H. Jackson Brown, Jr. on Perspective

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

from Life's Little Instruction Book
compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Source: quotegarden.com

Reality TV Wisdom: Top Chef

Townhouse is like food with jazz hands.

Chef Dale Levitski
regarding the menu at Townhouse, a restaurant in Manhattan
Top Chef All-Stars, 2010, Bravo Network

Marianne Williamson on Transformation

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.

Marianne Williamson

Source: philosophy-cafe.com

Maxwell Maltz on Transformation

One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center.

Maxwell Maltz

Source: philosophy-cafe.com

Jim Rohn on Transformation

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

Jim Rohn

Source: cafe-philosophy.com

Fareed Zakaria on Resilience

The term American Dream was coined during the Great Depression. The historian James Truslow Adams published The Epic of America in 1931, in an atmosphere of even greater despair than today's. He wanted to call his book The American Dream, but his publishers objected. No one will pay $3.50 for a book about a "dream," they said. Still, Adams used the phrase so often that it entered the lexicon. The American Dream, he said, was of "a better, richer and happier life for all our citizens of every rank, which is the greatest contribution we have made to the thought and welfare of the world. That dream or hope has been present from the start. Ever since we became an independent nation, each generation has seen an uprising of ordinary Americans to save the American Dream from the forces which appear to be overwhelming it."

Today, those forces really do look overwhelming. But challenges like them have been beaten back before — and can be again.

Fareed Zakaria
How to Restore the American Dream
Time Magazine, October 21, 2010

Source: time.com

Andy Rooney on Gratitude

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney

Source: quotegarden.com

Kid Rock on Compassion

Care

Day by day my life gets colder
My ice grows thin, as I get older
Peace in pieces, bloody and bruised
I feel so helpless and confused

Cuz I hear screamin’ on the left, yellin’ on the right
I’m sittin’ in the middle, tryin’ to live my life

Cuz I can’t stop the war
Shelter homeless, feed the poor
Can’t walk on water
I can’t save your sons and daughters
I can’t change the world and make things fair
The least that I can do, the least that I can do, the least that I can do is care

I pray and pray for life’s salvation
Faith is tried and true in tribulation
Love is lost and lonely, check the news
And with these open arms I’ll wait for you

Cuz I hear screamin' on the left, yellin’ on the right
I’m sittin’ in the middle tryin’ to live my life

Cuz I can’t stop the war
Shelter homeless, feed the poor
I can’t walk on water
I can’t save your sons and daughters
I can’t change the world and make things fair
The least that I can do, the least that I can do, the least that I can do is care

For the life of me, I can’t see how the devil keeps enticing me
All you see is a felon, I know God can see what’s right in me
How I can be labeled as a villain in the first place
When the worst case scenerio is my birth place
I’m just tryin’ to keep from fallin’ victim to the murder rate
Take my life lesson convincing the adolescents
There’s a God up in heaven, sendin’ down blessins and your future ain’t brighter than your present
Quit stressin’

They’re screamin’ on the left, yellin’ on the right
While I’m sittin’ in the middle, tryin’ to live my life

Cuz I can't stop the war
Shelter homeless, feed the poor
Can’t walk on water
I can’t save your sons and daughters
I can’t change the world and make things fair
The least that I can do, the least that I can do, the least that I can do is care

Kid Rock
featuring Martina McBride and T.I.
From the album, Born Free, 2010

Source: kidrock.com

Movie Wisdom: It Happened on Fifth Avenue

Mike O'Connor: Are you accusing me of infidelity?

Mary O'Connor: You left me and married your money.

Still in love, but divorced, Mike (Charles Ruggles), the second richest man in the world, and Mary (Ann Harding) begin to argue as soon as they see each other.

It Happened on 5th Avenue
1947, Allied Artists
Written by Herbert Clyde Lewis, Frederick Stephan, Everett Freeman, and Vick Knight

A very nicely done holiday movie! - LJF

Source: imdb.com

John Lennon on Reflection

The hardest thing is facing yourself.  It's easier to shout 'Revolution!' and 'Power to the People!' than it is to look at yourself and try and find what's real inside you and what isn't; when you pull the wool over your own eyes and your own hypocrisy - that's the hardest thing.

John Lennon
Rolling Stone Magazine interview, 1980

Source: rollingstone.com

Elizabeth Edwards on Hope and Resilience

You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces -- my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel towards everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know.

Elizabeth Edwards
1949 - 2010
on facebook, December 7, 2010

Farewell and thank you.


Source: huffingtonpost.com

Linda Foor on Embracing Life

A life fully-lived is bittersweet.

Linda Foor

George Eliot on Feeling Safe

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.

George Eliot (born Mary Anne Evans), writer

Source: thinkexist.com

Albert Schweitzer on Friends

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

Albert Schweitzer

Source: quotegarden.com

Leslie Nielsen on Comedy

The important thing is in zany comedies if you can deal with the insanity it will work and be funny. But if the audience has a feeling that you are yourself aware that you are being funny, if that happens, then the chances are you won’t get any laughs.

Leslie Nielsen

Source: hecklerspray.com

Leslie Nielsen on Crisis Management

Rumack: I won't deceive you, Mr. Striker. We're running out of time.
Ted Striker: Surely there must be something you can do.
Rumack: I'm doing everything I can... and stop calling me Shirley!
 
Dr. Rumak (Leslie Nielsen) to Striker (Robert Hays) in Airplane!
 
Airplane! (1980)
Written by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

To the seriously funny Leslie Nielsen (1926 - 2010), thank you and farewell.

Source: imdb.com

Cartoon Wisdom: Spongebob Squarepants

Questions are a danger to you and a burden to others.

Mr. Krabs to Spongebob Squarepants when he questioned the health concerns of serving extra grease on food at the Krusty Krab.

Spongebob Squarepants
Greasy Buffoons
Nickelodeon Network
November 2009

Rev. James Martin on Gratitude

Thanksgiving Day is the perfect time to recall our blessings, not simply to add them to a list of things that we've seen or done; but to savor them as if they were a wonderful meal. We pause to enjoy what has happened. We stop to enjoy what we have.

Rev. James Martin
from Thanksgiving Day: Savoring Life as an Act of Gratitude To God


Source: huffingtonpost.com

Mike Greenberg on Discerning Tastes

If there's a tomato even in the vicinity of something you won't eat it.

Mike Greenberg
to Mike Golic on Mike and Mike In the Morning
ESPN, November 24, 2010

Mo'Nique on Self-Determination

You don't have to tell nobody, "I'm sorry for trying to be better."

Mo'Nique

Source: The Mo'Nique Show, BET Network

Aesop on Kindess

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop
(lived 620 BC to 560 BC)

Source: quotearts.com

Anne Grant on Transition

Grief is perhaps an unknown territory for you. You might feel both helpless and hopeless without a sense of a "map" for the journey. Confusion is the hallmark of a transition. To rebuild both your inner and outer world is a major project.

Anne Grant
Lived 1755 - 1838

Source: brainyquote.com

Sparky Anderson on Perspective

I’ve got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There’s no future in it.

George "Sparky" Anderson
1934 - 2010

Source: cincinnati.com

Thank you, Sparky.  Farewell.

Mark Scharenbroich on Choice

Stop counting crayons, just draw pictures.

Mark Scharenbroich

Source: wildthymecreative.com

Betsy Cañas Garmon on Choice

To decide is to walk facing forward with nary a crick in your neck from looking back at the crossroads. 

Betsy Cañas Garmon, artist

Source: quotegarden.com

Anthony Robbins on Choice

Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.

Anthony Robbins


Source: quotegarden.com

Sitcom Wisdom: Frasier

Roz: How could you have done that?

Frasier: Well, it was just an offhand remark, how did I know how she'd react?

Roz: She's Bebe! If you had said you liked my eyes, they would have been on your desk tomorrow in a Tiffany box!

Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) to Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) about wackadoo agent, BeBe Glazer (Harriet Sansom Harris) torpedoing a job opportunity for Roz because Frasier mentioned to BeBe he would miss Roz if she got the job.

Frasier
Roz's Turn, April 15, 1997
Written by Joe Keenan
Grub Street Productions 

Source: imdb.com

David Russell on Choice

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

David Russell, writer

Source: quotegarden.com

James Freeman Clarke on Leadership

A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.

James Freeman Clarke

Source: wisdomquotes.com

M. Scott Peck on Pressure

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.


M. Scott Peck

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Mohandas Gandhi on Discourse

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

Mohandas Gandhi

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Susan Jeffers on The Journey

As long as I continued to push out into the world, as long as I continued to stretch my capabilities, as long as I continued to take risks in making my dreams come true, I was going to experience fear.

Dr. Susan Jeffers

Source: success.com

Cus D'Amato on Fear

The hero and the coward both feel exactly the same fear, only the hero confronts his fear and converts it into fire.

Cus D’Amato
Fight Manager

Source: success.com

Jon Stewart on Paybacks

To fight back, I have prohibited my employees from describing events in esoteric terms.

Regarding NPR's decision to forbid its employees from attending the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington DC on October 30th.

Jon Stewart
on Larry King Live, CNN, October 20, 2010

Source: huffingtonpost.com

Gifford Pinchot on Renewal

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.

Gifford Pinchot
The first Chief of the United States Forest Service, 1905 - 1910

Source: thinkexist.com

The Daily Show Wisdom

Take it down a notch for America.

On the Rally to Restore Sanity on 10.30.10 in D.C.

John Stewart
The Daily Show
September 16, 2010
Comedy Central

The Daily Show Wisdom

As you can see, it is easy to get caught up in it, but why don't we hear from these 70 to 80 percenters? Well, most likely because you have shit to do.

...We are here. But we are only here until 6 because we have a sitter.

On the Rally to Restore Sanity on 10.30.10 in D.C. and why the 20% to 30% extreme always seems so prominent and loud.

Jon Stewart
The Daily Show
September 16, 2010

Thomas Jefferson on Action

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Thomas Jefferson

Source: Seeds of Success, August 10, 2010 - Vol. 3 Issue 23

John Wooden on Focus

Don’t mistake activity for achievement.

John Wooden

Source: successmagazine.com

Jerry Rice on Perspective

I'm like the guy who jumps out of a high-rise building and every floor he passes on the way down, he says, "So far so good."

Jerry Rice
San Francisco 49ers Wide Receiver and Holder of 38 NFL Records
from his Football Hall of Fame speech
August 7, 2010

Source: espn.go.com

Emmitt Smith on Definition

...Claim your inner champion. When you claim your inner champion, you will learn to see, hear and feel differently than others. So what I most want to convey here is, never, never let others define you; you define yourself.

Emmitt Smith
College All-American, Dallas Cowboys Running Back, and the NFL's All-time Leading Rusher
from his Football Hall of Fame induction speech
August 7, 2010

Source: espn.go.com

Floyd Little on Focus

Because of those that encouraged me in those early years, I am here today. So I want to encourage you, every student, every athlete, every person who will hear my voice, don't listen to the naysayer. I had plenty of those. Don't listen to those that will judge you for your rough edges. Don't focus on your weakness so you won't become a victim. Find the goodness in you that says, Yes, I can be a good student. Yes, I can be a good son and daughter. Yes, I can be a positive role model. Yes, I can, because the good in you is better than the worst in most. The choice is yours. Be the best that you can be.

Floyd Little
College All-American & Denver Broncos Running Back
from his Football Hall of Fame induction speech
August 7, 2010

Source: espn.go.com

Stephen Colbert on Expectations

34 billionaires are giving away half of their fortunes. Can't wait to check the mail tomorrow!

Stephen Colbert


Source: twitter.com/StephenAtHome

Laura Day on Crisis

When you evolve, so do your opportunities - as does your capacity for joy and success.

