A Collection of Quotations
by John Dolan-Heitlinger
The quotations are in alphabetical order, by author.

Intelligent people talk about ideas.
Average people talk about things.
Small people talk about other people.
Dear Abby Column

Communism: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Early 80's Dear Abby column

I have passed the Rubicon; swim or sink, live or die,
survive or perish with my country-- that is my unalterable determination.
John Adams, 1735-1826, from a conversation with Jonathan Sewall in Falmouth, Maine, July 1774

A psychiatrist asks a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing.
Joey Adams, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end.
It is the highest political end.
Lord Acton, The History of Freedom 1907

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical:
from all our legends, mythology, and history
(and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins--or which is which),
the first radical known to man, who rebelled against the establishment
and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom --- Lucifer.
Saul Alinsky

Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
Fred Allen, comedian

Planning & Precision
It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied
with the degree of precision which the subject admits,
and not seek exactness where only an approximation is possible.
Aristotle, (Collected from the walls of Exxon Valdez oil spill analysts)

God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them.
James H. Aughey 1828-1911 American Minister

There's no shortage of priests. There's a shortage of thinking.
Joe Ascherl, philosopher and book designer during a visit to Key West 17 January 1994

A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.
C. E. Ayres, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

A person whose job is deep thinking about atomic war would no more
call a `megadeath' a `million corpses' than an embalmer would refer to a `loved one' as a `stiff.'
Russell Baker, newspaper columnist discussing the uses to which language is put in obscuring the thought of the military

If you should hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall
and shot to rags please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life.
It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs.
To be a gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia.
Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914 From a letter to a relative before leaving for Chihuahua en route to visit Pancho Villa's troops.
Carlos Fuentes wrote the Old Gringo about him.

I pledge allegiance to my flag,
and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Francis Bellamy, 1856-1931, 1892
Footnote: the words "of the United States of America" and "under God" were not part of the original pledge.
They were added many years later by the American Legion, the DAR, and the Knights of Columbus.
Thanks to Jon AudioBoy101@aol.com, and
Dr. John W. Baer at http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm
for correcting the original entry.
JDH note: I prefer the original.

95% of this game is half mental.
We have deep depth.
We made too many wrong mistakes.
You can observe a lot just by watching.
Yogi Berra, Baseball Manager

Loyalty must arise spontaneously from the hearts of people
who love their country and respect their government.
Hugo L. Black, 1886-1971 Justice, Supreme Court of the United States

Wisdom consists not in being indignant but in being prepared.
Gunther Bornkamm, author including Jesus of Nazareth

He who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints.
Joan L. Brannon, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

There are 5 good reasons to spend money:
on necessities,
on investments,
on self improvement,
on memories, and
to impress your friends.
Aaron Brown, former defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs and now an office furniture salesman in Minneapolis, 1984

Choose your battles.
Dr. Frank Brown, Lilly researcher, advice directed to John Dolan-Heitlinger during a Lilly seminar, November 1984

Sincerity is the measure of your ability to adjust to the opinions of those who can fire you.
Bill Bruns, Eli Lilly & Company 1984

I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God,
subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors;
never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth.
William Buckley, Jr., Up From Liberalism

The government of the United States, under Lyndon Johnson,
proposes to concern itself over the quality of American life.
And this is something very new in the political theory of free nations.
The quality of life has heretofore depended on the quality of the human beings
who gave tone to that life, and they were its priests and its poets, not its bureaucrats."
William Buckley, Jr., day, 7 August 1965

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke, 1729-1797, in a letter to William Smith , 9 January 1795

The great Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham, said:
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood . . .
Make big plans; aim high in hope and work,
remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die,
but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.

Unofficial motto of a USAF Tactical Fighter Squadron in Korea:
What is good?
To crush your enemies,
To see them driven before you.
To hear the lamentations of their women.
From Conan the Barbarian by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Money is the symbol of duty,
it is the sacrament of having done for mankind
that which mankind wanted.
Samuel Butler, 1612-1680

The earliest Christians get the hungriest lions.
Joe Cahill, Lilly Systems, 13 July 1982

Marriage is the deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise longue.
Mrs. Patrick Campbell

A free press can of course be good or bad, but,
most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . .
Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better,
whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.
Albert Camus, 1913-1960 Resistance, Rebellion, and Death, 1960

What's technology? Why, it's science that makes money.
That definition is so easy, yet almost no one outside the aerospace industry uses it.
Peter Cannon, VP, Rockwell International Corp.

