A Salesman – Par Excellence Once, a salesman listed the names of potential clients ones that other advertising solicitors had failed to impress. His list consisted of twelve names. On the first day, he closed sales with three of the twelve “impossibilities.” By the end...
Everything Happens for the Best A king and his minister went into a jungle to hunt. A tiger attacked him and, in the fight, the king lost one of his fingers. He was in agony, but the minister said, “Everything happens for our good.” The...
Blessings in Disguise An oil well caught fire. The fire was too dangerous for the fire brigades of the company to go near it. Things were getting desperate. As a last resort, the local fire brigade was called. The local fire brigade was notoriously inefficient,...
No Failure, Only Results This is the story of actor Jack Lemmon. Way back in 1961, he had finished two plays, viz. Some Like it Hot and The Apartment. Both were magnificent hits. Then he went back to Broadway to do a play called Face...
Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life A priest and a barber were walking through a wretched slum. The barber, an atheist, asked “If there is a God and He is a “God of Love,” how can there be so much poverty, deprivation, and character-destroying vices?...
Optimism is Key A college student, who had been struck by polio as a child, was noted for his tremendous passion for life. Having seen the boy attending all his classes with crutches, a classmate asked him, “With a misfortune like that, how can you...
Getting Rid of Resentment A woman’s only daughter was murdered. The murderer was at first condemned to death but later his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. For 18 years, the bereaved mother was unable to function normally. All her attempts at maintaining equanimity proved...
Honesty must be absolute A priest, while concluding his church services, announced, “Next Sunday I’m going to preach on the subject of lying. In preparation for my sermon, I would like you to read the 17th Chapter of Mark.” The following Sunday, the preacher rose...
Opportunity Knocks but Once A long time ago, in an ancient Greek city, there stood a statue called ‘Opportunity’. Every bit of it has vanished now, but an epigram describing the statue still exists. The epigram is in the form of a conversation with a...
Appreciate What You Have One rainy day, a man raced down the hospital steps and jumped into a passing bus with the remark, “What a beautiful day it is!” The rain was pouring in torrents; it was dreadfully cold and everyone else was bemoaning the...
