Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

— Helen Keller

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world of social media is changing rapidly. Whenever I speak on the topic, I almost always begin with Erik Qualman’s excellent video, Social Media Revolution. However, he has just updated it to reflect the most recent statistics. The facts go by quickly, so he has written out the most important ones in text-form on his blog, along with a list of his sources. You also might want to check out his excellent book, Socialnomics.

Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do something you don’t necessarily want to do, to get a result you would really like to have”

— Andy Andrews

Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.”

— Seth Godin

Amazon has finally released the long awaited Kindle for Mac. I was eagerly anticipating this. However, it is really bare bones. It also says you can highlight text, but I couldn’t figure out how. If Amazon.com is going to compete with Apple, they are going to have to do better than this.

Apple has officially announced that the iPad will be available on April 3, 2010. The more I learn about this device, the more excited I get. I am beginning to think this could be a game-changer. Check out this new ad:

Do not fear the conflict. Do not flee it. Where there is no struggle, there is no virtue. Where love and faith are not tempted, it is not possible to be sure whether they are really present. They are tried and revealed in adversity, in difficult and grievous circumstances.”

— St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because, in that brief moment with the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for.”

— Kevin Purdy
Lifehacker

Become what you already are; find Him Who is already yours; listen to Him Who never ceases speaking to you; own Him Who already owns you.”

— St. Gregory of Sinai (13th century)

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.”

— Arthur Plotnik
Editor and author (b. 1937)

Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you’re stalling. You don’t wait for inspiration, you command it to appear.”

— Seth Godin
Random Rules for Ideas Worth Spreading

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

— Kent M. Keith, Speaker and Writer
Often attributed to Mother Teresa
because she posted them on her wall

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

— Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

ReadItLater is a plugin for FireFox, iPhone, and other browsers. It enables you to mark a page to read later. This avoids having to keep a bunch of tabs open in your browser, hoping to come back to them later. I have been wanting something like this for a long time!

Is participation in social media a good investment? How do you know? CEOs, boards of directors, and executives are all asking this question. Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, offers proof:

This is what the eBook of the future may look like. This is the coolest one I have seen so far! Could it be that this is what Apple has in mind? If this type of content can happen in magazines, it will also happen in books:

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”

Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”

— Lord of the Rings
“Fellowship of the Rings”

This is a segment from the The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. It is a fascinating segment that deals with the current book price wars, eBooks, and how people are consuming content today. Unlike the two-minute sound bytes you normally get in the mainstream media, this is almost twelve minutes. As a result, the piece explores the subject in more depth.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in.”

— Greek Proverb
Quoted in Mentor Like Jesus
by Regi Campbell