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Our Job Is To Make Change. Our Job Is To Connect To People, To Interact With Them In A Way That Leaves Them Better Than We Found Them, More Able To Get Where They'd Like To Go. Every Time We Waste That Opportunity, Every Page Or Sentence That Doesn't Do Enough To Advance The Cause Is Waste.
-Seth Godin
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Our Job Is To

Seth Godin
Our Job Is To Make Change. Our Job Is To Connect To People, To Interact With Them In A Way That Leaves Them Better Than We Found Them, More Able To Get Where They'd Like To Go. Every Time We Waste That Opportunity, Every Page Or Sentence That Doesn't Do Enough To Advance The Cause Is Waste.
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Your Generosity Is More Important Than Your Perfection.
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We Don't Need To Be Taught To Make Art, But Sometimes We Need Permission To Do So. Following Instructions Is Overrated.
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Ruins
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Believe That Giving Up Is The Same Thing As Being Realistic.
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Realistic
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Self Sufficiency Appears To Be A Worthy Goal, But It's Now Impossible If You Want To Actually Get Anything Done. All Our Productivity, Leverage And Insight Comes From Being Part Of A Community, Not Apart From It. The Goal, I Think, Is To Figure Out How To Become More Dependent, Not Less.
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Goal
Great Work Is Always Shunned At First.
Firsts
Great Work
We Need Students Who Can Learn How To Learn, Who Can Discover How To Push Themselves And Are Generous Enough And Honest Enough To Engage With The Outside World To Make Those Dreams Happen.
Dream
Needs
World
Your Art Is The Act Of Taking Personal Responsibility, Challenging The Status Quo, And Changing People.
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You Can Define Advertising As The Science Of Creating And Placing Media That Interrupts The Consumer And Then Gets Him Or Her To Take Some Action.
Technology
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Creating
Defending Mediocrity Is Exhausting.
Mediocrity
Exhausting
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Tomorrow
Speak
Remarkable Visions And Genuine Insight Are Always Met With Resistance. And When You Start To Make Progress, Your Efforts Are Met With Even More Resistance. Products, Services, Career Paths... Whatever It Is, The Forces For Mediocrity Will Align To Stop You, Forgiving No Errors And Never Backing Down Until It's Over
Careers
Errors
Effort
Just Because Something Is Easy To Measure Doesn't Mean It's Important.
Motivational
Christian
Mean
Nothing About Becoming Indispensable Is Easy. If It's Easy, It's Already Been Done And It's No Longer Valuable.
Done
Becoming
Easy
What I Mean By Art Is The Human Act Of Doing Something That Connects Us To Someone Else
Art
Mean
Art Is
If You Want Customers To Hear About You, Make Something Worth Talking About.
Talking
Want
Customers
What People Want Is The Extra, The Emotional Bonus They Get When They Buy Something They Love.
Emotional
People
Marketing
Great Leaders Create Movements By Empowering The Tribe To Communicate. They Establish The Foundation For People To Make Connections, As Opposed To Commanding People To Follow Them.
People
Empowering
Leader
Success Brings With It The Fear Of Blowing It. With More To Lose, There's More Pressure Not To Lose It.
Pressure
Blowing It
Loses
Be Genuine. Be Remarkable. Be Worth Connecting With.
Genuine
Remarkable
Connecting
We're Often In A Hurry To Finish. Or In A Hurry To Close A Sale. What Happens When We Adopt The Posture Of Being In A Hurry To Be Generous? With Resources Or Insight Or Access Or Kindness... It's An Interesting Sort Of Impatience.
Kindness
Interesting
Impatience
It's Rare To Find A Consistently Creative Or Insightful Person Who Is Also An Angry Person. They Can't Occupy The Same Space, And If Your Anger Moves In, Generosity And Creativity Often Move Out. It's Difficult To Use Revenge Or Animus To Fuel Great Work.
