Babak Azad - Quotes

The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come. ---James Whitcomb Riley

By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain the great. ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

How long should you try? Until. -Jim Rohn

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'Press on,' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. ---Calvin Coolidge

"Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down." -- Charles F. Kettering, Engineer and Inventor

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." -- Vincent Van Gogh

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all." -- Dale Carnegie

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club" Jack London

"Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." -- Conrad Hilton, Founder of Hilton Hotels

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -- Henry Ford

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." -- Thomas Jefferson

"It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. Or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -- -President Theodore Roosevelt, "The Man in the Arena", Paris, 1910

"But the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude" ---Emerson

'Motivation is what gets you started; habit is what keeps you going' Jim Ryun Kansas Miler

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it lead. --Erica Jong

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals. -Anonymous

His backup plans do not lead to different destinations, such as "If I don't get into business school, I'll be a schoolteacher." His backup plans lead to the same destination, and if he has to arrive late by a back road, that's fine. -- -Bronson

Some folks go through life pleased that the glass is half full. Others spend a lifetime lamenting that it's half-empty. The truth is: There is a glass with a certain volume of liquid in it. From there, it's up to you! -Dr. James S. Vuocolo

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

No matter how bitchin you are, somewhere, someplace, somebody is better than you. --Scott Tinley

"Getting people to like you is simply the other side of liking other people." -- Norman Vincent Peale

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." Albert Einstein

"People begin to become successful the minute they decide to be." -- Harvey Mackay

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." -- Thomas Jefferson

"For no one else knows my lack of ability the way I do. I am pushing against it all the time." --Steinbeck

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything; but I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."
--Edward Everett Hale

In the end everything will be okay. If everything is not okay, it’s not the end. -Anonymous

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what
makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world
needs is people who are alive." - Gil Bailie

do unto others not necessarily as you would have done unto you but do unto others as they would prefer to be done unto - Bradford

Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate and captain of your soul. --Anon

It is not the case that everything fails to be a God. Another way of saying "God exists" ---George Boolos

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. -- Henry David Thoreau, "Where I Live"

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. -- John F. Kennedy

plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. -- -Anonymous

Turns out not where but who you’re with that really matters. -- -“The Best of What’s Around” Dave Matthew’s Band

So he went through a great deal of trouble to acquire, and little to maintain.. --- Machiavelli

The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove. -Samuel Johnson

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. -- -Stephen Covey

We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; not let us commit it to life. ---Edwin Markham

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. --N. Eldon Tanner

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and they takes themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would change human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. -Ezra Taft Benson

He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress. ---Anwar Sadat

What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear a word you say. ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. ---Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus make yourself indispensable. ---Andre Gide

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others. ---Robert Louis Stevenson:

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." ---Charles Schultz

"Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others' lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment." ---Elizabeth Hailey, "A Woman of Independent Means"

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own." ---Benjamin Disraeli

"You've got to dance like nobody's watching, and love like it's never going to hurt." ---Anonymous

"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there." ---Anonymous

"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
'Pooh!' he whispered.
'Yes, Piglet?'
'Nothing,' said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.
'I just wanted to be sure of you.'"

I will not drag you along; i will not leave you alone; i will stand by you and have my hand there for you to hold when you need to. ---Anonymous

look to see what other people in similar situations have done.
Identify market, opportunities, what are other people doing
failure is not an option - once success is the only option, people will be creative, will find a way to succeed, be innovative, etc...
keep the career track going
given the right set of people and commitment on everyone’s part, you will find an idea - the perfect idea rarely springs into someone’s mind all at once.
People get paid largely for initiative
do not make value judgments about people, look at the results they have achieved and figure out what skills those results necessitated
-From a conversation with Tabibian

Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. ---Anon

What is Success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded. ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature is excess. She is beyond the mean. A single rose-hip bursts in praise. What to do with the rain, with snow, with sleet, with leaves, with comet, with hail, with lightning, with apples, pears and plums, nature shaking out her excess, the gravity-delighting objects that spill around my head? --- Jeanette Winterson

Don't think your way into a new way of living....Live your way into a new way of thinking.

“Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far they can go”
TS Eliot

People who attempt to deduce an answer usually end up mistaking intensity for passion ---Po Bronson

There's a powerful transformative effect when you surround yourself with like-minded people. Peer pressure is a great thing when it helps you accomplish your goals instead of distracting you from them. ---Po Bronson

Probably the most debilitating obstacle to taking on The Question is the fear that making a choice is a one-way ride, that starting down a path means closing a door forever. "Keeping your doors open" is a trap. It's an excuse to stay uninvolved. I call the people who have the hardest time closing doors Phi Beta Slackers. They hop between esteemed grad schools, fat corporate gigs, and prestigious fellowships, looking as if they have their act together but still feeling like observers, feeling as if they haven't come close to living up to their potential.
---Po Bronson

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about." -- Albert Einstein

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

"I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short." -- Blaise Pascal

"Always do what you want, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to do them all yourself". --Eleanor Roosevelt

" The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart" Helen Keller

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" Eleanor Roosevelt

"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." ---John F. Kennedy

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ---Oliver Wendell Holmes

If you’re too tired to go out tonight, just think how you’ll feel at seventy three. ---Beefeater ad

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. ---Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, either way, you’re right. ---Anonymous

"Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great." --Mark Twain

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison

Your true passion should feel like breathing; it's that natural." --Oprah Winfrey

The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live." --Joan Borysenko

The difference between involvement and commitment is like an eggs and ham breakfast. The Chicken was involved. The pig was committed.

