Important Lessons Quotes

• The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Writing, Cutting, Important

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• As an actor, it made me realize a really important lesson. I didn't have to put any spin on the ball as Rita [in Dexter]. All I had to do was speak. And there was such simplicity in that as an actor. With Debra, I was trying to put a square peg into a round hole, and it just didn't work, but in my mind, because I had to work so hard on it, I was, like, "Oh, this is acting!" But that's not acting.

  Julie Benz

  Squares, Simplicity, Mind

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• If there is one thing about my family that I do identify with, it is that everyone is extremely hardworking. Also, the people whom I grew up with all did things they really loved. And I think that’s an important lesson.

  Rooney Mara

  Thinking, People, Important

  "Rooney Mara: Playing with Fire". Interview with Jonathan Van Meter, www.vogue.com. October 17, 2011.

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• My mother taught me how to apply my own makeup at 13 years old, and the most important lesson I learned is to never touch my eyebrows and to cleanse, tone, and moisturize twice a day.

  Emilia Clarke

  Mother, Makeup, Years

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• From a very young age, my parents taught me the most important lesson of my whole life: They taught me how to listen. They taught me how to listen to everybody before I made up my own mind. When you listen, you learn. You absorb like a sponge - and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time.

  Steven Spielberg

  Parent, Mind, Important

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• I feel that one of the most important lessons that can be learned is that what we "see" may be different than what is actually in front of us.

  Marc Singer

  Retirement, Important, Different

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• Learn a lot about the world and finish things, even if it is just a short story. Finish it before you start something else. Finish it before you start rewriting it. That's really important.
  It's to find out if you're going to be a writer or not, because that's one of the most important lessons.
  Most, maybe 90% of people, will start writing and never finish what they started. If you want to be a writer that's the hardest and most important lesson: Finish it. Then go back to fix it.

  Tad Williams

  Writing, People, Important

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• The year showed me beyond a doubt that everyone practices cafeteria religion... But the important lesson was this: there's nothing wrong with choosing. Cafeterias aren't bad per se... the key is in choosing the right dishes. You need to pick the nurturing ones (compassion), the healthy ones (love thy neighbor), not the bitter ones.

  A. J. Jacobs

  Compassion, Years, Practice

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• I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Life, Learning

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• One of the most important lessons that experience teaches is that, on the whole, success depends more upon character than upon either intellect or fortune.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Life, Motivational, Character

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• I loved my own Grandparents with all my heart. I learned important lessons from them about how to treat people, how to cook and how to work.....they showered us kids with love and left the parenting to Momma and Daddy. That's the beauty of being a grandparent - the hard work belongs to someone else. I guess I never really understood the depth of their love for me until I became a grandmother myself... it is unlike any other relationship.

  Paula Deen

  Hard Work, Heart, Kids

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• But the most important lesson I have learned in my twenty years or research on morality is that nearly all people are morally motivated. Selfishness is a powerful force, particularly in the decisions of individuals, but whenever groups of people come together to make a sustained effort to change the world, you can bet that they are pursuing a vision of virtue, justice, or sacredness.

  Jonathan Haidt

  Powerful, Selfish, Years

  Jonathan Haidt (2006). “The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom”, p.242, Basic Books

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• Doing risk sports had taught me another important lesson: never exceed your limits. You push the envelope and you live for those moments when you’re right on the edge, but you don’t go over. You have to be true to yourself; you have to know your strengths and limitations and live within your means. The same is true for a business. The sooner a company tries to be what it is not, the sooner it tries to ‘have it all,’ the sooner it will die.

  Yvon Chouinard

  Sports, Mean, Over You

  Yvon Chouinard (2016). “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual”, p.96, Penguin

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• It is said that courage isn’t the absence of fear but the fortitude to confront fear. And as long as homophobia continues to be an accepted element of the locker room culture and homophobic language a coach’s motivational tool, we can never dismiss the courage it takes for an athlete-on any level-to be openly gay. Bobby Blair may not be a household name, but his journey-from frightened collegiate athlete to empowered advocate-is one that has an important lesson for anyone who believes in the unifying power of sports.

  LZ Granderson

  Sports, Believe, Athlete

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• We are a species that has lost its way. Everything natural, every flower or tree, and every animal have important lessons to teach us if we would only stop, look, and listen.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Flower, Animal, Tree

  Eckhart Tolle (2006). “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose”, p.93, Penguin

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• One of the most important lessons of childhood is discovering what you like to do.

  Gretchen Rubin

  Childhood, Important, Lessons

  Gretchen Rubin (2012). “Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life”, p.138, Harmony

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• Life is a never-ending school, and the really important lessons all tend to teach man his proper relation to the environment where he must live.

  Clarence Darrow

  Life, School, Humanity

  "Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays".

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• I knew that I was learning one of the most important lessons of my life: that instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity, I should work toward a realization that every opportunity is perfect.

  Suzan-Lori Parks

  Inspirational, Opportunity, Perfect

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• The determination that led me to create a new sports team taught me an important lesson: opportunity is manufactured.

  Biz Stone

  Sports, Determination, Team

  Biz Stone (2014). “Things A Little Bird Told Me”, p.14, Pan Macmillan

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• Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism.

  David Suzuki

  Education, Positive Energy, Important

  53 Copy quote

• I think an important lesson from the game is that once you have made a move, you cannot take it back. You really have to measure your decisions. You think a lot. You evaluate your choices very carefully. There's never any guarantee about what's going to follow once you have made a decision.

  Viswanathan Anand

  Moving, Thinking, Games

  "Q&A: Inside the Mind of the World's Top Chess Player". Interview with Aditi Malhotra, blogs.wsj.com. April 3, 2013.

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• Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I've ever learned in my life...We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We're the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.

  Greg Mortenson

  Country, Football, Thinking

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• Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love.

  Rick Warren

  Important, Lessons, Earth

  Rick Warren (2010). “Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life: Scriptures and Reflections from the 40 Days of Purpose”, p.60, Harper Collins

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• The single most important lesson of effective communication is this: Focus on clarity. Concentrate on precisions. Don’t worry about constructing beautiful sentences. Beauty comes from meaning, not language. Accuracy is the most effective style of all.

  David Gerrold

  Beautiful, Communication, Writing

  8 Copy quote

• Most people/musicians hear things differently and what might please one might not please another. One man's meat is another man's poison. Don't be afraid to dig, the most important people/musicians in my life always have. If you do decide to dig, don't always expect to come up with a clean face. It's o.k. The most important lessons to me have been learned by trial and error. All I'm trying to say is "try to find yourself," as I have.

  Allan Holdsworth

  Men, Errors, People

  34 Copy quote