Small Thinkers Quotes

CLEAR THINKERS REQUIRED Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the three-million-member-strong U.S. Chamber of Commerce, organizes very popular small dinners and invites a wide variety of guests. The express purpose is the exchange of ideas. Tom brings together twenty titans of industry and empowers each with just one minute to talk on a key issue. Then Tom makes his summation. He connects all the dots in a masterful fashion, tying together what everyone has said. Chamber board member Barry Appleton says, "It is this distilled knowledge of clear and concise thinking that is the magic that keeps everyone coming back for more. ~ Darcy Rezac

Our lives are marked by the people who choose to matter more: the teacher who encouraged our curiosity, the neighbor who lent a helping hand in time of need, the great leaders and perceptive thinkers whose vision and innovation improve the quality of our lives. And that's what it means to matter more. It's not about pursuit of riches or fame. It's about making a difference in people's lives. Remembered or not, lived out in a small town or on the world stage, the journey of relevance matters. ~ Marian Deegan

It is largely because the free-thinkers, as a school, have hardly made up their minds whether they want to be more optimist or more pessimist than Christianity that their small but sincere movement has failed. ~ G.K. Chesterton

The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with the nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen it to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prov ~ Douglas Adams

A Manifesto for Introverts
1. There's a word for 'people who are in their heads too much': thinkers.
2. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
3. The next generation of quiet kids can and must be raised to know their own strengths.
4. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend extrovert. There will always be time to be quiet later.
5. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is key to finding work you love and work that matters.
6. One genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
7. It's OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.
8. 'Quiet leadership' is not an oxymoron.
9. Love is essential; gregariousness is optional.
10. 'In a gentle way, you can shake the world.' -Mahatma Gandhi ~ Susan Cain

We embark on this quest not from a simple desire, but from a mandate of our species to search for our place in the cosmos. The quest is old, not new. And has garnered the attention of thinkers great and small, across time and across culture. What we have discovered, the poets have known all along. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Now a Dark Age seemed to be passing. For twelve centuries, a small flame of knowledge had been kept smoldering in the monasteries; only now were there minds ready to be kindled. Long ago, during the last age of reason, certain proud thinkers had claimed that valid knowledge was indestructible - that ideas were deathless and truth immortal. But that was true only in the subtlest sense, the abbot thought, and not superficially true at all. There was objective meaning in the world, to be sure: the nonmoral logos or design of the Creator; but such meanings were God's and not Man's, until they found an imperfect incarnation, a dark reflection, within the mind and speech and culture of a given human society, which might ascribe values to the meanings so that they became valid in a human sense within the culture. For Man was a culture-bearer as well as a soul-bearer, but his cultures were not immortal and they could die with a race or an age, and then human reflections of meaning and human portrayals of truth receded, and truth and meaning resided, unseen, only in the objective logos of Nature and the ineffable Logos of God. Truth could be crucified; but soon, perhaps, a resurrection. ~ Walter M. Miller Jr.

Immature people want quick fixes; they are the all or nothing thinkers. Evolving adults know that lasting change means being committed to the small daily steps over the long-term, deliberate journey. ~ Shannon Tanner

Fast thinkers aren't smarter than slow. Collaborating in real time and over time leverages our collective value and limits pitfalls of both kinds of thinkers. Discuss options both face-to-face and virtually to enable fast and slow thinkers to optimize value for the team ~ Kare Anderson

Systems Thinkers shape a worldview based on the realization of interconnectedness. ~ Pearl Zhu

All great thinkers are initially ridiculed – and eventually revered. ~ Robin S. Sharma

Only weak thinkers do not love the sky. ~ Katherine Rundell

Having no curiosity can be a dangerous thing.. ~ Nanette L. Avery

Clearly, Enlightenment thinkers were seeking a God substitute. ~ Nancy Pearcey

Mistaken ideas always end in bloodshed, but in every case it is someone else's blood. This is why our thinkers feel free to say just about anything. ~ Albert Camus

Our economy is built upon convergent thinkers, people that execute things, get them done. But artists and designers are divergent thinkers: they expand the horizon of possibilities. ~ John Maeda

