Quotations

The sound of a car door opening is the sound of a gun being cocked.
- Amy Webster on bicycling

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...Just because you work at Blockbuster doesn't mean you work in the film industry.

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A vast amount of preparation, really, to arrive at the innocuously brief moment of decisive action: the cut - the moment of transition from one shot to the next - something that, appropriately enough, should look almost self-evidently simple and effortless, if it is noticed at all.
- Walter Murch in "In The Blink Of An Eye"

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"Now most guys think they know how to drive. But the fact is that few people know how to drive, they just steer... the lives people live are driving them crazy and their insanity comes out in the way they drive."
- Taxi Cab instructor - Factotum

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There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
- Alfred Hitchcock

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Familiarity and prolonged exposure without incident leads to a loss of appreciation of risk.

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We do not rise to the occasion, we fall to our level of training.

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When you speak the truth, have one foot in the stirrup.
- Old West Adage

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Do not confuse enthusiasm for capability.

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Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If you quit, however, it lasts forever.
- Lance Armstrong

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The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
- John Steinbeck

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Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil.
- Doug Patton

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle

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It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
- George Eliot

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If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

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Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
- Sun Tzu

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A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. he does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
- Douglas McArthur

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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them 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 not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt

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"…and once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return."
- Leonardo da Vinci

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"Whatever it is you choose to do, do it safely, but do it. Don't be afraid to live, rather be afraid to die old and have done nothing."
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"Why tip-toe through life to arrive safely at death?"
-

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If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming. If you want to experience the element, then get out of the vehicle.
- Anon

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Life sucks, and then you fly.
- Bill Purdin

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It is one thing to be in the proximity of death, to know more or less what she is, and it is quite another thing to seek her.
- Ernest Hemingway

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You can't volunteer to go to War and then bitch about getting shot at.
– COL Ferrando, 1st Recon BN

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“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things.”
- Apple

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In the final analysis, the soldiers pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.
- Magpul.com

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Adversity introduces us to ourselves.
- Magpul.com

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Hatred is the coward's answer for being intimidated.
- George Bernard Shaw

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For states that support terror, it is not enough that the consequences be costly - they must be devastating.
- George W. Bush, The Citadel, Dec. 11, 2001

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"...My friends and I prefer to climb alpine style; we move quickly, carry light packs, and leave no waste behind. Each campsite is a beautiful destination in itself; not simply a means to an end. I don't believe in reaching the top at any cost - in climbing or in business."
- Gary, Founder and Owner of Clif Bar (as seen on back of my Clif Bar package)

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Commitment is doing the things you said you'd do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.
- Bear Grylls' Mother

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Put up with the discomfort and the pain, keep going and never give up, and understand that if you're moving up, then you're always getting closer.
- Bear Grylls

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Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration.
- Apuleius

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All men dream, but not equally, those that dream by the night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act upon their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
- T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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Courage should always be softly spoken.
- Bear Grylls

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Beware: strength is often hidden in absurdity.
- The Kid Who Climbed Everest

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If it's not right, then be brave and make those hard decisions.
- The Kid Who Climbed Everest

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Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
- Ronald Osborn

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Be sure of this, that I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
- Matthew 28:20

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If you live cautiously, your friends will call you wise. You just won't move many mountains.
- Bill Johnson

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Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.
- Proverbs 4:23

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An indicator has a value when it's indicating something. But if its not indicating something, it shouldn't be there.
- Jonathan Ive

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

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The war rages on.
We have dealt the enemy many crushing blows.
We have exposed their positions and driven them back.
But they have endured.
They have adapted.
And they are not as weak as we once thought.
War requires the sledgehammer but will be decided with the scalpel.
A different breed of warrior is required.
We are experts in the application of violence.
We possess the mindset and will to do what is necessary.
We are Tier One.
- Medal of Honor Tier One

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I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all.
- Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi tribal leaders.

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Do everything without complaining or arguing,
- Philippians 2:14

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If you want something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
- Thinking Like A Mountain - Tumblr

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Be too complex to categorize.
- Thinking Like A Mountain - Tumblr

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"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."
- Robert Frost

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You've got to stop living for the people who've hurt you and the things that have happened to you, and you've got to start living for yourself. Do the things that make you joyful inside.
- Jolie O'Dell

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“When did Noah build the ark? Before the rain…before the rains.”
- Robert Redford - Spy Game

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If you want to win over someone's mind, begin by winning over their index finger.

How many times have you watched an online video simply because a million other people watched it too.

Good solutions make people do what brands want. Great solutions make brands do what people want.

Do you write ads for the teenagers that are today, or the teenager that you were fifteen years ago.

Twenty years ago, brands were untouchable. Now they're your friends on Facebook.

The competition used to be other brands. Now it's Lady Gaga, Farmville, and a sleepy kitten.

Online is the only place where your multimillion dollar campaign not only competes with a whiny ten year old girl, but loses too.

Digital isn't the answer. It's the question. The answer is yes.

Great minds once had books to convey their ideas. Now they have 160 characters or less.

- http://promoseven.com - The evolution will not be televised.

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That’s what we been trying to tell you Mike. It’s serious down there. We do dangerous stuff man. This is shenanigans, foolishness, nerf-ball. Live a sweet little nerfy-life sitting on your biscuit never having to risk it.
- Darryl, The Office

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Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
- T.S. Eliot

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Some things cost more because they’re worth it…buy accordingly.

