For this Day:

;
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)

...free man?

A hungry man is not a free man. 
-Adlai Stevenson II, lawyer, politician, and diplomat (1900-1965)

Sum of small efforts

"Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out."
~ Robert Collier

...the narrow prejudices

I am so convinced of the advantages of looking at mankind instead of reading about them, and of the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an islander, that I think there should be a law amongst us to set our young men abroad for a term among the few allies our wars have left us.
-Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824)

..because your goal demands

Leaders Are Warriors 
"It's about being a warrior… This is your path and you will pursue it with excellence. You face your fear because your goal demands it."

Quantum Leaps

"Leaders Do Not Make Incremental Advancements.  They Make Quantum Leaps."

...step up

There Is A Fine Line Between Success And Failure 
- "It's just two tiny points of contact that keep you from falling.  And when you step up there's only one."

...love a changed person

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. 
-William Somerset Maugham, writer (1874-1965)

...step outside their fear

Leaders Step Outside Their Fear 
"You're not controlling your fear.  You're stepping outside of it."

...doing what they love

Leaders Are The Ones Earning A Living Doing What They Love
"It's the best thing in life to take the one thing you love most and have it work out so that you can make a living that way."

Focus on only...

Leaders Focus On Only One Or Two Things And Then Obsess Over Those One Or Two Things
– 
They are not distracted by other pursuits.

A man and only then

If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman ... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French. 
-Montesquieu, philosopher, lawyer, and writer (1689-1755)

Traditional Values

I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated, and helping those in need. To me those are traditional values. 
-Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, TV host, actor, and writer (b. 26 Jan 1958)

Long Live Republic

I love my country too much to be a nationalist. 
-Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

...can win a war

The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. 
-George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (1880-1959)

The Art of pretends

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love. 
-Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)

Raindrop - eye of humility

A raindrop, dripping from a cloud,
/ Was ashamed when it saw the sea. 
/ "Who am I where there is a sea?" it said.
/ When it saw itself with the eye of humility,
/ A shell nurtured it in its embrace. 
-Saadi of Shiraz (c. 1200 AD)

..take a joke, not make one

It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor. 
-Max Eastman, journalist and poet (1883-1969)

same sky, but...

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. 
-Konrad Adenauer, statesman (1876-1967)

...feel your bare feet

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. 
-Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931)

...accomplice of liars

He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers. 
-Charles Peguy, poet and essayist (1873-1914)

...memories are fuel

People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. 
-Haruki Murakami, writer (b. 12 Jan 1949)

...humor & mockery

Sometimes laughter hurts, but humor and mockery are our only weapons. 
-Cabu (pen name of Jean Cabut), cartoonist and co-founder of Charlie Hebdo (1938-2015)

...look the other way

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. 
-Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

...unconscious cruelty

We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them.
-Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965)

safe comfort

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth -- and truth rewarded me.
-Simone de Beauvoir, author and philosopher (1908-1986)

...can alter

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. 
-William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

...a life worthwhile

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
~ Albert Einstein

Kindness in...

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."
~ Lao Tzu

Nothing changed physically, except belief.

I love this story because whenever someone does the "impossible," others see themselves in that someone.

  • "I can't" → "they did"

  • "They did" → "I might"

  • "I might" → "I will"

....never did

"The course of true love never did run smooth."
~ William Shakespeare

..wait for people?

"You can't always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."
~ Winnie the Pooh

8 Unconventional Ideas to Make 2026 a Smashing Success

1. Enhance your New Year's goals with a yearly theme.

2. Focus on the process, not just the outcome.

3. Turn vague resolutions into specific goals or habits.

4. Tie each of your New Year's goals an anchoring belief or core value.

5. Limit the number of New Year's resolutions you set.

6. Connect your roles to goals.

7. Make contingency plans for your goals.

8. Declare a "Year of Action" + get out of paralysis.

- Dean Bokhari

...urgent and not on important

"Most of us spend too much on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important."
~ Stephen Covey

Happy New Year

"Change, by its very nature, is threatening but it is also often productive." 
– Betty Ford