For this Day:

;

...if people start

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. 
-Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)

...all hang

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
~ Benjamin Franklin

Foreign affairs

This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim. 
- James Reston, journalist (1909-1995)

..about taking care

Leadership is not about being in charge.
It's about taking care of those in your charge.

 
-Simon Sinek

Most of the questions...

Think about it—aren't you asking and answering questions pretty much all day long?

  • Do I like my job?
  • When is this due?
  • Who should I vote for? 
  • What should I do today? 
  • Should I ask for a raise?
  • Does this make me look fat?
  • What should I have for lunch? 
  • Should I start my presentation this way, or that way?

...who does not fancy

The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all. 
-Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, poet and critic (1636-1711)

Lazy man's way...

Fatalism is the lazy man's way of accepting the inevitable. 
-Natalie Clifford Barney, poet, playwright, and novelist (1876-1972)

an education....

"The giving of love is an education in itself."
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

lash of wit

He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it. 
-James Boswell, biographer and lawyer (1740-1795)

Meaning and Purpose

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."
~ Pablo Picasso

...exists only in imagination

Those who compare the age in which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in imagination, may talk of degeneracy and decay; but no man who is correctly informed as to the past, will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present. 
-Thomas Babington Macaulay, author and statesman (1800-1859)

Are you proud of...?

Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? 
-Laurence J. Peter, educator and author (1919-1990)

power of forgiveness

What power has love but forgiveness? 
-William Carlos Williams, poet (1883-1963)

...polite and listen to

You have to hold your audience in writing to the very end -- much more than in talking, when people have to be polite and listen to you. 
-Brenda Ueland, writer (1891-1985)

..God's Gift

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~ Desmond Tutu
The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos. 
-Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist, biologist, author (1941-2002)

...which way

A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. 
-O. Henry, short-story writer (1862-1910)

...true test of

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. 
-Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

Pinnacle of success

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. 
-Thomas Wolfe, novelist (1900-1938)

Mask - and truth

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. 
-Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

...rarely err if

One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear. 
-Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)

...right regrets

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. 
-Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (1915-2005)

...anonymous

All one's life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you. You set yourself up to be noticed and admired. And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It's a positive thing. You can move about unnoticed and invisible. 
-Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (1919-2013)

get and then enjoy

There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. 
-Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (1865-1946)

Roots in all directions...

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.


- Amelia Earhart

...any human being can

To be nobody but myself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. 
-E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

who see greatness in you

"Surround yourself with those who see greatness in you, even when you don't see it in yourself."
~ Casey Neistat

refuse to follow bad...

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people? 
-Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat, author, and lecturer (1884-1962)

...need to wait?

They'll tell you you're too loud, that you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission. Do it anyway. 
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Congress member (b. Oct 13, 1989)

...you can

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

...for a better

"Kindness is the foundation for a better, more understanding world."
~ Unknown

Stand out of light

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: "Only stand out of my light." Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light. 
-John W. Gardner, author and educator (1912-2002)

...NO COUNTRIES

Imagine there's no Countries,
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion, too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace. 
-John Lennon, musician (1940-1980)

small cast BiG

When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set. 
-Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)

often the best...

"New beginnings are often the best disguised opportunities."
~ Susan Gale

...the tyrant

It's said that "power corrupts", but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable. 
-David Brin, scientist and science fiction author (b. 6 Oct 1950)

7 Blunders...

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: 
  • wealth without work
  • pleasure without conscience
  • knowledge without character
  • commerce without morality
  • science without humanity
  •  worship without sacrifice
  • politics without principle.
-Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)


Serves the best

He serves his party best who serves the country best. 
-Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th US president (1822-1893)

Memories Vs. Dreams

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams. 
-Jeremy Irons, actor (b. 19 Sep 1948)

..fugitives

In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to run away. 
-T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)

make life easier

Customers don't care about features. They care about how your product will make their life easier or solve their pain points. 
- Rajiv Talreja 

...of the mind

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. 
-Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (1547-1616)

do something....