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If you have to sign a release form, it's probably worth doing.
- The Most Interesting Man in The World

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Why do I succeed?
I succeed because I am willing to do things you are not.
I will fight against the odds.
I will sacrifice.
I am not shackled by fear, insecurity or doubt.
I feel those emotions -- drink them in and then swallow them away to the blackness of hell.
I am motivated by accomplishment, not pride.
Pride consumes the weak -- kills their heart from within.
If I fall -- I will get up.
If I am beaten -- I will return.
I will never stop getting better.
I will never give up -- ever.
That is why I succeed.
- Tough Mudder Fan

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Never, never, never give up!
- Winston Churchill

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We WILL fall. We CAN rise.
- http://youtu.be/cM5A1K6TxxM
- https://vimeo.com/25080304

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Vague goals beget vague methods; the unfocused mind is the vulnerable mind, deeply susceptible to bullshit.
- Daniel Duane (http://bit.ly/h1LE0f)

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"Then David spoke to the Philistine..." - Never fight your giants w/your mouth closed. You have to SPEAK the Word. SPEAK the Victory. 1 Sam. 17:45

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May you always have work for your hands to do
May your pockets hold always a coin or two
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain
May the hand of a friend always be near you
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you
- Irish Blessing

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Giving something away for free does not ensure it will be a best seller, but giving something away for free absolutely guarantees that this product you're trying to sell is going to get in front of far more people than it ever would if it were just sitting on a shelf in a store.
- J.C. Hutchins

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Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
- Judy Garland

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When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.
- Douglas Campbell

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There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more...
- Lord Byron

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"It's only pain when you acknowledge it."
- Green Beret - http://bit.ly/d80XRX

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You have to make sacrifices. You have to suffer. You have to do it on your own. Otherwise you're just a bum.
- Brian Franklin

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Be able to take criticism. You can then reject it or act on it but only if you are strong enough to take it first.
- Me

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“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
- Helen Keller

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On your own you can discover who you really are.
- Bernard Moitessier

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"We get attached to having a future. And thinking that we might not have a future past the next day is a really interesting mental trip to go down. It really illuminates for me what's important."
- Steve House

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"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

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"What if the real attraction of the Internet is not its cutting-edge bells and whistles, its jazzy interface, or any of the advanced technology that underlies its pipes and wires? What if, instead, the attraction is an atavistic throwback to the prehistoric human fascination with teling tales? In sharp contrast to the alienation wrought by homogenized broadcast media, sterilized mass "culture," and the enforced anonymity of bureaucratic organizations, the Internet connected people to each other and provided a space in which the human voice would be rapidly rediscovered."
- The Cluetrain Manifesto

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"We are a nation of physical animals who have forgotten how much we enjoy being that. We are cushioned by this kind of make-believe, unreal world and have no idea what we can survive because we are never challenged or tested."
- Chuck Palahniuk

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People who say it's impossible should not interrupt those who are doing it.
- Chinese Proverb

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Fear and confusion come into our lives because of our own indecision.
- Michael Petrucci (Dad)

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This is your life.
If you don't like something, change it.
Fail often; learning from your mistakes will help you find yourself.
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create when you color outside the lines.
Life is simple.
Life is short.
Live your dream.
Live superlative
- Pan The Man

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"What kind of man makes it through Hell Week? That’s hard to say. But I do know—generally—who won’t make it. There are a dozen types that fail: the weight-lifting meatheads who think that the size of their biceps is an indication of their strength, the kids covered in tattoos announcing to the world how tough they are, the preening leaders who don’t want to get dirty, and the look-at-me former athletes who have always been told they are stars but have never have been pushed beyond the envelope of their talent to the core of their character. In short, those who fail are the ones who focus on show. The vicious beauty of Hell Week is that you either survive or fail, you endure or you quit, you do—or you do not.

Some men who seemed impossibly weak at the beginning of SEAL training—men who puked on runs and had trouble with pull-ups—made it. Some men who were skinny and short and whose teeth chattered just looking at the ocean also made it. Some men who were visibly afraid, sometimes to the point of shaking, made it too.

Almost all the men who survived possessed one common quality. Even in great pain, faced with the test of their lives, they had the ability to step outside of their own pain, put aside their own fear and ask: How can I help the guy next to me? They had more than the “fist” of courage and physical strength. They also had a heart large enough to think about others, to dedicate themselves to a higher purpose."
- Lt. Cmdr. Greitens talking about the qualities of the US Navy SEALs

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To dream anything that you want to dream.
That’s the beauty of the human mind.

To do anything that you want to do.
That is the strength of the human will.

To trust yourself to test your limits.
That is the courage to succeed.
- Bernard Edmonds

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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
- Ernest Hemingway

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"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."
- Ira Glass

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"We're not meant to operate like computers. Human beings are designed to pulse between spending/renewing energy."
- Tony Schwartz

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"Groundbreaking innovators generate and execute far more ideas."
- Frans Johansson

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"You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright."
- Andrew Zuckerman (via Bill Withers)

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"'Luck' is recognizing when the situation encourages build out and execution."
- Jack Dorsey

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"What you do for a living is not be creative, what you do for a living is ship."
- Seth Godin

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"When you give something, just for the joy of creating, it always comes back on a much larger scale."
- Ji Lee

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"If you find something that you feel you belong to, become a groupie and a fan, and then a critic."
- Starlee Kine

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"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
- Fred Wilson (via Nassim N Taleb)

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"Reduce everything you want to do, to an action you can do right now."
- Jason Randal

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"If you're not creating waves, then you're not pushing enough."
- Jared Cohen

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"Your work is your own private megaphone to tell the world what you believe."
- Simon Sinek

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"Align your inner vision with your outer work."
- Martin Ping

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Work is something you do, not somewhere you go.
- HP

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We don't know the meaning of 'sub par.'
- GORUCK

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I don't have to be THE BEST.
All I have to do is give MY best, day in and day out.
- Jay Rhodes - http://youtu.be/FkxRby5nrwk

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"Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive."
- Thirteen Days

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Don't be a victim, don't be a perpetrator and above all don't be a bystander.

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Special Operations is about doing what's not expected.

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Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.
- Dalai Lama

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"So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?"
- Security - Hunter S. Thompson

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Haters are afraid of change. If you don't have haters, you're not doing enough to change the status quo. Remember that.
- Peter Shankman

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Adventure is worthwhile.
- Aristotle

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You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone. ... You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I don't know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.
- Garden State [movie]

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“It always seems impossible until its done.”
- Nelson Mandela

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“To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.”
- French Proverb

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“Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.”
- G. M. Trevelyan

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“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
- Christopher Reeve

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“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
- Lewis Carroll

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“It is either easy or impossible.”
- Salvador Dali

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“To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.”
- Sir Walter Scott

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“We have more power than will; and it is often by way of excuse to ourselves that we fancy things are impossible.”
- Francois Duc De la Rochefoucauld

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“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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“The word impossible is not in my dictionary.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

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“Impossible only means that you haven’t found the solution yet.”
- Anonymous

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“No one gets very far unless he accomplishes the impossible at least once a day.”
- Elbert Hubbard

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“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”
- Marcus Aurelius

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“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”
- Anthony Robbins

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“The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.”
- Douglas Adams

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“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”
- Vince Lombardi

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“The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.”
- Robert Schuller

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“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.”
- Anonymous

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“In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.”
- Miguel de Cervantes

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“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
- Paulo Coelho

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“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”
- Amelia Earhart

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“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
- Charles F. Kettering

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“Every noble work is at first impossible.”
- Thomas Carlyle

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“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
- Alexander the Great

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“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
- Walt Disney

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To overcome our challenges in life, we must recognize they are not really challenges, they are opportunities for learning.
- David McGraw

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“If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.”
- Mary Engelbreit

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Local is always the right answer.
- GORUCK

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"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action."
- Benjamin Disraeli

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Dig yourself a hole. Make big promises. Burn your boats.
- Seth Godin - http://bit.ly/qbq3IX

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Don't do what you do for compliments. Because when they stop, so will you.
- Jon Acuff

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Before you speak (or tweet), ask, is it kind? Necessary? True? And does it improve upon the silence?
- Jolie Odell

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Every success in your life doesn't call for several extra rounds of beer, a salutary doughnut, and high fives from everyone. You're an adult now; you don't need a cookie every time you do something special.
- Dan John

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"Go without a coat when it’s cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it’s all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you’re made of and what you’re capable of. If you’re never tested, you’ll never define your character."
- Henry Rollins

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Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine into the trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
- John Muir

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Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you.

He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon.

He doesn’t worry about what workout to do. His ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him.

The True Believer doesn’t care about ‘how hard it is’; he knows that he either he wins or he dies. He doesn’t go home at 1700 hrs, he is home.

He knows only The Cause…

Still want to quit?
- From the Indoc Lecture of the Q Course, USASOCOM

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Whenever there is a sunset in front of you, turn around and start shooting what’s behind you.
- Monte Gerlach

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There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photograph are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.
- Ernst Haas

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When I lost my possessions, I found my creativity.
- Yip Harburg

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Routine does not allow us to progress.

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Everything has beauty.
But not everyone can see.
- Confucius

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I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.
- Carl Sandburg

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Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry:
I am not there. I did not die.

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The simpler you make things, the richer the experience becomes.
- Steve House

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You make fun because I'm struggling but at least I haven't given up.
- Mike Petrucci

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Everyone's got a plan 'till they get hit.
- Mike Tyson

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Let us first say what a photograph is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term - selectivity.
- Berenice Abbott

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Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. Sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.
- Vince Lombardi

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"Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want something, go get it. Period."
- Pursuit of Happyness

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Great moments are born from great opportunity.
- Coach Herb Brooks Address to 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team before USSR Match

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Either we heal as a team or we are going to crumble. Inch by inch, play by play till we're finished. We are in hell right now, gentlemen believe me and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell. One nice, at a time.
- Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

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To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It's not about winning. it's about you and your relationship to yourself and your family and your friends.

Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn't let them down, because you told them the truth. And that truth is that you did everything that you could. There wasn't one more thing you could've done.

Can you live in that moment, as best you can, with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in your heart?

If you can do that gentlemen, then you're perfect.
- Coach Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights

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You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!
- Rocky Balboa

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I have nothing to say against recreation in its proper place. Certain forms of recreation are needful and useful; but it is a wretched thing when amusement becomes a vocation. Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man. From early morning till late at night some spend their time in a round of frivolities, or else their very work is simply carried on to furnish them funds for their pleasures. This is vicious. Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
- Charles Spurgeon

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The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It's so easy to make it complex. Solution may be for a lot of the worlds problems is to turn around and take a forward step. You cant just keep trying to make a flawed system work.
- Yvon Chouinard

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The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it. Basically because you feel good, very good when you are near them.
- Charles Bukowski

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“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves… The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.”
- Sir Roger Bannister

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Stop sounding vague enough to seem helpful without really being useful. Do as much as you read. You're probably going to fail. Be passionate. Think tactically. Actually fucking do something. Turn off the TV. Turn on your brain. Put down the donut. Make some mistakes. Kill off platitudes. Try more. Suck less. Shut up. Get back to work.
- Michael Schecter; The Passive Aggressive Manifesto

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If it is important to you, you will find a way.
If not, you'll find an excuse.

