Good morning, Digital Neighbors! Happy Thursday to all you fine souls frequenting the Rubin Report, Phetasy, Outspoken, or Padre’s. I have always enjoyed quotes. Sometimes a well-stated thought can convey far more meaning and relevance than any long lecture or presentation.

Back in the late ’90s, when one could still shop at malls and browse in smaller bookstores like Walden Books, B. Dalton, or Borders, you’d discover random gems on the shelves. That was part of the joy of loitering for long stretches in those little shops. Amazon was still more of a novelty back then, and malls were where people went. Barnes & Noble was one of the giants, and their bookstores even sold coffee—what an invitation to loiter even longer!

One of those pleasant little finds was The Forbes Leadership Library—a set of eight small books published between 1995 and 1998. Each one was chock-full of quotes under various headings such as wisdom, courage, opportunity, success, and so forth. I thought a visit with some of these little gems over the next few weeks would be worthwhile. Mondays and Thursdays will be for quotes, keeping things fresh between my usual ramblings on words, prayers, and other ruminations. A few thoughts from the compilation on wisdom, under the heading of “advice”: Unsolicited advice or opinion is one of the quickest ways to sour a conversation—and possibly a relationship. Off to the quotes! Happy Thursday, my friends!

When you talk, you repeat what you already know; when you listen, you often learn something. — Jared Sparks

He is an incorrigible ass who never listens to others. — Baltasar Gracián

Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who rejected you, and braced themselves against you, or disputed the passage with you? — Walt Whitman

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