Quote of the Week 2012

Each week as we travel though our lives we read, hear and see things that make us consider our life’s purpose in some way. The following is a gathering of quotes borrowed from influential people that we may or may not always know. What’s for sure is that these individuals come from all walks of life and a varied background but more importantly have a mindset toward learning.

Each quote is chose for it’s alignment to the goals set forth in the guiding principles of theviewfromhere.

You will find the current week’s quote on the main page and below you will find a chronology of the year’s quotes.

Have you done something recently to further your purpose?

Think back about the week that just past. What were you doing?

If you have, reflect on it for a minute and if you have not, get started today! We hope these quotes will inspire you to think differently, offer you some guidance toward your goals or just make you smile.

2012 Week 51 (12 | 16 through 12 | 22)

We cling to hierarchies because our place in a hierarchy is, rightly or wrongly, a major indicator of our social worth. Organizational nirvana does not lie in battling against human hierarchies but rather in learning to modify them and tame them, and in helping people learn how to work effectively and meaningfully inside them. – Harold J Leavitt

Find out more about Harold J Leavitt  here

2012 Week 50 (12 | 09 through 12 | 15)

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead

Find out more about Margaret Mead  here

2012 Week 49 (12 | 02 through 12 | 08)

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. – Kenneth Blanchard 

Find out more about Kenneth Blanchard  here

2012 Week 48 (11 | 25 through 12 | 01)

Leadership is solving problems. The day your team stops bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. - Colin Powell 

Find out more about Colin Powell  here

2012 Week 47 (11 | 18 through 11 | 24)

I think people are isolated because of the nature of human consciousness, and they like it when they feel the connection between themselves and someone else. – James Taylor 

Find out more about James Taylor  here

2012 Week 46 (11 | 11 through 11 | 17)

You’ve got to know your limitations. I don’t know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren’t too many limitations, if I did it my way. - Johnny Cash 

Find out more about Johnny Cash  here

2012 Week 45 (11 | 04 through 11 | 10)

Being a good husband is like being a good stand-up comic – you need ten years before you can even call yourself a beginner. – Jerry Seinfeld 

Find out more about Jerry Seinfeld  here

2012 Week 44 (10 | 28 through 11 | 03)

Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself. – Thomas J. Watson Sr. 

Find out more about Thomas J. Watson Sr  here

2012 Week 43 (10 | 21 through 10 | 27)

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. - Publilius Syrus 

Find out more about Publilius Syrus  here

2012 Week 42 (10 | 14 through 10 | 20)

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.  –  John Quincy Adams

Find out more about John Quincy Adams here

Oh my, it looks like we missed a few weeks here, huh?

We were away on vacation and while we were inspired while travelling we missed the opportunity to update our weekly quotes. For this we apologize and as we move forward into the last quarter of this year and forward we hope you continue to be inspired by our suggestions. Cheers!

2012 Week 38 (09 | 16 through 09 | 22)

No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of normal human beings.  -  Peter Drucker

Find out more about Peter Drucker here

2012 Week 37 (09 | 09 through 09 | 15)

Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. - Vince Lombardi

Find out more about Vince Lombardi here

2012 Week 36 (09 | 02 through 09 | 08)

The man who wants to move a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. – William Faulkner

Find out more about William Faulkner here

2012 Week 35 (08 | 26 through 09 | 01)

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde

Find out more about Oscar Wilde here

2012 Week 34 (08 | 19 through 08 | 25)

A man’s errors are his portals of discovery. – James Joyce

Find out more about James Joyce here

2012 Week 33 (08 | 12 through 08 | 18)

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. – Joseph Chilton Pierce

Find out more about Joseph Chilton Pierce here or here

2012 Week 32 (08 | 05 through 08 | 11)

Do not fear mistakes as there are none. – Miles Davis

Find out more about Miles Davis here

2012 Week 31 (07 | 29 through 08 | 04)

Slow down and enjoy life. It is not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you can also miss the sense of where you are going and why. – Eddie Cantor