Laura Day
Welcome to Your Crisis
©2006, Little Brown and Company

House on Percentages

If her DNA were off by one percentage point, she'd be a dolphin.

House (Hugh Laurie) to Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps) as to whether or not a 1% dip in normal blood oxygen levels that is considered within range is a symptom of something more for a 9-year-old girl who had a hallucinogenic episode. 

House
Autopsy, 2005
Laurence Caplow
Heel & Toe Films

Og Mandino on Living

Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find ''tomorrow'' on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, ''If I had my life to live over again.'' Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

Og Mandino

Source: thinkexist.com

Agnes De Mille on Dance

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.

Agnes De Mille

Thanks to Janet Davis and all my fellow dancers (especially Donna, Judy, Shawna, and Emily) in the Flash Mob at the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce 37th Annual Music and Arts Festival.


Source: quotegarden.com

Tony Robbins on Living

Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.

Tony Robbins

Source: thinkexist.com

Leo Buscaglia on Play

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.

Leo Buscaglia

Source: thinkexist.com

Warren Buffett on Transcendence

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

Warren Buffett

Source: bellaonline.com

Martin Luther King, Jr. on Beginning

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Source: bellaonline.com

Burn Notice on Contempt

Larry (Tim Matheson): Sam....Wow. It's been a while... been a while.  You look great.

Sam (Bruce Campbell): You, too, Larry.  Very youthful.... still drinking the blood of children?

Burn Notice
Double Booked
Written by Craig S. O'Neill & Jason Tracey
USA Network, 2008

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Forgiveness

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Source: forgivenessweb.com

Malcolm Forbes on Forgiveness

Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are.

Malcolm Forbes

Source: forgivenessweb.com

Confucius on Forgiveness

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

Confucius

Source: forgivenessweb.com

Dimitri Martin on Geography

I've learned something on the road, traveling around: state shapes. The easier it is to draw the shape of the state, the harder it is to live in that state. So, if you live in a regular polygon, get the hell outta there. You gotta move to a squiggly area.

Dimitri Martin

Source: jokes.com

Carl N. Degler on America

The metaphor of the melting pot is unfortunate and misleading. A more accurate analogy would be a salad bowl, for, though the salad is an entity, the lettuce can still be distinguished from the chicory, the tomatoes from the cabbage.

Carl N. Degler

Source: thinkexist.com

Charles Francis Adams on America

The American experiment is the most tremendous and far reaching engine of social change which has ever either blessed or cursed mankind.

Charles Francis Adams

Source: quotegarden.com

Albert Camus on Freedom

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

Albert Camus

Source: quotegarden.com

George Washington on Being American

It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity, but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.

George Washington

Source: quotes.libertytree.ca

Thomas Jefferson on Responsibility

Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.

Thomas Jefferson

Source: quotes.libertytree.ca

Thomas Jefferson on Progress

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather-bed.

Thomas Jefferson

Source: quotes.libertytree.ca

Orison Swett Marden on Obstacles

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.

Orison Swett Marden

Source: thinkexist.com

Mel Robbins on Setbacks

I allow myself 24 hours to be a complete mess. I gripe. I cry. I feel insecure. I make the party that rejected me entirely in the wrong (losers!). I punch the wall. I exercise. Then, it’s out of my system and it’s over.

Mel Robbins
Step 1 on handling setbacks
From: Billionaire to Bankrupt Every Day
 
Source: success.com

Woodrow Wilson on Temperature

One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.

Woodrow Wilson


Source: thinkexist.com

Greeting Card Wisdom

Great Dads are...

Supportive. Strong. Caring. Resourceful. Encouraging. Giving. Wise. Funny. Patient. Kindhearted.

Most of all... Great Dad are Loved.

Blue Mountain Cards

For Les. When you have a child you have them forever! And, I am, even as a grown-up, blessed. Thanks, Dad!

John Wooden on Mentoring

It’s something all of us can do—recognizing our responsibility to those around us to model the actions, decisions and behaviors we know to be right.  It doesn’t have to be anything more formal than that.

