Good Ideas

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”~ Maya Angelou

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. ~Albert Einstein

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. ~Winston Churchill

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ~Mohandas Gandhi

One way I like to think about humanity is that we are a cord of three strands: priorities, passions, and practices. Our priorities are our deepest convictions about the good, the right, and the beautiful. Passions are the energies that drive us to act. Practices are what we in fact do. As Christians the gospel of Jesus Christ is the source and goal of these three “p’s.” -Lee Wyatt

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~ Plato

Here’s the essence of risk management: Risk no more than you can afford to lose, and also risk enough so that a win is meaningful. If there is no such amount, don’t play. ~ Ed Seykota

In economics, things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could. ~ Rudiger Dornbusch

Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work. ~ Michael Jordan

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” –Diane Ackerman

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. ~ Michael Jordan

Mr. Market is a manic depressive with huge mood swings, and you should bet against him, not with him, particularly when he is raving. ~ Barton Biggs

“I’m in the probability business, not the forecasting business. Certainties offer very low returns, uncertainties, high returns,” -Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist

The simple absence of grains or dairy or whathaveyou in stuff you eat doesn’t make it “Paleo”. A Paleo way of life is about choosing to partake in a “nutrient-dense life”, complete with deeply nourishing food, emotionally satisfying social relationships, and genuine interaction with the natural (i.e. outside) world. Embrace the spirit of the lifestyle instead of seeking ways to work around it. Relying on a blend of dried fruit and nuts isn’t “Paleo” – it’s just overeating trail mix. -Dallas and Melissa Hartwig

To live well differs from living extravagantly: for the first comes from moderation and sufficiency and good order and propriety and frugality; but the other comes from intemperance and luxury and want of order and want of propriety. ~ Epictetus

A trend is a trend is a trend
But the question is, will it bend?
Will it alter its course
Through some unforeseen force
And come to a premature end?

~ Sir Alec Cairncross

If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, “He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.” ~ Epictetus

Howard Hendricks said, “If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow.” Teach from a full cup. Let people drink from a living stream (Josh Hunt)

Henry Ford said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty.”

“Four little words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more.” – A. Lou Vickery

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” – Aldous Huxley

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. ~ Charles Darwin

“Genius begins great works, labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. ~ Zig Ziglar

It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes. ~Robert E. Lee

Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed. ~ Lily Tomlin

Never confuse movement with action. ~ Ernest Hemingway

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein

“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price” said Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. -Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer, English philosopher

The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or a new thing in an old way. -Richard Harding Davis, journalist and author (1864-1916)

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can. -John Wesley

Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry … To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery. -George Polya, mathematician (1887-1985)

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me,” said the late Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple.

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” -John Wooden

Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)

Wealth is created in down markets and realised in up markets. – David Fuller

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. -Peter Drucker, management consultant, professor, and writer (1909-2005)

Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next. ~ Herbert Hoover

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968)

There is more to life than increasing its speed. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, and musician (1875-1965)

“The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down.” – A. Whitney Brown

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. -William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. ~ Tony Robbins.

“If you want the government to intervene domestically you’re a liberal, if you want the government to intervene abroad you’re a conservative, if you want the government to intervene both domestically and abroad you’re a moderate, and if you don’t want the government to intervene either domestically or abroad you’re an extremist.” – Joe Sobran

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stone-cutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before together. -Jacob A. Riis, journalist and social reformer (1849-1914)

“Regardless of the dollar price involved, one ounce of gold would purchase a good-quality man’s suit at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, and today.” – Peter A. Burshre

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882)

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. ~ Gandhi

The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else — we are the busiest people in the world. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” – George Orwell

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891)

“There will always be bull markets followed by bear markets followed by bull markets.” – John Templeton

Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

The right thing to do never requires any subterfuge, it is always simple and direct. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Every man’s work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680)

Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. ~ Calvin Coolidge

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. ~ Frederick Koenig

“Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.” – George Bernard Shaw

Don’t wait for the Last Judgement. It takes place every day. -Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (1913-1960)

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that you can hedge against losses, or that diversification will protect you. We live in a binary, bipolar world, and the only hedge that truly works is cash. -The Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves. -Gene Fowler, journalist and author (1890-1960)

“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” – Max Lucado

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel, theology professor (1907-1972)

Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967)

Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted. -Jules Renard, author (1864-1910)

Market prices inherently capture the mood of the most impatient among us, the urge to buy and sell being an explicit refutation of the principle of wait and see. -Michael Santoli

Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination. -Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (1889-1951)

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought — that is to be educated. -Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

“If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.” – John Templeton

It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than “try to be a little kinder.” -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body — the producers and consumers themselves. ~ Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor. -Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist (1802-1885)

“Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” Abraham Lincoln

The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others. ~ Tryon Edwards

People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. Lewis Cass

Men have slow reflexes. In general it takes several generations later for them to understand. -Stanislaw J. Lec, poet and aphorist (1909-1966)

Courage is not about being fearless; courage is about acting appropriately even when you are fearful. – Daniel Turov

“Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde

Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest”, but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.” William James

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” William James

What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are. ~ Tony Robbins

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided. ~ Tony Robbins

Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven. -Yiddish proverb

In life lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action. ~ Tony Robbins

One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underpriviliged. -Richard Hofstadter, historian (1916-1970)

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation. -Susan B. Anthony, reformer and suffragist (1820-1906)

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. ~ Lou Holtz

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. ~ Tony Robbins

“Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.” – Warren Buffett

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. -Gilda Radner -actress and comedian (1946-1989)

The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

“The person who knows how will always have a job. The person who knows why will always be his boss.” – Diane Ravitch

“No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking.” – J.P. Morgan

The world’s most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion. -Coach (CrossFit Journal)

“The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry… To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery. -George Polya, professor of mathematics (1887-1985)

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else. ~ Charles Dickens

I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often. Brian Tracy

In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)

Trading is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way (with respect to E.L. Doctorow who said this first about writing).

It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. E.L. Doctorow

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there — lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

For money you can have everything it is said. No, that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money. -Arne Garborg, writer (1851-1924)

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

A beautiful thing is never perfect. -Egyptian proverb

Success demands singleness of purpose. ~ Vince Lombardi.

Good men must not obey the laws too well. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

“I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” – Dick Clark

“Confidence grows at the rate a coconut tree grows. It falls at the rate a coconut falls.” – Montek Ahluwalia

Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price. ~ Vince Lombardi.

The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself, to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is a curious anticlimax. ~Alfred Kazin

“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.” – Bertrand Russell

Trendlines should be drawn with crayons, not sharp pencils. -reported by Larry McMiillan (Options Strategist)

Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head. -Malcom Gladwell

Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in few. – Pythagoras

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. -William G. McAdoo, lawyer and politician (1863-1941)

The first symptom of love in a young man is shyness; the first symptom in a woman, it’s boldness. -Victor Hugo, poet, novelist and dramatist (1802-1885)

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. -Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. -Frank Zappa, composer, musician, film director (1940-1993)

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

He 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 obtain. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. -Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator (1904-1991)

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. -John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. -Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist (1821-1881)

We are reformers in spring and summer; in autumn and winter we stand by the old — reformers in the morning, conservatives at night. Reform is affirmative, conservatism is negative; conservatism goes for comfort, reform for truth. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century. ~ Ron Perelman

Faithfulness lives where love is stronger than instinct. -Paul Carvel (Belgian Writer and Editor, b.1964)

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. ~ Vaclav Havel

“Genius begins great works, labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert

A child’s education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)

“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.” – Walter Lippmann

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. ~ Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987)

If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues. -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author (1803-1873)

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, thirst that is unquenchable? -Khalil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931)

Society is composed of two great classes: those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners. -Sebastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man ” Bernard Shaw

