Category: VAULT Quotes

Little, Nameless, Unremembered Acts

Yesterday, during the last of my two snow days from the blizzard of 2011, I was giving my wife a hard time about her Twilight vampire affinity when my daughter spoke up.

Emily said, “Edward is weird Daddy. He never smiles.”

I replied, “No kidding Em.  I mean, would you really want to marry someone who didn’t smile?”

Her answer was, “No! I want to marry someone like you.”

It was the greatest compliment I have ever received.  I hope she does better than me, and that I become more like how she sees me.

To have thrust upon them

Got a couple great quotes from Drive, by Daniel H. Pink:

“Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible.  Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one’s sights and pushing toward the horizon.”

“Rewards, we’ve seen, can limit the breadth of our thinking… They can focus our sights on only what’s immediately before us rather than what’s off in the distance.”

Some of My Favorite Rules

The website 1001 rules for my unborn son got me thinking about some of the rules I have for my life. Thought I would put down my own and list some of my favorite from 1001.

  • There is always time for a lemonade stand.
  • Perfect at least one recipe, steak doesn’t count.
  • Obstacles are ways of demonstrating our dedication.
  • Don’t complain, just work harder.
  • Take the new guy out to lunch.
  • Never swing at the first pitch.
  • Carry a pocket knife.
  • Learn from criticism.
  • X never, ever, ever makes the spot.
  • When excusing yourself from the table, you need not give a reason.
  • Stand up to bullies. You’ll only have to do it once.
  • Become an expert in something.
  • Never turn down a girl’s invitation to dance.
  • Order the local specialty.
  • Learn to drive a stick shift.
  • Never side against your brother in a fight.
  • Memorize the Bill of Rights and your favorite poem.
  • Keep your eye on the ball and follow through. In sports and in life.

189. Learn to drive a stick shift.

Never Forget Today

Human pain does not let go of its grip at one point in time. Rather, it works its way out of our consciousness over time. There is a season of sadness. A season of anger. A season of tranquility. A season of hope.

–Robert Veninga

I was on my way to work when I heard about the first plane.  I remember thinking it was probably an accident, like the plane impact on the Empire State building.  I passed by Tinker Air Force Base on the way; it was guarded but nothing too crazy.  The second  plan crashed into the second building and I remember thinking that we would be going to war with someone.  I called my wife and told her not to leave home.  Being a state employee they told us to go home ourselves.  Passed by Tinker again… there was a tank, several 50mm Brownings, and lots of concrete barricades.  I almost enlisted right there but they wouldn’t let any non-military traffic into the base (my wife didn’t find out about that till a couple years later… she was not happy.)

I got home, hugged my wife and daughter, and cried…

On My Return to Work

A good manager makes sure things get done right; a good leader makes sure the right things get done.

God never intended for us to be comfortable.

Nothing is impossible, and nothing worthwhile is easy.

Vision without action is just a dream; action without vision is just consuming time.

–All Stolen from the CBMC Newsletter

Management VS Leadership

British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio by the eminent author and fellow Briton, George Bernard Shaw. During their chat, Shaw noticed a huge block of marble standing in one corner and asked what it was for.

“I don’t know yet, Epstein replied. œI’m still making plans.”

Shaw was astounded. “You mean you plan your work? Why, I change my mind several times a day!”

“That’s all very well when you’re working with a four-ounce manuscript,” replied the sculptor, “but not with a four-ton block of marble.”

-Story relayed by Lee Colan, PhD.

The love of…

When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other.
–Ayn Rand

I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person.
–Socrates

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
–Jonathan Swift

Only sick music makes money today.
–Friedrich Nietzsche

Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.
–Anna Lappe

I hope that when I die, people say about me, ‘Boy, that guy sure owed me a lot of money.’
–Jack Handy,