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Eliza Cook: Song for the New Year
Published on Academy of American Poets (https://poets.org) Song for the New Year Old Time has turned another page Of eternity and truth; He reads with a warning voice to age, And whispers a lesson to youth. A year has fled o’er heart and head Since last the yule log burnt; And we have a task…
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Jerry King: Socially unacceptable
“There will come a time when mathematical ignorance, like public smoking, will become socially unacceptable.”—Jerry King.
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Mary Tyler Moore: Really strangers
“Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you’re really strangers.”—Mary Tyler Moore.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Rationalist-free society
“The rationalist imagines an imbecile-free society; the empiricist an imbecile-proof one, or even better, a rationalist-proof one.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
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Woodrow Wilson: All I can borrow
“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all I can borrow.”—Woodrow Wilson.
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Johannes Kepler: Thoughtless approval of masses
“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”—Johannes Kepler.
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G K Chesterton: Good night’s rest
“The child who doubts about Santa Claus has insomnia. The child who believes has a good night’s rest.”—G K Chesterton.
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Mao Zedong: Genuine knowledge
“If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.”—Mao Zedong.
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Carlos Castaneda: Crucial question
“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use.”—Carlos Castaneda.
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Tarja Halonen: Nuclear power
“Nuclear power is not a miracle key for the future.”—Tarja Halonen.
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Robert Ply: Carrying time in bags
“Every noon as the clock hands arrive at twelve, / I want to tie the two arms together, / And walk out of the bank carrying time in bags.”—Robert Bly, poet (b. 23 Dec 1926).
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Mamnoon Hussain: Negotiate
“Negotiate with those who wish to talk – and take action against those who create mischief.”—Mamnoon Hussain.
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Harry Shearer: Absolute powerlessness
“If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?”—Harry Shearer.
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Don Kardong: When we were kings
“Eventually, competition and adventure wane, and I enter my ibuprofen phase. Tweaky hamstrings and achy knees restrict mileage, but I continue running for health, sanity, and the ritual of a Sunday trail run with like-minded buddies. We discuss the nagging injuries that bedevil us, and remember the good old days when we were kings.”—Don Kardong.
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Simon Sinek: Change
“People don’t fear change. People fear sudden change. People fear revolutions. People don’t fear evolutions.”—Simon Sinek.
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William Drummond: Reason
“He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot, is a fool; and he who dares not, is a slave.”—William Drummond.
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Ramana Maharshi: See what remains
“Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains.”—Ramana Maharshi.
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Phil Ochs: World of hunger in vengeance
“And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders / But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers / And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember.”—Phil Ochs, folksinger.
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Brandon Sanderson: Fantasy
“Fantasy has had some problems with being too repetitive, in my opinion. I try to read what other people are doing – and say, How can I add to this rather than just recycle it? How can I stand on Tolkien’s shoulders rather than stand tied to his kneecaps?”—Brandon Sanderson.
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Steven Spielberg: Mentoring
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”—Steven Spielberg.
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Michael Lopp: Meetings
“Meetings must exist, but meetings cannot be seen as the only solution for making progress. If you must meet, start the meeting by remembering that the definition of a successful meeting is that when the meeting is done, it need never occur again.”—Michael Lopp.
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Simon Sinek: How great everyone else is
“Instead of showing up to let everyone know how great we are, show up to find out how great everyone else is.”—Simon Sinek.
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Jane Austen: Tenderness of heart
“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”—Jane Austen.
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Friedensreich Hundertwasser: Downfall of humanity
“The straight line leads to the downfall of humanity.”—Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
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Patty Duke: Highs and lows
“I still have highs and lows, just like any other person. What’s missing is the lack of control over the super highs, which became destructive, and the super lows, which are immediately destructive.”—Patty Duke.
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Simon Sinek: Greatness
“Greatness is not born from one success. Greatness is born from persevering through the countless failed attempts that preceded.”—Simon Sinek.
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Ross Macdonald: Dense with the past
“The walls of books around me, dense with the past, formed a kind of insulation against the present world and its disasters.”—Ross Macdonald, novelist.
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Simon Sinek: Flexible
“When we have a clear sense of where we’re going, we are flexible in how we get there.”—Simon Sinek.
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Gustave Flaubert: As precise as geometry
“Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.” —-Gustave Flaubert.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Only the free can fight
“The Roman army did not employ slaves (except during one Punic war). Only the free can fight.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
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Harsh Goenka: Leadership
“Leadership is all about solving problems. The day managers stop bringing their problems to you is the day you’ve stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of your leadership.”—Harsh Goenka.
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Gustave Flaubert: Read in order to live
“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”—Gustave Flaubert.
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Simon Sinek: Expecting nothing in return
“When we give expecting nothing in return, it is remarkable how much more others will give back to us.”—Simon Sinek.
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Everything you add
“Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.”—Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate.
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John Kerry: Last man to die
“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”—John Kerry.
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Simon Sinek: Better people
“When we don’t fear our own leaders, it’s easier for us to be better people.”—Simon Sinek.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Successes in college
“There is no more unmistakable sign of failure than that of a middle-aged man boasting of his successes in college.” —Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
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Emily Dickinson: Startling
“To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”—Emily Dickinson.
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Simon Sinek: Rule books and frameworks
“Rule books tell people what to do. Frameworks guide people how to act. Rule books insist on discipline. Frameworks allow for creativity.”—Simon Sinek.
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Kirk Douglas: Everyone else does
“When you become a star, you don’t change,everyone else does.”—Kirk Douglas.
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William Durrant: Rather than with their minds
“The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.”—William Durrant.
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Patrice O’Neal: I don’t like mediocre
“I like to be loved or hated – I don’t like mediocre. So I’d rather have the entire crowd hate me than to have 90% hate me.”—Patrice O’Neal.
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Alfred Joyce Kilmer: Poem lovely as a tree
“I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.” —-(Alfred) Joyce Kilmer.
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Alfred Eisenstaedt: Click with people
“It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.”—Alfred Eisenstaedt.
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Walt Disney: Temporary
“Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life.”—Walt Disney.
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Martin Van Buren: Sober Second Thought
“The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought.”—Martin Van Buren.
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Rainer Maria Milke: Widening circles
“I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I will try.”—Rainer Maria Rilke.
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Wassily Kandinsky: Color is the keyboard
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”—Wassily Kandinsky.
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Amanda Seyfried: A little bit every time
“It changes you a little bit every time you either break someone’s heart or get your heart broken.”—Amanda Seyfried.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Feel a little bit lost
“We need to feel a little bit lost somewhere, physically or intellectually, at least once a day.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.