“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” - Jack Kerouac

Just read this, and thought it was worthwhile to reflect:

How can a 6 foot tall man drown in a pond with an average water level of 2 feet? Why, because you are talking about averages — there might still be areas of the pond where the water could be eight feet deep.

“Any schoolboy’s hindsight is better than the President’s foresight.”   - President Harry Truman

Here is a recent comment from US Presidential candidate John McCain about leadership and management. " … You can hire managers all the time, people who do the mechanics, people who implement politicies, people who are good with assets.  leadership is people who inspire…"

Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny……………..Frances Willard.

i think one’s feelings aste themselves in words; they aought all to be distilled into action which brings results ………………Florence Nightingale

Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before taking action.  Twice owuld have been enough. ….. Confucius

The haves and have-nots can often be said to be traced back to the dids, and the did-nots….. D.O. Flynn

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work the more I have of it…. Thomas Jefferson

My mother said, ‘ YOu won’t amount to anything because you procrastinate.”  i said, “Just Wait”.  ….. Judy Tenuta

Taken from Thoughts on the Business of Life by Lydia Forbes…. Forbes Asia Jan 28, 2008.

Two quotes caught my eye over the holidays:

- In starting a business, we should start small.  But in whatever we do, we should not stay small-minded.

- There are only two things we can give to our schildren. — One is roots.  the other is wings.

Cicero, more than 2,000 years ago, declared that there are six fatal mistakes of man:

1. The delusion tha tpersonal gain is made by crushing others.
2. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying.
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

It does seem that 2,000 years have passed, and these observations are as valid as ever.

Here’s two quotes a friend just emailed. It tells us not to live on yesterday, or tomorrow.
Grasp today…

—————————–
when you keep saying you are busy, then you are never free.
When you keep saying you have no time, then you will never have time.
When you keep saying that you will do it tomorrow,
then your tomorrow will never come…

—————————
First, I was dying to finish my high school and start college.
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.
Then I was dying to marry and have children.
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could go back to work.
But then i was dying to retire.
And now I’m dying …. and suddenly I realized I forgot to live.

from Pravsworld.com - inspiring you for a better tomorrow.

As Asians, which notably has a longer history over Westerns, ( and not having much on the present compared to them), we have always been encouraged to looked back at our long and distinguished history as the source of pride and ‘learning’.  There has always been an emphasis on understanding who ‘we’ are.

I was going over Newsweek Sept 24, when 2 quotes ( seemingly paradoxical) was put in the same page.  One was by Winston Churchill which quotes. ” The further backward you look, the further forward you can see.”

The other was by Alan Agreenspan who enthused, ” If you try to preserve the past, you will not be able to produce the future.”

The longer it takes you to become successful, the harder it will be for somebody else to take it away from you.