Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Nomination Acceptance Speech (29 August 2008) http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gG5l5C <br class="br">2008
As quoted in "Independence Day: Bollywood stars wish peace, progress, prosperity" in The Times of India (15 August 2014) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Independence-Day-Bollywood-stars-wish-peace-progress-prosperity/articleshow/40306133.cms. <br class="br">Context: Change cannot come from one politician, it has to come from each one of us and not just for today... it's a gradual process. Let's be responsible & work towards it.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Nomination Acceptance Speech (29 August 2008) http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gG5l5C <br class="br">2008
Nampo Jomyo (1235–1309)
Attributed to Nampo Jomyo in: Richard Bryan McDaniel.Zen Masters of Japan. The Second Step East. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2013.
Satoru Iwata (1959–2015) Japanese video game programmer and businessman
2005 GDC Keynote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnrEosZKzp4&t=8m6s
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Immigration speech (31 August 2016)
Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-transcript-227614
Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician
Song lyrics, A Day Without Rain (2000)
Yi Hwang (1501–1570) Korean Confucianism scholar
Source: Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, Ch. 3. Diagram Of The Elementary Learning http://faculty.washington.edu/mkalton/10dia%20ch%203%20web.htm
Peter Gabriel (1950) English singer-songwriter, record producer and humanitarian
Fourteen Black Paintings
Song lyrics, Us (1992)
“Happiness comes from the full use of one's power to achieve excellence.”
Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986) United States admiral
Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life (1974)
Context: Happiness comes from the full use of one's power to achieve excellence. Life is potentially an empty hole, and there are few more satisfying ways of filling it than achieving and exercising excellence.
This principle of excellence is on which Americans seem to be losing, and at a time when the Nation stands in need of it. A lack of excellence implies mediocrity. And in a society that is willing to accept a standard of mediocrity, the opportunities for personal failure are boundless. Mediocrity can destroy us as surely as perils far more famous.
It is important that we distinguish between what it means to fail at a task and what it means to be mediocre. There is all the difference in the world between the life lived with dignity and style which ends in failure, and one which achieves power and glory, yet is dull, unoriginal, unreflective, and mediocre. In a real sense, what matters is not so much whether we make a lot of money or hold a prestigious job; what matter is that we seek out others with knowledge and enthusiasm — that we become people who can enjoy our own company.