Great FIRST Quotes?
 

My FRC team is looking for a really good FIRST quote to put on the back of our hoodies and other team clothing. We are leaning towards something from Dean Kamen or Woodie Flowers, but we are open to quotes from other FIRST leaders or participants. Please help us out by responding to this thread with your favorite FIRST quote.

We are looking for something that defines the FIRST experience. Please do not include qoutes from anonymous or unknown sources. We are looking for something that can be attributed to a specific person.

Thanks for your help!

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"A society gets what it celebrates." -- Dean Kamen

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

How can we inspire greatness if we don't celebrate it? - Karthik Kanagasabapathy-amawhatchamakallit

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Or the corollary "How can we celebrate greatness if we don't create it?"




.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

“it’s like the WWF, but for smart people!” President George H. W. Bush.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

This is why we do the math. -- Mark Leon

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

My personal favorite-

"Be excellent in everything you do and the results will just happen." - Paul Copioli

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

I second that. Mark Leon FTW!

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

If that quote is going to be on the team hoodie, I hope their robot does not decide to disregard sensors and ram into a wall.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"This is why we do the....OH! That's gotta hurt!"

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

A little long for a hoodie, but its a great quote! "Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem."
— Henry Kissinger

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

My personal favorite is my signature.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

You can celebrate what others have done by being inspired by it. The core problems comes from the attitude that everyone is a winner. If we don't celebrate those who DO create greatness and instead treat everyone as if they are the same we breed a culture that no longer feels the need to innovate, the drive to succeed, the will to actually produce something great. People WANT to create great things, we just have to encourage them by showing that the their work will be rewarded.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"A mind once stretched by a thought, will never regain it's original dimensions."

I don't know who said this, but I like it.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

There are some quotes that would work great for a t-shirt if you want to look around the spotlighted quotes for a while. http://chiefdelphi.com/forums/spotlightlist.php?, also at the top of every page.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve."

-Bo Schembechler

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"Here at FIRST you can succeed, time and time again." -Unknown

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Since I have heard this one, I have used it a hundred times or more. It is Andy Baker's quote in my signature and it occurred during one of our excellent discussions that we tend to have. If you've talked with Andy, you know he is silly, funny, serious, thoughtful, and incredibly insightful - sometimes all at the same time.

" Excellence is contagious." ~ Andy Baker

---
Veering off the topic a bit - this would make a great topic for the Championship Conference presentations. I picture a group of brilliant and respected minds sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding excellence and how it can spread to/through teams, events, areas, the program, and individuals.

Jane

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"Continuous improvement isn't rocket science." - John V. Neun.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Not very inspirational, but still a great quote: "Don't worry, be liquid" - a member of my team.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

I dont get it :-(

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Nobody gets it :P

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"The hardest fun you'll ever have"
"Varsity sport of the mind"
-Woodie Flowers

NASA has archived some of the kick-off webcasts (ie 2008) if you would like to watch and listen for some good quotes.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

From years past on my team we always have at least one rookie member say, "But it worked in Inventor".

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"Any school official who isn't tickled pink by hundreds high school students, and teachers, and parents, and mentors spending their weekend celebrating STEM isn't a school official worth having."

I saw this somewhere on here, and have since incorporated the rhetoric when dealing with new school faculty members and potential mentors etc. Though, it's not really fit for a clothing item.

"Inspire first, win second." ?

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Oh dear... I thought I got it.

"Don't worry, be liquid."

That meant the whole fluid thinking thing to me:
- be flexible
- lighten up
- go with the flow

This could be why no one ever asks me to help with teeshirt designs. :p


Jane

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

"If your leader won't lead, build one that will."
-Dave Zirkle, a mentor from Team 224

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

We've got a bunch of good quotes on our shop wall, such as these.

A few of my other favorites:

"Ideas are cheap. Solutions are priceless" ~Jim Zondag

"The world is run by those who show up" (I don't know the author)

"When you have no fear of embarrassment, a whole world of new possibilities opens up to you." - Jim Zondag

At my summer internship, I worked with a very smart guy who gave me this advice:
"In God we trust, all others bring data".
He acknowledged that it was not his quote, but I don't know who's quote that is.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

I'm prettey sure he didn't mean anything at all by saying that, but I like your idea...

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

or, maybe,

- be noncompressible
- stay below your boiling point (and don't freeze, either)
- find your equilibrium level

;)

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

This one popped up on spotlight the other day:

"I cannot inspire greatness with mediocrity!" - Jim Zondag.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Only FIRST guys can expain the meaning behind something without a meaning.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

It's good practice for game hints.

Re: Great FIRST Quotes?
 

Or anything Dave Lavery says.