Notas de la vida de un pastor de Jorge Puyó Navarro. Frases III

-No hace falta más que lo que se daba antes cuando esto iba bien porque se hacían las cosas bien: guía de circulación y origen por la alcaldía respectiva, y el certificado de Sanidad del Inspector Veterinario correspondiente. Ni más ni menos.
-Aragón y Huesca sobre todo, con el precio más bajo del resto de las otras provincias en la carne de ganado lanar, es la zona que más caro le cuesta el producir.
-Los ganaderos en sí, sólo producimos carne y lana buenas, que nos cuesta mucho para darlas por poco; mientras los otros restantes elementos vitales  que necesitamos para nuestra existencia, van por las nubes!
-Y ante esta lamentable situación considero que nuestra clase está necesitando de una formidable reacción, cuyo principal lenitivo bien podríamos encontrarlo en la creación de un órgano periodístico, diario en cada provincia, con la misión de proteger nuestras legítimas aspiraciones y encauzar, defender y fomentar nuestra riqueza, hoy en deriva, como elemento muy fundamental dentro del marco de la economía nacional.
-Y se vive, ciertamente, pero de un modo lánguido, con el pulso a saltos como el enfermo grave, disgustados, mal del todo. Porque dentro de la vida azarosa que llevamos, cuando las promesas no pasan de promesas y los proyectos no dan paso a la realidad, el espíritu decae y la materia decrece, sumiendo poco menos que en la muerte práctica el temperamento más decidido, animado y fuerte. Y en este caso estamos nosotros.
-Huesca tiene los precios más bajos de España.
-Otro aspecto del asunto, quizá el más importante de todos, lo tenemos en los pastos de invernada, en su escasez y en su enorme carestía.
-Alejados de nuestra tierra siete meses (noviembre a junio), con desplazamientos casi increíbles, que originan hasta quince días de largas jornadas, plenas todas ellas de inconvenientes y hasta de atropellos, por cabañeras en general no clasificadas, apatía condenable de las autoridades que dejan las órdenes incumplidas, llegan los ganados a las paridera medio exhaustos, en las peores condiciones de resistencia y fuerza para poder sacar la cria adelante. Y no hablemos de los gastos fantásticos que estas marchas originan.

Notas de la vida de un pastor de Jorge Puyó Navarro. Frases II

-Cuando se habla de ganadería, siempre se toca tema muy interesante, porque en el orden de la economía nacional es la primera que figura, después de su hermana la agricultura.
-Sólo para hacer resaltar la enorme importancia de la producción pecuaria, consignar que el valor de uno solo de los elementos que la integran, el de la leche, por ejemplo, es análogo al valor total de la cosecha de vino en España, doble que el carbón producido en el país, mayor que el de toda la producción minera, que el de la fruta y que el del azúcar.
-A lo tuyo, tú.
-Con ser condición buena el ser ganadero entendido, hay que ser antes pastores que ganaderos.
-La ciencia, cosa natural, está en la clase veterinaria y ésta, a decir verdad, apenas si está en contacto con la ganadería por ella representada. Si se quiere, pues, que esta especial riqueza subsista, ese mayor acercamiento entre científicos y productores es necesario, absolutamente necesario. Y para ello, yo indicaría la forma más viable, que bien podría consistir en organizar en Jaca para el verano próximo, como sede de la ganadería provincial, unos cursillos o conferencias de divulgación, a base de inspectores, como profesores; y de pastores o ganaderos, como alumnos. Los temas a tratar habrían de ser los prácticamente necesarios: patología y terapéutica, legislación, industrialización y comercio de leches y carnes, etc, etc.
-"Si a los oidos de los príncipes llegasen las verdades desnudas sin los vestidos de la lisonja, otros tiempos correríamos y otro pelo nos luciría", dijo Don Quijote a Sancho. Esta frase cervantina bien podríamos hacerla nuestra en el caso que nos ocupa.
-Si los que legislaron asuntos ganaderos conocieran nuestra vida práctica y su desarrollo en toda su amplitud; o si a la mesa de los altos despachos llegasen las cosas tal como nacen, se proponen y salen de los medios rurales, sin desfigurarlas en el camino con disgregaciones o añadidos, otro sería nuestro porte, otra nuestra situación y otro estado de ánimo nos halagaría para mirar con más optimismo hacia tiempos venideros.
-Es innegable,y seamos sinceros en confesarlo, que la ganadería española vive poco más o menos en la orfandad, pasando por los momentos más calamitosos de su historia, y ello tiene su origen en la apatía de que está caracterizada, sobre todo en la zona rural, y de dejarse suplantar por quien no la conoce ni la quiere, dejándola vivir poco menos que de favor.

Notas de la vida de un pastor de Jorge Puyó Navarro. Frases

-A mis hijos Ochita y Pepito y nieta Marisé, con encargo de que sigan las huellas de su padre.
-Te diré que el contenido de este pequeño libro ha sido escrito en el silencio nocturno de la paridera en el crudo invierno, y en la soledad de las altas montañas en el caluroso verano. Los puertos de la vertiente de Zuriza y los de Guarrinza y, sobre todo, Aguatuerta, los tres de extraordinaria belleza, fueron testigos y me movieron e impulsaron a hacer esto, que no tiene más que el natural buen deseo de dejar algo de mi paso por la vida.
-Total, poca cosa, sino ligera recopilación de mi paso por este pequeño mundo, hoy como ayer poblado de ruindades humanas, personales y colectivas, hijo todo ello de bajas pasiones nacidas de la perniciosa envidia , donde está la raíz de todos los males de la tierra.
-Que te apiades, pues, de la deficiencia que en la forma puedas encontrar a través de las páginas que te ofrece, te ruega encarecidamente su autor.
-Un pueblo ganadero de la importancia de Ansó, requiere una organización verdaderamente sólida y una directiva integrada por hombres de mucha diligencia y buena voluntad.
-Organicémonos y desechemos la independencia anárquica. Nombremos una junta directiva sólida y entusiasta con el debido tiempo para que en el presente año forestal de 1928 pueda hacer uso de las facultades que reglamentariamente le están conferidas, puesto que de ello depende el progreso social y económico de todos nosotros.
-Sr. D. Domingo Miral, catedrático de Filosofía  Letras, Zaragoza. Señor de mi consideración: Usted que conoce perfectamente los problemas vitales de Hecho y Ansó, se habrá dado cuenta del transtorno inmenso que hemos sufrido con motivo de la crisis pecuaria que venimos padeciendo. Las causas de la misma son casi inconcebibles e inexplicables, porque vendiendo los corderos y ovejas a precios bajísimos, desastrosos, pues el promedio de los mismos no ha pasado de 30 pesetas, se ha vendido y véndese bastante todavía a precios elevados.
-Impulsado por el deseo de salvarnos de una ruina ya cercana, me tomo el atrevimiento, y hágame el favor de perdonarme, de dirigirme respetuosamente a usted en súplica de que reproduzca su citado artículo o nos diga algo análogo, para ver si levantan estos espíritus pobres y débiles y acordamos, pero todos a una, intentar hacer algo positivo.
-Los ansotanos hacemos el queso con cuajo en polvo puramente de estómago de terneros, esencia delicadísima que requiere un exquisito tacto al hacer su empleo. Es  tan activa la acción del mismo que a los pocos minutos está la cuajada en condiciones de ser agitada y recogida para llevarla a los moldes. Los resultados, pues son excelentes y el queso  resulta muy fino y mantecoso, de forma tal, que al partirlo quédanse adheridas al corte las partículas que lo subdividen. Esta es la prueba más elocuente de su buena calidad.

