Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 170.44
EAN: 9780425195437
ISBN: 0425195430
Label: Berkley Trade
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: 2004-05-04
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Release Date: 2004-05-04
Studio: Berkley Trade

These ten principles were first articulated by Kent Keith as a student at Harvard in the 1960s. Since then, unbeknownst to him, they were quoted, circulated, and appropriated by countless people around the world and back again. They even served as a source of inspiration for Mother Teresa. Now, here are his commandments, the philosophy behind them, and the stories that bring them to life.

The first five Paradoxical Commandments: People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing Earth Shattering
Comment: This is what I would label a "to feel good" book. Do these things and you will feel good about yourself. But do you really need a book to tell you how to act? In theory, they're lovely platitudes and you might have a brief period after reading them where you think of how you will put them into practice, if you're not already. A cynic by nature, I dare say that I don't believe all the little tales that went along with them but the tales in no way affect how you will feel toward the "commandments". Print them out if you want so you can read them occasionally to get a nice warm fuzzy feeling but I think your life would have to be void of all meaning for this to have much of an impact on you.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and aspirational...
Comment: The author first articulated these principles in 1960 as a Harvard student and they have traveled the world many times over. The 10 paradoxical themes are so easy to understand, but oh so difficult to live by. This book explains that grace, wisdom and happiness come from facing the worst in our world with the best in ourselves. A 'must-read' book.

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The paradoxical comandments actually do comfort me,
Comment: I'm not one for footprints in the sand type of lessons and I could never read The Greatest Salesman in the World for extra credit but I have the paradoxical commandments printed out and looking at them actually help to refocus me and to soothe me. It's about doing right without reward and worse, being bullied for it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The writer helps, but there is plenty of room for what it comes to mean to you.
Comment: I heard the poem over twenty years ago. I continue to here it in that context. Have since read the book "Anyways" as an individual and now hear both the writer and me. Reading it again with a small group, along with Scripture and people sharing life experiences and it is like seeing a new wider circle.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Comment: This book was first given to me by the widow of the superintendant of the school district that i graduated from. Our superintendant was the most dedicated and gifted educator that you could ever know. At our graduation ceremony he would always read the 10 paradoxical comandments to the graduating class before we received our diplomas. At the time it seemed like just a nice thing to say and offered some inspiring words as we all moved on to the real world. Now that i am a teacher myself the words of this book take on a whole new meaning and i pass these words on to any of my students that are thinking about becoming educators themselves. This book has a lot of personal meaning to me because of the close relationship that i had with my former superintendant, but the book itself goes far beyond that, and i can easily see how these words became the montra for one of the greatest and most dedicated educators that i have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

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