Tag Archives: quotes

Mary Anne Radmacher bons mots

The boldness of endurance is the underline to almost every success.

At first glance it may appear too hard. Look again. Always look again.

Live boldly. Laugh Loudly. Love Truly. Play as often as you can Work as smart as you are able. Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.

Find your balance and stand with it. Find your song and sing it out. Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance. Find the questions that only you know how to ask and The answers that you are content to not know.

It takes courage to reinvent joys, to reinvent opportunities, to reinvent dreams, to reinvent connections, to reinvent hopes that you have set aside.

There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.

Lean forward into your life…catch the best bits and the finest wind. Just tip your feathers in flight a wee bit and see how dramatically that small lean can change your life.

May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.

Speak quietly to yourself and promise there will be better days. Whisper gently to yourself and provide assurance that you really are extending your best effort. Console your bruised and tender spirit with reminders of many other successes. Offer comfort in practical and tangible ways – as if you were encouraging your dearest friend. Recognize that on certain days the greatest grace is that the day is over and you get to close your eyes. Tomorrow comes more brightly.

Mary Anne Radmacher is an American writer and an artist. She conducts workshops on living a full, creative, balanced life, teaches Internet writing seminars, and works with individual clients. She has been writing since she was a child, and she uses her writing to explore symbols and find meaning. She is the author of Lean Forward into Your Life (Conari Press, 2007), and Live Boldly (Conari Press, 2008).

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.

20 Remarkable Quotes Reflecting On “Gratitude”

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” – G.K. Chesterton

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

“Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices.” – Robert Braathe

“I truly believe we can either see the connections, celebrate them, and express gratitude for our blessings, or we can see life as a string of coincidences that have no meaning or connection. For me, I’m going to believe in miracles, celebrate life, rejoice in the views of eternity, and hope my choices will create a positive ripple effect in the lives of others. This is my choice.” – Mike Ericksen

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” – A.A. Milne

“Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” – Albert Schweitzer

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” – Ralph H. Blum

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” – Rabbi Harold Kushner

“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky

“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.” – Melody Beattie

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionel Hampton

“The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. It has enough lush forests, flowered fields, and sandy beaches. It has plenty of stars and the promise of a new sunrise and sunset every day. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it.” – Michael Josephson

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

12 quotes by Maya Angelou

Here are a dozen remarkable quotes from the remarkable American poet and writer Maya Angelou.

Achievement brings its own anticlimax.
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope.
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.

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

10 of Ronald Reagan’s quotes on Big Government

Government is like a big baby – an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving; regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
Either you will control your government, or government will control you.
We are a nation that has a government – not the other way around…. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of haven grown beyond the consent of the governed.
Status quo, you know, that is Latin for “the mess we’re in.”
When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation.
Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself.
Man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics. As government expands, liberty contracts.
The best view of big government is in the rear view mirror as we leave it behind.

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

John Wooden: 10 of Life’s Lessons

Leafing through a old February 2000 Esquire magazine last night, I came across a “John Wooden: What I’ve Learned” article. Here are ten short observations on life from the legendary basketball coach. He was 89 when he gave this interview:

You can do more good by being good than any other way.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
If I am through learning, I am through.
Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.
I don’t believe in praying to win.
I had three rules for my players: No profanity. Don’t criticize a teammate. Never be late.
If a player’s not doing the things he should, put him on the bench. He’ll come around.
Never let your emotions overrule your head.
Passion is momentary; love is enduring.

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

Margaret Thatcher’s musings on politics

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Being prime minister is a lonely job… you cannot lead from the crowd.
I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.
Nothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.
One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex.
Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.
Of course it’s the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.
There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.
This lady is not for turning.
To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.
To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.
We were told our campaign wasn’t sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment.
You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

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

10 Quotes to Honour Mothers

mothers_day_quotes_graphics_03 Here are 10 beautiful quotes respecting motherhood (some wonderful thoughts to inscribe in your cards or to toast at your dinner). To all the wonderful, caring women in our world, Happy Mother’s Day:

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. – Sophia Loren
The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom. – Henry Ward Beecher
God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. – Jewish Proverb
They say man rules the universe, That subject shore and main Kneel down and bless the empery Of his majestic reign; But a sovereign, gentler, mightier, Man from his throne has hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. – William Stewart Ross
A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary. – Dorothy Canfield Fisher
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. – Washington Irving
Mothers are the most instinctive philosophers. – Harriet Beecher Stowe
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. – Tenneva Jordan
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love. – Mildred Vermont
A mother’s love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking. – Helen Rice

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

The Wisdom of Epictetus

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Try not to react merely in the moment. Pull back from the situation. Take a wider view. Compose yourself.
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.
When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.
Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events) concern the things that are within my own control or those that are not? If it concerns anything outside your control, train yourself not to worry about it.
Don’t demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them do. Accept events as they actually happen. That way, peace is possible.
Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.
No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.
Ask yourself, “How are my thoughts, words and deeds affecting my friends, my spouse, my neighbour, my child, my employer, my subordinates, my fellow citizens?”
Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.
What is a good person? One who achieves tranquility by having formed the habit of asking on every occasion, “what is the right thing to do now?”
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

The stoic philosopher Epictetus was a Greek-born slave of Rome in the first century.

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 politics – wisdom of the ancient Greeks

They should rule who are able to rule best. – Aristotle
This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are. – Plato
A state is not a mere society, having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual crime and for the sake of exchange…. Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship. – Aristotle
The basis of a democratic state is liberty. – Aristotle
Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. – Plato
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. – Aristotle
That judges of important causes should hold office for life is a disputable thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body. – Aristotle
Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. – Aristotle
There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. – Plato
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. – Plato

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.

By George’s FAV Baseball Quotes

“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal” – Journalist & Author, George Will

“Baseball is an American icon. It is the Statue of Liberty, the bald eagle, ‘In God We Trust,’ Mount Rushmore, ice cream, apple pie, hot dogs, and rally monkeys. Baseball is America.” – Victor Baltov, Jr. in Baseball Is America

“Baseball is a drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast.” – Joe Garagiola in Baseball Is A Funny Game

“Baseball isn’t just a game. It’s life being played out on a field – a field of dreams – on diamonds of green, where players pursuing their dreams try to be the best they can be on the grandest stage of all – where men become boys and boys become men, all speaking one universal language without uttering a single word.” – Tom Tatum

“Sandor Boatly had never guessed that, properly played, baseball consisted of mathematics, geometry, art, philosophy, ballet, and carnival, all intertwined like the mystical ribbons of color in a rainbow.” – W.P. Kinsella

“Baseball is not life. It is a fiction, a metaphor. And a ballplayer is a man who agrees to uphold that metaphor as though lives were at stake.” – David James Duncan

“[Baseball] is a game with a lot of waiting in it; it is a game with increasingly heightened anticipation of increasingly limited action” – John Irving

“For all its gentility, it’s almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.” – Willie Mays

“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.” – Tommy Lasorda

“A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end, it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” – Jim Bouton

“You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.” – Cal Ripken, Jr.

“Baseball is a team sport played by individuals for themselves.” – Joe Torre

“There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you.” – Derek Jeter

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” – Babe Ruth

“A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.” – Earl Wilson

“Baseball is a lot like life. It’s a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life.” – American Sportscaster Ernie Harwell

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bullet Bob Feller

“More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood.” – Thomas Boswell

“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” – Yogi Berra

“That’s one of the great gifts of this, the greatest of all games, baseball: it allows you, still, to lose yourself in a dream, to feel and remember a season of life when summer never seemed to die and the assault of cynicism hadn’t begun to batter optimism.” – Mike Barnicle

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.

Yogi-isms

Everybody marvels at Yogi Berra’s quotes. He is an unflappable treasure of the game…

“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.”

“Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.”

“If the people don’t wanna come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop ’em.”

“Baseball ain’t like football. You can’t make up no trick plays.”

“I’m ugly. So what? I’ve never seen anyone hit with his face.”

“Think?! How are you supposed to think and hit at the same time?”

“I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats.”

The New York Yankee legendary catcher passed away in 2015 and, at that time, By George Journal paid tribute to the man. For more of his offhanded insights, read R.I.P. Yogi Berra – Our Dozen FAV quotes.

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.

Great Baseball Quotes

“There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” – Tommy Lasorda
“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” – Babe Ruth
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
“Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game!” – Babe Ruth
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
“Baseball was, is, and always will be the best game in the world to me.” – Babe Ruth
“Athletes are born winners, there not born losers, and the sooner you understand this, the faster you can take on a winning attitude and become successful in life.” – Charles R. Sledge Jr.
“Baseball is about talent, hard work, and strategy. But at the deepest level, it’s about love, integrity, and respect.” – Pat Gillick
“A man has to have goals – for a day, for a lifetime – and that was mine, to have people say, ‘There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.” – Ted Willams
“Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” – Ted Williams
“With baseball, it’s simple. There’s no mystery to what happens on the field because everything has a label – full count, earned run, perfect game – and there’s a certain amount of comfort in this terminology. There’s no room for confusion.” – Jennifer E. Smith
“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again.” – James Earl Jones
“If there was magic in this world, it happened within sight of the three bases and home plate. […] Wrigley [stadium]was a field of dreams. Dreams of eternal glory for the men who ran to the outfield, who took their respective bases, and prepared for battle against those who would dare enter their hallowed realm. Dreams for the kids in the stands, all wanting to don a uniform, kiss their mom’s goodbye, and wield their bats as enchanted weapons destined to knock the cover off the ball.” – Tee Morris
“It is dangerous to spring to obvious conclusions about baseball or, for that matter, ball players. Baseball is not an obvious game.” – Roger Kahn
“Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.” – Leo Durocher
“Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart kid and you can never go wrong.” – The Babe, The Sandlot
“Baseball is a man maker.” – Al Spalding
“Baseball gives a growing boy self-pose and self-reliance.” – Al Spalding
“They say some of my stars drink whiskey. But I have found that the ones who drink milkshakes don’t win many ball games.” – Fred McMane
“Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.” – Jackie Robinson
“Watching other teams in the World Series is like watching somebody else eat a Hot Fudge Sundae.” – Joe Torre
“The greatest feeling in the world is to win a major league game. The second greatest feeling is to lose a major league game.” – Chuck Tanner
“More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood.” – Thomas Boswell
“It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.”- Mickey Mantle

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 Great Baseball Quotes

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby
“They give you a round bat, and they throw you a round ball, and then they tell you to hit it square.” – Willie Stargell
“Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.” – Pete Rose
“I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.” – Pete Rose
“You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.” – Cal Ripken, Jr.
“If my uniform doesn’t get dirty, I haven’t done anything in the baseball game.” – Rickey Henderson
“I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That’s when you’ve got to be serious.” – Hank Aaron
“When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base any way I could, whether by hitting or getting hit.” – Shoeless Joe Jackson
“Catching a fly ball is a pleasure, but knowing what to do with it after you catch it is a business.” – Tommy Henrich
“Baseball is like driving, it’s the one who gets home safely that counts.” – Tommy Lasorda
“I’ve come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.” – Bob Lemon
“Never save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.” – Leo Durocher
“You can’t steal second base and keep one foot on first.” – Reggie Jackson
“Fans don’t boo nobodies.” – Reggie Jackson
“I really love the togetherness in baseball. That’s real true love.” – Billy Martin
“A baseball manager is a necessary evil.” – George ‘Sparky’ Anderson
“I’m a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday. To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession.” – Brooks Robinson
“Close doesn’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.” – Frank Robinson
“Baseball was 100% of my life.” – Ty Cobb
“I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.” – Willie Mays
“I could have played baseball another year, but I would have been playing for the money, and baseball deserves better than that.” – George Brett
“Remember these two things: play hard and have fun.” – Tony Gwynn

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 of Affirmation

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard

“We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility.” – Albert Einstein

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Von Goethe

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that.” – Harold Whitman

“There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” – Alexander Woollcott

“The purpose of man is to live, not to exist.” – Jack London

“We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.” – Dr. David Hawkins

“All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don’t sit looking at it – walk.” – Ayn Rand

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson

“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” – Henry Moore

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

“Forever is composed of nows.” – Emily Dickenson

“Happiness, not in another place but this place… not for another hour, but this hour.” – Walt Whitman

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

20 quotes on leadership

If you’re actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. – John Quincy Adams
A leader is a dealer in hope. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. – Norman Schwarzkopf
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. – Thomas Jefferson
Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. – Theodore Roosevelt
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. – Colin Powell
A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers. – John C. Maxwell
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality; the last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. – Max De Pree
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton
To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence … When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” – Lao Tsu
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. – Albert Schweitzer
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. – John Kenneth Galbraith
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. – Stephen R. Covey
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. – John F. Kennedy
Great leadership is about human experiences. It’s not a formula or a program. It is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine. – Lance Secretan
Leaders aren’t born, they are made. – Vince Lombardi

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.

Canadians’ Musings on Politics

“[Canadians] … we are content to elect a prime minister with the appointment powers of an autocrat for the duration of his term. It is a curious anomaly of an otherwise sensible people in accepting such an archaic governance system. Louis himself couldn’t have asked for anything more.” – Richard Finlay

“Political parties in Canada and beyond have increasingly become machines designed to win. Democracies benefit when active citizens are working to grab their attention and to force them to address the tough policy issues. All it takes are some citizens who have done the work, a few Canadians with knowledge, passion, eloquence, and persistence – and maybe more women in politics.” – Alex Himelfarb

“Parliament Hill is de-energizing and demoralizing, where people imagine the worst, see the worst and bring out the worst. It is a place that members of Parliament need to get away from as often as they can, to rediscover the country, to rediscover why they are doing what they are doing.” – former MP Ken Dryden

“An MP has a choice. He or she sits at a fork in the road. One road is downhill, smooth sailing and leads to a cabinet or shadow cabinet post. You just have to keep your mouth shut and be rabidly partisan and don’t question what you’re given. The other road is uphill, rocky, full of potholes and doesn’t lead to any personal advantage… that road is where you’re using your knowledge and objectivity to independently assess what’s given you. It’s also the road where you’re trying to advance ideas that may not be sanctioned by your party.” – former MP Keith Martin

“The dysfunction in Parliament is much more a lack of democracy by successive prime ministers.” – former MP Joe Comartin

“There is a growing divide between a body politic that is becoming increasingly apolitical and a Parliament that is becoming more and more partisan.” – MP Michael Chong

“The current climate in Parliament is interested in slinging mud on the other side, and simply trying to destroy your political opponents as opposed to beating them at the ballot box because you have better, more innovative ideas to deal with the big challenges that face us as citizens.” – MP Michael Chong on the previous Parliament

“What’s happened to politics is that it becomes a career for too many. And the idea of moving up through the ranks, of getting into cabinet and becoming a minister, often overshadows the concept of serving the people who elected you.” – former Ontario MPP Kim Craitor

“Politics is a business that inverts all the normal rules of human conduct. In most walks of life, it is thought dishonourable – personally shaming – to lie, or even to shade the truth; to boast of one’s own achievements, and sneer at others’; to flatter and connive in private, to mock and rage in public. Yet these and worse are the daily work of those we elect.” – Andrew Coyne

“As long as there has been politicians, they have been mistrusted. Only ignorance of history and a factitious nostalgia could make anyone think otherwise.” – John Pepall

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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.

Canadian quips on politics

“Here’s a little tip for politicians everywhere: If you find yourselves with more time than issues on your hands, go home.” – Lorne Gunter

“Power is a drug on which the politicians are hooked. They buy it from the voters, using the voters’ own money.” – Richard Needham

“Canada is divided by great mountains, great prairies, Great Lakes, and eleven governments that really grate.” – Hugh W. Arscott

“Power tends to connect; absolute power connects absolutely.” – Peter Newman

“The only farewells that politicians handle well are deaths. You can hear some excellent eulogies in the House of Commons.” – Carol Goar

“Ottawa feels a lot like Hollywood these days.” – Tim Powers

“If America was trying to keep the bubonic plague out of its hemisphere, Canadians would import it just to show their independence of American foreign policy.” – Barbara Amiel

“Canadians live with liberal rhetoric, but we conduct our lives as social conservatives.” – David Crombie

“The political parties of any era have always had groupings or clubbings of people whose raise d’etre has been for that party to win. That’s not new.” – Tim Powers

“Like an episode of Seinfeld, Canadian politics has become a show about nothing.” – Alex Himelfarb

This collection originally appeared in By George Journaal in January 2017.

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

10 quotes on bureaucracy

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” – Thomas Sowell

“Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.” – Honore de Balzac

“The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.” – Eugene J. McCarthy

“Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.” – Albert Einstein

“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.” – Javier Pascual Salcedo

“Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” – Franz Kafka

“Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.” – Richard M. Nixon

“Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism.” – Mary McCarthy

“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” – Laurence Peter

“Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits.” – Dale Dauten

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

John Maxwell Bons Mots

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.
Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.
You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.
A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose, a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.
“Failing forward” is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.
If you start today to do the right thing, you are already a success even if it doesn’t show yet.
The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.
If we are growing we are always going to be outside our comfort zone.
Leaders never outgrow the need to change.
Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.
The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.
Most people have a desire to look for the exception instead of the desire to become exceptional.
Although it’s admirable to be ambitious and hard-working, it’s more desirable to be smart-working.
You build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.
The timing of your decision is just as important as the decision you make.
A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.
Reaching the top is a monumental achievement, but remaining there may be the most spectacular feat of all.
Plan and execute your first failure so that you no longer have to fear it.
If you don’t change the direction you are going, then you’re likely to end up where you’re heading…
Everything begins with a decision. Then, we have to manage that decision for the rest of your life.
It’s true that charisma can make a person stand out for a moment, but character sets a person apart for a lifetime.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

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.

A Dozen Maxims By John Maxwell

Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.
People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.
Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.
The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying.
Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.
Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are.
Doing the right thing daily, compounds over time.
Growth inside fuels growth outside.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
To add value to others, one must first value others.
You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.

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.