Calendar Book # 8: August: Notas de la vida de un pastor de Jorge Puyó

Pastores de Pirineo de Severino Pallaruelo. Frases VI

-Los grandes ganaderos vendían en la tierra baja algunos animales y la lana que cada año obtenían de sus rebaños.
-El de Santa Orosia, es otro de los cultos pastoriles más impornantes de los Pirineos. Cuentan las viejas crónicas que Orosia nació en Bohemia, de padres nobles. Por complicadas vías se acordó el matrimonio de la noble joven con el rey de Aragón. Llegó Orosia con su séquito a las montañas de Yebra de Basa y antes de hallar a su prometido fue descubierta por un jefecillo musulmán llamado Ben Lupo que la quiso tomar por su esposa. Se opuso la joven y fue decapitada por el moro. Donde su cabeza cayó, nacieron tres fuentes. Su cuerpo fue enterrado en el puerto de Yebra de Basa, que solo por pastores era visitado. Pareció ignorado el paradero de la santa princesa hasta que un prodigio celeste reveló a un pastor el lugar donde reposaban los restos de la santa. El pastor que halló el cuerpo incorrupto de la santa y su cabeza, dejó ésta última por indicación celestial en Yebra y llevó el cuerpo a Jaca. En estos lugares se siguen conservando ambas reliquias. En Yebra el cráneo, en un hermoso relicario antropomorfo, y en Jaca el cuerpo, en una artística caja de plata. Hay varias fechas en las que se acude a la ermita, pero es el 25 de junio cuando tiene lugar la romería más masiva, probablemente no superada en esplendor por ninguna de las que se celebran en los Pirineos.
-Jorge Puyó, escritor y ganadero, pastor de Ansó, que ha puesto durante casi todo el siglo su pluma al servicio de los intereses ganaderos, no ha dejado de clamar contra "la reja arbitraria del labrador" que invadía las cabañeras. Junto a esta protesta frente a los labradores que "carcomían" las vías pecuarias, la exigencia del cumplimiento de las disposiciones legales vigentes sobre las vías pecuarias, es otra constante er. las publicaciones de Puyó.
-Llegó el pleito al Ministerio de Fomento y falló a favor de los ansotanos. Da noticia Puyó de este conflicto en un escrito de 1928. Desde esta fecha Puyó se ha ocupado insistentemente de las vías pecuarias: "Lo hemos dicho en más de una ocasión y no nos cansaremos de repetirlo, aunque nos llamen machaca. Las vías pecuarias en esta provincia están sobradamente deshechas y absolutamente abandonadas a la indiferencia de las autoridades rurales. Desde el Pirineo al llano, las tenemos interrumpidas, cortadas y desviadas con detrimento de los intereses ganaderos. No hay uno, tan solo uno (tramo de cabañera) que se halle respetado. Unos se hallan carcomidos por la reja arbitraria del labrador vecino; otros obstruidos por la repoblación forestal; de cortados, quedando en punto muerto, podemos también hablar.
-Todo este círculo de problemas hacían exclamar a Jorge Puyó, hace veinte años (1968), que los 200 kilómetros que separan los puertos veraniegos de los pastos de invernada se convertían en un tormento para los pastores.

Pastores del Pirineo de Severino Pallaruelo. Frases V

-Suelen los ganados de estas montañas para dar a conocer quién es su propietario llevar una marca y una señal. La señal se hace en las orejas del animal, cortando algunos trozos de las mismas. La marca va grabada con pez o pintura en el lomo o costados de las ovejas.
-Se marca el ganado cada año antes de subir a las montañas. Las fechas de marcar son las que van desde el esquileo (mayo-junio) hasta la subida a los puertos (julio).
-Después de esquilar se espera unos días para que crezca un poco la lana antes de poner la marca sobre los animales.
-La marca se estampa mediante un hierro que tiene la forma del signo propia de cada casa.
-Los machos para distinguirlos con facilidad, son marcados de modo especial: se les colocan las marcas en lugares distintos que a las hembras o se les ponen marcas dobles.
-En todos los valles pirenaicos el queso obtenido de la leche de vaca y sobre todo de las cabras y de las ovejas ha constituido una importante fuente alimenticia para los montañeses.
-El queso no se elaboraba en cualquier época del año. Los días más adecuados eran los que seguían al destete de los corderos, es decir, la segunda quincena de junio y la primera de julio, cuando las ovejas acababan de ascender a los puertos.
-Jorge Puyó, el pastor-escritor de Ansó narra con la maestría que le caracteriza y que se fundamenta en us experiencia, los trabajos queseros en los puertos de Ansó:
"A muy poca distancia de nuestro puerto lindo de Zuriza, parajes incomparables, según frase de mi querido amigo don José María Albareda Herrera, todo brisas salutíferas y pleno de virtudes terapéuticas, se alza una meseta de no muy elevada altura, en cuya pradera, rodeada de hayas gigantescas, se ve la construcción de un muidero, destinado al encierro y ordeño de las ovejas. Consiste éste en dos pasillos de unos cuarenta metros de longitud por tres de anchura, capaces para unas seiscientas ovejas, a cargo de tres operarios. Su construcción está basada en una fuerte estacada de madera procedente de árboles derribados por los huracanados vientos del invierno. El ganado siempre se muestra reacio a la entrada y gracias al auxilio de los perros semisos los pastores pueden dominarlo y conseguir su fin. El ordeño, siempre a campo libre, se verifica dos veces al día:  a las cuatro de la mañana y a las dos de la  tarde, llueva o deje de llover, haga calor o deje de hacerlo. La tarea del ordeño en estas montañas, a 1500 metros de altura, es pesada y muy costosa. El refugio es pésimo. Consiste en un chabola de unos ocho metros de longitud por tres de anchura y dos escasos de altitud. Basado en esto, es muy incómodo e incapaz, porque apenas puede incorporarse uno. Su armazón la componen unas viejas vigas de madera de haya apoyadas en el puente principal, descansando sobre el santo suelo. Un tabique de tierra incrustada entre estacas situadas verticalmente divide el edificio en dos partes iguales: la primera para el trabajo de elaboración y descanso: la segunda, para la salazón, fermentación y curación del queso. Sobre tablas suspendidas se pone el queso, que no ve luz alguna si no es el día que hace aire cierzo. Y en esta situación permanece todo su proceso, hasta que se pone en condiciones de transporte y consumo.
-De sus 600 ovejas ansotanas, don Jorge Puyó obtenía  cada día de ordeño 20 kilos de queso. 
-Don Jorge Puyó escribió unas líneas en defensa del queso ansotano frente al roncalés. Se quejaba Puyó de que en los comercios se vendiera el queso de Ansó bajo la denominación de queso roncalés.

Pastores del Pireneo de Severino Pallaruelo. Frases IV

-Sin lugar a dudas, los días de parizón o de aparizonar, cuando se producian la mayor parte de los partos, eran de intensa actividad para los pastores. La parizón se extendía a lo largo del mes de diciembre, sobre todo en su segunda quincena, y durante la primera quincena de enero.
-En los rebaños grandes, los días de parizón se producian a veces hasta 40 ó más partos diarios.
-Los viejos pastores dicen que los partos debían realizarse en la tierra llana porque ofrece mejores condiciones climáticas que la montaña.
-Además había que evitar que hubiera partos en los viajes trashumantes.
-Se juntaban los machos con las ovejas a finales de julio. Las ovejas dejaban los puertos preñadas.
-La marca se hace con pez cada año en junio, y al año siguiente, si algún resto de la misma quedaba, desaparece con el esquileo. La señal se hace cortando unos trocitos de oreja en el animal joven y es imborrable por el paso del tiempo.
-Hay seis modelos de cortes que pueden hacerse en una oreja y que se conocen con los nombres de forqueta, osqueta, fendida, resacada, espuntada y agujereada.
-Los cortes de las orejas se hacían y se hacen con navaja o con tijeras.
-Se escodan las corderas que van a dejarse para madres con el fin de facilitar la cubrición. No se escodan los animales que van a ser vendidos ni los corderos que se reservan para padres. Tradicionalmente se realizaba esta tarea en dos fechas que coincidian con celebraciones religiosas: Viernes Santo y el dia de Todos los Santos.
-Se esquilan las ovejas en primavera antes de ascender a los puertos. Del esquileo se ocupaban los dueños de los rebaños o cuadrillas de esquiladores. El día anterior a la jornada de esquileo, por la tarde, el pastor bajaba los corderos y corderas. Ponía delante del rebaño de animales jóvenes algunos chotos con grandes esquilas para que sirvieran de guías, como cuando iban de trashumancia, y se encaminaban al pueblo. Encerraba los corderos y corderas en un corral y, a la mañana siguiente, cuando salía el sol, comenzaban a esquilar. Trabajaban en el corral de la casa, formando los esquiladores un rolde  (círculo).
-Se calculaban cincuenta ovejas por cada esquilador y día, aunque casi siempre llegaban a esquilar 60 y, en casos extraordinarios, hasta 70.
-En el valle de Ansó, que por aquellas fechas (1866) tenía una cabaña lanar que rondaba las treinta mil cabezas, podemos calcular una producción de 76.500 kilogramos de lana con un valor de 582.857 reales. Este dinero equivalía en aquella época al salario anual de unos 1000 pastores o el valor de unas 10000 ovejas.

Pastores del Pirineo de Severino Pallaruelo. Frases III

-Santa Cilia de Jaca es el gran núcleo central de las cabañeras occidentales. Allí confluyen los ganados de Ansó, Hecho, y Aragüés. Desde Santa Cecilia parten dos rutas principales. Una, más oriental, atraviesa algunos pueblos y muchas pardinas: Lardiés, Alastruey, Arbués, Paternoy, Bergosal, Lagé, Visús, Santa María, Murillo, Ardisa,  y valle bajo del Gállego, donde invernaban algunos rebaños.
La otra más oriental, va por Santa Cruz de la Serós, pardina de Altasorbe, Anzánigo, Ayerbe.
-En otoño, cuando van a dejar los puertos, las ovejas también parecen notar que han de marchar, que ya no se puede seguir en aquellas alturas. Jorge Puyó , atento observador de su rebaño escribía: "En esta mañana serena de mediados de noviembre, no hay una sola nube en el cielo ansotano del valle de Zuriza. Soledad, mucha soledad. Una casa-cuartel, con sus correspondientes carabineros o guardias civiles de fronteras y, en sus alrededores, un rebaño de ganado que pasta, algo inquieto ya, esperando la presencia y la voz de su amo, para ponerse súbitamente firmes, a toda marcha hacia él. Esta actitud aleccionadora y sabia de nuestras ovejas nos dice que ya no debían estar aquí, porque el corderillo crece en el vientre, y necesitan más pastos para su desarrollo. Y tiene razón. Pero nuestro ganado ignora lo que nosotros sabemos. Y es que en la Ribera, en la tierra de invernada, no hay hierba viva alguna, ni agua en las balsas. Ésta es la causa fundamental de nuestra tardanza.
 Pero nos vamos... nos vamos porque aquí no se puede estar ya. A una llamada, ocupando en su totalidad el estrecho camino que nos conduce a Ansó. No se queda ni una sola cabeza atrás; solamente yo, en las últimas, vuelvo la cara unos minutos para decirle a Zuriza y su dilatado e incomparable valle: ahí te quedas, muda y solitaria, para unos meses, llevándonos en nuestros ganados tus frutos generosos, transformados en lana, carne y sebo.
-Una fresca mañana de noviembre, con las caballerías cargadas, las esquilas reparadas y bien sujetas, la guía en el bolsillo del mayoral y una mezcla de emociones, inquietud, tristeza en los que se van y en los que se quedan, el rebaño emprende la marcha entre los ladridos de los perros, el ruido de las esquilas, los gritos de despedida, las voces con las últimas recomendaciones y las órdenes del mayoral.
-Encabezando el rebaño iban los chotos que lo guiaban con sus enormes esquilas.