"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference." --Nolan Buhnell

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it." -- Margaret Thatcher, Former British Prime Minister

"When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take -- choose the bolder." -- William Joseph Slim

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows. There is no code of conduct to help beginners. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent." -- Sophia Loren, Actress

"Major projects will never be finished if they are never started. The key to getting things done is to get things started." -- Harold Taylor

Show me a person who has made no mistakes and i will show you a person who has made nothing.

"When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound. Rebuild those plans and set sail once more toward your coveted goal." -- Napoleon Hill

"The biggest mistake people make in life is not making a living at doing what they most enjoy." - Malcolm S. Forbes

"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle." -- George Lucas

"You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind."-- Dale Carnegie

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear." -- Mark Twain

"The ball is tipped. There you are. You're running for your life. You're a shooting star. And all the years. No one knows. Just how hard you've worked,but now it shows! In one shining moment!" ---One ShiningMoment

It's not about getting a scholarship, getting drafted, or making SportsCenter. It's a deep need in us that comes from the heart. We need to practice, to play, to lift, to hustle, to sweat. We do it all for our teammates and for the student in our calculus class that we don't even know. We don't practice with a future major league first baseman; we practice with a future sports agent. We don't life weights with a future Olympic wrestler; we lift with a future doctor. We don't run with a future Wimbledon champion; we run with a future CEO. It's a bigger part of us than our friends and family can understand. Sometimes we play for 2,000 fans; sometimes 25. But we still play hard. You cheer for us because you know us. You know more than just our names. Like all of you, we are students first. We don't sign autographs. But we do sign graduate school applications, MCAT exams, and student body petitions. When we miss a kick or strike out, we don't let down an entire state. We only let down our teammates, coaches, and fans. But the hurt is still the same. We train hard, lift, throw, run, kick, tackle, shoot, dribble, and lift some more, and in the morning we go to class. And in that class we are nothing more than students. It's about pride--in ourselves, in our school. It's about our love and passion for the game. And when it's over, when we walk off that court or field for the last time, our hearts crumble. Those tears are real. But deep down inside, we are very proud of ourselves. We will forever be what few can claim... college athletes.

Here's to those who warm up for a marathon by swimming 2 .4 miles and biking 112...

The only reason NOT to wear a cycling helmet must be if you don't feel you have anything worth protecting inside your skull.

Bill Clinton was once quoted as saying: "Draft?? Drafting is ILLEGAL ! " So he obviously understands triathletes! ----Bruce Cheney

To all triathletes,
Live one day at a time.
Make it like it's your last.
Live it to the fullest
and one day you may stumble
upon what you've wanted.
But let it come to you.
So in the meantime
Be happy, smile,& don't be sad.
----*TRI GEEK*
JON SIRKIN

How to do a long distance bicycle ride: "You push the pedal down on one side and it comes up on the other. Then you push that side down and the first one comes up again. Pretty soon the first day is over, and you start on the second. That's all there is to it." Author unknown.

Admiral Halsey said that there are no extraordinary people, only ordinary people called up to do extraordinary things. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Extraordinary people are those who don’t wait to be called upon, but seek out extraordinary things to do. They’re the ones who believe an unchallenged life is one not worth living, who are unafraid to set extraordinary goals and then bring to bear on those visions perseverance, talent and a special strain of courage most of us can only faintly imagine. They view failure not as defeat but as setback, never entertaining for a single moment the possibility that failure might indicate impossibility.

To extraordinary people such as Leah, Bob, Samir and Valerie, Ironman is not an obstacle to be overcome but an experience to be savored. Were it otherwise, they’d put it out of their minds as soon as the finish line was breached, rather than re-live it endlessly starting even before they’ve left the finish area. Flushed, exhausted, amped to the gills and dazed as they might be, they’ll grab anybody they can, complete strangers if necessary and gush out detailed descriptions of every stroke, gear change, flat tire, aid station, cramp, angelic volunteer and blistered step they can recall (and they can recall them all), yammering like speed-freak nightingales and pausing for breath only for as long as it takes to swig a little high-fructose buzz juice and re-fortify themselves for more.

Getting a video tape rewinder for X-mas is kind of like getting an extension cord. ----BAT

I want to be in the profession of improving people's lives. ---BAT 11.6.93 11:44 am

I wonder if that light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train or just the sun's rays entering the end of the tunnel. -----Zaq

It’s not that I don’t believe in God, it’s that I don’t know how to believe in God. --BAT Friday June 28, 1996 around 8 a.m.

