Beyond your... number of years

One trouble with living beyond your deserved number of years is that there's always some reason to live another year. And I'd like to live another year so that Nixon won't be President. If he's re-elected I'll have to live another four years.
-Rex Stout, novelist (1886-1975) [Nixon resigned in 1974.]

...frightfulness is 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, entrepreneur and animator (1901-1966)

you choose to...

The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.

-Ann Patchett, writer (b. 2 Dec 1963)

Landscape of ...

We are a landscape of all we have seen.
-Isamu Noguchi, sculptor and architect (1904-1988)

can betray is...

All a man can betray is his conscience.
-Joseph Conrad, novelist (1857-1924)

Future, not the past

...best men of all religions

Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions.
-Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902)

...out of an unread book

Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live. 

-Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy 

...don't burn

If you want a symbolic gesture, don't burn the flag, wash it.
- Norman Thomas, minister and social reformer 

...and commerce settles

When nations grow old, the arts grow cold and commerce settles on every tree.
-William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)

...take it from any

Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it.
-Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor 

...bring us together

Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
-Eugene Ionesco, playwright 

it's the meaning...

"The moment that changes your life isn't what happens—it's the meaning you give it."
-Tony Robbins  

...power to change

"Things spoken can be forgotten and forgiven, but the written word has the power to change the course of history, to alter our lives."

~ Teresa Mummert

..not allowed to criticize

To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize. 

-Voltaire, philosopher (21 Nov 1694-1778)

...giving more

"Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more."

~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

...grab it

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go."

~ Carol Burnett

Pain and the strength

"The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow."

~ Ritu Ghatourey

Consistency is...

Calms the sea inside

getting Vs. giving

"Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being."

~ Kevin Kruse

...both is a blessing

"Having a place to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing."

~ Donna Hedges

give room...

If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.
-William L. McKnight, businessman and philanthropist (1887-1978)

do not dare

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."

~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

courage to change

"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it."

~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

be a little kinder

"Always be a little kinder than necessary."

~ James M. Barrie

...BIG Smile

"People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile."

~ Lee Mildon

,,,turn ON the light

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

~ Albus Dumbledore

...terms of human reference

I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. 

-James Jones, novelist (1921-1977)

...chose the/ desired a consequences

His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.
-Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (b. 2 Nov 1949)

it's habits...

The most successful business owners follow a set of simple but powerful habits that drive their growth year after year.

Here are 10 of them:

1. They start their day with clarity, not chaos.
2. They track numbers daily. Sales, cash, and team output.
3. They delegate decisions, not just tasks.
4. They schedule thinking time every week.
5. They focus on systems, not people-dependence.
6. They communicate vision consistently.
7. They make data-backed decisions, not emotional ones.
8. They review performance, not just effort.
9. They learn relentlessly.
10. They protect their energy like a precious asset.

Your future...

...makes cowards

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919)

...sold the gun

When the Judgment Day comes civilization will have an alibi, "I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with."
-Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)

..you think

Henry Ford said:
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right."

How much you keep...

"Getting the most out of life isn't about how much you keep for yourself, but how much you pour into others."

~ David Stoddard

After age 18

Square Pizza framework

help humanity rise...

"Every single time you help somebody stand up you are helping humanity rise."

~ Steve Maraboli

Advances in counterrevolutionaries

Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counter revolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.
-Bill Mauldin, editorial cartoonist (1921-2003)

God's service...

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
-John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826)

tears... not shed

Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.
-Natalie Clifford Barney, poet, playwright, and novelist (1876-1972)

I buy books

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. 

-Desiderius Erasmus, philosopher, humanist, and theologian (1466-1536)

courage to change

"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it."

~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Change often

...that little candle

"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world."

~ William Shakespeare

...endure any how

He who has a why can endure any how.
-Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)

...in a new way

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
-Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (1919-2013)

...no excuse

In politics, being deceived is no excuse.
-Leszek Kolakowski, philosopher (1927-2009)

...doing good is

"Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful."

~ Stephen King

...make others see

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." - Edgar Degas

Consistency

2 things....

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.
-Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet (1833-1870)

...curious adjustment

"Happiness comes from … some curious adjustment to life."

~ Hugh Walpole

...agent of change

"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change."

~ Bob Kerrey

opinion that survived

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. 

-Oscar Wilde, writer (16 Oct 1854-1900)

Happy Diwali

..for what he gave

"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

~ Calvin Coolidge

manner of giving...

"The manner of giving is worth more than the gift."

~ Pierre Corneille

...you can

...small acts

Keep going. Tyranny is eroded by a sea of small acts. Everything matters.
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Congress member (b. 13 Oct 1989)

...living in peace

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)

Re: ...is about to set

Good morning dear

SURINDER SINGH SAINI

On Tue, 14 Oct, 2025, 8:01 am Mukunthan Parasu, <pmukunthan@gmail.com> wrote:

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

...is about to set

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

Fear is...

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." 
- Frank Herbert, Dune

..follow your heart

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

- Steve Jobs, Stanford address

Neutrality....?

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. 

-Desmond Tutu, clergyman (1931-2021)

The power of corrupts...

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)

..to bring the truth back

Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back. 

-Gore Vidal, writer (1925-2012)

Love & Truth always won

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always. 

-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

Strong Vs Weak Nation

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.
-Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel laureate (b. 1 Oct 1924)

...with bills of credit

Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit and seldom draw to their full extent. 

-Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797)

...and thought of you

Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm but the harm does not interest them. 

-T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)

different handicaps..

We all have handicaps. The difference is that some of us must reveal ours, while others must conceal theirs, to be treated with mercy. 

-Yahia Lababidi, author (b. 25 Sep 1973)

Goodness is modest

There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring. 

-Evelyn Beatrice Hall, biographer (1868-1956)

offspring of....

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)

Blind is risky

Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed. 

-Bruce Springsteen, musician (b. 23 Sep 1949)

Subtract to grow

contempt never forgiven

Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. 

-Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (1694-1773)

future of the human

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. 

-H.G. Wells, writer (21 Sep 1866-1946)

Iterator Vs Perfectionist

...of ignoring

This is what power really is: the privilege of ignoring anything you might find distasteful. 

-Oksana Zabuzhko, writer (b. 19 Sep 1960)

...fly with you

Language of the city

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone. 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

...no greatness

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth. 

-Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)

Perfect union....

In a perfect union the man and woman are like a strung bow. Who is to say whether the string bends the bow, or the bow tightens the string?
-Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)

pure... private property

The sun is pure communism everywhere except in cities, where it's private property.

-Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)

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)

Control & ignore

Things you can always control:

- Your words

- Your actions

- Your atitude

- Your perspective

- Your focus

- Your effort

- Your energy

- Your mood

- Your temper

- Your breathing

- Your mentality

- Your gratitude

- Your consistency

- Your humility

- Your empathy

Ignore the rest..

No matter how good...

lifetime of listening

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."

~ Doug Larson

as you share it...

"Kindness to me is not a duty or responsibility; it's a unique feeling which makes you happier as you share it."

~ Aashish Jagini

bring sunshine

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

~ James Matthew Barrie

Friendly Reminder

...with fellow men

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men."

~ Herman Melville

...made them feel

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."

~ Maya Angelou

not readymade

"Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions."

~ The Dalai Lama

One at a time...

prisoners of...

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
-Ivan Illich, philosopher and priest (1926-2002)

New ideas...

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. 

-John Cage, composer (1912-1992)

Art of Listening

No yesterdays on the road

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)

punishing the...

When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.
-Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (b. 1 Sep 1978)

...best interpreters

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. 

-John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

Breaking Vs. Shaping

"The very season that feels like it's breaking you is the one that's shaping you."
- Tony Robbins 

Fear Vs. Reality

The true duty of patriots

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. 

-Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (1941-2022)

3 Zones

...irony

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)

...can begin anything

We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong. 

-Karl Popper, philosopher and professor (1902-1994)

....a resource

A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. 

-Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

Belief vs Fact

No amount of belief makes something a fact.
-James Randi, magician and skeptic (1928-2020)

..different forms of intelligence

Life cannot be classified in terms of a simple neurological ladder, with human beings at the top; it is more accurate to talk of different forms of intelligence, each with its strengths and weaknesses. This point was well demonstrated in the minutes before last December's tsunami [2004], when tourists grabbed their digital cameras and ran after the ebbing surf, and all the 'dumb' animals made for the hills. 

-B.R. Myers, author (b. 21 Aug 1963)

Leader is...

This is not...

...quicksilver

Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.
-Dorothy Parker, author (1893-1967)

decisions....

The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take. 

-C. Northcote Parkinson, author and historian (1909-1993)

...unkempt

I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it. 

-Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)

No borders...

Dreams heed no borders, the eyes need no visas.
With eyes shut I walk across the line in time.
All the time. 

-Gulzar, poet, lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934)

Spend enough time

..terrible things

Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
-Russell Baker, columnist and author (1925-2019)

first step...

Trust is the first step to love. 

-Premchand, novelist and poet (1880-1936)

Received and give...

What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. 

-P.D. James (Phyllis Dorothy James), novelist (1920-2014)

..only in the anticipation

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. 

-Alfred Hitchcock, film-maker (13 A899-1980)

...becoming an educated person

It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is to be educated. 

-Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

...idealism of people

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people. 

-Herbert Hoover, 31st US President (1874-1964)

...kind of religion?

Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. 

-Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)

Life in the eyes

When I can look Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the truth,
And taken in exchange -- my youth.
-Sara Teasdale, poet (1884-1933)

...the homeless

Give me your tired, your poor, /
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, /
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. /
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, /
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
-Emma Lazarus, poet and playwright (1849-1887)
[from a poem written to raise funds for building the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty]

...brilliance continues

There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind. 

-Hannah Senesh, poet, playwright, and paratrooper (1921-1944)

...conquer ourselves

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. 

-Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer (1919-2008)

capacity for sacrifice

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)

student needs someone...

Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count." 

-Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)

...may grow

If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, -- quieter, warmer.
-Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)

With & Without AI

Human Brain

...as possibilities

Literature encourages tolerance -- bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them, also, as possibilities. 

-Northrop Frye, writer and critic (1912-1991)

Strength & inspiration

"Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others."

~ Plato

...can open doors

"Kindness can open doors where doors were thought not to exist."

~ Erica Wilson

Smile with your...

"Smile with your lips, smile with your eyes, smile with your heart and your soul and your life."

~ Terri Guillemets

...how much difference we can make

"Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others."

~ Gordon B. Hinckley

..a bit of our heart

"Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind."

~ Ritu Ghatourey

..central nervous system

When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.

-Ingrid Newkirk, animal rights activist (b. 11 Jun 1949)

...second the world

In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world. 

M-Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924)

Have to have...

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
-Theodore M. Hesburgh

More and more...

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." 

-John Quincy Adams

Unqualified faith...

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. 

-Robert King Merton, sociologist (1910-2003)

ill-adjusted Vs. adjusted

A man who is 'ill-adjusted' to the world is always on the verge of finding himself. One who is adjusted to the world never finds himself, but gets to be a cabinet minister. 

-Hermann Hesse, novelist, poet, Nobel laureate (1877-1962)

..expressing it

We are healed of suffering only by expressing it to the full. 

-Marcel Proust, novelist (10 Jul 1871-1922)

uneasy...

I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management. 

-E.B. White, writer (1899-1985)

...able to solve the problems

"Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems that we created with our current patterns of thought." 

~Albert Einstein

Yardstick of quality..

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected." 

~Steve Jobs

...more and most painful

As a child I was taught that to tell the truth was often painful. As an adult I have learned that not to tell the truth is more painful, and that the fear of telling the truth -- whatever the truth may be -- that fear is the most painful sensation of a moral life. 

-June Jordan, writer, teacher, and activist (1936-2002)

equal in suffering

All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals. 

-Peter Singer, philosopher and professor (b. 6 Jul 1946)

Power of Truth

Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people. 

-Jean de la Fontaine, poet and fabulist (1621-1695)

It is almost impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody's beard. 

-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

...way of life

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.
-Frédéric Bastiat, economist and writer (1801-1850)

..can't change your mind

The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His. 

-Roger Ebert, film-critic (1942-2013)

..death is not an adventure

This book (All Quiet on the Western Front) is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. 

-Erich Maria Remarque, novelist (1898-1970)

Aims Vs Methods

There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another. 

-Emma Goldman, social activist (1869-1940)

...justified strength

Having been unable to strengthen justice, we have justified strength. 

-Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)

Speed of the boss...

"I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team." 

– Lee Iacocca

...until you refuse to

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. 

-Orlando Aloysius Battista, chemist and author (1917-1995)

become responsible...

And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944)

go...

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." 

– African Proverb

Am I proud of me?

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)

Not to fear...

Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members. 

-Pearl S. Buck, Nobelist novelist (1892-1973)

5 Rules of Lean Management

1.When a problem (abnormality) arises, go to the gemba first.
2. Check the gembutsu ("relevant objects").
3. Take temporary countermeasures on the spot. 
4. Find the root cause. 
5. Standardize to prevent recurrence. ("Go")

Quality begins....

"Quality begins when everybody in the organization commits to never sending rejects or imperfect information to the next process."

,,,need for illusion

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. 

-Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel laureate (1915-2005)

Crystalized intelligence

Two types...

...improve the world

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. 

-Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (1929-1945)

What is the worst?

The best lack all conviction, while the worst 
are full of passionate intensity. 