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"Go without a coat when it's cold: find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to lean tissue and see what its all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what your made of and what your capable of. If you're never tested, you'll never define your character."
- Henry Rollins

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"You can live on a lot less than you think".
- Lou Lepsch, GORUCK Ascent 2011

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Once you have lived a good story, you get a taste for the finer things in life. You cant go back to being normal. Cant go back to meaningless moments. We tend to neglect the things we need the most in life, whatever that may be. We try to dismiss anything negative to us. Challenging our minds and our inner being, always fighting to win something. That's what we are taught to do, that's what we know. Being at peace with ourselves is not about how much we deny things or reject them. Being at peace is accepting what we have created. Accepting things, good nor bad. How can you be kind to others if your not even kind to yourself? How can you feel genuine love, if you have never given it? In order to be at peace, you have to find it first. Yes, I know we are human beings, and we all have a dark places inside. We feel anger when were challenged. We feel negative. We hear it. We see it. Once you work through the negative times, looking deeper into them, you can begin to change them. The more you seek to change that, the more positive energy you will have. Always remember, your never alone.
- The good life, Jules - http://bit.ly/uzZoWI

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You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
- Plato

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It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
- C.S. Lewis

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If you should discovery that the light at the end of the tunnel is a train… derail it.

If you're ever in an upward struggle, keep pushing and try to imagine the view from the top.

No rest is worth anything except the rest that is earned.

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I will persist until I succeed.

In the Orient young bulls are tested for the
fight arena in a certain manner. Each is brought to
the ring and allowed to attack a picador who pricks
them with a lance. The bravery of each bull is then
rated with care according to the number of times
he demonstrates his willingness to charge in spite
of the sting of the blade. Henceforth will I recog-
nize that each day I am tested by life in like
manner. If I persist, if I continue to try, if I
continue to charge forward, I will succeed.

I will persist until I succeed.

I was not delivered unto this world in defeat,
nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a
sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I
am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep
with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep
and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let
them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure
is not my destiny.

I will persist until I succeed.

The prizes of life are at the end of each journey,
not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to
know how many steps are necessary in order to
reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the
thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next
bend in the road. Never will I know how close it
lies unless I turn the corner.

Always will I take another step. If that is of no
avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth,
one step at a time is not too difficult.

I will persist until I succeed.
- http://youtu.be/_n3eXWw926Y

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You vs Them : http://youtu.be/Aw6G2e5rS0Q

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Inspiration : http://youtu.be/7X38PCf7kao

-------

No matter how old you are - you live. : http://youtu.be/DQGhlDo7m1U

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Combat veteran aspires to play college football : http://youtu.be/6AN2fvc8y0A

-------

Never Give Up : http://youtu.be/0eIsH2BqtAc

-------

Charlie Chaplin Speech : http://youtu.be/WibmcsEGLKo

-------

I am a champion : http://youtu.be/yX39J_YyKbs

-------

This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often.
If you don't like something, change it.
If you don't like your job, quit.
If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, stop;
They will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
Stop over analyzing, life is simple.
All emotions are beautiful when you eat, appreciate every last bit.
Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences.
Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them.
Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
Life is about the people you meet, and the things that you create with them so go out and start creating.
Life is short.
Live your dream and share your passion.
- The Holstee Manifesto

-------

"To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities."
- Bruce Lee

-------

When you don't give up..You cannot fail: http://youtu.be/kZlXWp6vFdE

-------

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I'll spend four sharpening my axe.
- Abraham Lincoln

-------

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and bow to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”
- Chief Tecumseh

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Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
- George Bernard Shaw

-------

When I'm sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
- Barney Stinson

-------

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
- Henry David Thoreau

-------

The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
- William A. Ward

-------

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
- Andrew Carnegie

-------

A ship in the harbor is safe but that's now why ships are built.

-------

Believe in your fucking self. Stay up all fucking night. Work outside of your fucking habits. Know when to fucking speak up. Fucking collaborate. Don't fucking procrastinate. Get over your fucking self. Keep fucking learning. Form follows fucking function. A computer is a Lite-Brite for bad fucking ideas. Find fucking inspiration everywhere. Fucking network. Educate your fucking client. Trust your fucking gut. Ask for fucking help. Make it fucking sustainable. Question fucking everything. Have a fucking concept. Learn to take some fucking criticism. Make me fucking care. Use fucking spell check. Do your fucking research. Sketch more fucking ideas. The problem contains the fucking solution. Think about all the fucking possibilities.
- Good Fucking Design Advice

*Clean*
Believe in yourself. Stay up all night. Work outside of your habits. Know when to speak up. Collaborate. Don't procrastinate. Get over yourself. Keep learning. Form follows function. A computer is a Lite-Brite for bad ideas. Find inspiration everywhere. Network. Educate your client. Trust your gut. Ask for help. Make it sustainable. Question everything. Have a concept. Learn to take some criticism. Make me care. Use spell check. Do your research. Sketch more ideas. The problem contains the solution. Think about all the possibilities.
- Good Fucking Design Advice

-------

"The best revenge of all: Happiness. Nothing drives people crazier than seeing someone have a good fucking time."
- Chuck Palahnuik

-------

“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”
- Henry David Thoreau

-------

"I'm gonna Instagram the shit out of this place."
- Kenny's friend

-------

"We need to find a bathroom, I really have to pee."
- Stuff no one says after boating/swimming/tubing all day.

-------

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
- Samuel Johnson

-------

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
- Jim Elliott

-------

Sgt. First Class Layne Morris

"They smoked you every which way a human being can be smoked. It wasn't an abusive thing, it wasn't a 'Lets just sit down and do pushups until we drop over,' it was hard, meaningful training. Wo you didn't feel picked on, you just felt like, 'I wonder if I can complete it through this training, if I'm good enough to make it through this training.'"
- From National Geographic Documentary - "Inside Special Forces" - http://youtu.be/Qb_mhiRJBcc

-------

Your future holds something far greater than your past. It's time to leave the past behind.

