Words of Wisdom

MOTIVATION

Two stonecutters were asked what they were doing.
The first said, "I'm cutting this stone into blocks."
The second replied, "I'm on a team that's building a cathedral."
(Old story)

Work well done is art.
(From the book "A Father's Book of Wisdom" compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

The reward for a thing well done is to have done it.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Journey Size the opportunity and begin the journey.
Win or lose, the experience of being an entrepreneur is unforgettable - Try it!
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

If you keep debating risks, you'll never start.
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

Success and joy come when maximizing the benefit for others and for projects - not when prioritizing your own profit.
(Anonymous)

HONESTY

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
(Thomas Jefferson)

Dishonesty is like a boomerang. About the time you think all is well, it hits you in the back of the head.
(From the book "A Father's Book of Wisdom" compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

You don't always have to make a commitment; but once you do, keep it!
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

Be wise enough to value other people's ideas.
Then be strong enough to give them credit.
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

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INNOVATION

It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand.
Exploration is not a choice, really, it's an imperative.
(Michael Collins, Apollo astronaut)

Nursing growth The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
(Alan Kay)

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trial.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

OPEN-MINDED

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him.
No one would have remembered him either.
(Anonymous)

An idea without at least some element of absurdity is probably not worth further consideration.
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

The greatest ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.
(From the book "A Father's Book of Wisdom" compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

A common barrier to implementing any great idea is NIH (Not Invented Here).
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

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IMAGINATION

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
(Albert Einstein)

Imagine Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
(Jules Vernes)

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
(Clarke's Second law)

OPPORTUNITY

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
(Albert Einstein)

Failure is success if we learn from it.
(Malcomb S. Forbes)

I have found that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking for something and finding something else on the way.
(Franklin P. Adams)

UNDERSTANDING

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
(Albert Einstein)

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.
(Leonardo Da Vinci)

The solution to a problem changes the nature of the problem.
(Peer's law)

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TIMING

Timing Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
(Mark Twain)

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
(Patton's law)

Make necessary changes early in a project.
Delaying change can cost time and money.
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive.
Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.
It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving.
(Maurice Greene)

STRENGTH

Strength does not come from winning.
Your struggles develop your strengths.
When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
(Arnold Schwarzenegger)

Meeting challenges The experts are always telling us to 'Listen to your body!' But if I listened to my body, I'd live on toffee pops and port wine. Don't tell me to listen to my body... It's trying to turn me into a blob!
(Roger Robinson, master runner)

If you do not run slow enough on your slow training days you'll not be able to run fast on your fast training days.
(Golden rule of running)

ATTITUDE

When it's pouring rain and you're bowling along through the wet,
there's satisfaction in knowing you're out there and the others aren't.
(Peter Snell, runner)

Whether you believe you can do something or you believe you can't; you're right.
(Anonymous)

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
(John Wooden)

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PERSISTENCE

Get a good idea and stay with it, and work it until it's done and done right.
(Walt Disney)

Never, never, never, never give up.
(Winston Churchill)

But still try - for who knows what is possible.
(Michael Faraday)

REALITY

A project gets tough first when entering the commercialization phase.
Time has come for reality to pay a visit to functioning prototypes.
(Anonymous)

Established technology tends to persist in spite of new technology.
(Blaauw's law)

Reality and resources A good scientist is a person with original ideas.
A good engineer is a person with as few original ideas as possible.
(Freeman Dyson, 1923-)

There are two kinds of researchers: those that have implemented something and those that have not. The latter will tell you that there are 142 ways of doing things and that there isn't consensus on which is best. The former will simply tell you that 141 of them don't work.
(David Cheriton, Prof. of Computer Science at Stanford)

Don't expect people to come running for a research report.
It's the researcher's own responsibility to make things happen.
(Bruce Lindsay, IBM Fellow)

RESOURCES

If you want a track team to win the high jump, you find one person who can jump seven feet, not seven people who can jump one foot.
(Terman's law of Innovation)

Never use a ten-dollar bill as a torch to find nickels in the snow.
(From the book "A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE" by Leo B. Helzel and Friends)

I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
(Blaise Pascal, Provincial Letters)

MORE ...

... Words of Wisdom can be found in, for example, the following two excellent books:

"A Father's Book of Wisdom"
compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., ISBN 1-55853-018-5

"A GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE"
by Leo B. Helzel and Friends, ISBN 0-07-028262-5