Work, Excuses, Patriotism

Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
~ George Washington (1732 - 1799), letter to his niece Harriet Washington

The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.
~ Julian Barnes (Flaubert's Parrot)

fear, parental warnings, enthusiasm

Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.
~ Michael Pritchard

We are the people our parents warned us about.
~ Jimmy Buffett

Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn't taste good.
~ Lucia Capocchione, art therapist, author

What's so great about Christmas!

I remember when people used to say things like 'Merry Christmas' to
each other. Everybody said 'Merry Christmas, hey, Merry Christmas to
you, Mr. Lowenstein.' You know why? Cuz it wasn't about a religion, it
was about something as a culture that we thought was so valuable, that
we would all do it together, even if I disagreed with the religion
behind it, because it was good for ALL of us instead of just ME.
~Brad Stine

Talent, Goals, Needs

If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke.
~ Brendan Francis

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Displayed in the Lobby of the Shreveport, LA Veterans Hospital:
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might become wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given Life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers and true needs were fulfilled.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
~ Unknown Civil War Veteran

Difficulties, Truth, Money

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.
~ William Ellery Channing

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

The hand that gives is among the hand that takes. Money has no fatherland, financiers are without patriotism and without decency, their sole object is gain.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Gratitude, Obligation

Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone.
~ Gertrude Stein

For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.
~ Clarence E. Hodges

To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism.
~ G. Edward Griffin

Giving Thanks

The depth and the willingness with which we serve is a direct reflection of our gratitude.
~ Gordon T. Watts

It's a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation.
~ Roberto Benigni

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~ William Arthur Ward

Originality, Progress, Presentation

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
~ Laurence J. Peter

Lead, follow or get out of the way!
~ George S. Patton

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
~ Saint Augustine of Hippo

Wisdom, True Patriotism, Approval

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
~ Anonymous

I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: 'Our country, right or wrong!' They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and 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 (Speeches, Correspondence And Political Papers Of Carl
Schurz V5: January 30, 1889-December 27, 1898)

If your number one goal is to make sure that everyone likes and approves of you, then you risk sacrificing your uniqueness and, therefore, your excellence.
~ Anonymous

Play, Patriotism, Genius

It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain as well as in other areas of study, that childhood needs play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood.
~ Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University

You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.
~ Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Patriotism, Adjournment, Research

There are two kinds of patriotism - monarchical patriotism and republican patriotism. In the one case the government and the king may rightfully furnish you their notions of patriotism; in the other, neither the government nor the entire nation is privileged to dictate to any individual what the form of his patriotism shall be. The gospel of the monarchical patriotism is: "The King can do no wrong." We have adopted it with all its servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: "Our country, right or wrong!" We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had - the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. ~
Mark Twain

F.M. Cornford put it so well: Motions for adjournment, made less than fifteen minutes before tea-time or at any subsequent moment, are always carried.

Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research. ~ Wilson Mizner

Discontent, Riches, Attention

Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.
~ Thomas Alva Edison

The quest for riches darkens the sense of right and wrong.
~ Antiphanes, ancient Greek dramatist

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
~ Tom Peters

Learning, Moving out, Living today

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.
~ Leo Buscaglia

Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home.
~ Bill William Henry Cosby

All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
~ Dale Carnegie

My country owes me, Required of men, Play to remember

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor.
~ Herbert Hoover

A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

When kids play, they remember. They may not be aware they are learning, but they sure are aware they are having fun. When you have a good belly laugh with your siblings or parents or friends, that stays with you. And the great thing is that is comes so naturally .. .if we only let it.
~ Rebecca Krook, play facilitator for kids with disabilities

Wonder, Innovation, Happiness

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
~ Robert Fulghum

The company's most urgent task is to learn to welcome, beg for, demand - innovation from everyone.
~ Tom Peters

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.
~ Anonymous

Simplicity, Mythology, Patriots

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
~ Groucho Marx

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to
believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
~ Douglas Adams

Patriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing
for their country.
~ Bertrand Russell

Man enough, Unreasonable, Depression

My old man says when it's time to be counted, the important thing is
to be man enough to stand up.
~ Robert A. Heinlein (Between Planets)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.
~ George Bernard Shaw

A new study shows that licking the sweat off a frog can cure
depression. The down side is, the minute you stop licking, the frog
gets depressed again.
~ Jay Leno

Hunger, certain Patriots, Uniqueness

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
~ Mother Teresa

Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.
~ Henry A. Wallace

If your number one goal is to make sure that everyone likes and approves of you, then you risk sacrificing your uniqueness and, therefore, your excellence.
~ Anonymous

Leaders, Cleanliness

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the
language of the visionary and the idealist.
~ Eric Hoffer

Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted,
the leader must be doubly vigilant.
~ Colin Powell

Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.
~ P. J. O'Rourke

Lending, Patriotism, Only One You

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
~ Unknown

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.
~ Mark Twain

There is only one you... Don't you dare change just because you're outnumbered!
~ Charles Swindoll

Play, Patriotic grace, Kindness...

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
~ Plato, Greek philosopher

What we need most right now, at this moment, is a kind of patriotic grace - a grace that takes the long view, apprehends the moment we're in, comes up with ways of dealing with it, and eschews the politically cheap and manipulative. That admits affection and respect. That encourages them. That acknowledges that the small things that divide us are not worthy of the moment; that agrees that the things that can be done to ease the stresses we feel as a nation should be encouraged, while those that encourage our cohesion as a nation should be supported.
~ Peggy Noonan (Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now)

If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
~ Jerry Seinfeld

Attention, Living, Happiness

If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.
~ Isaac Newton

We are always getting ready to live, but never living.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Coaching, and Bureaucracy

Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answer.
~ Phil Dixon

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.
~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter

Doing your best, School effort, Key to failure

It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
~ Winston Churchill

School is a drill for the battle of life. If you fail in the drill you will fail in the battle.
~ Karl G. Maeser

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~ Bill Cosby

Choice, Gratitude, Intellect

You have freedom of choice, but not freedom from choice.
~ Wendell Jones

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
~ Aesop

If we find a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Patriotism, Consequences, Directing

They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king.
~ Bob Dylan

Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment — it is a result.
~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
~ George S. Patton

Disagreements, Altitude, Patriotism

We need not all agree, but if we disagree, let us not be disagreeable in our disagreements.
~ Martin R. DeHaan

It's your attitude not your aptitude that creates your altitude.
~ Nithyajeejo

Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Lessening, Leadership, Courts

Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always make you less than you are.
~ Malcolm Forbes

Leadership is action, not position.
~ Donald H. McGannon

A court is a place where what was confused before becomes more unsettled than ever.
~ Henry Waldorf Francis

Leadership, Greed, Still Waters

Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.
~ Hubert H. Humphrey

For greed, all nature is too little.
~ Seneca, Roman statesman and author

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
~ Malayan Proverb

Books, Injustice, Friends

It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good
books which are your very own.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
~ H.L. Mencken

If you're looking for friends when you need them…it's too late.
~ Mark Twain

Fun, Leaders, Boredom

To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?
~ Katharine Graham, American publisher

Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who
do the right thing.
~ Warren Bennis

I spent a year in that town, one Sunday.
~ George Burns

Thinking, New Leader, Adventure

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
rearranging their prejudices.
~ William James

A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is
dreamless, soulless and visionless ... someone's got to make a wake up
call.
~ Warren Bennis

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An
inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
~ G.K. Chesterton

Leader or Manager, Excuses, Travel, Mothers

Leaders manage change. Managers control process.
~ Unknown

It's better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
~ George Washington

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
~ St. Augustine, philosopher and theologian

When your mother asks, 'Do you want a piece of advice?' it is a mere
formality. It doesn't matter if you say yes or no. You're going to
get it anyway.
~ Erma Bombeck, American humorist (1927-1996)

One-Liner, Resentment, Enterprise

I've been in love with the same woman for 41 years. If my wife finds
out, she'll kill me.
~ Henny Youngman (1906-1998)
U.S. (English born) comedian - known as The King of the One-Liner;
stand-up routine included seldom-used violin.

Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.
~ St. Augustine

Every successful enterprise requires three men - a dreamer, a
businessman, and a son of a bitch.
~ Peter McArthur

Clarity, Discipline, Possibilities

Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.
~ Paul Saffo

Because of their size, parents may be difficult to discipline properly.
~ P. J. O'Rourke

You can do anything -- but not everything.
~ David Allen, productivity consultant

Honor, Success, Conscience

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the
reward for what he gave.
~ John Calvin Coolidge

My formula for success? Rise early, work late, strike oil.
~ J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) U.S. entrepreneur - oil billionaire and art collector; took over father's oil company in 1930 and became a billionaire by 1968

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
~ "Mahatma" Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Change, no Respect, End of the Rope

Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right.
~ Jane Goodall

I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her.
~ Rodney Dangerfield

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Dignity of Life, Determination, Beautiful Solutions

What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations.
~ Kofi Annan (1938-) Ghanaian diplomat - seventh secretary-general of
the United Nations (1997-2006); awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2001

If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don't, you will find an excuse.
~ Anonymous

When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Cup Overflowing, Healing, Creativity

It takes a steady hand to carry a full cup.
~ Anonymous

Time heals what reason cannot.
~ Seneca (5 BC-65 AD) (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Younger) Roman philosopher and statesman - a respected teacher who was eventually condemned for his high moral aims.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
~ Erich Fromm, German-American psychologist

Storms, Millionaire, Irreverence

Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
~ Stella Terrill Mann

I've never been a millionaire but I just know I'd be darling at it.
~ Dorothy Parker

I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.
~ Mark Twain

Citizen Soldier, Chemicals, Values

The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one's country.
~ George S. Patton Jr.

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital
ingredient in beer.
~ Dave Barry

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country.
~ Boy Scouts of America

Good Citizen, Education, Be Somebody

It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.
~ Aristotle (Etica Nicomaquea-Politica)

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
~ Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) U.S. journalist - editor and publisher of Forbes magazine; known for extravagant parties and colorful hobbies (hot-air ballooning and Faberge eggs).

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.
~ Jane Wagner

Spring, Creativity, Patriotism

Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'
~ Robin Williams

Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
~ Dr. E. Land

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that
it is truly worth living for in time of peace.
~ Hamilton Fish

Chance, Leadership Ideals, Future

In the fields of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared.
~ Louis Pasteur

To lead others, embody their ideals!
~ Leonid S. Sukhorukov

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of
my life there.
~ Charles Kettering

Style, principle, progress

In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Progress depends on people knowing they'll be able to profit from their ideas.
~ Deborah Neville

Lead, follow or get out of the way!
~ George S. Patton

Work, Adventure, Encouragement

Work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice and need.
~ François Marie Arouet Voltaire

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science.
~ Edwin Hubble

Encouragement is like a premium gasoline - it helps to take knocks out
of living.
~ Anonymous

To continue, Add to life, Women like...

Hit any user to continue.
~ Fuzzel Fish Administration Page

We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life.
~ William Osler

Women like silent men. They think they're listening.
~ Marcel Archard

Obfuscation, Forgiveness, Confusion

Be obscure clearly.
~ E. B. White

Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
~ Tom Peters

Good idea, Arguments, False Knowledge

If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.
~ Admiral Grace Hopper

The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a good discussion.
~ G.K. Chesterton

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Oppression, Commerce, Vision

You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.
~ Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) U.S. educator, born into slavery

Commerce is the great civilizer. We exchange ideas when we exchange fabrics.
~ Robert Green Ingersoll

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.
~ Isaac Newton