The Art of Dealing with People...

Every once in awhile I need to read through some aphorisms (short, pithy sayings that capture a truth in a memorable and insightful way). Here's some that struck me as timely and relevant.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

~ Voltaire

We should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemies as if he were one day to be our friend.

~ Cardinal Newman

People are not motivated by failure; they are motivated by achievement and recognition.

~ F.F. Fournies

You can impress people from a distance. You can impact people only from up close.

~ Will Richert

You get more of the behavior you reward. You don't get what you hope for, ask for, wish for, or beg for. You get what you reward.

~ Michel Le Boeuf

I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.

~ John D. Rockefeller

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

~ George S. Patton

I hold it more important to have the player's confidence than their affection.

~ Vince Lombardi

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

~ John C. Maxwell

The art of dealing with people is the foremost secret of successful men. A man's success in handling people is the very yardstick by which the outcome of his whole life's work is measured.

~ Paul C. Packer

I'll yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under the spirit of criticism.

~ Charles Schwab

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to an ordinary mortal.... It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

~ C.S. Lewis

*all quotes taken from Never Scratch a Tiger with a Short Stick by Gordon S. Jackson