If you are excited of an idea that no one else, all that should matter to you is focus. Progressive thinkers are driven by their interests, not whether others are interested. ~ Santosh Avvannavar

Your heart will always go where your mind wanders. ~ Shannon L. Alder

Rural places have hemorrhaged their best and brightest children, their intellectuals, thinkers, organizers, leaders, and artists-those who would create change and who would parent another generation of thinkers. All gone.
Our seeds are disappearing. ~ Janisse Ray

Philosophers write for professors; thinkers for writers. ~ Emile M. Cioran

We are not taught to be thinkers, but reflectors of our culture. Let's teach our children to be thinkers. ~ Jacque Fresco

The best ideas rarely arise in one isolated mind, but rather develop in networks of curious and creative thinkers. ~ Esther Perel

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

Positive thinkers look for good in every situation. In times of difficulty, the can find many opportunities. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

When you're given the gift of truth, you spend a lot of time trying to tone it down because it is already offensive enough. ~ Shannon L. Alder

Positive thinkers always affirm blessings on themselves and see themselves as legitimate heirs. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Audiences of critical thinkers are my favorite kinds of audiences. There are jokes I tell in the show that don't get laughs unless I am in front of an audience of critical thinkers. Put me in front of a crowd of science teachers or astronauts! The guileless aren't our audience - it's the critical thinkers we love. ~ Adam Savage

We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels & free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep & conformists. ~ Bill Maher

Positive thinkers create large pictures of what they want in their minds and can predict the future from the present. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Slow thinkers are part of the game too. Some of these slow thinkers can hit a ball a long way. ~ Alvin Dark

Leaders are deep thinkers. They don't relax for problem to lay eggs before they attempt dealing with them. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Positive thinkers focus their minds on the future; they are never complacent about where they are. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

I say, 'Get me some poets as managers.' Poets are our original systems thinkers. They contemplate the world in which we live and feel obligated to interpret, and give expression to it in a way that makes the reader understand how that world runs. Poets, those unheralded systems thinkers, are our true digital thinkers. It is from their midst that I believe we will draw tomorrow's new business leaders.
Sidney Harman, CEO Multimillionaire of a stereo components company ~ Daniel H. Pink

To neglect the wise sayings of great thinkers is to deny ourselves the truest education. ~ William James

I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers. ~ Margaret J. Wheatley

What I notice about people who are gifted in filmmaking is that they're great thinkers. They engage with big ideas and they engage with people. ~ Ben Whishaw

Forward thinkers create a plan, focus on the plan, and execute the plan. Procrastinators just talk about the plan, get distracted with the minor things and postpone the plan. - We don't need time management, we need life management with purpose. ~ Farshad Asl

The greater part of mankind may be divided into two classes; that of shallow thinkers who fall short of the truth; and that of abstruse thinkers who go beyond it. ~ David Hume

Divergent thinking is when we come up with multiple, unexpected solutions to problems. Divergent thinking is spontaneous and free-flowing. Convergent thinking, by contrast, is more linear and entails a narrowing, rather than an expanding, of your options. Convergent thinkers are trying to find the one correct answer to a question. Divergent thinkers reframe the question. The ~ Eric Weiner

Positive thinkers use sentences like "I can do it"; "I am qualified for it"; they think of things as possible. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Great thinkers think inductively, that is, they create solution and then seek out the problems that solution might solve; most companies think deductively, that is, defining a problem and then investigating different solutions. ~ Joey Reiman

When the others were picked up and walked home by friends or fathers or best friend's sisters,
I was the kid in a grey hoodie, walking with the poets, the singers, the thinkers, and I was not alone. ~ Charlotte Eriksson

asking small questions to dispel fear and inspire creativity thinking small thoughts to develop new skills and habits - without moving a muscle taking small actions that guarantee success solving small problems, even when you're faced with an overwhelming crisis bestowing small rewards to yourself or others to produce the best results recognizing the small but crucial moments that everyone else ignores ~ Robert Maurer

