Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.
Quote of the Week 1 “ Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” ― misattributed to Lao Tzu
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Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.
Quote of the Week 52 “ Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” ― Leo Tolstoy , A Confession
If human beings are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.
Quote of the Week 51 “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn © Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo published in Quote.org
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Quote of the Week 50 “ Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy , Pamphlets: Translated from the Russian (1900)
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Quote of the Week 49 “ If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ― Wayne Dyer Related: “ Change your thoughts and you change your world. ” ― Norman Vincent Peale
Sometimes the moments that never happen matter the most.
Quote of the Week 48 “ Sometimes the moments that never happen matter the most.” ― Volvo (not Jaguar) Triggered by Jaguar 's recent rebranding failure. Introducing the fully electric EX90. Sometimes the moments that never happen matter the most. pic.twitter.com/hVSotYUNLD — Volvo Cars of Vestavia Hills (@volvovestavia) October 4, 2024 Volvo posted a 3 min and 46 second ad on Instagram, shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Interstellar and Oppenheimer. It goes against every single rule you can think about as a social lead. Length. Format. Over-produced. Every comment under the ad said it… pic.twitter.com/wkmghuP4ye — Guillaume Huin (@HuinGuillaume) November 21, 2024 The tag line dates back to at least 2017: Sometimes the moments that never happen matter the most. #VolvoXC60 pic.twitter.com/VTNGwu5sNJ — Volvo Cars (@volvocars) June 8, 2017
When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment, you create trust!
Quote of the Week 47 “ When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment, you create trust!” ― John C. Maxwell , “ Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently ”, p.236, 2010 When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment, you create trust. — John C. Maxwell (@TheJohnCMaxwell) October 1, 2024
Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
Quote of the Week 46 “ Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” ― Jeff Bezos
The distance between dreams and reality is called discipline.
Quote of the Week 45 “ The distance between dreams and reality is called discipline.” ― Paulo Coelho Triggered by the reflection on discipline in a recent podcast . Related: “ The distance between dreams and reality is called action. ” ― Brian Tracy “ Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment . ” ― Jim Rohn
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
Quote of the Week 44 “ Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken. ” ― Eric Jarosinski ( Nein: A Manifesto ) Triggered by the following tweet : From the #NeinManifesto . The #FailedIntellectual ’s classic guide to living in troubled times. pic.twitter.com/abh8aMV60e — Nein. (@NeinQuarterly) November 17, 2023
The comeback is always stronger than the setback.
Quote of the Week 43 “The comeback is always stronger than the setback.” ― Brian Tracy Triggered by the following tweet : the comeback is always stronger than the setback. — Mind Haste ⚡️ (@MindHaste) September 8, 2024 Same insight promoted by Brian Tracy : Don't let your setbacks define you. The comeback is always stronger than the setback. When things don't go your way or as planned, work twice as hard and prove to yourself that you can do anything. pic.twitter.com/WrSBZX8E5a — Brian Tracy (@BrianTracy) July 1, 2020
A leader is a person who has people following them, because they want to.
Quote of the Week 42 “A leader is a person who has people following them, because they want to.” ― Larry Wilson
Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything.
Quote of the Week 41 " Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything." ― Giacomo Leopardi " Kinder finden Alles im Nichts, Erwachsene finden nichts in Allem." Triggered by the use of the quote in the WDR 5 Das philosophische Radio podcast: Saskia Wendel ― Über die Hoffnung .
Go make yourself a plan and be a shining light ...
Quote of the Week 40 “Go make yourself a plan And be a shining light. Then make yourself a second plan, For neither will come right.” ― Bertolt Brecht “ Ja, mach nur einen Plan, Sei nur ein großes Licht! Und mach dann noch’nen zweiten Plan, Gehn tun sie beide nicht. ” ― Bertolt Brecht , Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens . In: Die Dreigroschenoper , Dritter Akt Alternative translation : “ Aye, make yourself a plan They need you at the top! Then make yourself a second plan Then let the whole thing drop ” Source: ' The song of the futility of all human endeavour ' (1929) More quotes on planning . Source: Spreadshirt [ LinkedIn ]
Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.
Quote of the Week 39 “Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.” ― Attributed to David Ogilvy Triggered by the use of the quote in the reference for my " Build it and they will come – I don't think so " principle . However, I could not find a primary source for the original quote . A similar quote is attributed to William Bernbach: “ A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad .” ― William Bernbach Interesting as Ogilvy and Bernbach have been described as antipodes and likened to Stones vs. Beatles : "‘ Ogilvy on Advertising ’ was the first book I read about the business. It polarised the advertising world. It was a bit like the Stones v Beatles debate. You either followed the wisdom of Bill Bernbach or you followed the wisdom of David Ogilvy . (I follow both)." [ LinkedIn ]
We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
Quote of the Week 38 "W e all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own . " ― Marcus Aurelius Triggered by the use of the quote in a Daily Stoic tweet : “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” — Marcus Aurelius — Daily Stoic (@dailystoic) October 28, 2023 [ LinkedIn ]
I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.
