47. Worry

 

 

If you can’t sleep, get up and do something.

It’s the worry that gets you,

not missing out on sleep.

 

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer

 

 

This is the night

that makes me or breaks me.

 

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Othello act 5, scene 1

 

 

When a thing cannot be changed,

I cannot worry about it.

 

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Richard II act 2, scene 3

 

 

A little water is an ocean to an ant.

 

Afghan proverb

 

 

Worries go down better with soup than without.

 

Jewish proverb

 

 

I'm happy tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), speech in Memphis, April 3,

1968, the day before he was assassinated

 

 

 

48. Leaders and Followers

 

 

God said, “Who will I send?”

And, “Who will go for me?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me.”

 

The Bible, Isaiah 6:8

 

 

Son of man, I have made you a watchman

to the house of Israel.

So give them warning from me.

 

The Bible, Ezekiel 3:17

 

 

The hour is come, but not the man.

 

Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish poet, lawyer, and novellist

The Heart of Midlothian (1818), chapter 4

 

 

He is gone,

but his shadow still stands over all of us.

It still tells us what to do

and we, very often, obey.

 

Svetlana Alliluyeva (1926), daughter of Russian Premier Josef Stalin

 

 

I am not afraid of an army of lions

led by a sheep.

I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

 

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedon

 

 

Do not try to fight a lion

if you are not one yourself.

 

African proverb

 

 

The king must be a fox,

to understand the tricks that go with his job;

and a lion, to make the wolves afraid.

 

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian writer, historian & philosopher,

The Prince (1513), chapter 18

 

 

Whenever death may surprise us,

let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached

even one open ear and another hand

reaches out to take up our arms.

 

Che Guevara (1928-1967), Argentine revolutionary, doctor, and author

 

 

Hundreds can talk, for one who can think,

and thousands can think for one who can see.

To see clearly is music, prophecy and religion,

all in one.

 

John Ruskin (1819-1900), English art critic and philanthropist

 

 

In life you are either a passenger or a pilot...

it is your choice.

 

Author unknown

 

 

An expert is just someone who knows some of

the worst mistakes that can be made in his

subject and is able to not make them.

 

Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), German physicist

 

 

Do not follow where the path may lead.

Go instead to where there is no path

and make one.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

 

 

When you’re a team of one,

you’re always the leader.

 

Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata,

Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

 

 

If you don’t run your own life...

someone else will.

 

John Atkinson (details unknown)

 

 

Action springs not from thought,

but from being ready to take responsibility.

 

Dietrich Bonhoffer (1906-1945), German Lutheran theologian

who was executed for planning to assassinate Adolf Hitler

 

 

The art of leading is in saying no, not yes.

It is very easy to say yes.

 

Tony Blair (1953- ), British Prime Minister from 1997-2007

 

 

The key to being a good manager

is keeping the people who hate me

away from those who are still not sure.

 

Casey Stengel (1890-1975), American baseball manager

 

 

How fast the boss goes

is how fast the team goes.

 

Lee Iacocca (1924- ), American businessman

 

 

Don’t put the cart before the horse.

 

Author unknown

 

 

I’d rather be a hammer than a nail.

 

Paul Simon (1941- ), American singer-songwriter

 

 

If you can’t take the heat,

stay out of the kitchen.

 

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), 33rd President of the United States

 

 

 

49. Wise Choices

 

 

There is a choice you have to make,

in everything you do.

And you must always keep in mind

the choice you make, makes you.

 

John Wooden (1910-2010), American basketball player and coach

 

 

Right timing is in all things

the most important point.

 

Hesiod (~700 BC), Greek poet, Works and Days

 

 

You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

John Heywood (c. 1497-c. 1580), English writer

 

 

We know what happens to people

who stay in the middle of the road.

They get run down.

 

Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960), English politician, Observer, 6 Dec., 1953

 

 

All you get from riding the fence

is a sore middle.

 

Anonymous

 

 

Two roads divided in the yellow forest,

and I – I took the one less travelled.

That has made all the difference.

 

Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, The Road Not Taken

 

 

To each man and country

comes the time to choose.

 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic,

and diplomat, The Present Crisis (1845)

 

 

We can believe what we choose,

but we must also answer for what we choose.

 

Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), 27June, 1848, in C.S. Dessain (ed.),

Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, volume 12 (1962)

 

 

I think... and because of this I am.

 

René Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher and writer,

Le Discours de la méthode (1637), part 1

 

 

A true philosopher is like an elephant;

he never puts the second foot down

until the first one is solidly in place.