I've found that small wins, small projects, small differences often make huge differences. ~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Many small people, in small places, doing small things can change the world. ~ Eduardo Galeano

Those mitigating circumstances could just as well be mentioned if the thinker thought it worth the trouble. From the standpoint of human relations it is worth vastly more than the trouble it takes. The little sympathy or appreciation, coming first, puts the thinkers in the same camp with the feeling types, and the feeling types' desire to stay in the same camp will keep them agreeing with the thinkers as far as possible. ~ Isabel Briggs Myers

Just as the line of astronomical thinkers from Copernicus to Newton had destroyed the old astronomy, in which the earth was the center, and the Almighty sitting above the firmament the agent in moving the heavenly bodies about it with his own hands, so now a race of biological thinkers had destroyed the old idea of a Creator minutely contriving and fashioning all animals to suit the needs and purposes of man. ~ Andrew Dickson White

Small people have small minds, and thus deride big dreamers.
Small people have small hearts, and thus disparage big chancers.
Small people have small souls, and thus disdain big achievers. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the way the car is driven. ~ Edward De Bono

Small towns in remote corners of the world are really quaint, unless you don't fit into them. Then they're just small. ~ Christopher Barzak

Small things have a way of overmastering the great. This small press can destroy a kingdom. ~ Sonya Levien

Small businesses pay 18 percent more than big businesses for health care, the same health care, just because they're small and they have too small a pool of risk. ~ Karen Mills

Well, it's an ancestral tribe. These were immigrants from north of Germany who came here about the time of the Civil War, but anyway, these people called themselves free thinkers. They were impressed, incidentally, by Darwin. They're called Humanists now; people who aren't so sure that the Bible is the Word of God. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

To boost bonding among others so they are more apt to work (or play) well together, ask them, when together, to do two powerfully simple things that can be done rather quickly:
1. Write down the ways they are like each other. Hint: Create a level playing field. Writing rather than immediately sharing helps slow thinkers keep up with fast thinkers. Fast thinkers aren't smarter, just different in their thinking processes, and each kind has advantages and pitfalls, so they can accomplish more together than when a majority in a group think and speak at the same speed. Hint: Salespeople are often fast thinkers.
2. Share with each other what they wrote, going around the circle, one by one.
Bonus benefit: Other studies show that when you reflect on how you are similar to those with whom you are talking, you pay more attention to them. You care about them more. That spurs the other person to listen more closely to you. ~ Kare Anderson

Small things are not small things for the small! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

One thing about living in a small town, I knew everybody and everybody knew me. ~ Anna Nicole Smith

There are none so low but they have their triumphs. Small successes suffice for small souls. ~ Christian Nestell Bovee

I'm really terrible with small children; they're small, noisy, irritating, damp and soggy. ~ Ian Anderson

Those who remain content easily remain small: small are their joys, small are their ecstasies, small are their silences, small is their being. But there is no need! This smallness is your own imposition upon your freedom, upon your unlimited possibilities, upon your unlimited potential. ~ Rajneesh

Do small things.⁣ Small moments matter.⁣ ~ Richie Norton

Chumaka ended with a quotation from a play that Jiro favored. " 'Small acts partner small houses and small minds'. ~ Raymond E. Feist

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a paradox here! Kierkegaard's own indirect communication proposes that we start with the experience of those who don't believe and meet them on their own ground. His success in doing this is evidenced by the fact that, at least for some periods of the 20th century, aspects of his work became a major focus for radical thinkers of various kinds, including the non-religious and, interestingly, a significant number of Jewish thinkers (Buber, Rosenzweig, Taubes, and others). ~ George Pattison

This nation's 23 million small businesses need a budget that reflects their value to the economy. ~ Solomon Ortiz

Small minds just like small stones can never create giant waves. ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

I will be small in small things, great among great. ~ Pindar

I noticed that very intelligent and informed persons were at no advantage over cabdrivers in their predictions, but there was a crucial difference. Cabdrivers did not believe that they understood as much as learned people - really, they were not the experts and they knew it. Nobody knew anything, but elite thinkers thought that they knew more than the rest because they were elite thinkers, and if you're a member of the elite, you automatically know more than the nonelite. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The world is filled with successful small businesses that stay small. ~ Kenneth Fisher

