A man's work

In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: "I am rising to a man's work."

~ Marcus Aurelius

What makes you come alive

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

~ Howard Thurman

Truman family motto

To do the right thing, to do the best we could, never complain, never take advantage, don't give up, don't be afraid. 

~ Family motto of Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. President

The chain of destiny

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

~ Winston Churchill

Yardstick of quality

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.

~ Stephen Jobs

Labor

Labor conquers everything.

~ Virgil

This is the answer. If everyone does his part, these seemingly impossible tasks get done.

~ George S. Patton

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

~ Albert Einstein

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.

~ Maya Angelou

It is not light that is needed, but fire.

~ Frederick Douglass

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.

~ Pablo Picasso 

Men learn to do ill by doing nothing.

~ Cato

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.

~ Helen Keller

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

~ Nelson Mandela

It’s never paid to bet against America. We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride.

~ Warren Buffett

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. 

~ Abraham Lincoln

No man was ever wise by chance.

~ Seneca

No day should pass without something being done.

~ Latin proverb

Substance is enduring, form is ephemeral. Failure to distinguish clearly between the two is ruinous. Success follows those adept at preserving the substance of the past by clothing it in the forms of the future. Preserve substance; modify form; know the difference. The closest thing to a law of nature in business is that form has an affinity for expense, while substance has an affinity for income.

~ Dee Hock

I have recently decided that the constructive work of the world is done by an appallingly small percentage of the population. The rest simply don’t give a damn, or they grow tired, or they fail to acquire when young the ideas that would vitalize them for the long decades.

I am not saying that such people don’t matter; they are among the most precious items on the earth. But they cannot be depended upon to either generate necessary new ideas or to put them into operation if someone else generates them.

Therefore, those men and women who do have the energy to form new constructs and new ways to implement them must do the work of many. I believe it to be an honorable aspiration to want to be among the creators.

~ James Michener