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Charles Dickens: Construction and creation
“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” —Charles Dickens.
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Zsa Zsa Gabor: Getting married and divorced
“Getting divorced just because you don’t love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.” —Zsa Zsa Gabor.
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Simon Sinek: Common purpose
“A team is a group of people that works together with common purpose, not just a group of people assigned to work on the same project.” —Simon Sinek.
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Adlai Stevenson II: Less cruel ways
“It is difficult to picture the great Creator conceiving of a program of one creature (which He has made) using another living creature for purposes of experimentation. There must be other, less cruel ways of obtaining knowledge.” —Adlai Stevenson II.
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Simon Sinek: Change the world
“What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.” —Simon Sinek.
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Alice Cooper: Rebellion
“Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s rebellion.” —Alice Cooper.
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Gertrude Stein: Too careful
“Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.” —Gertrude Stein.
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Walter Bagehot: Public opinion
“Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to drink other men’s thoughts, to speak other men’s words, to follow other men’s habits.” —Walter Bagehot.
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Havelock Ellis: Absence of flaw
“The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.” —Havelock Ellis.
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Shakira: Ugly truth
“I prefer an ugly truth to a pretty lie. If someone is telling me the truth that is when I will give my heart.” —Shakira.
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Langston Hughes: Let America be America again
“Let America be America again. / Let it be the dream it used to be. … / Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed – / Let it be that great strong land of love / Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme / That any man be crushed by one above.” —Langston Hughes.
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Russell L Ackoff: Systems thinking
“In systems thinking, increases in understanding are believed to be obtainable by expanding the systems to be understood, not by reducing them to their elements.” —Russell L. Ackoff.
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Boris Yeltsin: Better than a mean little flame
“A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame.” —Boris Yeltsin.
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Benjamin Franklin: Justice
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ― Benjamin Franklin.
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Christian Bale: Not practical
“I mean, first of all, let me say whichever superhero first came up with the idea of wearing a cape, he wasn’t really onto anything good. The number of times I’m treading on that damn thing or I throw a punch and it ends up covering my whole head. It’s really not practical.” —Christian Bale.
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Simon Sinek: Authentic
“To be authentic is to be at peace with your imperfections.” —Simon Sinek.
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Romain Rolland: Detestable
“I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.” —Romain Rolland.
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Oprah Winfrey: Do the one thing you think you cannot do
“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.” —Oprah Winfrey.
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Simon Sinek: Trust
“Trust is not born out of what we do well. Trust is born out of what we believe.” —Simon Sinek.
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José Martí: Grain of poetry
“A grain of poetry suffices to season a century.” —-José Martí.
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Nicolas Sarkozy: You can’t lie
“In a presidential campaign, you can’t lie. You can’t hide what you are and what you want. You can’t hide what kind of President you’ll be. You can’t keep on talking about nothing indefinitely and committing to nothing, you can’t keep running away from debate, masking the challenges.” —Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Billings Learned Hand: Spirit of liberty
“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.” —-Billings Learned Hand.
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George Bernard Shaw: True joy in life
“This is the true joy in life, the being recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to…
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cardinal point
“One must not make oneself cheap here – that is a cardinal point – or else one is done. Whoever is most impertinent has the best chance.” —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
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Simon Sinek: How many people they work for
“A weak leader likes to tell us how many people work for them.A great leader is humbled to tell us how many people they work for.” —Simon Sinek.
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Ellen DeGeneres: Catch-and-release
“Catch-and-release, that’s like running down pedestrians in your car and then, when they get up and limp away, saying — Off you go! That’s fine. I just wanted to see if I could hit you.” —Ellen DeGeneres.
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Arempula Premkumar: Never take spiritual things lightly
“Be aware of your connection to the universe. Live with the awareness that everything you are end everything you do directly or indirectly affects everything and everyone around you. Small or big, what you choose to do can alter the course or destiny of living or non-living things that come your way. As you realize…
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Paul Newman: Because they want to
“People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked.” —Paul Newman.
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William Somerset Maugham: Happy chance
“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.” —-William Somerset Maugham.
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Ashwin Sanghi: Discipline rather than creativity
“What I have found is that, in a family business structure, sometimes what is needed is a sense of discipline rather than creativity. You have to take everyone’s ideas and make it work. When you are dealing with money, there is a limitation on how creative you can be.” —Ashwin Sanghi.
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Shane A Parrish: More reliable than motivation
“The biggest generator of long term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. Discipline is more reliable than motivation.” —Shane A Parrish.
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Adrian Edmondson: Theorising about comedy
“You’re entering dangerous land when you start theorising about comedy.” —Adrian Edmondson.
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Julia Child: Recipes and cooking
“There’s a big difference between knowing how to follow a recipe and knowing how to cook. If you can master the first principles within a domain, you can see much further than those who are just following recipes.” —–Julia Child.
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Much is required
“For those to whom much is given, much is required. And when, at some future date, the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure … will be measured by the answers to…
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Rutger Hauer: Coward at heart
“I run; I am a coward at heart. I swear, when I smell violence or aggression the coward comes out in me. I have no desire to fight anybody except myself.” —Rutger Hauer.
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Sidney Madwed: Most agonizing torture
“I was always puzzled by the fact that people have a great deal of trouble and pain when and if they are forced or feel forced to change a belief or circumstance which they hold dear. I found what I believe is the answer when I read that a Canadian neurosurgeon discovered some truths about…
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Lord Byron: Advantages of looking at mankind
“I am so convinced of the advantages of looking at mankind instead of reading about them, and of the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an islander, that I think there should be a law amongst us to set our young men abroad for a term among the few…
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Amanda Gorman: The hill we climb
“When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.We’ve braved the belly of the beast.We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it.Somehow…
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Lord Byron: Detest at leisure
“Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.” —Lord Byron.
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Warren Buffett: Insights
“Any place you can find somebody that gives you insights into things you didn’t understand before—and maybe makes you a better person than you would have been before—that’s very lucky and you want to make the most of it.” —Warren Buffett.
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Simon Sinek: Giving direction
“Giving direction is not the same thing as giving directions. Directions are instructions how. Direction is the reason why.” —Simon Sinek.
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Helen Adams Keller: Test of a democracy
“The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people.” —Helen Adams Keller.
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Joe Biden: Angels in heaven
“If there are any Angels in Heaven – They are Nurses.” —–Joe Biden.
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Benny Hill: Sincere insincerity
“That’s what show business is, sincere insincerity.” —Benny Hill.
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Simon Sinek: Trust over performance
“When leaders are willing to prioritize trust over performance, performance almost always follows.” —Simon Sinek.
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Joe Biden: Time for better angels to prevail
“Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail.” —-Joe Biden.
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Federico Fellini: Visual chaos
“I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?” —Federico Fellini.
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Tell the truth
“My function is to tell the truth, not to make people believe it.” —Jean-Jacques Rosseau.
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G K Chesterton: Wonder at permanence
“We should always endeavour to wonder at the permanent thing, not at the mere exception. We should be startled by the sun, and not by the eclipse. We should wonder less at the earthquake, and wonder more at the earth.” —GK Chesterton.
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Simon Sinek: Charge
“We are only in charge when we are willing to let others take charge.” —Simon Sinek.