Pastores del Pirineo. Frases II

-Para S. Miguel (29 de Septiembre), si el amo estaba satisfecho y el mayoral se encontraba fuerte, era de nuevo "afirmado".
-D. Ramón Violant, señalaba distintas costumbres pastoriles relacionadas con la jerarquía:
1. La autoridad del mayoral se plasma ritualmente en las comidas: si algún pastor come mientras el mayoral bebe, éste le golpea la cuchara tirándole la comida (Ansó).
2. Cuando beben, ningún pastor puede comer mientras los otros no acaban de beber (Gistaín)
3. Si un pastor desobedecía la mayoral, era castigado y debía dar varias vueltas corriendo alrededor del fuego (Gistaín).
4. Si un rabadán se dormía cuidando el ganado, el mayoral le "cosía la oreja", afilaba un palito de boj y lo clavaba en la oreja del que se dormía. A veces le encendía un poco de lana entre los dedos (Ansó).
-En el Alto Aragón las vías pecuarias empleadas en la trashumancia reciben el nombre de "cabañeras".
--En el valle de Ansó, el ciclo trashumante tradicional traía los rebaños de la tierra baja en la primera quincena del mes de mayo. Durante los meses de mayo y junio, los rebaños pastaban en los llamados "bajantes", pastos situados en la parte baja del valle, entre 800 y 1000 metros de altitud, en las cercanías de la villa de Ansó. A partir del 25 de Junio, los corderos suben a los "borregariles", pastos situados entre 1600 y 1800 metros de altitud. Las ovejas ascienden a los puertos el 10 de Julio y permanecen en ellos hasta el 29 de Septiembre (San Gabriel arcangel). El mes de octubre pasta el ganado ovino de nuevo en los "bajantes" y en la primera quincena de noviembre descienden al "aborral". Los "aborrales" solían situarse en las sierras de los términos de Bailo, Longás, Paternoy o Villalangua. Permanecián en el "aborral" hasta mediados de diciembre y luego, cuando comenzaba la "parizón" partían hacia los lugares de invernada situados a 200 ó 300 metros de altitud, en los valles bajos del Cinca o del Gállego, en el valle del Ebro o en las Cinco Villas.

Pastores del Pirineo de Severino Pallaruelo. Frases I

-La "casa" lo ha sido todo en el Alto Aragón, donde el poder, la vida, la fama, y aún la responsabilidad no eran personales, sino colectivas, recayendo siempre en la "casa", cuyo jefe supremo, "el amo", transmitía su poder a uno solo de sus hijos o hijas.
-Desde la Baja Edad Media, hasta mediados del presente siglo (s. XX), cada casa se ha comportado como una célula con comportamiento económico autónomo: sus miembros consumían lo que producían.
-Los grandes ganaderos que poseían rebaños de más de mil ovejas, no se encargaban directamente de su cuidado: tenían pastores asalariados que guardaban el ganado, tanto en los puertos como en el valle, en los aborrales y en la tierra baja. Solía haber un pastor por cada 250 ovejas, aunque en los días de parizón se contrataba eventualmente algún otro.
-Entre los pastores asalariados que conducían los grandes rebaños trashumantes aparecía en toda su pureza la jerarquía pastoril. El jefe supremo del rebaño era el mayoral o mairal. Como el resto de los pastores, el mayoral, era contratado cada año por el ganadero. Este puesto representaba la culminación del oficio pastoril y sólo se llegaba a él tras muchos años de pastor. Era frecuente que un pastor sirviera durante años al mismo ganadero, que anualmente, fuera contratado de nuevo. Cuando por muerte o vejez del mayoral el amo debía contratar un nuevo jefe para su rebaño, lo buscaba entre los pastores que le servían desde hacía años.
-El mayoral era el responsable supremo del rebaño ante el amo, a quien rendía cuentas de todas las incidencias. Antes de marchar a la ribera el mayoral recibía del amo dinero para el viaje. Igual en el puerto que en el llano, el mayoral decidía los trabajos de los pastores, organizaba la división del rebaño y las zonas que debían pastarse cada día, controlaba cualquier incidencia y distribuia la comida. Tenia incluso autonomía para vender los animales viejos o enfermos y para despedir al pastor torpe, descuidado o malicioso que no cumpliera con su deber. Si los pastores comían en un caldero ninguno comenzaba a comer hasta que lo hacía el mayoral y nadia bebía si él no bebía. A la vez, nadie comía mientras él bebía. Si comía alguna vez en casa del amo, se le reservaba un puesto princial en la mesa.

Calendar Book #7 July: Pastores del Pirineo by Severino Pallaruelo

Automasaje para liberar la tensión de cuello, cervicales y de trapecios

Being mortal by Atul Gawande. Quotes

-People who had substantive discussions with their doctors about their end-of-life preferences were far more likely to die at peace and in control of their situation and to spare their family anguish.
-You live longer only when you stop trying to live longer.
-If you are talking more than half of the time, you are talking too much.
-He had that mid westerner's habit of waiting a bit after people have spoken before speaking himself, in order to see if they are really done.
-The finitude of one's time could be gift.
-Life is choices, and they are relentless.
-Courage is strength in the face of knowledge of what is to be feared or hoped.
-People want to share memories, pass on wisdoms and keepsakes, settle relationships, establish their legacies, make peace with God, and ensure that those who are left behind will be okay.
-No matter how much one has seen, nature refuses predictability.
-Being mortal is about the struggle to cope with the constraints of our biology, with the limits set by genes and cells, and flesh and bone.

Calendar Book #6: June: Being mortal by Atul Gawande

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes V

-Our population is broken into five segments that fall across a bell curve: innovators, early adoptors, early majority, late majority and laggards.
-Loyalty is when people are willing to suffer some inconvenience or pay a premium to do business with you.
-The goal of business should be to find people who believe what you believe, the left side of the curve.
-Energy motivates but charisma inspires and commands loyalty.
-With a group of believers all rallying around a common purpose, cause or believe, amazing things can happen.
-As is the case with almost all leaders, there were others around who knew better how to do that.
-There is always another perspective to be considered.
-To change the world takes the support of all those who  believe.
-Words are hollow, but deeds and values are deep.
-The way dictators maintain their power is through fear, reward and every other manipulation they can think of.
-The celery test: celery, rice milk, oreo cookies and M&M's.
-He believed that if he believed in looking after people, people would look after him.
-Success comes when we wake up every day  in that never-ending pursuit of why we do what we do.
-This is the reason they never feel satisfied no natter how big their yacht is, no matter how much they achieve. The false assumption we often make is that if we simply achieve more, the feeling of success will follow. But it rarely does.
-For companies of any size, success is the greatest challenge.
-I am not going to Starbucks! I am not paying five dollars for a cup of coffee.
-As the leader of the company, being the smartest was not her job. Her job was to lead the cause. To personify the values and remind everyone why the are there.
-About Walmart founder: he chastised his executives for driving expensive cars and resisted using a corporate jet for many years. If the average American did not have those things, then neither should those who are supposed to be their champions.
-Following the same formula as other inspiring leaders, Cotsco  believes in looking after its employees first.
-I had always been curious about why people do the things they do.
-When you compete against everyone else, nobody wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everybody wants to help you.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes IV

-The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.
-They believe they could and they trusted their people to do it.
-Those within a community, or an organization, they must trust that their leaders provide a net. With that feeling of support, those in the organization are more likely to put in extra effort that ultimately benefits the group as a whole.
-Great organizations become great because the people inside the organization feel protected.
-One of the best customer service companies in the country focuses on its employees before its customers.
-Great leaders lead with why.
-She's a great leader because she understands that earning the trust of an organization doesn't come from setting out to impress everyone, it comes from setting out to serve those who serve her.
-If companies do not actively work to keep their Golden Circle in balance, clarity, discipline and consistency, then trust starts to break down.
-Herb Kelleher recognized that to get the best out his employees he needed to create an environment in which they felt like the company cared about them.
-Employees come first and if employees are treated right, they treat the outside world right, the outside world uses the company's product again, and that makes the shareholders happy.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes III

