Quotations
Others:
Words that seem to make sense...
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. - John Wooden, former basketball coach, UCLA
Do not go where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
On taking part / trying:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is
not the triumph but the struggle.  The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
- Pierre de Coubertin, International Olympic Committee
You can accomplish anything with pure persistence and drive. - Debi Thomas, 1988 Olympic Bronze Medal Winner - figure skating,
Stanford University graduate (1991), Northwestern Medical School graduate (1997), orthopedic surgeon, and mother
I think if you have a challenge with yourself, the only failure is when you don't try.
- Silvia Fontana - 29-year-old figure skating competitor - 2006 Winter Olympics
I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it.  Whether you're a musician, a
writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it.  If you do, you'll win - if you don't, you won't.
- Bruce Jenner, Olympic Gold Medalist, Decathlon
Let me win.  But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. - the Special Olympics Oath
Do you know what my favorite part of the game is?  The opportunity to play. - Mike Singletary, former professional football player
It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up. - Vince Lombardi, former football coach
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination.
- Tommy Lasorda, former baseball manager, Los Angeles Dodgers
The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, and
move. - John Wooden, former basketball coach, UCLA
All your life you are told the things you cannot do.  All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or
talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or
achieve this.  THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless.  All your life they
will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.  AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES. - Nike advertisement
For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: "It might have been." - John Greenleaf Whittier
While it is tempting to play it safe, the more we’re willing to risk, the more alive we are.  In the end, what we regret most
are the chances we never took. - Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, Final Episode, "Frasier", NBC Television
Eighty percent of success is showing up. - Woody Allen
Everybody loses a couple, and you either pack it up and go home or you keep on fighting.
- Jeff Bridges as Charlie Howard, "Seabiscuit" Universal Studios © 2003
On character:
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation.  Your character is what you really are while your
reputation is merely what others think you are. - John Wooden, former basketball coach, UCLA
The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune. - Plutarch
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters. - Evander Holyfield, former heavyweight champion
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.  - Mark Twain
I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.  I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to
be compassionate.  It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you
lived at all. - Leo Rosten
On a positive attitude:
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us,
but by the attitude we bring to life.  A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and
outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results. – Anonymous
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. - Anatole France
Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long.  Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward.
Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed.  The future is yet in your power. - Hugh White
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living.  The world owes you nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain
On education and learning:
Prepare your mind to receive the best that life has to offer. - Ernest Holmes
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. - B.F. Skinner
When you grow up and something touches you emotionally, it lives on forever. - David Goldberg - Spelling/Goldberg Productions
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some type of (personal) battle. - Anonymous
It is in change that we find purpose. - Perecletus
Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape. - "The Janson Directive", a novel by Robert Ludlum
Sometimes when the little guy – when he doesn’t know he’s the little guy – can do great big things.
- Jeff Bridges as Charlie Howard, "Seabiscuit" Universal Studios © 2003
After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. - Fred Thompson, actor and former U.S. Senator
I dream for a living. - Steven Spielberg
It's a scientific fact. For every year a person lives in Hollywood, they lose two points of their IQ. - Truman Capote
In Beverly Hills...they don't throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows. - Woody Allen
Success is a journey, not a destination. - Jim Brown
Anyone who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough. - Wess Roberts, author
Education costs money, but then so does ignorance. - Sir Claus Moser
Don’t ever let somebody tell you (that) you can’t do something… You got a dream?  You gotta protect it.  (If) People can’t
do something themselves... they want to tell you (that) you can’t do it.  If you want something… get it.  Period.
- Will Smith as Chris Gardner, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2006.
You can't just wish and hope for something.  You have to make it happen. - Paul Reubens as Pee Wee Herman, "Pee Wee's Big
Adventure", Warner Brothers Studio
Trust yourself.  You know more than you think you do. - Dr. Spock
The purpose of life is to live it... to taste experience to the utmost... to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and
richer experiences. - Eleanor Roosevelt
It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln
If you want something and you want to compete and you want to be successful, you've got to get out there and you've
got to try.  You're never going to find out sitting at home. - Tony Gwynn, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech
Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle. He's going to fight, and he's going to lose. But what makes
him a man is that in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself.
- Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor, "Friday Night Lights", NBC Television
My dad was a natural craftsman... From watching him I learned a lesson that still applies in my life today.  No
matter how difficult a task may seem, if you're not afraid to try it - you can do it.  And when you're done, it will leak.
- "Dave Barry Turns 50" Crown Publishers, New York, Copyright 1998 by Dave Barry,
On the lighter side...
For the spirit of competition.  Because others said I ever would.  I see my disability as an ability.
- Tatyana McFadden, U.S. Paralympian (from McDonalds ad campaign)
Being a role model to young kids.  Competing with the world's best.  Bot letting an accident define me.
- Marion Shirley, U.S. Paralympian (from McDonalds ad campaign)
You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams.
- Dara Torres, 41-year-old Olympic silver medalist (2008 - swimming) and mother of one
Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever you want to do, you can do, and that's what I did.
- Henry Cejudo, Olympic gold medalist (2008 - wrestling)
I kept waiting for someone to make a difference.  Then I realized -- I am somebody.
- Radio public service announcement  for the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness
The greatest joy of living is the joy that comes from giving. - Buddy Ebson as Jed Clampett, "The Beverly Hillbillies"
Life isn't about finding yourself - it's about creating yourself. - Annonymous
Find out what you do best -- and do your best with it. - Eve Plumb as Jan Brady, "The Brady Bunch"
Life is what happens when things don't go as planned. - Annonymous
Never be afraid that you can't do anything you've made up your mind to.  As long as you believe in yourself you can go as far
as you dream. - Greer Garson as Katherine Ellis (Chipping), "Goodbye Mr. Chips", MGM Pictures, 1939
41) Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. - From "45 Lessons Life Taught Me" by Regina Brett, Cleveland Plain Dealer
13) Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
(agitated) Look, I'm not the one who has the problem, okay?  It's the world that seems to have a problem with me.  People
take one look at me and say AAAHHHH!  RUN!  They judge me even before they know me.  Sometimes things are more than
they appear." - Mike Meyers as Shrek the ogre,  from the movie"Shrek", DreamWorks Animation
Never say never.  Because limits, like fears, are often just illusions. - Michael Jordan, National Basketball Association Hall of Fame induction speech
When the end comes for you, let it find you conquering a new mountain, not sliding down an old one. - Jim Rohn
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Tomsfeet Productions
Tom Willis          Tomsfeet Productions          E-mail -- tom@tomsfeet.com          Phone -- (619) 723-4015