Author Chris Brady's Blog

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!

The Media

"If newspapers are useful in overthrowing tyrants, it is only to establish a tyranny of their own."  - James Fenimore Cooper

"Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive."  - G. K. Chesterton

"Along with responsible newspapers we must have responsible readers."  - Arthur Hays Sulzberger

"The press, the movies, radio and television bear a large share of the resopnsiblity for the climate of fear . . . which has enveloped our country and which has become such a threat to our freedom."  - William T. Evjue

"I find television very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set I go into the other room and read a book."  - Groucho Marx

"Most American television stations reproduce all night long what only a Roman could have seen in the Coliseum during the reign of Nero."  - George Faludy

"I keep reading between the lies." - Goodman Ace

"TV - chewing gum for the eyes."  - Frank Lloyd Wright

"Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight?" - Al Boliska

Critics

"A critic is a legless man who teaches running."  - Channing Pollock

"To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."  - Elbert Hubbard

"A critic is a man created to praise greater men than himself, but he is never able to find them."  -Richard Le Gallienne

"Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship."  - Zeuxis

"People ask you for criticism but they only want praise."  - Somerset Maugham

"Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been put up to a critic."  - Jean Sibelius

"Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality . . . There are few moments during her recital when one can relax and feel confident she will make her goal, which is the end of the song."  - Paul Hume

"I have read your lousy review of Margaret's concert.  I've come to the conclusion that you are "an eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay" . . . some day I hope to meet you.  When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below."  - Harry S. Truman

So much for that!

A Leader is Best When . . .

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists.  Not so good when people obey and acclaim him; worse when they despise him."  - Lao Tsu

Ignorance

If ignorance is bliss, there should be more happy people in the world.

"Tain't what a man don't know that hurts him; it's what he knows that just ain't so."  - Frank McKinney Hubbard

An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.

"I would rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge, because I have got so much more of it."  - Mark Twain

A man doesn't know what he knows until he knows what he doesn't know.

"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance."  - Robert Quillen

"Genuine ignorance is profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish water-proof to new ideas."  - John Dewey

Experience

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lied.  She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore!"  - Mark Twain

"Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."  - Franklin P. Jones

"There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home."  - John Stuart Mill

There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience; and that is not learning from experience.

The best teacher is experience - someone else's!

"The best substitute for experience is being sixteen."  - Raymond Duncan

Destiny

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."  - William Jennings Bryant

"There is a destiny that makes us brothers, none goes his way alone.  All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own."  - Edwin Markham

"Even after death, our virtue is not lost."  - Euripides

"Sow a thought, and you reap an action; sow an action, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny."  - Charles Reade

"The content of your character is your choice, Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become.  Your integrity is your destiny . . . it is the light that guides your way."  - Heraclitus