Catalyst Quotes

“Do Something Beyond What You Have Mastered”

“If someone says “can’t,” that shows you what to do.”    (John Cage)

“I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard.”    (William Lloyd Garrison)

“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.”     (Harry Emerson Fosdick)

“Since I was twenty-four there never was any vagueness in my plans or ideas as to what God’s work was for me.”    (Florence Nightingale)

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”    (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“A Change Catalyst, A Transformer”

“Never settle for anything less than your best.”      (Brian Tracy)

“It’s quite possible that you haven’t really considered yourself a leader of any kind.  Whether or not you have, you may be surprised to learn in just how many ways you are a leader, especially to those close to you.   Whoever it may be, there are people around you looking up to you, believing in you as a role model, as a leader.   So please, never underestimate the influence you have on the lives of others.   Think about how your vision of the future may be pointing the way for others.   Think about those for whom you might be a role model and in what ways you are setting examples for them.”      (Robert Stuberg, Everything you Need to Know to Get Everything You Want)

“I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization.   Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf.”        (Stephen R. Covey)

“When John Coltrane plays the melody early in the track Harmonique, you can hear some of the notes crack.  

Of course, Coltrane was completely capable of playing these notes correctly.  And yet he didn’t.   It’s this effort and humanity that touches us about his solo, not just the melody.   Sometimes, “never let them see you sweat,” is truly bad advice.   The work of an individual who cares often exposes the grit and determination and effort that it takes to be present.  

Perfecting your talk, refining your essay and polishing your service until all elements of you disappear might be obvious tactics, but they remove the thing we were looking for:  YOU.”     (Seth Godin)

“Excuses – At The Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m standing at the corner of WALK and DON’T WALK.”    (Unknown)

“Brick walls are there for a reason.   The brick walls are not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something.   Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough.   They are there to keep out the other people.”      (Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture)

“Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary.   When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.”      (Tommy Lasorda)

“Excuses always come from the losing locker room.”   (Lou Holtz)          “Excuses are another way of creatively expressing fears.”      (Unknown Author)

“When you get into a tight place and it seems that you can’t go on, hold on  –  for that’s just the right place and the time that the tide will turn.”      (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

“Do something.    If it works, do more of it.    If it doesn’t, do something else.”      (FDR)