Post your favorite quotes

The movie was really bad - The quote excellent:

"Assumption is the mother of all f-ups!" - Under Siege 2

"Gissa Job, I can do that." - Yosser Hughes, "Boys from the black stuff"

Facts are the enemy of truth.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616), Man of La Mancha

My Director once said:

"Sometimes Good Enough Is"

OK, now, I know this is not exactly what you're looking for, but I read it the other day and found it so funny I had to post it back here.

Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes.
- Jack Handey

[quote]Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes.
- Jack Handey[/quote]
Okay, it's not motivational. but I laugh every time I hear it. Thanks for the laugh Maura.

[quote="lionel"]My Director once said:

"Sometimes Good Enough Is"[/quote]

Similar - Perfection is the enemy of excellence.

OK Will, on a more serious note, I also love this one:

You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better.
- Maya Angelou

Found this quote [url=http://ww.thinkexist.com/quotation/but-at-the-manager-low-level-directo…
“But at the manager, low-level director or employee level, there's no responsibility.” - Mark Horstman

I suspect that this is out of context or ironic, unless Mark does think that there's no responsibility at low level director or below.

Stephen

[quote="stephenbooth_uk"]Found this quote [url=http://ww.thinkexist.com/quotation/but-at-the-manager-low-level-directo…
“But at the manager, low-level director or employee level, there's no responsibility.” - Mark Horstman

I suspect that this is out of context or ironic, unless Mark does think that there's no responsibility at low level director or below.

Stephen[/quote]

The quote is way out of context. Originally, it was talking about whether someone has an obligation to tell superiors if an employee is looking for a new job. "...at the manager, low-level director or employee level, there's no responsibility.”

Check http://www.collegejournal.com/careersqa/resumesinterview/20060418-resum… for the original quote.

Brian

[quote="bflynn"]Check http://www.collegejournal.com/careersqa/resumesinterview/20060418-resum… for the original quote.

Brian[/quote]

Thanks, that's much clearer.

Stephen

"Money can't buy you happiness.

But it can buy you a helicopter to fly you there."

David Lee Roth

"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." - Albert Einstien

Kind of applies to Management as well.

[quote="stephenbooth_uk"][quote="bflynn"]Check http://www.collegejournal.com/careersqa/resumesinterview/20060418-resum… for the original quote.

Brian[/quote]

Thanks, that's much clearer.

Stephen[/quote]

I have requested a clarification at the quote site. We'll see what happens.

Brian

[i]Preach always. If necessary, use words.[/i]- St. Francis

He was speaking of spreading the Christian Gospels, but if you think about it, it's valid for Manager's too (lead by example, be judged by what you do, not say, etc.)

Good advice for anyone just leaving college or entering a new role or position.

"The only time you start on top, is when you dig a hole".

Told to my dad by my grandmother. She was working in their vegetable garden on the day my dad left home to make his way in the world.

Just re-discovered a new one.

"I have no brain, so I won't try to manage anything". - the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"

LOL - wish more people were that wise.

Brian

“But there’s no substitute for getting smarter faster. And the way you get smarter is to screw around vigorously. Try stuff. See what works. See what fails miserably. Learn. Rinse. Repeat.”

--Tom Peters, quoted in “Fast Company” Dec. 2001.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting ‘GERONIMO!’ ”

—Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer
(Cycle magazine 02.1982)

Yes, these do apply to managers :D

“Jeunes hommes avides, croyez-moi. Il n'existe que deux manières de gagner la partie: jouer coeur ou tricher. Tricher est difficile; un tricheur pris est battu. Jouer coeur est simple. Il faut en avoir, voilà tout. Vous vous croyez sans coeur. Vous regardez mal vos cartes.” ---Jean Cocteau

"Young greedy men, believe me. There are only two ways to win the game: to play heart or to cheat. To cheat is difficult; a cheater who gets caught has lost. To play heart is simple. You just need to have some of it, That's all. If you think you have no heart, it means you don't look well at your cards." --- Jean Cocteau

... Not sure about the translation, but you should get me meaning.

Very well put Cedric. I'm not totally sure of the French, but the English makes sense. I remember just enough of my four years of French to read the Paris Match. Sometimes I have to look at the pictures to fill in the blanks of what's being said.

Thanks,

Dave

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
- Winston Churchill

This was my favorite for many years. More recently I have also enjoyed the following:

"Never mistake motion for action."
- Suntzu

jiin

One of my favorite quips for all too frequent situations:
[b][i]Well, you can't make sense out of non-sense.[/i]
[/b]

It's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do
- Red Hot Chili Peppers

When you're great, candor is often confused with arrogance
- anonymous

[quote="lefonquey1"]It's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
[/quote]

MusicNerdFilter: Although this isn't the first occurrence of this phrasing, the Peppers attribute it to the Butthole Surfers in "Deep Kick." British electronic act Orbital also sampled the Surfers for their track "Satan."

Incidentally, the Peppers paraphrased it. The original quote is "It's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done."

Two of my favorite quotes from a MIT graduation speech that turned into a song.

"Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday." - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

"Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't." - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

"When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either."

Leo Burnett

Mark said something in the first cast for conference attendee's that really hit home.

"You don't stop learning when you get old, you get old when you stop learning."

My grandfather lived this. He kept his Illinois pharmacy license until he died at the age of 96.

Paul Cartwright
3-1-7-7

"Be world class where you are."

This is what I heard when a football coach who used to work in pro football was asked why he would work at a NCAA division III school.

The quote resonates with me because my father imparted a similar philosophy.

"Do what is important not what is urgent"

"Be the difference"

"Make THEIR day"

"Be too large for worry; too noble for anger; to strong for fear; too happy to permit the presence of trouble"

"Don't think hierarchy, think journey"

"Being good means being good all the time. There are no time-outs. Everything counts"

"Say what you mean. Mean what you say. DO what you say"

One funny:

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Douglas Adams

One sincere:

You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated
by short term failures.

Charles C. Noble

Find a path or make one.
-Seneca

"A manager should regard his position as one that gives him a splendid opportunity to render assistance."

--Thomas Watson

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers

[quote="Glenn Ross"]"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting ‘GERONIMO!’ ”

—Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer
(Cycle magazine 02.1982)[/quote]

I've heard a very similar quote attributed to the author Dorothy Parker: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to slide in sideways, thoroughly used up, worn out, Martini glass in hand."

Another Dorothy Parker quote that may be relevant comes from a book review: "This is not a book to be cast aside lightly, it should be flung with great force." Something that could probably be applied to many of the books on job hunting, getting promoted and general self help I've seen and read over the years.

Stephen

This reminded me of a quote my pastor referenced last Sunday:

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and I could say, "I used everything you gave me."

- Erma Bombeck

'You're failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part'
- engineer to product manager

"What we need to do is to humanize the scientist and simonize the humanist." [i]- C.P. Snow[/i]

"The secret of management is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the five guys who are undecided." [i]- Casey Stengel[/i]

My favorite is from Plato:

"Wise men speak when they have something to say; fools speak with they have to say something."

"Two of my favorite quotes from a MIT graduation speech that turned into a song.

"Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday." - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

"Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't." - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan"

I was under the assumption that this came from Mary Schmick, a writer for the Chicago Times, who wrote this as a "quotation" from Kurt Vonnegut. She published it as an MIT graduating class speak (1997) and Kurt Vonnegut liked it so much he gave her kudos.

Did Kofi Annan also say it?

Here is the full piece:

"Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But, trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it is worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen."

One of my favourite quotes is mine:

[quote]"It's not that which one chooses to do that one regrets the most; it's that which one chooses not to do."
[/quote]

So even if you did something and it didn't turn out right, you have at least learned from it and are a better person for it. When you don't do something, you'll never know...

"Ce n'est rien de mourir,
C'est affreux de ne pas vivre"
Victor Hugo - Les misérables
[i]"To die is nothing,
Not to live is awfull"[/i]

"Il vaut mieux avoir des remords que des regrets"
Inconnu
[i]"it is better to have remorse than to feel regrets"[/i]
I am not sure about translation. But it means : "It is better to have remorse because you have done something that went wrong, than to have regrets of not having done something that could have gone well"

[i]"Insignificant People Dwell On Insignificant Things; Significant People Dwell on Significant Things"[/i]
My pastor used to say this regularly to encourage people to focus on the important matters of life and I have found it SO true everywhere.

It is not that anyone is truly insignificant - but we choose our significance by choosing our focus.

Jenny

Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts.
 - Albert Einstein

"When choosing between two evils I always like to take the one I've never tried before." -- Mae West

"As a species, we are forever sticking our finger into the electric socket of the universe to see what will happen next." --Terry Pratchett

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." –Douglas Adams

Winston Churchill once said:  "If you are going through hell, keep going".  That one resonates with me these days as my company is involved in the financial sector!

I saw this recently and thought I would add--
 An Optimist sees the glass as half full, a Pessimist sees it as half empty, an Engineer sees the glass is twice the size it should be.
- Unknown

And G*d said to the people of Israel "Work may be done six days, but the seventh day must be holy to you, it is a Shabbath of Shabbaths to G*d".
The Bible
People, take a day every week to chill and revitalize - a great concept :)
 
 

Don't know who said it, originally; it was on a tee shirt I saw 30 years ago and I am reminded of it at least weekly.
"Behold thy airspeed, lest the ground rise up and smite thee."

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."
General George S. Patton