FEMI TAIWO: REFLECTIONS ON SOME QUOTES I LOVE

This week I look at some of my best quotes and reflect on why I love them.

1. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste – Paul Romer

We hate crisis. We don’t want them. We can do without them. But in this world, we are guaranteed a few. When they happen we need to deal with them but more importantly we need to learn from them. Extracting as much lessons out of a crisis as possible is one of the best ways to make sense of a senseless situation. It is a sure way to make everything – including a crisis – ultimately work for one’s good. Do not waste your crisis.

2. The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Attack life with a sense of urgency. Have the attitude of someone who is running out of time when going for your life’s goals. The truth is you are running out of time and in the game of life, there is no extra time. I found contemplating about death the best way to live. In the face of death, all pettiness disappears. I might as well do what I believe I have been called to do…and do it on time!

3. If the only prayer you ever say in your life is “thank you” that would suffice – Meister Eckhart

Gratitude is the way to receive more. Do you want more money? Be grateful for the one you already have. Do you want a better health? Be grateful that you are still breathing. If you are grateful for what you have, right now, more will be given to you. If you whine about the little you have, even that (little) which you have will be taken away from you. Be grateful.

4. Do unto others as you would have them do to you – Jesus

Libraries (and the internet) are full of books on how we should behave one to another. But if you reflect deeply on these words by Jesus and make them your life’s philosophy, you will do just fine – at home, at work, anywhere. If you won’t take it, don’t dish it out. And, if you won’t dish it out, don’t take it!

5. Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great – Mark Twain

First, this means that great people emphasize the process that made them. They make you feel that you can replicate their success if you, too, apply yourself to the same process. Second, great people make the extraordinary seem mundane. The ease with which they go about their work or their life invites observers to attempt greatness.

I don’t know which interpretation is correct, but it doesn’t matter. Whether by their life or their writing or both, really great people are not intimidating; they make you believe that you, too, can become great.

I interpret this quote in two ways and both ultimately mean the same thing.