Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) The Shawshank Redemption “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Never a truer word.
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) Taken “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.”
The ultimate Commitment Based Approach.
C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) The Empire Strikes Back “R2-D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer.”
Enough said.
Deadpool “Life is an endless series of trainwrecks with only brief commercial-like breaks of happiness.”
Dark. But remember to enjoy those commercial breaks.
Elwood Blues (Dan Akroyd) The Blues Brothers “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
Nothing is impossible with the right attitude.
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Words to live by.
Gandalf “It’s the job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.”
Procrastination is the mother of failure, just get stuck in.
Hagrid (Robbie Coltraine) Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone “I shouldn’t’ve said That. I Should Not Have Said That”
We have all been there.
Iron Man (Robert Downey Junior) Spiderman Homecoming “Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. There’s a little gray area there and that’s where you operate.”
Management being crystal clear.
Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) Game Of Thrones ‘When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers – only better and better lies.’.
Getting more and more relevant day by day unfortunately.
Mr Keating (Robin Williams) Dead Poets Society “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
With more than a bit of nod to the Roman poet Horace.
Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) Tropic Thunder “Yeah. But seriously, a nutless monkey could do your job.”
How not to motivate your staff
Maximus (Russel Crowe) Gladiator “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor: Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
Goosebumps.
Neil (Blake Harrison) The Inbetweeners “I stopped believing in God when I realised it was just dog spelled backwards. After that I just stopped worrying about stuff. You only get one go around; I reckon. When you’re dead you’re dead. So, you can spend your time thinking about how things haven’t gone perfectly, or you can just get on with it and have a laugh.”
As the old saying goes perfection is the enemy of good, seeking perfection can lead to never getting anything completed.
Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) Kung Fu Panda “Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift, that is why its call the present”
Live life in the now and don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Also accredited to Eleanor Roosevelt in fairness to her.
Peter Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) Family Guy “Gosh, it’s not like the Internet to go crazy about something small and stupid.”
Indeed.
Peter Quill / Star Lord (Chris Pratt) The Guardians of the Galaxy “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know how this machine works.”
IT Support teams everywhere when giving out about the users they support!
Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) Brooklyn 99 – “I’m gonna wait ’til I’m on my deathbed, get in the last word, and then die immediately.”
Timing can be everything when communicating.
Shrek (Mike Myers) Shrek “You know, Donkey, sometimes things are more than they appear.”
There is always another angle to consider, its important not to forget that.
The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) The Terminator “I’ll be back”
Commitments matter in life and business. Live up to your commitments, although preferably not by driving a car through the front of a building
Ultron (James Spader) The Avengers: Age of Ultron “What Doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”
Ultron, an AI, ends a discussion by implying that he is going to get stronger – worth considering in the context of the introduction of AI. Will we see Seed AI in the next 20 years? Scientists and Science Fiction writers have been warning about the potential dangers of the singularity for decades.
Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) The Godfather “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse”
The dream of Recruiters everywhere – in a slightly different context of course.
Walter White (Bryan Cranston) Breaking Bad, “If that’s true — if you don’t know who I am — then maybe your best course is to tread lightly.”
Always know who you’re dealing with.
Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) X-Men “The greatest power on Earth is the magnificent power we all of us possess… the power of the human brain!”
Lest we forget that our brain is the greatest thing we’ll ever own.
Master Yoda (Frank Oz) The Empire Strikes Back– “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
Pithy wisdom.
Zorro (Antonio Banderas) The Mask of Zorro “When freedom is a memory and justice is outlawed, the just must become outlaws.”
History has an unfortunate habit of repeating itself and we can’t take our freedoms for granted.