-If a company mistreats their people, just watch how the employees treat their customers.
-You can´t have a good product without people who like coming to work.
-It is a company's responsibility to look after the employees first.
-Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders.
-Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.
-Leading is not the same as being the leader. Being the leader means you hold the highest rank. Leading, means that others willingly follow you no because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.
-Those who lead are able to do so because those who follow trust that the decisions made at the top have the best interest of the group at heart. In turn, those who trust work hard because they feel like they are working for something bigger than themselves.
-Most healthy people live their life to win. The only variation is the score we use. For some, it's money, for others it's fame or awards. For some it's power, love, a family or spiritual fulfillment. The metric is relative, but the desire is the same.
-Everything he talked about was in terms of how it benefited the employees. He instituted an open-door policy and made himself incredibly accessible. He focused on the things they knew to be important.
-Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we shared values and beliefs with others, we from trust. Trust of others allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival.
-There is a reason we are no friends with everyone we meet. We are friends with people who see the world the way we see it, who share our views and our belief set.
-It is completely false that all immigrants make productive members of a society.
-We do better in places that reflect our own values and beliefs.
-A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs. The goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill  set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.
-Shackleton hired only people who believed what he believed.
-When employees belong, they will guarantee your success.
-You don't hire for skill. You hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.
-Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them. They hire already motivated people  and inspire them.
-Companies with a strong sense of why are able to inspire their employees. Those employees are more productive and innovative, and the feeling they bring to work attracts other people  eager to work there as well. It's not such a stretch to see why the companies what we love to do business with are also the best employers.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes II

-The reason gut decisions feel right is because the part of the brain that controls them also controls our feelings.
-When you force people to make decisions with only the rational part of their brain, they almost invariably end up overthinking. These rational decisions tend to take longer to make and can often be of lower quality. In contrast, decisions made with the limbic brain, gut decisions, tend to be faster, higher-quality decisions.
-A failure to communicate why creates nothing but stress or doubt.
-Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can´t see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for.
-Great leaders are those who trust their gut. They are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds. They are the ones who start with why.
-When the why is absent, imbalance is produced and manipulations thrive.
-To lead requires those who willingly follow. It requires those who believe in something bigger than a single issue. To inspire starts with the clarity of why.
-For values or guiding principles to be truly effective, they have to be verbs.
-Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. It is at the what level that authenticity happens.
-Without a clear understanding of why, the instruction is completely useless.
-Authenticity produces relationships. Relationships build trust. With trust comes loyalty.
-Authenticity is when you say and do the things you actually believe.
-Loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people.
-No matter the manipulations you choose, this is not the way to build a trusting relationship.

Start with why by Simon Sinek. Quotes

-There are leaders and there are those who lead.
-Just about every person or organization needs to motivate others to act for some reason or another.
-Those who are able to inspire will create a following of people, supporters, voters, customers, workers, who act for the good of the whole not because they have to, but because they want to.
-People who love going to work are more productive and more creative. They go home happier and have happier families. They treat colleagues and clients and customers better. Inspired employees make for stronger companies and stronger economies.
-All the inspiring leaders and companies, regardless of size or industry, think, act and communicate exactly alike. And it's the complete opposite of everyone else.
-We make assumptions about the world around us based on sometimes incomplete or false information.
-Great leaders understand the value in the things we cannot see.
-Knowing you have a loyal customer and employee base not only reduces costs, it provides massive peace of mind. Like loyal friends, you know your customers and employees will be there for you when you need them the most. It is the feeling of 'we are in this together', share between customer and company, voter and candidate, boss and employee, that defines great leaders.
-The inspiring leaders think, act and communicate from the inside out.
-People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
-The need to belong is a feeling we get when those around us share our values and beliefs. When we feel like we belong we fee connected and we feel safe. As humans we crave the feeling and we seek it out.
-No matter where we go, we trust those with whom we are able to perceive common values or beliefs.
-The ability of those leaders and organizations to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.

Calendar Book May #5: Start with why by Simon Sinek

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes IX

-Discipline equals freedom.
-If you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.
-The only way you could make  time, was to get up early. That took discipline..
-Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional.
-Those who were at work before everyone else were the ones who were considered the best operators.
-When you have the discipline to get up early, you are rewarded with more free time.
-A leader must lead but also be ready to follow.
-A true leader is not intimidated when others step up and take charge. Leaders that lack confidence in themselves fear being out shined by someone else.
-A leader must be aggressive but not overbearing.
-Leaders who lose their temper also lose respect.
-A leader must be confident but never cocky.
-A leader must by able to speak up when it matters. They must be able to stand up for the team and respectfully push back against a decision, order, or direction that could negatively impact overall mission success.
-A leader must be close with subordinates but not too close. Leaders must never get so close that the team forgets who is in charge.
-A leader has nothing to prove but everything to prove.
-A good leader must  be:
. Confident.
. Courageous.
. Competitive.
. Attentive to detail.
. Strong.
. A leader and follower.
. Humble.
. Aggressive.
. Quiet.
. Calm.
. Close but not too close.
. Able to execute Extreme Ownership.
-A leader's best quality might be his confidence, but when he becomes overconfident he doesn't listen to others.
-The leadership principles:
. Be humble.
. Listen.
. Don't lie
. Work hard
. Be on time.
-Good performance comes from rehearsal.
-When someone is not leading you, then you lead them.
-The insecure leader is always worried about looking bad.
-It's actually a sign of insecurity if you can't ask when you need help with something.
-Leaders have to always recognize that their role is to detach.
-Leadership must be aligned with the front-line troops.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes VIII

-A public display of discontent or disagreement with the chain of command undermines the authority of leaders at all levels. This is catastrophic to the performance of any organization.
-As a leader, if you don't understand why decisions are being made, requests denied, or support allocated elsewhere, you must ask those questions up the chain. Then, once understood, you can pass that understanding down to your team.
-Take responsibility; look in the mirror first; don't ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do.
-Despite the forceful pressure to comply, I had to take a step back and see the bigger picture.
-Know your target and what is beyond it.
-Jocko has always encouraged us to be aggressive in decision-making.
-In combat as in life, the outcome is never certain, the picture never clear. There are no guarantees of success. But in order to succeed, leaders must be comfortable under pressure, and act on logic, not emotion. This is a critical component to victory.
-Leaders cannot be paralyzed by fear. That results in inaction. It is critical for leaders to act decisively amid uncertainty; to make the best decisions they can based on only the immediate information available.
-Waiting for the 100 percent right and certain solution leads to delay, indecision, and an inability to execute.
-Act decisively amid chaos. My default setting should be aggressive, proactive rather than reactive. Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.
-As a leader, you want to be seen as decisive, and willing to make tough choices.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes VII

-We need a process that is repeatable.
-Mike dove on top of that grenade, shielding his teammates around him from the bulk of the blast and sacrificing himself for them. Each of these fallen SEALs were beloved teammates, friends, and brothers. We would forever mourn their loss.
-It was an emotional return. After all the blood, sweat, and tears that Task Unit Bruiser and our brothers and sisters  in arms in the US Army and Marine Corps  had spilled there, I felt torn. As a leader, nothing had prepared me for that monumental burden I must forever carry for not bringing all my guys home to their families. If only I could trade places with them. When Ryan got shot and Marc was killed, they were doing exactly what I had asked of them. I was in charge; I was responsible.
-Some of the politicians and most senior military brass in Washington felt that killing bad guys only created more enemies. But they did not have a clue.
-One of the greatest lessons learned for me was that I could have done a far better job of leading down the chain of command.
-It is paramount that senior leaders explain to their juniors leaders and troops executing the mission how their role contributes to big picture success.
-Leaders must routinely communicate with their team members to help them understand their role in the overall mission.
-Leading down the chain of command requires regularly stepping out of the office and personally engaging in face to face conversations with direct reports and observing the front line troops in action to understand their particular challenges and read them into the Commander's intent.
-As a leader employing Extreme Ownership, if your team isn't doing what you need them to do, you first have to look at yourself.
-We had to focus our planning efforts on the risks we could control.
-Leadership doesn't just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. We have to own everything in our world. We need to look at ourselves and see what we can do better.
-I needed to check my negative attitude, which was corrosive and ultimately only hampered our ability to operate.
-If your boss isn't making a decision in a timely manner or providing necessary support for you and your team, don't blame the boss. First, blame yourself. Examine what you can do to better convey the critical information for decisions to be made and support allocated.
-One of the most important jobs of any leader is to support your own boss, your immediate leadership.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes VI

-Leaders must carefully prioritize the information to be presented in as simple, clear, and concise a format as possible so that participants do not experience information overload.
-If front-line troops are unclear about the plan and yet are too intimidated to ask questions, the team's ability to effectively execute the plan radically decreases. Thus, leaders must ask questions of their troops, encourage interaction, and ensure their teams understand the plan.
-The test for a successful brief is simple: do the team and the supporting elements understand it?
-Leaders must be comfortable accepting some level of risk.
-Those who will not risk cannot win. John Paul Jones.
-As our company grows we need a standardized process from planning, a repeatable checklist others with less experience can follow.
-Establishing an effective and repeatable planning process is critical to the success of any team.
-As a leader, if you are down in the weeds planning the details with your guys you will have the same perspective as them, which adds little value. But if you let them plan the details, it allows them to own their piece of the plan. And it allows you to stand back and see everything with a different perspective, which adds tremendous value.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes V

