The Compassionate Samurai by Brian Klemmer was recommended to me by a fellow friend and entrepreneur and the name of the book felt right for me to read. One of the biggest challenges for me in the entrepreneurial game of life is to know when to be compassionate and when to be a tough business man.
This is a book that highlights 11 key habits that you should practice to be able to do both. They are (with Brians selection of quotes);
Commitment
“Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.”
– Human Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit 1963
Personal Responsibility
“A man can fail many times, but he isn´t a failure until he begins to blame someone else.”
-Unknown
Contribution
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
-Winston Churchill
Focus
“Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset
Honesty
“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”
– George Washington
Trust
“You may be deceived if you trust to much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.”
– Dr. Frank Crane
Abundance
“You can´t afford poverty.”
– Unknown
Boldness
“One isn´t necessary born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can´t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
– Maya Angelou
Knowledge
“Shall I tell you a secret of a true scholar? It is this; every man I meet is my master in some point and in that I learn from him.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Finishing Strong
“Courage is the first of human qualitites because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”
– Aristotle