Courage
Give us grace, O God, to do the deed which we well know cries to be done. Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the words of men’s mouths, or our own lives. Mighty causes are calling us … But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifice and death. Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we say, “I will go unto the King, and if I perish, I perish.” Amen.
W. E. B. DuBois a founder of the NAACP
The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Criticism
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden former UCLA basketball coach
The secret of success is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the five guys who haven’t made up their minds.
Casey Stengel legendary baseball manager (1891-1975)
It’s not what they say about you; it’s what they whisper.
Errol Flynn
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art of saying, “Nice doggie!” while you are looking for a rock to throw.
Unknown
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
Historian Will Durant
Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a man who’s playing golf with his boss.
Kirk Kirkpatrick
Human Nature
There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
Carl Sandburg
Man is certainly stark mad. He cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by the dozen.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Leadership
Leadership is accepting people where they are, then taking them somewhere.
C. W. Perry
Consensus is a poor substitute for leadership.
Charlotte Beers, ceo of Ogilvy & Mather worldwide ad agency
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.
Max Depree in Leadership Is an Art
The nation had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to give the roar.
Winston Churchill
Marriage
A successful marriage is one that can go from crisis to crisis with a growth in commitment.
Phil Passon
Love is an agreement on the part of two people to overestimate each other.
E. M. Cioran
The real test of my loving is not that I feel loving, but the other person feels loved by me.
Morton T. Kelsey in Companions on the Inner Way
Wisdom
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living and the other helps you make a life.
Sandra Carey
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
W. B. Yeats
1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