"It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something very different" 
- John Templeton

3 things... lack of others

A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others. 
-William Faulkner, novelist (1897-1962)
In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind; but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them. 
-Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797)

..learn to tap

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age. 
-Sophia Loren, actor and singer (b. 20 Sep 1934)

..corrupted and weakened by

Very few established institutions, governments, and constitutions ... are ever destroyed by their enemies until they have been corrupted and weakened by their friends.
-Walter Lippmann, journalist (1889-1974)

something never done...

 "Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before." 

Shigeo Shingo

...used to do

"A spaghetti chart is a map that shows the tangled and inefficient paths that are used to do a job." 

- Mike Rother

...not to give

To have and not to give is often worse than to steal. 
-Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, writer (1830-1916)

No greatness...

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth. 
-Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)

The Toyota Style...

The Toyota style is not to create results by working hard. It is a system that says, "there is no limit to people's creativity." People don't go to Toyota to 'work' they go there to 'think'.

- Taiichi Ohno

..next generation

If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world. 
-Claude Pepper, senator and representative (1900-1989)

...burn none at all

The decent moderation of today will be the least of human things tomorrow. At the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the opinion of good sense and of the good medium was certainly that people ought not to burn too large a number of heretics; extreme and unreasonable opinion obviously demanded that they should burn none at all. 
-Maurice Maeterlinck, poet, dramatist, and Nobel laureate (1862-1949)

No yesterdays...

When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. 
-William Least Heat-Moon, travel writer (b. 27 Aug 1939)

Ounce x Pound

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. 
-Spanish proverb

Poem was a whisper...

For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard. 
-Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952)

Foundation and markers

"Trust is the foundation of everything, milestones are just markers along the way"

...about answering

"Anyone can be a leader; in their home, business, community. It's about answering the call."  
- Tony Robbins 

Rightness of a thing

The rightness of a thing isn't determined by the amount of courage it takes. 
-Mary Renault, novelist (1905-1983)

Data and opinion

"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." 
- W. Edwards Deming

Something to take & give

A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world, and has something to give in return. 
-Sarah Orne Jewett, poet and novelist (1849-1909)

...cause for prejudice

If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed, and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon. 
-George D. Aiken, US senator (1892-1984)

Greatest Asset & Resource

"Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time." 

- Brian Tracy, Canadian American Author & Speaker

...best in others

The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself. 
-Felix Adler, professor, lecturer, and reformer (1851-1933)

untidy undertakings..

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy. 
-John Galsworthy, author, Nobel laureate (1867-1933)

...never buy anything from

Read to children. Vote. And never buy anything from a man who's selling fear. 
-Mary Doria Russell, science-fiction writer (b. 19 Aug 1950)

out of the disorder

"This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art."
 - James Baldwin  

...do something to help

"When you are out observing on the gemba, do something to help them. If you do, people will come to expect that you can help them and will look forward to seeing you again on the gemba." 
Taiichi Ohno

self-made man??

There is no such thing as a "self-made" man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts. 
-George Matthew Adams, newspaper columnist (23 Aug 1878-1962)

mood of a society

One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underprivileged. 
-Richard Hofstadter, historian (1916-1970)

...light their candles

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. 
-Margaret Fuller, author (1810-1850)

Standards..

"Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement. For these reasons, standards are the basis for both maintenance and improvement" 
- Masaaki Imai

often wounded...

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed. 
-Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961)

mean something...

Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count." 
-Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)

I love this perpetually

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. 
-James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)

Old and Young

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. 
-George McGovern, senator, author, professor, and WWII pilot (1922-2012)

Progress Vs. Satisfaction

"Progress cannot be generated when we are satisfied with existing situations." 

-Taiichi Ohno

Without reason...

Those who believe without reason cannot be convinced by reason. 
-James Randi, magician and scientific skeptic (1928-2020)
Only the stupid steal from the rich. The clever steal from the poor. The law usually protects the rich. 
-Carsten Jensen, author (b. 24 Jul 1952)

becomes partner...

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. 
-Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel laureate (1918-2013)

Control & improvement

"Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can't measure something, you can't understand it. If you can't understand it, you can't control it. If you can't control it, you can't improve it." 

