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I'm Not Proposing That You Let The Crowd Dictate, Or That You Work Hard To Fit In. Far From It. I'm Proposing That You Know The Impact Your Choices Are Having And Act Accordingly.
-Seth Godin
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I'm Not Proposing That

Seth Godin
I'm Not Proposing That You Let The Crowd Dictate, Or That You Work Hard To Fit In. Far From It. I'm Proposing That You Know The Impact Your Choices Are Having And Act Accordingly.
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Book
Hard Work
Impact
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Want
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Settling
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Tests
Matter
Own Your Dreams. There Is No Better Way To Make Them Happen.
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Way
Happens
The Goal, Then, Isn't To Draw Some Positioning Charts And Announce That You Have Differentiated Your Product. No, The Opportunity Is To Actually Create Something That People Choose To Talk About, Regardless Of What The Competition Is Doing.
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People
Goal
The Devil Doesn't Need An Advocate. The Brave Need Supporters, Not Critics
Brave
Devil
Needs
More And More People Now Have Jobs That Require Them To Confront The Risk Of Appearing Stupid On A Regular Basis.
Jobs
Stupid
People
The Only People Who Get Paid What They're Worth Are People Who Don't Follow The Instruction Book, Who Create Art, Who Are Innovative, Who Work Without A Map.
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Book
People
We Have Little Choice But To Move Beyond Quality And Seek Remarkable, Connected, And New. Remarkable, As You've Already Figured Out, Demands Initiative.
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Choices
Art Is The Act Of Doing Work That Matters While Dancing With The Voice In Your Head That Screams For You To Stop.
Art
Voice
Dancing
Genius Is The Act Of Solving A Problem In A Way No One Has Solved It Before.
Genius
Way
Problem
The World Doesn't Owe You A Living, But Just When You Needed It, A Door Was Opened For You To Make A Difference.
Doors
Differences
Making A Difference
It Always Feels Too Soon To Leap. But You Have To. Because That's The Moment Between You And Remarkable.
Moments
Remarkable
Leap
It Might Be Bold To Put Your Work Into The World Unadorned, But It's Probably Ineffective.
World
Might
Great Leaders Don't Try To Please Everyone. Great Leaders Don't Water Down Their Message In Order To Make The Tribe A Bit Bigger. Instead, They Realize That A Motivated, Connected Tribe In The Midst Of A Movement Is Far More Powerful Than A Larger Group Could Ever Be.
Powerful
Order
Water
What Marketers Used To Do Is Make Average Products For Average People. That's What Mass Marketing Is. They Would Ignore The Geeks, And - God Forbid - The Laggards. It Was All About Going For The Center. I Don't Think That's The Strategy We Want To Use Anymore.
Thinking
Average
People
One Way To Work The System Is To Work The System. The Other Way Is To Refuse To Work It.
Way
Working It
Refuse
The Only Thing Worse Than Starting Something And Failing... Is Not Starting Something.
Inspirational
Motivational
Inspiring
Now, Before Sliced Bread Was Invented In The 1910s I Wonder What They Said? Like The Greatest Invention Since The Telegraph Or Something. But... The Thing About The Invention Of Sliced Bread Is This - That For The First 15 Years After Sliced Bread Was Available No One Bought It; No One Knew About It; It Was A Complete And Total Failure.
Years
Bread
Firsts
Set A Goal, And In Small, Consistent Steps, Work To Reach It. Get Support From Your Peers When You Start Flagging. Repeat. You Will Change.
Inspirational
Goal
Support
Saying No To Loud People Gives You The Resources To Say Yes To Important Opportunities.
Business
Opportunity
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We Notice What We Choose To Notice.
Choices
Fear Is The Workout We Give Ourselves Imagining What Will Happen If Things Don't Work Out. . . . Worry Is Our Effort To Imagine Every Possible Way To Avoid The Outcome That Is Causing Us Fear, And Failing That, To Survive The Thing That We Fear If It Comes To Fruition.
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Giving
Work Out
A Symptom Of The Revolution: When We State Something Is Impossible In Theory, But Then Change Our Minds When We Discover That It Is Possible In Practice.
Impossible Things
Possible And Impossible
Practice
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Leadership
Believe
Hands
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Genuine
First Time
Change Is Not A Threat, It's An Opportunity. Survival Is Not The Goal, Transformative Success Is.
Inspirational
Business
Opportunity
The Art Of Good Decision Making Is Looking Forward To And Celebrating The Tradeoffs, Not Pretending They Don't Exist.
Art
Decision
Looking Forward
Change Almost Never Fails Because It's Too Early. It Almost Always Fails Because It's Too Late.
Inspirational
Change
Too Late
The Easiest Way To Thrive As An Outlier Is To Avoid Being One. At Least Among Your Most Treasured Peers. Surround Yourself With People In At Least As Much Of A Hurry, At Least As Inquisitive, At Least As Focused As You Are.
People
Peers
Way
Treat Different People Differently. Anything Else Is A Compromise.
People
Different
Compromise
Perfect Can't Possibly Be The Goal, We're Left With Generous, Important And Human Instead.
Perfect
Goal
Important
If You Are Wiling To Do Something That Might Not Work, You Are Closer To Being An Artist.
