Thoughts 01OCT2013

ON MISTAKES

We teach people that mistakes are like skinned knees for little children. They're painful, but they heal quickly and they're learning experiences. My people are covered with the scars of their mistakes. They lived out in the field, the've been shot at; they've been hit in every part of their bodies; and they're real. By the time they get to the top, their noses are pretty well broken. The chances of their getting there with a clean nose is zero.

H Ross Perot - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glenn Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Call a child a bad name and he will live up to it : Chinese Proverb

Thoughts 30SEP2013

NO RECALL NEEDED

A Newspaper reporter once asked Sam Rayburn, "Mr Speaker, you see probably a hundred people a day. You tell each one 'Yes' or 'No' or 'Maybe'. You are never seen taking notes on what you told them, but I have never heard of you forgetting anything you have promised them. What is your secret?"

Rayburn careful eyed his questioner and replied, "If you tell the truth the first time", replied, "you don't have to remember".

Extracted from "Speakers Handbook II", Glenn Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live everyday as if it were your last : Irish Proverb

Thoughts 20SEP2013

SOMEDAY

How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these : George Washington Carver

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The most desirable woman is always the one who belongs to someone else : Mexican Proverb

Thoughts 19SEP2013

ON KATHERINE HEPBURN

Four-time Academy-Award-Winning actress Katherine Hepburn was fired from several of her early stage roles. She was criticized for talking too fast, was considered ornery and difficult to work with and was evaluated as too bony, thin and mannish to be on stage. Accompanied by her unwavering determination, she sought the assistance of a voice and drama coach who nurtured her through a variety of stage roles. Eventually, one of her performances drew great reviews and led to a movie contract.

Extracted from a "4th course of Chicken Soup for the Soul", Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty and Meladee McCarty, Health Communications, Inc., 1997

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It is easy to be brave from a distance : Omaha (Native American)

Thoughts 18SEP2013

THE POWER OF DETERMINATION

What this power is I cannot say, all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.

Alexander Graham Bell - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart : Omaha (Native American)

Thoughts 17SEP2013

EXPERIENCING HAPPINESS

To experience happiness, we must train ourselves to live in this moment, to savour it for what it is, not running ahead in anticipation of some future date nor lagging behind in the paralysis of the past

Luci Swindoll - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II, Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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A brave man dies but once, a coward many times : Iowa (Native American)

Thoughts 13SEP2013

CARRY

Carry a Heart that Never Hates ...

Carry a Smile that Never Fades ...

Carry a Touch that Never Hurts ...

Carry a Friendship that Never Fails ...

Source Unknown - got this from Tuan Haji Jasni Jaafar

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Fortune and love favour the brave : Ovid

Thoughts 12SEP2013

TIME

is too slow for those who wait ...

is too swift for those who fear ...

is too long for those who grieve ...

is too short for those who rejoice ...

but for those who love ...

time is eternity

Source Unknown - got this from Tuan Haji Jasni Jaafar, SCB

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The weakness of the enemy makes our strength : Cherokee (American Native)

Thoughts 11SEP2013

BELIEVE - A SURVEY

World wide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was : "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure : In Africa they didn't know what 'food' meant, in India they didn't know what 'honest' meant, in Europe they didn't know what 'shortage' meant, in China they didn't know what 'opinion' meant, in the Middle East they didn't know what 'solution' meant, in South America they didn't know what 'please' meant, and; in USA they didn't know what 'the rest of the world' meant!

Source Unknown - got this from Jeff Teo; TMS Class of 1963-1973

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Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark : Cheyenne (Native American)

Thoughts 10SEP2013

ON CREATIVITY

Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful : yourself.

Alan Alda, Actor - cited in "More of ... The Best of Bits and Pieces"

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Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all : Dale Carnegie

Thoughts 09SEP2013

ON HAPPINESS

May we never let the things we can't have, or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have.

As we value our happiness, let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning, to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have.

Richard L Evans - extracted from "Speakers Sourcebook II, Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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Wake no a sleeping lion : Chinese Proverb