY) TO BE REPEATED AGAIN

"Experience is the name we give to our mistakes."

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet/dramatist.

I'll accept that but only for those mistakes we attempt to correct.

The rest don't deserve the positive implication of being referred to as experience.

IF NOT, MAYBE NOT

"Necessity knows no law except to conquer."

Publilius Syrus (1st Century BC-?) Roman writer/poet.

So, if you need to there's a better chance you will.

ACCOMPLISHMENT DRIVERS

"There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do."

Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist/essayist/writer.

One drives you to act, the other to believe what you do will be right.

One without the other is not the same.

MORE THAN YOU CAN BEAR? HARDLY

"There is no greater misfortune than to not be able to endure misfortune."

Proverb

I won't say all misfortune can be endured, but certainly all I have ever encountered, along with that I know occurred to others, has been. 

We are stronger than we think, sometimes more so than we wish to be.

BLESSED MEMORIES

"When I was younger, I could remember anything whether it had happened or not."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist/writer/lecturer.

Actually the older I get the truer this is.

MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE?

"It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error."

Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 BC) Writer/politician/roman orator.

Albert Einstein's take on the same thing:

"The definition of insanity is repeating the same behaviors, expecting a different outcome."

If what you are doing is not working for you, why do you continue to do it?

ABOUT YOUR AD CAMPAIGN . . .

"Cinema, radio, television, magazines are a school of inattention: people look without seeing, listen in without hearing."

Robert Bresson (1901-1999) French film director.

Completely true, possibly understated, certainly so as it pertains to advertising.

Remember the advertising phrase, "reach and frequency"? 

You can only afford so much reach, and in today's hyper social media world, never enough frequency.

TOO MUCH, IS

"Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin."

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (55-117) Roman historian.

Well intentioned largess, even for a good cause, can result in more harm than good.

Too much truth can as well.

You know . . . all things in moderation.

Just not too much moderation.

NOT WHAT YOU READ, WHAT YOU DO BASED ON WHAT YOU READ

"The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self-activity."

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) British historian/essayist.

The value of reading, business books in particular, is in what it teaches us followed by what we do differently as a result.

No change, no point.

I THINK SO

"No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness."

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

And only the truly mad, those who think themselves to be only genius, would think otherwise.

What do you think?

I FRIEND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU

"Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends."

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet/satirist.

A bit pessimistic, I know, however the core message is valid.

Pick your friends carefully and none more so than those in social media.

I SAY A, YOU HEAR a

"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people."

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet/playwright.

Mr. Yeats is recommending that the words we choose to communicate be understood by those with which we wish to communicate.

I understand that.

KNOWING WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW

"Knowledge is proud that it knows so much. Wisdom is humble that it knows no more."

William Cowper (1731-1800) British poet.

Start by knowing you will always know much less than you need to know.

Do that and you've arrived at the first, most important level of wisdom.

JUDGE NOT LEST YOU BE JUDGED

"Our judgments judge us, and nothing reveals us, exposes our weaknesses, more ingeniously than the attitude of pronouncing upon our fellows."

Paul Válery (1871-1945) French poet/essayist/philosopher.

The "gate" of your judgment of others swings both out on them and back in on you.

SEEING WHAT'S NEXT BY LOOKING AT WHAT WAS

"You must pre-live the future... not re-live the past... and savor the moment."

Unknown

Ok, but don't assume re-living the past to be the same as learning from the past; they are not the same.

Learning from past failures and successes will better prepare you for more of the latter, less of the former in the future.

ONLY IF IT FITS

"The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases."

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist/psychiatrist.

We'd all like to find the "silver bullet" for self improvement, which thankfully doesn't exist.

We are individuals for a reason.

Our way is there to be found.

ALWAYS NEW AND IMPROVED

"Our ideals are our better selves."

Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) American educator.

Probably.

However, keep in mind, "better" is only that; it isn't necessarily as good as you can be.

Strive to improve and when you have, look to become even better.

WALKING THE WALK

"Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out."

Italian proverb

Think all the great thoughts you want but whatever that is will mean nothing without actually doing something.

HOBBES KNOWS

"The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness."

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American philosopher/author.

Contentedness is a form of happiness.

Find that and you'll be happy, tail or no tail.