-We couldn't help but laugh at our predicament.
-We would not call in vehicles or additional troops and put them at risk unless we took serious casualties and absolutely needed them.
-I could not allow myself to be overwhelmed. I had to relax, look around, and make a call. That was what Prioritize and Execute.
-A leader must remain calm and make the best decisions possible. Relax, look around, make a call.
-A particularly effective means to help Prioritize and Execute under pressure is to stay at least a step or two ahead of real-time problems.
-Staying ahead of the curve prevents a leader from being overwhelmed when pressure is applied and enables greater decisiveness.
-Which one is your highest priority?
-Prioritize your problems and take care of them one at a time, the highest priority first. Don't try to do everything at once or you won't be successful.
-On the battlefield, I expected my subordinate leaders to do just that: lead.
-Front-line leaders must also have trust and confidence in their senior leaders to know that they are empowered to make decisions and that their senior leaders will back them up.
-Those junior leaders learned that they were expected to make decisions. They couldn't ask: 'What do I do?'. Instead, they had to state: 'This is what I am going to do'
-I trusted them to lead.
-Teams must be broken down into manageable elements of four to five operators, with a clearly designated leader.
-Every tactical-level team leader must understand not just what to do but why they are doing it.
-Leaders are not stuck in any particular position. Leaders must be free to move to where they are most needed, which changes throughout the course of an operation.
-Junior leaders must know that the boss will back them up even if they make a decision that may not result in the best outcome, as long as the decision was made in an effort to achieve the strategic objective.
-He was new and inexperienced, but he was smart, hardworking, and highly motivated.
-We were lucky. But we had also made our luck.
-Leaders must delegate the planning process down the chain as much as possible to key subordinate leaders.

Kasabian - Club Foot

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes IV

-With this attitude of humility and mutual respect, we forged strong relationships.
-Discipline in such a situation started with the little things: high and tight haircuts, a clean shave every day, and uniforms maintained. With that, the more important things fell into place.
-Ego clouds and disrupts everything.
-Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego an operating with a high degree of humility.
-As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him, and to all your front line leaders.
-Ownership of everything. This is not his fault. It is yours. You are in charge, so the fact that he did not follow procedure is your fault.
-It's natural for anyone in a leadership position to blame subordinate leaders and direct reports when something goes wrong. Our egos don't like to take blame. But it is on us as leaders to see where we failed to communicate effectively and help our troops clearly understand what their roles and responsibilities are and how their actions impact the bigger strategic picture.
-It was foolishness not to work together.
-The most important tactical advantage we had was working together as a team, always supporting each other.
-Pointing fingers and placing blame on others contributes to further dissension between teams and individuals.
-You must work together and support each other as one team.
-You have to overcome the 'us versus them' mentality and work together, mutually supporting one another.
-Build a personal relationship with them.
-It is critical the ability of the frontline troops to ask questions that clarify when they do not understand the mission or key tasks to be performed.
-We need to see the connection between action and consequence in order to learn or react appropriately.
-People generally take the path of least resistance.
-We are going to post the weights of each unit out there on the bulletin board so that every employee on the line sees it, knows it, and is thinking about it.

You are Mine - MuteMath (Lyrics)

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes IV

-With this attitude of humility and mutual respect, we forged strong relationships.
-Discipline in such a situation started with the little things: high and tight haircuts, a clean shave every day, and uniforms maintained. With that, the more important things fell into place.
-Ego clouds and disrupts everything.
-As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership.
-Ownership of everything. This is not his fault. It's yours. You are in charge, so the fact that he didn't follow procedure is your fault.
-It's natural for anyone in a leadership position to blame subordinate leaders and direct reports when something goes wrong. Our egos don't like to take blame. But it's on us as leaders to see where we failed to communicate effectively and help our troops clearly understand what their roles and responsibilities are and how their actions impact the bigger strategic picture.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes III

-Good leaders don't make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win.
-What was the difference between the two leaders in the boat crew leader example?
That leader didn't seem to think it was possible for them to perform any better, and he certainly didn't think they could win. This negative attitude infected his entire boat crew. His attitude reflected victimization.
-Working under poor leadership and an unending cycle of blame, the team constantly failed. No one took ownership, assumed responsibility, or adopted a winning attitude.
-He believed winning was possible.
-Extreme ownership, good leadership is contagious. That leader had instilled a culture of extreme ownership , of wining and how to win, in every individual. Repetitive exceptional performance became a habit.
-It is not what you preach, it is what you tolerate.
-If you allow the status quo to persist, you can't expect to improve performance, and you can't expect to win.
-A leader must find a way to become effective and drive high performance within his or her team in order to win.
-The bond of our brotherhood is our strongest weapon.
-For me to lead, I had to believe. So I kept my doubts to myself as I asked the simple question: Why?
-In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission.
-Once a leader believes in the mission, that belief shines through to those below and above in the chain of command.
-It is likewise incumbent on senior leaders to take the time to explain and answer the questions of their junior leaders so that they too can understand why and believe.
-Junior leaders must ask questions and also provide feedback up the chain so that senior leaders can fully understand the ramifications of how strategic plans affect execution on the ground.
-The leader must explain not just what to do, but why. It is the responsibility of the subordinate leader to reach out and ask if they do not understand.
-What can I do to make them believe?
Just tell them why.
-It takes courage to go to the CEO's office, knock on the door, and explain that you don't understand the strategy behind his decisions.
-If you ever get a task or guidance or a mission that you don't believe in, don't just sit back and accept it. Ask questions until you understand why so you can believe in what you are doing and you can pass that information down the chain to your team with confidence, so  they can get out and execute the mission. That is leadership.

Interpol - Rest my Chemistry // Video + Lyrics³

The National - Daughters Of The Soho Riots (Lyrics)

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes II

-Total responsibility for failure is a difficult thing to accept, and taking ownership when things go wrong requires extraordinary humility and courage.
-A leader does not take credit for his or her team successes but bestows that honor upon his subordinate leaders and team members.
-The direct responsibility of a leader included getting people to listen, support, and execute plans. You can make people do those things. You have to lead them.
-There is no way to control every decision, every person, every occurrence that happens out there. It is just impossible. But let me tell you something: when things went wrong, you know who I blamed? I asked, pausing slightly for this to sink: me. I said. I blamed me.
-How can you best get your team to most effectively execute the plan in order to accomplish the mission?
-Your people don't need to be fired. They need to be led.
-The good leaders took ownership of the mistakes and shortfalls. That's the key difference.
-Try to figure out how to fix their problems, instead of trying to figure out who or what to blame.
-It pays to be a winner.
-There are not bad teams, only bad leaders.
-It was far more effective to focus their efforts not on the days to come or the far-distant finish line they could not yet see, but instead on a physical goal immediately in front of them.
-Leaders must accept total responsibility, own problems that inhibit performance, and develop solutions to those problems.
-As a leader, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate.
-Leaders should never be satisfied.
-The best teams anywhere are constantly looking to improve, add capability, and push the standards higher. It starts with the individual and spreads to each of the team members until this becomes the culture, the new standard.

Extreme ownership by J. Willink and L. Babin. Quotes

-Once people stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and take ownership of everything in their lives, they are compelled to take action to solve their problems.
-Implement the mindset of no excuses and no one else to blame.
-Without a team, there can be no leadership.
-There are two types of leaders: effective and ineffective.
-The humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success.
-Leadership is the most important factor on the battlefield, the single greatest reason behind the success of any team.
-The right decision, even when all seems lost, can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
-Subordinates must believe in the plan they are asked to execute, and most important, they must believe in and trust the leader they are asked to follow.
-Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.
-Despite all the failures of individuals, units, and leaders, and despite the myriad mistakes that had been made, there was only one person to blame for everything that had gone wrong on the operation: me.
-I had to take complete ownership of what went wrong. That is what a leader does, even if it means getting fired.
-There is only one person to blame for this: me.
-It was absolutely true, I was the leader. I was in charge and I was responsible. Thus, I had to take ownership of everything that went wrong.
-The leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything.
-On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win.

