You will find many very different people below. Some of them may believe in or have stood for things you don’t agree with. Some of them are people who believe in or stood for things I don’t agree with either.
But I don’t believe in some puritanical idea that a person’s wisdom is invalidated by beliefs you disagree with, no matter how strongly. Follow that path to it’s end and it is the same as saying that if a person disagrees with you on anything you consider important enough, that person loses their right to speak.
Instead, I believe wisdom can come from many places, and considering the source shouldn’t be the same as throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Many people who aren’t perfect have something profound to say. These quotes mean something to me, and I hope they will make you think too.
——————————————————————————————————————–
When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England. — A women when asked her impression of the two English statesmen Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone after dining with them.
Though negotiations are a rough game, you should never allow them to become a dirty game. Once you’ve agreed to a deal, don’t back out of it unless the other party fails to deliver as promised. Your handshake is your bond. As far as I’m concerned, a handshake is worth more than a signed contract. A reputation for integrity is your most valuable commodity. If you try to put something over on someone, it will come back to haunt you. – Victor Kiam
Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones. – Benjamin Disraeli
The first rule of holes: When you’re in one, stop digging. – John C Maxwell
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. – Stepehn Grellet
Many people believe that humility is the opposite of pride, when, in fact, it is a point of equilibrium. The opposite of pride is actually a lack of self esteem. A humble person is totally different from a person who cannot recognize and appreciate himself as part of this world’s marvels. – Rabino Nilton Bonder
Some persons are always ready to level those above them down to themselves, while they are never willing to level those below them up to their own position. But he that is under the influence of true humility will avoid both these extremes. On the one hand, he will be willing that all should rise just so far as their diligence and worth of character entitle them to; and on the other hand, he will be willing that his superiors should be known and acknowledged in their place, and have rendered to them all the honors that are their due. Jonathan Edwards
There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation. James Nathan Miller
Without credible communication, and a lot of it, the hearts and minds of others are never captured. – John P Kotter
The best time to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust. – Josh Billings
Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they’ll say, ‘God, he said exactly what I was thinking.’ And when they begin to respect you, they’ll follow you to the death. – Lee Iacocca
Be a friend when people most need one. Helping people will not guarantee that they respond to you in kind. My experience is that you can count on about one in ten, but this one makes up for the others.
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people. – Theodore Roosevelt
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. – Thomas Kempis
If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply, ‘You are wrong.’ This method works every time. – Henry C Link
I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies. – Lawrence Bossidy
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. – Dorothy Nevill
All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. – Wayne Dyer
Value your listening and reading time at roughly ten times your talking time. This will assure you that you are on a course of continuous learning and self-improvement. – Gerald McGinnis
Arrogance and rudeness are training wheels on the bicycle of life — for weak people who cannot keep their balance without them. – Laura Marqueze
A person unlearns arrogance when he knows he is always among worthy human beings; being alone fosters presumption. Young people are arrogant because they always associate with their own peers, those who are all really nothing but who would like to be very important. Friedrich Nietzche
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words. – Rachel Remen
Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. _ Robert Greenleaf
Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible — the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. – Virginia Satir
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. – John F Kennedy
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King
If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. – Moshe Dayan
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. – Winston Churchill
Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. – Dalai Lama
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. – Alice Walker
Few friendships would survive if each one knew what his friend says of him behind his back. – Blaise Pascal
A faithful friend is a strong defense: and he that hath found such an one hath found a treasure. – Bible
When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. – E. W. Hower
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. – Elizabeth Foley
It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us. – Epicurus
There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity. – Samuel Johnson
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
— Theodore Roosevelt
Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men.
— Albert Einstein
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou
Certain people uplift you; others pull you down. Certain people give you strength; others sap your energy. Choose carefully. Good friends, like neighbors, are an endless benefit, a treasure. Bad relationships and bad friends can ruin a lifetime. Following the path of the superior person permits a natural section that will find you only with the best-quality friends.
― Wu Wei