-------

If you live through defeat, you're not defeated. If you are beaten but acquire wisdom, you have won. Lose yourself to improve yourself. Only when we shed all self-definition do we find who we really are.
- RZA, Wu-Tang Clan

-------

Let every man praise the bridge that carries him over.
- Anonymous

-------

Stop focusing on what happened and start focusing on what's going to move you forward.
- Sibyl Chavis

-------

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
- John Muir

-------

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

-------

Less sleep. More coffee. More books. More hiking. More creating. More fun. Less people. Less bullshit.

-------

Things to worry about:
- Worry about courage.
- Worry about cleanliness.
- Worry about efficiency.
- Worry about horsemanship.

Things no to worry about:
- Don't worry about popular opinion.
- Don't worry about dolls.
- Don't worry about the past.
- Don't worry about the future.
- Don't worry about growing up.
- Don't worry about anybody getting ahead of you.
- Don't worry about triumph.
- Don't worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault.
- Don't worry about mosquitos.
- Don't worry about flies.
- Don't worry about insects in general.
- Don't worry about parents.
- Don't worry about boys.
- Don't worry about disappointments.
- Don't worry about pleasures.
- Don't worry about satisfactions.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to his 11 yr old daughter (1933)

-------

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people will always do that. But the really great make you believe that you too can become great.

-------

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
- Albert Einstein

-------

Nick Offerman’s 10 Tips For A Prosperous Life:
Engage in romantic love
Say “please” and “thank you”
Carry a hanky
Eat red meat
Get a hobby
Go outside
Don’t look in the mirror, avoid the mirror to be accurate
Maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ if it’s getting you sex
Use intoxicants
Paddle your own canoe
...And you will experience prosperity like you have never experienced before.

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How Great I Am :: http://youtu.be/V6xLYt265ZM

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You are limitless :: http://youtu.be/oXJ1FZKwI7c

-------

Not everything needs to be pacified. Sometimes you just have to push through.
- Mike Petrucci

-------

Top 5 Ways to a Better Life According to Dave Grohl

(An interpretation of his Keynote speech at SXSW last week in Austin,TX)

1. No one is you and that is your biggest power.

“It’s YOUR VOICE. Cherish it. Respect it. Nurture it. Challenge it. Stretch it and scream until it’s f**king gone because everyone is blessed with at least that, and who knows how long it will last . . .”
“Who’s to say what’s a good voice, and what’s not a good voice? The Voice? Imagine Bob Dylan sitting there singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ in front of Christina Aguilera.”

2. Don’t be afraid of not fitting in.

“I can truly say out loud that ‘Gangnam Style’ is one of my favorite f**king songs of the past decade. Is it any better or worse than the latest Atoms for Peace album? Hmmm… paging Pitchfork! Come in, come in, Pitchfork! We need you to help us determine the value of a song! Who f**king cares.” Don't be someone who designs their lives to impress others.

3. Give a damn about yourself.

It’s about taking care of yourself so you can be a better human being. A 2.0 version of you is way more equipped to help others in need. Take up yoga if you’re stressed. Ask for a big raise. Walk away from a relationship that is abusive or draining. Or just take a nap, for Christ’s sake.

4. Be humble.

No one wants to go to lunch with a supermodel who says things like, “My cheekbones, if you’ve noticed, have a similar incline to an escalator.” One thing I’ve noticed is that if you are good at something, people will acknowledge it. Appreciate the hell out of those people. Should you be blessed enough to have the fortitude to work so hard at something that people celebrate you, your first reaction should be gratitude. And know that there’s a ton of people out there from all races and socioeconomic backgrounds who can still teach you something. I don’t care if you’re Bill Clinton or Jay-Z – always be learning; always be improving.

5. Spark a revolution.

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Always have the highest bar for yourself. Wake up everyday and no matter how crappy you feel, want to change something for the better. Do something that makes someone happy. Create something that inspires someone. Be someone’s light when they are hopeless.

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"…We readily attribute some extra virtue to those persons who voluntarily embrace solitude, who live alone in the country or in the woods, or in the mountains, and find life sweet…"
- Indoor Studies, John Burroughs

-------

“Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
- John Muir

-------

...beware of all enterprises that require new clothes…
- Henry David Thoreau

-------

“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.”
- Ernest Hemingway

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"For the past 33 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

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“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
- François Auguste René Chateaubriand

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“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
- Christopher McCandless

-------

“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”
- LIFE Motto

-------

“Men admire the man who can organize wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

-------

Whatever you do, stay uncompromised.
- Audi

-------

“Just because you’re rich, doesn’t make you smart. Just because you’re rich, doesn’t make you cultured. Just because you’re rich, doesn’t make you refined. Being rich means you’re rich. Some rich people are just dicks.”
- Michael Gross

-------

“If you play the other man’s game, you’ll always lose. Stay with quality. Quality will always sustain.”
- Allan Benton

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1. Push yourself to get up before the rest of the world — start with 7 a.m., then 6 a.m., then 5:30 a.m. Go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sunrise.

2. Push yourself to fall asleep earlier — start with 11 p.m., then 10 p.m., then 9 p.m. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

3. Erase processed food from your diet. Start with no candy, chips, cookies, then erase pasta, rice, cereal and then bread. Use the rule that if a child couldn’t identify what was in it, you don’t eat it.

4. Get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. Fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. Sit and eat while doing absolutely nothing else.

5. Stretch. Start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. Roll your head, stretch your fingers, stretch everything.

6. Buy a 1L water bottle. Start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

7. Buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. Write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. No detail is too small.

8. Strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear drawer into the washing machine. Put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash everything. Then make your bed in full.

