Potter and Clay

"There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.

"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. "My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet."

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet”.

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, "Not yet”.

Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. "There, that's better," I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Stop it, stop it!" I cried. He only nodded, "Not yet."

Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, "Not yet."

Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.”
"I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

Do something wonderful

"Don't be encumbered by history, just go out and do something wonderful." - Robert Noyce -

Curiosity

"You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives." - Anonymous -

Do your best

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life
of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and
realities of your existence;
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
Splendor of achievement,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived,
makes every yesterday a
dream of happiness
And tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.

- Kalidasa in Shakuntalam -

Live

"You better live every day like it's your last because one day you're going to be right." - Ray Charles -

Ingenuity

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." - George S. Patton US general (1885 - 1945) -

Life

"Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans." - John Lennon -

Problem

"A problem well described is half solved." - John Dewey -

Longing

"If you want to build a boat, do not instruct the men to saw wood, stitch the sails, prepare the tools and organize the work, but make them long for setting sail and travel to distant lands." - Antoine De Saint Exupery -

Pull and Push

"Pull the string, and it will follow whereever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all." - Dwight D. Eisenhower -

Learning

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself." - Chinese Proverb -

Freedom

"It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains." - Thomas Huxley -

Freedom

"It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains." - Thomas Huxley -

Simplicity

"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity." - Bruce Lee -

Reality

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein -

Power

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln -

Leadership

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.” - Gen. Colin Powell -

Heaven

"I do not want a kingdom, or heaven; what I want is to remove the trouble of the oppressed, the poor, and the needy." - Mahatma Gandhi -

Counsel

“He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both.” - Francis Bacon -

Education

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." - Malcolm X -