Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. — Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. — Martin Luther King Jr., excerpted from the incredible Letter From Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
It only takes 10% as much effort to hire someone in the bottom 90% of the class. And it takes the other 90% to find and cajole and retain the top 10%. — Seth Godin
When Christians react to elections with despair and panic, they [demonstrate] that their faith is in the wrong place…Salvation is not something that Caesar holds in his hand, whether to give or withhold. — Douglas Wilson
No management success can compensate for failure in leadership. —Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I write about where I’m at during a given moment. I don’t push any of it too hard because I don’t think I have any real talent. I just go with what moves me and try to be accurate, brave, and honest. — Henry Rollins, excerpted from this Morning News profile
Talent hits a target no one else can hit, while genius hits a target that no one else can see. —Arthur Schopenhauer
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt. — Henry Kaiser
[It] turns out that if your bias is to always make it right, to use grace and flair to overdeliver at every turn, you’ve just discovered the single most important secret of marketing. Because when you amaze and delight, people talk about you. — Seth Godin, who is quickly taking over my quote category
Success is now the domain of people who lead. That doesn’t mean they’re in charge, it doesn’t mean they are the CEO, it merely means that…they show the way, they spread ideas, they make change. Those people are the only successful people we’ve got. — Seth Godin, being interviewed by Hugh MacLeod
While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time. — Seth Godin, Is Effort a Myth?
Our beds are empty two-thirds of the time. Our living rooms are empty seven-eighths of the time. Our office buildings are empty one-half of the time. It’s time we gave this some thought. — R. Buckminster Fuller
No matter how beautiful your interface, it would be more beautiful if there were less of it. — Edward Tufte
Imagine if everything you produced—all the brochures and packaging—came back to you for you to dispose of. — Harsh Purohit, Cognito Advertising
Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted. The older I get, the truer this…seems to be. Especially in industries that are more relationship-driven, than idea-driven. — Hugh MacLeod, ostensibly excerpted from his new book
Start being wrong and suddenly anything is possible. You’re no longer infallible. You’re in the unknown. There’s no way of knowing what can happen, but there’s more chance of it being amazing than if you try to be right. Of course, being wrong is a risk…Risks are a measure of people. People who won’t take them are trying to preserve what they have. — Paul Arden, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be
Talk doesn’t cook rice. — Chinese proverb
Clutter and overload are not an attribute of information they are failures of design. — Edward Tufte
Talent is rare. Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth. We must constantly challenge all of our assumptions and search for the flaws that could destroy our culture. — Edwin Catmull, Pixar & Disney Animation President, excerpted from How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity
The thing I hate most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative, ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little. — Banksy