Category: Quips and Quotables

Short, memorable ideas, quotes and words of wisdom.

Be Thou My Vision

December 17, 2020

Ancient Irish Poem – 8th Century

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that thou art – 

thou my best thought by day or by night,

walking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

–

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;

I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;

thou my great Father, I thy true son;

thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

–

Be thou my battle shield, sword for my fight;

be thou my dignity, thou my soul’s shelter,

thou my high tow’r; raise thou me heavenward,

O Power of my power.

–

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

thou my inheritance, now and always: 

thou and thou only, first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

–

High King of heaven, my victory won, 

may I reach heaven’s joy, O bright heaven’s Sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Kindness

December 15, 2020

Key West, FL – Kindness

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”

Aesop (620-564 BC)

Greek philosopher

If you adhere to the ancient thought that nothing is accidental or random but everything has a purpose, then you will definitely agree with this quote from Aesop.

We are living in the world of Big Data and Quantum computing today. The algorithm of life’s complexity is proving that everything is affected by cause and effect. If we have a large enough blockchain we will know that nothing happens without modifying the future. Noodle on that for a few minutes.

#BeTheGood

#BeChristLike

The Similarity Effect

December 10, 2020

West Palm Beach, FL – The Similarity Effect

The Similarity Effect – “People surround themselves with people much like themselves”

This social rule has repeatedly been proven over and over. It takes effort and patience to change and migrate toward a different tribe of like-minded social animals.

This is true whether someone wants to climb up the social, economic or political class ladder or descend toward the lower classes.

You become what you think about most of the time. When you have a choice, you also assimilate with others that you feel comfortable with and want to emulate.  This was proven true in Henry David Thoreau’s life and still accurate today.

#BecomingMore

Bryan

Bryanewilson@gmail.com

Winston Churchill quote

December 8, 2020

Key West, FL – Great quote from Winston Churchill 

“I no longer listen to what people say, I just watch what they do. Behavior never lies.” 

Winston Churchill

A great quote from an English gentleman who experienced a lot from his political perch in 20th century Britain during a time of great stress and upheaval. Two world wars within 25 years makes our political environment today seem tame in comparison. 

Continue to do what you must to promote good and not just with words but with ACTION. Oh, and looting buildings and setting someone else’s car on fire isn’t doing good, just so you know. Wink, Nod.

#GoodBehavior

Bryan

Bryanewilson@gmail.com

Benjamin Franklin quote

December 3, 2020

Key West, FL – Ben Franklin quote

“Speak ill of no man but speak all the good you know of everybody.” 

Ben Franklin 

We could all do well to remember these words of wisdom from an old man. I learned very early in my career to praise others publicly but only be critical in private. A good manager never airs dirty laundry in front of staff. 

#Encouragement

Bryan

John Donne quote

December 1, 2020

West Palm Beach, FL – Quote by John Donne

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

John Donne (1572-1631)

Well said John. We are social animals that need each other to live fully. Our relationships determine our environment and sphere of influence. Our connections reflect our impact.

We become exceptional when we cooperate to achieve a better world for our future society.

#EncourageExcellence

Bryan

Be an entrepreneur

October 29, 2020

While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by special contributor, Edwin Mendoza.

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

We live in an era where entrepreneurship or being an entrepreneur is cool or something great. It even seems that we are at a time where the trend or fashion is to define and label oneself as an entrepreneur, especially on social media. However, the question is what does it really mean to be an entrepreneur?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, undertake is defined as: “to do or begin to do something, especially something that will take a long time or be difficult.” And entrepreneur means “someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity.”

So I wonder is being an entrepreneur cool? Is it great?

I believe we need to work on redefining what it means to be an entrepreneur.

It is not about going out and becoming the next Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Uber or Airbnb, etc. That is not what it is about.

It is about building something that solves a problem that you, and other people already have; trying to make a contribution in some way to the world, to improve and make it better.

Because creating a product or service is not about scale, billions of dollars… It is about building something that allows you to be happy, and have a sustainable and interesting life.

