Tag Archives: quotes

5 taxing memes

On this the day of the fiscal update announcement in Ottawa, here are five of By George’s favourite memes on the subject of taxes. Seriously, it is not a funny matter…

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You can zap your friends with these memes by right clicking on these images and copy/save to Facebook, Twitter or into an email.

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

12 quotes in the name of peace

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Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. – Baruch Spinoza
A people free to choose will always choose peace. – Ronald Reagan
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Peace begins with a smile. – Mother Teresa
Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. – George Bernard Shaw
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. – Ronald Reagan
I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one’s own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace. – Dalai Lama
I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility, with or without religion. – Dalai Lama
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. – Indira Gandhi
Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other. – Elie Wiesel

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Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Ernest Hemingway on his craft of writing

All good books have one thing in common – they are truer than if they had really happened, and after you’ve read one of them you will find that all that happened, happened to you and then it belongs to you forever: the happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, ecstasy and sorrow, the food, wine, beds, people and the weather. If you can give that to readers, then you’re a writer.
Any man’s life, told truly, is a novel. There is no rule on how it is to write.
There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention.
A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it (you lose it if you talk about it).
All you have to do is write one true sentence.
My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.
All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.
Writing, at its best, is a lonely life… for he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.
You invent fiction, but what you invent it out of is what counts. True fiction must come from everything you’ve ever known, ever seen, ever felt, ever learned.
You put down the words in hot blood, like an argument, and correct them when your temper has cooled.
All our words from loose using have lost their edge.
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. If a writer can make people live there may be no great characters in his book, but it is possible that his book will remain as a whole; as an entity; as a novel.
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
I was trying to write then and I found the greatest difficulty, aside from knowing what you really felt, rather that what you were supposed to feel, and had been taught to feel, was to put down what really happened in action; what the actual things which produced the emotion that you experienced..
There are only two absolutes I know about writing: one is that if you make love while you are jamming on a novel, you are in danger of leaving the best parts of it in the bed; the other is that integrity in a writer is like virginity in a woman – once lost, it is never recovered.

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

On Gratitude

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. – H.U. Westermayer

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. – WT Purkiser

So while it’s true that Thanksgiving only comes but once a year, we should actually celebrate thanks each and every day. It’s just a matter of learning to live with a spirit of gratitude. – Unknown

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. – Melody Beattie

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. – William Jennings Bryan

Greed grabs, Gratitude receives. – Unknown

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. – D. Waitley

Thankfulness is the ‘chief exercise of godliness’ in which we ought to engage during the whole of our life. ‘Gratitude is the heart … of the Christian life.’ – Unknown

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. – William Arthur Ward

How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child’s personality. A child is resentful, negative, or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people. – Sir John Templeton

Gratitude is a constant attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for life as it unfolds. Living in the moment, we are open to the abundance around us and within us. We express appreciation freely. We contemplate the richness of our life. In life’s trials, we seek to understand, to accept, to learn. Gratitude is a continual celebration of life. – Unknown

Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.’ This is a most searching and true diagnosis. Gratitude can be a vaccine that can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled attitude. As antitoxins prevent the disastrous effects of certain poisons and diseases, thanksgiving destroys the poison of fault-finding and grumbling. When trouble has smitten us, a spirit of thanksgiving is a soothing antiseptic.- John Henry Jowett

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. – E.P. Powell

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. – Henry David Thoreau

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Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Investment insight from Warren Buffett

Here is investment insight from the infamous “oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett.

Rule No. 1: never lose money; rule No. 2: don’t forget rule No. 1.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.
Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, “I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.” If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre.
After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.
Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.
When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
You can sell it to Berkshire, and we’ll put it in the Metropolitan Museum; it’ll have a wing all by itself; it’ll be there forever. Or you can sell it to some porn shop operator, and he’ll take the painting and he’ll make the boobs a little bigger and he’ll stick it up in the window, and some other guy will come along in a raincoat, and he’ll buy it.
It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything–you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you’re a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!’
Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that ‘Price is what you pay; value is what you get.’ Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.
Our approach is very much profiting from lack of change rather than from change. With Wrigley chewing gum, it’s the lack of change that appeals to me. I don’t think it is going to be hurt by the Internet. That’s the kind of business I like.
The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble…We want to buy them when they’re on the operating table.
I have pledged – to you, the rating agencies and myself – to always run Berkshire with more than ample cash. We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow’s obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night’s sleep for the chance of extra profits.
I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and a better businessman because I am no investor.

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Some of Muhammad Ali’s greatest quotes

ali_1992 By George has compiled some of our favourite quotes from the life of Muhammad Ali – “The Greatest of All-time.”

“I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.”

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”

“Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths.”

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

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“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”

ali_foreman “Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

“I never thought of losing, but now that it’ s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”

“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.”

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Here are a few golden quips about the ring and Ali’s mastery of talking trash.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see. Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t.”

“I’m the greatest thing that ever lived! I’m the king of the world! I’m a bad man. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived.”

“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”

“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”

“I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”

“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”

“I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.”

“I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.”

“I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.”

“People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.”

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Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

10 sage quotes on success from Benjamin Franklin

Thankfully, Benjamin Franklin left behind volumes of writings, from which we have gained invaluable knowledge of his thoughts on life, work and success. Here are 10 gems on success that ring as true today as they did in Franklin’s era.

Well done is better than well said.
Never confuse motion with action.
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.
Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

For more wisdom from this American intellect, read “14 Lessons From Benjamin Franklin About Getting What You Want In Life.”

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Harold S. Geneen sharing good business sense

Here are a dozen quotes on a decent approach to the world of business from the legendary, American corporate leader Harold S. Geneen.

The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it’s egotism.
You can’t run a business or anything else on a theory.
In business, words are words; explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality.
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.
Leadership cannot really be taught, it can only be learned.
Better a good decision quickly than the best decision too late.
A true leader has to have a genuine open-door policy so that his people are not afraid to approach him for any reason.
I don’t believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.
The best way to inspire people to superior performance is to convince them by everything you do and by your everyday attitude that you are wholeheartedly supporting them.
The only unforgivable sin in business is to run out of cash.
Telephones, hotels, insurance—it’s all the same. If you know the numbers inside out, you know the company inside out.
In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: Cash and Experience. Take the experience first. The cash will come later.

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Henry Ford on work and life

Here are wonderfully insightful quotes on work and life from American business tycoon Henry Ford.

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
As we advance in life we learn the limits of our abilities.
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.
Don’t find fault, find a remedy.
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little problems.
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.
It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don’t seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together.
Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Quotes on Politics, Democracy, etc.

What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else. – Tom Clancy
It’s important to realize that whenever you give power to politicians or bureaucrats, it will be used for what they want, not for what you want. – Harry Browne
Give government the weapons to fight your enemy and it will use them against you. – Harry Browne
The State is the coldest of all cold monsters, and coldly it tells lies, and this lie drones on from its mouth: ‘I, the State, am the people’. – Friedrich Nietzsche
An oppressive government is much worse than a man-eating tiger. – Confucious
It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power. – John Adams
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be. – Thomas Jefferson
A moderate is either someone who has no moral code of his own, or if he does, then he’s someone who doesn’t have the guts to take sides between good and evil. – Rick Gaber
Give a good man great powers and crooks grab his job. – Rick Gaber
Overload the police with victimless crimes and other minutiae and eventually only creeps and bullies remain cops. – Rick Gaber
Power draws the corrupted; absolute power would draw the absolutely corrupted. – Colin Barth
The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be. The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be. – Lao-tzu
Intellect annuls Fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free….The revelation of Thought takes man out of servitude into freedom. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. – Frederic Bastiat
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots. What is it? Distrust. – Demosthenes: Philippic 2, sect. 24
People constantly speak of ‘the government’ doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. – H.L. Mencken
Crime does not pay … as well as politics. – Alfred E. Newman
Politics is a means of preventing people from taking part in what properly concerns them. – Paul Valery
When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we, in essence, accept that the state owns our bodies. – Ron Paul
…somebody has to take governments’ place, and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it. – David Rockefeller
Government is big business, with the face of democracy. – Jim West
Once we roared like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security! The solution for America’s problem is not in terms of big government, but it is in big men over whom nobody stands in control but God. – Norman Vincent Peale
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on what they will have for lunch. – Anonymous
Democracy is defended in 3 stages. Ballot Box, Jury Box, Cartridge Box. – Ambrose Bierce
We’re [United States] not a democracy. It’s a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we’re a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy. – Ramsey Clark

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Quotes on Hockey’s Greats

To play so well and for so long is simply incredible. No player will ever do the things in hockey that Gordie [Howe] did. – Wayne Gretzky
The finest athlete of them all, that’s what Gordie [Howe] is. And when I say athlete I’m talking about any sport. Take everything into consideration: his age, his record, his condition. There are some pretty good athletes around, great boxers, great football players, everything, but Gordie is in a league by himself. I’d be proud to be half the man on or off the ice that Gordie is. – Bobby Orr
On sheer ability, Mario [Lemieux] is good enough to win scoring titles with a broken stick. On pure talent, he’s the best there is. But Wayne [Gretzky] almost never disappoints you. He comes to work every night. – Bobby Orr
Gretzky would dominate in any era. It doesn’t make any difference. He may well be the smartest hockey player who ever played the game. – Phil Esposito
Gretzky is something else again… he strikes me as the first nondescript hockey star. Sometimes you don’t even realize he’s out there, watching as he whirls, until he emerges out of nowhere, finding open ice, and accelerating to a score… Gretzky is arguably the best player hockey has ever know. – Mordecai Richler
By far Gretzky is the most talented player ever. Every time he gets the puck something exciting happens. – Mike Milbury
He is hockey now. Although virtually every age of the game has had its pre-eminent players – Morenz, Richard, Howe, Hull, Orr – no one has ever transcended it as he has. – Peter Gzowski
I’m not sure Mario [Lemieux] is going to get the accolades he deserves, especially from outside the game. But from within, the players, the people who follow closely, realize exactly what he’s brought to the table, exactly what he has done… – Wayne Gretzky
He had talent for everything. How big he is, how he protects the puck, his hands, how smart he is on the ice, all the plays he made. He was always the smartest player on the ice…. With him, it’s easy. It’s just natural ability. – Vincent Lecavalier
No disrespect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr, Gilbert Perreault…. But Mario [Lemieux] did things nobody else could ever do. – Bryan Trottier
The greatest hockey player who ever lived: Bobby Orr, and I love him. – Don Cherry
If I can be half the hockey player that Bobby Orr was, I’ll be happy. – Ray Bourque
There ought to be two leagues, one for the pros and one for Beliveau. – Dollard St. Laurent
I may not be the hockey player Jean Beliveau was, but some day I hope to be the man he is – Guy Lafleur
From the blue line in, I never saw a player as exciting as [Maurice] Richard. When he had the goalie beat, he finished it off, and you had no chance to recover. – Emile Francis
Rocket [Maurice Richard] had that mean look in every game we played. He was 100 percent hockey. He could hate with the best of them. – Gordie Howe
He could shoot harder than anybody I see nowadays. When he’d wind up behind the net he wasn’t number 7, he was number 777, just a blur. – Roy Worters

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Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a trusted executive assistant, a communications can-do guy, or a go-to-scribe? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

20 Brian Tracy Quotes on Leadership

“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.”

“Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people”

“Leaders set high standards. Refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance”

“Clarity is the key to effective leadership. What are your goals?”

“The best leaders have a high Consideration Factor. They really care about their people”

“Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.”

“The key responsibility of leadership is to think about the future. No one else can do it for you.”

“The effective leader recognizes that they are more dependent on their people than they are on them. Walk softly.”

“Leaders never use the word failure. They look upon setbacks as learning experiences.”

“Practice Golden Rule Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.”

“Superior leaders are willing to admit a mistake and cut their losses. Be willing to admit that you’ve changed your mind. Don’t persist when the original decision turns out to be a poor one.”

“Leaders are anticipatory thinkers. They consider all consequences of their behaviors before they act.”

“The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.”

“Leaders concentrate single-mindedly on one thing– the most important thing, and they stay at it until it’s complete.”

The three ‘C’s’ of leadership are Consideration, Caring, and Courtesy. Be polite to everyone.

“Respect is the key determinant of high-performance leadership. How much people respect you determines how well they perform.”

“Leadership is more who you are than what you do.”

“Entrepreneurial leadership requires the ability to move quickly when opportunity presents itself.”

“Leaders are innovative, entrepreneurial, and future oriented. They focus on getting the job done.”

“Leaders are never satisfied; they continually strive to be better.”

Chris George, providing reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

The (disturbing) instinct of Charles Bukowski

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As cited in Wikiquotes, Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was a Los Angeles, California poet and novelist sometimes mistakenly associated with Beat Generation writers because of alleged similarities of style and attitude. Bukowski’s writing was heavily influenced by the geography and atmosphere of his home city of Los Angeles. He wrote more than fifty books and countless smaller pieces.

For many artists today there is a real fascination with Charles Bukowski. He is one of America’s most honest writers, revealing raw, edgy insights that capture the naked truths of existence in our modern world. The scribes at By George have cherry picked 15 of these truths…

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.
Find what you love and let it kill you.
We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel hate or love.
I never met another man I’d rather be. And even if that’s a delusion, it’s a lucky one.
I am a series of small victories and large defeats and I am as amazed as any other that I have gotten from there to here.
What is terrible is not death but the lives people live or don’t live up until their death.
We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence.
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.
The nine-to-five is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon mankind. You give your life away to a function that doesn’t interest you. This situation so repelled me that I was driven to drink, starvation, and mad females, simply as an alternative.
Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you’re allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It’s like killing yourself, and then you’re reborn. I guess I’ve lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now. (and to add: “I wasn’t lonely. I experienced no self-pity. I was just caught up in a life in which I could ﬁnd no meaning.”)
You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.
The human race exaggerates everything: its heroes, its enemies, its importance.

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (English byname Tully) was born in 106 BC in where is now Arpino, Italy. He was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer who vainly tried to uphold republican principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. His writings include books of rhetoric, orations, philosophical and political treatises, and letters. Above all, he considered politics of utmost importance, which should be effectively influenced by philosophy. He is remembered in modern times as the greatest Roman orator and innovator of what became known as Ciceronian rhetoric. Marcus Tullius Cicero was murdered by decree as an enemy of the state in 43 BC. Here is a favourite observation that should be committed to memory:

“Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.”

Here are some more of our favourite Tully musings:

“Our span of life is brief, but is long enough for us to live well and honestly.”
“If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.”
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
“Dum Spiro, spero.” – “As long as I breathe, I hope.”
“The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.”
“Politicians are not born; they are excreted.”
“Non nobis solum nati sumus.” – “We are not born for ourselves alone.”
“A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”
“It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.”
“What an ugly beast is the ape, and how like us.”

And Marcus Tullius Cicero is also known for his love of books and reading. On this subject he espoused:

“Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.”
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
“For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.”

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

More of Napoleon’s bons mots

More insight from Napoleon Bonaparte:

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
Men take only their needs into consideration, never their abilities.
To do all that one is able to do is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do is to be a god.
Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment.
As to moral courage, I have very rarely met with the two o’clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage, that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion, and which, in spite of the most unforeseen events, leaves full freedom of judgement and decision.
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.
How many really capable men are children more than once during the day?
All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before a single word: faith.
If they want peace, nations should avoid the pinpricks that precede cannon shots.
10 persons who speak make more noise than 10,000 who are silent.
Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.
You may ask me for anything you like except time.
Time is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men.
If you start to take Vienna – take Vienna.
Circumstances-what are circumstances? I make circumstances.
One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.
This man Wellington is so stupid he does not know when he is beaten, and goes on fighting.
The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.
My downfall raises me to infinite heights.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Napoleon on the art of governing and leadership

Here are By George’s favourite 10 quotes of Napoleon Bonaparte on the subject of governing and effective leadership:

The art of governing consists in not letting men grow old in their jobs.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
The heart of a statesman should be in his head.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
There are two levers for moving men – interest and fear.
With audacity one can undertake anything.
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
All celebrated people lose dignity on a close view.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Quotes to inspire, motivate and provoke

Many will know that By George Journal regularly tweet quotes to inspire, motivate and provoke. Here are some of our latest “favourite” bons mots!

“Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.” – Mark Twain
“Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.” – Leonard Cohen
“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” – Albert Einstein
“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – Anon.
“It is never too late to become what you might have been.” – George Eliot
“Character is power.”- Booker T. Washington
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” -Winston Churchill
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
“We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour, in other words, we are the hero of our own story.” – Mary McCarthy
“To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.” – Arnold Toynbee
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer
“People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

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Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

10 Remarkable Quotes of Ernest Hemingway

1 Reply

There’s no one thing that is true. They’re all true.
What is moral is what you feel good after.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Man is not made for defeat.
Nobody knows what’s in him until he tries to pull it out. If there’s nothing or very little, the shock can kill a man.
Courage is grace under pressure.
Never mistake motion for action.
Eschew the monumental. Shun the Epic. All the guys who can paint great big pictures can paint great small ones.
All you have to do is write one true sentence.
The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector.

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Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Success is the sum of…

(ed. – … and repeated again while burning the midnight oil! – cg)

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.