Igor > Igor's Quotes

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
― Calvin Coolidge

“Leef hard en goed en schoon en wild. Kijk goed, voel beter. Wees niet bang. Kies voor wat u blij maakt, wat het ook moge zijn. Durf proberen wat te lastig lijkt. Leg de lat hoog genoeg. Koester en laat u koesteren. Geef anderen wat ze verdienen, en uzelf minstens ook. Blijf hopen, willen, dromen, wensen.”
― Griet Op de Beeck, Vele hemels boven de zevende

“Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature.”
― Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

“The one thing that all successful people have in common is persistence,”
― Garr Reynolds, Naked Presenter, The: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides

“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.”
― Henry Green

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”
― Wayne W. Dyer

“Greatness can’t be imposed; it has to come from within. But it does live within all of us.”
― Jeff Sutherland, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry.”
― Jack Kerouac

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”
― Albert Einstein

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“You bite the bullet and get on with it. One can't expect to be happy all the time ... You expect to be happy, as if it's a right. It's not a right. It's a bonus. The cherry on the cake.”
― Santa Montefiore, The French Gardener

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“I’m neither your friend nor your frenemy, unless you have what I want.”
― Lisa Scottoline, Every Fifteen Minutes

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.”
― Miguel Ruiz

“A person who does nothing will enjoy no happiness.”
― M. Vatsyayana, Kama Sutra

“Perhaps we'll never know how far the path can go, how much a human being can truly achieve, until we realize that the ultimate reward is not a gold medal but the path itself.”
― George Leonard, Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

“Competition is the spice of sports; but if you make spice the whole meal you'll be sick.

The simplest single-celled organism oscillates to a number of different frequencies, at the atomic, molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular levels. Microscopic movies of these organisms are striking for the ceaseless, rhythmic pulsation that is revealed. In an organism as complex as a human being, the frequencies of oscillation and the interactions between those frequencies are multitudinous. -George Leonard
Learning any new skill involves relatively brief spurts of progress, each of which is followed by a slight decline to a plateau somewhat higher in most cases than that which preceded it…the upward spurts vary; the plateaus have their own dips and rises along the way…To take the master’s journey, you have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels of competence. But while doing so–and this is the inexorable–fact of the journey–you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere. (Mastery, p. 14-15).
Backsliding is a universal experience. Every one of us resists significant change, no matter whether it’s for the worse or for the better. Our body, brain and behavior have a built-in tendency to stay the same within rather narrow limits, and to snap back when changed…Be aware of the way homeostasis works…Expect resistance and backlash. Realize that when the alarm bells start ringing, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sick or crazy or lazy or that you’ve made a bad decision in embarking on the journey of mastery. In fact, you might take these signals as an indication that your life is definitely changing–just what you’ve wanted….Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change.

Our preoccupation with goals, results, and the quick fix has separated us from our own experiences…there are all of those chores that most of us can’t avoid: cleaning, straightening, raking leaves, shopping for groceries, driving the children to various activities, preparing food, washing dishes, washing the car, commuting, performing the routine, repetitive aspects of our jobs….Take driving, for instance. Say you need to drive ten miles to visit a friend. You might consider the trip itself as in-between-time, something to get over with. Or you could take it as an opportunity for the practice of mastery. In that case, you would approach your car in a state of full awareness…Take a moment to walk around the car and check its external condition, especially that of the tires…Open the door and get in the driver’s seat, performing the next series of actions as a ritual: fastening the seatbelt, adjusting the seat and the rearview mirror…As you begin moving, make a silent affirmation that you’ll take responsibility for the space all around your vehicle at all times…We tend to downgrade driving as a skill simply because it’s so common. Actually maneuvering a car through varying conditions of weather, traffic, and road surface calls for an extremely high level of perception, concentration, coordination, and judgement…Driving can be high art…Ultimately, nothing in this life is “commonplace,” nothing is “in between.” The threads that join your every act, your every thought, are infinite. All paths of mastery eventually merge.

[Each person has a] vantage point that offers a truth of its own.

We are the architects of creation and all things are connected through us.

The Universe is continually at its work of restructuring itself at a higher, more complex, more elegant level . . . The intention of the universe is evolution.

We exist as a locus of waves that spreads its influence to the ends of space and time.

The whole of a thing is contained in each of its parts.

We are completely, firmly, absolutely connected with all of existence.

We are indeed in relationship to all that is.”
― George Leonard

“Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.”
― Bob Marley

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”
― Heraclitus

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“Whatever is going on inside your head has everything to do with how well you end up performing.”
― D.C. Gonzalez, The Art of Mental Training: A Guide to Performance Excellence

“You must choose to control anger through a decision.  For if you lose control to anger—then the anger will surely control you.”
― D.C. Gonzalez, The Art of Mental Training - A Guide to Performance Excellence

“If you want rest, you have to take it. You have to resist the lure of busyness, make time for rest, take it seriously, and protect it from a world that is intent on stealing it. History”
― Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
― Albert Einstein

“True leadership inspires people with vision. Vision pulls people not only to take action but also to care about the outcome, to take personal ownership of it, and to bring their “A game” every day.”
― Christine Comaford, SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

“Act as if! Act as if you're a wealthy man, rich already, and then you'll surely become rich. Act as if you have unmatched confidence and then people will surely have confidence in you. Act as if you have unmatched experience and then people will follow your advice. And act as if you are already a tremendous success, and as sure as I stand here today - you will become successful.”
― Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street