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October 24

From Wikiquote

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. ~ Dorothy Thompson
2005
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel. ~ Horace Walpole
2006
Poems present their testimony as circumstantial evidences, not as closing argument. Where Wallace Stevens says, “God and the imagination are one,” I would say that the imagination, which synergizes intellect, emotion and instinct, is the perceptive organ through which it is possible, though not inevitable, to experience God. ~ Denise Levertov (born 24 October 1923)
  • proposed by Fys
2007

Two girls discover
the secret of life
in a sudden line of
poetry.

I who don't know the
secret wrote
the line. …

I love them
for finding what
I can't find,

and for loving me
for the line I wrote,
and for forgetting it
so that

a thousand times, till death
finds them, they may
discover it again, in other
lines

in other
happenings.

~ Denise Levertov ~

2008
We present a dramatically different approach to time management. This is a principle-centered approach. It transcends the traditional prescriptions of faster, harder, smarter, and more. Rather than offering you another clock, this approach provides you with a compass — because more important than how fast you're going, is where you're headed. ~ Stephen Covey
2009
A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence. ~ Stephen Covey
2010
Courage is not the absence of fear but the awareness that something else is more important. ~ Stephen Covey
2011
It was no longer sounds only that made the music:
he spoke, and as no tree listens I listened, and language
came into my roots
out of the earth,
into my bark
out of the air,
into the pores of my greenest shoots
gently as dew
and there was no word he sang but I knew its meaning.

~ Denise Levertov ~
2012
Praise
the invisible sun burning beyond
the white cold sky, giving us
light and the chimney's shadow.
~ Denise Levertov ~
2013
the poet, his presence
ursine and kind, shifting his weight in a chair too small
for him,
quietly says, and shyly: "The Poet
never must lose despair."
Then our eyes indeed
meet and hold.
All of us know, smiling
in common knowledge
even the palest spirit among us, burdened
as he is with weight of abstractions
all of us know he means
we mustn't, any of us, lose touch with the source,
pretend it's not there, cover over
the mineshaft of passion...
~ Denise Levertov ~
  • proposed by Fys
2014
Perhaps he will not return.
                                            But what we have lived
comes back to us.
                        We see more.
                                                We feel, as our rings increase,
something that lifts our branches, that stretches our furthest
                                                                                                    leaf-tips
further.
~ Denise Levertov ~
2015
Let natural consequences teach responsible behavior. One of the kindest things we can do is to let the natural or logical consequences of people's actions teach them responsible behavior. They may not like it or us, but popularity is a fickle standard by which to measure character development. Insisting on justice demands more true love, not less. We care enough for their growth and security to suffer their displeasure.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2016
To serve the people,
one must write for the ideal reader. Only for the ideal reader.
And who or what is that ideal reader? God. One must imagine,
One must deeply imagine
that great Attention
Only so,
In lonely dialog,
can one reach the people.
~ Denise Levertov ~
2017
Perform anonymous service. Whenever we do good for others anonymously, our sense of intrinsic worth and self-respect increases. … Selfless service has always been one of the most powerful methods of influence.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2018
The power to distinguish between person and performance and to communicate intrinsic worth flows naturally out of our own sense of intrinsic worth.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2019
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2020
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2021
Values are social norms — they're personal, emotional, subjective, and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. The question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? In the last analysis, principles are natural laws — they're impersonal, factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!
~ Stephen Covey ~
2022
Prepare your mind and heart before you prepare your speech. What we say may be less important than how we say it.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2023
We don't invent our missions, we detect them.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2024
Principles are universal — that is, they transcend culture and geography. They're also timeless, they never change — principles such as fairness, kindness, respect, honesty, integrity, service, contribution. Different cultures may translate these principles into different practices and over time may even totally obscure these principles through the wrongful use of freedom. Nevertheless, they are present. Like the law of gravity, they operate constantly.
~ Stephen Covey ~
2025
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Suggestions

[edit]

I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I've walked this way ~ Adrian Mitchell


Alas, this industrialized twelve-tone horse, dull on the outside and empty inside, constantly being perfected and dragged to a new Troy in shadow of an ideological war long since fought and won by responsible minds like Schoenberg, with neither systems nor scholarship for armor! ~ Luciano Berio


of world problems and bewilderment would be lost if we understood our opponents. ~ Stephen Covey


Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people. ~ Adrian Mitchell

  • 3 Kalki 06:04, 18 October 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Trust is the glue that holds everything together. It creates the environment in which all of the other elements — win-win stewardship agreements, self-directing individuals and teams, aligned structures and systems, and accounatability — can flourish. ~ Stephen Covey

  • 3 Kalki 06:04, 18 October 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

You are the stream, the fish, the light,
the pulsing shadow.
You the unchanging presence, in whom all
moves and changes.
How can I focus my flickering, perceive
at the fountain's heart
the sapphire I know is there?
~ Denise Levertov ~

The poet
never must lose despair.
~ Denise Levertov ~

And not till he saw the angel had left him,
alone and free to resume
the ecstatic, dangerous, wearisome roads of
what he had still to do,
not till then did he recognize
this was no dream.
~ Denise Levertov ~

I am tired of "the fine art of unhappiness".
~ Denise Levertov ~

Let Ariel learn
a blessing for Caliban
and Caliban drink dew from the lotus
open upon the waters.
~ Denise Levertov ~

Live out of your imagination, not your history.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects. If you want to live a long life, you need eustress, that is, a deep sense of meaning and contribution to worthy projects and causes, particularly your intergenerational family.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Our capacity for production and enjoyment is a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Spiritual Intelligence represents our drive for meaning and connection with the infinite.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Live the law of love. We encourage obedience to the laws of life when we live the laws of love.
~ Stephen Covey ~

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
~ Stephen Covey ~

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
~ Stephen Covey ~