Small vs. Limited

Thought: Small government is not the same thing as limited government. Don't just ask for budget cuts; ask for program cuts.

Last Day

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. - Steve Jobs


Try to retain as much control as you can over being able to do each day what you have planned.

Recapturing the Past

Disconnecting from change does not recapture the past. It loses the future. - Kathleen Norris


Nostalgia is not today's reality.

Reflection

We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see - Toaist wisdom


Take time for reflection.

Actions Leading to Solutions

To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask? - Jim Rohn


Be sure to fully research the subject first so you can spot misinformation.

Achievement

Fortune may find a pot, but your own industry must make it boil. – John Gay


You'll have to light your own fire.

Prepaid Interest

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due. - William Ralph Inge


There is a difference between worrying and preparing.

Bouncing

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. - George S. Patton


Success takes risk; Risk means possible failure; Failure means you must learn to bounce.

No. 2

Being number two sucks. - Andre Agassi


Brevity.

Expect Excellence

The company's most urgent task is to learn to welcome, beg for, demand - innovation from everyone - Tom Peters


Innovation and excellence.

Experience Value

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. - Auguste Rodin 


Its kind of like taking aspirin for a headache. You never know how bad it would have been without it.




p.s. If you are unfamiliar with Rodin then follow the link above. He is well worth learning about. The book "Naked Came I" is a good read; a biographical novel of his life.

The Time is Now

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood -- it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." - Martin Luther King


Don't be too late to live righteously.

Poetic Life

Poetry is not the assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us. - T.S. Eliot


As one can instantly tell the difference between oil on canvas and art; pottery and sculpture; words on paper and poetry: One can tell the difference between life lived and living life.

Inward Significance

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. - Aristotle


Remember, life is an art.

Life is Art

Life is not an exact science, it is an art. - Samuel Butler


Though one may be born with talent, you must practice before you become an artist.

Full Tilt Crazy

We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough. - Niels Bohr


You might find this quote useful when people think your idea is crazy!

Art Business; Business Art

If there's a more tragic fool than the businessman that does not realize he's an extension of man's highest creative spirit—it's the artist who thinks that the businessman is his enemy. - Ayn Rand


These days there is very little distinction between the businessman and the artist.

Enemy of Humanity

Terrorists are enemies of humanity, not just of a particular culture.

Clarity

He that has one eye is a prince among those that have none. - Thomas Fuller 


Share your solutions with someone else with one eye to see it more clearly.

Out of the Quagmire

Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it. - Dee Hock


The box is cluttered; outside has room for creativity.

Solving Problems

The way we see the problem is the problem. - Stephen Covey


Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.
Lakshmi Mittal


The solution to every problem is that there is no problem. - Lao Tzu


All say the same thing.

Intangible Rewards

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me. - Steve Jobs


If you do something wonderful repeatedly you may very well end up being the richest man in the cemetery.

Changing People

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others. - Jacob M. Braude


Unless you catch them at an early age.

But, But .........

Invoking the limits of the possible may be a sympathetic excuse for failure -- but it does not transform failure into success. - David Frum


I did everything possible to make this post interesting, but.......

Seeing Future Potential

The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people––as remarkable as the telephone.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985] - Steve Jobs


1985! That is being insightful and connecting the dots. Most of us were sitting around asking each other "What are they going to do with this Internet thing?"

Learning by Candlelight

Another practice of tyrants is to multiply taxes, after the manner of Dionysius at Syracuse, who contrived that within five years his subjects should bring into the treasury their whole property. The tyrant is also fond of making war in order that his subjects may have something to do and be always in want of a leader. - Aristotle


Perhaps Jefferson and Madison read Aristotle instead of watching TV or playing video games.

Insight

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison


It is impressive how insightful Madison and Jefferson were.

Connecting Dots

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. - Steve Jobs 


Put trust in your passion.