An important part of any secretary's job is to keep the routine from becoming a hassle.
Dan Carmichael, Eli Lilly & Company lawyer, 1985

Diplomacy--the art of saying "nice doggie" until you can find a stick.
Wynn Catlin, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting;
it has been found difficult and left untried.
Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, What's Wrong With the World, 1910,
Contributed by George T. Odom, Controller, Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union

The human race is always trying this dodge of making everything entirely easy;
but the difficulty which it shifts off one thing it shifts to another.
G. K. Chesterton Contributed by Brian Edelman, 1988, Lilly Executive, As a summary of ECON 101

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.
Ascribed to Chesterton by John F. Kennedy in a 1945 notebook

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
Sign in Church Brothers Automotive Body Works, established in 1929

Come on now, all you young men, all over the world.
You are needed more than ever now to fill the gap of a generation shorn by the war.
You have not an hour to lose. You must take your places in life's fighting line.
Twenty to twenty-five! These are the years!
Don't be content with things as they are.
"The earth is yours and the fullness thereof."
Enter upon your inheritance, accept your responsibilities.
Raise the glorious flags again,
advance them upon the new enemies,
who constantly gather upon the front of the human army,
and have only to be assaulted to be overthrown.
Don't take no for an answer, never submit to failure.
Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance.
You will make all kinds of mistakes;
but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce,
you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.
She was made to be wooed and won by the youth.
Winston Churchill,, 1874-1965 Roving Commission: My Early Life, 1930

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount.
And the tigers are getting hungry.
Winston Churchill, While England Slept, 1936

Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot,
others as a cow to be milked,
but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.
Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end.
We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender.
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, speech on Dunkirk, House of Commons, 4 May 1940

Personally I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Winston Churchill

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.
Winston Churchill

The reservist is twice the citizen.
Winston Churchill

There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if,
when it comes,
it is a far worse war or one much harder to win.
Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm, 1948

Rank is given you to enable you to better serve those below you.
It is not given for you to practice your idiosyncrasies.
General Bruce Clark

The art of war in its highest point of view is policy.
Karl Von Clausewitz, 1780-1831

Do you want to persuade or perform?
Robert Cole, Lilly employee, comment directed to John Dolan-Heitlinger during a Lilly seminar, November 1984

I have become a target, and a target makes a poor impression. 
Kevin Costner, Dances With Wolves

I'm not in a position to lead. But if you would like me to stay a half step ahead of you, I'll do that.
Dr. Pat Cowall-Hanover, 25 October 1985

When you can, always advise people to do what you see they really want to do,
so long as what they want to do isn't dangerously unlawful, stupidly unsocial, or obviously impossible.
Doing what they want to do, they may succeed; doing what they don't want to do, they won't.
James Gould Cozzens

Half the world is below average and it's not going to get any better.
Dr. David Crabb, 7 December 1985

Does it sound right?
Does it feel right?
Does it make sense?
Ellen Crabb, May 1985

An American kneels only to his God, and faces his enemy.
W. H. Crittenden, On being ordered to kneel down before being shot by
the Spaniards as a filibusterer, Havana, 16 August 1851

If you think medicines are dangerous, try disease.
Dr. Brian Cromie, Hoechst Pharmaceuticals (UK), 1980s

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
John Philpot Curran, Dublin, 1808

That's the only way to treat passion. Test it to destruction.
Dalziel to Pascoe, BBC/A&E Mystery network television show  1998

I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can reset my sails and get where I need to go.
Jimmy Dean

The first principle of delegation is not to redo the work of the person the job was delegated to.
Tom DeCoster, 27 April 1985, SPEA IUPUI

Anyone who has begun to think places some portion of the world in jeopardy.
John Dewey, American Educator

Something will turn up!
MacCawber from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Comedy is tragedy revisited.
Phyllis Diller, comedian

You've got to get up pretty early to embarrass a Dolan.
Jeanmarie Dolan, Christmas 1990

While watching a BBC produced History Channel program on the bombing of London:
    "I don't like the Germans! "
        John D-H asked, "Why not"
    Claire responded, "Because they are always fighting with 'our' British."
Claire Dolan-Heitlinger, June 1997

When viewing a group engaged in an argument or spirited discussion,
do not assume that the person saying or proclaiming the most is the one in charge.
Rather look to see who is asking the questions and so subtly directing the conversation.
Eileen Dolan-Heitlinger, 10 July 1990

A senior Coast Guard Captain, sitting at his desk, was presented with the summary
of a situation by one of his new subordinates, a young Ensign.
The Ensign asked the Captain what he should do about the situation.
The Captain took a deep breath, looked down at the floor, and bit his lower lip.
He was clearly discomfited.
The Ensign stood by, mystified at what he could have said to upset his Captain.
Finally the Captain looked up, held his hands open, and said,
"John, if I tell you what to do...well then I'm doing your job."
The Captain opened a drawer and pulled from it a copy of
The Doctrine of Completed Staff Work
and handed it to the now very apprehensive Ensign.
After giving the Ensign a few minutes to read it, the Captain explained:
"In the future, when you bring me something, always bring a recommendation.
That way, if I agree, I will OK it and the decision will have been made as efficiently as possible.
If I don't agree I will tell you why and we have a solid basis on which to discuss the proposal."
The Captain was the best boss the Ensign ever worked for. A somewhat civilianized version of
The Doctrine of Completed Staff Work is included in this collection of quotations. -- John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1976

In a sea filled with rafts, a sailboat will rule the waves.
Hull - Common sense to keep the vessel afloat.
Keel - A moral philosophy, to keep to a course.
Sail - Education, to expand the mind so it can catch opportunities as they float by.
Rudder - Intelligence, to know where to go.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1981

Lilly Law of Headcount Inefficiency
If it is as easy to hire an expensive analyst as it is to hire a much less expensive secretary,
and the manager is not rewarded for keeping personnel costs down,
then you will have highly paid analysts doing secretarial work.
This is the effect of using headcount control as the
primary method of personnel cost control in a company.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1983

