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.
The joy of leadership comes from seeing others achieve more than they thought they were capable of.
Historically, great progress comes about through bold visions. Only weak leaders make decisions based upon the phrase “Thus it has always been done.”
A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.
It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.
The aggressive person fights. The passive one runs away. But the assertive person stands ground, assesses the situation, adapts, and acts with purpose and passion. Be that person.
You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself.
Supervisor to employee: "Don't think of me as the boss. Think of me as a co-worker who's always right."
It takes two to make every great career: the man who is great, and the man—almost rarer—who is great enough to see greatness and say so.
A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
A good leader starves the problems and feeds the opportunity.
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.
The measure of a man is his ability to navigate to a proper shore during the worst of the storm.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the message was lost
For want of the message the battle was lost
For want of the battle the war was lost
For want of the war the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Always plan ahead… but worry too hard over next year, and you can trip over tomorrow.
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
People rise to the occasion without hesitation when they feel inspired and challenged.
It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.
What kind of ship are you?
Barge? Need a tug boat to pull you around.
Yacht? Do well but only in good weather and ideal conditions
Rescue Boat? Able to go out in the any conditions even the worst.Are you ready to be the rescue boat?
Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
E-mailed status reports say one thing to 90 percent of the people who write them: “You don’t value my time.”
Throw away those books and cassettes on inspirational leadership. Send those consultants packing. Know your job, set a good example for the people under you and put results over politics. That's all the charisma you'll really need to succeed.
A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.
If you think you're leading and no one is following you, then you're only taking a walk.
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.