Creativity
Artist
Might
The Combination Of Passion And Art Is What Makes Someone A Linchpin.
Art
Passion
Combination
Mass Attention Is Almost Unattainable And It's Not Clear That You Want It.
Attention
Unattainable
Want
Your Generosity Is More Important Than Your Perfection.
Humor
Generosity
Perfection
The Enemy Of Creativity... Is Fear. We're All Born Creative, It Takes A Little While To Become Afraid. A Surprising Insight: An Enemy Of Fear Is Creativity. Acting In A Creative Way Generates Action, And Action Persuades The Fear To Lighten Up.
Creativity
Creative
Enemy
You Know, If I Look At An Auditorium Full Of High School Students And The Big Man On Campus And His Girlfriend Are Busy Talking While The Lecture's Going On, The Rest Of The Room Is Going To Do It Because They're Powerful Sneezers. They Have Influence. They Reach Out To A Whole Bunch Of People In A Way That Makes The Idea Of Being Disrespectful Spread.
Girlfriend
Powerful
School
People Talking About You Is Far More Effective Than Talking About Yourself.
Talking
People
About Yourself
Instead Of Working Hard To Keep Their Share Of A Shrinking Pie, Or Working Even Harder To Make Sure The Industry Stays As Is, I Think The Most Essential Thing Legacy Book Industry Players Can Do Is Set Up Independent Ventures With Great People And Little Interference And Work Really Hard To Put Themselves Out Of Business By Starting At The Bottom, Not By Reinforcing The Top.
Book
Independent
Player
The World Is Begging For You To Lead.
World
Begging
If It Scares You, It Might Be A Good Thing To Try.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Bravery
Connect, Create Meaning, Make A Difference, Matter, Be Missed.
Differences
Marketing
Making A Difference
Quality Is Not An Absolute Measure. It Doesn't Mean 'deluxeness' Or 'perfection'. It Means Keeping The Promise The Customer Wants You To Make.
Mean
Perfection
Promise
There's No Correlation Between How Good Your Idea Is And How Likely Your Organization Will Be To Embrace It.
Acceptance
Organization
Ideas
When We Think About What Might Go Wrong, We're More Likely To Design Something That Goes Right.
Thinking
Design
Might
My New Favorite Word Is 'awkward.'...th E Reason We Need To Be In Search Of Awkward Is That Awkward Is The Barrier Between Us And Excellence, Between Where We Are And The Remarkable. If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Have Done It Already, And It Wouldn't Be Worth The Effort.
Inspiration
Favorite Words
Effort
Fans, True Fans, Are Hard To Find And Precious. Just A Few Can Change Everything. What They Demand, Though, Is Generosity And Bravery.
Generosity
Bravery
Fans
Make Something Happen Today, Before You Go Home, Before The End Of The Week. Launch That Idea, Post That Post, Run That Ad, Call That Customer. Go The Edge, That Edge You've Been Holding Back From... And Do It Today. Without Waiting For The Committee Or Your Boss Or The Market. Just Go.
Running
Home
Ideas
It’s Okay. Let Your Ego Push You To Be The Initiator. But Tell Your Ego That The Best Way To Get Something Shipped Is To Let Other People Take The Credit. The Real Win For You (and Your Ego) Is Seeing Something Get Shipped, Not In Getting The Credit When It Does.
Real
Winning
People
You Don't Win An Olympic Gold Medal With A Few Weeks Of Intensive Training.
Winning
Training
Gold
Our Job As Marketers And Leaders, Is To Create Vibrant Pockets, Not To Hunt For Mass.
Jobs
Leader
Pockets
'how Was Your Day?' Is A Question That Matters A Lot More Than It Seems.
Matter
Seems
Sign Your Work...if You're Not Proud Of It, Don't Ship It. If You Are, Sign Your Work And Own The Results. We'll Know Who To Thank. If You Work For A Place Where Work Goes Unsigned (internally, In Particular) It's Worth Asking Why.
Asking Why
Proud
Ships
Your Positions On Everything Are Based On The Story You Tell Yourself And Not Some Universal Fact From The Universal Fact Database.
Stories
Databases
Facts
A Bully Is Playing A Game, One That He Or She Enjoys And Needs. You're Welcome To Play This Game If It Makes You Happy, But For Most People, It Will Make You Miserable.
Bullying
Games
Play
Many Things That Are True Are True Because You Believe Them.
Believe
In Other Words, If You Don't Take Action, You Won't Get Any Results You Are Not Your Resume, You Are Your Work
Mind Blowing
Action
Resumes
Today, Not Starting Is Far, Far Worse Than Being Wrong. If You Start, You've Got A Shot At Evolving And Adjusting To Turn Your Wrong Into A Right. But If You Don't Start, You Never Get A Chance.
Adjusting
Today
Chance
People Watch What You Do More Than Listen To What You Say.
People
Watches
Bullhorns Are Overrated: Having Ten Times As Many Twitter Followers Generates Approximately Zero Times As Much Value.
Zero
Marketing
Followers
Not Only Must You Be An Artist, Must You Be Generous, And Must You Be Able To See Where You Can Help But You Must Also Be Aware. Aware Of Where Your Skills Are Welcomed.
Artist
Skills
Able
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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