PARENTING

Your children need your presence more than your presents.
- Jesse Jackson

PASSION 

At the Golden Globe presentations, Barbara Streisand received an award for lifetime achievement.  During her acceptance speech, she said:

Someone asked me recently if they should be an actor.  I said if you have to ask, then the answer is no!  Because the only reason to choose
that life for yourself is because you feel passionate about it.  Because you have no other choice!

Inspiration and passion usually go together.  If you are going to try to persuade others to go with you, it certainly doesn’t hurt that you’ve got very strong convictions about where you are going.  Like Columbus did, for instance, to discover the New World.  And, if you’ve got passion and conviction, you’re more likely to be inspiring.  If you’re inspired yourself and you’re passionate about something, you’re more likely to succeed at it, and you’re more likely to get others to come with you.
- Ted Turner, Television broadcasting executive

We could hardly wait to get up in the morning!
- Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871-1948), inventors

PATIENCE 

Never think that God's delays are God's denials.  Hold on; hold fast; hold out.  Patience is genius.
- Comte de Buffon

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that progress is made one step at a time.  A house is built a brick at a time.  Football games are won a play at a time.  A department store grows bigger one customer at a time.  Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments. 
- David Joseph Schwartz, writer

PATRIOTISM

Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country's, thy God's, and truth's.  Be noble and the nobleness that lies in other men—sleeping but not dead—will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
- Words carved on Union Station, Washington, D.C.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
- John F. Kennedy 

PEACE

Let nothing disturb you; let nothing frighten you.  All things are passing.  God never changes.  Patience obtains all things.  Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God.  God alone suffices.
- Saint Teresa of Avila

We must build a new world, a far better world—one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
- Harry S. Truman

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace.  When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.
- Harry S. Truman

PEOPLE

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.
- Dale Carnegie

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  When you figure out which it is, you’ll know exactly what to do.
- Michelle Ventor 

Get to know two things about a man—how he earns his money and how he spends it—and you have the clue to his character, for you have a searchlight that shows up the in-most recesses of his soul.  You know all you need to know about his standards, his motives, his driving desires, his real religion.
- Robert James McCracken, D.D. 

Show me the man, I'll tell you his philosophy.
- A German thinker

Style is the history of the man.
- Sigmund Freud 

The Ten Commandments of How To Get Along With People

1.  Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think.  Cultivate a low, persuasive voice.  How you say it often counts more than what you say.
2.  Make promises sparingly, and keep them faithfully, no matter what it costs.
3.  Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody.  Praise good work, regardless of who did it.  If criticism is needed, criticize helpfully, never spitefully.
4.  Be interested in others, their pursuits, their work, their homes and families.  Make merry with those who rejoice; with those who weep, mourn.  Let everyone you meet however humble, feel that you regard him as a person of importance.
5.  Be cheerful.  Don’t burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your minor aches and pains and small disappointments.  Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of load.
6.  Keep an open mind.  Discuss but don’t argue.  It is a mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.
7.  Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves.  Refuse to talk of another’s vices.  Discourage gossip.  It is a waste of valuable time and can be extremely destructive.
8.  Be careful of another’s feelings.  Wit and humor at the other person’s expense are rarely worth it and may hurt when least expected.
9.  Pay no attention to ill-natured remarks about you.  Remember, the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter in the world.  Simply live so that nobody will believe them.  Disordered nerves and bad digestion are a common cause of back-biting.
10.  Don’t be too anxious about the credit due you.  Do your best, and be patient.  Forget about yourself, and let others “remember.”  Success is much sweeter that way.
- Ann Landers

PERCEPTION

There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
- William Shakespeare

PERFECTION

A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one at all would find fault with what he has done.
- Cardinal Newman

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.
- Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), painter

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.
- Harriet Beeraiker

PERSISTENCE 

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 

He who would go a hundred miles should consider ninety-nine as halfway.
- Japanese Proverb

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
- Napoleon Hill 

When you are in any contest you should work as if there were—to the very last minute—a chance to lose it.  This is battle, this is politics, this is anything.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

'Tis a lesson you should heed,
            Try, try again;
If at first you don't succeed,
            Try, try again;
Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear;
            Try, try again.
- W.E. Hickson                                    

Many men fail because they quit too soon.  They lose faith when the signs are against them.  They do not have the courage to hold on, to keep fighting in spite of that which seems insurmountable.  If more of us would strike out and attempt the “impossible,” we very soon would find truth of that old saw that nothing is impossible . . . . Abolish fear and you can accomplish anything you wish.
- C.E. Welch 

It’s a rare person who doesn’t get discouraged.  Whether it happens to us or to an associate we’re trying to cheer up, the answer centers around one word: perseverance. 

The value of courage, persistence, and perseverance has rarely been illustrated more convincingly than in the life story of this man (his age appears in the column on the right):

That’s the record of Abraham Lincoln.
- Bits & Pieces

"We shall not flag or fail.  We shall go on to the end.  We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.  We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
- Winston Churchill (Speech to the House of Commons, June 4, 1940) 

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese proverb 

PERSUASION

If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
- Benjamin Franklin 

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted.  It is an old and true maxim that "a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall."  So with men.  If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.  Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.
- Abraham Lincoln

PHILOSOPHY

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

PLANNING

Every time you have a task before you, examine it carefully, take exact measure of what is expected of you.  Then make your plan and, in order to execute it properly, create for yourself a method, never improvise.
- Marshal Ferdinand Foch 

Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.
- Peter F. Drucker, management consultant and writer 

It takes just as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), U.S. First Lady and humanitarian 

POLITICS

If you want to get along, go along.
- Sam Rayburn 

Politics is another avenue, and as a businessman, you have to use every avenue available.
- Eduardo Cojuangco 

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
- Edmund Burke

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.
- Oscar Ameringer 

Most people, regardless of what ethnic group they belong to, are just looking for someone to give them a little respect.
- Carlos Moorhead, Retired Representative, of California's 27th Congressional District

People vote for folks they like.
- Carlos Moorhead, Retired Representative, of California's 27th Congressional  District

POWER

There is a homely adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
- Theodore Roosevelt 

Who controls the past controls the future.  Who controls the present controls the past.
- George Orwell

PRAYER

All things, whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
- Matthew 21:22 

Old English Prayer  

Take time to work
            - it is the price of success

Take time to think
            - it is the source of power

Take time to laugh
            - it is the music of the soul 

Do not pray for easy lives.  Pray to be stronger men.  Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.  Pray for powers equal to your tasks.  Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
- Phillips Brooks 

And the wind said: “May you be as strong as the oak, yet flexible as the birch; may you stand tall as the redwood, live gracefully as the willow; and may you always bear fruit all your days on this earth.”
- Native American Prayer

PREPAREDNESS

I will prepare and someday my chance will come.
- Abraham Lincoln

The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come.  When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin.  When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come.  Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.
- Confucius

Be prepared.
- Boy Scout motto

Train in time of peace to maintain direction at night with the aid of a luminous dial compass.  Train in difficult, trackless, wooded terrain.  War makes extremely heavy demands on the soldier's strength and nerves.  For this reason make heavy demands on your men in peacetime exercises.
- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel                                                           

"When you’re not practicing, remember, someone, somewhere is practicing and when you two meet, given roughly equal ability, he’ll win.”  I never wanted to lose because I hadn’t made the effort.  So, it has been a lifetime of work, work, work—which is, as Conrad said, “the sustaining illusion of an independent existence.”
- Bill Bradley, The Most Important Thing I Know, Lorne A. Adrain 

I’ve found in life the more you practice the better you get.  If you want something enough and work hard to get it your chances of success are much greater.
- Ted Williams 

Si vis pacem, para bellum.  (If you want peace, prepare for war.)
- Vegetius

Preparation through steady practice is the only honest avenue to achieving your potential.
- Chi Chi Rodriguez, professional golfer

He who would leap high must take a long run.
- Danish proverb

PRIORITIES

The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.
- Robert J. Mckain , writer

Learn to say "no" to the good, so you can say "yes" to the great.
- John Mason, Momentum Builders, Honor Books

Most people fail in life because they major in minor things.

PROBLEMS

Every problem you have is solvable if you are willing to become a better person.
- Nicholas Pratt

Friendly Obstacles
For every hill I’ve had to climb,
For every stone that bruised my feet,
For all the blood and sweat and grime,
For blinding storms and burning heat,
My heart sings but a grateful song—  
These are the things that made me strong.  

For all the heartaches and the tears,
For all the anguish and the pain,
For gloomy days and fruitless years,
And for the hopes that lived in vain,
I do give thanks, for now I know
These were the things that helped me grow!

‘Tis not the softer things of life,
Which stimulate our will to strive.
But bleak adversity and strife
Do most to keep our will alive.
O’er rose strewn paths the weaklings creep,
But brave hearts dare to climb the steep.
- Author Unknown, cited in Why Winners Win, Pelican Publishing Company

PROCRASTINATION  

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.  No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
- Lord Chesterfield

PROMISE

Never promise more than you can perform.
- Publilius Syrus

A promise must never be broken.
- Alexander Hamilton 

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
- Napoleon Boneparte (1769-1821)

PRUDENCE

The wise man avoids evil by anticipating it.
- Publilius Syrus 

Affairs are easier of entrance than exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.
- Aesop

A danger foreseen is half avoided.
- Thomas Fuller 

When you go to buy, use your eyes, not your ears.
- Czech proverb 

Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, taste, and learning go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet,
And mark that point where sense and dullness meet.
- Alexander Pope

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.
- Democritus 

Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy.  And bring not all the mischief you are able upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend.
- Saadi

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Cultivate ease and naturalness.  Have all your powers under command.  Take possession of yourself, as in this way only can you take possession of your audience.  If you are ill at ease, your listeners will be also.  Always speak as though there were only one person in the hall whom you had to convince.  Plead with him, argue with him, arouse him, touch him, but feel that your audience is one being whose confidence and affection you want to win.
- Charles Reade

To get people to hear what you say, speak from the head; to get people to feel what you say, speak from the heart.
- Michael Altshuler, motivational speaker

Copyright 2002 by Pratt Systems. All rights reserved worldwide.