Selected Quotes from "Energize Your Leadership"

We sometimes struggle with the pressure to lead, perform and excel.

Living a meaningful life can also be a challenge.

“Energize Your Leadership” was written by 16 authors for one common goal: to inspire people to rethink their personal and professional attitudes. 

Here you have 16 real stories for people who want to do even better in life, and who want to make a difference. The stories were written to inspire and stimulate, to rouse and motivate. Some may cause you to ponder, others to jump out of your chair and take vigorous action. They were composed for people who want to do their best in their professional and personal lives, for leaders who want to have a significant impact.

As you read our book, you will become familiar with our stories. We hope your vision and passion will be reignited.

Have a glimpse at some selected quotes from our book and start your journey of inspiration!

"Forget showing the world you're perfect. Show people that you're human." ― Alli Polin 

 "I stayed safe because I listened to the truth my gut screamed at me instead of my logic." ― Chery Gegelman

"If you focus only on your barriers, you’ll never see the road." ―LaRae Quy 

"Be grateful to be alive! 

Get up, shake off the dust and move on with your life." ― Hoda Maalouf

 

"Our struggles can serve us if we allow them to change us." ― Scott Mabry

"Fitting in only leads to mediocrity. Coming together as who we are produces greater energy." ―Daniel Buhr

All artworks were created by Karelle Rizk to accompany these quotes.

To buy the book, kindly click here

A Journey Toward Peace

"We simply want to live, to live freely and in dignity!"

How many times have I repeated this sentence? Countless times! I do so whenever violence erupts in my country and elsewhere.

While peace is a widely used theme by some people to celebrate joy and freedom, it is considered by others as a dream or a mirage. Peace for them is an unreachable and impossible dream.

When I decided to concentrate on the topic of peace, it was natural for me to choose Leo Tolstoy's quotes as he lavishly covered this topic in his writing. And, when thinking about love and freedom, Henri Matisse ranks as my first choice as an artist. So it seems appropriate to combine a series of quotes by Tolstoy with some of Matisse’s artworks.

Please ponder and enjoy them.

Freedom of Thought

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy

“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom.”― Leo Tolstoy

Life goes on

“There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before...” ― Leo Tolstoy

Respect of Diversity

“All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade.”― Leo Tolstoy

“I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” — Leo Tolstoy

Love, Live and Let Live

“If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.” ― Leo Tolstoy

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.―Leo Tolstoy

 “I simply want to live; to cause no evil to anyone but myself.” ― Leo Tolstoy

All  depicted artworks are by Henri Matisse

Time Lost and Regained

Memory is a way of holding onto the things we once loved and we never want to lose. How often have we felt the need to go back in time to examine where we have come from and where we are going to? Don't we all need to figure out what we have done so far and where our journeys have brought us now? 

To live means to perceive and acknowledge the different conflicting stages of our lives. Each one of us might have experienced some kind of loss: loss of loved ones, loss of friendship or some material loss. Regaining our lost time is to remember with patience, with clarity and with quietness of the heart. Regaining our lost time is to learn, grow and change. The challenge of life is to overcome our problems, to look back with gratefulness and forward with positiveness.

This post depicts our lives dynamics through some selected quotations from Marcel Proust (1871-1922).

Remembrance 

Artwork by Henri Lebasque

“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” ― Marcel Proust

 artwork by August Macke

“Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have of them.” ― Marcel Proust

Cliffs and Sailboats at Pourville by Claude Monet

“The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.” ― Marcel Proust

The Suffering

artwork by Pablo Picasso

“It is often hard to bear the tears that we ourselves have caused.” ― Marcel Proust

The Healing Process

artwork by Pablo Picasso

“We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.” ― Marcel Proust

Lessons Learned

Autumn Contemplation by Lynn Sanguedolce

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust

Artwork by Henri Lebasque

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

The Cliff Walk by Claude Monet

“Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.” ― Marcel Proust

Fir Trees by Emile Nolde

“Now are the woods all black,

But still the sky is blue.”― Marcel Proust

"Creativity takes courage"

"Creativity takes courage" said Henri Matisse. Indeed, one has to be bold enough to create something new and display it without fearing the scrutiny of others. Any artwork that follows the norms defeats its purpose, as it is above all an adventure of the mind, a beauty created out of chaos. Another pertinent line from Matisse: "An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success."

I truly believe that one of the things which makes the world we live in enjoyable is a perfect work of art. Countless beautiful pieces have been created by the following famous artists, of which only a few are depicted below.

Artwork by Henri Matisse

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."― Henri Matisse

"View of Murnau" by Kandinsky

"Art is not vague production, transitory and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul."― Wassily Kandinsky

"Noon Landscape" by Nicolas de Staël

 "You never paint what you see or think you see. You paint with a thousand vibrations the blow that has struck you: how can you be struck and not cry out in anger?" ―Nicholas de Stael

"Landscape with big trees" by Camille Pissarro

"Don't be afraid in nature: one must be bold, at the risk of having been deceived and making mistakes." ― Camille Pissarro

"The Sea at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer" by Van Gogh

 "I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."―Vincent Van Gogh

"Landscape with Dead and Live Trees" by Pablo Picasso

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."―Pablo Picasso

Artwork by Paul Gauguin

"I shut my eyes in order to see."― Paul Gauguin

Artwork by Claude Monet

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." ―Claude Monet

"Fall" by Robert Henri

“All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.” ― Robert Henri

“Everything I know, I know because of love.”

I have chosen this particular quote from Leo Tolstoy's as a title because it depicts well the things I appreciate most in life:

• Love, to give and receive abundantly. 
• Peace, to be able to live freely and with dignity.
• Knowledge, the gifts we have are there for us to share with others.

Next, are some of my favorite quotations and related artworks.

"Anticipation" by Freydoun Rassouli 

“Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.”― Gustave Flaubert

"Surrendering" by Freydoun Rassouli 

"Come out of the circle of time / And into the circle of love." ― Rumi

 Artwork by Massimiliano Gasparini

"You came suddenly and stole three things from me.

The patience from my heart, the color from my face and the sleep from my eyes." ―Rumi

Artwork by David Walker

"I closed my mouth and spoke to you in a hundred silent ways." ―Rumi

 

Artwork by Helene Schjerfbeck

"Does he who is always waiting suffer more than he who’s never waited for anyone?” ― Pablo Neruda

Detail of Jupiter and Io by Correggio

“Love is the enchanted dawn of every heart.”  ― Alphonse de Lamartine

  Photography  by Rachel Baran

"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet."―  Plato

  Artwork  by Jylian Gustlin 

"Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces." ― Rumi

"Nocturnal reverie" by Helena Wierzbicki

"I purified my lips with sacred fire that I might speak of love, but when I opened my mouth to speak, I found myself mute." ―Khalil Gibran