"Please accept the fact that you know nothing."

Peter F. Drucker

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"
 

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires 
than him who conquers his enemies;
for the hardest victory is the victory over self."
-Aristotle

"When people show you who they are, believe them."
- Maya Angelou

During Race 1, Prada trails Team New Zealand by 22 seconds at the first mark after some great tactical decisions by Team New Zealand

"A ship in a port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
- Benazir Bhutto

Stephen Hawking

The British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-) has devoted much of his life to probing the space-time described by general relativity and the singularities where it breaks down. And he’s done most of this work while confined to a wheelchair, brought on by the progressive neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Isaac Newton.    


"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anais Nin

"Everyone has the power for greatness, 
not for fame but greatness, 
because greatness is determined by service." 
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti


All truth passes through 3 stages. 

First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer 

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Anatole France

Those that know, do.  
Those that understand, teach. 

- Aristotle

History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time—and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.

Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), U.S. journalist. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, ch. 8 (1971).

  Mary Kay Ash

Much of our American progress has been the product of the individual who had an idea; pursued it; fashioned it; tenaciously clung to it against all odds; and then produced it, sold it, and profited from it.

Hubert H. Humphrey

Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–78), U.S. Democratic politician, vice president. Address, 29 June 1966, to United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, Detroit, Michigan.

In the end, you’re measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.

Donald Trump (b. 1946), U.S. businessman. Trump: The Art of the Deal, ch. 14 (1987; written with Tony Schwartz). (b. 1946), U.S. businessman. Trump: The Art of the Deal, ch. 14 (1987; written with Tony Schwartz). 

Kathy Wheatley and Donald Trump

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.

Donald Trump (b. 1946), U.S. businessman. Trump: The Art of the Deal, ch. 1 (1987; written with Tony Schwartz). (b. 1946), U.S. businessman. Trump: The Art of the Deal, ch. 1 (1987; written with Tony Schwartz).

The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call common sense; a man of a strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune . . . in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this. . . . He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent—for every effect a perfect cause—and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. The Conduct of Life, "Wealth" (1860).

Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervour.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81), English statesman, author. Coningsby, bk. 7, ch. 2 (1844). (1804–81), English statesman, author. Coningsby, bk. 7, ch. 2 (1844).

A man is known by the company he organizes.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914), U.S. author. The Devil’s Dictionary, "Saw" (1881–1906). (1842–1914), U.S. author. The Devil’s Dictionary, "Saw" (1881–1906).

The business of America is business.

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 17 Jan. 1925, to the Society of American Newspaper Editors. (1872–1933), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 17 Jan. 1925, to the Society of American Newspaper Editors. 

Listen to JFK

The United States has to move very fast to even stand still.

John F. Kennedy (1917–63), U.S. president. Quoted in: Observer (London, 21 July 1963). (1917–63), U.S. president. Quoted in: Observer (London, 21 July 1963).

There has been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. Our thought has been "Let every man look out for himself, let every generation look out for itself," while we reared giant machinery which made it impossible that any but those who stood at the levers of control should have any chance to look out for themselves.

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), U.S. Democratic politician, president. First inaugural address, 4 March 1913. (1856–1924), U.S. Democratic politician, president. First inaugural address, 4 March 1913.

 Business? it’s quite simple: it’s other people’s money.

Alexandre Dumas (1824–95), French dramatist. Giraud, in La Question d’Argent, act 2, sc. 7. (1824–95), French dramatist. Giraud, in La Question d’Argent, act 2, sc. 7.

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by neglect of many other things.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94), Scottish novelist, essayist, poet. Virginibus Puerisque, "An Apology for Idlers" (1881). (1850–94), Scottish novelist, essayist, poet. Virginibus Puerisque, "An Apology for Idlers" (1881). 

Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. . . . Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.

Andy Warhol (1928–87), U.S. pop artist. From A to B and Back Again, ch. 6 (1975). (1928–87), U.S. pop artist. From A to B and Back Again, ch. 6 (1975). 

If when a businessman speaks of minority employment, or air pollution, or poverty, he speaks in the language of a certified public accountant analyzing a corporate balance sheet, who is to know that he understands the human problems behind the statistical ones? If the businessman would stop talking like a computer printout or a page from the corporate annual report, other people would stop thinking he had a cash register for a heart. It is as simple as that—but that isn’t simple.

Louis B. Lundborg (1906–81), U.S. banker. The State of the Language, "The Voices of Business" (ed. by Christopher Ricks, 1980). (1906–81), U.S. banker. The State of the Language, "The Voices of Business" (ed. by Christopher Ricks, 1980). 

The weak have one weapon: the errors of those who think they are strong.

Georges Bidault

Nothing evil was created by God; we ourselves have produced all the wickedness.

Tatian, Syrian-Christian apologist, heretic.