I recently finished reading Meg Whitman’s new book “The Power of Many.” This is on top of my reading last fall of Jerry Brown’s “Dialogues” and seven other books about his first governorship. Why did I do this? Pulling out toenails wasn’t enough fun.
There is much talk about the differences between Whitman and Brown. I found, however, similarities. Each has a tendency to speak in aphorisms that can leave listeners scratching their heads.
This put me in mind of that master of aphorisms, Confucius. So, for your spiritual enlightment, I offer the following quiz—a list of quotes. Each of these little pearls was offered to the world by one of three people: Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman or Confucius.
1. “He who will not economize will have to agonize.”
2. “Inaction may be the biggest form of action.”
3. “I really hate waste.”
4. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
5. “A leader also has to motivate potential partners to join”
6. “The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything.”
7. “Most of us can’t even begin to imagine.”
8. “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.”
9. “The only people who would not like the water today are people who are harvesting crops.”
10. “Technology can amplify our humanity in extraordinary ways.”
11. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”
12. “We have to deal with where we are.”
13. “We’ve always sought to remove friction.”
14. “Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
15. “Navigating by essential values can have a force-multiplying effect.”
16. "You don’t have to do things. Maybe by avoiding doing things you accomplish quite a lot.”
17. “The government is becoming the family of last the resort.”
18. “You can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea.”
19. “Study the past if you would define the future.”
ANSWERS: 1) Confucius, 2) Brown, 3) Whitman, 4) Confucius, 5) Whitman, 6) Brown, 7) Whitman, 8) Confucius, 9) Brown, 10) Whitman, 11) Confucius, 12) Brown, 13) Whitman, 14) Confucius, 15) Whitman, 16) Brown, 17) Brown, 18) Whitman, 19) Confucius