Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Favorite sayings: Behold the turtle...





he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.

This was another gem gleaned from a friend's bedroom poster in the 70's.This simple poster encouraged me to take risks. (But when you take risks, it sometimes gets messy.)

Decades later I read a proverb, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is gotten by the strength of an ox."

Simply put, oxen make messes, but they get a lot done.

I've heard it put this way, "The only people not making mistakes are those who are doing nothing."

The Chinese have a story about an apprentice who is instructed that it takes 10,000 mistakes in making a tea cup before you are a true artisan.

I say, if you want to get good at something, you're going to make a lot of mistakes, so get busy! Stick your neck out!

Very little damage is done by a turtle anyway. Live large!

1 comment:

  1. I love the thoughts behind this post, and boy, are the themes here ever true.

    I found your blog by your post on mine, and as I browse through your posts it looks we are on the same page on a lot of things. Perhaps due to the Iowa connection? or being teachers? :)

    Regaurdless, thanks for blogging and letting me blog with you!

    ReplyDelete