The mode of locomotion should be slow, the slower the better, and be often interrupted by leisurely halts to sit on vantage points and stop at question marks.
~ Carl Sauer
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Quotes
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.
Perspective
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
~ Longfellow
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Experience
Experience often deeply embeds the assumptions that need to be questioned in the first place. When you have a lot of experience with something, you don’t notice the things that are new about it. You don’t notice the idiosyncrasies that need to be tweaked. You don’t notice where the gaps are, what’s missing, or what’s not really working.
~ Chris Sacca
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Mud
Never throw mud. You may miss your mark: But you must have dirty hands.
~ Joseph Parker
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Nobody will understand
It’s pretty safe to say, that when you finally come up with your million-dollar idea, nobody is going to understand it at first. They many not laugh in your face outright, but they’ll probably scratch their heads, at least.
~ Hugh MacLeod
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Extraordinary
Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process. The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home. A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge. Refuse to compromise.
~ Christopher Sommer
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Moderate
The art of using moderate abilities to advantage wins praise, and often acquires more reputation than actual brilliance.
~ Rochefoucauld
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Strike at the root
There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
~ Henry David Thoreau
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Truth
Remember that truth is the greatest thing in the world. If you will be great, you will be true. If you suppress the truth, if you hide truth, if you do not rise up and speak out in meeting, if you speak out in meeting without speaking the whole truth, then are you less true than truth and by that much are you less than great.
~ Jack London
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Going full circle
No matter where your adventure takes you, most of what is truly meaningful is still to be found revolving around the mundane stuff you did before you embarked on your adventure. The stuff that’ll be still be going on long after you and I are both dead, long after our contribution to the world is forgotten.But often, one needs to have that big adventure before truly appreciating this. Going full circle. Exactly.
~ Hugh MacLeod
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Loving-kindness
Happiest day in seven years. And what did it take to achieve that? It took 10 seconds of secretly wishing for 2 other people to be happy for 8 repetitions, a total of 80 seconds of thinking. That, my friends, is the awesome power of loving-kindness.
~ Chade-Meng Tan
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Words and actions
An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions.
~ Chesterfield
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Choices
What has this unfeeling age of ours left untried, what wickedness has it shunned?
~ Horace
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Three great things
The three great things of life are: Good health; Work; And a philosophy of life. I may add, nay, must add, a fourth—Sincerity. Without this, the other three are without avail; And with it you may cleave to greatness and sit among giants.
~ Jack London
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Excellence is a moral act
… excellence is not a law of physics. Excellence is a moral act.
~ Huch MacLeod
You create excellence by deciding to do so, nothing more. It doesn’t matter if you went to the wrong school, or were born on the wrong side of the tracks, or working the wrong job.
You go into the situation and you go the extra mile. Your decision. You own it. You own the potential downsides as well.
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In summary
The chronological summary of a man’s life is of all composition for students perhaps the most futile. […] “What of it?” remains to be asked at the end; And if the student begin there, not rewriting the annals, but seeking throughout the characteristic traits, the typical activities, the expression of individuality, he will find no better practice. Thus not only the reader, but far more the writer, gains by the abandoning of the order of chronology.
~ Charles Sears Baldwin
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Poverty
For a generous and noble spirit cannot be expected to dwell in the breast of men who are struggling for their daily bread.
~ Dionysius
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Evil
An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.
~ Quintilian
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Discontent
This is discontent, but it is not the discontent of pessimism. It is noble discontent which is the secret of progress. Only the pusillanimous are content. Heart’s desires are divine discontents. Only the unsatisfied do things. The satisfied do nothing. Unsatisfaction is the stimulus to achievement. Satisfaction is destruction and leads down to the chamber of death.
~ Jack London
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A self
But in order to be self-aware, first one needs a self to be aware of. And that takes a while. Often an entire lifetime.
~ Hugh MacLeod
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