Michael Josephson Thinking Quotations

To separate the purpose of a business from the purpose of people who are in the business is, I think, not a good thing.

Good intentions are simply not enough. Our character is defined and our lives are determined not by what we want, say or think, but by what we do.

It is not enough that we express our gratitude, we must experience it. We truly honor the must think about our blessings, separately and cumulatively It is not enough to count our blessings and express our gratitude if we don't truly feel grateful.

Integrity, respect, compassion, and fairness become obstacles to people who think winning is everything

Failure is much easier to handle if you just think of it as feedback to guide your next effort.

No leader or organization can achieve breakout growth until it treats, "we've always done it this way" as an opportunity to think anew rather than as a reason to stop thinking. Keep in mind, tradition should be a guide, not a jailer.

I think Samuel Johnson had it right when he observed that hope is itself a species of happiness. So if we want to be happy it only makes sense to discipline ourselves to choose our attitudes, to think positively and to be hopeful.

We all have three characters: the one we really have, the one we try to convince the world we have, and the one we think we have.

The kind of courage that is strengthened or created by concern about what others will think is really a form of fear. Fear of disapproval or dishonor becoming stronger than fear of injury or even death.

The way we treat people we think can't help or hurt us - like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries - tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. How we behave when we think no one is looking or when we don't think we will get caught more accurately portrays our character than what we say or do in service of our reputations.

People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world.