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. -St. Augustine (354-430)

“You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.” – Warren Buffett

Be not simply good; be good for something. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others? -Martin Luther King, Jr , civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

“Don’t make things simple, make them simpler.” -Albert Einstein

“What experience and history teach is this–that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” – Georg Hegel

I often feel like a naturalist in my own work, peering at the herd, looking for signs of movement following a lull, leadership and not least exhaustion after a strong run. -David Fuller

All wisdom starts by recognizing the facts. ~ Finnish president J.K. Paasikivi (1870 – 1956)

There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means – either will do – the result in the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle or sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous or young and in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are very wise you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

“Confidence grows at the rate a coconut tree grows, It falls as the rate a coconut falls.” – Montek Ahluwalia

Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Men have slow reflexes. In general it takes several generations later for them to understand. -Stanislaw J. Lec, poet and aphorist (1909-1966)

I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I give myself to it. -Rainer Maria Rilke, poet and novelist (1875-1926)

The most violent revolutions in an individuals beliefs leave most of his old order standing… New truth is always a go-between, a smoother-over of transitions. It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity. ~ William James (1906)

Only the madman is absolutely sure. -Robert Anton Wilson, novelist (1932-2007)

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves. ~ Herbert Hoover

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. -Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and author (1884-1962)

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President (1809-1865)

It is not how old you are, but how you are old. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)

Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn’t need to be saved. Nature doesn’t give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment – making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so. -Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and author (b. 1953) and William L. Rathje, archaeologist and author (b. 1945)

Each morning puts a man on trial and each evening passes judgment. -Roy L. Smith

Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good. ~ Thomas Sowell

Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967)

Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that. -Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, preacher, journalist and activist (1802-1861)

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. -Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)

The race of men, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity. -Carl Van Doren, professor, writer, and critic (1885-1950)

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. -Wilhelm Stekel, physician and psychologist (1868-1940)

The only gift is giving to the poor; / All else is exchange. -Thiruvalluvar, poet (c. 30 BCE)

Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes. ~ Zig Ziglar

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I operate on the theory that every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.” Warren Buffett

“No matter what the models say, traders are not machines guided by silicon chips; they are impressionable and imitative; they run in flocks and retreat in hordes.” – Roger Lowenstein

True remorse is never just a regret over consequences; it is a regret over motive. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)

Let your capital be simplicity and contentment. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

“A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.” – Robert Frost

Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue. -Robert Wright, author and journalist (b. 1957)

“I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” – Dick Clark

One does not advance the swimming abilities of ducks by throwing the eggs in the water. -Multatuli (pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), novelist (1820-1887)

“Bubble,” says Tim Price of PFP Wealth Management, is “how investors describe rapidly-appreciating assets when they’re not themselves already on board.”

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. -M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and author (1936-2005)

“October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain

What experience and history teach is this–that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. – Georg Hegel

We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past. -Miguel de Unamuno, writer and philosopher (1864-1936)

You cannot forget the past but you can forgive it. That’s what [Kenya’s first president Jomo] Kenyatta said after those years in detention [during British colonial rule]. It remains as part of history. But you don’t want to live in the past. Everything in life is in the future. You don’t want to continue to be buried in the past. -Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya in March 2008

Sir John Templeton, the eminent investment guru, famously observed that the key to investment success was to buy from the fearful and sell to the greedy.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

Evil is like a shadow – it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. -Shakti Gawain, teacher and author (b. 1948)

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. ~ Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745)

“No matter what the models say, traders are not machines guided by silicon chips; they are impressionable and imitative; they run in flocks and retreat in hordes.” – Roger Lowenstein

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

For money you can have everything it is said. No that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money. -Arne Garborg, writer (1851-1924)

A speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the listener. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable. John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006)

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, in Irving Good, The Scientist Speculates (1962)

It is not whether you are right or wrong that matters, but how much money you make when your right and how much you don’t lose when your wrong. ~ George Soros

Seasonality is climate, not weather. It offers general tendencies, not daily or weekly advice on what to wear or how to trade. -Michael Santoli (Barron’s 26 November 2007)

Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith.

