Quotation Collection

Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back. Heraclitus

• war

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. Bertrand Russell

• stupidity

Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test. Asceticism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house and goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may never bring him a return. But if the fire does come, his having paid it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and when his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast. William James

• discipline

Science is simply the method we use to try and postulate a minimum set of assumptions that can explain, through a straightforward logical derivation, the existence of many phenomena of nature. Eliyahu Goldratt

• science

Honest people are a refuge: You know they mean what they say; you know they will not say one thing to your face and another behind your back; you know they will tell you when they think you have failed—and for this reason their praise cannot be mistaken for mere flattery. Sam Harris

• honesty
• lies

This is the source.

Lying is, almost by definition, a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. It is both a failure of understanding and an unwillingness to be understood. To lie is to recoil from relationship. Sam Harris

• honesty
• lies

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False encouragement is a kind of theft: it steals time, energy, and motivation a person could put toward some other purpose. Sam Harris

• criticism
• encouragement

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[I]f we are convinced that a friend has taken a wrong turn in life, it is no sign of friendship to simply smile and wave him onward. Sam Harris

• criticism
• encouragement

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By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is. Our dishonesty not only influences the choices they make, it often determines the choices they can make—and in ways we cannot always predict. Every lie is a direct assault upon the autonomy of those we lie to. Sam Harris

• honesty
• lies

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To lie is to intentionally mislead others when they expect honest communication. Sam Harris

• lies

This is the source.

[A] willingness to be honest—especially about truths that one might be expected to conceal—often leads to much more gratifying exchanges with other human beings. Sam Harris

• honesty

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A resolute and resourceful leader understands that there are a multitude of means to increase the probability of success. And that's what it all comes down to, namely, intelligently and relentlessly seeking solutions that will increase your chance of prevailing in a competitive environment. When you do that, the score will take care of itself. Bill Walsh

• success
• sports
• leadership

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I've observed that if individuals who prevail in a highly competitive environment have any one thing in common besides success, it is failure—and their ability to overcome it. Bill Walsh

• success
• failure
• competition

This is the source.

The ability to help the people around me self-actualize their goals underlines the single aspect of my abilities and the label that I value most—teacher. Bill Walsh

• teachers
• coaching

This is the source.

Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back. Bill Walsh

• success
• failure

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When you stand and overcome a significant setback, you'll find an increasing inner confidence and self-assurance that has been created by conquering defeat. Absorbing and overcoming this kind of punishment engenders a sober, steely toughness that results in a hardened sense of independence and a personal belief that you can take on anything, survive and win. Bill Walsh

• self reliance
• independence
• defeat
• confidence

This is the source.

The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners. Bill Walsh

• culture
• champion

This is the source.

[G]reat players and great companies don't suddenly start hunching up, grimacing, and trying to "hit the ball harder" at a critical point. Rather, they're in a mode, a zone in which they're performing and depending on their "game," which they've mastered over many months and years of intelligently directed hard work. There's only so much thinking you can isolate and focus on during that kind of extreme competitive pressure. It has to be tactical more than a conscious effort to really "try harder." You just want to function very well, up to your potential, effortlessly—do what you already know how to do at the level of excellence you've acquired—whether in making a presentation or coaching a game or anything else. Bill Walsh

• calm
• performance
• effort

This is the source.

Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants. Bill Walsh

• preparation

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Everybody's got an opinion. Leaders are paid to make a decision. The difference between offering an opinion and making a decision is the difference between working for the leader and being the leader. Bill Walsh

• decisiveness
• leadership

This is the source.

We all have in our mind inspiring examples of individuals who persevered beyond the point of reason and common sense and prevailed. We tend to ignore the more numerous examples of individuals who persisted and persisted and finally failed and took everybody down with them because they would not change course or quit. We ignore them because we never heard about them. Bill Walsh

• persistence

This is the source.

You must be the best version of yourself that you can be; stay within the framework of your own personality and be authentic. If you're faking it, you'll be found out. Bill Walsh

• candor

This is the source.

The trademark of a well-led organization in sports or business is that it's virtually self-sustaining and self-directed—almost autonomous. To put it in a more personal way, if your staff doesn't seem fully mobilized and energized until you enter the room, if they require your presence to carry on at the level of effort and excellence you have tried to install, your leadership has not percolated down. Bill Walsh

• leadership

This is the source.

[C]onsistent motivation usually comes from a consuming desire to be able to perform at your best under pressure, namely, the pressure produced by tough competition. If a player needed me to light a fire under him by turning the other team into a demon, he was lacking something I couldn't give him. Bill Walsh

• coaching
• motivation
• sports
• competition

This is the source.

Strong leaders don't plead with individuals to perform. Bill Walsh

• leadership

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Make each person in your employ very aware that his or her well-being has a high priority with the organization and that the well-being of the organization must be his or her highest professional priority. Bill Walsh

• leadership
• management

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The highest-paid, most talented people that you can go out and hire will not perform to their potential unless they feel as if they are part of something special—a family that treats them right. Bill Walsh

• management

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It was always my goal to create and maintain a working environment both on and off the field that had a sense of urgency and intensity but did not feel like we were in constant crisis mode. Bill Walsh

• crisis

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In evaluating people, I prize ego. It often translates into a fierce desire to do their best and an inner confidence that stands them in good stead when things really get rough. Psychologists suggest that there is a strong link between ego and competitiveness. All the great performers I've ever coached had ego to spare. Bill Walsh

• confidence

This is the source.

"[E]xtra effort," in whatever form it takes (mental, physical, emotional), cannot be sustained without eventual damage and diminishing returns. There has to be a very acute awareness on your part as to the level of exertion and the toll it's taking on those you lead. Bill Walsh

• leadership
• effort
• rest

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By instinct we—leaders—want to run hard all the time; by intellect we know this is not possible. Reconciling those two positions in the context of leadership is an ongoing challenge. Bill Walsh

• effort
• rest

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Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize. Bill Walsh

• results

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Clear thinking and overly charged emotions are usually antithetical. Bill Walsh

• calm
• emotion

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People matter most—more than equipment, investors, inventions, momentum, or X's and O's. People are at the heart of achieving organizational greatness. Bill Walsh

• management
• leadership

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Afford each person the same respect, support, and fair treatment you would expect if your roles were reversed. Deal with people individually, not as objects who are part of a herd—that's the critical factor. Bill Walsh

• respect

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If you care about how you're perceived by others, including the public, it's good to remember the following: Criticism—both deserved and undeserved—is part of the territory when you're the one calling the shots. Ignore the undeserved; learn from the deserved; lick your wounds and move on. Bill Walsh

• criticism

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Calculated risks are part of what you do, but the idea that something completely crazy will work just because it's completely crazy is completely crazy. Bill Walsh

• coaching
• risk
• football

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In your efforts to create interest in your own product, don't get carried away with premature promotion—creating a pretty package with hype, spin, and all the rest. First, make sure you've got something of quality to promote. Then worry about how you're going to wrap it in an attractive package. The world's best promotional tool is a good product. Bill Walsh

• business

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One of the common traits of outstanding performers—coaches, athletes, managers, sales representatives, executives, and others who face a daily up/down, win/lose accounting system—is that a rejection, that is, defeat, is quickly forgotten, replaced eagerly by pursuit of a new order, client, or opponent. Bill Walsh

• failure
• defeat

This is the source.

It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. Calvin Coolidge

• law
• Congress