Find out more about Eddie Cantor here

2012 Week 30 (07 | 22 through 07 | 28)

Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.  –  Christopher Hitchens

Find out more about Christopher Hitchens here

2012 Week 29 (07 | 15 through 07 | 21)

Consensus is the negation of leadership.  -  Margaret Thatcher

Find out more about Margaret Thatcher here

2012 Week 28 (07 | 08 through 07 | 14)

It’s not always easy to do the right thing. But, doing the right thing makes you strong, it builds character, it forces you to make decisions based upon your beliefs and not what other people think. In life, and in business, you have to stand for what you believe in and sometimes you have to stand alone. But, what makes you a leader is having the courage of your convictions.  -  Queen Latifah

Find out more about Queen Latifah here

2012 Week 27 (07 | 01 through 07 | 07)

For the past 30 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.  -  Steve Jobs

Find out more about Steve Jobs here

2012 Week 26 (06 | 24 through 06 | 30)

About growth, you either go one way or the other. You might as well be the one who decides the direction  - Alex Rodriguez.

Find out more about Alex Rodriguez here

2012 Week 25 (06 | 17 through 06 | 23)

I wish to have as my epitaph: “Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.”  -  Andrew Carnegie.

Find out more about Andrew Carnegie here

2012 Week 24 (06 | 10 through 06 | 16)

Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensure as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself. – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.

Find out more about Viktor Frankl here

2012 Week 23 (06 | 03 through 06 | 09)

No one lies on their deathbed wishing they had time to reply to one more email but a great many people express the regret about not having treated life with more purpose.  -  Todd Henry

Find out more about Todd Henry here

2012 Week 22 (05 | 27 through 06 | 02)

Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, now that’s creativity.  -  Charles Mingus

Find out more about Charles Mingus here.

 2012 Week 21 (05 | 20 through 05 | 26)

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.  -  Max Beerbohm

Find out more about Max Beerbohm here.

 2012 Week 20 (05 | 13 through 05 | 19)

When I was 5 years old my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said happy. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them that they didn’t understand life.  -  John Lennon

Find out more about John Lennon here.

 2012 Week 19 (05 | 06 through 05 | 12)

You can’t wait for inspiration. Yo have to go after it with a club. – Jack London

Find out more about Jack London here.

 2012 Week 18 (04 | 29 through 05 | 05)

When you change the way you look at things the things you look at change.  -  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Find out more about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi here.

 2012 Week 17 (04 | 22 through 04 | 28)

A leader is at his best when people barely know he exists; when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, his team will say: We did it ourselves. - Lao-Tzu

Find out more about Lao-Tsu here.

2012 Week 16 (04 | 15 through 04 | 21)

The minute a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse.  -  Jim Collins

Find out more about Jim Collins here.

2012 Week 15 (04 | 08 through 04 | 14)

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”  -  Maya Angelou

Find out more about Maya Angelou here.

 2012 Week 14 (04 | 01 through 04 | 07)

I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures…..I divide the world into the learners and non-learners  –  Benjamin Barber

Find out more about Benjamin Barber here.

2012 Week 13 (03 | 25 through 03 | 31)

You don’t have to get it perfect; you just have to get it going. Babies don’t walk the first time they try, but eventually they do.  -  Mark Victor Hansen

Find out more about Mark Victor Hansen here.

2012 Week 12 (03 | 18 through 03 | 24)

When you’re engaged at work, fully engage, for defined periods of time. When you’re renewing, truly renew. Make waves. Stop living your life in the gray zone.  – Tony Schwartz

Find out more about Tony Schwartz here.

2012 Week 11 (03 | 11 through 03 | 17)

The next time you are in a meeting and folks are discussing how to wring another increment of performance out of your workforce, you might ask: “To what end, and to whose benefit, are our employees being asked to give of themselves? Have we committed ourselves to a purpose that is truly deserving of their initiative, imagination and passion?”  -  Gary Hamel

Find out more about Gary Hamel here.

2012 Week 10 (03 | 04 through 03 | 10)

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. For the creative mind inspiration comes easily but what makes up the other 99% of making ideas happen? Hard work.  -  Scott Belsky (from Making Ideas Happen)

Find out more about Scott Belsky here.

2012 Week 9 (02 | 26 through 03 | 03)

Management isn’t about walking around the office checking if people are working. It’s about creating the conditions for people to be able to do their best work.  -  Jeff Gunther, Meddius

Find out more about Jeff Gunther here