9. Organize your room. Fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor and light a beautiful candle.

10. Have a luxurious shower with your favorite music playing. Wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. Lather your whole body in moisturizer, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs and the back of your neck.

11. Push yourself to go for a walk. Take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. Smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. Bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. Realize how much you can learn from your dog.

12. Message old friends with personal jokes. Reminisce. Suggest a movie or sushi date soon, even if you don’t usually follow through, push yourself to follow through.

14. Think long and hard about what interests you. Crime? Sex? Chinese folklore? Long-forgotten romance etiquette? Find a book about it and read it. There is a book about literally everything.

15. Become the person you would ideally fall in love with. Let cars merge into your lane when driving. Pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. Stick your tongue out at babies. Compliment people on their cute clothes. Challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for an entire day, then two, then a week. Walk with straight posture. Look people in the eye. Ask people about their story. Talk to acquaintances so you become friends.

16. Lie in the sunshine and daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t possible. Breathe in, breathe out. Open your eyes and take small steps to make it happen for you.

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Put some alcohol in your mouth to block the words from coming out.
- Ron Swanson

-------

"Will you come with me to the mountains? It will hurt at first, until your feet are hardened. Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows. But will you come?"
- C.S. Lewis

-------

“We are torn between nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.”
- Carson Mccullers

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The LaunchGram Manifesto:

The future is ours to create.

Life is a voyage into the unknown.

Big things have a way of sneaking up on us.

Let them change you.

Set no boundaries.

Explore like a hero.

Help us build a better future.

Never stop dreaming.

Let yourself be overwhelmed.

Destroy unsolved problems.

Embrace your inner troublemaker.

Push humanity forward.

The future will be awesome.

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1. You are stronger than you realise.
2. You are crueller than you realise.
3. The smallest words will break your heart.
4. You will change. You’re not the same person you were three years ago. You’re not even the same person you were three minutes ago and that’s okay. Especially if you don’t like the person you were three minutes ago.
5. People come and go. Some are cigarette breaks, others are forest fires.
6. You won’t like your name until you hear someone say it in their sleep.
7. You’ll forget your email password but ten years from now you’ll still remember the number of steps up to his flat.
8. You don’t have to open the curtains if you don’t want to.
9. Never stop yourself texting someone. If you love them at 4 a.m., tell them. If you still love them at 9.30 a.m., tell them again.
10. Make sure you have a safe place. Whether it’s the kitchen floor or the Travel section of a bookshop, just make sure you have a safe place.
11. You will be scared of all kinds of things, of spiders and clowns and eating alone, but your biggest fear will be that people will see you the way you see yourself.
12. Sometimes, looking at someone will be like looking into the sun. Sometimes someone will look at you like you are the sun. Wait for it.
13. You will learn how to sleep alone, how to avoid the cold corners but still fill a bed.
14. Always be friends with the broken people. They know how to survive.
15. You can love someone and hate them, all at once. You can miss them so much you ache but still ignore your phone when they call.
16. You are good at something, whether it’s making someone laugh or remembering their birthday. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that these things don’t matter.
17. You will always be hungry for love. Always. Even when someone is asleep next to you you’ll envy the pillow touching their cheek and the sheet hiding their skin.
18. Loneliness is nothing to do with how many people are around you but how many of them understand you.
19. People say I love you all the time. Even when they say, ‘Why didn’t you call me back?’ or ‘He’s an asshole.’ Make sure you’re listening.
20. You will be okay.
21. You will be okay.

-------

“Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.”

-------

Love one another, make something with your hands, and exalt the farmer.
- Nick Offerman

-------

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.”
- Henry David Thoreau

-------

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

-------

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”
- Og Mandino

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The Best from ‘Mad Dog Mattis’…
1. “I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.”
2. “The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some assholes in the world that just need to be shot.”
3. “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.”
4. “Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they’re so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.”
5. “Marines don’t know how to spell the word defeat.”
6. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”
7. “The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.”
8. “You are part of the world’s most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.”
9. “There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.”
10. “No war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.”
11. “There is nothing better than getting shot at and missed. It’s really great.”
12. “You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.”
13. “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.”
14. “I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.”
15. “Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.”
16. “Fight with a happy heart and strong spirit”

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“A woman laughing is a woman conquered.”
- Napoleon

-------

“Dying makes a man out of you.”
- Buloxi Blues

-------

The more you invest in a stripper, the less you get free things from that stripper.
- Erin Markey

-------

"Sometimes people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”

-------

What if I forgive myself?
What if I was sorry?
But if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t do a single thing differently.
What if all those things I did were the things that got me here.
- Wild (http://youtu.be/tn2-GSqPyl0)

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A High School Teacher’s List of 100 Wisest Words