Quote of the Week 37 “I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” ― Antonio Gramsci *, Prison Letters Triggered by the citation of the quote in the WDR 5 podcast Das philosophische Radio , Thea Dorn: Zuversicht bewahren , 2. Sept. 2024. “ W e need to create sober, patient people, who do not despair in the face of the worst horror and who do not get excited about every little thing. Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will . ” “ Man muss nüchterne, geduldige Menschen schaffen, die nicht verzweifeln angesichts der schlimmsten Schrecken und sich nicht an jeder Dummheit begeistern. Pessimismus des Verstandes, Optimismus des Willens . ” ― Antonio Gramsci , Gefängnishefte, H. 28, §11, 2232 Related: “Optimism is true moral courage.” ― Ernest Shackleton See also: “ Optimism is just lack of information. ” ― Heiner Müller (Quote of the Week 11, 2022) Alternative view: "Pessimism is just lack of hope ." * According ...
If you're gonna burn a bridge behind you, make sure you've crossed it first.
Quote of the Week 36 “If you're gonna burn a bridge behind you, make sure you've crossed it first.” ― Quentin R. Bufogle Triggered by a recent tweet : If you're gonna burn a bridge behind you, make sure you've crossed it first. — Philosophy Of Life (@PhilOfLife_) August 29, 2024
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
Quote of the Week 35 " I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. " ― Douglas Adams " I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere I needed to be. " No, this quote is not from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . It comes from The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul , which was published in 1988. Source: Linda Curtis-Stolper Triggered by Quote of the Week 28 .
If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas.
Quote of the Week 34 “If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away.” ― Linus Pauling Source: Timespinner Press (Michael Dobson) Triggered by the use of a variant of the quote in a recent talk " Can LLMs Reason & Plan? " (slide 24) by Subbarao Kambhampati . “I get many ideas, and I throw away the bad ones.” Dear @aclmeeting Community: I was privileged to speak, and have invigorating conversations nonstop with many of you from 9AM-10:30PM today. For an old professor like me, this is pig's heaven! 🤗 Thank you for your kindness!🙏 Slides of my talk https://t.co/2iP0OwimG3 Audio… pic.twitter.com/FGAzSPEXEl — Subbarao Kambhampati (కంభంపాటి సుబ్బారావు) (@rao2z) August 13, 2024
The first step in solving a problem is admitting there is a problem to be solved.
Quote of the Week 33 " The first step in solving a problem is admitting there is a problem to be solved." ― Pete Seeger Similar quotes: "The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one." ― Will McAvoy (fictional character, TV series The Newsroom ) ― Aaron Sorkin (screenwriter of The Newsroom ) "The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist." ― Zig Ziglar Triggered by a variant of the quote in Shreyas Doshi's tweet : "The first step in fixing a problem is first admitting there’s a problem." The first step in fixing a problem is first admitting there’s a problem. In that spirit, here’s a short video summary of culture anti-patterns on Eng / PM / Design teams. (might help explain what you have seen on your team right now or on previous teams) https://t.co/IdAGe6j4ma — Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) August 8, 2024
We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack.
Quote of the Week 32 " We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack." ― Arthur Schopenhauer The quote is sometimes supplemented by "Therefore, rather than grateful, we are bitter." but I could not find a corresponding reference in the original context . "S elten bedenken wir, was wir besitzen, stets was uns fehlt." German variant - translated back from the English quote : " Wir denken selten an das, was wir haben, aber immer an das, was uns fehlt." Triggered by Quote of the Week 28 .
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Quote of the Week 31 " We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ― Will Durant (often attributed to Aristotle ) Source: THE ART OF "QUOTEMANSHIP" AND "MISQUOTEMANSHIP"
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.
Quote of the Week 30 " Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer." ― Randy Pausch , The Last Lecture Related : "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." Not triggered by Crowdstrike but applicable. Triggered by Stefan Schruff's LinkedIn post referencing Pausch's Last Lecture in 2007: Full quote : " Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer. "
Simple can be harder than complex.
Quote of the Week 29 " That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple." ― Steve Jobs [ BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998 ] Triggered by Founders podcast : #349 How Steve Jobs Kept Things Simple , 05/04/2024. See also: " Simplicity // Einfachheit ". Related: Quote of the Week 11, 2021 .