"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

— Winston Churchill

Reading: The Story of the Malakand Field Force by Winston Churchill →

The story of a young Winston Churchill in 1897 fighting fanatical tribal warriors in modern day Pakistan—see his chilling description of what we hear all too often in today’s news:

Every influence, every motive, that provokes the spirit of murder among men, impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. The strong aboriginal propensity to kill, inherent in all human beings, has in these valleys been preserved in unexampled strength and vigour. That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword—the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men—stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism.
Wikipedia 

I haven’t read this book yet, but came across of a reference to it in my current team read at the office (The Mission, The Men and Me, more about that in a future post) and was delighted to find the free Kindle edition of the eBook on Project Gutenberg. I believe this is the hardcover edition depicted by the cover image above.

"The mind is its own place and in itself can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell."

— Milton, Paradise Lost

"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself."

— Michel de Montaigne

"Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness."

— Michel de Montaigne

"No dictatorship can tolerate jazz. It’s the first sign of a return to freedom."

— Dave Brubeck

"Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. "

— Pauline R. Kezer

"People blame their plight on the government and its leaders, or to management and its leaders. They may be correct. But will a change in leadership assure better living? What if the new leaders are no better? How could they be? By what method could new leaders bring improvement in living? Will best efforts bring improvement? Best efforts and hard work, not guided by new knowledge, they only dig deeper the pit that we are in."

— W. Edwards Deming

"Learn to appreciate as an artist things as simple as the day; sleep; walking and running—a room—an ordinary phrase; to read instinct; to drink, to gaze at oneself or speak to oneself—to see afresh, in other words, what has been seen so often—but in its place."

— Paul Valéry

"The universe is built on a plan the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect."

— Paul Valéry

"Ithaca does not exist; only the voyage to Ithaca."

— Nikos Kazanzakis

"Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something they’ve never seen before, something that does not yet exist."

— Rosabeth Moss Kanter 

"Leaders must pick causes they won’t abandon easily, remain committed despite setbacks, and communicate their big ideas over and over again in every encounter."

— Rosabeth Moss Kanter