Quotes

Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms? ~ share this Philosophy saying
- William James

"The heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night." 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poverty cannot deprive us of many consolations. It cannot rob us of the affection we have for each other, or degrade us in our own opinion, of in that of any person, whose opinion we ought to value.

- Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

English writer and pioneer of the gothic novel (1764 - 1823)   

The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.

- Whitney Young

US civil rights leader (1921 - 1971)  

In many cases, the more you try to compete, the less competitive you actually are.

- Kathy Sierra, Creating Passionate Users, 07-22-06

( Does she mean that in trying to compete that you get like a department store and try to be all things to all people?  Are we best when we stick to our area of expertise and maintain a narrow focus? )