I do like challenges. What I like most of all is to learn. When I feel that I’ve learnt what there is to learn about telecommunications, or airlines, or cosmetics – well, you name it – then I move on to something else.
Richard Branson, British entrepreneur (b. 1950)
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Mary Adelaide Eden Philpotts, British author (1896-1996)
I’m always ready to learn, but I do not always like being taught.
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister(1874-1965)
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams, British author (1952-2001)
What did you ask at school today?
Richard Feynman, US physicist, Noble Prize winner, bongo player (1918-1988)
When you read a book, you hold another’s mind in your hands.
James Burke, British TV presenter, producer (b. 1936)
In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.
Charlie Brown, cartoon strip by Charles Schulz (1922-2000)
Listening
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus, Greek philosopher (55-135 AD)
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.
Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)
If you’re talking, you’re giving information and therefore giving away power; if you’re listening and asking questions, you’re gaining information, the raw material of knowledge, and therefore gaining power.
Geoff Burch, British management author, presenter (b. 1951)
One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears – by listening to them.
Dean Rusk, US statesman (1909-1994)
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.
Wilson Mizner, US playwright, author (1876-1933)
It is a mistake to think we listen only with our ears. It’s much more important to listen with the mind, the eyes, the body, and the heart. Unless you truly want to understand the other person, you’ll never be able to listen.
Mark Herndon, US musician (b. 1955)
Measurement
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.
George Pickering, British clinician (1904-1980)
Sometime during the two-year curriculum, every MBA student ought to hear it clearly stated that numbers, techniques and analysis are all side matters. What is central to business is the joy of creating.
Peter Robinson, US executive (b. 1938)
Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.
Doug Hammarskjold, Swedish statesman (1905-1961)
What gets measured gets done – but only for the purpose of measurement.
David Williams, British author, presenter (b. 1950)
Media
A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news or not.
Henry Fielding, British playwright, author (1707-1754)
For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.
Gloria Borger, US journalist, political pundit (b. 1952)
Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules.
Douglas Adams, British author (1952-2001)
Newspapers should have no friends.
Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian/US publisher, founder of the Pulitzer Prize (1847-1911)
I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader (1869-1948)
The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth.
Harold Evans, British journalist, editor (b. 1928)
All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.
Richard Avedon, US photographer (1923-2004)
Mediocrity
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
Joseph Heller, US author (1923-1999)
Only the mediocre are always at their best.
John Giradoux, French author, diplomat (1882-1944)
The world is full of people who never quite get into the first team and who just miss the prizes at the flower show.
Jacob Bronowski, British mathematician, scientist (1908-1974)
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
Henry David Thoreau, US essayist, poet (1817-1862)
Meetings
Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.
John Kenneth Galbraith, US economist, diplomat (1908-2006)
The next time you’re in a meeting, look around and identify the yes-butters, the not-knowers, and the why-notters. Why-notters move the world.
Louise Pierson, US advertising executive
A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.
Barnett Cocks, British political author (1907-1989)
Every discussion in a meeting has a diminishing curve of interest. The longer the discussion goes on, the fewer people will be interested in it.
Mark McCormack, US sports agent (1930-2003)
Why do we take notes of meetings that last for hours and call them minutes?
David Williams, British author, presenter (b. 1950)
A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
Fred Allen, US supreme court justice (b. 1928)
What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.
Richard Harkness, US journalist (1907-1977)
Mistakes
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
James Joyce, Irish author, poet (1882-1941)
One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs – but it is amazing how many eggs one can break without making a decent omelette.