We all have so much power that we don’t use. And I think it’s because of cynicism, which is a toxic spiritual state. Cynicism is a refuge for cowards.
~ Cory Booker
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Quotes
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.
Change
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
~ Leo Tolstoy
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Not just reflecting
… there are two ways to go through life, as a thermometer or a thermostat. Don’t be a thermometer, just reflecting what’s aound you, going up or down with your surroundings. Be a thermostat and set the temperature.
~ Cory Booker
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Win by deception
Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli
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Excellence
Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
~ Sun Tzu
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Conformity
When you do as everyone else does, don’t be surprised when you get what everyone else gets.
~ Peter Kaufman
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Playful, open-minded, unrestrained
Celebrate the childlike mind. From what I can see, the best scientists and engineers nurture a childlike mind. They are playful, open-minded, and unrestrained by the inner voice of reason, collective cynicism, or fear of failure.
~ Steve Jurvetson
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Ego
Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
~ Colin Powell
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Dreams are maps
The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps.
~ Carl Sagan
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Shoulders of giants
I’ve said many times of my generation that we drink deeply from wells of freedom and opportunity that we did not dig, that we eat from tables prepared for us by our ancestors, that we sit comfortably in the shade of trees that we did not cultivate. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
~ Cory Booker
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Rest. Reflect. Recalibrate.
When you’re able to recognize what’s happening and be deliberate with your actions, setbacks don’t have to be as painful. Coming out on the other side ready to recommit to your path requires that you harness all the skills you have learned and apply them to rest, reflect, recalibrate, and then get back on track.
~ Melody Wilding
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Reasons to doubt
There are always going to be reasons to doubt your own worth; The question is, how far do you allow yourself to go down that road before you look up and realize— you had the power to come home all along.
~ Sara Bareilles
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The hero within
Going inward. That’s the real work. The solutions are not outside of us. Get to know who you really are, because as you search for the hero within, you inevitably become one.
~ Emma Tiebens
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Tolerance versus love
Tolerance is becoming accustomed to injustice; love is becoming disturbed and activated by another’s adverse condition. Tolerance crosses the street; love confronts. Tolerance builds fences; love opens doors. Tolerance breeds indifference; love demands engagement. Tolerance couldn’t care less; love always cares more.
~ Cory Booker
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Power
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
~ Alice Walker
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Slide easily
There are two ways to slide easily through life: Namely, to believe everything, or to doubt everything; Both ways save us from thinking.
~ Alfred Korzybski
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Failing to consider
Failing to consider second- and third-order consequences is the cause of a lot of painfully bad decisions, and it is especially deadly when the fist inferior option confirms your own biases. Never seize on the first available option, no matter how good it seems, before you’ve asked questions and explored.
~ Ray Dalio
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Diligence, energy, patience
If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation— can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)— Then your life will be happy. No one can prevent that.
~ Marcus Aurelius
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Our feelings
Our feelings aren’t the problem. It’s our relationship to them.
~ Amber Rae
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I matter
That I matter, that my life demands the ceaseless attention I give it, is exactly what those genes would have any organism believeing, if that organism was evolved enough for belief. The will to survive evolves, in a higher creature like us, into the will to matter.
~ Rebecca Goldstein
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