I think one of the greatest compliments someone could give me is to re-tell me something that I had told them, as in “I remember something you once said....” -BAT 1/10/98

As I walk along the beach,
I look at all the footprints in front of me.
Some people have come before me and left imprints –the only
Physical evidence
That they have been here.
These are their marks.
I’ve walked along the beach many times, but
For the first time, I look behind me.
I never realized it, but I am leaving footprints in the sand as well,
Adding to those before me.
I was unaware that my presence and passing here
Would not go unnoticed.
I start to become more observant.
I notice what kinds of footprints people have been making.
Some people walk bare-footed, others with shoes.
Some people have strange-shaped feet, some prints just go too deep, and
Some have a trail of sand after them, a sign that this person has dragged his feet.
I try to play a game to see if I can walk exactly in someone else’s footprints.
Sometime their foot is just the right size, but
Their stride is a different length,
And I don’t want to adjust mine.
Then when our strides are the same,
My foot either completely dwarfs a footprint,
Or doesn’t fit in half of it.
Every once in a while, though, I find a near-perfect match,
(There is no such thing as an identical pair of footprints)
But it seems that as soon as I get into a rhythm with these set of prints,
The tide comes up and washes my guide away. (so I need to create my own, with no guide, with only my past experience, my desires, my imagination to lead me.)
I am more aware of what
Kinds of footprints I am leaving behind.
These are my marks;
This is the temporary proof that I have been here, for,
Like those who have preceded me,
My footprints will be washed away, soon erased.
But not so soon, for some people will see my prints.
I do not walk on the beach in the middle of the night, for
I want my marks to be seen.
I may choose to walk on the beach on a swelteringly hot, Sunday afternoon;
In this way, many people may see what I have done,
But because the masses are so great,
My prints will be smudged over very quickly by others,
And those prints that do remain will be but one out of many.
So I choose to walk along the beach in the late afternoon,
After the hectic day has ended,
My prints may not be seen by everybody, but
For that group of people that walks at sunset,
My prints will make a difference.
Soon after sunset, though, the tide will come again,
As it always does,
Washing away my marks, but
There will be more prints for other to see, for
Someone new shall pass this way once again.

"A leader defines for the team what kind of moment they're in."
—Roger Nierenberg, Conductor

                (taken from his numerous commentaries)
    "You CANNOT bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."
    "You CANNOT strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
    "You CANNOT help small men by tearing down big men."
    "You CANNOT help the poor by destroying the rich."
    "You CANNOT lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."
    "You CANNOT keep out of trouble by spending more than your income."
    "You CANNOT further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
    "You CANNOT establish sound security on borrowed money."
"You CANNOT build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative."
"You CANNOT really help men by having the government tax them to do for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Leadership--the ability to create teams and to get people to join your team. ---EDB mentality

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. (management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall) ---Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis

"Great spirits are always met by violent opposition from mediocre minds" ---Albert Einstein

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. ---Goethe

never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ---margaret mead

Those who say it cannot be done should not stand in the way of those doing it ---Anonymous

Generation Y is turning into Generation XL. ---U.S. surgeon general Richard H. Carmona

What does it take, in your opinion, to be a successful entrepreneur?
Most people talk about their dreams, few take the time to do whatever it takes, and put in the time to make those dreams come true. – Mark Cuban

“The notion that entrepreneurial efforts rarely are straight lines," Carlos Watson said

"Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference." –– Nolan Buhnell

"Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand." –– Bruce Barton

"A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further then a great idea that inspires no one." ––Mary Kay Ash

Sonnet CXVI: Let me not to marriage of true minds admit impediments
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

There's a girl in a dress in a sinful mess
With a face that's made for kissin'
What kind of god gives you a rod
And says you can't go fishin'? --Something happens

Strive never to forget the difference between arson and incest or you may end up like the guy who set fire to his sister. --Andrew White

"When I think of the cradles of education in this country, there's Cambridge, there's Berkeley, and there's Chapel Hill." Rick Gaffney, Good Morning America

"Are you sure that's how you spell your middle name?"-- IDOT driver's license employee

I like my legs like I like peanut butter: smooth and easy to spread. -contestant on "Studs"

* I went back to my mother,
* I said, "I'm crazy ma, help me!"
* She said, "I know how it feels son,
* 'cause it runs in the family."
* - The Who, Quadrophenia

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is too dark to read.

I wish I had a krytonite cross, that way I would be protected from Dracula AND Superman. ---deepthoughts

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. -- Dave Barry

Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom: No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." -- Charlie Brown

"Women, can't live with 'em.....pass the beer nuts." -Norm Peterson (“Cheers”)

"I'm 75, and when I wake up every day, I say, 'Man, I made another one.'” - Burl Toler Sr.

"Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment." -- Mark Twain

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein

Real friends are those who when you've make a fool of yourself dont feel you've done a permanent job.

When I race my mind is full of doubts. Who will come in second? Who will come in third? --Morceli

Someday I would like to see a waiter with enough courage to place the check face UP at a restaurant! -Gloria's Kitchen

Winners do what losers don't.
Winners do what losers don't want to do.
In life there are two kinds of people: those who talk about doing things and those that make them happen.

Each day I live, I want to be, a day to give the best of me.
I rise and fall, but through it all, this much remains.
I want one moment in time, when I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away, and the answers are all up to me. --One moment in time.

You're simply the best, better than all the rest, B etter than anyone, anyone I ever met. Ahh, you're the best. --Simply the best

To be successful, you must know what you're doing, love what you're doing, and believe in what you're doing. ----Anon

"Don't worry about things that you have no control over, because you have no control over them. Don't worry about things that you have control over, because you have control over them." ---Mickey Rivers

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do." ---Olin Miller

All you have to have is some desire, some enthusiasm, a plan and don't believe in the word can't. ---Dick Vitale

if you think you are too small to be effective, then you obviously have never been in bed with a mosquito...