Revenge
Moving
Anger
Transferring Your Passion To Your Job Is Far Easier Than Finding A Job That Happens To Match Your Passion.
Peace
Jobs
Passion
Writing A Book Is A Tremendous Experience. It Pays Off Intellectually. It Clarifies Your Thinking. It Builds Credibility. It Is A Living Engine Of Marketing And Idea Spreading, Working Every Day To Deliver Your Message With Authority. You Should Write One.
Book
Writing
Thinking
Any Customer That Walks Away, Disrespected And Defeated, Represents Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Out The Door, In Addition To The Failure Of A Promise The Brand Made In The First Place. You Can't See It But It's Happening, Daily.
Doors
Promise
Dollars
You're Competing Against People In A State Of Flow, People Who Are Truly Committed, People Who Care Deeply About The Outcome.
People
Entrepreneur
Who Cares
As Soon As We Associate Reading With A Test, We've Missed The Point.
Reading
Tests
Associates
Optimism Is The Most Important Human Trait, Because It Allows Us To Evolve Our Ideas, To Improve Our Situation, And To Hope For A Better Tomorrow.
Inspirational
Positive
Positivity
The Goal In Blogging/ Business/ Inspiring Non-fiction Is To Share A Truth, Or At Least A Truth As The Writer Sees It. To Not Just Share It, But To Spread It And To Cause Change To Happen. You Can Do That In At Least Three Ways: With Research (your Own Or Reporting On Others), By Building And Describing Conceptual Structures, Or With Stories That Resonate.
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Three
Fiction
The Secret To Being Wrong Isn't To Avoid Being Wrong! The Secret Is Being Willing To Be Wrong. The Secret Is Realizing That Wrong Isn't Fatal.
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Secret
Realizing
Seek Out Habits That Help You Overcome Fear Or Inertia. Destroy Those That Do The Opposite.
Opposites
Overcoming
Helping
My Best Advice: Win Little Battles. Get In The Habit Of Winning, Of Shipping, Of Having Customers That Can't Live Without You. Once You've Demonstrated You Know How To Do The Art, Then Go After The Windmills.
Art
Winning
Advice
Every Voice Doesn't Matter--only The Voices That Move Your Idea Forward, That Make It Better, That Make You Better, That Make It More Likely You Will Ship Work That Benefits Your Tribe.
Moving
Ideas
Voice
If I Fail More Than You Do, I Win.
Winning
Failing
Ifs
Deadlines Have A Lousy Name. Call Them Live-lines Instead. That´t What They Are.
Names
Lines
Deadline
Not Changing Your Strategy Merely Because You're Used To The One You Have Now Is A Lousy Strategy.
Strategy
Used
Too Often, The Person Who Wrecks Our Work Is Us.
Wrecks
Persons
People That Take Responsibility Are Often Given Responsibility!
Responsibility
People
Taking Responsibility
The Goal Has Never Been To Always Succeed. The Goal Is To Be Allowed To Keep Initiating.
Goal
Succeed
The Challenge Of Our Time Is To Find A Journey Worthy Of Your Heart And Your Soul.
Heart
Journey
Challenges
If You Don't Know How It Works, Find Out. If You're Not Sure If It Will Work, Try It. If It Doesn't Make Sense, Play With It Until It Does. If It's Not Broken, Break It. If It Might Not Be True, Find Out.
Play
Broken
Trying
Competition And The Market Are Like Water, They Go Where They Want
Water
Competition
Want
I Look At Starbucks, Howard Schultz Has Made Many Brilliant Decisions, And One Of The Things That They Did Was They Invented The Third Space. It's Not Work, It's Not Home. That's One Of The Engines Of Its Spread. But At The Same Time He Was Doing That, He Bet The Farm To Open More And More Stores In Any Given Town, And Making It Ubiquitous Made It Much Easier To Say To Your Friend, I'll Meet You At Starbucks.
Home
Space
Decision
There's No Life-work Balance. I Think You Have To Have The Discipline To Have The Life You Want To Have. And If You Are Stealing From One Part Of Your Life In Order To Make The Other Part Work, You Are Going To Pay For It.
