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John W. Gardner

John W. Gardner Quotes

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Famous John W. Gardner Quotes

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

PhilosophyWaterSocietyTheoryActivityRainRiversAngerExcellenceHumbleTolerateScornPipeExaltedBe HumblePlumberPlumbingGood Philosophy
Book:Excellence: Can We Be Equal And Excellent Too?
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“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.”

PeopleGivingShouldTodayYoungGrowsEducationTeachTechnologyLearningCuttingTeachingFlowerPlantEducationalSunshineSchoolingSelf EducationSchooledHomeschoolingGreat EducationTeaching And LearningEducation And TeachersSchools And EducationLife LearningSchool EducationGreat EducationalTeaching And EducationTeaching EducationSchool LifeTeaching LearningChildren LearningInspirational TeacherTeacher And StudentGreat TeachingQuality EducationGood TeachingChildren EducationStudents And EducationStudent LearningEducation For AllTeaching StudentsRelated To EducationTeachers Learning From StudentsLife TeachesWhat Is EducationGreat SchoolsLearning And GrowingSpecial EducationModern EducationEffective TeacherPhysical EducationYoung StudentsTechnology And EducationEducation TodayEffective TeachingTechnology In EducationLife Teaching
Author:John W. Gardner
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“Tax reduction has an almost irresistible appeal to the politician, and it is no doubt also gratifying to the citizen. It means more dollars in his pocket, dollars that he can spend if inflation doesn't consume them first. But dollars in his pocket won't buy him clean streets or an adequate police force or good schools or clean air and water. Handing money back to the private sector in tax cuts and starving the public sector is a formula for producing richer and richer consumers in filthier and filthier communities. If we stick to that formula we shall end up in affluent misery.”

IfsFirstsMeanEndsSchoolForceWaterCommunityDoubtCuttingAirStreetsCitizensPoliticianTaxesPoliceDollarsMiseryCleanSticksAppealsConsumersNo DoubtPocketsFormulasAdequateInflationStarvingIrresistibleReductionPrivate SectorTax CutsAffluentPolice ForcePublic SectorClean AirGood SchoolAir And Water
Book:The Recovery of Confidence
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“Perhaps the most promising trend in our thinking about leadership is the growing conviction that the purposes of the group are best served when the leader helps followers develop their own initiative, strengthens them in the use of their own judgment, enables them to grow, and to become better contributors.”

ThinkingHelpingUsePurposeGrowsLeaderGrowingGroupsJudgmentConvictionTrendsFollowersInitiativeContributors
Book:LEADERSHIP PAPERS/3: THE HEART OF THE MATTER LEADER-CONSTITUENT INTERACTION
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“We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.”

IfsWantFearGrowthPowerfulPayCourageLearningFailurePersonalityDifficultyObstaclesHeavyExplorationProgressiveFear Of FailureExperimentationLearning From FailureFailure MotivationalNo FailureRisk And Failure
Author:John W. Gardner
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“Josh Billings said, It is not only the most difficult thing to know oneself, but the most inconvenient one, too. Human beings have always employed an enormous variety of clever devices for running away from themselves, and the modern world is particularly rich in such stratagems.”

KnowsWorldHumansSaidRunningDifficultHuman BeingsRichModernOneselfCleverEnormousVarietyBeing YourselfDevicesRunning AwayEmployedModern WorldDifficult ThingsInconvenientKnowing OneselfJoshStratagemBilling
Author:John W. Gardner
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