“There are three types of people: the players, the spectators, the haters........ looking forward to keeping the first two and getting rid of the last category...” -Claudine Grier

Would you assholes stop sending me 35000 goddamm bytes of messages?
Let me just sum up everything y'all have been saying, so you don't have to say it anymore.
        -Eat right
        -Row hard
        -Drink often
        -Get laid
There. Now shut the fuck up.
                                                --Kevin Gilpin

You know, figuratively drink beer. It's a new term, i just made it up. It means to hang out with the "hang-out" attitude implied by the drinking of beer without actually drinking beer. Get it?? --Leo Chang

(Sorry, but your chances here DO NOT EXIST <pasquale> ---JSP for his zwrite signature

hey, don't tell me what kind of person i am. maybe i'm not a glass-half-empty kind of person. maybe i'm a glass-full-of-filtered-water kind of person. did you ever think of that? i thought not. i was thinking about coming to T tonight, but it's colder than a snake's butt out. ---Ann Guy

Good loving.
That is the key. Therese is teaching me so much about the power of love.
Not actively (though that is a factor as well), but by just being a
presence in my life. My love for her--and yes, I certainly do love and am
in love with this girl--is showing me how to love everything in my life. I
have become passionate about all that I do, crew, studio, work,
friendships, and of course, my relationship with her. And she is teaching
me the meaning of the words and the emotions. ---CMP

bye. see you tonight.@center(@bold(Authentic) Personal message at 14:57:07
Thu Feb 16 1995
From: @bold(Katie M Leo <katiemay>) on SCI-READ-ROOM.MIT.EDU
To: trigeek@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
:)
p.s. thanx for making me smile.

In response to an obvious question,
“Does a one-legged dog swim in a circle.?”
--Jonnie A.

That’s the point of being an intelligent person - not to think traditionally.
---Jon Atkeson

In response to a rude comment:
You’re like school in the summer -- no class...
---jonnie a...

Women and jobs. That’s basically what our existence is about. Well, maybe food, too, but I don’t want to belittle the other two by mentioning food.
--CMP

Project: sippin' a drink and feelin' fine ...
Plan:
" I used to do a little
   But a little wasn't doin'
   So a little got more and more
   I just keep tryin' to get a little better
   Said, a little better than before. "
    - Guns N' Roses

If it's there and you can see it -> It's REAL
If you can't -> It's TRANSPARENT;
If it's not there and you can see it -> It's VIRTUAL
If you can't -> It's GONE.

Today, I fight a different battle. You see, I have trouble walking and I have trouble standing for a long period of time… Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities. Cancer is attacking and destroying my body. But what cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart and my soul… I have faith in God… and hope that things might get better for me. But, even if they don’t, I promise you this. I will never ever give up. I will never ever quit. And if cancer gets me… then I’ll just try my best to go to heaven and I’ll try my best to be the best coach they’ve ever seen up there.

I learned a great lesson from these guys… they amazed me! They did things I wasn’t sure they could do, because they absolutely refused to give up! That was the theme of our championship season – ‘Never ever give up!’ That’s the lesson I learned from them and that’s the message I leave with you: ‘Never give up, never ever give up!’

"Lately, I've found myself talking about what I call the Brilliant Masses. The Brilliant Masses are composed of nothing less than the many great people of our generation, the bright, the talented, the intelligent, the resourceful, and the creative - far too many of whom are operating at quarter-speed, unsure of their place in the world, contributing far too little to the productive engine of modern civilization, still feeling like observers, all feeling like they haven't come close to living up to their potential. The Brillilant Masses are mostly intellectually motivated, so if they cross over and get involved, their commitment is conditioned on being respected, and conditioned on a minimum of unncecessary idiocy, and conditioned on winning/succeeding. They *like* being cerebral. In their tribes, it's cool.

Being guided by the heart is almost never something an intellectually motivated person chooses to do. It's something that happens to them-usually something painful. Joe chose to assist John Stanford when Joe was still intellectually inspired, but he didn't *commit* to the district until John-and John's death- had changed him.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, poli- ticians were noble and children respected their elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

I've learned....that the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I've learned....that when you're in love, it shows.
I've learned....that just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
I've learned....that having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I've learned....that being kind is more important than being right.
I've learned....that you should never say no to a gift from a child.
I've learned....that I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
I've learned....that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
I've learned....that sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
I've learned....that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I've learned....that we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've learned....that money doesn't buy class.
I've learned....that it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned....that under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned....that God didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?
I've learned....that to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I've learned....that when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned....that love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned....that the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned....that everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned....that there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.
I've learned....that no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned....that life is tough, but I'm tougher.
I've learned....that opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I've learned....that when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned....that one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned....that a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned....that I can't choose how I feel, but can choose what I do about it.
I've learned....that when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
I've learned....that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
I've learned....that it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life-threatening situation.
I've learned....that the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done. >>

I came across this looking for information on Hewlett Packard's website... It's this year's MIT Commencement speech, given by Carly Fiorina (CEO of HP). She went to Stanford undergrad and got her MBA from Sloan.

It is perhaps an understatement to say it's an honor to be back at MIT, addressing the graduating class of the year 2000. As I look out on this crowd, it is both humbling and inspiring.

I'd like to start my remarks this morning with special thanks to all of you who have sent me emails in the last couple of weeks. You see, when I sat down to write this speech, as commencement speakers naturally do, I tried to figure out what would be most meaningful to you in a time of tremendous change, in an era of prosperity, in this new world rushing towards all of us.

And so, rather than impose my world view on you, I thought I'd ask you to give me a little advice, and so I decided to do a little research. I sent out an email to all the graduates, asking you not only where I should focus, but what I should avoid. And I must say, you are both a prolific and a diverse bunch. I received hundreds of messages. And the mail I received actually gives you some great insights into the graduating class here at MIT.

As soon as one person would ask me to talk about something, the next person would say, please don't talk about that. Many of you asked me what it takes to succeed as a woman in business. Others said, for heaven sakes don't talk about being a woman. Some of you were curious about my work at Hewlett-Packard, but just as many said, we don't want to hear about Hewlett-Packard. Some of you wanted me to talk about the future of technology, but others said, I've studied enough about technology, please talk about something else.

Some said they wanted to hear about leadership. But one gentleman, in particular, who shall remain nameless, was very adamant in saying that he didn't want to hear anything about leadership. And, by the way, he also did not want to hear anything about Microsoft or Elian Gonzales. You know who you are.

The longer I looked at the messages, however, certain patterns began to emerge and slowly it became clear to me what I think you really wanted to hear. You wanted this address to be based on my life experience, not esoteric theory. You wanted to know the best way to make the decisions you'll need to live life, to build a career, and, with that one exception, of that nameless aforementioned gentleman, you actually did want to know how a leader can lead in this new landscape that's emerging from the mist. And, oh, I must also add, that on one point there was complete unanimity: please don't run over your time. On that last point I do promise to be brief.

And so, this morning, I'd like to talk about journeys, how you get from one place to another, and how sometimes the journey brings you back home. In some ways, today, for me, is about coming home. I was sitting in one of those chairs on the shady side only eleven years ago.

In 1989, as a graduating Sloan Fellow, I can honestly say I didn't expect to be CEO of a company like Hewlett-Packard; truthfully, I don't think I expected to be a CEO at all. I can honestly say that I never would have predicted the huge impact that technology would today be playing in all our lives. And certainly, if you had looked at me in my cap and gown, seated in those chairs, eleven years ago, logic would not have indicated that I would be your commencement speaker today.

Journeys in life are far more random, far less orderly, than they seem at first glance. The reason I say first glance is that paths appear random, are random, especially when you are looking at them one step at a time. It's only when you stand back and see the whole journey in perspective, the paths chosen, the paths rejected, a pattern emerges, a pattern that over time defines the journey of life. And today for you is a wonderful day to put your journey in perspective.

The significance of commencement exercises dates back over centuries, because graduations have always been markers, life markers, along the way. Your time here at MIT and the journey that lies before you will be defined not only by the power of your logic and your intellect, but equally by the power of your aspiration and determination.

When I sat where you are eleven years ago, or when I sat in a different chair three thousand miles away at Stanford twenty-four years ago, the proud holder of an undergraduate degree in Medieval History, yes, that's true, or when I worked as a secretary in the shipping department of a company called Hewlett-Packard, typing bills of lading, logic and intellect would never have predicted that I would one day return to run that same Palo Alto company.

And this is, of course, exactly my point. At any one moment in time you often can't see where your path is heading and logic and intellect alone won't lead you to make the right choices, won't in fact take you down the right path. You have to master not only the art of listening to your head, you must also master listening to your heart and listening to your gut. One has to look beyond the immediate choice of it all. It is too easy to freeze up at moments exactly like today. I can sympathize.

In some ways, the world you are going into, while far more prosperous, is actually far more complex, far more complicated, than the one I faced at Stanford in 1976, or even the one I faced here in 1989. But have no fear, although fear is part of the journey as well, because in fact you have all the tools you need up here in your head, here in your heart, and in your gut. All you really have to do is engage your heart, your gut, and your mind in every decision you make, engage your whole self and the journey will reveal itself with the passage of time. And so let me put that into personal context for you.

I can see now that I started my professional journey on the day at age 4 when I declared to my parents and to the world, "Mom, Dad, I want to be a fireman". Now this was not some precocious instinct towards civic duty. No, it really wasn't terribly profound. In fact, it was simply that I loved the color red and I thought the black and white dogs with spots were really cool. But when I look back now I see a kid who was not afraid to commit to a different path through life, and I see parents who encouraged their child's ambition, whatever it was.

I see now also that I began my path to become a CEO on the day I decided to quit law school. After I realized that being a fireman was actually about more than the color red and the dogs, and I knew I couldn't paint like my artist mother, I automatically assumed that I would follow in my father's footsteps. You see, my father was a law professor and a judge, and his guidance and example have always meant the world to me. And so, after studying medieval things at Stanford, I went on to law school. I followed the logical path that I, and others, had always presumed for me. I wanted my father to be proud of me. I wanted to follow in his footsteps.

But it quickly became apparent to me in law school that I didn't like studying the law. For me, the emphasis on precedent felt confining. My father loved the law; he still loves the law, but while I was intellectually challenged, the rest of me was left cold. And so this presented for me a gut-wrenching dilemma. Do I risk letting my father down? Do I stick it out in law school? Or do I go do something else? Do I let go of this notion of the logical path for Carly?

And while that decision tortured me at the time, I literally didn't sleep for three months, I made the decision and I didn't blink and I left law school. What seemed at the moment, especially to my father, a random, ill-advised move, was actually an important life lesson and a marker in my own journey.

And I genuinely believe that life teaches lessons in strange ways. The lesson I learned at that life marker was love what you do, or don't do it. Don't make a choice of any kind, whether in career or in life, just because it pleases others or because it ranks high on someone else's scale of achievement or even because it seems to be, perhaps even for you at the time, simply the logical thing to do at that moment on your path. Make the choice to do something because it engages your heart as well as your mind. Make the choice because it engages all of you. Remember as a graduate of a world class university, as a graduate of this place, with your double-E or your degree in Physics or Computer Science or Architecture, the freedom to choose is now yours.

And to make the most of that freedom, use your mind and your heart and your gut. Freedom to choose can sometimes feel like a terrible burden, but the burden is greatly lightened when we learn how to use our whole selves, when we realize that we have everything we need for this journey of life.

Now, here at MIT this morning, we are celebrating the graduation of your minds. Your minds have done exceptionally well in this training phase. You have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can absorb knowledge, and invent, and create. And the stuff that you have stored in your mind will be immensely valuable without question.

But your mind alone won't do it. When you leave here you start on the second important journey, figuring out how to listen to your heart. Now, of course, for some of you, engaging all of yourself is natural; it's easy for you. You've known how to do it perhaps since birth. But for the rest of us, getting there is a process. It can take years, decades. Some of us never get to know our whole selves, but we need to keep trying.

My own process of finding the soul to guide me brings me back once again to my parents. My mother was a stay-at-home wife and an artist, but my mother, more than anyone else, taught me about the power of aspiration and courage. She also taught me the world of dreams expressed in art, the world of things freed from the laws of everyday. And she did it with a strength and a passion that I wish could be bottled.Even when it wasn't easy or convenient, both my mother and father were ultimately true to themselves. And I absorbed that lesson from them. Their definition of greatness was about greatness of character.

And, of course, now it's time to turn to the parents in the audience, all of you who have instilled greatness of character into the graduates seated before us. And so I'd like to take a moment for the graduates to look out into this audience and find the people who have helped get you to this place, your parents, your grandparents, your partners, your guardians, your friends, whoever has been a catalyst, whoever has had defining influence and lasting impact on your life, whether they truly know it, whether you really see it, whether you really fully feel its weight yet. Take a moment now and honor all of them.

And parents, guardians, partners and friends, those who have sacrificed so much for today's graduates, I have perhaps unfortunately some advice for you today as well. If you have done your job right, your soon to be newly minted MIT grad is going to follow their own path. If you have done your job well, they may in fact surprise you, confound you, even defy you. They may not become the doctor, or the teacher, or the electrical engineer, or the next billion dollar dot.com founder or Nobel Laureate. Then, again, they might. And that's OK. It is probably difficult to fathom, especially because you have worked so hard, sacrificed so much, to get your graduates to this incredible place. But your ultimate job is to let them go. Today is an important day for you, an acknowledgement of one chapter closed and the handing over of the pen, so they can write their own next chapter.

In this chapter, the one that is now coming to a close, when you first embarked upon it I think many of you were drawn to this place because of one of the words in its name: technology. Now some of you asked me to address the changing role of technology in business and in life. As you draw this first chapter in your life to a close, we are also drawing the first chapter in the Information Age to a close. And I believe we are now entering the Renaissance phase of the Information Age, where creativity and ideas are the new currency, and invention is a primary virtue, where technology truly has the power to transform lives, not just businesses, where technology can help us solve fundamental problems.

In this new world we must always remember that technology is only as valuable as the use to which it is put. In the end, technology is ultimately about people. And in this technology Renaissance, we will witness and experience the fundamental transference of power to the people, to the masses. To the individuals who bring their own spark, their own energy to the process, technology becomes not about bits and bytes, but about the celebration of people's minds and people's hearts.

And so, what will it mean to be a leader in this world that you are entering? How must leadership be re-invented to be commensurate with the opportunity, the world we have just described?

Leadership in this new landscape is not about controlling decision-making. We don't have time anymore to control decision-making. It's about creating the right environment. It's about enablement, empowerment. It is about setting guidelines and boundaries and parameters and then setting people free.

Leadership is not about hierarchy or title or status; it is about having influence and mastering change. Leadership is not about bragging rights or battles or even the accumulation of wealth; it's about connecting and engaging at multiple levels. It's about challenging minds and capturing hearts. Leadership in this new era is about empowering others to decide for themselves. Leadership is about empowering others to reach their full potential. Leaders can no longer view strategy and execution as abstract concepts, but must realize that both elements are ultimately about people.

Now, of course, traditional aspects of being a Chief Executive will continue to be important, like understanding the business or the institution, understanding the numbers or the assets, pushing the right levers to bring about the right results. But the most magical and tangible and ultimately most important ingredient in the transformed landscape is people. The greatest strategy in the world, the greatest financial plan in the world, the greatest turnaround in the world, is only going to be temporary if it isn't grounded in people.