Thinking
Order
Discipline
The Application Process Changes The List Of Who Applies. Your Applicants Reflect Your Methods.
Business
Lists
Process
In Contemporary Art Or Movies, It Makes Perfect Sense To Be Focused On The Bleeding Edge, On The New Idea That's Never Been Previously Contemplated. But When We're Discussing Our Goals, Our Passion And The Way We Interact With The Culture, It Seems To Me That What Works Is Significantly More Important Than What's New.
Art
Passion
Ideas
If You Do A Job Where Someone Tells You Exactly What To Do, They Will Find Someone Cheaper Than You To Do It. And Yet Our Schools Are Churning Out Kids Who Are Stuck Looking For Jobs Where The Boss Tells Them Exactly What To Do.
Jobs
School
Kids
I See Things Differently When I'm Focused On Opening Doors For Other People, And More Often Than Not, My Doors Are Opened As Well.
Doors
People
Wells
How Often Do Our Heroes Stand Still? It's Hard To Imagine Spock And Kirk Landing On A Planet And Just Relaxing For A Month Or Two. Just Hanging Out Has Nothing To Do With Boldly Going Where No One Has Gone Before. What Makes Us Different From Every Other Creature Is That We Go Places, Places We've Not Gone Before. We Do It Willingly, And Often. What Makes Our Work And Our Life Interesting Is Discovery, Surprise, And The Risk Of Exploration.
Hero
Discovery
Two
Marketing Is The Art Of Seeing (and Then Creating) What Might Be Interesting To More Than Our Friends
Art
Creating
Interesting
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
All Good Ideas Are Terrible... Until People Realize They Are Obvious. If You're Not Willing To Live Through The Terrible Stage, You'll Never Get To The Obvious Part.
Ideas
People
Realizing
The Next Thing You Do Today Will Be The Most Important Thing On Your Agenda, Because, After All, You're Doing It Next. Well, Perhaps It Will Be The Most Urgent Thing. Or The Easiest. In Fact, The Most Important Thing Probably Isn't Even On Your Agenda.
Important
Agendas
Today
The Cost Of Being Wrong Is Less Than The Cost Of Doing Nothing.
Inspiring
Insightful
Marketing
And The Reason Is That Until Wonder Came Along And Figured Out How To Spread The Idea Of Sliced Bread, No One Wanted It. That The Success Of Sliced Bread... Is Not Always About What The Patent Is Like, Or What The Factory Is Like - It's About Can You Get Your Idea To Spread, Or Not.
Ideas
Patents
Bread
People Who Can Spread Ideas Regardless Of What Those Ideas Are, Win.
Winning
Ideas
People
Our Job Is Obvious: We Need To Get Out Of The Way, Shine A Light, And Empower A New Generation To Teach Itself And To Go Further And Faster Than Any Generation Ever Has.
Jobs
Learning
Light
The Value We Create Is Directly Related To How Much Valuable Information We Can Produce, How Much Trust We Can Earn, And How Often We Innovate.
Motivational
Information
Produce
Catering To The Passionate Is Exactly What You Should Do.
Passionate
Should
Catering
Once You Have Permission To Talk To Someone, Finding New Products Or Services For Them Is A Smart Way To Grow.
Business
Smart
Way
I Find That It's Almost Essential To Fall In Love With An Idea To Invest The Time It Takes To Make It Good And Worth Sharing. And Then, The Hard Part: Deleting That Idea When It's Just Not What It Could Be. Too Often, Organizations Are Good At The First Part, But Struggle With The Second. And So We Defend Expired Business Models, Support The Status Quo And Have A Knee-jerk Inclination To Preserve What We've Got.
Falling In Love
Struggle
Organization
Caring, It Turns Out, Is A Competitive Advantage, And One That Takes Effort, Not Money.
Caring
Effort
Advantage
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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