Quotes About Priorities

I wondered--not for the first time--whether one was ever justified in neglecting the welfare of one's own family in order to fight for the welfare of others. Can there be anything more important than looking after one's aging mother? Is politics merely a pretext for shirking one's responsibilities, an excuse for not being able to provide in the way one wanted?

Každý ?lov?k má v život? dvojí závazek - v??i rodin?, rodi??m, žen? a d?tem, ale také v??i národu, komunit?, zemi.

when she was a young woman she valued intelligence over all other human attributes. Now that she was older she valued kindness.

If what they say is right we're none of us going to have time to do all that we planned to do. But we can keep on doing it as long as we can.

Success will be measured at the end of your career, not at the peak. When you're finished with baseball, if you love God, if you're still in love with your wife, if your children know who you are, and if your reputation is still intact, then you'll be successful.

What's glamorous is being a good father, a good husband, a good fucking dog owner. That's what I care about today. That's what matters. I will devote everything to that. And I will succeed. Because I cannot fall down again. I will not fall down again. I mean, I don't have to fall. None of us have to fall. We don't all fall down. We don't. So I'm over this drug shit. It's done. And this is my last recovery memoir ever.

Everything is working out, he keeps saying. For the first time, I'm not so sure. I think back to my life sober - working, getting up early to go on bike rides and shit, going to movies. I haven't looked at a newspaper in over two weeks. There could be a new war going on and I'd have no idea. But this is the life I want to live, right? I mean, I'm happier.

And that leaves you with an interesting choice... Do you sacrifice you own happiness and feelings of peace in order to have this relationship, or do you start to get well and choose a real life...?

One of the most infuriating elements of American myopia about investing in at-risk kids is that politicians often insist that they don't have the funds to pay for social services--but they somehow find the resources to pay for prisons later on.

The public frets about cheating with food stamps (the fraud rate is about 1.5 percent) yet doesn't understand that zillionaires hide assets abroad and thereby deprive the Treasury of some $36 billion a year in taxes—enough to pay for high-quality pre-K and day care for all.

When you work all the time, the other aspects of your identity recede until they seem to have disappeared.

I mean, if the relationship can't survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?

The dumbest thing I ever did was not having children. Absolute dumbest thing. Even worse than selling my bassoon. I see the error now. My sister's kids are turning out great. They were shockingly spoiled when they were little, but now their true personalities have taken over and they're just nice calm tall young people with personalities. One is at Kenyon College studying something with lasers and the other is an intern at a dollhouse museum.

But spending your life concentrating on death is like watching a whole movie and thinking only about the credits that are going to roll at the end. It's a mistake of emphasis.

Coffee will get you through a time of no money. Money will never get you through a time of no coffee.

You musn't neglect your education in favor of your studies.

Life" has so obviously become the highest goal of the modern world that whoever lives for something else — even if it's eating — arouses our sympathy.

Recordemos que el planeta estaba sumido en plena Guerra Fría y la batalla entre el mundo libre y el totalitarismo marxista abarcaba obviamente el continente americano, en donde el país trasandino por su posicionamiento geopolítico era una de las prioridades de la Unión Soviética.

Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.

Money is the greatest concern for small characters, but is nothing but the smallest for great characters.

Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.

I think at some stage, I would love to have another child. I would love to settle into a relationship that was really important to me. I actually am not good at the balance at that.

An inch of gold can't buy an inch of time

All the discussions about flexi-time or dress-down Fridays or paternity leave only serve to mask the core issue, which is that certain job and career choices are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged on a day-to-day basis with a young family.