Quotes About Focus

Candy nodded absently. "Okay," she said. "What shall I wear?" "A gun," I said.

Quirk was still staring out the window. "I'm trying to keep hold of this thing," he said. "The guy isn't going to stop and

Mostly I thought about Susan with her clothes off. This would solve nearly any problem I had

Stop the whining and get to work!

What I must do concerns me, not what people think.' 

To say that Susan shopped would be like saying that sharks eat. It was disciplined frenzy. While

He winced at the realization, then took a deep breath. This was no time to be self-conscious or self-critical. One had to be prctical. Very practical, very careful, very calm.

But she didn't listen, she was in the bathroom, she was getting dressed, she was putting on make-up, she was getting ready. Getting ready.

The life of a painter demands solitude

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough.

Pike noticed details. The Marines had trained him to maintain situational awareness

Pike didn't believe he would find anything, but he had to check, so he did, ignoring her. Pike had learned this with the Marines—the one time a man didn't clean his rifle, that's when it jammed; the one time you didn't tape down a buckle or secure your gear, the noise it made got you killed.

Pike was focused on Dru. She had thrown on shorts and a faded T-shirt in her rush to the shop, and now her hair was mussed and her feet were smudged with green. Pike thought the smart eyes seemed worried this morning, but he couldn't stop looking at her—as if she were a book he wanted to read. "You

Pike knew how to remain calm during the chaos of combat. He had been trained for it, and had survived withering fire in overwhelming combat situations dozens of times. He had learned to keep his head by thinking about one thing at a time. Access the situation, plan a single action, then commit yourself to that action. A war is won one maneuver at a time. Pike

Like serious reading itself, real travel has now become an act of resistance against the distractions of the electronic age, and against all the worries that weigh us down, thanks to that age. A good book deserves to be finished, just as a haunting landscape tempts further experience of it, and further research into it. Travel and serious reading, because they demand sustained focus, stand athwart the nonexistent attention spans that deface our current time on Earth.22

If you've got fifty goals," the governor once lectured the Texas Education Agency, "you've got no goals.

A person cannot run and also learn. He must stay in one place for a while.

A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body— the wishbone.

But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation As my two eyes make one in sight.

So when at times the mob is swayed To carry praise or blame too far, We may choose something like a star To stay our minds on and be staid.

Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert. It is sometimes better, then, to use enemies as enemies rather than transforming them into friends or allies.

You must avoid at all cost the idea that you can manage learning several skills at a time. You need to develop your powers of concentration, and understand that trying to multitask will be the death of the process.

With such a deep rooted interest you can withstand the setbacks and failures, the days of drudgery, and the hard work that are always a part of any creative action. You can ignore the doubters and critics. You will then feel personally committed to solving the problem and will not rest until you do so.

Intellect is a magnitude of intensity, not a magnitude of extensity.