- H. James Harrington

...determination of a kid

Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. 
-Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971)

Human Rights Problem

When I am asked, "What, in your view, is the worst human rights problem in the world today?" I reply: "Absolute poverty." This is not the answer most journalists expect. It is neither sexy nor legalistic. But it is true. 
-Mary Robinson, 7th President of Ireland (b. 21 May 1944)

make miserable....

So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable. 
-Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

avoid conforming

I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste. 
-Marcel Duchamp, artist (1887-1968)

unseen battles

Kind words, kind looks, kind acts, and warm hand-shakes, -- these are means of grace when men in trouble are fighting their unseen battles. 
-John Hall, pastor (1829-1898)

Up and Down...

Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you. 
-Wendell Berry, farmer and author (b. 5 Aug 1934)

...worth what I paid??

It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: 
Am I proud of me? 
I gave my life to become the person I am right now. 
Was it worth what I paid? 
-Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)

memory of...

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."
~ Jean-Baptiste Massieu

...pure in heart!

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. 
-Iris Murdoch, writer (1919-1999)

grow in the open air...

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. 
-Walt Whitman, poet (1819-1892)

wrong & right

Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.
-Igor Stravinsky, composer (1882-1971)

started a science

Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. 
-Hal Clement, science fiction author (1922-2003)

...right to

The ability of so many people to live comfortably with the idea of capital punishment is perhaps a clue to how so many Europeans were able to live with the idea of the Holocaust: Once you accept the notion that the state has the right to kill someone and the right to define what is a capital crime, aren't you halfway there? 
-Roger Ebert, film critic (1942-2013)

underlying the...

The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things. 
-Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (1840-1928)


an equal eye...

The well taught philosophic mind 
To all compassion gives; 
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives. 
-Anna Laetitia Barbauld, poet, essayist, and editor (1743-1825)

most dangerous waste

"The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize."
- Shigeo Shingo

...early warning

History is a vast early warning system. 
-Norman Cousins, editor and author (1915-1990)

The test of 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, lecturer and author (1880-1968)

greater than kindness?

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? 
-Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and author (1712-1778)

know unmistakably...

I wanted to live my life so that people would know unmistakably that I am alive, so that when I finally die people will know the difference for sure between my living and my death. 
-June Jordan, writer, teacher, and activist (1936-2002)

Ultimate...

The power to define the situation is the ultimate power. 
-Jerry Rubin, activist and author (1938-1994)

Change into tree...

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone. 
-Czeslaw Milosz, poet and novelist (1911-2004)

opposite of something

To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation. 
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

...non-value adding wastes

"All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes." 
- Taiichi Ohno

...in peace

Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more. 
-Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924) [while admiring fish in an aquarium]

Service to...


same worn out soil...

Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth. 
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer (1804-1864)

water and lots of sunshine...

People's souls are like gardens. You can't turn your back on someone because his garden's full of weeds. You have to give him water and lots of sunshine. 
-Nancy Farmer, author (b. 7 Jul 1941)

those who listen...

Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them. 
-Jean de la Fontaine, poet and fabulist (1621-1695)

Work is wonderful...

"If you took a stupid job that you find out you hate and you don't leave, that's your fault.  Don't blame work; work is wonderful.  I definitely will not be looking back on my life wishing I worked less.  If that's not how you feel at work, quit."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

brain unfolding to success...

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything. 
-Nikola Tesla, electrical engineer and inventor (10 Jul 1856-1943)

AI is opposite of Nike

"AI, on the other hand, is the most embarrassing thing we've ever invented in mankind's time on earth.  Oh, you can't do the work.  Is that what you're telling me?  You can't figure it out?  This seems to be the justification of AI: I couldn't do it.  This is something to be embarrassed about.  The ad campaign for ChatGPT should be the opposite of Nike: You just can't do it."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

Put tremendous hours...

"Learn to accept your mediocrity.  No one's really that great.  You know who's great?  The people that just put a tremendous amount of hours into it.  It's a game of tonnage."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

You earned it

"You didn't fake your fabulous education. You earned it. Be proud of it." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

That's a privilege

"I grew up a Jewish boy from New York.  That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

use your privilege

"Privilege is a word that has taken quite a beating lately. Privilege today seems to be the worst thing you can have. I would like to take a moment to defend it… I say, use your privilege."
- Jerry Drinfeld, writer and comedian

Comfortable Torture

"Find something where you love the good parts and don't mind the bad parts too much.  The torture you're comfortable with.  This is the golden path to victory in life.  Work.  Exercise.  Relationships.  They all have a solid component of pure torture and they are all 1,000% worth it."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

focusing on the smallest

"I have truly spent my life focusing on the smallest things imaginable, completely oblivious to all the big issues of living." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

Rule of life...

