Quotes have always held a special place in human communication, serving as concise expressions of profound thoughts, insights, and wisdom. From ancient philosophers to modern-day leaders, individuals have used quotes to encapsulate powerful ideas, share experiences, and inspire others.

They are usually used to pass on knowledge, wisdom, inspire motivation, express complex emotions, reflect or explain cultural conundrums, and more. Maybe. I simply like the ones below. Don’t read too much into them.

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People still believe in lean and kaizen. But have you ever considered where these come from? Have you seen Japanese work culture? So — yes, you can believe and do lean and kaizen, but don’t expect a 9-5 job.

The one thing that is common for all great leaders is … they all were indebted. There is no better long-term motivator than financial debt.

All great truths are true until they aren’t.

Great love is very powerful. Empathy and humility are very important. They all bend to cold and organized anger and fear.

If you feel fear — it is probably a sign you are learning.

Be a paint-drip person.

Rilke’s poem says we are like birds circling around a tower. It’s an allegory of looking for a meaning and a purpose of life. He does not answer though how to find the right tower.

Finding yourself is a fantastic endeavour. But you need to get lost first.

Many coaching and mentoring techniques ask you to imagine what could go wrong, or what is the worst you can imagine. You can skip this step altogether by doing more charitable work and meet ‘what could go wrong’ first hand.

Coaching and mentoring is helpful. At the same time, if you are not present in the relationship as a coach or a mentor, you will achieve little. In other words, Yes — you should offer your opinion and tell people how to do things sometimes.

Temporary solutions have a permanent nature.

Use your backbone. You are neither a jellyfish nor a stone-wall.

Love always wins. Watch out, though, as winning usually means a war. There will be casualties.

Worth to try to resolve situations with a win-win on your mind. For all sides.

You can’t grow without being stupid and reckless first. True wisdom comes from experience, not from reading and listening.

Shame is the deepest of the “negative emotions,” a feeling we will do almost anything to avoid. Unfortunately, our abiding fear of shame impairs our ability to see reality.

So self-acceptance does not mean self-admiration or even self-liking at every moment of our lives, but tolerance for all our emotions, including those that make us feel uncomfortable.

People often ask me: “Oh, how do you find the time to write books?” I say: “You never find it. You won’t find it. You have to create it.”

The essence of the hero’s journey is: How do you live a meaningful life? What is the deepest life you are called to? How can you respond to that call?

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I see every life as some variation of a heroes journey. I wanted to leave you with that one last quote. Just to debunk one thing — these are the quotes I like, and I take something from each one. It does not mean though I take each one of them on the face value. Or that I believe them and follow them. Hope that’s clear. 🙂

As this is an episode focused on reflections, I leave all the reflections today for you. It is absolutely OK, if none of these quotes will resonate with you. But maybe then it is worthwhile for you to find some, that do?