If you walk in one place long enough you'll scuff out a hole so deep you can't see over the top.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, June 1984

I can teach knowledge, skills, and understanding.
I can help bring out drive, initiative, talent, and sensitivity.
But I can't teach courage or integrity.
And if you don't have them, you can't lead others.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1985

The Charm of the Loose Cannon
To the observer completely ignorant of the appropriate function of a cannon or warship,
a loose cannon rolling about on the heaving deck of a warship
may appear to be an effective machine.
It moves with great noise and force all about the deck, commanding the attention of every sailor.
It accomplishes a great deal as it smashes through bulkheads, upturns supplies, and
injures those not quick enough to leap out of its way.
It is the same with some managers that act with great noise and activity.
Managers that are quick to react, always ready to jump into the
maelstrom of a problem with rapid fire solutions.
Managers that may leave an organizational shambles in their wake made up of
crisis decisions and little philosophical direction.
To upper management these "action-oriented" managers may appear to be
accomplishing a great deal.
If things seem disjointed or incomplete, it is due to a weak staff or lack of resources.
Those that complain to upper management about being run over by the cannon
are listened to and the comments are passed to the cannon.
Loose cannons do not respond much to verbal direction.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 30 April 1987

Capitalist economics and democratic government are inextricably intertwined.
Just as democracy allows each individual to make "right" or "wrong" political choices,
capitalism allows each individual to purchase or not purchase items on the open market.
Both democracy and capitalism allow for the greatest individual freedom of choice.
They are the zenith of political and economic liberty.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, May 1987

Hell, I've got more important things than that to do that I'm already not doing.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 25 August 1987

Beware of proposals in which the difficulty of the accounting
overwhelms the benefits of the information.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 30 August 1988

I have never been over-complimented. I even like compliments a little when they are forced.
If you want me to perform for you, tell me when I am doing a good job.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 20 September 1988

Lousy bosses tend to delegate most of the danger and none of the glory,
i.e. they delegate the responsibility but not the authority and credit.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, December 1988

The only differences between research and espionage are the methods of information gathering,
the quality of the end product, and the perception of the people examined.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1990

The entire structure and hierarchy of any organization should exist to support those that
actually deliver the product or service.
For example in the Coast Guard, all the admirals, captains, and officers, all the CPOs, petty officers,
all the district and headquarters staffs, all of them are worthless if the 18-year old seaman in the
search and rescue boat cannot effectively reach into the water and pull the drowning victim to safety.
The lesson for all of us should be to insure that the necessary bureaucratic tail
does not wag the operational dog.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1992

The bottom line of everything is philosophy.
The numbers can always be developed to support that philosophy.
John Dolan-Heitlinger, 1992

No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of they friends or if thine own were;
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
John Donne, 1572-1631, Devotions XVII, 1623

The beginning of all freedom is the right to be left alone.
William O. Douglas Justice, Supreme Court of the United States

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation,
are men who want rain without thunder and lightning.
Frederick Douglass, 1817-1895

Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

To be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men.
Hanelock Ellis, 1859-1939 Introduction to Huysmans, Against the Grain

Man is disturbed not by things but the views he takes of them.
Epictetus, as quoted in The Miami Herald, 23 February 1992

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lots of us have photographic memories that we don't develop.
Paul Emmons, West Chester University Librarian, March 1994, from Eileen D-H

When attempting to divine the real effect of any financial transaction
always look at what happens to cash.
Ross Faris, Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union Manager, 1986

Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!
David Glasgow Farragut, 1801-1870, At the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 Admiral "Bull" Halsey, USN, 1944

I think everyone in New York has Epstein Barr syndrome.
L. Jeannie Faulkner, 14 January 1989

I believe that man will not merely endure: He will prevail.
William Faulkner, Speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize, Stockholm, 10 December 1950

Hanging focuses the mind very clearly.
VP Gerald Ford, commenting on staff cutbacks

It is not the employer who pays wages -- he only handles the money.
It is the product that pays wages.
Henry Ford

Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.
Henry Ford

The ultimate touchstone of constitutionality is the Constitution itself
and not what we have said about it.
Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice, Graves vs. New York; 1939

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
Ben Franklin

Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben? (Dogs, would you live forever?)
Frederick the Great to his troops

Most economic fallacies derive . . . from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie,
that one party can gain only at the expense of another.
Milton Friedman, Economic Freedom and Representative Government; 1973

There are tones of voice that mean more than words.
Robert Frost

The Great Society went wrong for three major reasons.
First, the self-organization the Johnson administration promoted turned out to be
not the pooling of family and community resources into shops and businesses,
but political pressure for government handouts.
Second, the Great Society failed to anticipate the perverse side-effects of
handing money out to people who have done nothing to earn it.
Third, while the Great Society was showering money on the poor, the Supreme Court
was with childlike glee smashing to bits traditional methods of maintaining law and order.
David Frum, American Spectator, 1991?

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty.
I think only how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
Buckminster Fuller

Democracy is measured not by it leaders doing extraordinary things,
but by its citizens doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
John Gardner

Schizophrenia beats dining alone.
Thomas E. Gaul

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.
Thomas E. Gaul

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
Andre Gide

Let's do it.
Gary Gilmore, murderer executed in Draper State Prison, Point of the Mountain, Utah on 17 January 1977.
Said by him to the guards who were waiting to escort him to the firing squad once he had finished the
six pack of beer he chose as his last meal.

The squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced.
Vic Gold, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

We Americans understand freedom;
we have earned it, we have lived for it, and we have died for it.
This nation and its people are freedom's models in a searching world.
We can be freedom's missionaries in a doubting world.
Barry Goldwater, Speech to the Republican National Convention; June 16, 1964

There's only one corner of the universe that you can be certain of improving,
and that's your own self.
Agnes Kendrick Gray Time Must Have A Stop, 1944

It is courage the world needs, not infallibility . . . courage is always the surest wisdom.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell

"Struggle Junkies" to describe those who always seek out a cause,
thriving on conflict rather than the importance or correctness of the stand on an issue.
Mary Grein, Eli Lilly & Company Analyst, 12 May 1985

I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale, Before being hanged by the British as a spy, Long Island, 22 September 1776

No foreign policy will stick unless the American people are behind it.
And unless Congress understands it.
And unless Congress understands it, the American people aren't going to understand it.
W. Averell Harriman

People who are much too sensitive to demand of cripples that they run races ask of the poor
that they get up and act just like everyone else in the society.
Michael Harrington, American Socialist

Keine Herrschaft ist heilig. (No authority is holy)
Gotthold Hasenhuttl

Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity
and the burden of choice;
it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions...
Liberty and responsibility are inseparable.
Friedrich von Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty 1960

Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater teacher.
Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
Hazlitt

Illigitumus non carborundum. (Don't let the bastards grind you down)
Bob Heitlinger, Merrick White & others

Other than true crisis situations, there are only 2 reasons for someone
to consistently stay late at work:
1. You don't know how to set priorities,
2. You don't want to go home.
Gay Heitlinger, 1988

Peace Corps volunteers that go to Latin America--come back as revolutionaries.
Peace Corps volunteers that go to the Orient and India--come back as mystics.
Peace Corps volunteers that go to Africa--come back laughing.
Bob Hennessy, Former Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, from a conversation in 1978

Give me liberty or give me death.
Patrick Henry

After hearing the comment that the work and time involved assembling and indexing
this collection of quotations had approximately the same small, productive value as knitting:
Well, you can't publish a sweater.
Steve Hinchcliffe, 1 April 1992

You will kill ten of our men, and we will kill one of yours,
and in the end it will be you who will tire of it.
Ho Chi Minh, 1890-1969

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand,
as in what direction we are moving:
To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, --
but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

Older men declare war.  But it is youth that must fight and die.
And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow, and the triumphs
that are the aftermath of war.
Herbert Clark Hoover, 1874-1964 Speech, Republican National Convention Chicago, 27 June 1944

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end.
Herbert Clark Hoover, 1874-1964

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.
Horace, 65-8 BC

Loyalty
If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him.
If he pays you wages which supply you bread and butter,
work for him; speak well of him; stand by him,
and stand by the institution he represents.
If put to a pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
If you must vilify, condemn, and eternally disparage,
resign your position,
and when you are outside, damn to your heart's content,
but as long as you are part of the institution do not condemn it.
If you do that, you are loosening the tendrils that are holding you to the
institution, and at the first high wind that comes along, you will be uprooted
and blown away, and will probably never know the reason why.
Elbert Hubbard

Each man must do all in his power for his country.
Isaac Hull, To the ship's company, USS Constitution, 1813

A former cabinet minister in Iraq has been executed for importing a medicine
with lethal side effects", the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, announced
at a recent cabinet session.
The minister, believed to be Riyad Ibrahim Hussain, a doctor, who was sacked in June,
was said to have known of the side-effects.
"The person who attempts to kill his people by giving them bad medicine is a traitor",
commented President Hussein.
Scrip Newsletter, 1 December 1982

I've got to get stop getting fired like this. People will start to think I'm a drifter.
Lee Iacocca, Auto Executive, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

Tolerance of failure is critical to encouraging intrapreneurs.
Nothing stifles creativity like over-control.
We need to begin asking why not, rather than why.
If you want to encourage innovation, expect discomfort.
Allen F. Jacobson, President, US Operations, 3M
Quoted at the 39th Annual Business Conference, Indiana University School of Business, 30 April 1985

The deepest hunger in humans is the desire to be appreciated.
William James (1842-1910)

James L. Jaeger, president of Cincinnati Microwave Inc., has a knack for brevity
that might well serve as an example to other executives as they prepare for their annual meetings.
Last week, Mr. Jaeger began worrying that his own annual meeting was dragging on a bit too long.
So he picked up the pace by offering this succinct history of the firm, which makes Escort brand radar detectors:
The earth cooled.
The dinosaurs ruled the earth, died and became oil.
In 1973, the Arabs cut off that oil.
The U.S. created the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, and the Escort came into being.
Are there any questions?
The Wall Street Journal, 19 April 1984

A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain,
dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fumes thereof,
nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
King James I of England on smoking, 1604

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826

A wise and frugal government,
which shall restrain men from injuring one another,
which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate
their own pursuits of industry and improvement,
and shall not take from the mouth of labor bread it has earned.
This is the sum of good government.
Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address; 4 March 1801

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
Thomas Jefferson, Remark to Baron von Humboldt, 1807

