“No matter how much you have achieved, you will always be merely good relative to what you can become. Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide towards mediocrity will have already begun.” - Jim Collins
“If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.” - Marian Wright Edelman
“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” - Charles Dubois
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” - Mother Teresa
“Action is the catalyst that creates accomplishments. It is the path that takes us from uncrafted hopes to realized dreams.” - Thomas Huxley
“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito.” - Anita Roddick
“The [nonprofit] sector is the natural home of nonmajoritarian impulses, movements and values. It comfortably harbors innovators, maverick movements, groups which feel they must fight for their place in the sun, and critics of both liberal conservative persuasion.” - John W. Gardner
“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”
- Jim Collins
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” - Ambrose Redmoon
“Mystery is the source of all true art and science. He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead.” - Albert Einstein
“Research also indicates that people who are geared toward service are much healthier than those who are not. Allan Luks studied 3,300 people who do volunteer work every day and described his findings in the 2001 book The Healing Power of Doing Good. Daily volunteers were 10 times likelier to report good health than people who only volunteered once a year.” - “Love Thy Neighbor For He Is Me” by Tijn Touber, June issue of Ode magazine.
Today, months and months after a very dear friend mailed a book to me, I finally found time to crack it open while I’m at a hotel in Nashville, TN, unable to paint. I haven’t even gotten to the first chapter of the book and already I’ve found inspiration worth mentioning in the “author’s note.” The first few paragraphs are as follows:
“During my first year on the Stanford faculty in 1988, I sought out Professor John Gardner for guidance on how I might become a better teacher. Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, founder of Common Cause, and author of the classic text Self-Renewal, stung me with a comment that changed my life.
It occurs to me, Jim, that you spend too much time trying to be interesting,” he said. “Why don’t you invest more time being interested.”
This snippet comes from the short book Good to Great and the Social Sectors, which is an afterthought to Good to Great, by Jim Collins. I love Gardner’s point and honesty. I’m sure Collins found it a slap in the face, but pivotal. This simple concept has the potential to completely reshape your thinking and focus. It’s ironic that by being selfless in our interests and work, we end up becoming people who are incredibly interesting as individuals and sought-after.
“My mother said to me, “If you become a soldier you’ll be a general; if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”- Pablo Picasso (pretty fitting, isn’t it?)
I currently have this quote on a post-it stuck to the back of my front door:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
Myself and 99 other “wise women” heard Kentucky State Auditor, Crit Luallen, speak this morning at a “One Hundred Wise Women” breakfast. I had planned to post a quote of inspiration from some popular philosopher, poet, or visionary from antiquity. After hearing Crit speak, I instead decided to share with you what I found inspirational about her talk.
Given the nature of her work, Crit is inundated with statistical information about the state of Kentucky. A very large portion of this information is terribly depressing. I hope I have this wrong, but I swear I heard her say that 3 in 20 students in the state will graduate from high school (please, please correct me on this if my ears heard incorrectly). In spite of such dismal facts about our state, Crit has forged on and devoted much of her self to affecting change.
Crit highlighted three crucial characteristics imperative for strong leadership that fully resonated with me that I’m sure you will appreciate as well:
All three especially remind me of traits becoming evermore important as things heat up on the campaign trail. Kentuckianas will vote for governor later this month and, of course, presidential candidates are revved up like we’re voting tomorrow.
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