Winston and Abraham speak on "Responsibility"

I like to sprinkle a bit of philosophy and motivation where ever I write.

In one of my online classes I teach, I recently, asked my students to let me know which of these two quotes they liked the best.

The first is by Winston Churchill: “The price of greatness is responsibility”. The second is by Abraham Lincoln: “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”.

Enjoy the thoughts from these “young thinkers” and feel free to leave your comments at the end of this article.

Here are the responses, which I think were best, from two students.

I like the quote “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." The reason I like this quote is it kind of reminded me of something my mom has told me since I was little. Which is " why put off until tomorrow what you can clearly do today". Also, my husband and I were just telling a friend of ours the other day that no matter how much he doesn't want to take care of his responsibilities, they will still be there tomorrow no matter what so just face it and do the right thing.

-Sandra Perry

…you provided two quotes and asked us to tell you which we liked best and why. Of the two, my favorite was "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln. I liked this quote the best as this is something I feel very strongly about. One of my biggest "pet peeves" is procrastination. I admit I'm guilty of it now and then, and when I find I am intentionally avoiding or putting off something, I'm upset with myself. I learned long ago as a child, through the patience and help of my parents, that life is much easier and you are much happier and successful when you do what needs to be done when you become aware it needs to be done. Its a bit of a general statement, but an overall view. That is why Abraham Lincoln's quote as it speaks my beliefs.

-Corissa Nolan

Make it a great day!

Ter

Terrific. Energizing. Results!

www.terscott.com

Don’t Learn from your Mistakes

"Don’t Learn from your Mistakes" may seem contrary to what you have learned, but it is true; here's what I mean by that. 

Successful people don’t learn from their mistakes; they learn from their successes.

Think about it for a moment and you'll agree. Read that last sentence again. 

You may have heard the several variations on what Edison said about having made 1,000 or 10,000 (depending on what version you hear) mistakes when he finally invented the light bulb. His answer was that he didn’t make the 1,000 or 10,000 mistakes, he simply found 1,000 or 10,000 ways that didn’t work! This tells me that Edison did not learn from his mistakes but that he “looked at things differently” and learned from his successes. 

Johnny Cash said it a different way: “Remember that you build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any or your space”.

Today dwell on your past successes (not your mistakes) and know that if you succeeded in one area, no matter how small, in the past, that you can succeed in something, no matter how big, today.