Literary references in Stanley Kurbick's "Paths of Glory"

Two literary references caught my attention in the film "Paths of Glory" directed by Stanley Kubrick (1957).

Quote by Samuel Johnson that underscores many aspects of the film:
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."


Except from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray which contains the films title:

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

         Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile

         The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

         And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,

Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.

         The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Link to poem by Thomas Gray:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173564

Yo-Yo Ma on Vulnerability and Asking Questions; On Being

In her radio program, "On Being," Krista Tippett interviewed Yo-Yo Ma.  At one point, the discussion covered the role of the musician in larger social challenges.  Ma discussed the challenge of approaching these problems.

"Once you ask the question, you already put yourself in a position of slight vulnerability because you don't know the answer.  And I think that by doing that, you can actually begin to see where the solutions may lie  At least you start to open yourself to someone else who might propose the solution that might start to lead us in a certain position."

Link to the interview:  http://www.onbeing.org/program/yo-yo-ma-music-happens-between-the-notes/6641
(Quote occurs around 31 minutes into the broadcast interview.)

Creating motivational quote images using Brainy Quote

Often for motivational reasons, you want to use a famous quote. The website Brainy Quote (www.brainyquote.com) provides a large number of great quotes. An useful feature that the website also provide is a function to put the quote and author on an image.

On the Brainy Quote website, select an specific quote.  One option for social media sharing should be "Share As Image".  Clicking on this will take you to a feature where you can customize the image and the text.

You should be able to right click on the image on save to a file.  

You can print and post the quotes at work or at home.  You can include them in a PowerPoint presentations.  One suggestion by Shawn Achor in his book Before Happiness is to use such images in your screen saver as a digital "vision board."

John Maxwell on Successful Thinking

A few quotes from How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell (New York, Center Street Publishing, 2009).

"No matter what you're trying to accomplish, you can do it better with shared thinking."

"Get used to being uncomfortable,"

"The better the questions, the more gold you will mine from your thinking."

"One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mind-set is to prompt yourself to dream one size bigger than you normally do."

"Instead of asking how, they should first ask why.  If you jump right into problem solving mode, how are you going to know all the issues?"