As a young man my first mentor was cigar chomping salty SFC Young.as I was trying to explain away some failure of some sort I said "but I worked so hard!" His reply was " A jeep stuck in the mud works hard it just doesn't go anywhere. It's not how hard you work it's how right you work." SFC Young was a great influence in my life. Much of what he taught a headstrong young man stays with me to this day. His expectations of me were in proportion to his opinion of my abilities and he never let up until you met them. He steered me through my development as a solider and to ultimately a 37yr military career.
So IMHO what makes quotes so great are the people behind them that took the time to teach inspire and most importantly live the lesson in the quote. In our politically correct society these people have become rare. Certainly our loss.
Good post...although not a quote per se, it has an important message. At the risk of straying off topic and repeating myself, I have a similar story that had a tremendous impact on me, my life and my family.
At a family reunion, after dinner was over, and everyone had dispersed and were having their own private little conversations, I ended up talking to an uncle of mine...a tall, movie star handsome second generation German immigrant, who had served in WWII in some sort of secret capacity. Although he never talked about, others in the family told me that he had parachuted behind enemy lines on several of his missions. He was also a County agent; educated, intelligent...not to mention brave... and accomplished. I say this because I valued his counsel and took him seriously.
He asked about me an my family...I was married, had two daughters, ages 8 and 12...and was employed as a Research Chemist. I told him that we were fine, but I was not particularly happy with my job, but couldn't really do much about. He then asked me what it would take to make me happy, and I told him that it had always been my dream to attend law school. He then asked me what my problem was...and I told him that I couldn't afford to quit work, that I would have to attend night school, work full time, and try to fulfill my family responsibilities. His answer: "So?", and I replied "I would like to, but it's so hard". I'll never forget his response...he looked me straight in the eye, with a rather serious look on his face, and said: "It's not supposed to be easy". I had to admit he was right. I never forgot that conversation, and it made a big difference in my life. I took the LSAT that Summer; was admitted in 1976 and graduated in 1980. He was right, it wasn't easy, but it was doable...with the help of Sharn Jean and the girls...and it made a big difference in my life and my career.