"Number one you obviously know.  Whatever you're doing, I don't care if it's your job, your hobby, your relationship… Make an effort… Effort always yields a positive value even if the outcome of the effort is absolute failure of the desired result.  This is a rule of life.  Just swinging the bat and praying is not a bad approach to a lot of things." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

3 Keys To Life

Number one.  Bust your #%$.
Number two.  Pay attention.
Number three.  Fall in love.
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

...is way better than

"Find fascination.  Fascination is way better than passion." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

work as hard as

"Just be willing to do your work as hard as you can with the ability you have."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

great passion

"Let go of this idea that you have to find this one great thing that is my passion, my great passion." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

following your passion...

"I can't imagine how sick you are about following your passion… Find something you can do that would be great.  If you try something and it doesn't work, that's okay too.  Most things do not work.  Most things are not good." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

Accept your mediocrity...

"Learn to accept your mediocrity.  No one's really that great.  You know who's great?  The people that just put tremendous amount of hours into it.  It's a game of tonnage." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian  

Level of dedication

"When I was starting out, I used to sit down and write a couple of times a week.  And then, I was watching these construction workers go back to work, watched them trudging down the street.  It was like a revelation to me: these guys don't want to go back to work after lunch, but they're goin'.  That's their job.  If they can exhibit that level of dedication for that job, I should be able to do the same."
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

way to create...

"The way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day." 
- Jerry Seinfeld, writer and comedian

Creativity is...

"Creativity is intelligence and having fun." 
- Jerry quoting Albert Einstein

...still thinking

"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of physical evidence we have that people are still thinking."
- Jerry Seinfeld, Writer and comedian

when they do it.....

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. 
-Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)

3 D's of freedom

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate. 
-Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)

don't hide

Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. 
-Allen Ginsberg, poet (1926-1997)

...Many experiences

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. 
-William Styron, novelist (1925-2006)

eternal day & night

The longest day must have its close -- the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day. 
-Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and novelist (1811-1896)

Truth & preferences

Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars. 
-Gwendolyn Brooks, poet (1917-2000)

..with ourselves

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. 
-William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (1865-1939)

..watching

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. 
-Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937)

The way you treat...

"The way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will treat the customers." 
Sam Walton

CAN or Can't

"Whether you believe you can... 
Or you believe you can't...
You're right."
-Anon

wrote for...

Life is like a library owned by an author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. 
-Harry Emerson Fosdick, preacher and author (1878-1969)

Working at roots...

I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." 
-George T. Angell, reformer (1823-1909)

Want to / Ought to

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."
 -Rosalynn Carter.

Growing self & others

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." 
-Jack Welch

been reading...

Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. 
-Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (1900-1971)

Time vs Deadline

I don't need time. What I need is a deadline. 
-Duke Ellington, jazz pianist, composer, and conductor (1899-1974)

...where you think

The past is never where you think you left it.
 -Katherine Anne Porter, writer and activist (1890-1980)

Roses & French beans

Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships. 
-Ruskin Bond, author (b. 19 May 1934)

Happiness Defined

"I have lived through much and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes to be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor—such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate. What more can the heart of a human desire?"

- Tolstoy

...Change

A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. 
-Alan Kay, computer scientist (b. 17 May 1940)

What is the mind?

The mind is the effect, not the cause. 
-Daniel Dennett, philosopher, writer, and professor (b. 28 Mar 1942)

...possibilities

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few" 
Shunryu Suzuki

...throw something back

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
 -Maya Angelou, poet (1928-2014)

Know how to read...

Every man is a volume if you know how to read him. 
-William Ellery Channing, clergyman and writer (1780-1842)

Less boring...

Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself. 
-Charles Baudelaire, poet, critic, and translator (1821-1867)