Calendar Book #4: April: Extreme Ownership. How US Navy Seals lead and win by J. Willink and L. Babin

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes X

-Maintaining your fitness is not that hard. What is hard is getting fit.
-We don't believe in going more than three days in a row without investing in your aerobic base and more than six days in a row without investing in your anaerobic base. If you go longer than this. you lose some of your conditioning. If you don't do something that challenges your agility at least twice a week, you start to lose some of that.
-The 2000 semifinal and final games were not actually won on a Friday and a Sunday. They were won one year before, when the team made the commitment to work year-around, thus making the decision to win.
-The players must take individual and collective responsibility.
-In coaching schools we talk a lot about the misguided notion of the more the better.
-Coaches should want certain practice sessions to end when players still want to play. Even if players are dying to continue, you send them home. Then, they are so excited about the next practice that they can't wait to come back.
-In our ambition to see our children succeed, I think we are over-scheduling them.
-The power resides in you.
-You have to understand why you play, get at the core reason, and then, revisit that reason regularly. This will keep you excited about playing.
-The absolute critical element is your mental hardness and courage, which comes in the form of seeking out responsibility and taking physical risks.
-Mentality defines the strength of your psychological dimension, which is your capacity to reach down inside yourself and find your inner hardness.
-In any physical duel or combative situation, ultimate triumph doesn't come down to skills or tactics. What it boils down to is your will.
-Being competitive is a decision, not a talent. And we are trying to convince players to make the decision to compete.
-The intense mentality is not an easy choice, but it is one that will separate you from the ordinary.
-Make sure you like what you choose. You are living with your choices.
-In my opinion the motivation has to come solely from within. Coaches can motivate in the short term. They can do long-term goal setting.
-The true art of intensity is to blend it with composure.
-In our system we must, by necessity, learn how to rest injured players in order to get them healthy for crucial games.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes IX

-A good team is comprised of a community of human beings respected for  their humanity that accepts players of all ranges of ability, and that can figure out a way to handle all their differences, so that despite them, they still connect and bond.
-A team is defined by its chemistry. How the players click as a unit. Chemistry is established by the individuals.
-The measure of good chemistry is the melding of two extremes: the best and most popular player on the roster, and the worst and least popular. If the super stars can figure out a way to make even the most average player feel she is an important part of the team, that's a critical step.
-She gave so much without getting anything back.
-To be courageous is an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to all of us. You don't have to do anything, but if you do, you are a leader.
-Don't you understand Mom, Kristine is just better than I am?
-We won the World Championship later that year, and Tracey was a big part of that. Underneath her photo in the media guide, in answer to the question 'Who do you most admire?' Tracey had said: 'Kristine Lilly'. That's class. That's honorable. That's depth of character. It's also rare.
-I think every person has a secret passion to be a certain type of player.
-Two basic criteria to determine the quality of the coach: first whether you are enjoying the game, and second whether you are getting better.
-I am not outwardly really close to people, except for a select few. Tisha Venturini.
-Coaches should treat everyone the same, whether you are the star player or never get in the game for a minute.
-I waited for every pregame speech of Anson's. They would get me so fired up.
-You have to try to have a good relationship with your coaches. I think you have to listen to them, follow what they are saying, and believe in it. Show respect. Outwardly, you need to demonstrate that you believe in the coach  and the team, and that you are a team player. Every coach is different, with a different philosophy, and you are going to have a different relationship with each one.
-It is easy to pick out the player who doesn't show respect, who rolls her eyes when the coach says something. Other players see that and it destroys the team.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes VIII

-The warm-up has a function: to prepare you to play. Your preparation in warm-up will dictate your game performance. Our game warm-up at UNC takes about 25 minutes. The warm-up is also designed to build the team's confidence.
-As I get closer to game-time, I think it's important to use visualization, to picture myself doing well. Lorrie Fair.
-Different positions should warm-up differently.
-Coming in off the bench. Notice for yourself the mistakes being made, and determine how you can try to solve them, and to contribute, by going in.
-Once you step onto the field, it is a battlefield.
-Be creative and have the courage to take players on.
-There is so much more in me that I can give.
-Whatever you have that your opponent does not, use it to be your best.
-Winning is wonderful but I believe it is not as important as the kind of athlete and person this game helps you to become.
-We prepare to win by continually losing.
-Coach, at UNC we lose in practice every day.
-Athletics only has value if it has an impact on the people who participate in it.
-Our defining quality is the construction of character, done with a balance created by a laissez faire, light-hearted attitude that is strewn throughout all of our high standards and ambition to be the best.
-At UNC we would have died for one another because we genuinely cared about each other.
-They are playing for their teammates, the tradition, and everyone who has ever been affiliated with the program. We would all die to be back in their shoes.
-What you gain from great teams will probably benefit you more as a human being than as an athlete.
-Having a good team basically boils down to a combination of talent, work ethic and leadership.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes VII

-In addition to the fitness issue, I think one of the biggest problems I see in youth goalkeepers is that their technical foundation is weak.
-If the keeper can catch and hold a ball consistently, she will make a big difference on your team.
-Most shots that you will face during a game will be hit in the middle third of the goal, so quite simply you need to be best at handling those types of shots.
-Be realistic with yourself: are you the right weight?
-I chose to be fit for life: Not only am I a better player because of it, but I am happier, healthier, and a more energetic person.
-No excuses. If you want to be the best, the responsibility lies solely with you.
-Visualize this image: whether you make an unbelievable save or let the ball go through you legs, if a photo were taken of you right after the play, you facial expression would be the same.
-No session at UNC exceeds 90 minutes. I do not feel sessions are productive beyond this amount of time.
-I found that that best length for a session the day before a game is 45 minutes.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes VI

-You are going to gain true respect by being powerful, and yet remaining thoughtful and kind as well.
-If you are doing what is right for you as an athlete, even if others judge you, I can only encourage you don't change, don't bow down to anyone; be yourself, because you are going to be the one winning the critical games; and the thing that is most important: everyone's respect.
-It's the hard part that makes it special.
-You can make the choice.
-Looking back, I missed the opportunity to accept the challenge. I was mentally pretty weak. Amy Burns.
-You start to push yourself, and you get in shape. Amy Burns.
-We believe that the only way players truly develop is by competing.
-An important first step to getting better is a player deciding that it is within her control to do so.
-We test our players physically three times per year.
-Awareness of the weaknesses is the first step to improving them.
-A lack of strength is caused by a lack of practice.
-I do believe defensive clearance can be improved with repetition.
-Sometimes a system of play radically impacts the role of a position. A system of play can also develop a player. Our system at UNC creates a player who can meet the requirements of playing a certain style.
-The goalkeeper must organize and guide the defensive unit, and deal with most of the space in and around the 18-yard box.
-If you can win the ball before the shot, do it, because any time there is a shot, it can be a goal.
-You play better when you are fit.
-I always reflect on my preparation: have I done everything in training that I possibly could to prepare myself for this game? Have I done everything in the off-season I could to prepare myself for this season?
-It was not the end result, it was the daily battle that counted.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes V

-You go to high school for academics, not for soccer. High school is for developing your intellect particularly if you are pursuing a college education.
-Your first priority should be your academics.
-Internal motivation to become a better player and contribute to your team, versus external rewards, such as a wining record or your name in lights, is the most important criteria.
-It is not productive to be a negative force; it helps no one, and you demean yourself.
-We are more interested in players that are interested in us.
-By dynamic.
-Competitive drive is not governed by innate ability, but by self-discipline and desire.
-Competing in practice is the key. We train competitive instinct so constantly that by the time we play a game it comes naturally.
-I am continually developing as a coach by learning from the game, our players, and the insights of our colleagues.
-The competitive cauldron is about outlasting your opponent, physically and psychologically. That's what fitness enables you to do.
-In order to improve, and to foster competitive drive, you must consistently push yourself to places that are not so comfortable.
-A broken player: he is a step late for a 50-50 ball, he hides when she has an opportunity to be involved. The stronger team, or player, may look fresher, as if they are less fatigued. The broken player seems discouraged, and not as interested in playing anymore.
-You will be more successful if you can work with the type of coaches who encourage competitive behavior by praising players for seeking out duels, taking physical risks, being relentless, and positively impacting on winning. Find coaches who continually reinforce competitive behavior, until it becomes a habit in you.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes IV

-The winning mentality is partly optimism, but mostly it is a combination of focus, pride, competitive anger, relentlessness, hardness, fitness and courage, all of the most descriptive words for competitive athletics. This type of mentality is not about your skills or tactics. What it comes down to is intense desire. To get this winning edge, you need to build an indomitable will. This means you must be relentless; you must never give up.
-The winning mentality is not a talent. It is a choice, a decision you make to develop it.
-Ordinary effort is when you are comfortable. That's mediocrity.
-Confidence is a living, breathing thing. It changes every single day. Confidence needs to be nurtured. You should practice it just like you do every other skill, whether it's technical or tactical. Confidence takes work. I am still working hard on it every single day.
-If I had been questioning myself and my confidence while competing, I don't think I would be where I am today.
-I was not going to put pressure on myself by saying: 'I know I am playing great when I score five goals'. Instead, I told myself: 'You are going to gain more confidence every time you close down a defender, every time you win a ball, or make a great run, or set someone up' because those were things I had control over.
-There is an important quality among great soccer players. It is having a soccer sense.
-An ideal team has on each of its four lines at least  one player with a combination of soccer sense and leadership skills.
-The first five yards is in your head.
-You've got to love the ball.
-Your priority should be playing time and experience, and developing your player personality.
-If the boys don't pass you the ball, you will have to go out and get it. Make it happen.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes III

