W. Ryan Melson

“Lincoln had stepped outside his adversity, to study it within his own mind—and by doing so he drew boundaries around it. That allowed him to place the adversity in context, thereby restoring his perspective—and with it his emotional balance.”
― Raymond M. Kethledge, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude

“Leadership, like fertilizer, contains elements that can be volatile or nurturing, depending on how one handles them.”
― Raymond M. Kethledge, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude

“In times of shared sacrifice, a leader must inspire moral courage in his followers as well as in himself. In such times the leader’s responsibilities are especially great, for a leader’s first obligation is to take care of his people. If he cannot provide for them in material ways, he must provide for their spirit. To do so requires humility: although the leader has more power than his followers, he must recognize that as to the things that govern human worth—dignity, character, decency—his station counts for nothing. He must hold the conviction that, as to these things, he is not above his followers, but among them. For only then can he speak to these things in ways that inspire his followers.”
― Raymond M. Kethledge, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude

“What God and good luck provide we must accept with gratitude. Our time is our time. It’s up to us to make the most of it, make it amount to more than the sum of our days.”
― John McCain, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations