Author Archive: Harry

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, September 7, 2015 – Walt Disney

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“A man should never neglect his family for business.”

And

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

And

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

And

“Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”

And

“I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.”

And

“I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.”

And

“I’d say it’s been my biggest problem all my life… it’s money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.”

And

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

And

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

And

“Laughter is America’s most important export.”

And

“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.”

And

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

And

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

And

“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”

And

“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”

And

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

And

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

And

“You reach a point where you don’t work for money.”

And

“Over at our place, we’re sure of just one thing: everybody in the world was once a child. So in planning a new picture, we don’t think of grown-ups, and we don’t think of children, but just of that fine, clean, unspoiled spot down deep in every one of us that maybe the world has made us forget and that maybe our pictures can help recall.”

And

“Once a man has tasted freedom he will never be content to be a slave. That is why I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary. Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life. All men will want to be free and share our way of life. There must be so much that I should have said, but haven’t. What I will say now is just what most of us are probably thinking every day. I thank God and America for the right to live and raise my family under the flag of tolerance, democracy and freedom.” Radio Address, March 1941

And

“I suppose my formula might be: dream, diversify and never miss an angle.”

And

“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.”

And

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main… and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”

And

“I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral.”

And

“Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk — especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity.”

And

“I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty. Call the child “innocence”. The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars.”

And

“When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, “But why do you want to build an amusement park? They’re so dirty.” I told her that was just the point — mine wouldn’t be.”

And

“Every person has his own ideas of the act of praying for God’s guidance, tolerance, and mercy to fulfill his duties and responsibilities. My own concept of prayer is not as a plea for special favors nor as a quick palliation for wrongs knowingly committed. A prayer, it seems to me, implies a promise as well as a request; at the highest level, prayer not only is a supplication for strength and guidance, but also becomes an affirmation of life and thus a reverent praise of God.”

And

“I have long felt that the way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things. Lecturing to children is no answer to delinquency. Preaching won’t keep youngsters out of trouble, but keeping their minds occupied will.”

And

“Actually, if you could see close in my eyes, the American flag is waving in both of them and up my spine is growing this red, white and blue stripe.”

And

“That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be twelve years old. They patronize; they treat children as inferiors. I won’t do that. I’ll temper a story, yes. But I won’t play down, and I won’t patronize.”

And

“To the youngsters of today, I say believe in the future, the world is getting better; there still is plenty of opportunity. Why, would you believe it, when I was a kid I thought it was already too late for me to make good at anything.”

And

“Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence.”

And

“Do a good job. You don’t have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work — then try to trump it.”

And

“I believe firmly in the efficacy of religion, in its powerful influence on a person’s whole life. It helps immeasurably to meet the storms and stress of life and keep you attuned to the Divine inspiration. Without inspiration, we would perish.”

Wikipedia: Walt Disney

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, September 6, 2015 – Marcus Aurelius

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“A man should be upright, not be kept upright.”

And

“A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.”

And

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”

And

“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”

And

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.”

And

“Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.”

And

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

And

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”

And

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

And

“Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.”

And

“Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.”

And

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”

And

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

And

“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

And

“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.”

And

“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.”

And

“Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.”

And

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

And

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

And

“Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed.”

And

“At dawn of day, when you dislike being called, have this thought ready: “I am called to man’s labour; why then do I make a difficulty if I am going out to do what I was born to do and what I was brought into the world for?”

And

“Everything–a horse, a vine–is created for some duty…For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.”

Wikipedia: Marcus Aurelius

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, September 5, 2015 – Julius Caesar

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“As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about what they can.”

And

“Experience is the teacher of all things.”

And

“Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.”

And

“I came, I saw, I conquered.”

And

“I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome. “

Amd

“I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.”

And

“It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.”

And

“Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.”

And

“No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.”

And

“What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.”

And

Julius Caesar Quotes by William Shakespeare:

“Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.”

And

“Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

And

“Et tu, Brutus?”

And

“Of all the wonders that I have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
(Act II, Scene 2)”

And

“Beware the ides of March.”

And

“The ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar; but not gone.”

And

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar … The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it …
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral …
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me”

And

“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”

And

“But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.”

And

“Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come”

And

“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones”

Wikipedia:  Julius Caesar

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, September 4, 2015 – Amelia Earhart

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“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

And

“Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.”

And

“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.”

And

“Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.”

And

“I want to do it because I want to do it.”

And

“In soloing – as in other activities – it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”

And

“Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.”

And

“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.”

And

“Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.”

And

“Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.”

And

“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”

And

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward.”

And

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”

And

“The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”

And

“There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.”

And

“There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.”

And

“Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.”

And

“Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

And

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”

And

“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”

And

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

And

“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”

And

“In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful “break” was apt to lurk just around the corner.”

And

“The soul’s dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay with courage to behold restless day and count it fair.”

And

“Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.”

And

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”

And

“Worry retards reaction and makes clear-cut decisions impossible.”

And

“…decide…whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying….”

