Quotes
One of the fondest memories of my Granddad Nelson was trading quotes regularly over email. Sadly I lost the email archive when I went on my mission, but it has continued to be an interest of mine. I hope you enjoy my collection of quotes. A bit of everything from religion to politics to leadership.
Historically, great progress comes about through bold visions. Only weak leaders make decisions based upon the phrase “Thus it has always been done.”
Anger is a powerful force. If turned inward and held too long, it can destroy a man’s soul. But if directed outward at a carefully chosen target, anger can be an effective, even decisive, weapon.
The person with the fewest accomplishments often boasts the loudest.
Time is a commodity more precious than melange. Even the wealthiest man cannot buy more minutes to put into each hour.
Do our enemies occur naturally, or do we create them through our own actions?
Like minds do not always blend. They can be an explosive mixture.
If you do not face your weaknesses, how do you know where to be strong?
Two people drift in a lifeboat on an uncharted sea. One says, There! I see an island. Our best chance is to go ashore, build a shelter, and await rescue.
The other says, No, we must go farther out to sea and hope to find the shipping lanes. That is our best chance.
Unable to agree, the two fight, the lifeboat capsizes, and they drown.
This is the nature of humanity. Even if only two people are left in the entire universe, they will come to represent opposing factions.
When greed and desperation are coupled, men accomplish superhuman feats—though for the wrong reasons.
The treatment of an injury may hurt more than the wound itself. Do not allow a sore to fester because you are unwilling to tolerate the momentary pain.
An impossible plan is not always an exercise in futility. It can instead be a rallying point for hopes and dreams.
At last, after our long journey, we have reached the beginning.
Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.
It is possible to fail in a school lesson and then, using the same discredited data and methodology, to succeed in life.
A key element of strategy is to understand your enemy’s motivations.
Some problems are best solved with an optimistic approach. Optimism shines a light on alternatives that are otherwise not visible.
The most important parenting skill is knowing when to exert control and when to let go.
A sword isn’t the primary weapon. The Swordmaster is.
How do you know when you have met the love of your life? If you need to ask this question, you have not yet met that person.
—The journals of Lady Jessica
A person’s greatest weapon is not sword or shield, but is instead reputation, the life he has led, the good deeds he has performed. If those things cannot protect him, then he has already lost the battle.
Reputation can be a beautiful weapon. It often spills less blood.
The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. He may hate you as much as any other rival.
Why do certain people take on greater and greater challenges that require supreme efforts to accomplish? One has only to look at the opposite type of person, one who attempts little in life, to answer this question. It is the difference between a leader and a follower, but they have a symbiotic relationship because one cannot exist without the other.
—PAUL ATREIDES
Not compromise, but synthesis. Compromises only drove both ends of the curve to an unacceptable and weaker average; instead, both sides must take the best from the other and discard the rest.
Our motivations are as important as our goals. Use this to understand your enemy. With such knowledge, you can either defeat him or, even better, manipulate him into becoming your ally.
