"WORDS of WISDOM!?"

 

“I didn’t say that I didn’t say it.I said that I didn’t say that I said it.
I want to make that very clear.”Former Michigan Governor George Romney

“If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; 
but as it isn’t, it ain’t.”Lewis Carroll


 
 

The following quotes are categorized under various topics.Many of the listed topics are addressed from time-to-time during class.The task here is to analyze the quotes as to their conceptual authenticity when applying each to specifically related facts and examples of practices that may pertain to the said topics.You may discover that some quotes are “right-on” in many instances and that others are only occasionally applicable, given the situation.


 

This is an adventure of evaluating information as to structure and elements of thought that are responsive to values that transcend the variables of subject matter, issues, and purposes.It entails examination through interpretative criteria of accuracy, clarity, precision, relevance, depth, consistency, and fairness.It’s an exercise of assessing assumptions, implications, and practical consequences.


 

For detailed insights into the process described above, go to Home Page and click on X-Files (using "user name" and "pass word").Then click on the STUDENT STUFF door followed by clicking on the THEMES category.Review Theme 5: “Bloom’s Taxonomy and Critical Thinking;” Theme 6: “The Six Thinking Hats of Dr. Edward de Bono;” and Theme 7: “Critical Thinking.”Next, go back and click on the LAW door and then review “Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing in the Legal and Regulatory Environment.”


 

Additional “Topics” and “Quotes” will be added to this site from time-to-time.
 
 

Change

I never think of the future.  It comes soon enough.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Physicist. [Interview (December 1930)].

To make knowledge productive . . . requires the systematic exploitation of opportunities for change.
Peter Drucker (b. 1909) Management consultant and academic. [Post-Capitalist Society (1993)].

It is change . . . that is the dominant factor in society today.  No sensible decision can be made without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the would as it will be.
Issac Asimov (1922-92) Novelist, critic, and scientist. ["My Own View,"Asimov on Science Fiction (1981)].

To Change and to improve are two different things.
Anonymous.  German proverb.

People are no longer content to talk merely of "organizational change" . . . the new aspiration is for "organizational transformation."
S.K. Chakraborty (b. 1957) Indian academic [Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives (1995) ].

The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan (b. 1941) Singer ["The Times They Are A-Changin'" 1964].

Revitalizing General Motors is like teaching an elephant to tap dance.  You find the sensitive spot and start poking.
H. Ross Parot (b. 1930) Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and politician. [International Management (1987)].

If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) Entrepreneur, editor, and writer. [Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983)].

Change is not merely necessary to life, it is life.
Alvin Toffler (b. 1928) Social commentator and writer [Future Shock (1970)].

It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transition.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) Statesman, orator and lawyer [ManagingTransitions].

Incremental change is not enough.  The whole "command and control" tradition is being turned on its head.
Richard Pascale (b. 1938) Academic and author. [Managing on the Edge (1990)].

If it ain't broke, break it.
Richard Pascale (b. 1938) Academic and author. [Managing on the Edge (1990)].

The nanosecond nineties.
Tom Peters (1942). [Referring to pace of change during the 1990s in Liberation Management (1992)]
 

Current Issues

If you have a problem with the sink, you don't tear down the entire house.
AARP advertisement of March 21,2005 pertaining to Social Security
 

Negotiation

Let us never negotiate out of fear.  Bus let us never fear to negotiate.
President John F. Kennedy [Inaugural Speech, January 20, 1961]

Necessity never made a good bargain.
Benjamin Franklin [Poor Richard’s Almanack (1735)]

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.
David Frost

Never make concessions.
Gertrude Stein [Independent Magazine (1995)]

My style of dealmaking is quite simple and straightforward.  I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I’m after.
Donald J. Trump [Time (January 1989)]

When money is at stake, never be the first to mention sums.
Ahmed Zaki Yamani (b. 1930) Saudi Arabian politician [Yamani by Jeffrey Robinson (1988)]
 

Power

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton (1834-1902) Britrish historian [Letters to Bishop Mandell Creighton (April 5, 1887)]. 

Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
Saul Alinsky (1909-72) Activist. ["Tactics," Rules for Radicals (1971)] 

Why should I run for Mayor when I'm already King?
Walt Disney (1901-66) Founder of Walt Disney Company. [Responding to Ray Bradbury's suggestion that he run for Mayor of Los Angeles.  Quoted in "Listner (London) (October 7, 1982)]. 

Life is a search after power.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Essayist, lecturer, and poet. ["Power," The Conduct of Life (1860)]. 

Power is the ability to change things.
Carly Fiorna (b. 1954) Former President/CEO of Hewlett-Packard. ["Secrets of the Fastest Rising Stars," Fortune (Patricia Sellers; 2000)].

Power is neither male nor female.
Katharine Graham (1917-2001) Newspaper publisher and ower of the Washington Post. [Quoted in "Company Man: the Rise and Fall of Corporate Life" (Anthony Sampson; 1955, ch.19)].

The longer I keep quiet, the sooner others move their lips.
Robert Keister, author of "The 48 Laws of Power" (1998)

 
 

"The Best Advice I Ever Got"
From "Fortune Magazine" March 21, 2005

You're right not because others agree with you, but because your facts are right.
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Make a fool of yourself.  Otherwise you won't survive
Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways and the Virgin Group

Recognize the skills and traits you don't possess, and hire people who have them.
Howard Schultz, Chairman of Starbucks

Have the courage to stick with a tough job.
A.G. Lafley, Chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble

Fellow your own instincts, not those of people who see the world differently.
Sumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of Viacom

Be nice, do your best -- and most important, keep it in perspective.
Meg Whitman, CEO and President of eBay

Be yourself.
Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric

Don't listen to the naysayers.
Sallie Drawcheck, CFO of Citigroup

Don't limit yourself to past expectations.
Vivek Paul, President and CEO of Wipro Technologies

When you negotiate, leave a little something on the table.
Dick Parsons, Chairman and CEO or Time Warner

When "everyone knows" something to be true, nobody know nothin'.
Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel

Remember the parable of the cow in the ditch.
Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox

All you really own are ideas and the confidence to write them down.
Brian Grazer, Academy Award -- winning movie and TV producer, Imagine Entertainment

Regularly sit at the feet of Peter Drucker.
Rick Warren, Minister, founder of Saddleback Church and author of "The Purpose-Driven Life"

The real discipline comes in saying no to the wrong opportunities.
Jim Collins, Author of the bestseller "Good to Great"

Get good -- or get out.
Peter Drucker, Business Educator and Consultant

Start Young.
Ted Turner, Founder of CNN and former vice chairman of Time Warner

Balance your work with your family.
David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue

Bail out of a business that isn't growing.
Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew

Let others take the credit.
Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast

Incorporate philanthropy into your corporate structure.
Marc Benioff, Founder and CEO of Salesforce.com

Surround yourself with people of integrity,k and get out of their way.
Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD

If you love something, the money will come.
Donny Deutsch, CEO of Deutsch Inc. and host of CNBC's "The Bid Idea with Donny Deutsch"

Keenly visualize the future.
Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Siemens

Don't chart your career path too soon.
Ann Fudge, Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands

Respect people for who they are, not for what their titles are.
Herb Kelleher, Founder and Chairman of Southwest Airlines

You can learn from anyone.
Clayton Christensen, Harvard Bujsiness School Professor

Do what you love.
Ted Koppel, Anchor of ABC's "Nightline"
 

Miscellaneous

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Anonymous

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
Anonymous

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
Oprah Winfrey

We owe a lot to Thomas Edison – if it wasn’t for him, we’d be watching television by candlelight.
Milton Berle

I remember your name perfectly, but I just can’t think of your face.
Reverend William Spooner

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parent’s shortcomings.
Laurence Peter

Jogging is for people who aren’t intelligent enough to watch television.
Victoria Wood

A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
Alec Issigonis

Please don’t talk while I am interrupting.
Todd Rockefeller

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take a chance?
President Ronald Reagan

Smoking is one ot the leading causes of statistics.
Fletcher Knobel

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
Woody Allen [Without Feathers (1972)]

Mr. Attlee is a very modest man.  But then he has much to be modest about.
Winston Churchill

Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork?
Stanislaw J. Lee

Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?
Harold Pinter [The Homecoming (1965)]

If it weren’t for the optimist, the pessimist would never know how happy she wasn’t.
Anonymous

If he were any dumber, he'd be a tree.
Barry Goldwater of Senator William Scott of Virginia
 


Bill Gates
 

Here is a message from the richest person on earth as given to the Student body at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, California.

Rule 1:Life is not fair - get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers are not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.