As a member of the House Committee on Small Business and because of my own experience as a small business owner, I am appreciative of the impact these small businesses have on our local economies. ~ Melissa Bean

Let us see to it that ponderers, thinkers, feelers survive in our midst. ~ Robert Walser

Seemingly small choices and small actions add up over time. ~ Rebecca MacKinnon

Each of us is a small part of God's plan. I'm a small part. I create paintings that are being used by God. ~ Thomas Kinkade

Books and drafts mean something quite different for different thinkers. One collects in a book the lights he was able to steal and carry home swiftly out of the rays of some insight that suddenly dawned on him, while another thinker offers us nothing but shadows - images in black and grey of what had built up in his soul the day before. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

If you only take small risks, you are only entitled to a small life. ~ Robin Sharma

I suspect that the real moral thinkers end up, wherever they may start, in botany. ~ Annie Dillard

There are two rules in life: Rule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff. Rule #2: Everything is small stuff. ~ Finn Taylor

I am not good at small talk. I will hide in a cupboard to avoid chitty-chat. ~ Caitlin Moran

Never hesitate to take what you think are small things to God; after all, EVERYTHING is small to God. ~ Joyce Meyer

You can't manipulate people who know how to think for themselves. ~ Trish Mercer

Let us be dreamers, thinkers, speculative philosophers, or as our spouses would have it: Idiots ~ Douglas Adams

Small talk… Bernie resented it more than life itself. The weather, sports scores, frivolous gossip… nothing real, nothing serious, nothing meaningful about it. People were experts at wasting their brief, precious years on earth with small talk. ~ Rebecca McNutt

I didn't realize how hard it was to run a small business. ~ Andrew Mason

When you create more small businesses, you create small entrepreneurship. Out of that comes self-determination and employment. ~ Jesse Jackson

I find that even small changes sometimes jog you out of a mental rut. ~ Tom Perrotta

Small business is the backbone of our economy. I'm for big business, too. But small business is where the jobs are generated. ~ Michele Bachmann

Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. "Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage," one Cornell professor wrote in 1984. "Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win."4.14 Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach. ~ Charles Duhigg

It is to our own detriment that we underestimate the might of small and simple things. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

It is doubtful whether our present system of popular education does not retard independent or self thinking as much as it promotes it. All genuine education is self-education. It will incite the individual to think for himself, by rethinking what the race's great thinkers have already thought for him, thus enabling him to go ahead under his own mental steam. ~ Joseph Alexander Leighton

I come from this really small town near Nashville, Tennessee, where everything was la-di-da and normal. ~ Miley Cyrus

An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things. ~ Michelangelo

I hate small talk. It is small. Small is for teacups and occasionally for tiny houses. Too much small talk is how a country is given to sociopaths who thrive on shallow chatter to distract their emotional sleight of hand. Talk should be meaningful or kept to a minimum. ~ Tressie McMillan Cottom

Well, I've got two small children and this is a very important time for me to be around them. ~ Treat Williams

Alibaba is an ecosystem that helps small business to grow. ~ Jack Ma

A small town is nothing but eyes and gaping maw; it pecks at its own like a flock of vicious birds. ~ Sonya Hartnett

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

One of the most important tools we have at the Small Business Administration (SBA) to reach high growth entrepreneurs is the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program. ~ Karen Mills

Christianity in the West, opens up a perspective of depth into what it means to be a self. And that depth of the self is something that is experienced in the sight of God. So that the great thinkers of self and subjectivity are Paul and Augustine. They look at the self from the perspective of God and they find themselves wretched and interesting. Constituted by conflictual desires. ~ Simon Critchley

No noble opportunity is small. Mind small opportunities with noble traits, though they may seem quite uncanny at first sight; in the mind, you shall wonder! ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

You know Texas is - even more now that Enron has bit the dust - it's held up on the back of small businesses. ~ Rachel Griffiths

We may be a small island, but we are not a small people. ~ Edward Heath