Quotes for 2009

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Nearly three decades ago, Tom Peters co-authored a book that became one of the biggest-selling business books of all time: In Search of Excellence. One of its eight underlying excellence principles was: “Take Action.” In other words, Get Things Done.

Peters hasn’t slowed down a whit over the years. He’s still writing best-selling books, consulting on numerous topics, winning international awards, flying across the planet to give talks… Definitely a man on the go. The personal symbol he utilizes on his website and books—a fat red exclamation point—is quite apt.

Peters once put together a list of his 41 favorite quotes to help others “ruminate on where you’ve been, and where you might go.”

To start off the New Year, here are a lucky fourteen of Tom Peters’ treasures:

“We have a ’strategic’ plan. It’s called doing things.”—Herb Kelleher, Founder of Southwest Airlines
“If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.”—Seth Godin
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”—Charles Darwin
“We may not be interested in chaos but chaos is interested in us.”—Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”—General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U. S. Army
“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”—Mario Andretti
“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”–-The Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins’ character)
“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.”—Isabel Allende
“Nobody can prevent you from choosing to be exceptional.”—Mark Sanborn, The Fred Factor
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”—Mary Oliver
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”—Helen Keller
“Make your life itself a creative work of art.”—Mike Ray, The Highest Goal
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”—James Dean