And

“Not much more than a month ago I was on the other shore of the Pacific, looking westward. This evening, I looked eastward over the Pacific. In those fast-moving days which have intervened, the whole width of the world has passed behind us -except this broad ocean. I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us.” — Amelia Earhart, several days before she left for Howland Island and disappeared

Wikipedia: Amelia Earhart

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, September 3, 2015 – Audie Murphy

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“Seems to me that if you’re afraid or living with some big fear, you’re not really living. You’re only half alive. I don’t care if it’s the boss you’re scared of or a lot of people in a room or diving off of a dinky little board, you gotta get rid of it. You owe it to yourself. Makes sort of a zombie out of you being afraid. I mean you want to be free, don’t you? And how can you if you are scared? That’s prison. Fear’s a jailer. Mind now, I’m not a professor on the subject. I just found it out for myself. But that’s what I think.”

And

“If you’re afraid of anything, why not take a chance and do the thing you fear. Sometimes it’s the only way to get over being afraid.”

And

“Let each man hear his own music and live by it. The drums roll one way for one man, I guess, and another way for another. You have to listen to your own.”

And

“In life quality is what counts, not quantity.”

And

“Audacity is a tactical weapon. Nine times out ten it will throw the enemy off-balance and confuse him.”

And

“The true meaning of America, you ask? It’s in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman’s badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper… In all these things, and many more, you’ll find America. In all these things, you’ll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me.”

And

“Lead from the front.”

Wikipedia Page: Audie Murphy

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, September 2, 2015 – Alexander the Great

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“Alexander the Great, reflecting on his friends degenerating into sloth and luxury, told them that it was a most slavish thing to luxuriate, and a most royal thing to labor.”

And

“I do not steal victory.”

And

“Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops — Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they — Darius!” Aledander addressing his troops prior to Battle of Issus

And

“Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?”

And

“To the strongest!” After being asked, by his generals on his deathbed, who was to succeed him.

And

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”

And

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

And

“I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”

And

“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”

Wikipedia:  Alexander the Great

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, September 1, 2015 – Sun Tzu

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“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”

And

“Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.”

And

“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”

And

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”

And

“All war is deception.”

And

“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”

And

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”

And

“Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.”

And

“For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”

And

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

And

“The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”

And

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.”

And

“The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.”

And

“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.”

And

“Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

And

“You have to believe in yourself.”

And

“Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.”

And

“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”

And

“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.”

And

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

And

“It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used.”

And

“Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.”

And

“Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.”

And

“If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.”

And

“It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.”

And

“Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”

And

“Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.”

And

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.”

And

“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.”

And

“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.”

And

“There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”

And

“Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.”

And

“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”

And

“The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.”

And

“The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.”

And

“To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

And

“The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.”

And

“If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.”

And

“There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.”

And

“For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.”

And

“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you now Heaven and you know Earth, you may make your victory complete.”

And

“If fighting is sure to result in victory, than you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.”

And

“Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.”

And

“Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.”

And

“When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.”

And

“If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory.”

And

“The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.”

Wikipedia Page: Sun Tzu

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, August 31, 2015 – Carl Von Clausewitz

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“All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.”

And

“Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.”

And

“Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.”

And

“If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.”

And

“It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.”

And

“Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.”

And

“Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.”

And

“The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.”

And

“The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.”

And

“The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.”

And

“Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.”

And

“War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.”

And

“Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that mistakes that come from kindness are the very worst.”

And

“Determination in a single instance is an expression of courage; if it becomes characteristic, a mental habit. But here we are referring not to physical courage but to courage to accept responsibility, courage in the face of a moral danger. This has often been called courage d’esprit, because it is created by the intellect. That, however, does not make it an act of the intellect: it is an act of temperament. Intelligence alone is not courage; we often see that the most intelligent people are irresolute. Since in the rush of events a man is governed by feelings rather than by thought, the intellect needs to arouse the quality of courage, which then supports and sustains it in action.
Looked at in this way, the role of determination is to limit the agonies of doubt and the perils of hesitation when the motives for action are inadequate.”

And

“We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.”

And

“Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy’s strength too high than too low, such is human nature.”

And

“With uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the balance. The greater they are, the greater the margin that can be left for accidents.”

And

“Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.”

And

“Any complex activity, if it is to be carried on with any degree of virtuosity, calls for appropriate gifts of intellect and temperament. If they are outstanding and reveal themselves in exceptional achievements, their possessor is called a ‘genius’.”

And

“If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.”

And

“There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.”

And

“Boldness governed by superior intellect is the mark of a hero.”

Wikipedia Page: Carl Von Clausewitz

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, August 30, 2015 – Pat Dye

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“Believe in honest, positive dissent.”

And

Football is not an “I” game. It’s a “we” game.”

And

“Nothing has changed about what makes a winner. A winner works his butt off and is dependable. He’s not always the most talented, but he gives everything on every play.”

And

“At Auburn, practice is Hell. But when you line up across the big, fast, smart, angry boys from Florida, and Georgia, and Alabama, where there is no quality of mercy on the ground and no place to hide, you’ll know why practice is Hell at Auburn.”