There are small and large acts of leadership. And small acts of leadership can change the world as surely as large acts. Ultimately they can have as much effect on people's lives as big ones. A mother who teaches a child inventive ways of thinking, or a mother that encourages her daughter's desire to become a fireman, that's a small act of leadership. A dad who lets his daughter quit the law, that's a small act of leadership.

Expressed another way, your generation of leaders will know that every one on this earth is born with the potential to lead. And that is a deep and fundamental shift, a shift worth celebrating. Every man and every woman on this earth is born to lead. A leader's greatest obligation is to make possible an environment where people's minds and hearts can be inventive, brave, human and strong, where people can aspire to do useful and significant things, where people can aspire to change the world.

At Hewlett-Packard we call this way of thinking, this set of behaviors, the rules of the garage. You see the garage is a special place to us; it is where we began. But these rules are about the way we compete and the way we work.

And our rules are, believe you can change the world, work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever, know when to work alone and when to work together; share tools, ideas, trust your colleagues. No politics, no bureaucracy: these are ridiculous in a garage. The customer defines a job well done. Radical ideas are not bad ideas. Invent different ways of working. Make a contribution every day. If it doesn't contribute, it doesn't leave the garage. Believe that together we can do anything. Invent.

These rules, while they really are core to the culture and behaviors that drive HP, I believe that if you carry these rules with you on your journey, if you create an environment where people's hearts and minds are fully engaged, where strategy is ennobling, where great aspirations are powered by the desires of people to do something worthwhile, then you will have touched others you encounter on your journey.

And now I am almost finished and you are just beginning a great journey. You are commencing your life's work. Many of you are commencing your lives as adults. I'm a bit further along than you. Perhaps that's why you ask me what, if anything, I would have done differently. Would I skip medieval history and philosophy? Would I have stayed in law school? Would I have become a fireman? Would I have preferred not to have been a secretary? And the answer to all of these questions is, no. I still believe that everything I did had a purpose, even if the purpose was to tell me I was going the wrong way. I believe every lesson life has taught has prepared me for what I do today.

Now, if I could send you an email, every year for the rest of your days -- don't worry, I won't -- I'd say this: see your life as a journey, pause at moments like this to see life's markers and the patterns that emerge, know yourself, be true to yourself, engage your whole self in everything you do. Remember that leadership is not in fact about you, but about the people who you are trying to inspire by unleashing their talents, their hopes, their aspirations. Remember that leadership comes in small acts as well as bold strokes. And last, if technology is your passion, then make sure people are at the heart of your endeavors.

And finally, remember that throughout this journey, the only limits that really matter are the ones you put on yourself, and that those crucial moments in your life, when you know what you need to do, but others advise against what they perceive to be a detour from your path, know yourself, trust your whole self, and don't blink. If you do these things, when you look back, or maybe when you look down from this podium, you will know that this journey was a wonderful gift and that you have made as much of this wonderful gift as you could have.

It's a great honor for me to be the third member of my family to receive an honorary doctorate from this great university. It's an honor to follow my great-Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician, and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman. Both of them could have told you something important about their professions, about medicine or commerce. I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a disadvantage,talking to you today. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first. Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for reelection because he'd been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time in the office." Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat." Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

You walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul. People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children.I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. would be rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true.You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.

So here's what I wanted to tell you today: get a life.A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water gap or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Each time you look at your diploma, remember that you are still a student, learning how to best treasure your connection to others. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. Kiss your Mom. Hug your Dad. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted.

Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my druthers, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back because I believed in it completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived. Well, you can learn all those things, out there, if you get a real life, a full life, a professional life, yes, but another life, too, a life of love and laughs and a connection to other human beings. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Here you could learn in the classroom.There the classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end.No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office.

I found one of my best teachers on the boardwalk at Coney Island maybe 15 years ago. It was December, and I was doing a story about how the homeless survive in the winter months. He and I sat on the edge of the wooden supports, dangling our feet over the side, and he told me about his schedule, panhandling the boulevard when the summer crowds were gone,sleeping in a church when the temperature went below freezing, hiding from the police amidst the Tilt a Whirl and the Cyclone and some of the other seasonal rides. But he told me that most of the time he stayed on the boardwalk, facing the water, just the way we were sitting now even when it got cold and he had to wear his newspapers after he read them. And I asked him why. Why didn't he go to one of the shelters? Why didn't he check himself into the hospital for detox? And he just stared out at the ocean and said, "Look at the view, young lady. Look at the view." And every day, in some little way, I try to do what he said. I try to look at the view. And that's the last thing I have to tell you today, words of wisdom from a man with not a dime in his pocket, no place to go, nowhere to be. Look at the view. You'll never be disappointed.

