Motivational Devices

[Red Leader]

This thread may be cheesey, but I thought it'd be interesting.

What motivational quotes, posters, etc do you have around your desk, or at home?

I bought a nice hand-carved wood plaque of a Henry David Thoreau quote when I was in college. I bought it at a thrift store when I was in college for $1.50. The plaque was beautifully carved and stained and I thought it looked cool. Something about it just made me want to buy it without even reading what was on it. I still have it at my office to this day.

It is an excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and it reads:

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises?

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away

In talking to a few others that visit this sight I know others that have motivational quotes, posters, or cut outs hanging in their office. Roy Tucker's in particular is one that sticks out to me as one that I liked. So, if you wouldn't mind, please share these with others on the forum.

[paintmered]

On a more serious note, I have a stone on my desk that says this:

"The first commandment of golf: In golf, as in life, thou shalt always follow through." And an easy button.

[HumnHilghtFreel]

It doesn't really apply to life on the whole, but Al Pacino's half-time speech from Any Given Sunday was a big favorite of mine and some other players on my school's football team.

"The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!"
Friedrich Nietzsche

[Roy Tucker]

I've got this on my office wall to keep me from being a timid soul. To mix my metaphors, step up to the plate, take your cuts, and let the chips fall where they may.

The Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, 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 the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, 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 or defeat."

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
(Paris Sorbonne,1910)

[paintmered]

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
...Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
...Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
...Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
...Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
...Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
...Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
...Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
...Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[GAC]

Now I really like this one.

Originally Posted by paintmered

[SunDeck]

Don't have any because I'm pretty sure people would make fun of any motivational saying I'd pick. Think maybe I need one on self confidence?

[HumnHilghtFreel]

Originally Posted by SunDeck

Don't have any because I'm pretty sure people would make fun of any motivational saying I'd pick. Think maybe I need one on self confidence?

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by HumnHilghtFreel

Thanks, that one just reminds me that I'm gutless, too.

[Sweetstop]

In our downstairs guest bathroom is a framed poster, which I bought at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Martin Niemoller

In my kitchen hangs a small framed portrait of Mark Twain w/ the quote:

Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul.

[Red Leader]

I also have this in my office, it's printed out on paper, not framed or anything, just taped to the wall, but I always get a chuckle out of it when I read it.

Bo Schembechler on Woody Hayes:

I played for Woody, I coached for him, I patterned my life after him, and I consider him a great friend of mine.

Woody Hayes on Bo Schembechler:

I didn't like the son of a ***** when he played for me, I didn't like him when he worked for me, and I certainly don't like him now

[RFS62]

What you share will multiply.

What you hoard will diminish.

[vaticanplum]

Suffer for beauty.

[pedro]

You can make your own poster here.
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/motivator.php

here are a couple samples.

[Spring~Fields]

"Catch someone doing something right and tell them about it."

vs. telling them when they do something wrong.

Don't recall the author, but it is from the One Minute Manager.