1. There are plenty of ways to enter a pool. The stairs is not one of them.
2. Never cancel dinner plans by text message.
3. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
4. If a street performer makes you stop walking, you owe him a buck.
5. Always use ‘we’ when referring to your home team or your government.
6. When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
7. Don’t underestimate free throws in a game of ‘horse’.
8. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
9. Don’t dumb it down.
10. You only get one chance to notice a new haircut.
11. If you’re staying more than one night, unpack.
12. Never park in front of a bar.
13. Expect the seat in front of you to recline. Prepare accordingly.
14. Keep a picture of your first fish, first car, and first boy/girlfriend.
15. Hold your heroes to a high standard.
16. A suntan is earned, not bought.
17. Never lie to your doctor.
18. All guns are loaded.
19. Don’t mention sunburns. Believe me, they know.
20. The best way to show thanks is to wear it. Even if it’s only once.
21. Take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV once a year.
22. Don’t fill up on bread, no matter how good.
23. A handshake beats an autograph.
24. Don’t linger in the doorway. In or out.
25. If you choose to go in drag, don’t sell yourself short.
26. If you want to know what makes you unique, sit for a caricature.
27. Never get your hair cut the day of a special event.
28. Be mindful of what comes between you and the Earth. Always buy good shoes, tires, and sheets.
29. Never eat lunch at your desk if you can avoid it.
30. When you’re with new friends, don’t just talk about old friends.
31. Eat lunch with the new kids.
32. When traveling, keep your wits about you.
33. It’s never too late for an apology.
34. Don’t pose with booze.
35. If you have the right of way, take it.
36. You don’t get to choose your own nickname.
37. When you marry someone, remember you marry their entire family.
38. Never push someone off a dock.
39. Under no circumstances should you ask a woman if she’s pregnant.
40. It’s not enough to be proud of your ancestry; live up to it.
41. Don’t make a scene.
42. When giving a thank you speech, short and sweet is best.
43. Know when to ignore the camera.
44. Never gloat.
45. Invest in good luggage.
46. Make time for your mom on your birthday. It’s her special day, too.
47. When opening presents, no one likes a good guesser.
48. Sympathy is a crutch, never fake a limp.
49. Give credit. Take blame.
50. Suck it up every now and again.
51. Never be the last one in the pool.
52. Don’t stare.
53. Address everyone that carries a firearm professionally.
54. Stand up to bullies. You’ll only have to do it once.
55. If you’ve made your point, stop talking.
56. Admit it when you’re wrong.
57. If you offer to help don’t quit until the job is done.
58. Look people in the eye when you thank them.
59. Thank the bus driver.
60. Never answer the phone at the dinner table.
61. Forgive yourself for your mistakes.
62. Know at least one good joke.
63. Don’t boo. Even the ref is somebody’s son.
64. Know how to cook one good meal.
65. Learn to drive a stick shift.
66. Be cool to younger kids. Reputations are built over a lifetime.
67. It’s okay to go to the movies by yourself.
68. Dance with your mother/father.
69. Don’t lose your cool. Especially at work.
70. Always thank the host.
71. If you don’t understand, ask before it’s too late.
72. Know the size of your boy/girlfriend’s clothes.
73. There is nothing wrong with a plain t-shirt.
74. Be a good listener. Don’t just wait for your turn to talk.
75. Keep your word.
76. In college, always sit in the front. You’ll stand out immediately.
77. Carry your mother’s bags. She carried you for nine months.
78. Be patient with airport security. They’re just doing their jobs.
79. Don’t be the talker in a movie.
80. The opposite sex likes people who shower.
81. You are what you do, not what you say.
82. Learn to change a tire.
83. Be kind. Everyone has a hard fight ahead of them.
84. An hour with grandparents is time well spent. Ask for advice when you need it.
85. Don’t litter.
86. If you have a sister, get to know her boyfriend. Your opinion is important.
87. You won’t always be the strongest or the fastest. But you can be the toughest.
88. Never call someone before 9am or after 9pm.
89. Buy the orange properties in Monopoly.
90. Make the little things count.
91. Always wear a bra at work.
92. There is a fine line between looking sultry and slutty. Find it.
93. You’re never too old to need your mom.
94. Ladies, if you make the decision to wear heels on the first date, commit to keeping them on and keeping your trap shut about how much your feet kill.
95. Know the words to your national anthem.
96. Your dance moves might not be the best, but I promise making a fool of yourself is more fun than sitting on the bench alone.
97. Smile at strangers.
98. Make goals.
99. Being old is not dictated by your bedtime.
100. If you have to fight, punch first and punch hard.
Source: Unknown

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“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
- Jon Krakauer

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“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”
- Jack Kerouac

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"What man needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him."
- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning

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“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
- Harry S. Truman

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“There is nothing that sharpens a man's senses so acutely as to know that bitter and determined enemies are in pursuit of him night and day.”
- Frederick Russell Burnham

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"I want to make a huge fire; I’m good at making fires, I can do it." - Drinking Buddies

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"I’m four or five in. You’re five in? Yeah I think. But I had a turkey burger at lunch so I’m good.” - Drinking Buddies

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“Like a mountain the motorcycle is not dangerous in itself, but does have dangers for the ordinary man. It demands exceptional people; and, like the mountain, it does not forgive mistakes easily.”
- p. 13, Color Treasury of Motorcycles - Crescent Books

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“Mountains hold the mystery of every young boy’s imagination. As the boy grows, mountains also hold some of the answers.”
- Roger W. Thompson

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“If in doubt, just walk until your day becomes interesting.”
- Rolf Potts

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“That is why I go into solitude so as not to drink out of everybody’s cistern. When I am among the many I live as the many do, and I do not think as I really think; after a time it always seems as though they want to banish me from myself and rob me of my soul and I grow angry with everybody and fear everybody.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

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An Invocation for Beginnings

Don't call it a comb-back, I'll have hair for years.

I'm scared.  I'm scared that my abilities are gone.  I'm scared that I'm going to fuck this up, and I'm scared of you.

I don't wanna' start, but I will.

This is an invocation for anyone who hasn't begun, whose stuck in a terrible place between 0 and 1.

Let me realize that my past failures that follow through are no indication of my future performance, their just healthy little fires that are gonna' warm up my ass.

If my FILDI (Fuck It Let's Do It) is strong let me keep him in a velvet box until I really really need him.
If my FILDI is weak let me feed him oranges and not let him gorge himself on ego and arrogance.

Let me not hit up my Facebook like it's a crack-pipe, keep the browser closed.

If I catch myself wearing a tutu (too), too fat too late too old, let me shake it off like a donkey would shake off something it doesn't like.

