January 29, 2016

THE (FORMERLY) GREAT AND POWERFUL YOU

"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) British poet/playwright.

Break that connection and you ultimately break you.

January 28, 2016

WHO CONTROLS YOU?

"Such power there is in clear-eyed self-restraint."

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American poet/critic/editor.

Whatever strengths you possess are greatly, if not completely, diminished when you lose control of you.

January 27, 2016

ONLY WHAT YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN

"What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth."

Jewish proverb

False witness, accidental or purposely, is the same.

If you didn't see it don't speak of it as though you did.

January 26, 2016

NO DOUBT

"Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom."

Chinese proverb

Assume that you are certain of, be little, that you must become certain of, great.

The reverse will only disappoint.

January 25, 2016

NOT WHAT YOU APPEAR TO BE, WHAT YOU ARE

"It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not."

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

"High birth" isn't what it was when Monsieur de la Bruyère first spoke these words, however the underlying thought still applies.

More important than your reputation, education, money or anything else you can name is your character.

Without that your value to others is greatly diminished.

January 22, 2016

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT YOU

"Even the lion must defend himself against flies."

German proverb

Unfair criticism can be like flies we are unable to swat away.

However not all criticism is unfair.

Learn to graciously accept that which ultimately will help while ignoring that which won't, carefully deciding which is which.

That which hurts the most may also be what helps the most.

January 21, 2016

FOOLISH BEHAVIOR

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally."

Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) Spanish philosopher/writer.

Don't worry if this labels you foolish, you can always change.

But do so immediately.

January 20, 2016

YOUR LIFE: WHO DECIDES WHAT IT WILL BE?

"If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you."

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-English poet/playwright.

Substitute "education, planning, and hard work" for "strength" and you have what it takes to "impose your own terms upon life."

It is your life; who better than you to decide how it will be lived?

January 19, 2016

THE JOY OF UNHAPPINESS

"A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

So, if you're not always happy, which no one I know is, you're normal.

Life in balance, no extremes.

January 18, 2016

NOT NECESSARILY WHAT YOU FIRST (THINK YOU) SEE

"The open-minded see the truth in different things, the narrow-minded, only the differences."

Unknown

And who's to say those differences are necessarily bad?

Like blind men touching an elephant, all thinking it a different animal based on having touched different parts, so too will truth appear different depending on one's perspective.

Your first impression may have nothing to do with what really is.

January 15, 2016

THE ESSENCE OF LIFE

"It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish."

Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE-c. 475 BCE) Greek philosopher

Not at all because . . .
  • not everything we wish for is in our best interest.
  • much of the enjoyment of success is in the quest to achieve.
  • today's wish fulfilled often means little or nothing tomorrow.
We are born to strive to achieve, to evolve, to become something better.

January 14, 2016

FREE TO NOT BE

"So free we seem, so fettered we are!"

Robert Browning (1812 -1889) British poet.

I am an entrepreneur, now having worked much longer in my own companies than those owned by others.

I can tell you without hesitation, what Mr. Browning says is true.

Start your own company if you like.

But do so understanding that no matter how things turn out you will have only traded one bondage for another.

January 13, 2016

REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE TO YOU SHOULD

"Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty."

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer/historian.

Work for one, two, or all three but none more than work to live.

January 12, 2016

THE SECRET TO (THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS) OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

"Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours."

Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) Founder of Success magazine.

True for anything worth achieving.

There are no shortcuts.

Want whatever you want but work hard for whatever you must get.

January 11, 2016

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

"I don't like that man; I'm going to have to get to know him better."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) President of the United States.

Why would Mr. Lincoln want to better know someone he doesn't like?

Because in doing so he might discover what he initially thought was wrong.

They're no harm confirming your initial impression was correct, and much to gain when you find it wasn't.

January 08, 2016

HAVE YOU LEARNED THIS?

"All of us, who are worth anything, spend our manhood unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth."

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet.

If you're not sure what this means you have much to learn.

January 07, 2016

NOT HAPPY WITH YOURSELF?

"We continue to shape our personality all our life."

Albert Camus (1913-1960) French novelist/essayist/dramatist.

You continually change but how much of what you will be is up to you.

Don't leave you to chance, direct what you will become.


January 06, 2016

I KNOW I'M NOT WRONG ABOUT THIS

"There are few people who are more often in the wrong than those who cannot endure to be so."

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

You don't have to assume you're wrong to avoid this fate, just don't automatically assume you're right.

January 05, 2016

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS?

"Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg by the side of which more will be laid."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist/poet/philosopher.

"Recorded" meaning remembered.

That we don't at least file somewhere in the back of our minds will often, unfortunately, be lost forever.

You can't and need not remember everything; only that you should.

January 04, 2016

HOPEFULLY THIS WILL MAKE YOU CURIOUS


"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) American columnist/lecturer/humanitarian. 

How sad if there is nothing that arouses your curiosity.

But the good news is, there is an endless supply of things that could.

Go find them.