Axios Finish Line

April 11, 2025
Welcome back! Smart Brevity™ count: 479 words … 2 mins. Copy edited by Amy Stern.
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1 big thing: Lines you live by
Last week, we asked Finish Line readers to tell us their favorite one-liners to live by.
- Why it matters: It's been our most popular inbox-flooder yet! We've heard from more than 700 of you, and we've got enough mantras to make this a recurring series in the newsletter. So keep sending your best lines, along with your name and hometown, to [email protected].
Some one-line wisdom to chew on this weekend:
🗞️ Sally Quinn, author and veteran Washington Post journalist, tells us of her late husband Ben Bradlee, the legendary Post executive editor: "Ben's all-time favorite one-liner was 'Age quod agis,' which is Latin for 'Do what you're doing' — as in, don't do anything half-assed."
🗣️ "Truly smart people don't give opinions, they ask questions." —Benoit Labonté, Manila, Philippines
👯♀️ "'You are the company you keep,' my dad said. As an idiot teen, early 20s-er, I didn't give it much thought. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks in my 30s, and still now in my early 40s. The process of 'trimming the fat' to keep those around you who love you, challenge you, see you, is the best gift you can continue to give yourself." —Lauren Habib, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
💡 "'Sometimes there is just enough light for the next step.' You don't need to have it all figured out … I learned it from my mom, Erin, who I think was inspired by it during a Bible study." —James Burgoyne, New York, N.Y.
💞 "My mantra is from Maya Angelou: 'People may forget what you said, people may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'" —Eileen Madden, North Providence, R.I.
💯 "When all else fails, tell the truth." —Taras Szmagala, Cleveland
🕗 "At times when I had my own company, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., I was totally focused on what I was doing and never had the need to use the bathroom. I called this 'mind over bladder.'" —Marko Brickman, Tokyo
⛰️ "My grandfather, Jules Lorber, told me, 'In life, it's not the mountains that are your obstacles, it's the pebbles in your shoes.'" —Amy Lorber Shamash. Thousand Oaks, Calif.
🧳 "It's not having what you want that counts, it's wanting what you have." —Jackie Breen-Compitello. Locust Valley, N.Y.
🏈 "My favorite is from my high school football coach, Coach King: 'If you're going to make a mistake, make it going full speed.' I take it to mean mistakes based on effort and actions are better than mistakes of indecision and inaction." —Dawson Hobbs, Alexandria, Va.
⚾ Parting shot!

Spring in a pic: Pink clouds dot a deep blue sky over Wrigley Field on Tuesday evening during a game between the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.
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