 

Fontenelle (1657-1757), French author

 

 

What is your job in philosophy?

To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.

 

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian philosopher

and Cambridge professor from 1939-1947

 

 

 

50. Little Things

 

 

Size isn’t everything.

 

Author unknown

 

 

There’s nothing wrong with staying small.

You can do big things with a small team.

 

Jason Fried, co-founder of 37 Signals, a web design company;

keynote speech, SXSW, 2006

 

 

Never use a cannon to kill a fly.

 

Confucius (551 BC- 459 BC), Chinese philosopher

 

 

The person who moves a mountain

begins by carrying away small stones.

 

Chinese proverb

 

 

A trip of a thousand miles

begins with a single step.

 

Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)

 

 

Tall trees grow from little seeds.

 

David Everett (1769-1813),

‘Lines Written for a School Declamation’ (aged 7)

 

 

Little actions that you do

are better than big actions

that you plan to do.

 

Peter Marshall (1902-1949), twice chaplain of the U.S. Senate

 

 

How we spend our days

is how we spend our lives.

 

Annie Dillard (1945- ), Pullitzer Prize winning American author

 

 

Every day is a letter from God.

 

Russian proverb

 

 

One should count each day a separate life.

 

Seneca (5 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

 

 

Take time for the little things,

for one day you may look back

and see that they were the big things.

 

Robert Brault, American free-lance writer

 

 

If you can’t do great things,

do small things in a great way.

 

Napolean Hill (1883-1970), one of the first American success writers

 

 

Nothing is more simple than to be great.

The truth is that to be simple is to be great.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

 

 

Life was always made to be simple,

but never made to be easy.

 

Author unknown

 

 

Only those who have the patience

to do simple things perfectly

will get the ability to do difficult things easily.

 

Johann Schiller (1759-1805), German writer and historian

 

 

He that is faithful in that which is least

will be faithful also in much.

 

The Bible, Luke 16:10

 

 

Teach yourself to listen to that small voice

that tells you what is important and what is not.

 

Sue Grafton (1940- ), American detective story writer

 

 

There is little difference in people,

but that little difference makes a big difference.

The little difference is attitude.

The big difference is whether it is

positive or negative.

 

Clement Stone, (1902-2002), American businessman & philanthropist

 

 

 

51. Being Different

 

 

We may have all come on different ships,

but we are in the same boat now.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Baptist minister and leader of the

African-American civil rights movement

 

 

People can be quite cold to those

whose eyes see the world differently.

 

Eric A. Burns (1947- ), American author, broadcast journalist

and media critic

 

 

We do not judge the people we love.

 

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French writer, philosopher and activist

 

 

Go ahead. Fall down.

The world looks different from the ground.

 

Oprah Winfrey (1954- ), African-American talk show host, actress,

media proprietor, and philanthropist

 

 

It is because we are different

that each of us is special.

 

Brian Dyson, American author and former CEO of Coca-Cola

 

 

It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white,

as long as it catches mice.

 

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), former leader

of the Communist Party of China

 

 

 

52. Beauty

 

 

When something doesn't seem to be beautiful,

I ask myself why do I think it's not beautiful, and

very shortly I learn that there is no reason.

 

John Cage (1912-1992), American poet, artist, and music composer

 

 

Do not read beauty magazines.

They only make you feel ugly.

 

Mary Schmich (1953- ), American newspaper columnist

 

 

The key to finding beauty is to know where to look.

 

Seigfried and Roy (1939- )(1944- ), German-American entertainers

 

 

If you build love on good looks,

it will die as quickly as the good looks die.

 

John Donne (1572-1631), Elegies ‘The Anagram’ (c. 1595)

 

 

No beauty she does miss,

when all her robes are on;

But beauty’s self she is,

when all her robes are gone.

 

Francis Davison (ed.), Poetical Rhapsody (1602)

 

 

Beautiful actions are better

than beautiful bodies.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

 

 

 

53. Entertainment and Sports

 

 

One day they may tell you you will not go far,

That night you open and there you are.

Next day on your dressing room

They hang a star!

Let’s go on with the show!

 

Irving Berlin (1888-1989), Jewish-American composer and lyricist

 

 

I never expected life to do anything special for me,

yet I seemed to do more than I had ever hoped for.

Most of the time it just happened.

 

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American actress and humanitarian

 

 

There’s no business like show business.

