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Quote Challenge

Remember that question from last week’s Quip? Well, the answer is below.

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a  medieval study hall.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the famed Green Bay Packers football coach admitted to a slight bias in the offering of this quote.  Vince Lombardi

* * *

“Common sense is the set of prejudices acquired by  age eighteen.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the inventor of the world’s best known formula: E=mc2, by age 15, had read Immanuel Kant and written On the investigation of the state of ether in a magnetic field.    Albert Einstein

* * *

“I learned law so well that the day I graduated, I sued the college and got my tuition back.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the radio comedian who got most of his real education at the Boston Public Library, maintained a mock feud with fellow funster Jack Benny.

* * *

“If future generations are to remember us with more gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just miracles of technology.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the the 36th President and legendary lawmaker pushed through the Civil Rights act.  Mr. Lyndon Johnson.

* * *

“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the American President who saw us through the Civil War believed that war, like conversation, should be completed “with malice towards none.”    Abraham Lincoln

* * *

“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, ‘I’m no speechmaker,’ let it go at that, instead of giving us a demonstration?”

Author: Those words were spoken by the Indianapolis News cartoonist and journalist created the “Abe Martin” drawings that appeared in over 200 U.S. papers weekly.    Kin Hubbard

* * *

 “Self-made men tend to be a little too proud of the job.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the 19th century humorist, noted for his truly original spelling, came by his trade honestly – being the son and nephew of Congressmen.    Josh Billings

* * *

“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”

Author:  Those words were spoken bythe American President who saw us through the Civil War believed that war, like conversation, should be completed “with malice towards none.” Abraham Lincoln

* * *

“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, ‘I’m no speechmaker,’ let it go at that, instead of giving us a demonstration?”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Kin Hubbard

* * *

 “Self-made men tend to be a little too proud of the job.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Josh Billings

* * *

“Seriousness is stupidity sent to college.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by none other than Razor-tongued journalist of America’s politics and well-foibled culture – Mr P.J. O’Rourke.

  * * *

“Washington D.C. is a city of southern efficiency and northern charm.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by  John F. Kennedy

* * *

There is a vast difference between the savage and the civilized man.  But it is never apparent to their wives until after breakfast.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Helen Rowland,  This New York Times Journalist wrote a column “Reflections of a Bachelor Girl” and the wittily truth-laden book “A Guide to Men.”

  * * *

“Nothing gives us courage more readily than the desire to avoid looking like a damn fool.

Author:  Those words were spoken by this Pennsylvania-born, wildly best-selling novelist of suspense thrillers penned “Demon Seed” and “The Key to Midnight.”. Dean Kootz.

* * *

“Maturity comes when you have the first real good laugh at yourself.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by “The First Lady of the American Theatre”, Ethel Barrymore

* * *

“Women have always been the guardians of wisdom and humanity which makes them natural, but usually secret rulers.  The time has come for them to rule openly, but together with and not against men.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the Polish-born psychotherapist wrote the groundbreaking 1977 book “Bisexuality.”  Dr. Charlotte Wolff

* * *

“The bitterness of poor service remains long after the elation of low prices is forgotten.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Ben Franklin

* * *

“Credit cards are like snakes – handle ‘em long enough and one  of them will bite you.”

Author: Those words were spoken by Elizabeth Warren

* * *

“The chief value of money is that one lives in a world in which  it is overestimated.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by H.L. Mencken

* * *

“The only difference between death and taxes is that death  doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Will Rogers.

The Harmonies of our World – From Costa Rica’s Bellbird To Joshua Bell

‘Twas a dizzyingly moveable feast of music.   Within barely more than one brief rotation of our terrestrial orb I have had my soul opened to the finest music that we humans and the Divine have to offer.

The morning sun’s lifting over the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica once again orchestrates a fugal flood of God’s most elegant song birds.  Our guide Abraham slings his scope and tripod over shoulder, leading Lorraine and me down slender trails through the leafy jungle.  Somewhere, amidst this dense ramage, bellbirds cello, pink-legged woodrails trill, tanagers staccato, and the clay-colored thrush lets loose the sweet stab of a call that has won him the honor of Costa Rica’s National bird.  Thousands join the chorus – even sun-dappled pairs of macaws lend their raucous cries to this symphonic surge of life.

Compared to Abraham, Lorraine and I cannot find a lion in our living room, but with his tutelage and our binoculars we try to poke our eyes where bodies could not possibly penetrate – to spy the sources of this symphony in the bush.  With each bird sighted comes an almost disenchanting ease at their songs.  Such magnificent rhapsodies so effortlessly, so spontaneously brought forth – and yet enchanting beyond telling.

