Ten Quotes on Victory

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao did the Philippines proud again today as he snatched the WBC lightweight title from Mexican-American David Diaz in an impressive ninth round knockout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. With this spectacular win, Pacquiao became the first Filipino as well as the first Asian to win four world titles, not counting the Ring Magazine featherweight championship he bagged in 2003 after beating Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera.

Everybody loves a winner. Why, even recent NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, were there cheering for Pacquiao from their special ringside seats. After the game, I even caught them on cable TV having a picture taken together with Pacquiao and his team. Apparently, both are self-confessed members of a "mutual admiration society." According to Ronnie Nathanielsz, "Pacquiao endeared himself to the Celtics when, despite training in Los Angeles, he picked the Celtics as his favorite team to beat the Lakers and when they did their admiration for one another was strengthened even further."

Let's examine the mystique that lies behind VICTORY, in the words of others who have earned one:

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat. -Malcolm S. Forbes

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If you can't accept losing, you can't win. -Vince Lombard

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Expect victory and you make victory. -Preston Bradley

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If you think you can win, you can. Faith is necessary to victory. -William Hazlitt

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There is no victory at bargain basement prices. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

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To be prepared is half the victory. -Miguel Cervantes

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Victory belongs to the most persevering. -Napoleon Bonaparte

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Victory always starts in the head. -Douchan Gersi

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There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. -Michael Eyquen de Montaigne

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Victory is a thing of the will. -General Ferdinand Foch

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Quotes on Fathers

Today is Father's Day. I didn't grow up knowing that there is such a special day in the year for fathers. Understandably, it is not part of our indigenous tradition as Filipinos. That's not to say I don't like the idea. In fact, given that the wife/mother is the central figure in Filipino homes, I am flattered by all the attention given to me by everyone in the family on this special day.

Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, is credited for conceiving the idea of Father’s Day while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. She wanted a special day to honor her widowed father who was left to raise his six children on a farm. Spokane’s mayor chose a day in June for this purpose, because it was the birth month of Dodd's father. President Lyndon Johnson issued in 1966 the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers every third Sunday in June. However, it was President Richard Nixon who signed in 1972 the public law that made celebration of Father's Day permanent.

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. -Henry Ward Beecher

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When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. -Mark Twain

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It is a wise father that knows his own child. -William Shakespeare

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That is the thankless position of the father in the family - the provider for all, and the enemy of all. -J. August Strindberg

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It is much easier to become a father than to be one. -Kent Nerburn

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Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development. -David Gottesman

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A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father. -Gabriel García Márquez

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I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. -Sigmond Freud

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You know, fathers just have a way of putting everything together. -Erika Cosby

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A father is a banker provided by nature. -French Proverb

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

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)