 

Irving Berlin (1888-1989), Jewish-American composer and lyricist

 

 

I had the radio on.

 

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), American actress and sex symbol, when

asked if she really had nothing on in her famous calendar photograph

 

 

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his

life to become well known, and then wears dark

glasses to stop people from knowing who he is.

 

Fred Allen (1894-1956), American comedian

 

 

I hate television as much as I hate peanuts;

but I can't stop eating peanuts.

 

Orson Welles (1915-1985), American actor, screenwriter, film director

 

 

Give them bread and circuses.

 

Juvenal (55-127 AD), Roman poet and satirist,

telling how to keep the people from warring against the King

 

 

Talk about being good

and they pass by in crowds.

Whistle and dance and shake,

and you’ve got a crowd of listeners.

 

Diogenes the Cynic (c. 410 BC-323 BC), Greek philosopher

 

 

You’d be surprised how much it costs

to make me look this cheap!

 

Dolly Parton (1946- ), American country music singer, author, songerwriter,

multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist

 

 

I grew up with six brothers. That’s how I

learned to dance - waiting for the toilet.

 

Bob Hope (1903-2003), American comedian and actor

 

 

Never give a party

if you will be the most interesting person there.

 

Mickey Friedman, details not known

 

 

At a dinner party

one should eat wisely but not too well,

and talk well but not too wisely.

 

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), English playwright and novellist

 

 

The hardest thing about tennis is that no matter

how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.

 

Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005), American comedian

 

 

Whoever said, “It’s not whether you win or lose

that counts,” probably lost!

 

Martina Navratilova (1956- ), Czech tennis player

 

 

Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.

 

Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), American football coach

 

 

I never quit trying;

I never felt

that I didn’t have a chance to win.

 

Arnold Palmer (1929- )

American pro golfer

 

 

Fame is a food

that dead men eat.

I have no stomach

for such meat.

 

Henry Austin Dobson

 

 

Life is dangerous. You can get hurt.

But people die in plane crashes,

lose their arms and legs in car accidents;

people die every day. Same with fighters:

some die, some get hurt, some go on.

You just don’t let yourself believe

it will happen to you.

 

Muhammad Ali (1942- ), American boxer, philanthropist, and activist

 

 

One day the sports coach pointed at four boys,

and told us to run in a race.

I said that I was weak and not able to run,

but the coach sent me to the doctor,

who said that I was perfectly well.

So I had to run.

When I got started I felt I wanted to win;

but I only came in second.

That was the way it started.

 

Emil Zatopek, Olympic marathon champion

 

 

The fight is won or lost behind the lines,

out there on the road,

long before I dance under those lights.

 

Muhammad Ali (1942- ), American boxer, philanthropist, and activist

 

 

You miss all of the shots you never take.

 

Wayne Gretzky (1962- ) Canadian ice hockey player and coach

 

 

The best defense is a good offense.

 

Jack Dempsey (1895-1983), American heavyweight boxer

 

 

Build up your weaknesses

until they become your strong points.

 

Knute Rockne (1888-1931), American football player and coach

 

 

 

54. The Law and Lawyers

 

 

Wise people,

though all laws were done away with,

would still lead the same life.

 

Aristophanes (446-386 BC), Greek comedic playwright

 

 

The law is equal for all;

so it stops the rich as well as the poor...

from sleeping under bridges,

begging in the streets, and robbing bread.

 

Anatole France (1844-1924), The Red Lily, 1894, chapter 7

 

 

Laws are spider webs through which

the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.

 

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)

 

 

Every law is opposite to liberty.

 

Jeremy Bentham

 

 

Laws are like sausages.

It's better not to see them being made.

 

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)

 

 

The great can protect themselves;

but the poor and humble

need the arm and shield of the law.

 

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), in 1821

 

 

The rest day rule was made for man,

and not man for the rest day.

 

Jesus Christ, Mark 2:27

 

 

Punishment is not about hitting back,

but about changing criminals

and making less crime.

 

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), Quaker prison reformer and philanthropist

 

 

Reason is the life of the law.

No, the law itself is nothing else but reason.

 

Edward Coke

 

 

I've knowingly helped a number of guilty men.

But what they must pay me

is punishment enough for anyone.

 

Lee Bailey, lawyer

 

 

A lawyer will do anything to win.

Sometimes he will even tell the truth.

 

Patrick Murray (1956- ), English screen actor

 

 

To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face four ways

in court, to win men forgiveness.