💬 Quotes

"Curiosity, which is so often the offspring of repression, became the mainspring of his genius, driving him to investigate everything from the flight of birds to the formation of fossils."

"The memory of his childhood, preserved in his notebook regarding the vulture, contains the key to the enigma of his character and his detachment from human passion."

"Instead of turning away from love in bitterness, Leonardo transformed his passion into an insatiable thirst for knowledge, seeking to master the secrets of the universe."

"He remained a child for a long time; his genius was characterized by a certain childlike wonder and a freedom from conventional dogma that allowed him to see nature as it truly is."

"Managers often see what they expect to see and ignore what doesn't fit their mental models. When things go wrong, they tend to look for someone to blame rather than looking at the design of the organization."

"Organizations are not just rational instruments for achieving goals; they are complex arenas where people with different values, beliefs, and interests compete for scarce resources and power."

"Structure is not just an organizational chart; it is a blueprint for how people coordinate their efforts, divide labor, and establish authority to accomplish collective tasks."

"Organizations are more like tribes or theaters than well-oiled machines. They are held together by shared values, myths, rituals, and symbols rather than rules and authority alone."

"Human resource framing is built on the premise that organizations and people need one another. Organizations get ideas and energy, while people get careers, salaries, and opportunities for fulfillment."

"The essence of reframing is the ability to look at the same situation through multiple lenses, allowing leaders to develop a richer diagnosis and generate more effective strategies."

"Anger is a signal, and one worth listening to. Our anger may be a message that our boundaries are being violated, that our needs are not being met, or simply that things are not right."

"Caring too much is often a subtle way of not caring about oneself, or of avoiding the anxiety that comes from attending to one's own business."

"We cannot make other people change their ways, nor should we try to do so. Our only real control lies in our own choices and our own behavior."

"It is easier to diagnose the problems of our family members or our mates than it is to look clearly at our own part in the stale, unproductive patterns we get stuck in."

"The small things, when accumulated with mindfulness and appreciation, constitute a rich and satisfying life."

"If we stay stuck in angry protest, we remain dependent on the other person to change first. True maturity means taking a clear stand on who we are and what we believe, without needing to attack, blame, or invalidate the other."

"When we define ourselves clearly—saying 'This is who I am, this is what I think, and this is where I stand'—we reduce anxiety for everyone in the system, even if they initially resist our clarity."

"Every prolonged whole-activity of man must inevitably be accompanied by what is called 'conscious labor' and 'intentional suffering.'"

"Modern people are nothing else than 'automatons' living under the influence of auto-suggestion, who never act from their own independent initiative."

"Man is a three-brained being, but his general functioning is distributed among these three brains in such a disproportioned way that he is entirely controlled by accidental impulses."