Quotes about Competence

We all feel like idiots at one time or another. Even if we feel we're cool 98 percent of the time, that 2-percent doofus is poised to take over our bodies without any warning.

All the best things I did at Apple came from (a) not having money, and (b) not having done it before, ever.

And the most difficult of tasks to keep Heights which the soul is competent to gain.

We have a system which, though far from perfect, is strong with idealism. It gives elbow room for men of all races and all beliefs. It is vital and dynamic. And it works. We have the means of shaping the world in our pattern. If we do, freedom will be assured for all men. The decision is in the hands of this generation. It is a challenge to our political competence. For Western civilization it is the greatest challenge of all time.

If we conducted ourselves as sensibly in good times as we do in hard times, we could all acquire a competence.

Echo A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" To his surprise, the son hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Curious, he yells: "Who are you?" He receives the answer: "Who are you?" Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!" He receives the answer: "Coward!" He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?" The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention." And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!" The voice answers: "I admire you!" Again the man screams: "You are a champion!" The voice answers: "You are a champion!" The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it." YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!

To John Cartwright, 1824: We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles. The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; . . .

Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, - entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; . . . freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,- these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

To many a man, and sometimes to a youth, there comes the opportunity to choose between honorable competence and tainted wealth. . . . The young man who starts out to be poor and honorable, holds in his hand one of the strongest elements of success.

We learn as much by others' failings as by their teachings. Examples of imperfection is just as useful for achieving perfection as are models of competence and perfection.

Often the desire to appear competent impedes our ability to become competent, because we more anxious to display our knowledge than to learn what we do not know.

A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.

In my observation, the individual has reached his ceiling when he stops his self-education. The competent ones lift their ceilings day by day through self-education. Those who are "drop-outs" find their ceilings constantly getting lower.

An unsolicited email arrived which said, "I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, 'Thank me, I voted for Clinton-Gore.' So I sat down and reflected on that and I am sending my 'Thank you' for what you have done, specifically: 1. Thank you for introducing us to Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Dolly Kyle Browning, Kathleen Willey and of course Juanita Broaddrick, who told NBC that you raped her. Are there any others that we should know about? 2. Thank you for teaching my 8 yr. old about oral sex. I had really planned to wait until he was about 10 or so to discuss it with him, but now he knows more about it than I did as a senior in college. The cigar thing was also neat for the kids. 3. Thank you for showing us that sexual harassment in the work place (especially the White House) and on the job is OK, and all you have to know is what the meaning of "IS" is. It really is great to know that certain sexual acts are not sex and one person may have sex while the other involved does NOT have sex. Monica said frequently that while you were on the phone, she would work at one end and you at the other. What productivity! 4. Thank you for reintroducing the concept of impeachment to a new generation and demonstrating that the ridiculous plot of the movie "Wag the Dog" could be plausible after all. The people of the Sudan, Afghanistan and Serbia are all running to rent the videos, now that you made them part of the story. 5. Thanks for making Jimmy Carter look competent, Gerald Ford look graceful, Richard Nixon look honest, Lyndon Johnson look truthful and John Kennedy look moral. 6. Thank you for the 72 House and Senate witnesses who have pleaded the 5th amendment and the 17 witnesses who have fled the country to avoid testifying about Democratic fund raising. 7. Thank you for the 19 charges, 8 convictions and 4 imprisonments from the whitewater "mess" and the 55 criminal charges and 32 criminal convictions (so far) in the other "Clinton" scandals. 8. Thanks for remembering the families of the many deceased people who once were your friends, who served you and died so young and suddenly: Vince Foster, Jerry Parks, Ron Brown, Admiral Boorda, Les Aspin, Barbara Alice Wiese, Mary Mahoney, Jim McDougal et al." To wit, I offer a reply. . . .

An unsolicited email arrived which said thanks to those who had voted for Clinton-Gore and among other things: Thanks for making Jimmy Carter look competent, Gerald Ford look graceful, Richard Nixon look honest, Lyndon Johnson look truthful and John Kennedy look moral.

There is no trifling with nature, it is always true, grave, and severe, it is always in the right, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.

All I want is the same thing you want. To have a nation with a government that is as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.

The worst of failure of this kind is that it spoils the market for more competent performers.

The infinitely competent can be uncreative.

"We have reached 37,000 feet," said our captain. "I have turned off the seat belt sign, but when you are seated, I suggest you leave it fastened." Her voice was calm and reassuring. It had no military sternness, and no paternal overtones. It had no maternal overtones. It was clear and warm, steady and sensitive. She wore her responsibility with ease. She did not say whether she was a mother. She could have been. I was more concerned that she was a good pilot. She proved that she was with her beautiful takeoff and landing. She proved it continually through the San Francisco fog, the midwest thunderstorms, and the night approach to the busy New York airport. I never doubted her abilities, and I don't think she did, either. The new female is competent in all that she chooses. She chooses whatever her heart tells her. She can create a business, lead a country, drive a truck, hammer nails, deliver mail, or raise a family. She is at home in every social and physical environment. She can be a housewife, if she chooses. She can be anything else, too. She is intuitive and heart centered. She is all that a female has been, and more.

You may not know this, but I'm an impressionist. Allow me to do my impression of a competent public speaker.

And who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the whim of others? When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please? These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state. [On the margin of his own copy of Dialogue on the Great World Systems].

During our short sojourn here we are constantly changing. There is no such a thing as remaining always the same in any particular element. Our thoughts change. Our actions are not the same today as they were yesterday. We are constantly gathering new ideas, either bettering our lives, or making ourselves more unhappy. Collecting the beauties and sweets of this life is like gathering favorite roses from among the tangled briars. We pay dearly for the pleasure of having them. Yet we are told that this is but a "preparatory school," and the lessons we learn here are to make us more competent to enter into the higher departments of heaven. Let us strive on.

Hardly a competent workman can be found who does not devote a considerable amount of time to studying just how slowly he can work and still convince his employer that he is going at a good pace.

An incompetent attorney can delay a trial for months or years. A competent attorney can delay one even longer.

When scientists are honest, as most of them are, they are well aware of the fact that their competence in science does not give them a clue to the problem of how their science should be used in the service of man. The sensitive visitor to the mesas of Los Alamos is almost sure to meditate on the experience of that gifted man, Klaus Fuchs. Though his work in the laboratories was outstanding, his decision concerning the use of what he knew was disastrous. What if, in addition to his scientific competence, the younger Fuchs had shared something of the Christian conviction of his father, Emil Fuchs? Much of the subsequent history of our earth might then have been different.

Water is essential for soup - but soup is more than water. Competence is essential for business - but business is more than competence. What is added to water gives the 'value' of the soup. What is added to competence gives the value delivered by business. Competence is becoming a commodity, Information is becoming a commodity. State of the art technology is becoming a commodity. So what is going to differentiate businesses? How are these commodities to be designed to deliver value? That means design. That means creativity. That means new ideas. Ideas are going to become more important in business than they have ever been.

What the church should be telling the worker is that the first demand religion makes on him is that he should be a good workman. If he is a carpenter he should be a competent carpenter. Church by all means on Sundays - but what is the use of church if at the very center of life a man defrauds his neighbor and insults God by poor craftsmanship.

Today the world is the victim of propaganda because people are not intellectually competent. More than anything the United States needs effective citizens competent to do their own thinking.

Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.