I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men.
The grounds of this are virtue and talent.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, 28 October 1813

Politics, like religion, hold up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Ogilvie, 4 August 1811

Love the sea? I dote upon it--from the beach.
Douglas Jerrold, Love of the Sea

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson, As recorded by Boswell, 1775

I have got no further than this:
Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth,
and every other man has a right to knock him down for it.
Martyrdom is the test.
Ben Johnson, 1775

Sign on young man and sail with me.
The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves.
Our job is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all.
To this solemn purpose we call the young,
the brave, the strong, and the free.
Heed my call. Come to the sea. Come sail with me.
John Paul Jones An appeal to men to join the American Navy

I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not sail fast,
for I intend to go in harm's way.
John Paul Jones, November 1778, Letter to le Ray de Chaumont

In time of peace it is necessary to prepare and always be prepared for war by sea.
John Paul Jones, 1774-1792

A Smith and Wesson beats four aces.
Canada Bill Jones

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.
Franz Kafka

Kahan asks rhetorically about the use of personal computers and software:
What would happen to our society if everybody who wished to use a telephone,
a television set, a car, a detergent, a plastic toy or a computer were obliged first
to learn at least a little about how it was made and how it works internally,
and then to test it himself for hazards and other surprises?

Seek not for the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means.
But seek the testimony of the few; and number not the voices, but weigh them.
Immanuel Kant, Contributed to Jim Mathias 17 February 1986 by Hannelore Schmidt of West Germany

Whenever you're sitting across from some person,
always picture him sitting there in a suit of long red underwear.
That's the way I always operated in business.
Joseph P. Kennedy

The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises--
it is a set of challenges.
It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people,
but what I intend to ask of them.
John F. Kennedy, Speech accepting Democratic presidential nomination, 15 July 1960

And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961

Our task is not to fix the blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future.
John F. Kennedy

It is an unfortunate fact that we can only secure peace by preparing for war.
John F. Kennedy

It was involuntary. They sank my boat.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917-1963, Remark when asked how he became a hero.

When John F. Kennedy was campaigning in the Kentucky coal fields a miner approached him and asked confrontationally,
"You Jack Kennedy?"
JFK responded that he was.
The miner said,
"I heard a man say that as a rich boy, you've never worked a day in your life.
Well . . . you ain't missin' a damn thing!"

The opportunities in this world are as great as we have the imagination to see them...
but we never get that view from the bottom of the nest.
Charles Kettering

The Corrective Interview "I Message"
1. WHAT is the problem behavior?
2. HOW does it make me (the counselor) feel?
3. WHY is it important?
Mickey Kinder, ICULeague 12 Aug 88

Marketing: Assessing the needs of the customer
and filling those needs at a profit to the organization.
Mickey Kinder, ICULeague 12 August 1988

Priorities of the Priority Credit Union Member:
1. Service
2. Knowledgeable staff
3. Convenience
Mickey Kinder, ICULeague 12 August 1988

The Evaluation Continuum of the Customer Service Staff
1. Technical Skills
2. Team building skills, i.e. ability to effectively interact with others on the team
3. Customer Interaction Skills
Mickey Kinder, ICULeague 12 August 1988

Cadillacs are down at the end of the bat.
Ralph Kiner, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, Letter from the Birmingham jail. In the Atlantic Monthly, August 1963

If we follow the philosophy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
then we will end up with a nation of blind and toothless people.
Martin Luther King, as quoted by Andrew Young
on the Arts & Entertainment network series The Class of the 20th Century, 1992

The spouting whale gets the harpoon.
James W. Kinnear, President, Texaco USA

Privilege, in any society, is the reward of duties performed.
Russell Kirk, Enlivening the Conservative Mind

Henceforth the adequacy of any military establishment will be tested by its ability to preserve the peace.
Henry Kissinger

The key to success in politics: Never forget, seldom forgive.
Ed Koch, Mayor of New York

You can tell dictators are in trouble when their opponents begin to lose their fear.
Charles Krause, MacNeil Lehrer newsHour report on Cuba, 29 December 1992

A liberal is one who says that it's all right for an eighteen year-old girl
to perform in a pornographic movie
as long as she gets paid the minimum wage.
Irving Kristol, Two Cheers for Capitalism

The foreign language I'd like to learn to speak is Irish.
Adonica Kull, 11 June 1993, Keys Federal employee

I can't stand this proliferation of paperwork!
It's useless to fight the forms,
you've got to kill the people producing them.
Vladamir Labailze, USSR, 1985

Giving birth is the only athletic thing I've ever done.
Val Lay, 18 May 1991

Duty is the sublimest word in our language.
Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more.
You should never wish to do less.
Robert E. Lee

... a meddler who cannot leave his subordinates alone is a hands on executive.
John Leo, in a commentary on journalese, TIME 18 March 1985

Never get into a pissing contest with a skunk.
J. K. Lilly, President, Eli Lilly & Company

Can you do anything immediately at Eli Lilly and Company?
Dieter Lingelbach, Summer Intern, May 1983

The service academies are organized to train admirals and generals,
not ensigns and lieutenants.
Captain Walter Lincoln, USA, 1980 In response to an observation that academy trained junior officers
are often less than ideal when compared to JOs commissioned in other ways.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men
the conviction and the will to carry on. . . .
The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which
with common sense,
without the grace of genius,
others can deal with successfully.
Walter Lippman, 14 April 1945 Roosevelt Has Gone

