Quotes of the Day 48: Lead Changes

Aug '24 (edited) • Self Improvement & Motivation

Quote 1: “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” - Margaret Thatcher

Quote 2: “I can only show you the door, you’re the one who has to walk through it.” - Morpheus, The Matrix

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13th, 1925 and died on April 8th, 2013. Thatcher was a British Conservative Party politician and the prime minister from 1979 to 1990 as Europe’s first female prime minister. Thatcher is the only British prime minister to win 3 consecutive tours and was the longest serving prime minister since 1827. Thatcher was a role model for Liz Truss and the best prime minister since Winston Churchill and Thatcher improved the British economy dramatically by the end of her term. Before Thatcher entered politics on a large scale, she became one of the first female presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association. Thatcher first ran for Parliament in 1950 and did not succeed, but in 1969 she joined the House of Commons. She continued rising the political party’s ladder as a parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance from 1961 to 1964, as the chief opposition spokesman on education from 1969 to 1970, and as the secretary of state for education and science from 1970 to 1974. Thatcher’s political outlook and personality received its own name: Thatcherism.

Thatcher’s quote explains how we must have the crowd follow us instead of following the crowd ourselves. There is only so much that we can do when we are a part of the crowd and following in or behind their trail as innovation is near impossible without the ability to lead breakthroughs and change. Thatcher became the successful political figure she is because she led movements instead of following them. Lead the changes you want the crowd and the world to create.

The Matrix is a March 1999 science fiction action movie which is the first movie in the franchise following Keanu Reeves as protagonist Neo. Neo lives in the day as an average computer programmer with the name Thomas A. Anderson, but he dons the name Neo when he is working as a hacker. Neo questioned the reality of his world, but he didn’t realize how little he knew until he discovered the truth of the world. Morpheus, a legendary hacker, contacts Neo as he is targeted by the police to help rebel against the machines which have placed humanity inside their simulation reality. Neo confronts these computer programs with Morpheus’s tutelage in order to save human civilization through rebellion against the matrix controlling intelligent machines. The movie created the “red pill, blue pill” trope, popularized “bullet time” (when time slows down during an epic action scene). The movie was a financial success and remains a culturally significant film and one of the best science fiction movies of all time.

Morpheus’s quote explains how when we want to accomplish something, we have to lead ourselves to do it. Others can show us the way, the tutorials, the goals, the steps and the instructions, but nothing will ever be accomplished if we don’t take action in accomplishing our goals. We can see the door of opportunity which may be opened by others, but if we don’t decide to enter the door and take our chance to lead into greatness, that opportunity will dissipate, and the door will slam shut.

I hope that today’s quote helped you lead yourself to a better life of action and change. Have a great day everyone!

Want more? Here are the past 3 quotes of the day posts:

Quotes Of The Day 47: Overcome Obstacles

Quotes Of The Day 46: Don't Regret

Quotes Of The Day 45: Quality

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Just a quick note, I’m going to keep this series going until September 1st. My school year will be starting up soon after then and I need to make sure I lock in for that and my first official ACT test on the 14th. I hope to pick up the series again on the 15th of September, but I can’t promise anything at the moment as the scale of the series may need to be altered to accommodate for the increased workload from school. The series will take a (hopefully brief) two week pause after Quote of the Day 56.

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