And

Don’t wait to be a great man. Be a great boy.”

And

“I don’t believe in miracles. I believe in character”

And

“Life is short, so don’t waste any of it carrying around a load of bitterness. It only sours your life, and the world won’t pay any attention anyway.”

And

“If you’re a football coach, criticism comes with the territory. If it tears you up, you better get into another profession.”

Before the 1981 Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Pat Dye (Pat Dye coached for Paul Bryant for nine years on the Alabama staff):

Pat Dye:  “Coach Bryant, before you start hugging me, you ought to know that my boys are fixing to get after y’all’s ass.” 

Paul Bryant:  “You ain’t trying to scare me now, are you, Pat?”

Pat Dye:  “No sir, because I know you don’t get scared. I’m just telling you what we’re fixing to do.”

And

“A game like this, Alabama players will remember it for the rest of their lives. Auburn players…it’ll eat their guts out the rest of their lives.” Former Auburn coach Pat Dye to a reporter after Van Tiffen kicked his 52 yard field goal to beat Auburn in 1985.

Wikipedia:  Pat Dye

www.coachpatdye.com

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, August 29, 2015 – John Steinbeck

JohnSteinbeck281818

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

And

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

And

“I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.”

And

“I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?”

And

“I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate.”

And

“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”

And

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

And

“If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.”

And

“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”

And

“It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.”

And

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

And

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

And

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

And

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

And

“Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.”

And

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

And

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.”

And

“Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there’s time, the Bastard Time.”

And

“Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.”

And

“We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — ”Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.””

And

“One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: “Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.””

And

“If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.”

And

“Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”

And

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.”

And

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.”

And

“In every bit of honest writing in the world … there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. there is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.”

And

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.”

And

“The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.”

And

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.”

And

“It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.”

And

“I guess this is why I hate governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by the fine print men. There’s nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.

And

Excerpt from Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck

The next passage in my journey is a love affair. I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it. Once, when I raptured in a violet glow given off by the Queen of the World, my father asked me why, and I thought he was crazy not to see. Of course I know now she was a mouse-haired, freckle-nosed, scabby-kneed little girl with a voice like a bat and the loving kindness of a gila monster, but then she lighted up the landscape and me. It seems to me that Montana is a great splash of grandeur. The scale is huge but not overpowering. The land is rich with grass and color, and the mountains are the kind I would create if mountains were ever put on my agenda. Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans. Here for the first time I heard a definite regional accent unaffected by TV-ese, a slow-paced warm speech. It seemed to me that the frantic bustle of America was not in Montana. Its people did not seem afraid of shadows in a John Birch Society sense. The calm of the mountains and the rolling grasslands had got into the inhabitants. It was hunting season when I drove through the state. The men I talked to seemed to me not moved to a riot of seasonal slaughter but simply to be going out to kill edible meat. Again my attitude may be informed by love, but it seemed to me that the towns were places to live in rather than nervous hives. People had time to pause in their occupations to undertake the passing art of neighborliness.

I found I did not rush through the towns to get them over with. I even found things I had to buy to make myself linger. In Billings I bought a hat, in Livingston a jacket, in Butte a rifle I didn’t particularly need, a Remington bolt-action .22, secondhand but in beautiful condition. Then I found a telescope sight I had to have, and waited while it was mounted on the rifle, and in the process got to know everyone in the shop and any customers who entered. With the gun in a vise and the bolt out, we zeroed the new sight on a chimney three blocks away, and later when I got to shooting the little gun I found no reason to change it. I spent a good part of a morning at this, mostly because I wanted to stay. But I see that, as usual, love is inarticulate. Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. If Montana had a seacoast, or if I could live away from the sea, I would instantly move there and petition for admission. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.

At Custer we made a side trip south to pay our respects to General Custer and Sitting Bull on the battlefield of Little Big Horn. I don’t suppose there is an American who doesn’t carry Remington’s painting of the last defense of the center column of the 7th Cavalry in his head. I removed my hat in memory of brave men, and Charley saluted in his own manner but I thought with great respect.

The whole of eastern Montana and the western Dakotas is memory-marked as Injun country, and the memories are not very old either. Some years ago my neighbor was Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who wrote Heavenly Discourse. He was a very old man when I knew him, but as a young lieutenant just out of military academy he had been assigned to General Miles and he served in the Chief Joseph campaign. His memory of it was very clear and very sad. He said it was one of the most gallant retreats in all history. Chief Joseph and the Nez Percés with squaws and children, dogs, and all their possessions, retreated under heavy fire for over a thousand miles, trying to escape to Canada. Wood said they fought every step of the way against odds until finally they were surrounded by the cavalry under General Miles and the large part of them wiped out. It was the saddest duty he had ever performed, Wood said, and he had never lost his respect for the fighting qualities of the Nez Percés. “If they hadn’t had their families with them we could never have caught them,” he said. “And if we had been evenly matched in men and weapons, we couldn’t have beaten them. They were men,” he said, “Real men.”

Wikipedia: John Steinbeck

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