-Your attitude affects everything you do.
-What is also nice about these qualities is that you can have them just by a decision you make.
-Everyone has strengths. Keep working on your weak areas, but make your strengths flourish. Focus on what you can control, work ethic and attitude. Don't let anyone ever tell you can't be great. There is greatness in all of us.
-When times really get tough, that's when your true self comes out.
-If it were easy, everyone would do it.
-The ones who deal with tough, competitive, difficult situations in a positive way usually seem to be the ones who move on, or if they don't, they still feel a sense of reward and fulfillment.
-I felt honored to play on that team. It was my job to accept whatever role necessary for the good of the team, but to keep trying to achieve more.
-The hardest problem in making females into great soccer players is trying to get them to excel in the one v. one environment. One v. one is the most important drill for teaching not only optimum soccer skills but the psychological dimension needed to compete. I cannot stress enough its importance.
-Being competitive means being fully engaged in the game, which is actually a sign of respect for your opponent, because to play any easier against an opponent, or against your best friend, in practice is actually demonstrating a lack of respect.
-Enriching your life also means to expanding it.
-What it takes to develop individual soccer skills: the correct technique, and the enormous time commitment required to do it.
-To develop tactically, you have to become a student of the game.
-Pick out your heroes, and emulate them.
-When it truly counts, you are on your own. Your margin of success is based on your inner drive.
-You can solve problems. You make a difference. If you feel cut off, you reconnect with the coach. That is what it means to take responsibility. When faced with challenges, or problems, look within yourself and decide what you can do to make things better.
-What you have to do is to take responsibility, and then, n that declaration of responsibility, you are winning an amazing victory.
-Popularity and respect are different. Being liked is not as lasting as being respected.
-She would speak up on the field consistently, and she also used the correct tone.
-The right voice is a combination of tone and the manner with which you command a group.

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes II

-We dissect the sport: technically, tactically, physically, and psychologically.
-Quality human beings are what create the most essential element of any team: great chemistry.
-The UNC philosophy is to nurture the one v. one artist, the great personalities.
-We set standards. One of them was for fitness.
-Even now, we have some tremendously talented girls at UNC who do not start for us because they don't pass the fitness test and someone else, perhaps not as talented a player, does.
-Everyone involved in athletics has an opportunity to demonstrate that her life has a deeper meaning.
-One of the wonderful life lessons of athletics is that success itself should not be the ultimate reward because there are a lot of people who work incredibly hard and never make it. What it is important, above all, is being in the arena.
-While you cannot control the events of your life, you can control your reaction to them.
-I love the soreness. Julie Smith.
-I don't separate soccer and life.
-Anson's reading list:
. Training soccer champions. Anson Dorrance.
. Man's search for meaning. Viktor Frankl.
. The leadership moment. Michael Useem.
. The road less traveled. M. Scott Peck.
. Go for the goal. Mia Hamm with Aaron Heifetz.
. Standing fast. Battles of a champion. Michelle Akers and Tim Nash.
. The game and the glory, an autobiography. Michelle Akers with Gregg Lewis.
. The champion within. Training for excellence. Lauren Gregg.
. Sacred hoops. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty.
. Greater expectations. Overcoming the culture of indulgence in our homes and schools. William Damon.
-Every single day I wake up, I commit myself to being better. Some days it happens and some days it doesn't. I am still committed to that. There are games I am going to dominate and games I am going to struggle. It does not mean I give up.
-It is your commitment to the quest that is critical.
-What you celebrate in athletics is the struggle. 

The vision of a champion by Anson Dorrance. Quotes

-Winning does not tempt that man. This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively, by constantly greater beings. Rainer Maria Rilke.

-What is extraordinary  and eternal does not want to be bent by us. And then, what you win or what you become has much more meaning. This kind of victory you carry with you wherever you go; it is what you are. 

-The unique and inquiring UNC world, one which, I would later discover, transcends more sport. It is a world in which women are called warriors; a world in which, even more than their athletic ability, players are valued for traits such as tenacity, resilience, and courage, testimony to the depth and quality of their character. Gloria Averbuch

-After hearing my first Anson pregame team speech, laced with life philosophy, I wept. Gloria Averbuch

-This book shows you that while skill is essential, what makes a true champion is not just physical ability of soccer talent. Victory only begins on the field. At UNC program, it is often outside the white lines that the players' abilities are truly tested, developed, and deepened. You will learn that champions are not born, they are constructed. Gloria Averbuch.

- Victory is never all triumph.

-Team chemistry requires constant attention. Sometimes you have to work off the field just as conscientiously as you do on it. 

-The winning mentality occurs when each and every player steps up to take responsibility. Be a part of the reason your team wins. 

-The will to win is overrated in athletics, because everyone wants to win. It's the will to prepare to win that makes the difference. 

-The vision of a champion is exemplified by heart, athleticism, strength, tactics, focus, and skill. 

-At UNC we do not believe in a sense of entitlement. 

-Let's dream impossible dreams. 

Calendar Book #3 March: The Vision of a Champion by Anson Dorrance

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes X

-All those things you can have now if you do not notice of all the past, and trust the future to Providence and direct the present in the way of piety and justice.
-With respect to that which happens conformably to nature, we ought to blame neither gods, for they do nothing wrong either voluntarily or involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing wrong except involuntarily. Consequently we should blame nobody.
-If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it. For let your impulse be in your own power.
-The ending of life then is not only no evil to the individual, for it brings him no disgrace, if in fact it is both outside our choice and not inimical to the general weal, but a good, since it is timely for the universe, bears its share in it, and is borne along with it. For then is he who is borne along on the same path as God, and borne in his judgment toward the same things, indeed a man god-borne.
-To those who ask, 'Where have you seen the gods or how do you comprehend that they exist and so worship them' I answer, in the first place, they may be seen with the eyes'. In the second place neither have I seen even my own soul and yet I honor it. Thus, then with respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they exist and I venerate them.
-What difference does it make to you whether for five years or a hundred? For under its laws equal treatment is meted out to all.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes IX

-The soul obtains its own end, wherever the limit of life may by fixed.
-In all things, except virtue and the acts of virtue, remember to apply yourself to their several parts, and by this division to come to value them little: and apply this rule  also to your whole life.
-What a great soul is that which is ready, at any requisite moment, to be separated from the body and then to be extinguished or dispersed or continue to exist.
-Have I done something for the general interest? Well, then I have had my reward.
-What is your art? To be good. And how is this accomplished well except by general principles.
-Regarding those who try to stand in your way when you are proceeding according to right reason, be on your guard, not only in the matter of steady judgment and action, but also in the matter of gentleness. For this also is weakness, to be vexed at them, as well as to be diverted from your course of action and to give away through fear.
-Shall any man hate me? That will be his affair. But I will be mild and benevolent toward every man.
-A man ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor complaining.
-A man's character is in his eyes.
-The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander, as soon as he comes near him, must smell the odor whether he chooses to or not.
-Nothing is more disgraceful than a false friendship.
-If these things are according to nature, rejoice in them, and they will be easy to you: but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to you own nature, and strive toward this, even if it brings no reputation; for every man is allowed to seek his own good.
-If men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be displeased; but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so involuntarily and in ignorance.
-A good disposition is invincible.
-Correcting errors must be done not in irony or by way of rebuke, but with kindly affection and without any bitterness at heart, not as from a master's chair, nor yet to impress the bystanders, but as if he were indeed alone even though others are present.
-To expect bad men not to do wrong is madness.
-There is no veil over a star.
-No man can rob us our feel will. 

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes VIII

-Whatever may happen to you, it was prepared for you from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being and that which is incident to it.
-Nothing is injurious to the part if it is for the advantage of the whole.
-What need is there of suspicious fear, since it is in your power to inquire what ought to be done? And if you see clearly, go by this way content, without turning back; but if you do not see clearly, stop and take the best advisers.
-If any other things oppose you, go on according to your powers with due consideration, keeping to that which appears to be just. For it is best to reach this object, and if you fail, let your failure be in attempting this. He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.
-You have but a short time left to live. Live as on a mountain.
-No longer talk, but be.
-Let this always be plain to you, that this piece of land is like any other; and that all things here are the same as things on the top of a mountain, or on the seashore, or wherever you choose to be. For you will find just what Plato says: 'Dwelling within the walls of a city as in a shepherd'd fold on a mountain', and milking flocks.
-When you are offended at any man's fault, immediately turn to yourself and reflect in what manner you yourself have erred.
-To him who is penetrated  by true principles, any common precept, even the briefest, is sufficient to remind him that he should be free from grief and fear.
-A brief existence is common to all things and yet, you avoid and pursue all things as if they would be eternal.
-The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say: 'I wish for green things'; for this is the condition of a diseased eye.
-In contemplating yourself, never include the vessel that surrounds you and these organs that are attached to it.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes VII

