All Evil

Lack of money is the root of all evil. - George Bernard Shaw

..... No, lack of opportunity to make money (and keep it) is the root of all evil.

Teaching Technique

Teaching and writing, to me, is really just seduction; you go to where people are and you find something that they're interested in and you try and use that to convince them that they should be interested in what you have to say. - Lawrence Krauss

..... One way to enthrall your audience.

Valuable Mistakes

The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake - you can't learn anything from being perfect. - Adam Osborne

..... Don't forget what happened to the last guy who was perfect.

The Game of Kings

Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian Proverb

..... At at least the king didn't get knocked out of the game on the first move.

Preserve Substance

Preserve substance; modify form; know the difference. Substance is enduring, form is ephemeral. Success follows those adept at preserving the substance of the past by clothing it in the forms of the future. The closest thing to a law of nature in business is that form has an affinity for expense, while substance has an affinity for income.  - Dee Hock

..... Heck with P's and Q's; mind your S's and F's.

Theoretical Path

A theory can be proved by experiment; but no path leads from experiment to the birth of a theory. - Albert Einstein

..... Not a clearly visible path anyway.

Cruel Truth

Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion. - Edward Abbey

First?

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. - Alexander Pope

..... Moderation is boring.

Limits to Tolerance

Put up with it and you will get more of it. - Lynne Deal

..... The question is where to draw the line. What do you tolerate?

Beautiful Dreams

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt

..... Never quash someones dreams - you may be dooming their future.

Celebrate Citizenship

America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, 'You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won't become a German or Turk.' But then he added, 'Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.' - Ronald Reagan

..... Few events are celebrated as much as an individual gaining their citizenship.

Accomplishment?

We are not without accomplishments. We have managed to distribute poverty equally. - Nguyen Co Thach

..... Success is in the eye of the beholder.

Pathfinder

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

..... You can.

The Cost of Failure

Failure bothers us, and we focus on the feeling of failure, not the cost. - Seth Godin

..... The cost of failure may be so small that it may be worth the chance.

Thinking Block

You can't think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block. - John Rogers

..... Keep on writing.

Shared

Grief shared is half grief; Joy shared is double joy. - Honduran Proverb

..... Share in the good times and the bad.

Sounds Good

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them. - Thomas Sowell

..... Only education can make what used to sound good, sound bad.

Misread Silence

Silence is a text easy to misread. - A. A. Attanasio

..... Make your opinions known else you might be misjudged even worse.

Worth a Try

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy. - Dr. Howard Murphy

..... Give it a try the next time you're blue and comment on how it works.

Be Adventurous

I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand....Adventure is a state of mind - and spirit. - Jacqueline Cochran

..... Boredom is a state of mind, not circumstance.

Sources of Joy

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. - Thich Nhat Hanh

..... Positive produces pleasure.

Avoid Guilt

Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do. - Voltaire

..... There's a lot to do.

Strong Feelings

Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues not by the power of those which subdue him. - William Carleton

..... Do not submit to your feelings unless they are positive.

Falderal

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: Those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition. - Indira Gandhi

..... The joy comes from doing the work; the rest is just falderal.

Noise

Communications without intelligence is noise. Intelligence without communications is irrelevant. - Gen Alfred Gray, USMC

..... Shush.

Ship Not In?

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it! - Jonathan Winters

..... That'll get you off the couch!

Anger

Anger is never without reason, but seldom with a good one. - Benjamin Franklin

..... Hate is the same way.

Memory Matters

Memory depends very much on the perspicuity, regularity, and order of our thoughts. Many complain of the want of memory, when the defect is in the judgment; and others, by grasping at all, retain nothing. - Thomas Fuller

..... I can't remember what I was going to say......

Kind Words

Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is. - Blaise Pascal

..... Besides kind words are generally more effective than harsh.

The Arts

The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children. - Elain Heffner

..... The art of living is to teach the art of living to children.

Stumbling

Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down. - Charles F. Kettering

..... Pretty good case for getting off your butt.

Conversation

Conversation is an exercise of the mind; gossip is merely an exercise of the tongue. - Unknown

..... Keep your mind in shape.

The Gambling Business

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling. - Ambrose Bierce

..... Why go to Vegas to gamble if you have a business?

Judging Truthfulness

Till a man can judge whether they be truths or not, his understanding is but little improved, and thus men of much reading, though greatly learned, but may be little knowing. - John Locke

..... You often hear there is no absolute truth. Must be a "little knowing" individual speaking.

Money Memory

Creditors have better memories than debtors. - Benjamin Franklin

..... A good thing to remember no matter which side of the transaction you are on.

The Way to Health

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. - Mark Twain

..... Simple; change your wants.

Wasting Time

Waste no time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself! - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

..... Don't waste your time talking about anyone. Ideas, yes; people, no. No use wasting your time with small topics.

Duck

Frightened people will resist any help you can give them, and they will blame you for the stress the change is causing. Scared people like to shoot the messenger. Duck. - Seth Godin

..... The key is to assuage the fear.

Your Trails

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

..... If it's an uphill climb, the views only get better.

The Road to Success

The road to success leads through the valley of humility, and the path is up the ladder of patience and across the wide barren plains of perseverance. As yet, no short cut has ever been discovered. - Joseph J. Lamb

..... There are no short cuts.

Good Idea!

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. - David Allen

..... Play your cards if they are good, don't fold 'em.

Normal Folk

The only normal people are the one's you don't know very well. - Alfred Adler

..... Normal is pretty boring.

Finger Pointing

When you point your finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you. - Anonymous

..... Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Be Prepared

A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind. - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi


Accidents happen but preparation is intentional.

For The Want Of A Nail

A little neglect may breed great mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by an enemy, all for want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail. - Benjamin Franklin


Details neglected can have ramifications.

Is It Art?

Art washes away the dust of everyday life. - Pablo Picasso


If you're still dusty, it ain't art.

Finest Hour

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious. - Vince Lombardi

... Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Girl or Boy

Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog. - Caroline K. Simon


Look like what you are, act appropriately, use your mind and get to work!

Depressed or Sad?

In depression you care about nothing. In sadness you care about everything. - Gloria Steinem


A pretty good working definition of the difference.

Fences

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up. - G. K. Chesterton

. It may have been built by a person of reason rather than a fool.

Happy Travels

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. - Margaret Lee Runbeck

. Work on being happy.

Not Malice

Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. - Unknown


Few are truly malicious.

It Ain't Relative

Relativity applies to physics, not ethics. - Albert Einstein

- It's either right or wrong.

Do Not Try

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda


"Try" leaves open an excuse for failure. There is no excuse.

Start Today

The great secret about goals and visions is not the future they describe but the change in the present they engender. -  David Allen


You don't jump to your goals you journey to them.

Decisions

There's always a difference! This is between 'bad' and 'worse'--which is much sharper than between 'good' and 'better.' - Robert Heinlein

If Your Brain......

If your brain had a brain, it wouldn't wake you up in the middle of the night to remind you of something you can't possibly do anything about in the middle of the night. - David Allen

  Train yourself to leave work at work and troubles at your desk.

 

Inspiration's Source

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. - Frank Tibolt


  Every mighty river starts out as a creek.

Trouble Anticipators

There are people who are always anticipating trouble, and in this way they manage to enjoy many sorrows that never really happen to them. - Josh Billings


Interesting thought; not trouble-makers, just trouble-anticipators.

Lost In Thought

The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory. - Paul Fix

Others may look lost but are just hiding.

Colorful Writing

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It's the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors. - Rhys Alexander

  Think in color too.

Tireless Minorities

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds. - Samuel Adams


The vocal minority will always be a factor, no matter which side you are on.

Knowledge ≠ Wisdom

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. - Sandra Carey


Why you should always be wary of an experts opinion outside their realm of expertise.

Size Doesn't Matter

The size of your audience doesn't matter. What's important is that your audience is listening. - Randy Pausch


All things considered.

Brush It Off

Sometimes people do things that hurt and it's not because they mean to. They just do. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you, but you end up hurt because of it. - Randy K. Milholland


Like he says, remember it doesn't have anything to do with you - brush it off.

Risky Roads

If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. - Lewis Carroll


All roads don't lead to fine places.

Flattery

Flattery won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it. - Kin Hubbard


Just bask in its glow.

Quality of Life

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. - Vince Lombardi


From each according to their ability; to each that which they earn.

Long Day

Even the longest day has its end. - Irish Proverb


Have patience and you will see the dawn of a new day.

Bigots, Fools and Slaves

He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave. - Sir William Drummond


Reason is what separates us from the critters.

Something New

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic. - Unknown


The only difference between you and the one who did it first is he did it.

Weak Cause

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause. - Victor Hugo


And don't you forget it....ever!

Measure of Health

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Krishnamurti


It is no measure of health to be maladjusted to a healthy society.

Time For Happiness

The average person living to age 70 has 613,000 hours of life. This is too long a period not to have fun. - Unknown


There are those who would make you miserable - do you think it makes them happy?

Win!

Skill and confidence are an unconquered army. - George Herbert


If you haven't won this war yet, prepare for battle!

Doing Interference

I am one, but only one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I can not do interfere with what I can do. - Edward E. Hale


Some things are too important to allow interference.

Your Net Worth

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. - Benjamin Franklin


Note your net worth to the world is calculated differently than your net worth to the bank.

Creating vs. Possessing

Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession; it is through creating, not possessing that life is revealed. - Vida D. Scudder


It's what you do, not what you have.

Happy With or Without

If you're not happy without it, you'll never be happy with it. - John Candy


Simply put.

Here, Tommy

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. - Alfred Mercier


That is pleasure of the mind, not of the senses. This is often confused - hence treats for performance. It works on dogs, not kids.

Time Passing

Time didn't pass; it tailgated. - Spider Robinson


Time doesn't get ahead of you.

Gifts

To give anything less than the best is to sacrifice the gift. - Steve Prefontaine


And the gift is to yourself.

Always Win

Always win; but if you must lose, make the person in front of you break the record. - Steve Knight


No one deserves an easy win.

Getting Behind

I don't want people to kiss my ass, I just want to get to the point where they can't kick it. - Michael J. Fox


All of us are better off left alone.

Illustrative

A wisely chosen illustration is almost essential to fasten the truth upon the ordinary mind, and no teacher can afford to neglect this part of his preparation. - Howard Crosby


Not a bulleted PowerPoint list.

Writing Reasons

First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand. - Robert Cecil Day Lewis


And by teaching you will be taught.

A Simple Pleasure

A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh


Don't just take time; make time.

Experiments

There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. - Enrico Fermi


If you do nothing you haven't learned a danged thing.

Speaking Of Me

When I pass, speak freely of my shortcomings and my flaws. Learn from them, for I'll have no ego to injure. - Aaron McGruder


Speak of my virtues as well, but in either case don't make things up!

Unbridled Growth

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. - Edward Abbey


Many times it is preferable to get better, not bigger.

Truth In; Truth Out

In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. - Samuel Johnson


Otherwise it's just GIGO.

Great Attempts

In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. - Vince Lombardi


Give it your all and be proud of it.

Excellence and Virtue

Excellence is an art won by training and habitation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle


Expect excellence and virtue every time.

Earning The Win

How little a thing can make us happy when we feel we have earned it. - Mark Twain


That is why there should be a winners and a losers in kids games. Trophies we get, but do not earn, fail to ignite the spirit.

Hurt or Healing

What matters is this: you can look at a scar and see hurt, or you can look at a scar and see healing. Try to understand. - Sharri Reynolds


You can dwell on the cause or the effect.

See, Think, Test

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that. - Douglas Adams


Many forget to test. Their thinking may be wrong.

Star Bright

There is nothing that dulls a personality so much as a negative outlook. - Gordon B. Hinckley


There is nothing that brightens a personality so much as a positive outlook.

Limited Resources

No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more than she can be witty by only the help of speech. - Langston Hughes


Beauty is more than skin deep.

Look

It is better to be looked over than overlooked. - Mae West


In more ways than one.

Ho Hum

When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. - Lao Tzu


Sometimes no applause is a good thing.

Capable of a Lot!

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. - Thomas A. Edison


Never accept less than possible from you and yours.

Real Charity

Real charity doesn't care if it's tax-deductible or not. - Dan Bennett


There is Charity with a capital "C" and then there is charity with a lower case "c."

Sparse Reasons

His reasons are as two grains of wheat in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search. - William Shakespeare


Some reasons carry more weight than others.

They're On Their Way

When Hitler came for the Jews... I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church; and there was nobody left to be concerned. - Pastor Martin Niemoller


Advocate for others liberty as well as your own.

Value of Praise

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. - Samuel Johnson


Praise should not be frivolous. Expressing your love shouldn't be either.

Walking Blind

He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall. - J. R. R. Tolkien


Making assumptions about an unknown subject can lead to disaster.

Your Help

God help those who do not help themselves. - Wilson Mizner

Don't ever count on divine intervention.

Perfect Bureaucrats

The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility. - Brooks Atkinson


Remember, public school teachers are essentially bureaucrats.

Truth Is Eternal

Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them. - Madeleine L'Engle


Not only is truth eternal, it is universal.

Practice Makes Complete

One can acquire everything in solitude, except character. - Marie Stendhal


You develop your character through practice not rehearsal.

Choose Soon

A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance. - Hunter S. Thompson


And it will probably be the wrong choice.

......Is Next To Godliness

If by the last quarter of the twentieth century godliness wasn't next to something a little more interesting than cleanliness, it might be time to reevaluate our notions of godliness. - Tom Robbins


OK. You first.

Underdogs

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. - Noam Chomsky


To find the source of this propaganda look to the universities.

Worthy Goal

People don't want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. - Chuck Palahniuk


Worthy Goal: Figure out how to inspire people to want their lives fixed.

Extreme Liberty

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. - Barry Goldwater


In the past this is how people approached the world but it has reversed of late.

Heartstrings

Beware the pull on your heartstrings - it's often the purse-strings that are actually being reached for. - Barbara Mikkelson


A propaganda technique which works well on folks who fail to use reason to moderate their emotions.