BEWARE OF SOMETHING LESS
A story is told of a man who, resisting the cost of oats he fed his mule, decided to gradually substitute sawdust in its diet. Everything went fine for a while - but by the time the mule was satisfied with sawdust, he died. What do you "feed" on? Is it possible that you are mentally digesting "junk"? Beware! Before you know it, through lack of nourishment, you may become mentally, emotionally and spiritually dead.
- Grant M. Bright

I had in all human probability existed about half the period which I am to remain in this Sublunary world ... I had as yet done but little, very little, indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now sorely feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended ... I resolved in future, to redouble my exertions ... to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself.
- Meriwether Lewis, August 18, 1805, on occasion of his 31st birthday (the Lewis of "Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery" fame)

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.
- Samuel Johnson

Instruct me in judicious spending and in gratitude with no holds barred.

Advice is less necessary to the wise than to fools, but the wise derive most advantage from it.
- Francesco Guicciardini, 1564

Feed the body food and drink, it will survive today. Feed the soul art and music, it will live forever.
- line from "One Special Night"

The mind is like a garden, plant flowers, you get flowers. Plant weeds, you get weeds. Plant nothing, you get weeds.

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
- Sir Thomas Aquinas

Health is not merely the absence of disease, it is the state of complete well-being.
- The World Health Organization

It is not the number of hours you put in that counts, it is what you put in the number of hours.

Rejuvenation: One must step back in order to take a better leap.

Expanding your horizons requires breaking through your limitations.

Don't push for growth. Instead, remove the constraints which limit growth.
- Peter M. Senge

Don’t let your past dictate who you are. But let it be part of who you will become.
- line from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold, water becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Take care of the little things in life, and before your eyes you'll discover that they have grown into great things.

A single drop of enthusiasm can generate noticeable waves.

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you are tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write. They are those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
- Alvin Toffler

With simple steps, and a little understanding, every challenge can become an opportunity for personal growth.
- Anthony Robbins

The ultimate challenge is to not just survive, but thrive.
- Grant M. Bright

For most people the danger in their self-analysis is that it stops too soon. They are too easily satisfied. Self-analysis should last a lifetime.
- Sigmund Freud

Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

He who knows others is clever; he who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao-Tzu

The easiest person to deceive is one's self.
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Effectiveness can be learned. It's a self-discipline, though, so it can't be taught.
- Peter Drucker

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
- Barry LePatner

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
- William Faulkner

Some people drink deeply from the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
- adapted by Grant M. Bright

"If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening the ax."
- Abraham Lincoln

God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.
- Swedish Proverb

We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves.
- John McCain

There is no greater challenge than to surpass yourself.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style.
- Joey Ramone

Make the most of yourself,
For that is all there is of you.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perhaps, the most important factors that inhibit us are short-sightedness, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness. A narrow-minded selfishness can lead to self-destruction. We have to realize that in reality our own interest is closely linked to the interest of others, and that the benefits, happiness, and interest of others are our own.
- Dalai Lama

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
- Albert Schweitzer

It is not the place of your birth; it is not the color of your skin; it is the size of your hope that determines what you do with your life.
- John Johnson, Ebony magazine

How to increase your happiness:

Apply a rigid standard of morality to your life; and if, periodically, you fail – as you surely will – adjust your life, NOT the standards.
- Ted Koppel

The best gift you can give yourself is the gift of possibility.
- Paul Newman

Adulthood begins when a person asks himself the question, What do I want to be remembered for?
- St. Augustine

Nothing makes you improve yourself more than a tough competitor.
- Steve Young, former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers

When Ken Blanchard is asked by strangers what business he is in, he answers I'm in the gap reduction business! People usually respond The what? To which he replies The gap reduction business - the gap between what people say they stand for and how they behave in everyday life.

Here’s a powerful way to pull the best performance out of yourself. Start living by the following 10 golden words:
Do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.
- Tom Hopkins

"In case of emergency.." - Have you ever heard those words from a stewardess at the beginning of an airline flight? Part of the instructions that are given include what to do when traveling with a small child or infant. "Put your mask on first, then place a mask on the child." These instructions echo a basic lesson of life: You can't help or provide care for others unless you have first taken care of your self. What have you done recently to improve or develop a new skill?
- Grant M. Bright

High expectations are the key to everything.
- Sam Walton

If you don't have enthusiasm, you don't have anything.
- Kemmons Wilson, Sr., Founder of Holiday Inns

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
- Woodrow Wilson

The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
- John Rushkin

No one, not even you, gives one hundred-percent perfect performance every time. The business world belongs to the quick and the bold...not the perfect. It's the struggle towards perfection that counts.
- Richard S. Sloma

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle

To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state.
- Goethe

Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change, windows on the world, "lighthouses" (as a poet said) "erect in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.
- Barbara W. Tuchman

The mountain of life must have a peak, but only for those that believe that there are not more accomplishments to achieve.

Never be satisified because improvement is always possible!

Chase your passion, not your pension.

Your expected gains from any learning experience are directly proportionate to what you put into it.

A man is known by the skill he keeps.
- DR

The biggest career challenge you face today is not the competition, it's yourself!

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?
- Rabbi Hillel

You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting.

Many people go through life doing the same things over and over but expecting different results.