-William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (1865-1939)

Real soldiers

Ethics, decency, and morality are the real soldiers.
-Kiran Bedi, police officer and social activist (b. 9 Jun 1949)

...learn the difference

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference. 

-Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937)

...added to the happiness

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience? 

-Adam Smith, economist (1723-1790)

...their kind of love

The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind. 

-Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)

...more dangerous

There is nothing more dangerous than a government of the many controlled by the few. 

-Lawrence Lessig, professor and political activist (b. 3 Jun 1961)

..more complete world

The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. 

-Henry Beston, naturalist and author (1888-1968)

...unread book

Your love to me was like an unread book. 

-Countee Cullen, poet, novelist, and playwright (1903-1946)

Things to do...

• Quick Capture: Drafts or Apple Notes (fleeting ideas in day)

• Slow Capture: Notebook & Pen (journal & sketch)

• Long Capture: Obsidian (examining & colliding ideas)

Your emotions...

Remember: above every cloud, the sun remains.

Square pizza framework

Before 18 &
After 18

Sorriness Vs Sorriest

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)

What if Vs. EVEN IF

Replace "what if" with "EVEN IF."
"Even if I fail, I'll learn something valuable."
"Even if people judge me, I'll grow stronger."
"Even if I'm not perfect, I'll be better than yesterday."

Stabilize Your Strategy in Uncertain Times

When conditions shift faster than your strategy can adapt, paralysis can set in. Plans lose relevance. Priorities get murky. But waiting for clarity isn't an option; you need to move forward—quickly and flexibly. Here's how to keep your strategy effective in uncertain times.

• Prioritize cash and financial flexibility.
  
• Rebuild commercial strength.
• Focus on your most profitable customers.
• Get serious about risk and cybersecurity. 

...nothing is dearer

To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter.
-Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE)

Nothing is wasted

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

~ Aesop

...too much of today

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."
- Will Rogers

already...

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- Oscar Wilde

Necessity is...

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. 

-William Pitt, British prime minister (1759-1806)

Objector Vs Warrior

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. 

-John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)

...not weakness

Compassion is not weakness and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism. 

-Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)

Passion: Natural and reasonable

A man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable is generally proud of those that are shameful and silly. 

-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (1689-1762)

Action & inaction

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. 

-John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873)

What are the odds?

What's madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance? 

-Theodore Roethke, poet (1908-1963)

Be 100%

"Wherever you are, be there totally."
- Eckhart Tolle

Eliminate the impossible

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. 

-Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (1859-1930)

...wiser today than

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. 

-Alexander Pope, poet (1688-1744)

Team Work - build progress

"The strength of a manufacturing operation lies in the teamwork on the shop floor. When everyone collaborates to solve problems, you don't just build products—you build progress." 

– Cynthia Fanning, GE Appliances.

Something Great

"Manufacturing is a team sport. No one person can do it all—success comes from every worker, engineer, and manager pulling together to make something great." 

– James Dyson, founder of Dyson Ltd.

I know...

There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad. 

-Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989)

...reserved for

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. 

-Dante Alighieri, poet (c. May 1265-1321)

...past is never

The past is never where you think you left it. 

-Katherine Anne Porter, writer and activist (1890-1980)

...primary duties

As a general truth, communities prosper and flourish, or droop and decline, in just the degree that they practise or neglect to practise the primary duties of justice and humanity. 

-William Henry Seward, Secretary of State, Governor, and Senator (1801-1872)

this life flies...

Oh, threats of hell and hopes of paradise! 

One thing at least is certain -- this life flies; 

One thing is certain, and the rest is lies; 

The flower that once has blown forever dies. 

-Omar Khayyam, poet, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and physician (1048-1131)

Listening vs talking

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."

~ Doug Larson

Kindness is a...

"Kindness to me is not a duty or responsibility; it's a unique feeling which makes you happier as you share it."

~ Aashish Jagini

Other man's

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free. 

-Clarence Darrow, lawyer and author (1857-1938)

Indifferent to suffering

It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering. 

-Robert Lynd, writer (1879-1949)

...hear reason

Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason. 

-Henry Fielding, author (1707-1754)

...defending our inalienable rights

On this 4th [of July], look beyond fireworks, parades, and pretentious patriots. Instead, celebrate whistleblowers and lamplighters who warn the people, speak truth to power -- risking their lives and fortunes defending our inalienable rights and independence against those who take our liberties away. 

-Thomas Drake, veteran and whistleblower (b. 22 Apr 1957)

Proud man... an angry ape

But man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep. 

-William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

...the only enjoyment

The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade. 

-Anthony Trollope, novelist (1815-1882)