Ten Quotes on Innovation

I've been wanting to blog about the forces that trigger financial innovation for a long time now. There's need to do a literature survey to make sure I cover all the known bases to-date. Unfortunately, I haven't had the luxury of time for such research. I thought, however, that a less ambitious start would be to identify a unifying theme for such a wide-ranging post. From my experience, good sources for such a theme are what authorities or experts have to say on the subject. Here are ten quotes on INNOVATION which I particularly liked:

Well, when you're trying to create things that are new, you have to be prepared to be on the edge of risk. -Michael Eisner

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When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts. -Larry Ellison

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An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life. -Jim Rohn

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The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow. -Rupert Murdoch

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There has been opposition to every innovation in the history of man, with the possible exception of the sword. -Benjamin Dana

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Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. -Michael Porter

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Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure. -Albert Einstein

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Every innovation occasions more harm and derangement of order by its novelty, than benefit by its abstract utility. -Legal Maxim

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Chance favors only the prepared mind. -Louis Pasteur

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Nearly 100% of innovation -- from business to politics -- is inspired not by "market analysis" but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are. -Tom Peters

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes from Confucius

Whenever I feel like quoting an ancient philosopher, the first name that comes to my mind is that of Confucius. But for a figure whose influence in Chinese history has been compared with that of Socrates in the West, I was surprised to learn that it is hard to separate which accounts of Confucius' life are fact and which ones are fiction.

Another revelation from my research: Confucius' admission that he was simply “a transmitter and not a maker” of his teachings. According to him, his teachings are really lessons transmitted from antiquity.( You can read more about Confucius here). Whatever the source of his teachings, I still like them--deceptively simple but very profound, just like the following:

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

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Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

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You cannot open a book without learning something.

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Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

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To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

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The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

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The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

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The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.

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The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.

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Study the past, if you would divine the future.

Ten Quotes on Coincidences

A coincidence is "a sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged," according to the FreeDictionary. I've had so many in my life that I have lost count of them. Since I'm not a habitual note-taker or a diary-keeper, it will take me really serious effort to recall all those.

But I am suddenly conscious again about coincidences precisely because of several recent developments in my life that are so uncanny in terms of context, timing and significance, relative to what I am planning for my next career shift. I have not blogged here for two weeks now precisely because I've been busy with activities that will lead to my next "incarnation," this time as an entrepreneur. Join me as I explore further the nature of COINCIDENCES, as other people viewed or experienced it:

In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. -William S. Burroughs

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A coincidence is a small miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous. -Unknown

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Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys. -Emma Bull

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Coincidences are spiritual puns. -G.K. Chesterton

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There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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If you do something once, people will call it an accident. If you do it twice, they call it a coincidence. But do it a third time and you've just proven a natural law. -Grace Murray Hopper

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If there were no such thing as coincidence, there would be no such word. -Heron Carvic

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Coincidence, if traced far enough back, becomes inevitable. -Hineu

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Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. -Albert Einstein

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Consciousness itself is an infinite regress. This explains coincidences. -Robert Anton Wilson

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)