This is an exciting month for millions of new graduates. Here are some of our favorite graduation quotes, words that might inspire an entire graduation speech ... and fill an entire graduation card! (And of course you can choose a background design and color and have any or all of these printed for framing at QuotePalettes.com!) Enjoy our quote selection, and congratulations and best wishes to all graduates and their proud families!
Things may come to those who wait. But only the things left by those who hustle. --Abraham Lincoln
God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow into them. -- Anonymous
Never complain and never explain. -- Benjamin Disraeli
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade? --Benjamin Franklin
Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. -- Buddha
It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop. -- Confucius
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one. --Elbert Hubbard
First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do. -- Epictetus
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. --George Bernard Shaw
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. -- Harriet Woods
Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness runs after you. -- James Freeman Clarke
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chance favors the prepared mind. -- Louis Pasteur
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. --May Smith
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. --Robert Brault
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. --Rumi
Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them. -- Russell H. Conwell
Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
"Undercover Boss" made Monday mornings a little less dreadful
So ended this Sunday night the first season of "Undercover Boss," a success by any measure for CBS and most of the participating companies (7-Eleven, Waste Management, White Castle, 1-800-Flowers,... even Hooters came out on top). It was a truly inspired decision putting the show on Sunday night - just when millions are dreading the thought of going back to work on Monday. Turn on the tube, and ... Surprise! ... real-life stories about bosses who listen, about everyday people like us who are recognized for their efforts and ideas. Wow, maybe there's hope for us yet! (To sleep soundly Sundays we would turn the TV off at this point. The spell was broken completely, however, once we turned the dial to NBC and Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.)
What motivates us to do our best work? Is it pride, ambition, money, passion for quality, love of the process, commitment to our team? Here are a few great quotes on what makes good work worth doing... Each one approaches the question from a different angle. Can a few choice words cure the Monday morning blues? . . .
Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. - Buddha
Things may come to those who wait. But only the things left by those who hustle. - Abraham Lincoln
Wherever you go, go with all your heart. - Confucius
The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going. - David Starr Jordan
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one. - Ellen Hubbard
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. - Hannah More
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. - Henry David Thoreau
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. - Louis Pasteur
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve. - Robert Frost
Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job. - Thomas Edison
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. - Thomas Jefferson
Gary @ Quote Palettes
What motivates us to do our best work? Is it pride, ambition, money, passion for quality, love of the process, commitment to our team? Here are a few great quotes on what makes good work worth doing... Each one approaches the question from a different angle. Can a few choice words cure the Monday morning blues? . . .
Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. - Buddha
Things may come to those who wait. But only the things left by those who hustle. - Abraham Lincoln
Wherever you go, go with all your heart. - Confucius
The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going. - David Starr Jordan
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one. - Ellen Hubbard
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. - Hannah More
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. - Henry David Thoreau
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. - Louis Pasteur
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve. - Robert Frost
Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job. - Thomas Edison
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. - Thomas Jefferson
Gary @ Quote Palettes
Saturday, February 20, 2010
What Defines You
Not far into Tiger Woods’ 13-minute apology press conference yesterday, the golfer recited a quote that goes,
“It’s not what you achieve in life that matters, it’s what you overcome.”
Good quote - says a lot about someone's character. I was curious where he got it and started searching.
Tiger may have picked up the phrase in Golf Magazine, back in May 1980, when he was reading about golfer Johnny Miller, who was quoted as saying, “I'm not much of a student, but during my slump I had taken to reading the Scriptures a good bit as well as a few pieces on philosophy and life. And I remember having read a statement that went something like this: ‘It's not what you accomplish in life, but what you overcome.’”
It’s possible Tiger kept that quote in mind since 1980, to help him through a few slumps along the way. And putting the quote in that context explains a lot. If Tiger thought character was about overcoming golf slumps, he was a disaster waiting to happen.
But perhaps Tiger remembered a more recent use of the phrase by Carlton Fisk, when the famous catcher was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
On July 23, 2000, near the end of Fisk’s speech, he said this:
“Sometimes they say, ‘It's not what you achieve in life that defines you, it's what you overcome.’ And I feel that baseball offers a lot of those lessons, because there's so much to overcome. Failure is so closely connected with success. And there would be no success, if there were no failure. So you have to understand that we are Hall of Famers, but we are not perfect.”
Tiger would sure see the wisdom in that – “we are not perfect.” Also Fisk was talking about failure, not just golf slumps (are they the same thing to these guys?). Sounds more relevant to Tiger's situation. But the words, "that defines you" caught my eye. Tiger used the words, “that matters". I think if he knew the Fisk quote, he probably would have said, “that defines you.” It’s much stronger.
