Category Archives: Quotes

Momentum Creates the Ability to Seize Opportunity

Keep yourself as busy as possible.  Good opportunities are going to come up along side you.  It’s a lot easier to steer into one when you’re already moving than it is to try to catch up to one when you’re … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Quotes, Self-Improvement | 3 Comments

Superiority

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway

Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Quotes, Relationships | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Declare Victory or Failure

Whenever you start a project, you should have a plan for finishing it. One outcome is to declare victory, to find that moment when you have satisfied your objectives and reached a goal. The other outcome, which feels like a … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Choice, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Leading, Quotes | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. –Stephen Hawking

Posted in Choice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Of Studies

Sir Francis Bacon was a true Renaissance man.  A lawyer, statesman, an educator, a philosopher, and perhaps the first modern scientist, Bacon is also accused of authoring some or all of Shakespeare’s works.  This fringe theory fits well because of … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Quotes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On Marriage

From Ronald Regan to his son Mike, via Letters of Note: Dear Mike: Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won’t. You’ve heard all the jokes that have … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Quotes, Relationships, Self-Improvement | Tagged , | Leave a comment

On Plagiarism

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing. – Salvador Dali Or, as Mark Twain explains in more fervent prose: Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that ‘plagiarism’ farce! As if there … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Quotes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Earning Trust

Where does trust come from? Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects. We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Leading, Quotes, Relationships, Seth Godin | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Magic Bullets

From an ESPN piece on Ryan Lochte, who is looking to spoil Michael Phelps’ final Olympics next month: “I’m not the most talented swimmer,” Lochte adds. “So I try to outwork everyone else.” It’s Sunday. A day of rest. The … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Psychology, Quotes, Self-Improvement, Tips | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Good Point

The only Powerpoint advice you need, from Seth Godin, reproduced in part here, in case a meteor hits his server and this gem is lost forever: Communication is about getting others to adopt your point of view, to help them … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Aesthetics, Business, Creativity, Marketing, Persuasion, Quotes, Relationships, Seth Godin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On Character

In Britain, it’s a crime to display a sign that is “threatening or abusive or insulting” with the intent to provoke “distress”, even if that sign is displayed in your own window.  The local constabulary explained that citizens, “in the … Continue reading

Posted in Choice, Food For Thought, Law, Psychology, Quotes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Freedom

The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Choice, Diet, Food For Thought, Quotes, Rationality | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sell Before You Build

Derek Sivers describes a marketing genius’ approach to writing: Marketing guru Jay Abraham, in the pre-internet days, would run classified ads in newspapers and magazines. If he wanted to write a book about something, he’d run a classified ad, taking … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Marketing, Quotes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Being Smarter Doesn’t Mean You Make Better Decisions

In fact, being smarter might actually lead you to make worse decisions. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and his scientists measured students on four different points of “cognitive sophistication”.  All four of those measurements were positively correlated with intelligence, meaning that the “more cognitively … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Psychology, Quotes, Rationality | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spin

[Tom Sawyer] had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. – … Continue reading

Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Inspiration, Marketing, Negotiation, Psychology, Quotes, Rationality | Tagged , , | Leave a comment