Quotable Quotes: Jim Rohn

I ran across this quote by Jim Rohn and really like it:

“If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.”

It seems to explain a lot of behavior.

Quotable Quotes: Laura Liswood

I first heard this quote by Laura Liswood in Adam Grant's audiobook "Power Moves":

"You can't be what you can't see."

When I heard this quote, I really liked it. Seeing people like you doing things you've never thought you could do opens your ideas of possibilities.

Quotable Quotes: Eleanor Roosevelt

I ran across this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

Sounds about right.

Quotable Quotes: Ralph Nader

I'm not sure where I first heard this quote by Ralph Nader: "There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship." 

Daily citizenship is not so easy to fit into daily life, so that gives pause as to where democracy will evolve.

Quotable Quotes: Professor Sam Wang

 Professor Wang is a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. He is also interested in fair election maps representation via the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and fair election cycles via the Princeton Election Consortium. I had a chance to speak with him prior to the November 2020 presidential election because I was coordinating a webinar for AlumniCorps where I volunteer as the NJ area committee co-chair. 

Anyway, the whole point of today's blog post is I asked if his organization would consider taking on an AlumniCorps fellow. I mentioned that our fellowships have minimum salary and benefit requirements, etc. We discussed a bit further, and he concluded with this pithy comment:

"One cannot say yes to everything."

It was unexpected, and it was perfectly succinct. It is an honest way to frame that the synergy isn't there just yet.

P.S. About a year later, his organization did sign on as an AlumniCorps partner!

Quotable Quotes: Henry Rollins, part 2

I wanted to revisit last week's short Henry Rollins clip where he says:

"Young person: you'll find in your life, that sometimes your great ambitions will be momentarily stymied, thwarted, marginalized, by those who were perhaps luckier, come from money, where more doors opened, where college was a given. It was not a student loan, it was something that dad paid for, to where an ease and confidence in life was almost a birthright, where for you, it was a very hard climb. You cannot let these people make you feel that you in any way have been dwarfed or outclassed. You must really go for your own and realize how short life is. You got what you got, so you got to make the most of it. You really can't spend a whole lot of time worrying about his. You really have to go for your own."

These words are powerful and a good reminder that there is always someone out there who is luckier in one or more aspects of their life, compared to you. So what? Go make the most of what you've got, and focus on yourself!

Quotable Quotes: Henry Rollins & Captain America

I first heard this quote by Henry Rollins in Ryan Holiday's book "The Obstacle is the Way" and I really like it. I found it came from a Big Think interview from September 7, 2012 (the quote starts at minute mark: 2:20, and I recommend watching the entire clip which is a little over 4 minutes):

"People are getting a little desperate. They might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being a person you don’t like. There is no better time than now to have a moral and civic backbone, to have a moral and civic true north. This is a tremendous opportunity for you, a young person, to be heroic, to be morally upstanding, to be helpful, almost Boy Scout-like, presidential, to be altruistic."

It's so important to know who you are, what you stand for, and hold steady. This reminds me of a quote by character Sharon Carter at Aunt Peggy's funeral in the movie Captain America Civil War:

"She said, compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, No. You move."

Love it.

Quotable Quotes: on power

I loved this Lord Acton quote when I first heard it because it felt like a good explanation for some personal observations:

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Except that I worried what that would mean for me if I were ever in a situation of power. Then I ran across this quote by Adam Grant in "Power Moves" and felt a lot better:

"Power doesn't necessarily corrupt. Power reveals on the outside was on the inside all along."

Lovely.

Quotable Quotes: Cinderella (2015)

"Have Courage and Be Kind," Ella's dying mother to Ella in Disney's live action Cinderella (2015). A beautiful and sad scene, and one of my favorite quotes.

Quotable Quotes: Albert Einstein

I first heard this quote by Albert Einstein in Adam Grant's excellent book "Originals," and really liked it. I shared the quote with my son, who at the time, was having difficulty with some adults in his life, and he smiled.

"Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds."

Then I discovered there was more:

"The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

Ouch.

Quotable Quotes: Ray Anderson

I first heard this quote by Ray Anderson in Dan Heath's excellent book "Upstream" and I liked it so much, I started reading Ray Anderson's book "Confessions of a Radical Industrialist:"

"Unless somebody leads, nobody will. That's axiomatic. Why not us?"

Indeed. Why not you? Why not me?

Quotable Quotes: Mary Oliver

I first heard this quote in the Coursera "Introduction to Personal Branding" MOOC (massive open online course) by Kimberley Barker of the University of Virginia (I highly recommend this course), which is a line from Mary Oliver's poem "The Summer Day."

"... Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Very inspiring. What do you plan to do?

Quotable Quotes: William Hutchison Murray

I first heard this quote by William Hutchison Murray, a Scottish mountaineer, in Ray C. Anderson's book, "Confessions of a Radical Industrialist," and I really like it:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”

Decide what you will do. Then commit. Be all in.