John Wooden
1910 - 2010

Thank you to John Wooden for being a great coach, a great human being, and such great inspiration in a life fully lived; a man who taught us by his example. The book, Wooden: insight, inspiration, intelligence, all John Wooden.

Source: success.com

Christpher Titus on Relationships

The number 1 thing men hate: capris pants.

Christopher Titus
Love is evol
Comedy Central, 2009

Christopher Titus on Relationships

I lost 28 pounds in my divorce, because, well, that's what a soul weighs.

Christopher Titus
Love is Evol
Comedy Central, 2009

Barbara Holland on Muses

A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It's a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys.

Barbara Holland

Source: quotegarden.com

W.E.B.Du Bois on Sacrifice

The cost of liberty is less than the cost of repression.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Source: thinkexist.com

Lorraine Schneider on Peace

War is not healthy for children and other living things.

Lorraine Schneider
1966, Another Mother for Peace

Source: anothermother.org

Artist Wisdom

There is no wrong way to approach the "Vietnam Veterans Memorial" as it makes no grand statements about politics or American ideals. Its sole proposition is that the cost of war is human life.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Artist Maya Lin
Art:21
PBS

Thank you to the Sunrise Rotary in Westerville, Ohio for the 2000 American flags in the Field of Heroes and for bringing us the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall.  Never Forget.

Source: pbs.org

Carl Schurz on Patriotism

The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country -- when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."

Carl Schurz

Lived in the United States in the 1800s.

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Richard Aldington on Patriotism

Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill.

Richard Aldington

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Dwight D. Eisenhower on Peace

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Source: quotegarden.com

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit on Peace

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Indian Diplomat

The first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post.

Source: quotegarden.com

Mother Teresa on Peace

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

Source: quotegarden.com

John Paul DeJoria on Business

Have the finest quality available.  Then you are in the re-order business and not the selling business.

John Paul DeJoria
Co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems on how to have success in business

How'd You Get So Rich, TV Land

Laurence Boldt on Crisis

Our word 'crisis' comes from a Greek root meaning "to decide." A crisis often results when we fail to decide on the direction we want our lives to take, and a crisis often compels us to make the decision to commit ourselves to a new direction.

Laurence Boldt

Source: How To Find The Work You Love, (c) 1996,2004 Laurence Boldt, Peguin/Compass, p. 30

Stephen Colbert on Current Events

How do we stop the gulf oil spill?  Step 1: Think of Step 1.

Stephen Colbert
The Colbert Report
Comedy Central

LeBron James on Reslience

A friend of mine told me, 'I guess you've got to go through a lot of nightmares before you realize your dream.' That's what's going on for me individually right now.

LeBron James 

after his Cleveland Cavaliers were defeated in the NBA playoffs by the Boston Celtics.

Source: time.com

Martin Luther King, Jr. on Progress

A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
April 4, 1967

Source: hartford-twp.com

Click here to read this speech in its entirety.

Scott Memmer on Skidding

Look where you want to go, and not at what you might run into. One big mistake novice drivers make is to focus on obstacles.... Unfortunately, the human body has an invisible connection with the mind. When the mind focuses on something, the body follows. Don't do that. Instead, direct your attention to the open space next to the tree. The body -- and car -- will follow.

Scott Memmer
Here's Looking at You, Skid
Driving Tips at Edmunds.com

Source: edmunds.com

Joseph Campbell on Perspective

We're in a freefall into future. We don't know where we're going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you're going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It's a very interesting shift of perspective and that's all it is... joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes.

Joseph Campbell from Sukhavati
 
Source: goodreads.com

Joseph Campbell on Living

People say that what we're seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

Joseph Campbell

Source: sapphyr.net

Benjamin Franklin on Resolution

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

Benjamin Franklin

Source: thinkexist.com

Khalil Gibran on Character

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution.

Khalil Gibran

Source: thinkexist.com

Reality TV Wisdom: Shear Genius

I'm from Colorado, the higher the hair, the closer to God.

