The Thornton Group: Favorite Quotes

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

— Jim Barksdale

"Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued: it must ensue ... as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself."

— Viktor Frankl

"Great leaders never tell people how to do their jobs. They set the goals and establish the framework. Lousy leaders think they know it all, and all the while, their organizations sit there, aquiver with potential."

— General Norman Schwartzkopf

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

— Gandhi

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."

— Vernon Law

"There is no limit to the amount of good that people can accomplish, if they don't care who gets the credit."

— Peter Gabriel

"If I have seen further than others it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

— Isaac Newton

"If you deliberately set out to be less than you are capable, you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."

— Abraham Maslow

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

— Michelangelo

"Companies don't grow because they represent a particular sector or adopt the latest management approach. They win because they engage the hearts and minds of individuals who are dedicated to answering the question of who they really are -- and connecting that to work that they truly love (and, in so doing, unleashing a productive and creative power that they never imagined)."

— Po Bronson

"In my experience, any leader, military or civilian, has one priority: the quality of the people under his command. Without their skill and spirit, the best plans and policies turn to dust."

— Michael Abrashoff

"If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first hour sharpening the ax."

— Abraham Lincoln

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson