Tag Archives: determination
Only one thing to do
“We are so outnumbered there’s only one thing to do. We must attack.” — Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham Admiral Cunningham spoke these words before the Battle of Taranto, in which a small number of obsolete planes (the Fairey Swordfish biplanes) conquered a mighty fleet of ships and ushered in the ascendancy of naval aviation. I loved this quote the first time …
Your vision
“Your vision of the future is not intended to keep you living in a ‘someday’ mode. It is as much a guide to the way you live out each day in the present as it is to direct you toward the future.” — Mark Brunetz This quote from Brunetz pinpoints the difference between getting stuck …
Their life and their limits
“Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.” — Michel de Montaigne Experience seems to be teaching me the same things it taught Montaigne, though I may not be learning it as gracefully. There’s an old saying: “If you don’t …
In spite of all
“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you to go on in spite of all. And so today I still have a dream.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. The Trumpet of Conscience, 1968 Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and …
A story
“You have a story. It doesn’t have you.” — Mark Brunetz At year’s end, we often take stock of the past twelve months, and this can lead us into contemplation about past years. For many of us 2015 has been more remarkable for its difficulties than for its successes or gifts. Come to think of it, …
That’s when you start
“…when you realize that the story of your life could be told a thousand different ways, that you could tell it over and over as a tragedy, but you choose to call it an epic, that’s when you start to learn what celebration is.” — Shauna Niequist Let me guess: your life is fantastic, a …
I learn by going
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go. — Theodore Roethke I’ve never been fond of awakening from a nice dreamy sleep, and getting up (especially on cold, dark mornings) is not something I do well. I envy and wonder at Jeff’s ability to get up very early, usually …
Ingenuity and resourcefulness
“Risk brings out the ingenuity and resourcefulness which ensure success.” — Robert Rawls “There are men climbing around in the top of your tree!” Darla reported with excitement when I answered the front door that morning. She knew the tree surgeons were coming to remove our giant oak that day, but the sight of them …
The right mental attitude
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” — author unknown, often falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson Just the other day, Jeff sent me this quote because he knew I would like it; I knew, too, that …
To you today
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King’s words continue to inspire us because his message was timeless. In the face of centuries of oppression …
Sanctified bull doggedness
“Your success does not depend upon the brilliance and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the ever lasting and sanctified bull doggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold.” –– Dr. A. B. Meldrum As anyone who knows me well can tell you, tenacity is a virtue that sometimes …
And yet be determined
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald For most of …
More power than will
“We have more power than will; and it is often by way of excuse to ourselves that we fancy things are impossible.” – Francois VI, Duc De la Rochefoucauld “I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.” — Henry Ford “Ford decided to produce …
This realm of freedom
“Perish that Thirst of boundless Power, that drew On Albion’s Head the Curse to Tyrants Due. But thou appeas’d submit to Heaven’s decree, That bids this Realm of Freedom rival thee! Now sheathe the Sword that bade the Brave attone With guiltless Blood for Madness not their own.” — Phillis Wheatley, from the poem “Liberty …
The strength of the sole
“When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the sole leather has passed into the fibre of your body.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Lately I’ve not been able to walk as much as usual, and when I do walk, I notice there’s a difference to my typical rhythms and behaviors. I’ve been walking …
At the threshold
“The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It’s as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure.” ― Criss Jami One year ago, for Mother’s Day, I posted about my mother’s …
The everyday struggle
“One wrestles with one’s dragons until the end of one’s life — it is a constant and eternal process. The crises in one’s life only show up in intensity what is going on every day. The crises are there, perhaps in order to illuminate the everyday struggle…so that one may be better prepared to fight, …
All ready
I wanted to do something a little different with the quote today, just to change things up a bit. Let me know what you think. I see lots of quotes online that are “posterized” with photo or art, and I always enjoy them, but I have ZERO experience creating them. However, if you don’t mind …
To look forward
We interrupt these regularly scheduled repeat postings to bring you a tribute I published here back in 2017. Rest in peace, Mr. Aaron. Unlike so many tarnished sports heroes, your legacy will always shine. We will always remember you. “I didn’t have particular baseball heroes in those days…I didn’t relate to baseball players, even though …
We must free ourselves
“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” — Aristotle Onassis Whatever else might be said of Aristotle Onassis, he certainly learned to make the most of adverse circumstances. His family’s experiences could have led him into poverty. Instead he became one …
Higher ground
My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay. Though some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim is higher ground. –Johnson Oatman, Jr. Growing up in a church where a cappella singing was a vital part of every worship, I was exposed early and often to verses that …
The torch of freedom
“The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free.” — John Paul Jones Many of us …
Brilliantly disguised
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations…” — Charles Swindoll I will always remember the first time I saw this quote. It was fairly recently, in an email I got from an extraordinary person, Dr. Anitha John. She specializes in adult congenital cardiology, a relatively new field …
More than logical
“If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope…” — Jacques Yves Cousteau I’m a great fan of logic. My highest scores on the GRE and other standardized tests were always in the “analytical thinking” category. …
Security or opportunity?
“There is no security on this earth. Only opportunity.” — General Douglas MacArthur “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity; they seem more afraid of life than of death.” — James F. Byrnes There’s nothing like watching or reading the news to create feelings of insecurity. Violence erupts all over the globe, …
Defeat Despair 