-The common nature brings nothing that you cannot bear.
-If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now. But if anything in your own disposition gives you pain, who hinders you from correcting your opinion? And even if you are pained because your are not doing some particular thing that seems to you to be right, why do you not rather act than complain?
-The ruling faculty is invincible.
-The mind that is free from passions is a citadel.
-How then shall you possess a perpetual fountain and not a mere well? By forming yourself hourly to freedom conjoined with contentment, simplicity, and modesty.
-He who does not know for what purpose the world exists, does not know who he is, or what the world is.
-Frequently the bad are in the enjoyment of pleasure and possess the things that procure pleasure, but the good have pain for their share and the things that cause pain.
-It would be a man's happiest lot to depart from mankind without having had any taste of lying and hypocrisy  and luxury and pride.
-Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this, too, is one of those things that nature wills. For such as it is to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and grey hairs, and to beget, and to be pregnant and to bring forth, such also is dissolution.
-It is no way right to be offended with men, but it is your duty to care for them and to bear with them gently; and yet to remember that your departure will be not from men who have the same principles as yourself.
-He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.
-If you are able, correct by teaching those who do wrong.
-All things are the same, familiar in experience, and ephemeral in time, and worthless in matter. Everything now is just as it was in the time of those whom we have buried.
-All things are changing: and you yourself are in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe, too.
-Death, is this anything to fear?
-You have endured infinite troubles through not being contended with your ruling faculty's doing the things that it is constituted by nature to do. But enough of this.
-When another blames you or hates you, or when men say anything injurious about you, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are. You will discover that there is no reason to be concerned that these men have this or that opinion about you. You must, however, be well disposed toward them, for by nature they are friends. And the gods, too, aid them in all ways, by dreams, by signs, toward the attainment of those things on which they set a value.
-Set yourself in motion, if it is in your power, and do not look about you to see if anyone will observe it.
-You can rid yourself of many useless things among those that disturb you, for they lie entirely in your imagination.
-Loss is nothing else than change.
-Why are you disturbed? What is there new in this? What unsettles you? Is it the form of the thing? Look at it. Or is it the matter? Look at it. But besides these there is nothing. Toward the gods, then, now become at last simpler and better. It is the same whether we examine these things for a hundred years or three.
-An antidote against the stupid man: mildness.
-Where is the harm or the strangeness in the boor acting like a boor?
-What more do you want when you have done a man a service? Are you not content that you have done something comformable to your nature? Do you seek to be paid for it?

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes VI

-It is in your power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquility of mind, even if all the world cry out against you as much as they choose.
-The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as if it were the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.
-When you have done a good act and another has received it, why do you look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?
-Throw away the thought of how you might seem to others, and be content if you live the rest of your life in the manner that your nature wills.
-Where is happiness? In  the principles that relate to good and bad: the belief that there is nothing good for man that does not make him just, temperate, manly, free; and that there is nothing bad that does not do the contrary  to what has been mentioned.
-On the occasion of every act ask yourself: will I regret it?
-It is your duty to be a good man.
-Whatever man you meet with, immediately say to yourself: what opinions has this man about good and bad?
-It is a shame to be surprise if the fig tree produces figs.
-You must blame nobody. For if you can, correct that which is the cause; but if you cannot do this, correct at least the thing itself; but if you cannot do even this, of what use is it to you to find fault?
-For what purpose then do you exist? To enjoy pleasure?
-It is in my power to let no badness in this soul.
-Nothing will stand in the way of your acting justly and soberly and considerately.
-Different things delight different people.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes V

-How can our principles become dead unless the impressions (thoughts) that correspond to them are extinguished?
-To recover your life is in your power. Look at things again as you used to look at them: for in this consists the recovery of your life.
-Every man is worth just so much as the things about which he busies himself.
-In discourse you must attend to what is said, and in every action you must observe what is being done. And in the latter you should see immediately what end is intended, but in the former watch carefully what thing is signified.
-Do not be ashamed to be helped.
-All things are mutually intertwined, and the bond is holy.
-Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole; and everything formal is very soon taken back into the universal reason; and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.
-Be upright, or be made upright.
-What can take place without change?
-The wrongdoer has done you no harm, for he has not made your ruling faculty worse than it was before.
-When a man has done you wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when you have seen this, you will pity him, and will neither wonder nor be angry.
-Think no too much of what you lack as of what you have.
-Retire into yourself. Confine yourself to the present.
-Think of your last hour. Let the wrong that is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done.
-Adorn yourself with simplicity and modesty and with indifference toward the things that lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God.
-No man can escape his destiny. The next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he has to live.
-Only attend to yourself, and resolve to be a good man in every act that you do.
-The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets that are sudden and unexpected.
-Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most necessary to bear this constantly in mind, for thus you will be more gentle toward all.
-Very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes IV

-It is one of the acts of life, this act by which we die: it is sufficient then in this act also to do well what we have in hand.
-All existing things soon change, and they will either be reduced to vapor, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.
-The reason that governs knows what its own disposition is, and what it does, and on what material it works.
-Every single thing is accomplished in conformity to the nature of the universe.
-You will have more mastery over the harmony by continually recurring to it.
-Outward show is a wonderful perverter of reason, and when you are most sure that you are employed about things worth your pains, it is then that it cheats you most.
-What then is worth being valued?
-If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.
-It is your duty to observe and to go on your way and finish that which is set before you without being disturbed or showing anger toward those who are angry with you.
-Teach them then, and show them without being angry.
-Death is a cessation of the impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the strings that move the appetites, and of the discursive movements of the thoughts, and of the service to the flesh.
-It is a shame of the soul to be first to give way in this life, when your body does not give way.
-Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshiper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper acts.
-All things come from that universal ruling power either directly or mediately.
-All things are of one kin and of one form.
-Adapt yourself to the things with which your lot has been cast: and the men  among whom you have received your portion, love them, but do it truly, sincerely.
-Remains then for you to understand among what kind of workmen you place yourself; for he who rules all things will certainly make right use of you, and he will receive you among some part of the cooperators and of those whose labors conduce to one end.
-Is not each star different yet working with the others toward the same end?
-If the gods have deliberated about me and about the things must happen to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy to imagine a deity deprived of forethought; and as to doing me harm, why should they have any desire toward that?
-One thing here is worth a great deal: to pass your life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.
-Nothing delights so much as the examples of the virtues when they are exhibited in the morals of those who live with us and present themselves in abundance, as far as is possible. Hence, we must keep them before us.
-Do not be dissatisfied then that you must live only so many years and not more; for as you are satisfied with the amount of substance that has been assigned to you, so be content with the time.
-It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing and not to be disturbed in our soul.
-How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it!
-No man will hinder you from living according to the reason of your own nature: nothing will happen to you contrary to the reason of universal nature.
-What kind of people are those whom men wish to please, and for what objects, and by what kind of acts? How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes III

-In the morning when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being.
-Show those qualities then that are altogether in your power: sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment with you portion and with a simple life, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling magnanimity.
-A man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act.
-Every part of me will be reduced by change into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on forever.
-The soul is dyed by the thoughts.
-Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.
-Things themselves cannot touch the soul, not in the least degree.
-Revere that which is best in the universe; revere that which is best in yourself.
-Think of the rapidity with which things pass by and disappear.
-Think of the universal substance, of which you have a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to you; and of that which is fixed by destiny and how small a part of it you are.
-Are you angry? What good will this anger do you?
-Show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, you will cure him, and there is no need of anger.
-As you intend to live when you are gone, so it is in your power to live here. But if men do not permit you, then get away out of life, as if you were suffering no harm.
-And call to recollection both how many things you have passed through, and how many things you have been able to endure; and that the history of your life is now complete and your service is ended: and how many beautiful things you have seen: and how many pleasures and pains you have despised; and how many things called honorable you have spurned: and to how many ill-minded folks you have shown a kind disposition.
-Soon, very soon, you will be ashes or a skeleton, and either a name or not even a name; but name is sound and echo. And the things that are much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, and life little dogs biting one another, and little children quarrelling , laughing, and then straightaway weeping.
-You can pass your life in an equable flow of happiness if you can follow the right way and think and act in the right way. Tow things are common both to the soul of God and to the soul of man, and to the soul of every rational being: not to be hindered by another; and to seek the good in the disposition to justice and the practice of it, and in this to let your desire find its termination. 

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Quotes II

-We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.
-Do not waste the remainder of your life in thoughts about others.
-Accepting with all his soul everything that happens.
-A man should value the opinion only of those who openly live according to nature.
-Be not either a man of many words or busy about too many things.
-A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
-Enjoy that which you have found to be the best.
-If you diverge from this deity and succumb to appetites, you will no longer be able to concentrate on that good thing that is most deeply you own.
-Choose the better, and hold to it.
-Never value anything as profitable that compels you to break your promise, to lose your self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything that needs walls and curtains.
-If you hold to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with you present activities according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which you utter, you will live happily.
-Let no act be done without a purpose.
-There is no retreat that is quieter or freer from trouble that a man's own soul.
-Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.
-Things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; so our perturbations come only from our inner opinions.
-Nothing comes out of nothing.
-Bear this in mind, that within a very short time both you and he will be dead; and soon not even your names will be left behind.
-Look at things as they are in truth.
-Do not act as if your were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
-A thing is neither better nor worse for having been praised.
-Nothing is too early or too late if it is in due time for you.
-A man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts so that superfluous acts will not follow after.
-Make yourself all simplicity.
Your life is short. You must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice. Be sober in your relaxation.
-Acting justly is the only true wisdom.
-Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul.
-You are a little soul bearing up a corpse.
-Time is like a river made up of the events that happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away, too.
-The death of earth is to become water; and the death of water is to become air; and the death of air si to become fire, and reversely.
-Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are.
-Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.
-I am unhappy, because this has happened to me. Not so: say, I am happy, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed  by the present nor fearing the future.
-Say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason.