Tag: Classics

Quotes October 25, 2024

I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be. My men depended on me to carefully analyze every tactical situation, to maximize the resources that I had at my disposal, to think under pressure, and then to lead them by personal example.
Major Dick Winters
 
 
 
 
Owning the facts is a prerequisite to leadership. But there are millions of technocrats out there with lots of facts in their quivers and little leadership potential. In many cases, what they are missing is empathy. No one is a leader who can’t put himself or herself in the other person’s shoes. Empathy and expertise command respect.
Lieutenant General, William Pagonis
 
 
 
 
If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and in battle lead them well.
Stonewall Jackson
 
 
 
 
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
Colin Powell, US general and statesman
 
 
 
 

Quotes August 17, 2024

A dead end is just a good place to turn around.
Naomi Judd – 1946-2022 – Singer-Actress
 
 
 
 
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
Henry Ford
 
 
 
 
“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.”
Lauren Bacall
 
 
 
 
“Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could’ve had.”
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
 
 
 
 
“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.”
Julia Child
 
 
 
 
“I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
Babe Ruth
 
 
 
 
“Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.”
“Animal Farm” by George Orwell
 
 
 
 
We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
Henry James
 
 
 
 

Quotes August 02, 2024

“I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world.”
General Douglas MacArthur
 
 
 
 
“Retreat Hell! We’re just attacking in another direction.”
Major General Oliver P. Smith
 
 
 
 
“The Marine Corps is proud of the fact that it is a force of combined arms, and it jealously guards the integrity of its air-ground team.”
General Keith B. McCutcheon
 
 
 
 
“We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.”
Gen. James L. Jones
 
 
 
 
“I love the Corps for those intangible possessions that cannot be issued: pride, honor, integrity, and being able to carry on the traditions for generations of warriors past.”
Cpl. Jeff Sornig
 
 
 
 
“Your soul may belong to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the marines.”
Eugene B. Sledge
 
 
 
 
“Once a Marine, always a Marine!”
MSgt Paul Woyshner
 
 
 
 

Quotes July 12, 2024

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, and former Captain in the Army Reserves
 
 
 
 
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States, and former Colonel in the U.S. Army
 
 
 
 
“Always do everything you ask of those you command.”
“All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters either. Every single man in this Army play a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain.”
General George S. Patton, U.S. Army
 
 
 
 
“Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.”
Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader
 
 
 
 
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel
 
 
 
 
“To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you.”
General of the Armies John J. Pershing, U.S. Army
 
 
 
 
“Because the crew was convinced that I was “on their team” there were never any issues with negative criticism… You as a mentor have to establish that you are sincerely interested in the problems of the person you are mentoring.”
Ret. Capt L. David Marquet, US Navy and author, Turn the Ship Around!
 
 
 
 
Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down.
Respect for one’s superiors; care for one’s crew.
Admiral Grace Hopper
 
 
 
 

Quotes March 09, 2024

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
Aung San Suu Kyi, “Freedom from Fear”
 
 
 
 
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”
Will Rogers
 
 
 
 
Patience is not simply the ability to wait, it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.
Joyce Meyer – American Author-Speaker
 
 
 
 
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
Steve Jobs
 
 
 
 
No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.
Taylor Swift – Songwriter-Singer
 
 

Quotes December 23, 2023

I think I would want my gravestone to read: ‘Here lie the remains of Ted Morgan, who became an American.’
Anxiety is the price that must be paid for boundless opportunity.
Ted Morgan (Sanche de Gramont),
writer, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner
1932-2023
 
 
 
 
If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn’t be anything for us to do.
George Bernard Shaw – 1856-1950 – Playwright-Critic
 
 
 
 
Courage of the heart is very rare. Let it guide you.
Sarah J. Maas – Author
 
 
 
 
The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.
Robert Green Ingersoll – 1833-1899 – Lecturer
 
 
 
 
It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
John Wooden – 1910-2010 – American Basketball Coach
 
 
 
 
Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.
Ramana Maharshi – 1879-1950 – Indian Hindu Sage
 
 
 
 
He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.
Elbert Hubbard – 1856-1915 – American Writer-Artist-Philosopher
 
 
 
 
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot – 1888-1965 – Poet-Essayist-Publisher-Social Critic
 
 
 
 
One does not get better but different and older and that is always a pleasure.
Gertrude Stein,
writer, poet
 
 
 
 

If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison – 1847-1931 – Inventor
 
 
 
 
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Dale Carnegie
 
 

Quotes November 01-02, 2023

There is no reverse in life, only a future in which you can steer it.
Eric Kizer – Author
 
 
 
 
“Being young isn’t about age; it’s about being a free spirit.”
Lesley “Twiggy” Lawson
 
 
 
 
“You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”
Carrie Fisher
 
 
 
 
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.”
Pelé
 
 
 
 
“It’s even harder to stay at the top in sports than it is to get there.”
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
 
 
 
 
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.”
Billie Jean King
 
 
 
 
“I believe in the impossible because no one else does.”
Florence Griffith Joyner
 
 
 
 
“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”
Althea Gibson
 
 
 
 
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Yogi Berra
 
 
 
 
“The best protection any woman can have is courage.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
 
 
 
 
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”
President Teddy Roosevelt
 
 
 
 
“Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.”
Jane Addams
 
 
 
 
“It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.”
Democritus
 
 
 
 
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
 
 
 
 
“Be yourself. The world worships the original.”
Ingrid Bergman
 
 
 
 
“Never try to be someone else’s definition of beautiful. You have to define beautiful for yourself.”
Zendaya
 
 
 
 
“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”
Janis Joplin
 
 
 
 
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
Warren Buffett
 
 
 
 
“At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable.”
Christopher Reeve
 
 
 
 
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Albert Einstein
 
 
 
 
“If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.”
John D. Rockefeller
 
 
 
 
“After you make a fool of yourself a few hundred times, you learn what works.”
Gwen Stefani
 
 
 
 
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
Mahatma Gandhi
 
 
 
 
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote
 
 
 
 
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward.”
Princess Diana
 
 
 
 
“You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.”
Bette Davis
 
 
 
 
“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
Orson Welles
 
 
 
 
“It pays to know the enemy–not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.”
Margaret Thatcher
 
 
 
 
“We must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
 
 
 
“Now all we need is to continue to speak the truth fearlessly, and we shall add to our number those who will turn the scale to the side of equal and full justice in all things.”
Lucy Stone
 
 
 
 
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”
Malala Yousafzai
 
 
 
 
“Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”
Steve Jobs
 
 
 
 
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
 
 
 
 
“You better live every day like your last because one day you’re going to be right.”
Ray Charles
 
 
 
 
“Always do your very best. Even when no one else is looking, you always are. Don’t disappoint yourself.”
Colin Powell
 
 
 
 
“We are all the victims of our own talent and our own shortcomings sometimes, and we have to be aware of those things because they will trip us up and stop us from achieving what our aims are.”
Angela Lansbury
 
 
 
 
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
Mae Jemison
 
 
 
 
“We’re not born creative or destructive. Each one of us has the ability to create or destroy, to leave the world better than we found it, or worse.”
Yo-Yo Ma
 
 

Quotes October 28, 2023

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.”
Aldous Huxley
 
 
 
 
To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.
Mark Nepo
 
 
 
 
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott – 1832-1888 – Novelist-Short Story Writer-Poet
 
 
 
 
Difficult and meaningful will always bring more satisfaction than easy and meaningless.
Maxime Legace – Professional Ice Hockey Player
 
 
 
 
Let us be quicker to praise than to find fault. Let us be quicker to thank others than to complain.
Desmond Tutu – Nobel Prize Recipient for Peace
 
 
 
 
“Success doesn’t change you. Fame does.”
Whitney Houston
 
 
 
 
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen Covey – 1932-2012-Educator-Author-Businessman-Keynote Speaker
 
 
 
 
“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.”
Lauren Bacall
 
 
 
 
A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.
George R.R. Martin
 
 
 
 
“You have to believe in the long term plan you have but you need the short term goals to motivate and inspire you.”
Roger Federer
 
 
 
 
“Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.”
Alex Haley
 
 

Quotes September 22, 2023

I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be. My men depended on me to carefully analyze every tactical situation, to maximize the resources that I had at my disposal, to think under pressure, and then to lead them by personal example.
Major Dick Winters
 
 
 
 
Owning the facts is a prerequisite to leadership. But there are millions of technocrats out there with lots of facts in their quivers and little leadership potential. In many cases, what they are missing is empathy. No one is a leader who can’t put himself or herself in the other person’s shoes. Empathy and expertise command respect.
Lieutenant General, William Pagonis
 
 
 
 
Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.
Chris Hadfield, Astronaut
 
 
 
 
When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasingly larger concentric circles around your own desk.
General Bruce D. Clark
 
 
 
 
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur
 
 
 
 
If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and in battle lead them well.
Stonewall Jackson
 
 
 
 
Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision: its practice is an art. Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its practice is a science. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential.
Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim, Governor General of Australia
 
 
 
 
You manage things; you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington.
Rear Adm. Grace Murray Hooper
 
 
 
 
Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
 
 
 
The truth is that you always know the right thing to do. The tough part is doing it.
General Norman Schwarzkopf
 
 
 
 
“Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic…This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war…”
Napoleon Bonaparte
 
 
 
 
“An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.”
Alexander the Great
 
 
 
 
Who dares, wins. Who sweats, wins. Who plans, wins.
British Special Air Service (SAS)
 
 
 
 
Facta non verba (Translation: Deeds, not words)
Canadian Joint Task Force
 
 
 
 
Discipline is the soul of an army.
George Washington
 
 

Quotes August 24, 2023

“You have to be good at saying no and picking the things that really matter.”
“It’s much better to aim low. I did not intend to get rich. I wanted to be independent. I just overshot.”
Warren Buffet
 
 
 
 
“Focus is about saying no.”
Steve Jobs
 
 
 
 
“Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
 
 
 
 
“People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it.”
Edith Schaeffer
 
 
 
 
“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein
 
 
 
 
“Think simple” as my old master used to say – meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
 
 
 
 
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius
 
 
 
 
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
Mahatma Gandhi
 
 
 
 
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
 
 
 
 
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
 
 
 
 
“The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.”
Madame Marie du Deffand
 
 
 
 
“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 
 
 
 
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
Earl Nightingale
 
 
 
 
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
Buddha
 
 
 
 
“People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it.”
Edith Schaeffer
 
 
 
 
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
Marcus Aurelius