Fisk of course did not coin the saying either, since he said, “Sometimes they say…” Perhaps he was a golf magazine subscriber, or a student of “philosophy and life” like Mr. Miller. Anyway, I was unable to find out who “they” were.
The quote “it’s what you overcome” doesn’t show up online until Brainyquote attributed it to Mr. Fisk in early 2001. But the website appears to have misquoted him as saying, “It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” Numerous other quote sites have republished it as such since then. If you trust the transcript of the Hall of Fame speech Fisk delivered in July 2000 the original has a lot more punch.
I hope Brainyquote fixes the Fisk listing, gives separate attribution to Mr. Miller’s version, and leaves Tiger off the quote lists altogether. This lovely quote should not hereafter be associated with overcoming a public relations disaster resulting from inexcusably bad judgment. No, this saying serves a higher purpose: it inspires us to overcome those challenges life presents that are beyond our control.
For a wonderful example of this, look no further than this article about Eunice Kennedy Shriver from the Washington Post. Her friend, paying tribute to Mrs. Shriver’s devotion to the Special Olympics, writes, “She truly believed, and she instilled in those events, the idea that it's not what you achieve in life, it's what you overcome. A morally driven and politically astute woman, she sprung open doors globally for the mentally disabled and opened minds that had too long been closed to accepting people with Down syndrome and other disabilities.”
Now that is the kind of context this quote deserves.
If any of you can solve the mystery of the origin of the saying, please let us know. In the meantime, we will give Mr. Fisk – and certainly not Mr. Woods – the credit at QuotePalettes.com.
Cheers,
Gary @ Quote Palettes
“It’s not what you achieve in life that matters, it’s what you overcome.”
Good quote - says a lot about someone's character. I was curious where he got it and started searching.
Tiger may have picked up the phrase in Golf Magazine, back in May 1980, when he was reading about golfer Johnny Miller, who was quoted as saying, “I'm not much of a student, but during my slump I had taken to reading the Scriptures a good bit as well as a few pieces on philosophy and life. And I remember having read a statement that went something like this: ‘It's not what you accomplish in life, but what you overcome.’”
It’s possible Tiger kept that quote in mind since 1980, to help him through a few slumps along the way. And putting the quote in that context explains a lot. If Tiger thought character was about overcoming golf slumps, he was a disaster waiting to happen.
But perhaps Tiger remembered a more recent use of the phrase by Carlton Fisk, when the famous catcher was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
On July 23, 2000, near the end of Fisk’s speech, he said this:
“Sometimes they say, ‘It's not what you achieve in life that defines you, it's what you overcome.’ And I feel that baseball offers a lot of those lessons, because there's so much to overcome. Failure is so closely connected with success. And there would be no success, if there were no failure. So you have to understand that we are Hall of Famers, but we are not perfect.”
Tiger would sure see the wisdom in that – “we are not perfect.” Also Fisk was talking about failure, not just golf slumps (are they the same thing to these guys?). Sounds more relevant to Tiger's situation. But the words, "that defines you" caught my eye. Tiger used the words, “that matters". I think if he knew the Fisk quote, he probably would have said, “that defines you.” It’s much stronger.
Fisk of course did not coin the saying either, since he said, “Sometimes they say…” Perhaps he was a golf magazine subscriber, or a student of “philosophy and life” like Mr. Miller. Anyway, I was unable to find out who “they” were.
The quote “it’s what you overcome” doesn’t show up online until Brainyquote attributed it to Mr. Fisk in early 2001. But the website appears to have misquoted him as saying, “It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” Numerous other quote sites have republished it as such since then. If you trust the transcript of the Hall of Fame speech Fisk delivered in July 2000 the original has a lot more punch.
I hope Brainyquote fixes the Fisk listing, gives separate attribution to Mr. Miller’s version, and leaves Tiger off the quote lists altogether. This lovely quote should not hereafter be associated with overcoming a public relations disaster resulting from inexcusably bad judgment. No, this saying serves a higher purpose: it inspires us to overcome those challenges life presents that are beyond our control.
For a wonderful example of this, look no further than this article about Eunice Kennedy Shriver from the Washington Post. Her friend, paying tribute to Mrs. Shriver’s devotion to the Special Olympics, writes, “She truly believed, and she instilled in those events, the idea that it's not what you achieve in life, it's what you overcome. A morally driven and politically astute woman, she sprung open doors globally for the mentally disabled and opened minds that had too long been closed to accepting people with Down syndrome and other disabilities.”
Now that is the kind of context this quote deserves.
If any of you can solve the mystery of the origin of the saying, please let us know. In the meantime, we will give Mr. Fisk – and certainly not Mr. Woods – the credit at QuotePalettes.com.