Be entrepreneur is a talent and commitment just like learning to sing, dance, or be an elite athlete. In reality, it is very difficult to be a successful and sustainable entrepreneur … In fact, it does not have to be easy.

Perhaps the mistake is believing that success means having billions and billions of dollars in the bank. Without being aware that raising or generating a lot of money is really hard.

Remember: If you want something in life, pay the price.

So, I encourage and motivate you to be an entrepreneur.

P.S. Don’t be an entrepreneur because it is cool.

 

Be happy

September 24, 2020

Kennesaw, GA – Becoming happy. – (-) = (+)

Today, it’s sometimes really hard to be “happy” and “cheerful” all the time. It can be downright exhausting with negativity bombarding us from every direction. The news media, the economy, political unrest, current events, social media, etc.

Smiling every day is hard when things aren’t going our way and there are obstacles and challenges being thrown at us. What if there was a way to hit the “pause” button and breathe? What if we could adapt our thinking to better handle the constant change that is all around us?

We read from the self-help gurus that we have to be positive thinkers all the time to be happy and content. To always overcome weakness with strength. Have you ever tried to be happy, happy, happy all the time? People might look at you and think you are certifiably insane. Totally nuts. What if there was a middle ground that allowed us to “become” happy and contented? A process of continually thinking and acting in the moment?

Think about this for a moment…. In math class we learned that a negative integer multiplied by a negative is positive. What if this applied to our life as well? What if we simply removed “negative” thoughts and toxic things in our lives to became more “positive” without doing anything else?

Here is the math equation that I’m thinking of: – (-) = (+)

(-) (Negativity) = (+) (Positivity)

In English class, we were taught that a double negative statement becomes a positive statement but in my equation we are simply removing something negative and not replacing it with anything. By “removing” negativity we are becoming positive.

Trevor Moawad calls this “neutral thinking” and living in the moment allows this to happen. When we remove negative thinking, conversation or actions, we start becoming more positive without doing anything else. We begin living more positively inherently without even trying because of the void of negativity.

Friends, try this in your daily life. Slowly start removing negative items like corrosive music, negative news media, and maybe even toxic relationships. Just focus on removing negativity. Perhaps you will learn that positive living will happen naturally without any effort.

Bryan

bryanewilson@gmail.com

#Encouragement

#EncourageExcellence

Civility

September 22, 2020

Kennesaw, GA – Our destiny is in our hands

Being a good Presbyterian is difficult when we see so much evil and lawlessness today. I know I need to trust God and his sovereignty but good people have to step forward and engage! We don’t understand God’s plan but perhaps it’s us that is the plan. And doing nothing is unacceptable.

As a child of God, we are heirs to the Kingdom and our current society seems to be going down the wrong path. Using our talents and collective minds to effect positive change should be our goal for society. Burning buildings and destroying property is not the answer and remaining silent while thugs and hooligans loot and riot does nothing positive.

We have to embrace law and order for our society and encourage everyone to engage in the process of legislating change, not destroying the society that is the envy of the world. We are not perfect but we can walk toward a “more perfect union” if we apply Civility and dialog to accomplish a better United States.

Bryan

#Encouragement

Life choices

September 18, 2020

Marietta, GA – Choices create Consequences

Every time we make a conscious decision in the present moment we change the path of our life. Our actions either bring us closer to our desires or away from them. And if we have no ambition at all, and do absolutely nothing, we will experience physical, emotional and spiritual entropy.

Studies show that the exceptional few, the overachievers, execute their daily lives with focus and determination. Successful people are proactive and deliberate in the present moment making good choices that take them to their goals incrementally.

When we make poor decisions, we have to correct mistakes and get back to the path towards success. String enough good choices together and it gets easier to continue along the desired path. This is the flywheel effect that comes from good, incremental decision making.

Keep reminding yourself that making good choices, however small and seemingly insignificant, will create confidence to continue approaching your goals.

LIFE is a continuous stream of choices that define what we become.

#EncourageExcellence

Bryan