On modernizing a classic Dolly Parton hair design

Matthew
Shear Genius, March 24, 2010
Bravo, Reveille Productions

Tony Robbins on Change

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.

Tony Robbins

Source: twitter.com/tonyrobbins

Bill Clinton on Hindsight

I found Rahm. I created him. I made him what he is today. I am so sorry.

Bill Clinton
Regarding White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel
at the 125th annual Gridiron Club Dinner, March 20, 2010

Source: huffingtonpost.com

Reality TV Wisdom: Holmes on Homes

If I had a money tree, you already cut it down.

Homeowner Jennifer in Pasedena, CA
Regarding a conversation with her original contractor

Holmes on Homes, Pasadena 911
HGTV, Make It Right Productions

Television Rewind

As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Jim. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.

The Voice on the Tape to Jim Phelps (Peter Graves)
Mission: Impossible, 1967 - 1973
Created by Bruce Geller
 
Thank you, Peter Graves, 1926 - 2010
 
 
Source: imdb.com

Dave Barry on Housework

The obvious and fair solution to the housework problem is to let men do the housework for, say, the next six thousand years, to even things up. The trouble is that men, over the years, have developed an inflated notion of the importance of everything they do, so that before long they would turn housework into just as much of a charade as business is now. They would hire secretaries and buy computers and fly off to housework conferences in Bermuda, but they'd never clean anything.

Dave Barry

Source: quotegarden.com

Deepak Chopra on Meditation

Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It's a way of entering into the quiet that's already there—buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.

Deepak Chopra

Source: catanna.com

Andrew J. Holmes on Humility

It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.

Andrew J. Holmes
Wisdom in Small Doses, published in 1927

Source: quotegarden.com

Albert Einstein on Opportunity

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

Albert Einstein

Source: wisdomquotes.com

James Baldwin on Change

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

James Baldwin

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Hericlitus on Change

All is flux; nothing stays still.

Hericlitus

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Felix Adler on Change

We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.

Felix Adler

Source: wisdomquotes.com

Gary Vaynerchuk on Change

We are sitting where the gatekeepers are no longer in control.

Gary Vaynerchuck
of Wine Library TV at Web2.0 Expo,
Do What You Love (No Excuses), September 2008

Source: ted.com

Gary Vaynerchuk on Choices

It is not fun answering 'what wine goes with fish' seventy three times a day.

Gary Vaynerchuk
of Wine Library TV at Web2.0 Expo,
Do What You Love (No Excuses), September 2008

Source: ted.com

Abraham Lincoln on Resolve

If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.

Abraham Lincoln

With a nod to the movie, Pollyanna.

Source: thinkexist.com

Srikumar Rao on Happiness

Invest in the process, not in the outcome.

Srikumar Rao

From a great talk entitled: Plug Into Your Hard-Wired Happiness, click here to watch.

Source: ted.com

John Glenn on Progress

The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.

John Glenn

To honor the flight of Friendship 7, February 20, 1962


Source: brainyquote.com

Andy Setos on Storytelling

Storytelling is a human condition, and human nature doesn't change. People like to tell stories and they like to hear stories. And all the technology is just an enhancement of the same need to tell the story and the need to be entertained by the story. Technology facilitates that, it doesn't change it.

Andy Setos
Fox Group
The Future of TV by Mark Dawidzniak
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 31, 2010

Source: cleveland.com

Ken Robinson on Abilities

Human resources are like natural resources -- they're often buried deep.

Sir Ken Robinson
at TED2010, February 13, 2010

Source: www.twitter.com/TEDNews

Albert Einstein on Community

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

Albert Einstein


Source: altitudebranding.com

Lee Daniels on Storytelling

I'm not attracted to dark stories. I'm attracted to truth.

Lee Daniels
Director of Precious
on The Daily Show, February 11, 2010

Mark Twain on Doing

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain


Source: wisdomquotes.com

Tryon Edwards on Karma

Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.