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few. ~ Shunryu Suzuki

Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are — chaff and grain together — certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. -George Eliot (pen name of Mary
Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money. -John Henry Jowett, preacher (1864-1923)

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. -Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)

What is the basis of all these forecasts……? The acting principle behind the tabulations is hope. Everybody desires that prosperity should continue and increase….. We are a childish people; we like to be told what we want to believe. But are these forecasts really as searching as they sound? After laboring over a number of them one curious thought emerges and perhaps only in one case is it recognized distinctly by the forecaster. This is that nobody takes a long view. ~ William Peter Hamilton: The Wall Street Journal, January 1929.

It’s not whether you are right or wrong that matters, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you don’t lose when you’re wrong. ~ George Soros

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from that of their social environment. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

If you want something really important to be done you must not merely satisfy the reason, you must move the heart also. -Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

The best work is done with the heart breaking, or overflowing. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

The average man’s IQ is 107. The average brown trout’s IQ is 4. So why can’t a man catch a brown trout?” Sporting equipment ad

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

Lots of people think they’re charitable if they give away their old clothes and things they don’t want. It isn’t charity to give away things you want to get rid of and it isn’t a sacrifice to do things you don’t mind doing. -Myrtle Reed, author (1874-1911)

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end. – Carl Bard

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. -John Wooden, sports coach (1910- )

Those who know it best, love it least, because they have been disappointed most.

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. -Faith Baldwin, novelist (1893-1978)

History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins, editor and author (1915-1990)

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

An innovation, to be effective, has to be simple and it has to be focused. It should do only one thing; otherwise it confuses. If it is not simple, it won’t work. … All effective innovations are breathtakingly simple. Indeed, the greatest praise an innovation can receive is for people to say, ‘This is obvious. Why didn’t I think of it?’ -Peter F. Drucker,

The butterfly counts not years but moments and has time enough. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941)

The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy. -Florence Scovel Shinn, writer, artist and teacher (1871-1940)

He who would be a leader must be a bridge. -Welsh proverb

Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit. Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard (1868-1930)

Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, “Lighthouses” as the poet said “erected in the sea of time.” They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print. -Arthur Schopenhauer , philosopher (1788-1860)

If you have the same ideas as everybody else but have them one week earlier than everyone else then you will be hailed as a visionary. But if you have
them five years earlier you will be named a lunatic. -Barry Jones, politician, author (1932- )

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

At times it may be necessary to temporarily accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (1901-1978)

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. -Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator (1904-1991)

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Money is human happiness in the abstract: he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes his heart entirely to money. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

Whenever people say ‘We mustn’t be sentimental,’ you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add ‘We must be realistic,’ they mean they are going to make money out of it. -Brigid Brophy, writer (1929-1995)

Some people change when they see the light, others when they feel the heat. -Caroline Schoeder

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. -George Baker (1877-1965)

We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. -William Arthur Ward, college administrator, writer (1921-1994)

As investors, it seldom pays to bet on the extreme possibilities. -David Fuller, Market Commentator (about 1942- )

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)

A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity. -Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and writer (1884-1962)

“The best advice I ever got was from an elephant trainer in the jungle outside Bangalore. I was doing a hike through the jungle as a tourist. I saw these large elephants tethered to a small stake. I asked him, ‘How can you keep such a large elephant tied to such a small stake?’ He said, ‘When the elephants are small, they try to pull out the stake, and they fail. When they grow large, they never try to pull out the stake again.’ That parable reminds me that we have to go for what we think we’re fully capable of, not limit ourselves by what we’ve been in the past.” Paul Vivek, quoted in “The Best Advice I Ever Got,” Fortune, March 21, 2005, p. 100.