When I get that feeling in my stomach, you know that feeling when all the sudden you get a ball of energy and it shoots down into your legs and up into your arms and tells you to stand up and goto the refrigerator and get a cheese sandwich - that's my cheese monster talking.  And my cheese monster will never be satisfied with cheddar, only the cheese of accomplishment.

Let me think about the people that I care about the most.  And how when they fail or disappoint me I still love them, I still give them chances, and I still see the best in them - let me extend that generosity to myself.

Let me find and use metaphors to help me understand the world around me, and give me the strength to get rid of them when it's apparent that they no longer work.

Let me thank the parts of me that I don't understand or are outside of my control, like my creativity and my courage.
Let me remember that my courage is a wild dog, it won't just come when I call it.  I have to chase it down and hold on as tight as I can.

Let me not be so vain to think that I am the sole author of my victories, and a victim of my defeats.

Let me remember that the unintended meaning that people project on what I do is neither my fault, nor something that I can take credit for.

Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes, but he's a little bit of an asshole and nobody invites him to their pool parties.

Let me remember that the impact of criticism is often not the intent of the critic, but when the intent is evil that's what the block button is for.

And when I eat my critique, let me be able to separate out the good advice from the bitter herbs.

There are few people who won't be disarmed by a genuine smile.

Let me not think of my work only as a stepping stone to something else, and if it is let me become fascinated by the shape of the stone.

Let me take the idea that has gotten me this far, and put it to bed.  What I'm about to do will not be that.  But it will be something.

There's no need to sharpen my pencils anymore, my pencils are sharp enough - even the dull ones will make a mark.  Warts and all.

Let's start this shit up.

And god let me enjoy this, life isn't just a sequence of waiting for things to be done.

- Ze Frank via YouTube

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I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London's Credo

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Qualities of a Great General
1. Tactically aggressive (loves a fight)
2. Strength of character
3. Steadiness of purpose
4. Acceptance of responsibility
5. Energy
6. Good health and strength

- George Patton, 1909

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The Lone Ranger Creed
I believe…

- That to have a friend, a man must be one.
- That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
- That God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
- In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for what is right.
- That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
- That 'this government of the people, by the people, and for the people' shall live always.
- That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
- That sooner or later...somewhere...somehow...we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
- That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
- In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.

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The national parks seem destined to play a role in satisfying the longings of the people in times of great nervous tension through the calming and inspiring influence of nature. Anyone who has been fortunate as to witness their marvels and spend quiet hours in the inspiring contemplation of their beauties will surely return home with a burning determination to love and work for, and if necessary fight and die for, the glorious land which is his.
- Stephen Mather

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You are either in your bed or in your shoes so it pays to invest in both.
- John Wildsmith

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“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
- Francis Drake

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"One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him."
- Thomas Shelling

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When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside.
- Rumi

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“Hard and honest work earns a good night’s sleep, Whether supper is beans or steak. But a rich man’s belly gives him insomnia.” -Ecclesiastes 5:12 (MSG)

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“Is there any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
- C.S. Lewis

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“The only ship you can truly steer in this ocean is the one you're sailing. Quit trying to alter the winds; harness them.”
- Richelle E. Goodrich

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“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.”
- Jack London

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“Why would I be wound up? I’m either ready, or I’m not. Worrying about it right now ain’t gonna change a damn thing.”
- Floyd Mayweather, Jr. just before a fight.

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"Excellence does not require perfection."
- Henry James

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“If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf.”
- Nikita Khruschchev

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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately… and see if I could not learn what it had to teach.”
- Henry David Thoreau

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“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”
- Carl Sagan

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“The wild doesn’t care if I’m here or not. It doesn’t care if I have enough food or not. It doesn’t care if I’m lonely. It doesn’t care if I’m so miserable I start going insane. The wild is just here. It’s the wild.”
- Ed Wardle - Alone in the Wild

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“Let the tourist be on his own, and not be spoon-fed at intervals. Let him be encouraged to keep his eyes open, do his own looking and exploring, and catch what he can of the magic of wilderness.”
- Adoph Murie

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"A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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“But the virtues we get by first exercising them, as also happens in the case of the arts as well. For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them, e.g. men become builders by building and lyre players by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
- Aristotle

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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
- Mark Twain

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“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
- Oscar Wilde

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“For a professional photographer, a photograph is the product. For an amateur photographer, a photograph is the byproduct of a life well lived.”
- CJ Chilvers

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“An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons—marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who use them, he has taken the wrong turning.”
- C.S. Lewis

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“Turn off your email; turn off your phone; disconnect from the Internet; figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master.”
- Gretchen Rubin

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The routine is the enemy of time.
Choose adventure for your own life.
Getting out of your routine can look like anything.
(paraphrased from Jedidiah Jenkins: https://vimeo.com/120206922)

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“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
- Lao Tzu

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“I’ve been looking for a job change, a chance to start doing really what inspires me rather than just sitting behind a desk collecting a paycheck doing what I’m good at. I needed to follow my heart and do something that I love.”
- Scott Cahill (https://vimeo.com/82238901)

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“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
- William Blake

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“These individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.”
- Seneca

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“Focus on adding value to the people around you — not using them to meet your needs.”
- James Bradford

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“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
- Arthur Ashe

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“It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and love for a time in the wilderness.”
- Loren Eiseley

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“I am an old man and I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
- Mark Twain

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“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”
- G.K Chesterton

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“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly”
- Mae West

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“What gets measured gets managed.”
- Peter Drucker

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“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
- Ernest Hemingway

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“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
- Frederick Douglass

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“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

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“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

- Fred (Mister) Rogers

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“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.”
- Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics

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“Who has not felt the urge to throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence.”
- John Muir

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“A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan.”
- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

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“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
- George Bernard Shaw

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