The first thing I have learned during 50 years of working with, and studying, institutions and the people who manage them is that workmanship counts. Mediocrity does not become genius through being conscientious, but it becomes effective through it. And genius that lacks conscientiousness and workmanship soon generates into something well below mediocrity; it becomes cheating and fakery. Few tasks in any discipline require genius, but all require conscientiousness.

-Peter F. Drucker

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who believed that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.

-Bruce Barton

SUCCESS
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; This is to have succeeded.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little quad of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do it for whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live – I rejoice in life for its own sake – life is no ‘brief candle’ to me, it is a sort of bright torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

- George Bernard Shaw

If I Had My Life To Live Over
I’d like to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more fruit and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual trouble, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I’m one of those people who lives sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.

NadineStair
85 years old
Louisville, KY