Paul Stout

“So let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing; learn to labor and to wait.”
― Ralph Waldo Emmerson

“C. S. Lewis captured this so beautifully in one of my favorite quotes of all time: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.

“I have wept in the night
At my shortness of sight
That to others' needs made me blind,
But I never have yet
Had a twinge of regret
For being a little too kind.”
― C.R. Gibson

“The Roman empire lasted 450 years by granting citizenship and leadership opportunities to people of all customs and religions.
The Ottoman empire lasted 500 years, and tolerated local customs and religions.
The Third Reich lasted 8 years.”
― Brock M. Stout, Let Get Along, Let's Make Money: Diversity, Globalization, and Personal Success