Jeremy Phillips

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
- Calvin Coolidge

I could not say it better myself…

“A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning.” Chaim Potok

It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested.

– Lucius Seneca

And this is teaching the next generation to be responsible how? I believe Henry Ford has one of the best quotes for this situation. It’s one that I most definitely agree with…

“Let them fail; let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself and my own ideas. Let other people do the same thing. If I lose everything in the collapse of our financial structure, I will start in at the beginning and build it up again.” — Henry Ford, February 11th 1934

From the article:

The $825 billion economic stimulus package rolled out by Democrats on Thursday might not be enough to prevent an economic catastrophe, according to the chief architect of the package.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey D-Wis. also told reporters it may not be the last effort to use big government spending to spur the economy.

“This represents the largest effort by any legislative body in the world to take government action to prevent economic catastrophe,” Obey said, “and even that may be insufficient alone.”

Later in his briefing, he added, “This product may undershoot the mark.”

The bill could be voted on in committee next Wednesday. That’s the day after the inauguration of President-elect Obama — or, as Obey put it, “the day after the crown prince is sworn in.”

via TheHill.com – Rep. Obey not sure $825B stimulus is enough.

I think General Patton and I would have gotten along just fine. His leadership style seems similar to mine.

“Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

“A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.”

“If you can’t get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?”