The quotes in the below presentation aren’t Mark Twain’s most famous. You can find those anywhere.

There’s a lot of business blogs that quote the conventional Twain. To give you an example, they’ll usually dig up this Twain pearl:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

It’s a fine quote, but it’s not the kind that will make you march into your bosses office and ask for a raise. It’ll probably just make your eyes roll.

These business blogs also give the reader a few paragraphs of analysis. For the above quote they’ll write: “Truly, Twain believed we should try new things!”

I’m guilty of writing lines like that myself. It’s hard to avoid them.

But the thing with good quotes is they don’t need to be categorized or explained. They’re good because they’re short, clear, and powerful.

I think you’ll be able to see how the below quotes can help any leader, manager, or coach look at their organizational problems and agendas in a new light.