Thursday, July 9, 2009

Benazir Bhutto on Perception

Being nice should never be perceived as being weak. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of courtesy, manners, grace, a woman's ability to make everyone...feel at home, and it should never be construed as weakness.....

Benazir Bhutto



Source: gaia.com

George Soros on America

I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society.

George Soros


Source: brainyquote.com

Pope John Paul II on Community

... A community needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings. You, the people must git it this soul.

Pope John Paul II


Source: thinkexist.com

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Og Mandino on Success

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.

Og Mandino


Source: thinkexist.com

Og Mandino on Resiliency

Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.

Og Mandino


Source: thinkexist.com

Barack Obama on America

Today, we are called to remember not only the day our country was born – we are also called to remember the indomitable spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible.

We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known – a government of, by, and for the people.

That unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans. It is what led generations of pioneers to blaze a westward trail.

It is what led my grandparents’ generation to persevere in the face of a Depression and triumph in the face of tyranny.

It is what led generations of American workers to build an industrial economy unrivalled around the world.

It is what has always led us, as a people, not to wilt or cower at a difficult moment, but to face down any trial and rise to any challenge, understanding that each of us has a hand in writing America’s destiny.


Barack Obama

Source: whitehouse.gov

George Washington on America

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply, ...finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

George Washington


Source: thinkexist.com

George Washington on Responsibility

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

George Washington


Source: thinkexist.com

Edmund Burke on Connection

Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.

Edmund Burke


Source: thinkexist.com

Edmund Burke on Experience

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

Edmund Burke


Source: thinkexist.com

John Locke on Connection

To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.

John Locke


Source: brainyquote.com

Friday, July 3, 2009

John Locke on Perspective

What worries you, masters you.

John Locke


Source: brainyquote.com

Thomas Jefferson on Human Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

from The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
July 4, 1776
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson from June 11th - June 26th, at the age of 33

Read The Declaration of Independence in its Entirety.


Source: National Archives, Charters of Freedom

Louis Pasteur on Opportunity

In the fields of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.

Louis Pasteur
Source: The Circleby Laura Day
©2001 Tarcher Penguin, p. 56