We are here on earth to do for others. What the others are here for, I don’t know.
W H Auden, British poet (1907-1973)
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
Arthur Ashe, US tennis player (1943-1993)
The simplest and shortest ethical precept is to be served as little as possible – and to serve others as much as possible.
Leo Tolstoy, Russian author (1828-1910)
It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)
The miracle is this; the more we share, the more we have.
Leonard Nimoy, US actor (b. 1931)
No man, who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper reward.
Booker T Washington, US reformer, teacher (1856-1915)
There was never a person who did anything worth doing that did not receive more than he gave.
Henry Ward Beecher, US preacher, author (1813-1887)
Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
Augustine (Og) Mandino, US insurance businessman, author (1923-1996)
For it is in giving that we receive.
Francis of Assisi, Italian friar (1182-1226)
Control
You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.
Booker T Washington, US reformer, teacher (1856-1915)
You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.
Dwight D Eisenhower, US President, general (1890-1969)
Those who can command themselves, command others.
William Hazlitt, British journalist, essayist (1778-1830)
People have changed. They know more, they want to know more, they expect more, they want to be more, they want to fill up their lives with work that has meaning. There’s no time to worry about keeping everybody in line. Control is an illusion only achieved when people are controlling themselves.
David Firth, British management author (b. 1949)
Courage
Courage is one step ahead of fear.
Coleman Young, US senator (1918-1997)
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)
Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though chequered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much... in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, US President (1858-1919)
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt, US United Nations delegate (1884-1962)
The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
Epictetus, Greek philosopher (55-135 AD)
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it.
Pericles, Greek statesman (495-429 BC)
A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, letter-writer (1749-1832)
Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down.
Kobi Yamada, US marketeer, author
Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoidance of danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
Helen Keller, US author, lecturer (1880-1968)
It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution.
Alvin Toffler, US management author, editor (b. 1928)
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)
Success is not final, failure is not fataclass="underline" it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965)
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
John F Kennedy, US President (1917-1963)
Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion: courage to initiate something and keep it going – pioneering an adventurous spirit to blaze new ways.
Walt Disney, US artist, film producer (1901-1966)
Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.
Special Olympics motto
Creativity
A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.
Frank Capra, Italian/US film director (1897-1991)
Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity.
Michael J Gelb, US author, educator (b. 1952)
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Arthur Koestler, British author (1905-1983)
Why do we only ever play these games – games that are designed to stimulate us, to solve differences and to make us think creatively – in the training room?
David Firth, British management author (b. 1949)
Think before you speak is criticism’s motto: speak before you think, creation’s.
E M Forster, British author (1879-1970)
Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist.
Thomas Disch, US author (1940-2008)
Storm and Silence – the two modes of group creativity. Together they unlock a world of rich inspiration.
David Williams, British author, presenter (b. 1950)
Criticism
To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.