Cheers,
Gary @ Quote Palettes
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Motivation to start something new
Starting a new business is exciting, but overwhelming just the same. There’s a lot to manage and learn, and many expectations to fulfill. Feelings of excitement in a new endeavor are often shared with anxiety – and sometimes that can really slow you down. So how does one motivate to move forward and embrace something new?
There’s a ton of resources in the motivational, “self-help” category these days. Some of it is downright hokey and a lot of it is just a rehash of age old wisdom. There is nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9-14. But I think the value in all this is in the reminding. And in many cases you can find very practical suggestions to action. The trick, I think, is in finding the words that move you.
My latest find in the motivational category is "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. I haven’t finished yet, but in general, I can say that Ms. Rubin’s book suits my style. Rubin, a writer, wife and mom in NYC, albeit with a pretty sweet life, was going about her daily routine when she was struck by the question - Am I Happy? So began a year long effort to apply various happiness strategies to her life systematically on a monthly basis.
So, why does this book speak to me?
• First off, I agree that those with a positive outlook are not easily thwarted by obstacles. Though it may sound trite, working on happiness sounds right. It may help the rest of life flow a little easier.
• Secondly, Rubin did a lot of homework here, from Plato to Thoreau, to the great religions, as well as scientific research and current trends in positive psychology. For me, if you’re going to argue something, please back it up.
• Finally, "The Happiness Project" is a readable memoir peppered with relevant quotes (and I like quotes!) that remind one how to turn a situation. One example relates to Rubin’s frustration when her husband doesn’t pitch in with the housework (well, at least not up to her standards). Sounds silly, right? But these are the things that actually lead to arguments! Here Rubin quotes the twentieth century English writer G.K. Chesterton, “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” Yes, thank you. I am reminded. Try to keep your focus on the great things about this special person in your life. And the not so great… well, nobody’s perfect. Great words to remember if you're fussing about your own shortcomings, too!
What’s really working for me right now is a phrase from Rubin’s chapter on parenthood - “The days are long, but the years are short.” I mentioned this one in my book club the other day and there was a collective “Ahhh”. From the viewpoint of a parent, of course, it really rings true. Remember to be patient; those kids will be off before we know it. I also hear in those words a gentle reminder to move forward. Don’t dwell on the “what ifs” – time is passing. And yes, some days are really overwhelming with a lot of loose ends flying around. But that’s just life and we need to get it going while we can.
So even though it is the middle of January and not an otherwise auspicious day, today I'm posting this blog, moving forward, crossing one thing off my list... How about you? Where do you find motivation to start something new?
Victoria @ Quote Palettes ™
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu
“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln
There’s a ton of resources in the motivational, “self-help” category these days. Some of it is downright hokey and a lot of it is just a rehash of age old wisdom. There is nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9-14. But I think the value in all this is in the reminding. And in many cases you can find very practical suggestions to action. The trick, I think, is in finding the words that move you.
My latest find in the motivational category is "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. I haven’t finished yet, but in general, I can say that Ms. Rubin’s book suits my style. Rubin, a writer, wife and mom in NYC, albeit with a pretty sweet life, was going about her daily routine when she was struck by the question - Am I Happy? So began a year long effort to apply various happiness strategies to her life systematically on a monthly basis.
So, why does this book speak to me?
• First off, I agree that those with a positive outlook are not easily thwarted by obstacles. Though it may sound trite, working on happiness sounds right. It may help the rest of life flow a little easier.
• Secondly, Rubin did a lot of homework here, from Plato to Thoreau, to the great religions, as well as scientific research and current trends in positive psychology. For me, if you’re going to argue something, please back it up.
• Finally, "The Happiness Project" is a readable memoir peppered with relevant quotes (and I like quotes!) that remind one how to turn a situation. One example relates to Rubin’s frustration when her husband doesn’t pitch in with the housework (well, at least not up to her standards). Sounds silly, right? But these are the things that actually lead to arguments! Here Rubin quotes the twentieth century English writer G.K. Chesterton, “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” Yes, thank you. I am reminded. Try to keep your focus on the great things about this special person in your life. And the not so great… well, nobody’s perfect. Great words to remember if you're fussing about your own shortcomings, too!
What’s really working for me right now is a phrase from Rubin’s chapter on parenthood - “The days are long, but the years are short.” I mentioned this one in my book club the other day and there was a collective “Ahhh”. From the viewpoint of a parent, of course, it really rings true. Remember to be patient; those kids will be off before we know it. I also hear in those words a gentle reminder to move forward. Don’t dwell on the “what ifs” – time is passing. And yes, some days are really overwhelming with a lot of loose ends flying around. But that’s just life and we need to get it going while we can.
So even though it is the middle of January and not an otherwise auspicious day, today I'm posting this blog, moving forward, crossing one thing off my list... How about you? Where do you find motivation to start something new?
Victoria @ Quote Palettes ™
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu
“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln
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