This past week I spent a considerable amount of time in airports and on planes. In between navigating TSA checkpoints, checking in with ticket agents, waiting in lines to board planes, looking for luggage in the baggage claim areas, eating bad airport food, and searching for ground transportation (it all sounds so glamorous, doesn’t it!) I had the chance to catch up on a lot of backed up reading.  As I rooted through some old emails, a new book (The Anger Solution by John Lee…the stuff for another blog…), and some journal articles, I came across a number of quotes; some ancient, some old, some recent.

Quotes can be powerful reminders and motivators. They can also become trite and meaningless if repeated like so many bumper stickers.  So with the intent of the first point above (motivation) and at risk of the latter (banalities), I would like to offer a few of the ones that struck me as I went about my travels.  Below each quote, I offer a few words of my own. 

Feel free to share a favorite quote of your own.

•        Every course, every program, every college is perfectly designed to get the results it is currently getting.—Byron McClenny, University of Texas
  Think about it, the results we get come from what we do, where we do it, whom we do it with (or choose not to do it with), and how we do it.   Einstein said something like if we keep doing things the same way but expect different results that is the definition of insanity.  Speaking of Einstein….
•        Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.—Albert Einstein
  We can get so caught up in doing something and being somebody that we can lose sight of why we are doing what we are doing. Are we making a difference in the world? Do we add value to the lives around us?  I once read this advice. Rather than asking a new acquaintance, “What do you do for a living?” ask “What do you offer?”  That will catch attention!  What do you offer? What do I offer? 
•        I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.—Plutarch
  Do not surround yourself with “yes” people. We need honest people around us who will help us understand what we do well—and what we need to tweak or totally change. Years (decades) ago, I had the good fortune to meet a school administrator from Massachusetts. Leo said that the “yes” people of an organization do everyone a disservice. They will, Leo said, “Lead you down the primrose path to destruction.”
•     The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.—Chinese Proverb
  What are you waiting for?  As I said in a previous blog post, “Today is the tomorrow you created yesterday.”
•      When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.—Ilan Shamir (From “Advice from a Dog”)
  Our dog, Buddy, lives these words. Each day, each moment, is full of wonder.  Whatever the day may bring, greet your loved ones with open arms, a smile, and a kind word. Heck, really shake them up and wag your tail a couple of times! It is pretty simple. Woof!

 © Steve Piscitelli and Steve Piscitelli’s Blog, 2010.