Famous Quotes at Understand Famous Quotes dot com

When the political columnists say ‘Every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘Every intelligent voter’ they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.
~~ Franklin P. Adams ~~ (1881 - 1960)

Good one! It’s amazing how political columnists and candidates appoint themselves to speak on behalf of the people. How does a political columnist know what every thinking man or woman has in his or her mind? The fact is that they don’t know; they have no special super-natural power to know what every thinking person may be thinking about. They just assume that just because they themselves think that way, every other thinking person also thinks that way - that’s what I call the height of egoism. They need to learn to speak for themselves rather than speaking for ‘every thinking person’.

Another annoying thing that the press indulges in is the label ‘community leader’. Whenever an incident occurs in an ethnic group, the press pick up somebody from that ethnic group, may be because that person was making a lot of noise, and then start quoting or interviewing that person on the incident referring to him or her as the ‘community leader.’ My question is: Who appointed or elected that person as the community leader? The answer is: Nobody except perhaps the reporter who desperately needed a story to publish!

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
~~ Charles De Gaulle ~~ (1890 - 1970)

This, in my view, is a true and classic definition of the difference between patriotism and nationalism. The line between the two becomes very fuzzy because those who espouse the feelings of nationalism almost never openly admit their hatred towards others.

There is nothing wrong in being a patriot and to love your people or country and apply your efforts to improve their lot in life. While doing that, a patriot harbors no feelings of ill will or hatred towards other peoples or nations.

Nationalism, on the other hand, has less to do with improving the lot of one’s own people or nation and more to do with the hatred of others. It essentially conceives others as evil who can do nothing right or useful. Nationalism is a very negative and dangerous concept.

I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.’
~~ Marilyn Monroe ~~ (1926 - 1962)

This is a great quote that illustrates the power of dreaming big and have the conviction that your dreams will come true.

We often discourage ourselves and limit our dreams by harboring thoughts that there is too much competition, too many players in the particular field we are in. Considering that Marilyn Monroe faced heavy odds set against her right from her childhood and, unfortunately, lived a very short life, she still managed to attain great success in her life and became a big movie star.

As she herself mentions in the above quote, she was fully aware of the fierce competition in her chosen field but that did not deter her to follow her dream and attain it. Like every other successful person she had convinced herself that she will attain her dream as she was dreaming the hardest!

We believe democracy cannot be imposed from outside in any society. Democracy is the expression of a sovereign people. To impose it from outside is inherently undemocratic. Each sovereign nation has to make its own decisions and have its own criteria as to how they govern themselves.
~~ Meles Zenawi ~~

It’s very true. Every reasonable person knows that while democracy is not even close to being perfect, it’s still the best of all the known methods of governance. A very basic requirement of democracy is that the governed people must participate and use their best judgment to elect those who will govern. Any democracy in any country will become totally meaningless if a huge majority of people refuse to participate in it.

Similarly if you try to impose a democracy on a nation, it’ll most likely fail because it’ll lack the essential ingredient of a successful democracy - the willing participation of general masses of that nation. It is human nature to resent and resist anything that is imposed on them so imposing a democracy on a people is doomed to fail.

The best way to promote democracy in any country is to convince the masses of the benefits of democracy. That, however, is easier said than done! Moreover, I don’t believe that those who make a lot of noise saying that they want to promote democracy in the world are really serious or sincere about it; it’s just politics - the politics of self interest. International politics is extremely dirty business.

Most successes are unhappy. That’s why they are successes - they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.
~~ Agatha Christie ~~ (1890 - 1976)

I agree with that. What exactly is a success or to be more precise, who is a successful person? Normally we define somebody as successful if that person has managed to hold a high office such as President or Prime Minister of a country or Owner or CEO of a corporation or an actor, actress or athlete who rose to the top of his or her profession and manged to amass a lot of wealth etc. though such a definition of success is debatable. Attainment of such high positions or amassing of wealth certainly gets them noticed by the world.

However, considering what most of these people end up doing after attaining such exalted positions, they can not really be happy. For example sex scandals, outright corruption, driving while drunk, using illegal performance enhancing drugs or other unlawful activities by many of these so called successful people come to light quite frequently. They wouldn’t be doing such things if they were happy and content. Happiness is simply a state of mind that usually lasts only for a little while; no matter how successful one might be. On the other hand, even those who are considered total failures or are totally deprived, also experience moments of happiness.

Sometimes I think many of these so called successful people are border-line crazy and they crave constant attention from others. Very difficult, if not impossible, to have a happy disposition under such circumstances.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.
~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~ (1856-1950)

It’s true; you can blame your circumstances all you want and it may make you feel better but it’s not going to take you anywhere. To reach anywhere, you’ll need to make an effort yourself in that direction.

We all feel shackled by circumstances from time to time. The good news is that circumstances can be changed. The key is to carefully analyze the circumstances you find yourself in and visualize the circumstances as you would want them to be. Set that as your goal and work out a plan of action to achieve that goal.

It’s important to realize that no plan of action to change your circumstances will work unless you commit yourself to work persistently and enthusiastically on it. You’ll invariably face hurdles and failures in the execution of your plan. You must not give up in the face of such failures but learn from them; modify your plan of action if necessary and continue in the direction you want to go. Then your circumstances are bound to change.

Of all God’s creatures, Man alone is poor.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

This is a great thoughtful quote. Of all the creatures that we know of, humans have more material possessions per capita than any other species. Yet most of the time most of us feel we are poor or very poor. Material possessions or the lack thereof is not the only thing that makes us feel poor, we feel poor in more than one way. That’s why many of those who have unfathomable material possessions, also feel they are poor.

I think the reason for this is our insatiable, uncontrolled greed. We are so engrossed in wanting more and more material possessions that we tend to forget what we already possess. Greed to an extent is not necessarily a bad thing but uncontrolled, insatiable greed is definitely a curse. You only have to look at how many wealthy people including CEOs, law makers etc. end up in jail usually on charges such as stealing from their company, defrauding the public or shareholders and indulging in bribery etc. Obviously, it was their greed and not the lack of material possessions that drove them to indulge in such unlawful activity. We only learn about a few of these wealthy (or should I say poor?) people who have been caught; there have to be many others who have not been caught and probably will never be caught. How poor these people must be in spite of being rich!

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
~~ Abraham Lincoln ~~ (1809 - 1865)

While Abraham Lincoln aimed his advice mainly at Americans, it’s equally applicable to other nations. Obviously we have not paid any attention to his advice. Instead we have gone in the opposite direction and encourage litigation for anything and everything! While Americans may be leading in the field of litigation, many other developed and even developing countries aren’t far behind.

Just imagine how much money could be saved if the lawyers were to persuade the litigants to compromise instead of proceeding ahead with litigation. It will also boost productivity as fewer juries will be needed thus fewer jurors and fewer witnesses will have to take time off work. It will also help in reducing bitterness between the opposing parties as in a compromise everybody feels like a winner whereas in litigation one party wins and the other loses.

Don’t hold your breath though as it ain’t going to happen. Just because Abraham Lincoln gave us good advice doesn’t mean we are going to follow it or even make any attempts to follow it! :-)

In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You’re judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.
~~ Marilyn Monroe ~~ (1926 - 1962)

Now that is quite sad and true commentary about people in Hollywood and their money. I believe it’s not just the people in Hollywood but humans in general; lust, money and power seems to be the be all and end all. Hollywood gets under the microscope more often because the people there tend to show off more often the gazillions of dollars they seem to possess. Generally speaking, soul and virtue are of no consequence; these qualities just get a lip service.

Why are we as a species so much after lust, money and power? The obvious answer is our inherent desire to dominate. What is soul? Do humans have souls? I doubt it; I think there is nothing known as soul, it’s just a concept, a feeling. All normal humans are capable of knowing wrong from right and we feel guilty when we do something wrong. Then we start rationalizing our behavior to get over the feeling of guilt; some of us doing it more effectively than others. Soul is just a convenient concept we throw in for our rationalizations.

If people really had souls then when they become rich and powerful, they will still have souls and wouldn’t offer a thousand dollars for good looks and a kiss and fifty cents for the soul; would they? Or is it that one gets ‘Free’ of the soul as soon as one becomes rich and powerful?

Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.
~~ John Updike ~~

The key is to get involved in an activity you are passionate about, no matter what that activity may be, so long as that activity is legal. When you are engaged in an activity you are passionate about, you will naturally want to know and learn more and more about it so that you can it right or better. That in turn would challenge, enhance and expand your creativity.

The challenge that most people face is that the activity they are passionate about may not, at least initially, generate enough income to live by. The way around this problem that is most commonly used is to get a “job” on the side to sustain yourself financially until the activity you are passionate about starts generating enough income.

It may also be that you are passionate about your job. In that case, you are amongst a few of the lucky ones as many studies show that most people don’t even like their jobs let alone being passionate about their jobs. They are working on jobs because they have to. That indeed is a terrible waste of human creativity.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
~~ C.S. Lewis ~~ (1898 - 1963)

I agree that we should not regret leaving this world but I don’t agree that there are better things ahead. In my view, there is no ahead; this is it. When you are dead, you are dead and you just become dust! That’s also a good reason why we should let the end come when it comes and should not be in a rush to make an exit from this world. After all, why should anybody be in a rush to become a piece of dust?! LOL.

And never expect that the world will be kind to you. The world rarely, if ever, is kind to anybody; so why you’ll expect it to be kind to you? Instead learn to fight your battles with the world. You’ll win some and you’ll lose some! That’s just the way it is.

Do not be fooled into believing that because a man is rich he is necessarily smart. There is ample proof to the contrary.
~~ Julius Rosenwald ~~

Exactly true. I believe on an average more dummies than smart people become rich.

In this world, very rarely a highly educated, smart professional becomes filthy rich. My theory on this is that most highly educated professionals find it extremely hard to become filthy rich because in any recognized profession requiring high skills, there are usually professional bodies that issue code of conduct and ethics which the professionals are required to follow. But there are no such requirements for the average Joe. So the highly educated professional who may be very smart but has his or her hands tied by the code of conduct and ethics, has to compete with others who have no such restrictions.

So just because somebody has managed to get rich doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she is smart or even intelligent. Lots of them are neither!

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~

This is even more true today than at the times of Thomas Jefferson. It appears that many rich people take delight in ripping off the working class poor. It may be because the poor are an easy target and rich feel secure in the knowledge that

1. Most of the working class poor people don’t know their legal rights.
2. Most poor people, even if they knew their rights, don’t have the economic wherewithal to seek a redress in the Courts.
3. Even if a poor person were to seek a redress in the Courts, the rich can lengthen the process to many years or even decades through legal maneuvering and appeals.

A classic example of the rich preying on the poor, at least in Canada, is happening right now. Many businesses, some of them fairly large businesses reporting millions of dollars in annual profits, whenever they need to hire new employees, do not advertise for the job openings they have in their organization. Instead they team up with an Employment Agency to do the hiring for them. Now there would be nothing wrong if a business or employer were to hire an Employment Agency to do the screening and hiring for them and pay the Agency for its services. But that is not what they do!

Instead, the Employment Agency holds itself out as the “Employer”, recruits employees and sends them to work for the “Real Employer” - the business which teamed up with the Employment Agency, at the Real Employer’s place of business as a “Temporary Employee”. What is wrong with this arrangement, you may ask? Let me explain.

Suppose the Real Employer’s normal rate for the job is $12 per hour (This is the usual rate of semi-skilled type of factory jobs in Canada right now). So if the Real Employer were to hire you directly for this job, you’ll be paid $12 per hour plus, after 3 months of employment, you become eligible for other benefits like health insurance etc, if any. Since you are the employee of the Employment Agency and legally not the employee of the Real Employer even though in reality you work for the Real Employer, the Agency will pay you anywhere between 20% to 30% less than the going rate of the Real Employer. That is, your rate of pay will be somewhere between $8.50 to $10 per hour. The difference between what the Agency charges the Real Employer (e.g. $12 per hour) and what it pays you (e.g. $8.50 an hour) is how the Agency makes its money.

By this legal acrobatics, the Real Employer has downloaded its recruiting costs on to the working poor who end up earning 20% to 30% less than the going rate and the Real Employer has made the working poor a de facto economic slave as legally not being an employee of the Real Employer you have virtually no legal rights against the Real Employer.

Even though the above arrangement may be legal, in my view, it’s highly immoral and unethical - a classic case of the rich preying on the poor.

If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.
~~ Jean-Paul Sartre ~~ (1905 - 1980)

On the surface this quote seems funny but if you think over it, it is very meaningful.
Many people feel very lonely when they are alone. It’s a sign of weakness, a sign of total dependence on others and a lack of spirit of being independent.

It need not be like that. While it is good to have friends, relatives and whatever, one must also develop one’s will, determination and independence so that when you are alone, you don’t feel lonely. Being alone is actually good as it gives you uniterrupted time to think, brainstorm to get new ideas, read a book or whatever interests or hobbies you might have.

If you frequently feel lonely whenever you are alone then, as Jean-Paul Sartre says, you are definitely in bad company and you need to work on it. No one needs to feel lonely and desperate just because they happen to be alone.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

Some people wrongly assume that, in a democracy, the party that wins the majority and forms the government can change or repeal old laws and make any new laws that it wishes to carry out its agenda. That is not exactly true. I think that is precisely what Thomas Jefferson is alluding to in this quote. Of course, when a political party wins majority and forms a government in a democracy, it has the right to pass new laws and change older laws to carry out its political agenda so long as its actions are reasonable and do not oppress the minority.

In true democracies, this is a very important and sacred principle. It is protected by the presence of a Constitution and an independent Judiciary. The Constitution guarantees certain rights to individuals and if the government encroaches upon such rights, the individuals can challenge the government in the court and the Court may declare the law unconstitutional.

It is also possible that a government with huge majority may try to amend the Constitution. Again, such an amendment can be challenged in the Court and the Court may declare the amendment invalid or unlawful if, in the opinion of the Court, such an amendment will lead to oppression of the minority. Independent judiciary in all true democracies is, therefore, extremely important in insuring that no majority party can become autocratic.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)

So true and is proven by recent events. I am sure you have noticed how the present day fools and religious fanatics are positively sure that their God is the Best and their religion is the finest and, in particular, their interpretation of their religion is the correct one! While, at the same time, many of them say that there is only one God.

Now if we assume that there is only one God then the question of whose God is better doesn’t or shouldn’t even arise. But fools and fanatics are not capable of such reasoning and thinking because if they were capable of such reasoning and thinking then they won’t qualify as fools and fanatics.

Even if we assume that there are many Gods or gods, when was the last time their God or god appointed these fools and fanatics to speak on His (their God’s) behalf? Never, that I know of. All those who pretend to speak on behalf of the God are fake, no matter what religion they may belong to. If God intended to speak to us humans then I am sure God is quite capable of speaking for Himself.

All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
~~ Brian Tracy ~~

It is really important to dream big and to believe in your dreams. It is equally important to envision and devise ways and means to realize that dream.

Just to have a dream or goal is not enough, one needs to work persistently everyday towards the attainment of that dream or goal. If you find that your persistent daily efforts are not leading you towards your dream or goal then you need to reassess and revise the direction of your efforts. Every effort must take you a bit closer to your dream. If you are dreaming of the extra-ordinary, mentally prepare yourself for the challenge everyday as you will face extra-ordinary problems that will require extra-ordinary effort and committment on your part.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
~~ Henry Kissinger ~~

I think Henry Kissinger is being very liberal - no pun intended! Probably a more accurate quote would be that that 99% of politicians give the other one percent a bad reputation. :-)

Why is it that so many politicians have such a bad reputation? Is it because they are inherently dishonest? I don’t think so. I think there is more to it than meets the eye. Politicians are just like other people - actually smarter than most of us as, afterall, they end up ruling over us!

We, as people, bear some responsibility for making the politicians behave the way they do. We willingly vote for those who make tall promises; the promises we know in our heart of hearts cannot possibly be kept. And we generally don’t vote for those politicians who try to stick to the facts and don’t make tall promises. Thus those politicians who try to stick to facts, being humans, quickly learn that to get elected they need to learn the ‘art’ of making tall promises. So we end up with the sort of policians we have.

Some people have tried to sue some politicians for breach of promises but courts take the view that politicians are not obligated to keep their election promises. May be we should try to force politicians to make promises under oath at election time and see if that will hold in court. Somehow I think that courts will still hold that politicians are not obligated to keep their election promises even if those promises were made under oath. :-)

If life throws you a lemon - make lemonade.
~~ Joan Collins ~~

Most of us keep complaining about our bad luck but the important thing to remember is that lots of people who went on to achieve success and greatness in their lives had odds stacked against them right from childhood. Some examples of such people will be Helen Keller, Oprah Winfrey, Marilyn Monroe and many others.

These great people, through their determination, hard work and persistence, have clearly shown us that, ultimately, it’s up to us as individuals to decide if we are going to keep complaining about our bad luck or we are going to pull up our socks, set up some goals and proceed with determination and persistence to achieve those goals.

We all have within ourselves to make lemonade from a lemon. Actually, you can’t make lemonade without a lemon; so when life throws you a lemon, consider it a blessing and get busy making lemonade!

There are only two words that will always lead you to success. Those words are yes and no. Undoubtedly, you’ve mastered saying yes. So start practicing saying no. Your goals depend on it!
~~ Jack Canfield ~~

We all frequently experience situations where we don’t really want to say yes but willy nilly say yes because we think that if we say no the other person’s feelings will be hurt or he/she may feel offended etc. Many a times we later regret having said yes to such proposals.

So to achieve our goals, we need to keep our goals in focus and learn how to say no to other peoples proposals if we feel that those pursuits are not conducive to the attainment of our goals. May be we need to learn to tactfully say no without feeling guilty or without hurting others feelings. Sure it can be very difficult to say no to some people but we have to keep in mind that we can’t sacrifice our pursuits, desires and goals just to appease somebody else.

No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.
~~ Barbara De Angelis ~~

In other words, it’s a question of self-esteem and self-worth. We have to confidently build our self-esteem that each one of us is unique and has something positive to offer regardless of age or the circumstances we may find ourselves in at the moment.

Each one of us has within himself/herself to give our lives the meaning we want to give. That meaning is determined by our own actions. So whatever meaning you want to give your life, you need to believe in it, start acting in that direction and persistently continue to go in that direction.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.
~~ Confucius ~~ (551 BC - 479 BC)

Herein lies the secret of success. If we are always afraid of falling, we can never reach anywhere. As a matter of fact, falls are to be expected in any journey we may decide to undertake. The key to successfully completing the journey is to get up every time we fall, carefully analyze why we fell, learn some lessons from the fall to avoid similar falls in future and keep going.

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
~~ Thomas Jefferson ~~ (1743–1826)

This is one of my favorites. If we are going to dream then it definitely makes sense to dream for hope rather than despair.

I would say one should make it a habit to dream of hope and success. That will help you to keep a happy frame of mind and may even motivate you to set goals and make efforts to achieve those goals. One should always guard against thoughts of hopelessness and despair. Hopelessness and despair can never produce any good results. Hope is the staple of life; without hope there is nothing.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else’s play.
~~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~~ (1882 - 1945)

This quote is a classic. On the surface it might seem like a funny dig but it is full of meaning and inspiration. We all think ourselves to be very important but in most other people’s eyes, we are just an extra. However, that should not deter us from doing the very best we can, keep improving ourselves by continuously learning even as an extra. Because the lessons learned and experience gained while playing the extra will be highly beneficial in our own play, where we are the hero.

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never scoring.
~~ William Taylor (Bill) Copeland ~~

I agree. It is very important to have a goal. While some people might have the motivation and the discipline for achievements, most of us lack such motivation and discipline. Setting a goal gives us the needed motivation and discipline to work towards that goal.

It is important to set a realistic, attainable goal because if the goal is unrealistic, you’ll soon lose the motivation and you’ll stop making consistent efforts to move towards that goal. It also helps to set sub-goals or benchmarks to measure progress along the way towards your goal and if you miss some benchmarks, analyze and learn as to why you missed those benchmarks and to avoid similar pitfalls in the future.

It is difficult but not impossible to conduct strictly honest business. What is true is that honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune.
~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~ (1869 - 1948)

Whether we like it or not, the fact is that most, if not all, businesses are conducted dishonestly. It is possible or should be possible to conduct honest business with some reasonable return on investment but that will require hard work, sacrifice and patience. Most businesses concern themselves with producing stinking profits and to heck with honesty and fairness.

A good example right now is the oil companies. They raise the gasoline prices at the pump as soon as the price of crude oil goes up but when the price of crude oil falls they take their time to lower the gas prices at the pump. They justify the delay in lowering prices by saying that they cannot immediately lower the prices at the pump because they have inventories which they bought at the higher price. That seems logical but then they should not immediately raise gasoline prices when the price of crude oil goes up because they must have inventories which they bought at the lower price. This practice of theirs may be legal but it is certainly not honest, fair or moral.

Oil industry is not the only industry that indulges in such practices; most industries do. The motto seems to be to devise creative ways to rip off the consumer and maximize profits to line the pockets of a few. Shameful but true!

If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another.
~~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~~ (1769 - 1821)

Coming from Napoleon Bonaparte, a master soldier who conquered much of Europe and rose to be the Emperor of France, this quote speaks volumes about the stupidity and horrors of war. Obviously, those who have seen wars and, Napoleon not only saw but fought many wars in his lifetime, know that peace is way better than any war even when you win the war.

But to attain peace requires hardwork, foresight, courage and exemplary skills on the part of people in power while declaring war is easy because once the war is underway it’s the soldiers who pay for it with their blood, limbs and even lives. It’s not a surprise then that even today whever there is a conflict, the warmongers with the loudest drumbeat are those who have never been in a war and those people who have actually been in a war usually advise patience and negotiations.

History, a distillation of rumour.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

Funny and true! I think history is just rumour designed to appease the powerful rulers of the day. It has got to be totally inaccurate. Just look at what is happening right now. Do we ever know the truth? In spite of great communications means and freedom of press at least in some countries, we almost never know the truth; everybody has his or her own spin on every issue with usually total disregard for the facts.

And in ancient times when there were scant means of communications and many autocratic rulers, one can hardly expect unbiased recording of events. So history is basically agreed upon guesses by historians.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.
~~ Winston Churchill ~~ (1874-1965)

This is true and almost all successful people say the same thing in one form or another. We all have great potential but most of us fail to reach our potential as we give up as soon as we encounter some difficulties or problems in our pursuit. But those who persist and continue to make consistent efforts go on to reach new horizons and realize their full potential.

So the key is to keep ourselves motivated and consistently make efforts to achieve our goals.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
~~ Thomas Carlyle ~~ (1795 – 1881)

I don’t agree with this quote. First of all in autocratic countries people have no choice as to what sort government they have. And these autocratic rulers have powerful police machinery to suppress any opposition they may face from the people and they frequently use this machinery ruthlessly to repress any opposition.

Even in democracies people frequently find themselves stuck with governments they would rather not have. That happens because in most democracies people have a limited choice and sometimes they find themselves having to choose between the devil and the deep sea. That is amply illustrated by the fact that the voter turnout is very low and declining.

That doesn’t mean that people don’t deserve or want a better government. It simply means that the system has flaws and needs imrovements. The beauty of democratic system is that it can be peacefully changed and is frequently changed; hopefully for the better. :-)

Where There is a Will, There is a Way.
~~ Author Unknown ~~

This is a very motivational and true quote that prompts us to think hard and be creative in finding ways to achieve our goals and solve our problems.

All the technological, medical and other progress that we see or hear about in the world today has happened because there is a strong commitment and the will to do it. A good example is the space exploration programs undertaken by many countries. They don’t really “need” these programs per se but they undertake them anyways, may be for prestige, dominance or whatever reasons. From time to time, they do run in to problems; serious or even fatal problems but they find a way around those problems because of the will and commitment.

It’s the same way for an individual. If you want to attain your goals you must develop the will and commitment, constantly work towards it and find creative ways to overcome difficulties that may arise.