Discovery
Doubt is the father of discovery.
— Galileo
Galileo paid a heavy price for his doubt. It is inspiring to know that he held to its efficacy.
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”
— Carl Sagan, astronomer and author (1934-1996)
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.
— George Burns
Of course there is nothing to say that this brilliant snippet of communication wisdom should be limited to sermons. It is also the secret of a good speech, a good presentation, or even a good email.
Net it out, people.
My life is spent in one long effort to escape the commonplaces of existence.
— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, spoken by Sherlock Holmes in The Red-Headed League
Ditto.
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Those “best leaders” excel at six skills . . . They have a winning attitude, a passion for customers, an ability to collaborate across boundaries, a global mindset, an ability to leverage diversity and a talent for working just “fast enough” — getting the right balance point between overly rapid decision-making and paralysis by analysis.
— Ann Livermore, HP Executive VP
From a Knowledge at Wharton article
People who drink to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.
— Ann Landers.