"Don't have anything in your life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds."
-- De Niro in "Heat"

"I have three rules which I live by: Never get less than 12 hours sleep, never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city, and never go near a lady with a tattoo of a dagger on her hand. Now you stick with that, and everything else is cream cheese."
-- The basketball coach in "Teen Wolf"

"Those fans who are booing me now will be cheering for me when I record the final out in the World Series"
-- Bob Stanley, April 1986

"Relax. We've been playing these guys for 80 years. They're never gonna beat us."
-- Yogi Berra to Bernie Williams during the 1999 ALCS

"Now it places the lotion in the basket ... now it places the lotion in the basket ... PUT THE (EXPLETIVE) LOTION IN THE BASKET!!!!! (Holding nipples) AHHHHH! AHHHHHHH!"
-- Buffalo Bill, a k a James Gumm

"That's what they get for building a stadium on the ocean."
-- Oil Can Boyd, after a game was fogged out in Cleveland

"Maybe the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans!"
-- Lt. Frank Drebin

"Never tell tales about a woman -- she'll hear you no matter how far away she is."
-- Koglan the Bartender

"Do you know how easy this is for me? Do you know how (expletive) easy this is? Do you have any (expletive) clue? It's a (expletive) joke. And I'm sorry you can't do this, I really am. I'm sorry I have to sit around and watch you fumble around and (expletive) it up."
-- Will Hunting

"If she keeps putting you on hold, it's time to hang up the phone, pardner."
-- Larry King

"And I said, 'Hey Lama, how 'bout a little something, you know, for the effort?' And he says, 'There won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that going for me ... which is nice."
-- Carl Spackler

"This is A.C.! I got O.J. in the car! (pause) This is A.C.! You know who this is, ---dammit!"
-- Al Cowlings

"Anytime someone calls you and identifies themselves with their full name, odds are it isn't someone you want to talk to under any circumstances."
-- Bill Simmons

"A sportswriter looks up in the sky and then asks you, 'Is the sun shining?' "
-- Sonny Liston

"Drew Bledsoe's obviously having trouble with that prosthetic device on his finger."
-- Beasley Reece

"You've gotta deal with those types of things or you're not gonna be around this league too long."
-- Steve Grogan

"Children are like TV sets. When they start acting weird, whack them across the head with a big rubber basketball shoe."
-- Hunter S. Thompson

"Being a professional means doing your job on the days you don't feel like doing it."
-- David Halberstam

"I like simple pleasures, like butter in my (expletive), lollipops in my mouth. That's just me. That's just something that I enjoy."
-- Floyd Gandolli

"Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankees win."
-- Phil Rizzuto after hearing about Pope Paul VI's death

"I have two things in this world -- my word and my balls -- and I don't break neither one of them for nobody."
-- Tony Montana

"What happened? How did everything that was so good get so bad?"
-- Rocky Balboa

"If I can change ... and you can change ... Everyone can change!"
-- Rocky Balboa

"I think Corey had the talent to win an Academy Award some day."
-- Corey Haim's father

"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker."
-- Mike McDermott

"In the poker game of life, women are the rake. They are the (expletive) rake."
-- Lester "Worm" Murphy

"His recollection was not in a full and adequate disclosure, and not in conformity with an objective reality."
-- Edward Bennett Williams on George Steinbrenner

"The amount of liquor I drank last night would have killed a small- to medium-sized Asian family."
-- The Dorfman, H.C. class of '92

"I don't understand the creative process. Actually, I make a concerted effort not to understand it. I don't know what it is or how it works but I am terrified that one green morning it will decide not to work anymore, so I have always given it as wide a bypass as possible."
-- William Goldman

"On this Father's Day, we'd like to wish all you fathers out here a happy birthday."
-- Ralph Kiner, Father Day 1988

"Please, Hatch. You must play. If we run now, we lose much more than a game."
-- Pele

"Just when they think they got all the answers, I change the questions."
-- Roddy Piper

"After changes upon changes we are more or less the same ... after changes, we are more or less the same."
-- Paul Simon

"Being a Red Sox fan is like being a 120-pound man in a maximum security prison."
-- My buddy Nez

"Is this a futuristic movie?"
-- My buddy Nez 30 minutes into "Escape from New York"

"Well, our divorce was a bigger failure than our marriage."
-- Sonny Crockett to his estranged wife

"They can do whatever they want. I'll still be eating steak every night."
-- Von Hayes on Philly fans booing him

"Last time I checked, there weren't any W's and L's in my paycheck."
-- Former Celtic Curtis Rowe

"Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure."
-- Knute Rockne

"We weren't giving up on Chauncey! We thought he was fantastic!"
-- Rick Pitino, after trading No. 1 pick Chauncey Billups after 50 games

"Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. ... And as soon as they realize that those three guys are not coming through the door, the better this town will be for all of us. ... All this negativity that's in this town sucks."
-- Rick Pitino

"The only time I want to talk to a woman when I'm naked is if I'm on top of her or she's on top of me."
-- Former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris on female sportswriters

"When I was in elementary school, we had the kid who threw chairs, the kid who stuttered, and the kid who went to the bathroom on himself ... but we never had the kid who came in one day and started shooting everyone."
-- Bill Simmons

"You don't pick up a woman who just put staples in your side!" -- My buddy Nick while watching "Road House"

"If anything in life is certain, if history has taught us anything ... it's that you can kill anyone."
-- Michael Corleone

"Stop looking out, start looking in. Be your own best friend. Stand up and say, hey, this is mine!"
-- Sammy Hagar

"No one has ever satisfied me like Christopher Burk."
-- (insert name of homecoming queen here)