Thoughts on Excellence Free E-Newsletter Series
Volume 24, Issue No. 4
December 15, 2025
By Dan Coughlin
Many times I’ve read a 250 – 350 page book only to walk away with a single sentence that really resonated with me. However, that one sentence had a huge impact on my thinking.
This idea was really highlighted for me when I read, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, by Walter Isaacson. He highlighted this sentence from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” He then wrote an entire book reflecting on that sentence.
Here are a wide variety of sentences that have impacted me over my lifetime:
From To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: But do you think I could face my children otherwise?
This is what Atticus Finch said when asked why he was defending a black man, Tom Robinson, when he knew he had no chance of winning the case. I first read that sentence in 6th grade in 1975, and it has stayed with me ever since. It’s about true integrity in our work.
From A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt: And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?
I first read that sentence when I was a senior in college in 1985, and I loved it. I’ve kept that worn-out paperback copy with me everywhere I’ve gone in the past 40 years. That sentence has helped me make some tough decisions.
From The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino: Count your blessings, proclaim your rarity, go another mile, and use wisely your power of choice.
I was given this book by my great friend, Joyce Feder, in 1990 at a very low time in my life. I had given up on the dream of being a college soccer coach, and I was searching for the next path in my life. I underlined this book so many times that I started breaking through the pages. The God Memorandum at the end of the book had a huge and lasting impact on my life. Those 16 words became my mantra through the 90s.
From This Is Marketing by Seth Godin: The goal of the smallest viable audience is to find people who will understand you and will fall in love with where you hope to take them.
I read this book in 2018, and it became my favorite marketing book of all time. Seth Godin challenges marketers to really think about the change they want to create in the world and who they are focused on helping to make that change become a reality.
From The Dip by Seth Godin: Being the best in the world is seriously underrated.
Godin makes a very powerful argument that you need to let go of many options and persevere for a very long time in order to be the best in the world at something in order to make the impact you are capable of making. I read that book in 2008 as the Great Recession was just starting. It helped me to focus through the toughest and most painful slog in my career.
From Social Thinking At Work by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke: One of the most important unwritten rules of the work environment – we seek to stay calm and keep our coworkers calm, even in difficult situations.
I first read this book in July of 2020, and it had an immediate impact on me. I was reminded of the enormous number of times I didn’t stay calm or help others stay calm in not-for-profit board meetings. I fell under the trap of thinking the topic at hand was more important than the emotional safety of the people at hand. After reading this book, I developed two rules for all group gatherings. Rule #1: Maintain emotional safety. Rule #2: Never forget Rule #1. Once emotional safety has been diminished, it’s basically impossible to have a healthy discussion on any topic.
From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander: Rule Number 6 is “Don’t take yourself so damned seriously.”
This was another book I read during Covid, and it connected beautifully with Social Thinking at Work. This is a magnificent book about seeing possibilities in your life and giving way to passion. And a big part of that is to not take ourselves so seriously that we keep getting in our own way.
From Bounce by Keith McFarland: Anxiety 1 is the fear of change, and Anxiety 2 is the fear of what will happen to you if you don’t change.
McFarland goes on to explain that the key to generating a change in an organization is to get people to fear Anxiety 2 more than Anxiety 1. I first read that in 2025. I wish I had read that in 1985. It is such a simple and powerful tool. When my doctor explained in 2024 that if I didn’t change my eating habits I had a good chance of having a heart attack in the next five years. That helped me fear not changing more than I feared changing my habits.
From Altogether You by Jenna Riemersma: While needing firm boundaries, our firefighter parts often wish they could be freed to do the very opposite of what they are doing.
This is a book I read in 2024 about Internal Family Systems Therapy. Essentially, it is making the point that the parts of ourselves that are trying really hard to keep us from experiencing pain (firefighters) are in reality causing us a lot of pain. Rather than getting angry at our firefighters, we should thank them for their efforts and appreciate them while at the same time acknowledging that they are counterproductive and letting them go. Very, very powerful book.
From Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool: Deliberate practice is deliberate; that is, it requires a person’s full attention and conscious actions.
I first read this book in 2016. It is a fantastic book about how a person can develop true expertise in any field. Ericsson spent the vast majority of his career studying how certain people became world-class in their selected activity, and then he broke it down into a series of understandable steps. At the heart of those steps is deliberate practice.
From Goals by Zig Ziglar: When you discipline yourself to do those things you ought to do when you ought to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them.
Zig Ziglar’s tapes and books on goal setting had an enormously positive impact on my life starting in 1992. I certainly encourage you to listen to his voice over and over again.
From The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck: Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand it and accept it – then life is no longer difficult.”
This is from the opening of the book. Peck had me hooked from that point on. I went on to read several of his books. The thing I loved about him was that he always defined his words. They may not have been dictionary definitions, but they gave me an understanding of what he meant when he used a particular word. Here’s his unique definition of love from The Road Less Traveled: the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth. Once I read that, I knew what he meant when he used the word love.
Conclusion
I realize now that I could do this for every book I read, but I think you get the point.
When you read a book, underline the most powerful sentences you come across. And then select the one that had the greatest impact on you. If you keep track of those sentences, you will assemble an incredible Idea Toolbox that you can draw on and use for the rest of your life.
Extracting powerful sentences from books has been a big part of my life’s work. Those ideas have found applications in a wide range of industries and situations because they have relevance far beyond the books that contained them.
Republishing Articles
My newsletters, Thoughts on Excellence, have been republished in approximately 40 trade magazines, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations over the past 20+ years. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with the name of the article you want in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document.