The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions. -James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891)

Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love truth. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don’t. -Frank A. Clark, writer (1911- )

News is what people want to keep hidden; everything else is publicity. -Bill Moyers, journalist (1934- )

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. -Frank A. Clark, writer (1911- )

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results. -Milton Friedman, economist, Novel laureate (1912- )

The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself. -Archibald MacLeish, poet and librarian (1892-1982)

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. -Maya Angelou, poet (1928- )

Testing can show the presence of errors, but not their absence. -Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist (1930-2002)

What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939)

The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely. -Lorraine Hansberry, playwright and painter (1930-1965)

It takes a certain maturity of mind to accept that nature works as steadily in rust as in rose petals. -Esther Warner Dendel, writer and artist (1910-2002)

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.” Letter to Mandell Creighton, 1887 – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.” Letter to Mary Gladstone, 1881 – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.” Lecture, February 26, 1877 – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority.” – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.” – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.” – Lord Acton. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, First Baron Acton of Aldenham

“We need to learn to distinguish between the really significant, the fundamental and the unnecessary and to turn away from that vast number of things which block our mind and which distract us from the most essential.” Albert Einstein

Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. -Arnold Toynbee, historian (1889-1975)

“You can’t guarantee success; but you can deserve it.” George Washington

“The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.” Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” An Ideal Husband, 1893 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“I can resist anything but temptation.” Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act I, 1892 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“Only the shallow know themselves.” Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young, 1882 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has the right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.” The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” The Importance of Being Earnest, Act I, 1895 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. -Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)

If moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral. -Samuel P. Ginder, US navy captain

Don’t judge men’s wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance. -Benjamin
Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or
any other kind of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or
goals are in doubt. -Robert T. Pirsig, author and philosopher (1928- )

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -Ernest
Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961)

“he is rich not who possesses more but who wants less”.”

“He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.”
Benjamin Franklin

“The man who dies rich dies disgraced.”
Andrew Carnegie

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the
religion of solitude. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
— Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
— Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

One kind word can warm three winter months.
–Japanese proverb

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
— Henry Adams, historian and teacher (1838-1918)

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
— Mark Twain, writer (1835-1910)

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
–Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (1929-1945)

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy,
practice compassion.
— Dalai Lama

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
— Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.
— Edward Bulwer-Lytton, writer (1803-1873)

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
— Margaret Mead, anthropologist

Because we don’t understand the brain very well we’re constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (What else could it be?) And I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and now, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer. -John R. Searle, philosophy professor (1932- )

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel, theology professor (1907-1972)

I don’t hate my enemies. After all, I made ’em. -Red Skelton, comedian (1913-1997)

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

An open mind is a prerequisite to an open heart. -Robert M. Sapolsky, neuroscientist and author (1957- )

The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can’t change your mind, because God sure isn’t going to change His. -Roger Ebert, film-critic (1942- )

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

It does not require many words to speak the truth. -Chief Joseph, native American leader (1840-1904)

People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actual fools. -Alice Walker, writer (1944- )

War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn’t any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone’s being worse off. -Karl Kraus, writer (1874-1936)

It came to me that reform should begin at home, and since that day I have not had time to remake the world. -Will Durant, historian (1885-1981)

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. -Robert Quillen, journalist and cartoonist (1887-1948)

You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -Anne Lamott, writer (1954- )

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. -Herbert Alexander Simon, economist, Nobel laureate (1916-2001)

“It is risky for the guru ever to admit error, for then his all-important aura of absolute self-confidence and infallibility will have begun to slip. The idea is to reinterpret for the faithful what had previously seemed to be clear and unmistakable language; a ‘day’ has simply become an eon or two. The key point is that, with any guru worth his salt, there is no way to ever prove him wrong.” – Murray Rothbard, August 1984

You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes. -Moses ben Maimon, philosopher (1135-1204)

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. -Rene Descartes, philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650)

The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change. -Richard Bach, writer (1936- )

Once you label me you negate me. -Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher (1813-1855)

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