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.
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)
Love & Relationship
Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships.
-Ruskin Bond, author (b. 19 May 1934)
10% destroying 90%
I learn that ten percent of all the world's species are parasitic insects. It is hard to believe. What if you were an inventor, and you made ten percent of your inventions in such a way that they could only work by harnessing, disfiguring, or totally destroying the other ninety percent?
-Annie Dillard, author (b. 30 Apr 1945)
...for humanity
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
-Horace Mann, educational reformer (1796-1859)
Wrong rulers in power
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.
-Turkish Proverb
-Turkish Proverb
..gather the beauty?
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
-Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941)
...small matters & the large
In the small matters trust the mind, in the large ones the heart.
-Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939)
..like to help
I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor.
That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.
I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, gentile, black man, white.
- Charlie Chaplin, actor, director, and composer (1889-1977)
Listen & empower...
"The key to successful people management is listening to your team and empowering them to solve problems together."
– Dennis Muilenburg, former CEO of Boeing, a leader in aerospace manufacturing.
– Dennis Muilenburg, former CEO of Boeing, a leader in aerospace manufacturing.
...create an environment
"You don't manage people; you lead them by creating an environment where they can thrive and contribute their best."
– Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, a manufacturing-driven company.
– Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, a manufacturing-driven company.
...essentials to happiness
Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
-Joseph Addison, writer (1672-1719)
Terrorize a whole nation?
No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.
-Edward R. Murrow, journalist (25 Apr 1908-1965)
3 kinds of Nations
This world is divided roughly into three kinds of nations: those that spend lots of money to keep their weight down; those whose people eat to live; and those whose people don't know where their next meal is coming from.
-David S. Landes, author, professor of economics and history (1924-2013)
-David S. Landes, author, professor of economics and history (1924-2013)
S A L T
The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea.
-Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen), author (1885-1962)
Courage vs intelligence
Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
-Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (1920-2012)
-Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (1920-2012)
Good & Happiness
"Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you."
~ James Freeman Clarke
Artificial intelligence and aristocracy
There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy.
-Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect, and author (1743-1826)
flowback & soften...
Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
-Washington Irving, writer (1783-1859)
cannot prevent
Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.
-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)
-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)
system to reduce waste
"To implement the Toyota Production System, you must understand that the purpose is to reduce costs by eliminating waste, nothing more, nothing less."
Fundamental test
Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.
-Milan Kundera, novelist, playwright, and poet (1929-2023)
-Milan Kundera, novelist, playwright, and poet (1929-2023)
unchangeable past
Words, when written, crystallize history; their very structure gives permanence to the unchangeable past.
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
No limit...
"Why not make the work easier and more interesting so that people do not have to sweat? 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."
acts of kindness
The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
-William Wordsworth, poet (1770-1850)
-William Wordsworth, poet (1770-1850)
...comes into
"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."
~ Lin Yutang
Capable of Vs at Stake
Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.
-Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997)
-Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997)
forget all birthdays...
"It is lovely, when I forget all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me."
~ Ellen Glasgow
...from others
We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.
-John Updike, writer (1932-2009)
...for a few?
I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.
-William Morris, poet and novelist (1834-1896)
...unchangeable past
Words, when written, crystallize history; their very structure gives permanence to the unchangeable past.
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
peace with ... corrupting
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment -- and nothing more corrupting.
-A.J.P. Taylor, historian (1906-1990)
weapons provided for...
The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.
-James Madison, 4th US president (1751-1836)
in a single sentence
We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard.
-Penelope Lively, writer (b. 17 Mar 1933)
...lion is made up of
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)
tolerating evil...
The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.
-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
...not equal, more robust
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others.
-Douglas Adams, author (1952-2001)
-Douglas Adams, author (1952-2001)
...best by bitter
The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience.
-W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, civil rights activist, and writer (1868-1963)
-W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, civil rights activist, and writer (1868-1963)
...put a dent
We're here to put a dent in the universe.
-Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (1955-2011)
-Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (1955-2011)
...starts moving around
In the cellars of the night, when the mind starts moving around old trunks of bad times, the pain of this and the shame of that, the memory of a small boldness is a hand to hold.
-John Leonard, critic (1939-2008)
-John Leonard, critic (1939-2008)
...to lie
Men hate those to whom they have to lie.
-Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1802-1885)
-Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1802-1885)
polish your mind
It is good to rub and polish your mind against that of others.
-Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
-Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
count the ways...
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (1806-1861)
Public moral & peace
A full belly to the labourer is, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace.
-William Cobbett, journalist, pamphleteer, and farmer (1763-1835)
overcome inhuman...
All that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome.
-Kate Sheppard, suffragist (1847-1934)
jungle of weeds...
If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weeds.
-Luther Burbank, horticulturist (1849-1926)
...happiness of the common man
The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man.
-William Beveridge, economist and reformer (1879-1963)
...plant the seeds of love
When I listen to love, I am listening to my true nature. When I express love, I am expressing my true nature. All of us love. All of us do it more and more perfectly. The past has brought us both ashes and diamonds. In the present we find the flowers of what we've planted and the seeds of what we are becoming. I plant the seeds of love in my heart. I plant the seeds of love in the hearts of others.
-Julia Cameron, artist, author, teacher, filmmaker, composer, and journalist (b. 4 Mar 1948)
-Julia Cameron, artist, author, teacher, filmmaker, composer, and journalist (b. 4 Mar 1948)
ELS: Lesson#6
You have permission to evolve.
2025 will be an evolving year for me. Just like 2020 was. Just because you've been passionate about a topic or work product or career initiative doesn't mean you have to continue this forever. Even if people "know you" for your area of passion or expertise, YOU can decide to keep growing and evolving to something new. Allow yourself to grow and change.
What is key here is this: Do these changes align with my values? Are they moving me closer to the leader I want to become?
ELS: Lesson#5
Treat Everything Like An Experiment.
It either works (yay!) or it doesn't and you get the benefit of learning & iterating new versions. Getting attached to doing things a certain way or expecting that your first effort will result in instant success is a set up for disappointment. Always be learning.
It either works (yay!) or it doesn't and you get the benefit of learning & iterating new versions. Getting attached to doing things a certain way or expecting that your first effort will result in instant success is a set up for disappointment. Always be learning.
ELS: Lesson#4
Consistency Isn't Sexy But It Works.
This is a lesson I will stand by every year in my business. I've learned in my life I will never be the fastest person to complete the work, the "showiest" person on social media or the hustler that will grind herself down. I am not competitive with other people–I believe it distracts you from your True North. All of these qualities made me terrible at anything athletic in my life. LOL. However, I will win with boring old consistency and moderation every single day. If your actions aren't maintainable, they aren't sustainable.
Find a pace and rhythm you can sustain over the long term.
This is a lesson I will stand by every year in my business. I've learned in my life I will never be the fastest person to complete the work, the "showiest" person on social media or the hustler that will grind herself down. I am not competitive with other people–I believe it distracts you from your True North. All of these qualities made me terrible at anything athletic in my life. LOL. However, I will win with boring old consistency and moderation every single day. If your actions aren't maintainable, they aren't sustainable.
Find a pace and rhythm you can sustain over the long term.
ELS: Lesson#3
Your network is an essential career accelerator.
As you continue to accelerate in your career, it can be lonely. Especially for women because there are fewer of them at the top. In my own business, entrepreneurship can be lonely. I don't have built-in co-workers to ping ideas off of, so I have to curate this network myself. It's important to curate a diverse network, too. This means I don't just find other people who do what I do, I learn the most from people who have very different businesses than me. This is also why I encourage my clients to find a network beyond their organization to keep their ideas, insights and perspectives fresh.
As you continue to accelerate in your career, it can be lonely. Especially for women because there are fewer of them at the top. In my own business, entrepreneurship can be lonely. I don't have built-in co-workers to ping ideas off of, so I have to curate this network myself. It's important to curate a diverse network, too. This means I don't just find other people who do what I do, I learn the most from people who have very different businesses than me. This is also why I encourage my clients to find a network beyond their organization to keep their ideas, insights and perspectives fresh.
ELS: Lesson#2
Know What You Stand For As A Leader.
This goes along with number one. You are not for everyone and that is okay. Know your strengths, what you believe in, then find your people and serve them well. People will always be ready to give you well-meaning advice about what you should do in your career, and knowing what you stand for will help you discern what's meant for you and what isn't.
This goes along with number one. You are not for everyone and that is okay. Know your strengths, what you believe in, then find your people and serve them well. People will always be ready to give you well-meaning advice about what you should do in your career, and knowing what you stand for will help you discern what's meant for you and what isn't.
I've started to ask myself the question, what do I believe in so strongly that I am willing to endure the criticism?
ELS: Lesson#1
Saying No Is An Essential Leadership Skill.
Also, it builds confidence. As you rise up the ladder (or gain followers) you will continually be presented with opportunities to say yes. It's tempting to do so for money, title, status, etc. However, it's critical that you say yes in alignment with your values or you can unintentionally create a business (or career) that you resent.
Also, it builds confidence. As you rise up the ladder (or gain followers) you will continually be presented with opportunities to say yes. It's tempting to do so for money, title, status, etc. However, it's critical that you say yes in alignment with your values or you can unintentionally create a business (or career) that you resent.
This is a key cause of burnout.
..best of yourself
"You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself."
~ Harvey S. Firestone
vote by staying home
There is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some diehard's vote.
-David Foster Wallace, novelist, essayist, and short story writer (1962-2008)
...systematic organization of
Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.
-Henry Adams, historian and teacher (1838-1918)
above principles
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.
-George Jean Nathan, author and editor (1882-1958)
cannot be turned off
The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock.
-Margaret Halsey, novelist (1910-1997)
Can stand adversity
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
-Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (1809-1865)
False standards
If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days.
-Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author, reformer, and activist (1879-1958)
..consciences of citizens
The government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens.
-Lydia Maria Child, activist, novelist, and journalist (1802-1880)
Own reasons
The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men.,
-Alice Walker, poet and novelist (b. 9 Feb 1944)
...unarmed truth
What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.
-Boris Pasternak, poet, novelist, Nobel laureate (1890-1960)
..to create their own bridge
True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.
-Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957)
..to save the environment
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
-Ansel Adams, photographer (1902-1984)
...most wonderful
I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
-Emo Phillips, comedian, actor (b. 7 Feb 1956)
not a free...
A hungry man is not a free man.
- Adlai Stevenson II, lawyer, politician, and diplomat (1900-1965)
- Adlai Stevenson II, lawyer, politician, and diplomat (1900-1965)
Meaning of life...
" The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."
~ Nelson Henderson
...refuse to answer
There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.
-Hartley Shawcross, barrister, politician, and prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal (1902-2003)
some thing to change
Most people never break through because they keep waiting for something to change… instead of changing themselves.
...genius??
It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.
-Gertrude Stein, novelist, poet, and playwright (1874-1946)
lack of patriotism
The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
-Hermann Göring, Nαzi military leader (1893-1946)
Test of progress
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
Poor Vs Rich
To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely that there's more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than among the ranks of the disadvantaged.
-Norman Mailer, author (1923-2007)
for the sake of...
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
-Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)
acceptable response
To a poet, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one.
-Colette, author (1873-1954)
..through the eyes of
Sometimes you can't see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.
-Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, TV host, actor, and writer (b. 26 Jan 1958)
cunning men
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
ways of spreading light
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
-Edith Wharton, novelist (1861-1937)
-Edith Wharton, novelist (1861-1937)
...same interest?
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.
-Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (1783-1842)
miracles have...
In those parts of the world where learning and science have prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in those parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue.
-Ethan Allen, revolutionary (1738-1789)
10000 : 1
The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.
-Joan Baez, musician (b. 9 Jan 1941)
live in an infantile
Maybe every other American movie shouldn't be based on a comic book. Other countries will think Americans live in an infantile fantasy land where reality is whatever we say it is and every problem can be solved with violence.
-Bill Maher, comedian, actor, and writer (b. 20 Jan 1956)
accepts a smaller
When one has been threatened with a great injustice, one accepts a smaller as a favour.
-Jane Welsh Carlyle, letter writer (1801-1866)
We do & do not do
It is not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.
-Moliere, actor and playwright (1622-1673)
Dream by Day?
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
-Edgar Allan Poe, poet andshort-story writer (1809-1849)
-Edgar Allan Poe, poet andshort-story writer (1809-1849)
so fondly
Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, /
Who loved thee so fondly as he? /
He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, /
And joined in thy innocent glee.
-Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862)
Understand to be understood
"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood."
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
mind=blown
"Pune hospital gets 1st made-in-India surgical robot with 5 arms, 4K headset, and world-class precision."
Five arms. Precision surgeries. No slip-ups.
gives Dignity & Worth
Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
-Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton), historian (1834-1902)
Happiness is like a...
Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it evades you. But if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder. - Henry David Thoreau |
Preserve the habitat
You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation means that you have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even the sea itself. This is not only vital for the preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of man himself -- a point that seems to escape many people.
-Gerald Durrell, naturalist and author (1925-1995)
...Moral dandyism
A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong.
-Lewis H. Lapham, editor and writer (1935-2024)
Different horizon
We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.
-Konrad Adenauer, statesman (1876-1967)
-Konrad Adenauer, statesman (1876-1967)
most dangerous....
"The last word" is the most dangerous of infernal machines; and husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell.
-Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (1803-1857)
accomplish great things
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe."
-Anatole France
...who have kept on trying
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all."
-Dale Carnegie
...by the obstacles
"You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals."
- Booker T. Washington
- Booker T. Washington
...can overcome
"Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable."
-Theodore N. Vail
fail in originality
"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."
- Herman Melville
Little Minds Vs Great Minds
"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it."
- Washington Irving
...what you cannot and can
"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-John R. Wooden
Sacrifice the little things
"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."
-Vince Lombardi
...prisoner of
An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
-Henri Matisse, artist (1869-1954)
Past - do differently
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
-L.P. Hartley, writer (1895-1972)
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