Thoughts 30AUG2013

WISDOM

Three cowboys had been riding the range since early in the morning. One of them was a member of the Navajo Nation. Being busy with herding stray cattle all day, there had been no time for the three of them to eat. Toward the end of the day, two of the cowboys started about how hungry they were and about the huge meals they were going to eat when they reached town. When one of the cowboys asked the Navajo if he was also hungry, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "No". later that evening after they had arrived in town, all three ordered large steak dinners. As the Navajo proceeded to eat everything in sight with great gusto, one of his friends reminded him that less than an hour earlier he had told them that he was not hungry. "Not wise to be hungry then", he replied. "No food".

Author Unknown - extracted from "A 2nd helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul", Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Health Communication, Inc., 1995

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When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised : Ashanti of Ghana

Thoughts 29AUG2013

THE QUESTION

Isn't it amazing how few of us ask ourselves the important question? Several years ago I was invited to hear an important speaker address the student body of a small college in South Carolina. The auditorium was filled with students excited about the opportunity to hear a person of her stature speak. After the governor gave the introduction, the speaker moved to the microphone, looked at the audience from left to right, and began : "I was born to a mother who was deaf and could not speak. I do not know who my father is or was. The first job I ever had was in a cotton field". The audience was spellbound. "Nothing has to remain the way it is if that's not the way a person wants it to be", she continued. "It isn't luck, and it isn't circumstances, and it isn't born a certain way that causes a person's future to become what it becomes". And she softly repeated, "Nothing has to remain the way it is if that's not the way a person wants it to be. All a person has to do", she added in a firm voice, "to change a situation that brings unhappiness or dissatisfaction is answer the question : 'How do I want this situation to become?' Then the person must commit totally to personal actions that carry them there". Then a beautiful smile shone forth as she said, "My name is Azie Taylor Morton, I stand before you today as Treasurer of the United States of America".

Bob Moore - extracted from "Chicken Soup Series, Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, Health Communications Inc., 1995

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When one is in trouble, one remembers God : Nigerian Proverb

Thoughts 28AUG2013

GIFT OF FANTASY

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. Reading this makes me wonder how much sooner man could have walked on the moon ... had we listened to a child's fantasies. It is truly a pity that so many lose their gift of imagination to the steady hum of the status quo : Albert Einstein

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A big fish is caught with big bait : Sierra Leone

Thoughts 27AUG2013

EFFICIENT SECRETARY

Arnold Bennett, the British novelist, had a publisher who boasted about the extraordinary efficiency of his secretary. One day while visiting the publisher's office, Bennet asked her : "Your boss claims you're extremely efficient. What's your secret?" "It's not my secret", said the secretary, "It's his". Each time she did something for him, no matter how insignificant, she explained, he never failed to acknowledge and appreciate it. Because of this, she took infinite pains with her work

Found at : Aspiring to Greatness

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The horse that arrives early gets good drinking water : Zulu Proverb

Thoughts 26AUG2013

EXPONENTIAL RATE

It is said that scientific knowledge is growing at an exponential rate. To appreciate what it means, consider the story of a farmer who brought his horse to be shod and asked what it would cost. The blacksmith said he would charge a penny for the first nail, 2 cents for the second, 4 cents for the third and so on. The farmer, innocent of mathematics, agreed. For eight nails in each shoe, or 32 nails altogether, his bill came to $42,949,672.95. An exponential rate of growth is a fearsome thing.

Extracted from "Bits & Pieces", The Economic Press, Inc., Fairfield New Jersey

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The wind does not break a tree that bends : Sukuma

Thoughts 23AUG2013

ON FAILURE

I'd rather be a failure at something I'm in love with than a success at something I hate. Fortunately, I'm doing well in a business I love. I've always been in love with show business, and I still am. I love it today as much as I did for the 20 years I flopped in it.

George Burns (1896-1996), Entertainer - Cited in "BITS & PIECES"

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The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be : Chinese Proverb

Thoughts 22AUG2013

ON LAUGHTER

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, or seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you'll get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man

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

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A book holds a house of gold : Chinese Proverb

Thoughts 21AUG2013

There is a time to speak and a time to keep quite. There are things to tell and things not to tell. But it is an excellent rule to practice frankness in all dealings and associations with others, whether in business or socially. The frank person treads a firm bridge crossing a river, while the secretive person charily steps from stone to stone : B C Forbes - extracted from "Reader's Digest", July 1995 - Points to Ponder

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When one is in love, a cliff becomes a meadow : Ethiopian Proverbs

Thoughts 20AUG2013

ON DREAMS

A dream is an ideal involving a sense of possibilities rather than probabilities, of potential rather than limits. A dream is the wellspring of passion, giving us direction and pointing us to lofty heights. It is an expression of optimism, hope and values lofty enough to capture the imagination and engage the spirit. Dreams grab us and move us. They are capable of lifting us to new heights and overcoming self-imposed limitations.

Robert Kriegel - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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When your neighbour is wrong you point a finger, but when you are wrong you hide : Ekonda

Thoughts 19AUG2013

THE OTHER FELLOW

When the other fellow acts that way, he's ugly. When you do it, it's nerves.

When he's set in his ways, he's obstinate. When you are, it's just firmness.

When he doesn't like your friends, he's prejudiced. When you don't like his, you are simply showing good judgement of human nature.

When he tries to be accommodating, he's polishing the apple. When you do it, you're using tact.

When he takes time to do things, he is dead slow. When you take ages, you are deliberate.

When he picks flaws, he's cranky. When you do, you're discriminating.

Anonymous - extracted from "Bits & Pieces", The Economics Press Inc., Fairfield, New Jersey, USA

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Those who are absent are always wrong : Congolese Proverb