Tryon Edwards
(Lived during the 1800s)


Source: quotegarden.com

Robert B. Parker on Mastery

"Aside from the pure pleasure of it," I said. "What are we trying to accomplish?"

"Hell," Hawk said, "you ought to know how this works. Start in, poke around, talk to people, ask questions, see what happens? I learned it from you all these years."

"It's known in forensic circles as the Spenser method," I said.

"Also known as the I don't have any idea what the fuck I'm doing," Hawk said.

"Also known as that," I said. "Nice to know you've been paying attention."

"Learning from the master," Hawk said.

Spenser and Hawk figure out what's next.

Robert B. Parker
Cold Service
©2005 G. P. Putnam & Sons, p. 164

For Spenser, Susan, Hawk, Pearl & company; for telling a great story and pulling me into that story in one sentence every time. Thank you, bless you, Robert B. Parker.

Reality TV Wisdom

Don't see my tears as weakness because it's not; I just have a soul.

Renee

Frank the Entertainer in A Basement Affair, 1.24.10
VH1 Telelvision

Reality TV Wisdom: Tough Love

We made s'mores. Nothing can go wrong when there's s'mores involved.

Liz

Tough Love 2, 1.24.10
VH1 Television

Jim Rohn on Leadership

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.

Jim Rohn


Source: thinkexist.com

Harvey S. Firestone on Resolve

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.

Harvey S. Firestone


Source: thinkexist.com

Conan O'Brien on The Journey

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

Conan O'Brien
Host, The Tonight Show
Friday, January 22, 2010
Conoco and Universal Media Studios

It was nice to see a real comedian pick up The Tonight Show where Johnny Carson left off... while it lasted. Thanks, Conan O'Brien.


Source: huffingtonpost.com

Lao Tzu on Patience

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu


Source: quotegarden.com

Martin Luther King, Jr. on Community

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?"

Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you have not taken the time to read Dr. King's I Have A Dream speech, you are missing out, so take a few minutes, click here.

Watch Dr. King's speech

Conan O'Brien on Achievement

Hosting the Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life... unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too.

Referencing the retired Jay Leno's efforts to return to an 11:35 p.m. time slot.

Conan O'Brien
Host, The Tonight Show
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Conoco and Universal Media Studios

Zig Ziglar on Time Management

Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them!

Zig Ziglar


Source: Zig Zigler Newsletter

John Oliver on Expectations

Will we get the change we forced him to promise us?

John Oliver

On Barack Obama

John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show
Comedy Central, 2009

Movie Wisdom: Shadow of the Thin Man

Lieutenant Abrams: You know that jockey Golez, the one who was caught throwing the fourth race yesterday? He was shot.

Nora Charles: My, they're strict at this track

Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell, Myrna Loy) make an inquiry of Lt. Abrams (Sam Levene) when they arrive at a race track at the same time as the police.

Shadow of the Thin Man
MGM, 1941
Screenwriters: Irving Brescher & Harry Kurnitz
Based on The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

Despair Inc. on Change

When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can become deadly projectiles.

Despair, Inc.

Source: despair.com

See the image.

Joyce Brothers on Intuition

Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.

Joyce Brothers


Source: wisdomquote.com

Proverb Wisdom

One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.

Chinese Proverb


Source: wisdomquotes.com

Carolyn Myss on Intention

Intention without action is useless.

Carolyn Myss


Pronouced 'moss.' Source: widsomquotes.com

Anatole France on Success

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Anatole France (Jacques Anatole Thibault)

Source: wisdomequotes.com

Albert Einstein on Action

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

Albert Einstein


Source: wisdomquotes.com

William James on Choices

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.

William James


Source: quotegarden.com

Jim Rohn on Action

What is easy to do is also easy not to do.

Jim Rohn


Source: success.com

Cesar Millan on Body Language

Tension holds. A smile gives.

Cesar Millan
The Dog Whisperer
Cesar Down Under
National Geographic Channel

Cesar Millan on Respect

The more you have to use physical force to control life, you lose control of life.

Cesar Millan
The Dog Whisperer
Cesar Down Under
National Geographic Channel