Best of “fire up the engines”

I don’t come to bow.

I come to conquer.
 -Bob Marley
 

If you’re afraid, don’t do it.

But if you are doing it, don’t be afraid.
 -Genghis Khan

I was born for the storm, and a calm does not suit me.
-Andrew Jackson

Strive not, my soul, for an immortal life, but make the most of what is possible.
Pindar

Never confuse single defeat with final defeat.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
Walter Gagehot

The future starts today, not tomorrow.

Pope John Paul II

Pessimism never won any battle.

Dwight Eisenhower

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

-          Robert H. Schuller

ACCEPT THE CHALLENGES SO THAT YOU MAY FEEL THE EXHILARATION

OF VICTORY.
George Patton
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies
within us.
Emerson

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.”-Winston Churchill 

He knows not his strength that hath not met adversity.

 -Ben Johnson

All the knowledge I possess anyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. 
Goethe

Success isn’t owned, it’s leased, and the rent is due every day.
 -JJ Watt

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot

hurt you.” – Winston S. Churchill

"There is no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there’s no joy in
merely doing things which any one can do. But there is some satisfaction that is mighty
sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you thought you’d never make.”
-Spirella

It is more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.

 -Steve Jobs

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccesful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

To whom much is given, much is expected.

Maya Angelou
 “Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black
flag, and begin slitting throats.”
Mencken

“We Are All Faced with a Series of Great Opportunities Brilliantly Disguised as

Impossible Situations.” –Charles Swindoll.

“All men are alike in their dreams.  All men are alike in the promises that they make. 
The difference is in what they do.”
--Benjamin Franklin

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
-Abraham Lincoln

“The best way to improve the team is to improve yourself”

- John wooden

Young people need mentors, not critics

John Wooden

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ”

― Walt Disney

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise; this seems to me a
blessing of an extremely obvious kind.
Oscar Wilde

A man who procrastinares in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him
by circumstance
- Hunter S Thompson

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

 -Shakespeare
The only easy day was yesterday.
 -US Marines

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

-Thoreau

We sail at sunrise, daily, outward bound.

-Helen Hunt Fiske Jackson

The best way out is always through.

-Robert Frost

He conquers who endures.

-Perseus

"So I sought out pain, fell in love with suffering, and eventually
transformed myself from the weakest piece of shit on the planet
into the hardest man God ever created”
-Goggins

Never be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to
hurt you.
-African proverb- steven smith

Life is a grindstone; whether it polishes you up, or grinds you down depends on what you
are made of.
-JM Braud

Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.

-Shakespeare

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

Horace

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them and try to follow where they lead.
Louisa May Alcott

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A
Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent
guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine
are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the
one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”
Heraclitus

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back
and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

talk not about blasphemy, I’d Strike the sun if it insulted me

-Captain Ahab (Melville)

“The fight is won or lost,” says Muhammad Ali, “far away from witnesses –behind the
lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, well before I dance under the lights.”

“A champion is one who gets up when he can’t.”

Jack Dempsey

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for.
- John Shedd

You must put your head into the lion’s mouth if the show is to be a success.
Winston Churchill
A man’s usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. Now, I
have consistently preached what our opponents are pleased to call “jingo doctrines” for a
good many years. One of the commonest taunts directed at men like myself is that we are
armchair and parlor jingoes who wish to see others do what we only advocate doing. I
care very little for such a taunt, except as it affects my usefulness, but I cannot afford to
disregard the fact that my power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn’t
try to live up to the doctrines I have tried to preach. Moreover, it seems to me that it
would be a good deal more important from the standpoint of the nation as a whole that
men like myself should go to war than that we should stay comfortably in offices at home
and let others carry on the war that we have urged.  
Theodore Roosevelt

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
- Malloch

What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.

-Emerson

Everything will be ok in the end, and if it’s not ok, it’s not the end. 
John Lennon

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth
doing.
 Teddy Roosevelt

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Albert Einstein

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
-Ayn Rand

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows
great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the
best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Either I will find a way, or I will make one.

Hannibal

In the end, it is not simply about what you want… It’s about what you are willing to do
to get it.
Dom Starsia

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war
Gunner Gilbert H Bolton

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.     

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.

Thomas Edison

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

-Thomas Paine

The process is more important than the product

Inky Johnson

-Kia Whakangawari au i a hau.

 
Let us prepare ourselves for the fray.
Mantra of the New Zealand All Blacks.

Do not judge me by my successes,

Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. 
Nelson Mandela

Every Battle is won before it is fought

Sun Tzu

If you wish to be out front, act as if you were behind. 

Lao Tzu

Don’t be upset with the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do.
Eric Thomas

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

Churchill

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come
easily by what others have labored hard for.”
Churchill

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”
– Winston Churchill

“History is written by the victors.” – Winston Churchill

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
Churchill

“Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.”

Chruchill
“It is no use saying ‘we are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is
necessary.”
Churchill

You and yours vs. Me and Mine.

 Drake

The man on the top of the mountain didn’t fall there

Vince Lombardi

You think big

You get big.
Notorious B.I.G.

With greatness comes responsibility. 

Winston Churchill

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma Gandhi

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can

overcome adversity. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. No one saves us but
ourselves. No one can and no one may.
Mahatma Gandhi

If you stay ready,

You ain’t gotta get ready.
James Brown, Godfather of Soul

I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell

I am a hustler baby, I'll sell water to a well
I was born to get cake, move on and switch states
- Jay-Z

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

Helen Keller
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, But where
he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
DR. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To realize the value of ten years, ask a newly divorced couple. To realize the value of
four years, ask a graduate. To realize the value of one year, ask a student who has failed a
final exam. To realize the value of 9 months, ask a mother who gave birth. To realize the
value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby. To realize the
value of one week, ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of one
minute, ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane. To realize the value of one
second, ask a person who has survived and accident. To realize the value of an inch, ask
the persons who just came up short of their goals in competition and ask them if they
could have worked 1% harder? That 1% makes all the difference. Just 1 degree of extra
effort turns hot water at 211 degrees into boiling water and steam that can drive a
locomotive at 212 degrees.
-Brian Cain

“Everybody wants to be a beast until it’s time to do what beasts do”

-Eric Thomas

But man is not made for defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Earnest Hemingway

The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

Loa Tzu

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it,
but what they become by it.
John Ruskin

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Becket

When written in Chinese, the word ”crisis” is composed of two characters-

One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
John F. Kennedy
I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas A. Edison

Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say
something
Plato

Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to move forward that counts.
Winston Churchill

You can’t cheat the Grind.

It knows how much you’ve invested
It won’t give you nothing you haven’t worked for.
Kobe Bryant

Before honor comes humility

Proverbs

Everything negative: pressure, challenges, are all opportunities for me to rise.”

 Kobe Bryant

TEN BOOKS ON LEADERSHIP

The Art of War - Sun Tzu (of course)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - Dan Maxwell

Lincoln on Leadership - Donald Phillips

It Worked for Me, In Life and Leadership - Colin Powell

My Share of the Task - Stan McChrystal

Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Make Your Bed - William McRaven

A Sense of Honor - James Webb

Team of Teams - Stan McChrystal (yes his second one too!)

Start with Why - Simon Sinek