Author Chris Brady's Leadership Blog

Quips

Middle age is the time of life when work begins to be a lot less fun and fun begins to be a lot more work.

The good old days are those days that I could master.  The pace was slower and I was faster.

Living in the past has its advantages - it's cheaper!

It used to be that if you were "sound as a dollar" you were considered in perfect health - today, it means you are in bad shape.

(Source: The Complete Book of Zingers by Croft M. Pentz)

Quotes

People like to feel significant, especially if this does not involve much of an effort on their part.

Only you can be yourself. No one else is qualified for the job, and you barely are yourself.

People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.

Experts agree that sixty-seven percent of statistics are made up on the spot.

Facts

A sure way to stop a red-hot argument is to lay a few cold, hard facts on it.

"Get your facts first; then you can distort 'em as you please." -- Mark Twain

The hardest thing about facts is facing them.

Digging for facts is a better mental exercise than jumping to conclusions.

"Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions." -- Proverbs 18:2

Self-Deception

"Nothing is easier than self-deceit because what each man wishes, he also believes to be true."  - Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac

"The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot wheel and said, "What a dust do I raise!"  - Aesop, Fables

"If any man thinks that he alone is wise - that in speech or in mind he has no peer - such a soul, when laid open, is always found empty."  - Sophocles, Antigone

"A time will soon come when the tragic actors will think that their masks and buskins and the long robes are . . . themselves."  - Epictetus, Discourses

Leadership Quotes

"Early in life, I decided that I would not be overcome by events.  My philosophy has been that regardless of the circumstances, I shall not be vanquished, but will try to be happy.  Life is not easy for any of us.  But it is a continual challenge, and it is up to us to be cheerful - and to be strong, so that those who depend on us may draw strength from our example."  - Rose Kennedy

"Leaders who win the respect ofothers are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver."  - Mark A. Clement

Napoleon was asked after his stunning victory in Italy how he made his army cross the Alps.  He replied, "One does not make a French army cross the Alps; one leads it across."

"A good leader takes a little more than his share of blame, a little less than his share of credit."  - Arnold Glasow

"In calm water every ship has a good captain."  - Swedish proverb

Perseverance

"The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, "This far and no farther."  - Ludwig van Beethoven

"When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead on it and make trial after trial until it comes"  - Thomas Edison

"March on.  Do not tarry.  To go forward is to move toward perfection.  March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path."  - Kahlil Gibran

"Don't let the bastards grind you down."  Joseph W. Stilwell

"A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away."  - Gene Roddenberry

"There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers."  - Robert Orben

"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success.  They quit on the one-yard line.  They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown."  H. Ross Perot

Ideas

Ideas shape the course of history  - John Maynard Keynes

All great ideas are controversial, or have been at one time  - George Seldes

There is only one way in which a person acquires a new idea: by the combination or association of two or more ideas he already has into a new juxtaposition in such a manner as to discover a relationship among them of which he was not previously aware  - Francis A. Cartier

An idea is a feat of association  - Robert Frost

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world: and that is an idea whose time has come  - Victor Hugo

It's just as sure a recipe for failure to have the right idea fifty years too soon as five years too late  - J. R. Platt

It is  impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for their presentation is provided or available  - Thomas Mann

Some Great Quotes

Discipline reminds the body that it is the servant of the mind

A leader's first calling is to grow

Leadership is all about maturity

Followers want to change only when they aren't happy and usually when it doesn't require much risk or sacrifice on their part

Care: the fruit of an honest community

A leader is always expected to be on duty

Most real learning comes through stories

The problem with today's formal education is that it ignores the development of character

(Source: Author Dan B. Allender)

Fools

"Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes a day; wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit."  - Elbert Hubbard

"Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you."  - Joey Adams

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."  - Alexander Pope

"I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it."  - Edgar Allan Poe

"Controversy equalizes fools and wise men - and fools know it."  - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"By dint of railing at idiots we run the risk of becoming idiots ourselves."  - Gustave Flaubert

"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes."  - Winston Churchill

"He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom."  - James Gibbons Huneker

"Let us be thankful for the fools.  But for them the rest of us could not succeed."  - Mark Twain

Great Quotes Video

Since many of you have so graciously been contributing your favorite quotes to this blog, I thought it might be enjoyable to post a link to a short video montage of great quotes from great leaders.  I don't have any information on the authors or the background of the new book from which these are drawn, but someone emailed me the web address for the short video clip and I liked it so much I thought I would share it with you all!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

God Bless!

http://www.greatquotesmovie.com/

And by the way, I am looking forward to seeing any of you that can make it to the book signing in Flint, Michigan at the Barnes and Nobles on Saturday, January 26th, between 12:00 and 3:00.  Orrin Woodward will be there, too!