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Longfellow, Christmas Bells

All the regulations and gold braid in the Pacific Fleet cannot enforce a sailor's devotion.
This, each officer in command must earn on his own.
LCDR Arnold S. Lott, Brave Ship, Brave Men 1965

L'etat, c'est moi!
Louis XIV King of France, 1638-1715 Attributed remark before parliament in 1651

I want to remain forever an enigma -- to myself, and to others.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria, 1845 - 1886 The Dream King

I do not take leave of you, for my spirit will accompany you wherever you may be.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria, 1845 - 1886 The Dream King

We say something every morning when we decide how to dress.
Alison Lurie, author, Cornell professor, Key West resident, The Language of Clothes, 1982

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
General Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 Speech, Republican National Convention, 7 July 1952

Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
John D. MacDonald, author

Let's dance and sing and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.
G. MacFarren before 1580

If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.
Johnny Madden, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

The study of history lies at the foundation of all sound military conclusions and practice.
Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1840-1914

There has been a constant struggle on the part of the military element to keep the end--
fighting, or readiness to fight--superior to mere administrative considerations.
The military man, having to do the fighting, considers that the chief necessity;
the administrator equally naturally tends to think the
smooth running of the machine the most admirable quality.
Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1903 Naval Administration and Warfare

Where evil is mighty and defiant, the obligation to use force--that is, war--arises.
Mahan, 1911 Naval Strategy

We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act.
Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.
Maxwell Maltz

Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.
Thomas Mann

If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
Mickey Mantle, Baseball Player

Historical experience is written in blood and iron.
Mao Tse-Tung, On Guerilla Warfare, 1937

Sighted sub, sank same.
Donald Francis Mason, 1913- , Radio message to U.S. Navy base, 28 January 1942

If you have the money, we have the technology.
Jim Mathias, Lilly Systems Manager, 16 October 1985

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.
Michelangelo (1475-1564)

War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things;
the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings
which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety,
is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free
unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill

I'm glad the Commandant don't help me farm.
YN1 Mose Miller, 1987 After considering the explanation of a particularly obtuse Coast Guard Regulation

I have rendered my country and people an enormous service. They owe me everything.
Zaïre's President Mobutu Sese Seko, quoted in TIME, 22 February 1993

Leadership is more important than management.
Edward M. Moldt Entrepreneur & Visiting Lecturer in Business Administration, Indiana University, 30 April 1985

As a starting point for meditation -- or a parting shot at the meeting's leader --
when a 10-minute meeting extends into its second hour:
"Even GOD can be talked to death!"
Louis Monden, S.J.

Self defense sometimes dictates aggression.
If one people takes advantage of peace to put itself in position to destroy another,
immediate attack on the first is the only means of preventing such destruction.
C. L. Montesquieu, 1689-1755

There is one unmistakable lesson in American history:
a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families,
dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority,
never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future
-- that community asks for and gets chaos... And it is richly deserved.
Daniel P. Moynihan, "Family and Nation" [1965]

Do not let yourself become transported by middle class enthusiasms.
Senator Moynihan to the incoming EPA Director in the Bush administration. 1989

We tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead.
We tried to remove the barriers to escape poverty, and inadvertently built a trap.
Charles Murray

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences.
No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.
Edward R. Murrow

People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality
than out of the honesty.
Richard J. Needham Quoted in 1992 Office Hours, The Economics Press

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821

What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte

Treason is a matter of dates.
Napoleon Bonaparte

There are just two rules of governance in a free society:
Mind your own business. Keep your hands to yourself.
P.J. O'Rourke, speech to the Cato Institute 1993

Order is not pressure imposed on society from without,
but an equilibrium which is set up from within.
Jose Ortega y Gasset, Mirabeau and Politics 1927

A public relations person in New York asked a theater owner
what were his "goals and objectives" for the theater's
public relations program (circa 1930).
His response:

Little girl, our goal is to cover them seats with asses.
Contributed by Marilyn Olsen, 3 September 1988

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
(Sweet and fitting it is to die for the fatherland.)
Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918 War Poets, An Anthology of War Poetry of the 20th Century Oscar Williams, Editor

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine, 1737-1809 The American Crisis, no. 1, 23 December 1776

These are the times that try men's souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis,
shrink from the service of his country;
but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of all man and woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;
yet we have this consolation with us,
that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
`tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed,
if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.
Thomas Paine, 1737-1809 The American Crisis, no. 1, 23 December 1776

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue;
but moderation in principle is always a vice.
Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man, Part II" [1792]

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not heriditary. 
Thomas Paine, The Liberty Tree, July 1775

Communism will never make it in America because it takes up too many evenings.
John Paluszek

Chance favors the prepared mind.
Louis Pasteur

A good plan violently executed Now is better than a perfect plan next week.
George S. Patton, Jr. War As I Knew It 1947

War is very simple, direct, and ruthless.
It takes a simple, direct, and ruthless man to wage war.
George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It, 1947

Never tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
George Smith Patton, Jr.  1885-1945 War As I Knew It

In a television show based on his book, In Search of Excellence,
Thomas J. Peters said that the manager of successful companies of the future will need to be :

We trained hard, but every time we were beginning to form up into teams
we would be reorganized.
Later in life I was to learn that we often meet any new situation by reorganizing--
and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress
while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronius Arbiter, 60 A.D.

Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

Man was not born for himself alone, but for his country.
Plato, 428-347 BC

A Spartan woman, as she handed her son his shield, exhorted him saying,
"As a warrior of Sparta come back with your shield or on it."
Plutarch, 46-120 A.D.

We forecast that we'll see the paperless office at the same time we see the paperless bathroom.
Steve Pytka, Market consultant in Micro Market World, early 1980s

It is frequently easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Vivian Quiring, Lilly Canada, (and many others)

He who wishes to travel far spares his mount.
Jean Racine, 1639-1699

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again -- America's best days are yet to come.
Our proudest moments are yet to be.  Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.
America remains what Emerson called her 150 years ago, "the country of tomorrow."
What a wonderful description and how true.
And yet tomorrow might never have happened had we lacked the courage in the 1980's
to chart a course of strength and honor.
Ronald Reagan's Speech at the 1992 National Convention

This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new Thomas Jefferson.
Well, let me tell you something. I knew Thomas Jefferson.
He was a friend of mine. And governor, you're no Thomas Jefferson.
Ronald Reagan's Speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention

This idea that government was beholden to the people,
that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea
in all the long history of man's relation to man.
This is the issue of this election:
Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government
or whether we abandon the American Revolution
and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital
can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.
Ronald Reagan's Speech at the 1964 National Convention: A Time for Choosing

Show me an executive that works long hard hours and I'll show you a bad executive.
Ronald Reagan

It is not the lofty sails but the unseen wind that moves the ship.
Stu Reller, April 1984, d. 1994

Reforms come from below.
No man with four aces howls for a new deal.
Stu Reller, 1984

It was Peter Drucker who observed that long range planning
does not deal with future decisions,
but with the future of present decisions.
Frank H. T. Rhodes President, Cornell University, Letter to alumni, December 1988

In any new venture you can expect 20% of your staff to be
enthusiastic, cheerleading supporters,
60% to be passive supporters willing to do what you ask, and
20% to be in active opposition.
And the problem with management is they often focus most of their energies
on the 20% in opposition,
rather than the more likely allies among the 60% passive supporters. 
Jeff Richardson, February 1993

Good ideas are not adopted automatically.
They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
Hyman G. Rickover, Admiral, USN, Office Hours 1992, The Economics Press

I've never had a guy leave me for another woman.
It's either been for fishing or drugs.
Suzy Rider, 16 March 1988

A myth: A belief so arranged so that all new information confirms it.
Tom Ritman, 8 February 1985

Nothing's final around here `til its done.
Tom Ritman, 23 January 1984, Commenting on the Lilly annual report process

What is this, management by grimace?
Tom Ritman, 1985 In response to Dan Carmichael's judgement that the Lilly chairman had disliked an idea
because the chairman's facial expressions appeared negative.

Once you have been stuck with a miserable task because you did it well once,
the only way to be relieved of the task may be through the "limited fuckup".
That is, you need to foul up the task enough to insure you are never given it again,
without fouling up so much that you get into serious trouble.
Tom Ritman, 1984

If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength.
François de La Rochefoucauld

• I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to
  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• I believe that every right implies a responsibility;
  every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.
• I believe that law was made for man and not man for the law;
  that government is the servant of the people and not their master.
• I believe in the dignity of labor; whether with head or hand;
  that the world owes no man a living,
  but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.
• I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy
  is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure,
  whether in government, business, or personal affairs.
• I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.
• I believe in the sacredness of a promise;
  that a man's word should be as good as his bond;
  that character--not wealth or power or position--is of supreme worth.
• I believe that rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind
  and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed
  and the greatness of the human soul set free.
• I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name,
  and that an individual's highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness
  are to be found in living in harmony with His will.
• I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; t
  hat it alone can overcome hate;
  that right can and will overcome might.
  John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960 Ten Principles: Address in behalf of the United Services Organizations, New York, 8 July 1941

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
Let us move forward with strong and active faith.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike,
you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Fireside chat, 11 September 1941

Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919

The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours
is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.
Theodore Roosevelt Speech, New York, 11 November 1902

It is not the critic who counts,
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows the great enthusiasms; the great devotions;
and spends himself in a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country.
There is room here for only 100 per cent Americanism,
only for those who are Americans and nothing else.
Theodore Roosevelt, Republican Convention; Saratoga

The merchant always knows his wares.
Jack Rush, Carpenter, 3 October 1984, his comment on why prices differ between different tradesmen

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown
is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
Bertrand Russell

Better red than dead.
Bertrand Russell

I guess if my dad doesn't get a job soon we may have to give up the Disney channel.
Will R., age 9, Carmel, Indiana, 1990

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a
pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up,
totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow - What a Ride!
Peter Sage, International Entrepreneur & Business Development Consultant, www.petersage.com

Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus), 86-34 B.C. First great Roman historian, The War with Cataline, IV

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1906

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know:
The only ones among you who will be really happy
are those that have sought and found how to serve.
Albert Schweitzer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them,
but to be indifferent to them:
that's the essence of inhumanity.
George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950 The Devils Disciple, Act II 1901

