Great Throughts Treasury

"Knowledge. Facts are cheap, information is plentiful?knowledge is precious."

"Leaders are readers. It does not follow that all readers are leaders, but today, all leaders must be readers. Reading can be a powerful catalyst for thinking; it has the potential for stimulating wisdom."

"Learning goes both ways. I can learn as much from my children as I can teach them. Probably more."

"Learning. No one?s ever argued with me when I?ve quoted Bucky Fuller who said, "You can?t learn less.""

"Life is short. When you?re a kid, time flies when you?re having fun. When you get older, time flies whether you?re having fun or not."

"Making demands. If you ask something of someone and you are upset over his or her response, then it wasn't a request, it was a demand."

"Marriage. The decision to marry and the person you choose to marry is probably the most important decision you will make in your entire life."

"Life isn?t fair. I?ve said it to myself and my kids have said it hundreds of times. I always agreed with them. I only wish I?d had this answer for them: Life ISN?T fair?it?s fantastic."

"Mastery is putting it all together. One who works with his hands is a laborer; one who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; one who works with his hands, his head and his heart is a master."

"Never give up. Perceived failure is oftentimes success trying to be born in a bigger way. This maxim kept me going in some of my darkest hours and it has proved to be true."

"Nolo Illegitimi Carborundum. Translation: don?t let the bastards get you down. Everything sounds more profound if it?s in Latin. Listen to your heart?not the fears, jealousies and limiting beliefs of others."

"Old dreams never die; they just get filed away. So often people tell me that they don?t have any dreams. What it usually means is that they have either not paid attention to them or they have put them so far out of mind, they cannot recall them easily. But they can."

"Money?s good. Money isn?t everything but it sure beats NO money. Money?s not evil, it?s the LOVE of money that?s evil. Use money and love people?never the other way around."

"Our job is to decide; the Universe's job is to provide. The mere act of getting clear on what we want initiates a whole string of events, circumstances and ideas that never would have happened had we not decided. By gaining clarity and choosing clearly what we want, we charge the Universe with tasks, opportunities and situations that bring about what we desire. The world manifests according to our request."

"Personal responsibility. People who have personal responsibility are very rare indeed. Most people want to fix the blame rather than fix the problem."

"People don?t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I?ve wasted a lot of time and energy trying to learn more and teach more and sometimes tried to impress people with what I know. But it?s caring that makes the difference."

"Pleasurable reading. It's better to curl up with a good book and a good woman than a good book."

"Questions are the answers. Getting the right answers is only possible when you have asked the right questions."

"Regrets. I have some regrets about some things I?ve done. But I have far more regrets about things I DIDN?T do. Most people would describe me as a risk-taker, but if I were to do it all over again, I?d spend even more time between the trapezes."

"Religion. Many so-called religious people are not very spiritual people. The more someone tells me how religious they are, how honest they are or how great they?re, the less I tend to believe them."

"Ride the horse in the direction it?s going. I won?t say there?s never a time to buck the trend and go a different way. However, I?ve found myself swimming upstream unnecessarily a number of times. It?s easier to go with the flow as long as you can be true to your values. On the other hand, to lead a symphony, you must occasionally turn your back on the crowd."

"Self-confidence. Confidence isn't something that you get. It's something you are."

"Shortcuts seldom work. Perhaps Beverly Sills said it best when she wrote, "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.""

"Some days you?re the bug. Some days you?re the windshield. Nobody?s ever lead a perfect life. There are no bad days; some are just better than others. Some days are sunny, some days are cloudy and some days you just have to wonder. I like to think that any day above ground is a good day."

"Success is not an accident. If you develop the HABITS of success, you will make success a habit."

"The only way to truly have what you want is to give up having to have it. As soon as you let go of HAVING to have something, it no longer is elusive but rather seeks you out. There?s nothing wrong with wanting something, it?s HAVING to have it that messes you up."

"Spiritual Principle is much like the wind. It is neither good nor bad and you must know how to use it. You can be run aground or use it to move you where you want to go."

"The high road. Doing the right thing is seldom the easy thing."

"The past does not equal the future. Most people operate out of their personal history instead of living into the possibility of what they can imagine. What?s behind us has only as much impact as we?re willing to let it. The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn."

"The sequence is Be, Do, Have?not Do, Have, Be. If I become the person I wish to become, I can do more of the things I want to do and have the things I want to have. Reversing the order is not very effective and it?s not fulfilling."

"The science of appreciation. If you learn to appreciate more of what you already have, you will find yourself having more to appreciate."

"There is a price for success. But there is also a price for failure. Given the choice, the price of success clearly has the best return on investment."

"There is no gravity, the earth just sucks. I saw this written on a bathroom wall at UVM in 1981. I had to throw SOMETHING in here that wasn?t positive?or even true. Besides, I wanted to get to 101."

"There?s no harm in asking. The story goes that years ago, one of the leading Rockefeller women was propositioned by a party crasher. Embarrassed and offended, the woman took her case before the New York courts. The final judgment: "There?s no crime in asking". If you have little to lose and much to gain by asking?by all means, ask."

"Thou shalt not should on thyself or others. This is the eleventh commandment. Many people blame others for holding them back. Truth is, we?re usually the quickest to put ourselves down. We shouldn?t "should" on ourselves."

"There?s no need to prove we?re valuable. We just are. We do not take action to gain or prove we are valuable; we take action to gain results and discover more of who we already are."

"To me, mediocrity is failure. There?s no inspiration in being average. Average is being the worst of the best or the best of the worst?otherwise known as the cream of the crap."

"There?s more to balance than not falling over. I think Ben Franklin said it best, "Nothing to excess." Too much of anything is not a good thing."

"We must discover and live out the best that?s within us. I?m not sure who wrote this, but I believe it. "If I bring forth what is inside me, what I bring forth will save me. If I fail to bring forth what is inside me, what I bring forth will destroy me.""

"Use your head, but live in your heart. I?ve gotten into big trouble by going with my head instead of listening to my heart. I?ve also mistaken my emotions for my heart. But I?ve never, never been misled by my heart."

"Today's action becomes tomorrow's habit. Emerson was right (wasn?t he usually), "Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.""

"TV is both a blessing and a curse. It has the potential?and does in some instances?of providing great value. But for the most part it?s an incredible waste of time. I call TVs EIRs?Electronic Income Reducers."

"We can achieve anything we want?we just can?t have EVERYTHING we want. It?s too big a world, there?s too many things, too little time and not enough energy to have everything we desire. We have to be selective."

"We teach people how to treat us. By accepting and tolerating the way others treat us, we tell them it?s OK. When we no longer allow others to treat us poorly, we have trained them and enhanced our standing?with them and ourselves."

"We never do what we HAVE to do. We always do what we want to do. It just SEEMS like we have to."

"When who you are is what you do, then when you don't, you ain't. As a hard-working entrepreneur, I?m still working on this one."

"When arguing with your spouse?or anyone else, for that matter?the less said the better."

"When raising kids, you have two choices: you can be popular or you can be a parent. You can?t be both?at least not until they get older and wiser."

"When you're walking on bullshit it's easy to slip up. It's not only slippery?it stinks. And other people smell it. No one has a good enough memory to be an excellent liar."

"When you learn something, share it with at least three people on different occasions and it will be yours. It?s one of the great riches of life is that you can give away all your knowledge and still keep it for yourself."