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
- Elie Wiesel

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
- Abraham Lincoln

The important thing in the Olympic games is not to win but to take part.
The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.
The essential thing is not that we have conquered but that we have fought well.
- Baron De Coubertin

Knowing others leads to wisdom; Knowing the self leads to Enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self calls for inner strength.
- Lao-tzu

The biggest room in the house is the room for improvement.

I discovered you never know yourself until you're tested and that you don't even know you're being tested until afterwards, and that in fact there isn't anyone giving the test except yourself.
- Marilyn French

Our strength is that we don't have any weaknesses.
Our weakness is that we don't have any real strengths.
- Frank Broyles, University of Arkansas football team on the team's prospects

The word "career" comes from the French word carriere, which originally meant "a racing course" and is related to the word "careen." As a verb, it means "to move at full speed."

We've been working on the basics because, basically, we've been having trouble with the basics.
- Bob Ojeda, L.A. Dodgers pitcher

A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.
- Mark Twain

Excellence can be attained if you:
- Care more than others think is wise
- Risk more than others think is safe
- Dream more than others think is practical
- Expect more than others think is possible

The most important relationship in your life -- the one you'll have, like it or not, until the day you die -- is with yourself.
- John Roger & Peter McWilliams

No one can predict to what heights you can soar. Even you will not know until you spread your wings.

Most people add a silent, unconsious modifying phrase to all their commitments -- 'as long as it's not uncomfortable.
- John Roger & Peter McWilliams

We must learn to tolerate discomfort in order to grow.
- John Roger & Peter McWilliams

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.
- John Roger & Peter McWilliams

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.
- Henry Ford

When people get in the habit of working on personal goals, they will automatically work on company goals.
- Danny Cox

You'll never ruin your eyes by looking on the bright side.

Most folks don't know what they want, but they're pretty sure they don't have it.
- Alfred E. Newman

It is not the circumstances, but what we think about them that determines our experience.
- Robert Kausen

If you wish to astonish the whole world, tell the simple truth.
- Rahel

The only person who needs to defend is the one who feels threatened.
- Dr. Lewis Losoncy

We must always be reaching toward our potential, not just our goals.

When you are too busy for friends, you are too busy.

Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them.

To change the situation, we have to first change ourselves. To change ourselves effectively, we have to first change our perceptions.

Don't get sunburned basking in the sunshine of your success.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
- Dolly Parton

Though they sound simple, the basic steps to knowing yourself are tough: Seek out feedback from others, reflect on what you're doing (especially when things go wrong), be honest with yourself about yourself, and don't let success go to your head.

I am no longer what I was. I will remain what I have become.
- Coco Chanel

A smile is contagious; start an epidemic.

We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.
- Anais Nin

You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.
- Zig Zigler

Improve your looks instantly -- smile.

Don't wait to have a good day. Make one.

When your head swells, your brain stops working.

She who can laugh at herself will never be without something to smile about.

If you can 't be the star, for goodness sakes, don't be the cloud.

Without self-awareness, my defense mechanisms are likely to dominate my perceptions.
- Will Schutz

Life is an echo -- what you send out comes back.

The truth will set you free... But first it might tee you off.

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.
- Kenneth Blanchard

People with humility don't think less of themselves...they just think about themselves less.
- Kenneth Blanchard

There is no right way to do a wrong thing.
- Kenneth Blanchard

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
- Stephen Covey

People don't care how much you know...until they know how much you care.

We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world is accomplished without passion.
- Georg Hegel

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Winners develop a habit of doing the things that losers don't like to do.
- Ed Foreman

Life is for laughing, loving and living.
- Ed Foreman
No situation is so bad that losing your temper won't make it worse.

Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss.

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
- John Wooden

You teach best that which you need most to learn.
- Richard Bach

Trying, even though you fail, breeds learning; wishing you had tried only breeds discontent.

Yesterday is experience. Tomorrow is hope.

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.
- Vernon Law, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher

I believe the overall quality of work improves when you give people a chance to fail.
- Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner

Success does not breed success. It breeds failure. It is failure which breed success.
- Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner

When you are clear about what you want to learn, you will find your teacher. The teacher is already there. The two of you will meet because you are looking for each other.
- W.A. Mathieu

Learning is a major problem for modern organizations. Few know how to capture the experience generated by all the ad hoc teams and networks that increasingly populate the world.
- Lipnack & Stamps

The greatest assets to constantly develop, preserve and enhance are your own capabilities.

If you want to live a long life, focus on making contributions.
- Selye

The greatest discovery of our generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
- William James

Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life - there, if one must speak out, the real man.
- Marcus Aurelius

We shall not cease from exploring, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
- T.S. Elliot

Of course we all have our limits, but how can you possibly find your boundaries unless you explore as far and as wide as you possibly can? I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have done.
- A.E. Hotchner

I am convinced that one of the biggest factors in success is the courage to undertake something.
- James A. Worsham

Only so far as a man believes strongly, mightily, can he act cheerfully, or do anything that is worth doing.
- Frederick W. Robertson

Once an organization loses its spirit of pioneering and rests on its early work, its progress stops.
- Thomas J. Watson

The child is constantly confronted with the nagging question: "What are you going to be?" Courageous would be the youngster who could look the adult squarely in the face and say, "I'm not going to BE anything; I already am." We adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark, for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active, participating and contributing member of society from birth. Childhood isn't a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation.

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
- Peter Drucker

Learning is the ultimate freedom.

Patient, heal thyself!

The more clear you are on what you want, the more power you will have.