The power of quotes

[Applause]

i have a lot of growing up to do

i realized that the other day inside my

fort

as i grew older

i have this feeling that perhaps the

[Music]

the few joys of childhood are the best

that life

have to give but the best way

not to feel hopeless is to get out there

and do something

don’t wait for good things to happen to

you

if you go out there you make good things

happen

then you fill the world with hope you

fill yourself

with hope both optimists and pessimists

both contribute to society the optimists

advance the airplane

the pessimist the parachute

but whatever path that you choose

whatever course you decide upon

there will always be someone there to

tell you that you are wrong

there will always be difficulties

arising

tempting you to believe that your

critics are right

to map a course of action and follow it

to an end requires courage

fear and self-doubt have always been the

greatest enemy of human potential but

don’t tell me

that the sky’s the limit when there are

footprints on the moon

can accept reality where you can persist

until reality

accepts you there is no substitute

for hard work for human progress

is not automatic nor inevitable

even a superficial look at history

reveals

that no social advance rides on the

wheels

of inevitability talk does not

help someone out of poverty that takes

doing

apathy and evil apathy and evil

the two work hand in hand they are the

same really

evil wills it apathy allows it evil

hates

the innocent and defenseless most of all

apathy doesn’t care

unless it’s personally inconvenient but

our lives

begin to end the day that we are silent

about the things that matter

as human beings as human beings

our job in life is to help people

realize

how just realize

how unique how rare how valuable

each and every one of us really are that

each and every one of us has something

that no one else has

nor ever will have something inside

that is unique to all time so

won’t you be my neighbor and be the

change that you wish

to see in this world

it doesn’t matter how slowly you go so

long as you do not stop

a river cuts through iraq not because of

its power but because of its persistence

i’m only one

and i am one

i cannot do everything but i can do

something

and just because i can’t do everything

i won’t refuse to do something i can’t

do

i’m very important

i have many level bound books and my

apartment smells

rich mahogany

the little speech i just gave as you

probably can realize at this point

was made entirely of quotes the only

thing i added were conjunctions

like butt or and i added about seven

words to

20 different individual quotes my name

is alex sheen

and i’m the founder of because i said it

a non-profit organization that does

character development programming

in schools in in prisons and juvenile

detention centers

we teach concepts like honesty

self-control accountability

help teach practical habits and tactics

that build these foundational

characteristics

in so many people and and quotes have

this interesting tool this interesting

feature this interesting value

to education in fact mensa you know the

organization for geniuses

uh they say that metacognition or

thinking about thinking

often fascinates gifted learners right

and quotations are accessible in

time-effective way

to introduce this into the classroom

quotations quotes they just have this

particularly valuable uh proposition

to character education or often called

social and emotional learning

but too often we just look at quotes and

take them at face value like this right

we read the quote we react to it and

then we just kind of leave it there

there’s no additional step in what we do

with that quote

i guess it just kind of ends but there

are many things that you can do

with quotes to add value not only into

your life but hopefully

add perspective to those around you and

one of the things you can do

is combine quotes right clearly that’s

what i did at the beginning

of this speech but i actually went kind

of fast right and you maybe couldn’t

tell where certain

parts were quotes began or ended

and the text wasn’t on screen so i’d

like to take a moment to

combine two quotes and go through it

together okay so here we go

two points everyone appreciates honesty

until you’re honest with them

i can’t tell you the key to success but

i can tell you

the key to failure is trying to please

everyone

okay now these are two quotes one’s from

george carlin the other is

shearing and sharon actually was

manipulating something else as well but

that’s not important

the point is that if we were to just

read this first quote right everyone

appreciates honesty

until you’re honest with them you may

leave that quote saying you know what

people are soft people are sensitive

sometimes honesty isn’t a good thing

maybe we should avoid it that could be a

conclusion in a certain moment or for a

certain person but then you add the

second quote

this thought that success sometimes

ruffles feathers that sometimes

you can’t please everyone when you mix

these two thoughts together

you see that honesty it just comes with

hard moments if you’re going to get to

success

and sometimes jump push alone isn’t

enough

combining posts can give us new and

fresh

perspective my work in charity

has honestly showed me some things that

i

i’d rather not think about

i have walked the grounds of auschwitz

with the holocaust fire

i have seen a field of graves after a

super typhoon

i’ve spoken at an infant lost ceremony

for 100 families who have lost children

under the age of three years old

after these speeches you meet

individuals and they may come up to you

and they may tell you that they are

grieving

they may tell you that they have been

abused

they may even tell you that they

themselves

are dying in these moments i have often

struggled

to find the right words the truth is i

do not have to requisite

wisdom to carry anyone through a moment

like this

and so i’ve always leaned on quotes

quotes give perspective

quotes help reinforce thoughts we

already have and quotes can be used

in creative ways but quote

quotes are like a commodity like steel

they have usefulness beyond their rawest

form

they can be crafted to serve greater

purpose

i like that quote because it is mine

but i’d be remiss not to end this speech

about quotes i guess

with a quote so that’s what i will do

goes like this one of my favorites

if a tree falls in the forest that

nobody hears

my illegal logging business is a success

thank you

you