I think we often get distracted by, well, life, or social media, or whatever. At the end of the day, we can see that we haven’t really moved the needle on what we truly care about. Women out there in particular know this is true. How do you keep the main thing the main thing?
~ Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
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But the nature of man is sufficiently revealed for him to know something of himself and sufficiently veiled to leave much impenetrable darkness, a darkness in which he ever gropes, forever in vain, trying to understand himself.
~ Alexis de Tocqueville
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Humility engenders learning because it beats back the arrogance that puts blinders on. It leaves you open for truths to reveal themselves. You don’t stand in your own way. […] Do you know how you can tell when someone is truly humble? I believe there’s one simple test: Because they consistently observe and listen, the humble improve. They don’t assume, ‘I know the way.’
~ Wynton Marsalis
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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
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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
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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
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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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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
~ Leo Tolstoy
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… 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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Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli
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Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
~ Sun Tzu
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When you do as everyone else does, don’t be surprised when you get what everyone else gets.
~ Peter Kaufman
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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