Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
—Ted Turner (b.1938) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
Others will follow your footsteps easier than they will your advice.
—Unknown
Follow effective action with quiet reflection.
From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
If one sheep puts its head through the gap the rest will follow.
—Irish Proverb
Follow the advice of the one who makes you cry, not from the one who makes you laugh.
—Arabic Proverb
When I am with others, they are my teachers. I can select their good points and follow them, and select their bad points and avoid them.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
—Chinese Proverb
Jane Fonda, who divided her life into three acts, decided after her sixtieth birthday that she was now facing the final act, and came to the following conclusion: “I thought to myself, well if that’s the case and if what I’m scared of isn’t death, but getting to the end with regrets, then I’ve got to figure out what would be the things that I would regret when I got to the last act if I hadn’t done them or achieved them by then. And they were: having an intimate relationship and having made a difference”.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Everything that is, desires to be. As we act, we unfold our being. Enjoyment naturally follows, for a thing desired always brings delight.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
If you follow a fool, you’re a fool yourself.
—Jamaican Proverb
This above all—to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Follow love and it will flee, flee love and it will follow.
—Common Proverb
Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.
—Paul Simon (b.1942) American Singer, Songwriter
Years, following years, steal something every day;
At last they steal us from ourselves away.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Pull someone by the ears and his head will follow.
—Indian Proverb
Follow your own star!
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Where the woman goes the devil follows.
—French Proverb
Follow the river and you will get to the sea.
—Indian Proverb
If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
What I call “doing the dishes” is the practice of loving the task in front of you. Your inner voice guides you all day long to do simple things such as brush your teeth, drive to work, call your friend, or do the dishes. Even though it’s just another story, it’s a very short story, and when you follow the direction of the voice, the story ends. We are really alive when we live as simply as that—open, waiting, trusting, and loving to do what appears in front of us now…What we need to do unfolds before us, always—doing the dishes, paying the bills, picking up the children’s socks, brushing our teeth. We never receive more than we can handle, and there is always just one thing to do. Whether you have ten dollars or ten million dollars, life never gets more difficult than that.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
You cannot attain mastery by patterning yourself after another or by following custom or tradition. Sheep do that. Masters and leaders never do.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, “This is what I need”. It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege!! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures, followed by wreckage, were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and just be my friend.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
As used in economics the term “capital” would be defined as follows: Capital refers to resources withheld from immediate consumption in the expectation of greater future returns. However controversial a topic this has been, capital has been the main—if not the only—way of achieving progress, even in violently anticapitalist, socialist countries. A dam, a hospital, a university, a cathedral, or a national park cannot be built without using up resources that would be easier to consume immediately, and none of them would be built at all unless they were believed to provide some greater returns in the future.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Events follow one another like the days of the week.
—African Proverb
If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can’t accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.
—Rosalynn Carter (b.1927) American Humanitarian, First Lady
Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, “This is the real me,” and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Follow the saint no further than his doorstep.
—Egyptian Proverb