Jan 31 2011

One of my colleagues heard this quote over the weekend. He came in and it was brought up today in conversation. A quote that came from an Ice Road trucker of all places – a proper American Red Neck I am sure. How appropriate in so many ways and how poignant. For me personally it means more about the edge of our limitations and how we should be constantly pushing ourselves to be better.

What really got me thinking though, is how much we use what other people say to make our point. We are creating a planning booklet for use by some of our clients and we have included a number of quotations by famous and not so famous people to assist in motivating them. Quotations that say things like “Knowing is not enough, we must apply, Willing is not enough, we must do” (Johann von Goethe).

How often do we rely on the words and thoughts of others to influence people, why is it that if someone famous said it, or if it is a famous saying, then it holds more influence than us saying our own thoughts? Why is it we need the thoughts or words of others to build or gain our credibility?

Oscar Wilde said “A man who does not think for himself, does not think at all” (building my credibility) and yet we insist on quoting others to make our point.