Then, suddenly – thanks to the near-magical mechanics of today’s travel, and scores unseen assisting hands –  here Lorraine and I sit: a mere tanager’s swoop from virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields Orchestra performing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1.  (After landing at Newark airport, a friend raced us home with enough time to pick up our tickets and arrive back at Newark’s NJ Performing Arts Center for the 8 p.m. curtain.) Poised concentration etched Bell’s face and passion poured through his agile fingers and on into the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius which delivered his mastery.  That same awe of the Avian’s morning’s symphony returned.  Again, we paused, still, amazed that such beauty was ours for the hearing…reveling in the sounds and letting our souls crescendo and descend with the moment of the music.

But with this second concerto an additional emotion kept creeping in: admiration.  Joshua Bell had labored admirably, astoundingly, to achieve this pinnacle of performance.  The untold thousands of hours of practice, the hundreds of thousands of hours of his fellow musicians in the orchestra, had prepared them for this soul-enriching experience we were sharing.  And even during the performance, each measure of music hung precariously on that instant’s expertise.

The entire house rose to its feet and applauded the artists – none more enthusiastically than Lorraine and I.  To compare the morning’s vs. the evening’s symphony would be ludicrous.  Both transformed and uplifted me.  Both were divinely inspired.  Yet walking out of NJPAC into the evening air, the truth of this beauty became clear: whatever the source we are better for seeking it; we should accept it with gratitude; and while beauty’s creation comes with easy spontaneity for some and only with sweat for others, it always God’s best within us.

             – Bart Jackson

Nomination Call for Prometheus Awards

The Prometheus Awards recognize those exceptional individuals who by their personal example and their inventive enterprises enrich the human community and shed light into our world.

Right now Prometheus publishing is conducting a call for Nominations – so if you know an

individual – an idealist who is putting his or her creative sweat and energy into a project that is enriching some corner of the human community, for-profit or non-profit we invite you to share their rays of hope and nominate them as candidate for a Prometheus Award.

You may  nominate a candidate by visiting https://bartsbooks.com/businessess-best/ and complete the short nomination form.  Or you may email info@bartsbooks.com sending your name and contact info, the candidate’s name and a brief description of their accomplishments.

For further details on the Awards ceremony,  what honorees receive etc. or to – or to nominate a candidate – we invite you to write to Info@bartsbooks.com

Prometheus was the ancient Greek Titan who defied the gods and brought to humankind the gift of fire.  From that light onward, there was no going back.

 

 

Conducting the Orchestra – CEOs Learn from the Maestro

Listen in at:   https://www.theartoftheceo.com/   

Maestro Roger Nierenberg knows the techniques, actions, and attitudes demanded to lift an orchestra – and each musician – to peak performance. They are the exact same leadership moves required by business executives to inspire their teams to the top.  Host Bart Jackson discusses The Music Paradigm, Nierenberg’s inventive program in which C-suiters are mingled amongst the musicians at an actual rehearsal led by this Maestro, and biz folks observe leadership demonstrated in a tempo accelerando.  The Paradigm holds up a stunning, if not always comfortable mirror to business leaders.  And the top exec teams from YouTube, Bank of America, Kellogg, and BBC are praising and paying Nierenberg for the valuable enlightenment.  Tune in and learn how artfully directed music makes Caesars of the savage biz execs.

Bart Jackson Speaks – Feb 15th Getting a Grip on Your Career – Wiser Choices

When: Friday, Feb. 15 – 9:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.                                                                                                       

Where: The Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St., Princeton NJ 08542

In truth, most folks hit what they aim at.  How do you lift your head out of that narrow rut that defines your career as a series of jobs and list of skills? What practical tactics will rip off the blinders, reveal opportunities, and set your precious energies on the road to fulfillment – and fun?  With great good humor, we will look at the examples of some amazing individuals, showing how their career choices (good & blunderful) made all the difference.  Then, we’ll attack your individual needs, and lay out some solid some solid strategies.  No slides – no PowerPoint – bring notebook.

To learn more about the Princeton Public Library visit:  https://www.psgofmercercounty.org/

Bart Jackson bio:

Bart Jackson serves as CEO of Prometheus Publishing & BartsBooks Ultimate Business Guides, and hosts The Art of the CEO radio show. He is the founder of Biz4NJ online business journal, The Accomplished Professionals Breakfast in Manhattan, and the International Prometheus Awards.  His books include CEO of Yourself, The Art of the CEO, Behind Every Successful Woman Is Herself, and So That’s How they Do it – Tactics of Business Masters.  Bart spent the previous decades as a globe-trotting journalist, carting his pen and curiosity through over 80 countries, drumming up about 150 new writing jobs every year. Bart’s most prized writings are the poems penned to his wife Lorraine, which are published on the north wall of his home in Cranbury, NJ.