I am such a quote fiend that I registered a web site to store
my favorite quotes which now uses
Srini G's Quotes Collection plugin for Wordpress.
Here are a few quotes from the late Thomas J. Watson of IBM fame:
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?
Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.
All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.
Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.
If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.
It is better to aim at perfection and miss, than to aim at imperfection and hit it.
The man who bases his actions on independent thought; who reflects and considers before doing anything, and whose judgments are arrived at through logic, is the man who will go farthest today.
