Quote

One problem with gratitude is that it competes with the sense of pride, self-reliance and accomplishment we have. We want to think what we have is the result of our efforts rather than the gifts, good turns and opportunities provided us by others.

Michael Josephson

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Michael Josephson
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: December 10
Motivational Speaker
Philosopher
Problem
Pride
Reliance
Self
Results
Provided
Good
Effort
Accomplishment
Think
Turns
Gifts
Thinking
Rather
Efforts
Opportunity
Opportunities
Sense
Gratitude
Others
Result
Competes

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No leader or organization can achieve breakout growth until it treats, we've always done it this way as an opportunity to think anew rather than as a reason to stop thinking. Keep in mind, tradition should be a guide, not a jailer.
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Everything you do sends a message about who you are and what you value.
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The key to a better life: Complain less, appreciate more. Whine less, laugh more. Talk less, listen more. Want less, give more. Hate less, love more. Scold less, praise more. Fear less, hope more.
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Happiness is the peace of mind that comes from feeling that I am living a worthy life in the company of people I love and in the service of something bigger than myself.
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Expressed gratitude encourages further giving ingratitude drains vitality out of the spirit of generosity.
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What you allow you encourage.
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Creating a child takes no love or skill being a parent requires lots of both.
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Whether we want them or not, the New Year will bring new challenges whether we seize them or not, the New year will bring new opportunities.
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It isn't the absence of conscience or values that prevents us from being all we should be, it is simply the lack of moral courage.
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The key to success is effort. The bigger the goal, the greater the effort.
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Character is both formed and revealed by how one deals with everyday situations as well as extraordinary pressures and temptations. Like a well-made tower, character is built stone by stone, decision by decision.
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Some jobs require a more consistent challenge to moral courage than others. Politics is one. In such a setting terrifically good men and women will still be found wanting occasionally. No one does the right thing all the time. It would be more generous and fair to consider their batting average than to judge them only by their last worst act.
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Success comes in cans. Failures comes in can'ts.
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Our obligation to others and a gift to ourselves is to acknowledge and authentically express genuine appreciation for courtesies, caring and concern others have given us.
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Lincoln described character is a tree and reputation as its shadow. The tree will always be what it is but the shadow we see depends on where we stand and the angle of the light.
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Physical courage to a person of honour is easier and less risky than acts that could subject him to embarrassment or humiliation or a diminished career or reputation. These things he must live with. To die for honor is an easier thought to bear.
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I think Samuel Johnson had it right when he observed that hope is itself a species of happiness. So if we want to be happy it only makes sense to discipline ourselves to choose our attitudes, to think positively and to be hopeful.
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There's no such thing as business ethics there's just ethics. And ethics makes no concessions for the real or imagined necessities of making a profit.
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The opposite of success is not failure. Unsuccessful efforts are not failures unless they so discourage you that you abandon further efforts to achieve your goal. Even then, the venture or effort may be a failure but you are not. Failure is an event not a character trait.
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What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by who and for what?
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