Net and scaffold

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

~ Annie Dillard

slip:4a756.


In love with the game

Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become, and the hours of practice, and the coaches who have pushed you, is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.

~ Annie Mist Þórisdóttir

slip:4a753.


Coming back

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.

~ Terry Pratchett

slip:4a752.


Refuge

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

slip:4a751.


Change

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

~ Leo Tolstoy

slip:4a750.


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

slip:4a746.


Win by deception

Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.

~ Niccolò Machiavelli

slip:4a747.


Excellence

Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

~ Sun Tzu

slip:4a745.


Conformity

When you do as everyone else does, don’t be surprised when you get what everyone else gets.

~ Peter Kaufman

slip:4a744.


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

slip:4a743.


Ego

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

~ Colin Powell

slip:4a749.


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

slip:4a742.


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

slip:4a741.


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

slip:4a740.


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

slip:4a739.


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

slip:4a738.


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

slip:4a736.


Power

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.

~ Alice Walker

slip:4a737.


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

slip:4a735.


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

slip:4a734.