If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn't be anything for us to do.
George Bernard Shaw

It is the highest impertinence and presumption,
therefore, in kings and ministers
to pretend to watch over the economy of private people,
and to restrain their expense....
They are themselves always, and without exception,
the greatest spendthrifts in the society.
Let them look well after their own expense,
and they may safely trust private people with theirs.
Adam Smith Wealth of Nations

To explain why she was not a great cook:
When I married my husband I asked him which room he wanted me to be best in
and he didn't say the kitchen.
Ann Marie Smith, USCG RTC Yorktown, April 1990

My son has very bad handwriting, he writes like you.
Pat Smith, VP of Operations at Solidarity Credit Union to John Dolan-Heitlinger, 2 October 1989

The Head Table
For years, business has been at the last table in the banquet--
where the waiter forgets the cradle of olives and celery--
while the spotlight focuses on the head table of beautiful people from
campuses, foundations, media, and public offices.

Well, to be frank, that table has made a mess of things.
They were great on abstract ideas, but they never suffered the hard knocks
that go with bad concepts. They were children playing with the levers of power.
They got us into a war and then out of it without honor.
As for the economy, we are still picking up the pieces.

What we always need in leadership is the mature judgement of people
who know what it is to lose when things disintegrate.
Such as an industrialist has to manage his inventory, personnel, tax payments,
and everything else to succeed.
If he comes into government, he comes in with experience in the marketplace.
He is not a theorist who can return to the classroom to write books blaming someone else.
Richard A. Snyder, Pennsylvania state senator, early 1980s

All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
Casey Stengel, Baseball Manager, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions.
Adlai Stevenson, 1900-1965

The truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy.
Robert Louis Stevenson

It is our struggles that make us what we are.
Peter Stringer, Lilly attorney, comment directed to John Dolan-Heitlinger during a Lilly seminar, November 1984

And I will have now love is over, an end to all, an end.
I cannot having been your lover, stoop to become your friend.
Arthur Symons, 1865-1945, After Love, 1892 contributed by Gay Heitlinger

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Dr. Hunter Thompson

The more is given the less people will work for themselves,
and the less they work,
the more their poverty will increase.
Leo Tolstoy, Help for the Starving, Part II [January, 1892]

We're all in this together--by ourselves.
Lily Tomlin, Comedian, 1992 Office Hours, The Economics Press

Pressure is playing for $50 a hole with only $5 in your pocket.
Lee Trevino, Professional Golfer

A sign on the front of his desk: 
Lead, follow, or get out of my way.
Ted Turner, Television Network Executive

If I'd known your were such a crybaby, I'd never have opened your account.
Eli Tullis, New Orleans Commodities Broker 1980

The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
Mark Twain

We like a man to come right out and say what he thinks--if we agree with him.
Mark Twain

Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
Mark Twain

In the midst of peace, war is looked on as an eventuality too distant to merit consideration.
Vegetius, De Re Militari, 378 A.D.

He who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Voltaire, Merope, i, 1743

Automatic simply means that you can't repair it yourself.
Marc Waldrip, IBM Customer Executive Conference Quotations, 1989

Hope is the feeling you have, that the feeling you have, is not permanent.
Kathy Wallace, 18 March 1992

I hope that I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider
the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
George Washington, 1732-1799

Discipline is the soul of an army.
It makes small numbers formidable;
procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.
George Washington, Letter of instructions to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments, 29 July 1759

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other,
and show the whole world that a Freeman,
contending for liberty on his own ground,
is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
George Washington, General Orders, Headquarters, New York 2 July 1776

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine
whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves;
whether they are to have any property they can call their own;
whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed,
and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness
from which no human efforts will deliver them.
The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God,
on the courage and conduct of this army.
Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice
of brave resistance, or the most abject submission.
We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.
George Washington, Address to the Continental Army, before the Battle of Long Island, 27 August 1776

To place any dependence upon militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff.
George Washington, Letter to the President of Congress, Heights of Harlem, 24 September 1776

If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter
which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences
that can invite the consideration of mankind,
reason is of no use to us;
the freedom of speech may be taken away,
and dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep, to the slaughter.
George Washington, Address to Officers of the Army, 15 March 1783

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
George Washington, First Annual Address to both Houses of Congress, 8 January 1790

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it.
If we desire to secure peace, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.
George Washington, 1732-1799

Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man.
When tillage begins, other arts follow.
The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.
Daniel Webster, 1782-1852, On Agriculture, 13 January 1840

The great secret of battle is to have a reserve. I always had.
Duke of Wellington

The professional military mind is by necessity an inferior and unimaginative mind;
no man of high intellectual quality would willingly imprison his gifts in such a calling.
Herbert G. Wells, 1866-1946 The Outline of History, 1920, Chapter 40.  Author of The Time Machine, et al

Marriage is a great institution but I'm not ready for an institution, yet.
Mae West

Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939

Every man is my brother and each man's burden my own;
where poverty exists, all are poorer;
where hatred flourishes, all are corrupted;
where injustice reigns, all are unequal.
Whitney M. Young, Jr. 1921 - 1971

DNA is like Midas's gold, everyone who touches it goes mad.
Maurice Wilkins, Scientist