As a CEO, one of my key responsibilities is to give my team, my shareholders, my customers, faith, encouragement, and inspiration. Sometimes, that is a responsibility easily fulfilled. Sometimes, I need to stand on the shoulders of giants and borrow from their words of wisdom. Here are some of my favorite quotes from people whom I admire and wish I knew, or had known. Funnily enough, compiling these made me realize they can be grouped into themes… themes of my life.
On the importance of being yourself
Your time it limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Steve Jobs
Happiness is what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. Mahatma Gandhi
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. Moliere
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. Sir Cecil Beaton
On perseverance (aka making it in business)
I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature. John D. Rockefeller
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. Dale Carnegie
When you get right down to the root of the meaning of the word “succeed”; you find that it simply means to follow through. F. W. Nichol
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity. Louis Pasteur
Tough times don’t last; tough people do. Unknown
An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises. Mae West
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. Albert Einstein
To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. Chinese Proverb
On priorities (and not getting them confused)
The key is not to prioritize what’s on the schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey
Things which matter the most must never be at the mercy of things which matter the least. Goethe
It is not enough to conquer; one must also know how to seduce. Voltaire
On risk-taking
You miss 100% of the shots you never take. Wayne Gretzky
If not you, who? If not now, when? Tim Sanders
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as well as labor does the body. Seneca
On the power of dreams
Formulate and stamp indelibly in your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture. Do not build up obstacles in your imagination. Norman Vincent Peale
The starting point for all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Napoleon Hill
On the elusiveness of happiness
Happiness is the struggle towards a summit and, when it is attained, it is happiness to glimpse new summits on the other side. Fridtjof Nansen
On keeping it all in perspective… Unemployment at a record high; People coming, people going, people born to die Don’t ask me, because I don’t know why But it’s like that, and that’s the way it is. Run DMC
Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place. Mark Twain
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
